Music Mondays recently sat down with our first Workshop Wednesday guest K@LE. We discussed everything about this producer from their early years, sound inspirations, plans for 2022 and much more in this MM exclusive.

7/15/22

Zomb: So to get you introduced, where are you from and how old are you? 

K@LE: I'm from Midlothian, Illinois and I'm 25 years of age. 

Zomb: What was it like growing up i. illinois? Tell us a little about your early years and what that was like for you 

K@LE: Growing up was pretty chill there, small town, mostly everything was in walking distance so that was super rad, friends literally lived like 5 houses down or like a block or 2 away always had people around.

Zomb: Super small town vibes, I love it. Who were some people you listened to while growing up? Are there any artists you remember listening to at an early age and being influenced? 

K@LE: Okay so there's 3 artists/bands that I listened/and or influenced by and still listen to some of their stuff to this day still, The Used, Hawthorne Heights, and Good Charlotte these 3 bands definitely helped me in some way shape or form and I'm forever thankful for that

Zomb: I've noticed your influences vary greatly so it's always nice to learn the basics, some powerhouses right there for sure. When did you start creating music yourself? When did you first start producing? 

K@LE: So I started producing in 2016 and I had not a single idea in what I was doing.

Zomb: That's so comedy, most artists usually don't so I can relate for sure. Did you produce in private or did you start releasing songs/instrumentals instantly? 

K@LE: If I remember correctly I was just kinda creating and if I really fucked with it at the time I would release it and thankfully none of those exist anymore haha

Zomb: That's so awesome, what year was this? At what point did you decide to take it seriously? 

K@LE: So the year was still like 2016 and I wanna say I got more serious with it in 2017 because I actually learned how to structure and make proper beats and that's around the time I think I started going by K@LE 

Zomb: Now that's what I like to hear, before we continue what was your inspiration behind the K@LE name? 

K@LE: So actually the inspiration behind it is that's what my homies call me lol it's basically my name but a letter off, used to call me kal than one day it was kale haha 

Zomb: What a origin story, I gotta say that's one of my favorite artists names I've seen in a long time. So back to 2017, when you got more serious did you hit a point where you knew this is what you wanted to do for the rest of your life? 

K@LE: Oh most definitely when I started working with more artists and collabing with people and just how fun it is to create something and just know other people vibe with it is all you can really ask for and gives me a purpose to create. Also for myself obviously.

Zomb: Absolutely without a doubt. You've leaked a vocal track on the MM Podcast and don't really release vocals. Are vocals something you'd want to do again in the future? Or do you plan on sticking with instrumentals? 

K@LE: To be honest with you I want to do vocals again but not over beats (;  so with that for the moment just instrumentals 

Zomb: You heard it here first! K@LE vocals are not gone. Speaking of working with other artists, who are some artists you enjoy working with and what are some of your favorite tracks you've been involved with? 

K@LE: Man I really love working with Mikal Jones, Heretic, FURY and for tracks there's a track me and mikal did with FURY called DRUGS OVER YOU and that track to this day is still a slapper, also have a track with heretic called DEADANDFAMOU$ which is off a project of his called DARK $OUL which is all produced by me and mixed by me collabs on there all that sweet stuff and then anything that I've made with June.

Zomb: We've had the pleasure of reacting to a few of these hits and you are such an inspiration. The library and collaborations are out of this world and genuinely have a raw feeling to them. Would you say you have a genre/style of instrumental you like to create? Or do you just feel whatever you're feeling at the time. 

K@LE: It depends it could be a tossup or if I'm feeling a certain type of emotion, like for an example PERCEPTION was from pure emotions grief, anger, confused just a lot of things can come out of something that happened to you in your life and then you have the power to create something out of it 

Zomb: Personally one of my favorite parts of producing and I'm glad you see that feeling as well. Speaking of Perception, that was quite the project and I'm sure the world is hungry for more K@LE. What are your plans for the summer and the rest of 2022? 

K@LE: So for the summer I'm just kinda chilling a little bit. Got some things in the work for DEATHWAITING, cooking some stuff for homies, project dropping OCTOBER 31ST and until that I'll be vibin having adrenaline rushes playing Tarkov lmaoo

Zomb: Now that's going to be interesting, such a good year for K@LE for sure. You spoke a little bit about your next project when you joined us on workshop wednesday, tell us about what's dropping on October 31st. 

K@LE: So the project is going to be titled The Horrors Of Humanity and it's going to be a horror influenced project so there might be some samples on there that might sound familiar also gonna be some different stuff on there too 

Zomb: Absolutely so exciting, that's gonna be something MM keeps our eyes peeled for definitely. Outside of music, the bullshit and everything else, you mentioned tarkov which leads me into my next question. What are some things you enjoy doing outside of music and what are you usually doing if you aren't creating? 

K@LE: So outside of music I'm either gaming on Tarkov, TFT team fighting tactics, Insurgency Sandstorm, talking to the homies, tie dying shirts, watching movies anime, reading manga hanging out with my girlfriend my dog just having a blast!

Zomb: Man your positivity and attitude is always such a pleasure to be around. So it seems like you're a jack of many talents. One of my last questions for you might go deeper, when it comes to music do you have a bigger goal you want to accomplish when it comes to music? How do you want the K@LE sound to live forever? Tell me about what you'd like to accomplish.

K@LE: Shit man I just wanna keep making connections with like minded individuals and just create something I also want to be part of or create like a festival of some kind that would be sick! Also if I could get to the point where someone hears a beat and they're like yo is that a K@LE beat? That would be crazy honestly to me and as to what I want to accomplish these are pretty big in my eyes but I'd like to have songs with BONES (I've sent 5 I think already), deko, big baby scumbag, guardin, nothing, nowhere , etc. etc. So many to name.