Artist – Kolonie
The music industry is like a giant record playing
As it goes around in circles, genres and ideas always come full circle and back to the mainstream. Progressive is on that path in breaking down the front door and taking over the airwaves again, and poised to show the world they are players in the game is the British duo Kolonie. Hailing from London, the duo are making waves on all fronts through being headlined to some of the biggest trance festivals in the world and being signed to some of the best progressive labels in the business. Understanding the current culture is definitely helping these two push forward, and it will be no surprise when you see their names headlining a venue near you.
Thank you Kane and Shane for sitting with me today. The progressive genre of music is really gaining momentum the past few years, do you feel it is your time to shine? Why or why not?
No, thank you for your time Danielle. Yes we hope so, the scene is growing and as you know the music generally goes around in circles, the likes of Swedish House Mafia, first put progressive house on the map back in 2010, and we almost feel like is about to blow up again, it is currently well positioned in the market since it attracts listeners from melodic techno and trance into it.
Your latest track Epilogue has been receiving a lot of support across the spectrum from Markus Schultz to Above & Beyond, which is impressive in its self. What are your thoughts when you receive so much support from across the spectrum?
We are big fans of these artists and have been following them for years, so it’s exciting and motivating when we see them play our music and it makes it all worthwhile.
You two are known as progressive trance and progressive house producers and DJs. In your opinion, what is the difference between the two? Does it really matter?
There is a very fine line and some people may class our music as progressive trance, while others class us as progressive house. For us, we are not ones to get hooked up on genres or sub genres, to us it doesn’t matter, for us is about releasing good music that is melodic, uplifting with rolling basslines, packed with emotive vocal chops.
Kolonie will be making their Luminosity debut this year in June at the beach in Holland. Are you two nervous? In recent times, we are seeing more progressive acts being booked at trance events. In your opinion is this good? Why or why not?
Not nervous, we are quite keen and looking forward to play at Luminosity, our set will be filled with so many new IDs, so be on the lookout for all new music coming soon. Of course it’s good, adds more variety to any event. Hopefully it will help the progressive scene in general and the artists that play progressive like us.
Your weekly radio show, Homeland Radio, is doing well and you recently had your 50th. What is your two process for coming up with a fresh show weekly? With a busy schedule, how much time do you put towards the show?
We get sent a lot of promos and demos weekly, this certainly helps with finding new music. We like to support our mates within the scene, and the labels we work close to it. Mixing the show doesn’t actually take that long, weekly we divide who does the mixing, voice overs, and video editing for Mondays Facebook live feature on our page. Our main focus is to always try to keep it upbeat and innovative.
One of the biggest complaints from club goers are nights are not curated, or the order of the DJs do not make sense. As a progressive artists, you can both set the tone and deliver a headlining set. What are your thoughts on a curated night of music for clubs?
That’s one of the advantages of our sound, and put us into a good position to DJ on both warming up and headlining a show. We think it’s best for clubs to always do a curated night, so it will guarantee the club goers a good night with good flow of music, not up and down, which just confuses the dance floor.
Finally, if you could only live by one motto, what would it be?
Kane: Focus on things you can change not the things you can’t. Makes life less stressful
Shane: Don’t really have a life motto but I do believe in Karma and treating people who you wish to be treated