On 15 October, the label and promotional organisation TAMRECORDS will celebrate its 4th anniversary at the club Pyatnitsa (Friday). The party’s guest will be the Hungarian musician and DJ Chris.SU, known for numerous releases on the labels DSCI4, Hostile, Commercial Suicide, Subtitles, Timles and others. Having gained wide recognition in 2002 thanks to the techno drum and bass track Astrosine (released on the label Trace’s DSCI4), Chris.SU became one of the brightest representatives of the new wave on the drum and bass scene. His collaborations with SKC, Concord Dawn, Ill.Skillz, and remixes for Black Sun Empire, Rob F, Kiko, Noisia and Muffler firmly established him as one of the best producers not only on the Eastern European but also on the global drum and bass scene. A release on the label Klute’s Commercial Suicide and an upcoming release on Hospital showed another side of this musician’s creative self. A translation of an interview he gave to the website Paradox Jungle (paradox-jungle.co.uk) will help you get to know this artist better.
Real name: Krisztian Kovacs
Age: 22
Location: Budapest, Hungary
What is Hungary like, and what is happening on your drum and bass scene?
Hungary is a good place for me to live; I live in Budapest, the capital of Hungary. I have been studying at the technical university here for three years. The drum and bass scene here is well developed; DJs from the UK and around the world play here almost every week. There are three or four promotional groups that organize large-scale events. Their average attendance is around 600–1,000 people, but the big names naturally attract many more. The only problem is that we do not have a good club, such as Flex in Vienna.
Who is your favorite musician to work with?
By and large, that would be SKC. Our opinions about tracks are largely similar, and we understand each other without saying much. My other project, Tactile (SKC, Bratwa, Longman, Safair and me), also seems to work well, even though it is difficult to work with a large number of people.
When you perform, is the music you play similar to what you make yourself? And what about the fast percussion and 303 instruments that you include in your tracks?
Yes, I play music that is more or less similar to my own tracks. Actually, I do not use 303 that often anymore. I have decided to make a different kind of drum and bass now.
You have worked with a number of up-and-coming musicians, such as Typecell, Noisia and Kiko. What can you say about the level of these guys that made you want to collaborate?
I have not worked with these guys yet. I only made remixes of their tracks. Typecell – Echo Domination (Chris.SU Rmx) was released on Trickdisk, Noisia – Crescent Sun (Chris.SU Rmx) on Rehab, and Kiko & Rob F – Beholder (Chris.SU Rmx) on Hostile Recordings. The label managers asked me to make remixes of these tracks.
What is your favorite beer?
LOL. How did you find out that I LOVE beer? I prefer German beer, especially Gösser, but a cold Coronita is good too.
You have made a lot of material for DSCI4; how is it working with Trace?
He has always been interested in Hungarian material, from the very beginning. He has always supported SKC and me, and I am very grateful to him for that. DSCI4 had some distribution problems; Trace was forced to turn to another distributor, but everything is still going well. I am not signed exclusively to DSCI4; I can release anywhere.
How did your development on the scene proceed? Experiences, stress, rejection, recognition...
I have had a lot of good experiences so far; I think there have been more good ones than bad. I can say that I am lucky. There are some people about whom I cannot decide whether they talk to me because I am Chris.SU and they want my tracks, or whether they want to be genuine friends... Of course, it is not that important, and I think I have handled things successfully so far. Touring is always very stressful, but I love DJing, and I started doing it so I could play my own tracks to people.
What advice can you give to up-and-coming artists?
Be patient, do not be aggressive, compare your tracks with other well-known, good-sounding tracks, and try to get well-founded criticism of your tracks. If you write good music, you will achieve your goal very soon.
Do you prefer hardware or software, and which programs do you mainly use?
I am a software fan; I use Cubase SX and Reason. Good monitors are also very important.
Are there any things you dislike about the modern drum and bass scene?
I am really not a fan of stupid tracks with no melody, but that is probably just my opinion. (I mean 90% of new jump-up tracks.) Another thing is MP3 DJs and Soulseek DJs. You cannot do anything about these people. It is very unethical and it is killing the scene.
What do you think the term VIP remix means?
A VIP is a remix made by the same artist who wrote the original and is very similar to it. A remix is a substantially different reworking of a track and is made by other artists. SKC and I made Blackout VIP, but we do not call it a remix.
What do you prefer: solo work, collaboration or working on remixes?
I prefer working solo.
When you play Monopoly, which piece do you usually choose?
ROFL... I do not like Monopoly, and I do not play it...
If you could be any animal, what would you be?
A dog. A cocker spaniel. My girlfriend’s is so cuuuute!
What is the most boring thing you have done in your life?
I sat on a bus packed with people for nine hours on the way back from Banja Luka to Belgrade. It was horrible and boring! And as soon as we arrived in Belgrade, I had to take a train to Budapest for another seven hours! Can you imagine how boring that is?
What is your favorite pizza?
Hawaiian.
Thank you, Krisztian, for taking the time for this interview...
Original interview: Paradox Jungle. Translated from the Russian translation by Yegor.
