Woo! What a set! Push play and discover much more about Bristolian psy-KROSIS. Translated from Dragon Tongue.

What were some of the events or experiences that set you off on this journey?

From my very first gigs and music festivals (Download 2005 & 6), and many years playing drums in metal bands, I grew to love gigs. I was mainly into Black Metal, and loved the energy of a crowd in front of such powerful music. Unfortunately many metal gigs were actually quite dull events. Often bad sound, grumpy elitist fans who would all pretend to hate everything, often the crowd would not fill the venue, and then to top it off everyone goes home by midnight. Where were all the illegal night time forest gigs? I then started going to psytrance club nights like ‘Tribe of Frog’ in Bristol, and the local Bristol outdoor party scene from 2008. When I saw rooms rammed with people, all going crazy to driving and ritualistic machine gun basslines and cutting fm leads, or the sun rising through a forest tree canopy as the music still blasts, I knew I had to stick around. I joined my first party crew ‘5D Collective’ in 2012 with my first residency, and started organising and booking lineups. I then was made a resident for the night that got me into psy in the first place, ‘Tribe of Frog’. In 2015 I also started running a stage called ‘Hitechnicians’ at Boomtown Fair, a 77,000 capacity festival in the UK.

Why Krosis?

I am a bit of a geek I guess. Like so many others in the scene, I took my name from a video game. Krosis means ‘sorrow’ in dragon tongue. Whilst not exactly a party friendly theme, music with a feeling of melancholy has always been what hits me the most, so the name felt right. I also like the vague feeling of rebellion behind bringing melancholy or sorrow to something that’s supposed to be fun like a party, whilst actually having nothing to feel sad about. It undercuts cheesy or fluffy vibes, yet gives depth to the dark. If the music can do that, then it is working well as an artform! I then remembered it is the name of a Borg character in Star Trek: The Next Generation, so I guess that is double geek points.

Who have your greatest teachers been, the greatest influence on your musical soundscapes?

Most of my actual understanding of writing music came from working with guitarists when I drummed and screamed in various metal bands. Scott Tyler from ‘Bereaver’, Shaun Robinson from ‘Original Sin’, Dan Rabbit from ‘The Mercy House’, and Michael Barber from ‘Gloryhammer’. Writing and self-recording with them meant I saw how tracks were created in layers, as well as basics like time signatures, key, and structure. I have played guitar since I was 12, but really only very badly, but I knew just enough to pick up bits of skills from guitarists. The early Norwegian Black Metal scene definitely kickstarted my inspiration and love of that side of music. After attending psy parties for a few years, psytrance was still something I could happily leave at the party, and not really listen to at home. Then I found Ektoplazm, and through them I found the substyles like dark, forest and hitech. Releases from Lithuanian label ‘Forest Freaks’ like the ‘Under the Moss’ VA’s blew my mind. Their style of cold and melancholic forest was the closest thing in electronic music to that feeling that good black metal delivers. It made me get some decks and start mixing! DoHm, Schizoid Bears, CTO-Gram and Cenotes to name a few really stand out. Then after supporting Mark Day at my first London psy party, I found Blue Hour Sounds, with artists like Peyo, Gido, and Evocatone and the VA ‘Dark Side of the Dawn’, and some excellent Parvati releases like Para Halu – Shiva’s Breakfast further developed my inspiration for combining morning melancholy with darker sounds.

How has your sound, your taste in music developed throughout the years?

I know there are many out there who claim they listen to a bit of everything, but I am not kidding when I say it. I love everything from finding the most extreme, niche and strange “music” possible, extreme metal, all sorts of electronic, to commercial sugary pop, super-fluffy euphoric trance and even hymns (I am not religious but there are some bangers out there). In a couple of months I am unsure of what I will be focused on, could be calypso, could be speedcore. This has reflected in my music writing, where keeping a consistent style has been hard. I have had to form multiple projects to cope! I would describe the Krosis project moving between night, dark and forest, with some morning elements. I used to have all of these elements on my first 2 EPs, but all mixed together and less defined. As I wrote more I’ve found each track tends to be more distinct in its style. Some are more night, some dark, and when whole sections of the set are what I jokingly call ‘Tundra’ style, hence the name of my EP. I say that because it’s a bit like a forest, only lighter, but frozen and bleak, and with much fewer trees… Moving forward I see myself writing more Woo-Dog Recs style nighttime, and more Blue Hour Sounds style ‘Tundra’ to have two separate style live sets for different crowds.

How about those mind-blowing, life-changing experiences that have shaped you and your sound?

That’s quite hard to answer. I like to think that as a personal expression, my sound reflects my own life experiences. Some are great and make us love life, and others are painful and make us question that love. Each experience causes a shift in perception. I know I joke about undermining a fun party with melancholy, but there’s a realness to it to. Parties are not all fun and games, and we, for all of our rejoicing, many of us have lost friends and loved ones along the way, and that is not something to always forget. There’s something comforting about being able to look darkness and sadness in the eyes and dance regardless.

Which one of your tracks are the most characteristic of your sounds or stand the closest to you for some reason?

The Tundra EP released this year for Blue Hour Sounds is probably the most characteristic of my sound. Though it only represents the colder side of what I write. With the rest being more nighttime or dark, I feel it is the Tundra style that is the most unique, and feels most like what I want to contribute to the scene. The closing track ‘Severe Reverence’ represents what I mean by celebrating through melancholy, and the sample “there is no harmony in the universe” seems to undermine standard psytrance values (if there is such a thing). ‘Ice of Phendrana’ was a remix of a track off my first EP, so that really means a lot, that I could add to it. When I hear it, I remember how cold that winter was.

What projects are you involved in? Or would love to experiment with?

In addition to Krosis, I write hitech as ‘Final Form’. I am writing a dark-progressive album with Joule Thief called ‘Murk Squad – Mandem Machine’. It will be a full album, with an urban crime concept. Think driving basslines, dark atmospheres, big leads and the occasional air horn and gunshots. Right now I am into 80’s-esque synthwave, and am just finishing on writing an EP for a new project called ‘Sunset Burger Club’, with a neon retro sci-fi burger restaurant as the main theme.

Who do you think are the most cutting- edge newest sound makers in the scene? Who are your newest discoveries?

I am a big fan of Fagin’s Reject. His blend of styles has been refined into a formula that has set a whole new standard of funky rhythmic sounds. It has the organic complexity of Squarepusher rinsing his slap-bass, but with gnarly sounds all mashed up together in a way that makes the limbs want to form new joints just to be able to dance to it. His latest stuff seems to be using some completely new elements too, I am eagerly awaiting for what comes next! A new producer ‘Atezu’ on Woo-Dog Recordings has also got my attention. He has really unique sounds arranged in a way that sounds like banging psy, but with a whole extra layer that’s hard to pinpoint.

Which artists remain the ultimate classic for you in the scene (or in music generally)?

Certainly all the big boy forest kings, Atriohm, Derango, Archaic, Confo, Arjuna, Petran, Vertical, ECT. Hitech legends like Loose Connection, Apollyon, Gotalien, Mentalecho, Kaikkialla, Will O’ Wisp and Selective Mood. Those guys are a masterclass. My favorite overall musician on the planet is a folk singer called Joanna Newsom, serious folk!

Scene at home?

We have a great scene in Bristol, when not on lockdown! There are several regular party crews in both clubs and outdoors, and we are well-connected to the whole of the South West. There are many old friends, a strong family vibe and every subgenre seems to have some representation. Due to social media, I feel the UK scene on the whole is more connected than ever before, with London as the ‘wild west’ of the UK and only a couple of hours drive away. They have insane lineups, crazy decor, and you never know if a couple of hundred or a couple of thousand will show up!

Most memorable gigs, experiences?

Without a doubt the winner would be one of our 5D collective parties we did in Wales one spring. The party was in a very remote farm house down some steep and winding valleys. There was a freak snowstorm for March and we all got snowed in under 40 ft high snow drifts. We had to share our food and supplies, and had no phone signal unless we climbed a nearby mountain. Things got medieval pretty quickly, and we were stranded there for 5 days. The police even landed in a helicopter to see if we needed airlifting out. They got a great photo of them with all of us hippies and left. Eventually on day 5 some of us had climbed the mountain to use a signal, and managed to spot the snow plough moving down the valley to rescue us. It had to smash parked cars out of the way, but eventually we were free. I got the very first stages of frostbite on my toes during that party. No one got eaten.

What do you think about our scene (psychedelic gatherings and community) and their role in our lives, if any…?

I feel this is different for every person and every scene. Every event or social scene is on a spectrum, and they can serve us for better or for worse. Sometimes parties are for me like a bookmark in my timeline, a point in time where I step away from the normal timeline and into where you can more easily examine your whole life from a place of safety with a good rig. Like hitting a save point in a game, it feels both grounding and like a holiday at the same time. They serve a strong subcultural purpose too, creating a very real sense of community in a time where our population density is often too high to ever really be in a community. Cities, countries, there are too many people in them to actually ever know each other personally . That’s not community, it’s imaginary community. Parties, whilst only a slice of our time, are in their own context very real.

What are some of the greatest challenges you faced so far as an artist or producer? How about the moments that you felt were the greatest reward so far?

The two greatest challenges are technical problems, and inspiration/time. I am not very technically minded, so writing electronic computer music is going to inherently annoy the hell out of me at times. Monday’s annoy me too, but some things we just have to deal with. Inspiration is much more serious, times where you can churn out tracks with no hesitation so naturally, contrasting to months of being unable to produce a thing. The greatest rewards are many, every amazing gig forms another unforgettable memory. Knowing that your music was blasted in a desert on the other side of the planet, getting feedback that your music is special to someone. Someone even told me recently that one of my tracks was ‘their song’ between them and their partner! Thats right up there with some of the best feedback an artist can get. My best gigs to date are probably laying in India, and playing Masters of Puppets 2019.

Musically, what´s still on your bucket list? 

Two festivals, Ozora and Modem!! I could probably die happy afterwards! But seriously, just to travel more with my music. Going to India was incredible, but I would love to see more places in Europe, especially to play in Sweden or Norway. One day I would love to do South America too.

What are your other passions in life?

I love my pets, and of course my girlfriend, Holly. We have cats, several snakes, and even an ant colony. I have a great job in Bristol, where I manage a small college for teenagers with learning disabilities, teaching them independence skills. I am a big gamer, loving everything from exciting shooters and RPGs to beautifully boring Euro-Truck Simulator. I love learning random instruments, such as the erhu and harmonica. I go through constant phases of super interest, just like I do with music. Right now I have been stuck on ants, and Brutalist architecture and synthwave. A few years ago it was yo-yo’s, carnivorous plants and ancient Egypt.