KATE SIMKO
- May 24, 2016
- 7 min read
Recently I interviewed Kate Simko, a composer, producer, DJ, pianist and founder of the London Electronic Orchestra. Originally from Chicago Kate made the move over to London to study a Masters in Composition for Screen at the Royal College of Music, where she formed the London Electronic Orchestra. Kate's solo career began when studying for her bachelors degree. Kate had her first album out in 2003 (Shapes of Summer) and has excelled from there, playing all over the world from Fabric and the iTunes Festival in London to Tokyo, Ibiza and Detroit to name a few. Below is an interview with Kate where we discuss music genres, the London Electronic Orchestra, her work with Katy B and much more!
You work across a few music genres from composing, producing and being a DJ. Do you have a preference as to which you prefer?
K: You know what, I actually really enjoy doing different sorts of music, because I can go from one to the other. I find that sometimes I am a perfectionist, if i am really inside of one project and I am trying to finish a song where maybe I hit a wall, its really refreshing to go to something totally different. I personally enjoy making music the most, I enjoy composing the most, but it doesn't matter what genre. I do really enjoy performing too, composing and performing I love, I love Dj-ing, I love playing live, and composing and the genre doesn't effect how much I enjoy it at all to be honest. They all tick different boxes and as a composer when I learnt the orchestral scores from being at the Royal College of Music, that's obviously so much more in-depth and I really love that. That is not to say I don't love walking into an electronic music studio and turning on a machine, and comping up with a pattern and recording it instantly as audio. So both sides have an upside!
Would you describe your music genre as Electronic?
K: Yeah! I am from Chicago so in general I would say the beats I make are House music inspired. So Chicago has mostly a house music is the strongest electronic influence there, but some of my newer music is electronic listening music. I would describe the electronic music as melodic, melodic house, melodic electronic that would be the best way to describe it probably. Where would you take inspiration from when writing this genre of music?For the house music stuff, the dance floor stuff, is often influenced by the songs I am DJ-ing. Depending on what I am feeling the most as a DJ in terms of new releases, promos and the sound that I am into, in terms of performing, that often very much influences the electronic tracks I would create for the dance floor. Trying to always play or produce tracks that I would actually play, but then otherwise when it is not specifically for the dance floor then I am influenced by so many things. Honestly all kinds of arts, film just reading, travelling and everyday life i think just really inspires music for sure.
Do you find you influence yourself when you cross between the electronic music and composing?
K: Definitely. Sometimes I might be making a house music track and then start playing something that might be a little too complex for house, right? Maybe its getting a bit much, or a think wow wouldn't that be great if I orchestrated that and made an arrangement out of it, so at that moment I would save the project as a different name and put it in a different place to look at it later as a possible option for London Electronic Orchestra, lets say. Its handy having a few options!It is because rather than trying to fit what you do in one box, you can start something and figure out, you can let it morph into something and not feel restricted. So yeah, I like that!
Recently you worked on a track with Katy B, Dark Delirium. How did that come about?
K: Katy's album 'Honey" is with a bunch of different producers, so she had approached Jamie Jones, and Jamie and I had worked previously. We are going to get back in the studio again actually, but she had approached Jamie and we were already going to the studio, we had the time booked, we were looking to get a vocalist on our track, that's how it originally was supposed to be. So he said actually I have been approached by Katy B, so about this new song we are making, why don't we make it for her and she can be the vocalist? So that is how it happened. We were already in the studio, Jamie thought a pop song with strings would be really cool, I totally agreed and then the three of us worked together on the track.
Where has been the best venue to play as a career highlight?
K: I would say the Roundhouse. The career highlight show for me was playing at the iTunes Festival at the Roundhouse, they had about 25 camera people, live streaming all these different angles of us performing on stage, and it was streamed to over 300 countries around the world. It was free stream for 30 days. Performing at the Roundhouse was just incredible, and just the whole experience. I just could not believe how amazing the video looked, they had so many different angles and they were live editing it, they showed me how they did it. I went to another concert for the iTunes Festival and they showed me how there is someone downstairs, below the Roundhouse that has 25 different video screens, and real time is just pointing at them, switching between all these different camera guys. It was really fantastic, incredible, I couldn't believe how good it looked and sounded. That was definitely for me the highlight.
You played Miami music Week recently. What was that like as there is so much hype around it?
K: I am from Chicago, so I have been going to Miami, WMC, as they call it, for a long time and it's changed a lot, but its still really good. I played it different, I did two, it was for an ensemble, so I did one where I was DJ-ing and another where it was a DJ set but at a supper club, at a really nice concert hall place, so yeah it was cool, I enjoyed it. I always have fun in Miami.
You set up the London Electronic Orchestra which you mentioned, and its album was released recently. What was the inspiration for setting up the group?
K: The inspiration behind it was just realising how well the orchestral instruments could be substituted in my own music. So when I was studying at Royal College of Music, and recording a couple of different film scores, I started working with the harpist, and some string players, and other instruments as well, and just could not believe how well it worked to substitute a synthesiser line with these live instruments. So I started experimenting and booking a lot of recording sessions, and rather than focussing on scoring for film in a traditional way, I basically went off on a tangent. Rather than focusing on the craft of film scoring I spent those two years experimenting with finding my own sound on incorporating this instruments. I didn't have any experience with these instruments, so I wanted to make a way to make it sound natural as a composer have Kate Simko the film composer, have a totally different sound as me outside of that. I was trying to find my own sound using these new instruments. I had a new pallet and I started experimenting, recording and those songs are on the album! Waiting Game, Shikoku, Tilted, these were all written when I was at the Royal College of Music. So that was just a natural exploration.
Having the musicians on hand makes sense to use them!
K: Absolutely, it was a once in a life time opportunity to have all of the musicians, who have their instruments in the building, where you can just block out a room for free, and they can meet you and show you how the instrument works and play through things. Or book recording sessions for £20 and hour, it was ridiculous! I totally loved it.
What has the response been for the album release so far?
K: So far so good, it was out on Friday (6th May) so the first reviews are trickling in, the response has been positive. What ever happens in terms of if people don't get it right away, I am happy. I am happy I explored this new avenue and the music at the live shows, in terms of the response, I see people connecting with us. So I am going to stick with it no matter what people say.
Have you had a lot of support for London Electronic Orchestra?
K: We are playing Festival No. 6 this summer, Midem in Cannes, we are playing in New York for the first time in Le Poisson Rouge in July. Theres stuff upcoming and once the album is out I think we will have more opportunities as well.
Any other upcoming plans?
K: We have a remix of Waiting Games coming up, a remix that I did for Fort Romeau, that's going to come out the end of June I think. So we have that and then I am working on my own house music again, which feels really good, like i mentioned earlier I am going back to the studio with Jamie Jones and you know its great. London Electronic Orchestra took a lot of time to get the album done, and now thats hit the world I am just sort of focusing on solo stuff.
Did it take a long time to complete the album?
K: Yeah, all of the recording sessions, preparing the PDFs and getting everything recorded. We did the first recording in summer 2014, and didn't finish the recording until December 2015, so it was a good 18months of recording.
Photo taken at the London Electronic album launch. Definitely worth a listen!
Website: http://www.katesimko.com/
Show Info: http://www.katesimko.com/live/
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