What are your names?
Maurice Francois, Adam Tune, Greg Dawson.
What is the band’s name?
Keys N Krates
How did you come up with the band’s name?
It was a random brainstorm. Sounded catchy at the time.
What is your genre of music?
Would probably just put us under the umbrella of electronic music, but we draw from everything from house, soul, 70s soundtrack music, trap, rap, Miami bass, Baile Funk.
Give us a little bio about you.
Since forming a decade ago in their native Toronto, Keys N Krates have carved their own path via a bass-centric, sample-driven sound, melding the realms of electronic, hip- hop and beyond. Their early sound succeeded in combining catchy, pitched up, chopped vocal samples with 808s, resulting in off-kilter festival smashers like “Dum Dee Dum”, “Treat Me Right”, and other fan-favorites. These songs would be reinterpreted into energetic live versions that the trio would play to create their own experience and vibe and at the same time cementing Keys N Krates as a fixture in festival bass and trap music. Keys N Krates found ways to blend their developing 808-based sound with their live band performance. They’ve taken their distinctive show to countless festivals including Coachella, Lollapolooza, and Sonar, and on three North American headlining tours. Keys N Krates’ 2018 debut album Cura represented a musical shift for the band as they embraced their love for R&B/soul music, more dense instrumentation (such as strings and woodwind instruments), and catchy vocal-driven pop songs. Anthemic songs with Tory Lanez, Ambre Perkins, and 070 Shake weaved together the band’s technicolor world of vocal-driven songs supported by sample-chopped beats that blended the sounds of disco, trap, and boom bap rap of the 90s. This synthesis earned them commercial radio success along with live sold out shows across the world and plays across the biggest festival stages.
Who are your influences?
Timbaland, Masters At Work, The Neptunes, Inner City, Daft Punk, Piero Piccioni, as well as contemporary cats like TSHA, Bonobo, Aluna, Kaytranada. But honestly too many to name.
Are you a signed?
Yes. To “Last Gang Records.”
You released ‘‘Dreams Of Ocean’, tell us more about the single.
Its an album cut, but we love it. It’s an old disco sample that we flipped into something that feels kinda like tropical, kinda Brazilian but kinda trap, but soulful and hypnotic. It’s a loop and it’s meant to be listened to as a loop cause sometimes things just need to be a loop. We left the chopping of it very rough around the edges on purpose because felt like it sounds the best with very loose and raw programming and edits.
Describe the track in two words.
Hypnotic and Dreamy.
Who did you work with on the single?
Just the people we cleared the sample with and ourselves.
What was the writing and recording process like?
It was made in an afternoon quite quickly. We flipped the sample and did those drums to it just felt great. It was one of those tracks that happened fast, and like we said, we kinda liked the mix and everything just very raw so we left it pretty close to demo form.
Will we see a music video for the track?
All of our songs on the OG Classic album have a visual component to them. This one won’t have a video beyond that.
What else can we expect in 2022?
A video for the song Original Classic,,, some remixes for some of the chosen tracks off the album, more new music from us, and also us launching our own party that we’ll give more details on in the coming months.
Where do you see yourself now in 5 Years?
Hopefully making tons of music and playing it out to people.
What quote or saying do you always stick by?
“Less is more”
When you are at a gig, what are 5 things you cannot forget?
A spare t-shirt, headphones, usb, water, hotel key.
Do you have social media accounts so your fans can follow you?
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
Youtube
Spotify
Soundcloud
