A Conversation with Leftwing & Kody
Hey guys, how are you? Please introduce yourself; where are you both from, and how did you originally meet to form ‘Leftwing : Kody’, and is there a story behind your artist name too?
Hi, we are doing great thanks! We are Jon & Chris both from London. We met playing on the London circuit and at the time we were both making music independently and playing each other’s tracks. After a while we decided to collaborate in the studio together and the rest is history. Kody is a mixture of our surnames and Leftwing was a name that came to Jon in a dream. It has no political or sports connotations we just thought it sounded good.
What inspired you both to pursue a career in the music industry? Also, what sacrifices did you both have to make on the way, to enable you to become top DJ/producers?
Growing up in London we were surrounded by music, so we started in this industry very early playing on pirate radio stations. Then the more you immerse yourself in music the stronger it takes a hold of you. We both started out as DJs before producing which isn’t how it normally works these days, you’ll find producers now become DJs. watching the way the industry was changing in the early 00s, it was becoming apparent that Just vexing a DJ was no longer enough to make it in the industry and releasing music was becoming very important. We both attended short courses in production schools – Point Blank and SAE to learn the basics and the rest of the knowledge is from sitting in front of your DAW and getting to know how that works and also knowing how to pick the right sounds. This is all just experience and this comes with the sacrifice of spending every possible chance you can get to be in the studio. This means time away from friends and family, but it paid off in the end.
Your latest release, a remix of Kelis & Freejak’s ‘My Milkshake’ is a proper crowd-pleaser with spins from Solardo, Idris Elba, Roger Sanchez, Kryder, and more! What’s your favourite part of the record? Did you expect such success too?
It was such a great opportunity for us to do this remix. Our favourite part of the record is the fact that Kelis completely re-sung the vocal for a fresh take of this massive record for 2018.
From September 27th – October 14th, you’re scheduled to tour stateside, 8 shows, how excited for this trip are you? What’s the craziest thing to happen to you whilst on tour in the past too?
Super excited for this trip. It’s the first time in the US so really looking forward to playing for the fans that have been messaging us for years to make our way over the Atlantic. We have heard so much great stuff from our DJ peers about playing in the US, so it means a lot to get this opportunity of having such an extensive tour for the first time.
How much new music have you got planned for your stateside tour? Do you prefer to produce whilst on the road? Or rather work in a studio? Also, how soon can fans expect another Leftwing : Kody release too?
It’s very difficult to produce on the road to be honest. It’s possible to get some rough ideas down but we really need to be in the studio to get the vibe going. We have a release on Solid Grooves at the end of September which is a collab with the label head Michael Bibi. Then we have an EP on our own label Lost Records in November and then rounding off the year with another collab with house god Todd Terry which is coming out on Solardo’s Sola label.
How would you define your DJ style? Do you read the crowd? Pre-plan your sets? Or do you prefer to create a journey through various sub-genres? Also, what’s your current favourite ‘go-to’ track ATM?
We have a number of tracks that we know we definitely want to play during a set. We always have our own new tracks that we want to road test and also a lot of the demos we get sent for our label we try those out too. For us it’s more about reading the crowd and being in that moment rather than pre-planning a set. ‘Alteration’ by Taty Munoz is a big track in the sets right now been hammering it for months now. Taty is definitely one to watch over the next 12 months.
I imagine being away from home for long periods of time can be quite strenuous, any tips for artists who are new to touring? And what are your top 3 travel necessities?
Yeah it can take its toll for sure. On long tours like this one you have to be sensible about how much partying you do. Always try and get as much sleep as possible, try and eat healthily and drink lots of water.
Top 3 necessities:
- Coffee
- Ear plugs
- Extra phone battery pack
8 Finally, if you could collaborate with any artist, and release it on any label, what would your selections be? Everyone has a dream collab right?
Loco Dice on Desolat and Groove Armada on Lost Records would be ideal :)
Check out the guys on tour here.
