Exclusive Interview with Khaz
by Kostas W.Voulgaris (DJ DragoN)
(This interview was taken on March of 2014 for Generate Project)
Carey Stansfield,
otherwise known as Khaz, is
certainly an artist for whom music is a constant necessity and means of
expression. He has often stated that for him music is a continuous vent of
emotion and that if he didn’t happen to have a piece of musical equipment
around him he would most likely be scratching feelings on walls with knives as
his tools of expression.
Khaz is an American writer, producer and
vocalist. He is certainly not an artist that sticks to one certain genre and
hit formula as he has crafted music that combines rock, house and progressive
as well as pop. One thing that can be said about his music is that no matter
the genre, each and every track is emotionally driven.
His need to
create and put his feelings into music began when he was 12 years old, playing
out tunes on his portable Yamaha keyboard.
This was a sure
path to musical creation and expression as he has written hundreds of songs
over the years.
In the era of
the 90’s he produced three albums under his one man band (called
Purple Fuzzy Love Machine)
that were released and stirred a lot of attention, gathering a good amount of
fans.
There came a
dark period later on that literally drained him of ideas and the drive to
create. He states the five year dry spell occurred due to a variety of reasons,
some being
bad decisions, bad
circumstances in life and a lack of creative juices.
When all seemed
lost he took up djing as a means to get inspired and explore new realms of sound
which certainly did the trick. This kick started his career in the fullest as
it gained him a DJ residency at a grand L A. club with a number of large venues
and prestigious gigs to follow.
These past years
Khaz has been on an all time production high as he has been producing loads of
new material as well as collaborating with well known artists of the dance
scene such as Markus Schulz and Boris M.D amongst others.
The sound can be
described as progressive house and trance infused with haunting vocals, packed
with a somewhat dark yet emotionally driven sound scape.
I am honored to
have the rare opportunity of interviewing such a diverse and talented artist.
Question 1: What would you describe as your earliest
memory associated with music or a defining incident that drew you towards
music?
Musical creation
has been a part of me for as far back as I can remember, but I think my
earliest memory was when I was around 6 years old. I was given a small Casio keyboard as a
gift, and I remember just going around wherever and coming up with cool
melodies to go with the generic little beats it had on board. As far as a defining incident, my father was
a musician and my mother was very
musical as well. Having access to some
great records/music on my mom's side, and various music gear including
sequencing keyboards on my father's side really helped speed up my development
and interest in making music.
Question 2: You have stated that as an artist you are
emotionally driven and often pour your feelings and experiences into your
music. Is there any track in particular
you'd like to mention that is testament to this fact and if so in what way?
I would say one
of the most intense songs would be "Cause
You Know.” I wrote that song a long
time ago when going through a real rough patch with my girlfriend (now
wife). I sat down in the dark one night,
crazy depressed, three bottles of wine and one day later it was done, production
and all. A few years later when I met
Markus, he seemed to totally feel the emotion I put into it, so that ended up
being the first song I wrote that we ended up collaborating on with his 2nd
artist album.
Question 3: We've seen you appear on several
collaborations teaming up with esteemed artists. Which has been the most fun to work with and
who would you certainly like to work with again?
People may not
know this because a lot of the work has been just writer credits on my end, but
I work with Josh Gabriel and Dave Dresden (Gabriel & Dresden) a bunch. We always have a good time together and get
along well in the studio. When they
come into town they often swing by for a few days to jam with the vintage
analog modular synth. Josh is a mad wizard
with that thing, and it’s always such a blast to see what ends up!
Question 4: After working on music for years there
came a dark period where your inspiration ran dry and you became absent from
the scene for quite some time. What was
the spark that ignited the loads of amazing music to follow and which was the
track that turned it all around?
Without a doubt,
the spark was when I started DJing. I
started buying up a ton of vinyl singles, then went out and hit the local
clubs. Eventually I had some decent
higher profile gigs, and that just made me want to get back into
writing/producing my own music again with a vengeance. Around that point making music with computers
was just starting to be a reality for the everyday person. I ended up getting really into
Propellerhead's Reason right when it came out.
Growing up with just hardware and outboard gear I fell in love with that
software right away.
The very first
track that I wrote using Reason was the track that officially stopped my dry
spell. It was called "Sequential Drop," a fun
progressive track with an epic (rat-a-tat snare) drop. That track still makes me smile, I can go
right back to when I felt it was done, and the feeling that I was in for a fun
ride with the years to come.
Question 5: It is true that all your tracks are very
special and each one has a certain air about it! Dark Heart Waiting (with
Markus Schulz) is a big fave of mine. So
haunting and gripping! Could you share
the story behind the track?
First off,
thanks! It’s always nice to hear that
something you created is appreciated by someone else.
The story behind
Dark Heart Waiting is a
"dark" one for sure… In a
nutshell, my father lived a very shady life (which was pretty traumatic for
me). I grew up with my mother most of my
younger years so I never felt like I was anything like him. As I grew older and started feeling more like
a true adult, I started to fear that somehow inside me there were traces of
him. And the song was sort of a
confession to myself, telling me that I could be a good person regardless of
where, or who, I came from. My original
version that I wrote a long time back was much darker, slower and pretty
heavy. Years later, I had this trance
track I was working on, and for some reason I thought it might be cool to see
what those vocals would sound like in that new space. I felt it worked, and then I sent that to
Markus. He totally dug it, so we then worked on it together and the result is
what you know.
I still have
deep feelings for that original version, and I might end up putting the
original up on my soundcloud page in the future.
Question 6: 2013 is behind us and 2014 is certainly
looking like a bright one for the scene so far!
What did the past year hold for you?
Let's see, I
co-produced a track with Gabriel & Dresden that's scheduled for release
soon, and had a few tracks with TyDi in progress as well. The main TyDi track is a vocal one, and the
G&D track "Rise Up,"
is a banging instrumental track that was mainly created using the analog
modular synth in my studio. However,
most of my music production time was spent working on my first solo album. But to be honest, 2013 was a busy year for me
outside of the music realm, I’m a recent dad!
Question 7: It has come to my attention that you are
putting together a very promising artist album in the studio! I certainly am
waiting to hear what you have in store for our listening pleasure! What can we
expect to hear and find within?
Well mainly,
I've really been trying to get back to my roots and feeling like a pure
musician again not a featuring vocalist, DJ, or dance producer. I’ve got about 4 tracks lined up so far that
are pretty solid I think. They range
from super chill electronica to EDM, but nothing straight up trance or house. I personally haven't been so stoked with the
dance music scene lately, I feel like so much soul and emotion has been
stripped away since I came on board over 15 years ago. So, my album is going to reflect that most
likely. Very emotional, creative, not
following any set guidelines or pattern to make a "DJ friendly"
track. If tracks end up getting remixed
and club playable that’s fine with me, but I’m not setting out to start with
that version.
Question 8: Which gig would you say has stood out as
your favorite since the start of your career and for what reason?
I was resident
DJ at this super underground club in Hollywood
for some time, and that was really fun.
CDJs were just coming into the scene, but I was mainly still playing
vinyl, and by then my record collection was pretty decent. There were nights where I was seamlessly
going back and fourth between progressive trance, progressive house, and
breaks, all genres I absolutely love.
Sometimes ending up after 4-6 hours or so with a very banging set around
6am to close it out. The vibe was
always awesome because all the people that were there were crazy dance music
fans! It was so pure and truly magical
at times. The main room would be packed with 1000+ people all sharing the same
moment.
Question 9: Which country would you like to visit and
uplift the public's senses with your performance?
Good question,
I’m not really into the gigging scene anymore.
Almost, all my life is studio based now, but I think it would be cool to
do some crazy event somewhere exotic, like a jungle rave in the Rivera Maya in Mexico, or some permanent daylight party in Iceland.
Question 10: What does 2014 hold for you and what are
your plans so far?
I started this
little mini project (or more of an idea) this year to help keep the inspiration
and creativity flowing while I’m working on the album. Basically, I’ve got like 800 tracks I’ve
written just sitting around. Some are really far along and some are just clean
demos. I don't feel like they represent
what Im doing now, but I really like listening to them as do others close to
me. So, the idea was to post 1
unreleased track every week on my soundcloud account (soundcloud.com/khaz). It’s basically a way for me to move on with
some older ideas to let in newer ones. “The Way Up,” the first week track, was
actually one that I’m planning on having on the album. That way, people could
get a taste of what direction I’m going in at this phase of my life. Some are super chill and others are really
dancy, but I know down the road, there will be some real gems for people that
are into my more trancy stuff.
Question 11: Every artist has his influences and this
is often shown in their work. Which artists or musicians do you hold in high
esteem?
Well, my deep
rooted influences would include, Depeche Mode, The Police, U2, Nine Inch Nails
and even Abba, lol. I grew up in the
80s-90s, so I’m really partial to that era.
More modern day influences are Apparat, Mode Selektor and their super
group Moderat (all of them together). I
just love the emotion, technological know how, and overall vibe that their
stuff shines through, everything is super tight and seems to flow very
organically at the same time. It’s
beautiful.
Question 12: If you could choose to work with any artist
in the whole music spectrum, who would it be and why?
I would love to
sit in with Trent Reznor. His music has
always been a part of my life. Would be
amazing to just be involved in his workflow and creative methods. Not to mention that his new album is pretty
solid.
Question 13: What would you say is your favorite genre
to create music for and which would prove an interesting challenge for you?
I'm truly all
over the place with that one. I enjoy making banging club tracks as much as I
enjoy making an ambient chill out piece.
I think that because I’m a little burnt out on the dance scene right
now, making just clean and grooving electoronica is where I’m at production
wise. A challenge would be to do some
crazy dub step track. I like some dub step,
usually, the more melody based tracks. I think it would be a new adventure to
try and knock out something in the lines of that.
Question 14: I know this may be a question you get a
lot but "Khaz" is quite an original artist name. How did you come by it? Does it hold any special significance?
I’ve been going
by Khaz for so long now, just about everyone I know at this point calls me
that.
When I started
DJing I had thought of going by CAS (Carey Alan Stansfield), shortly after
finding out there was a Cass (of Cass and Slide). At one of my earliest gigs I was asked by the
M.C. what my name was (he was doing the shout outs when DJs came on). I wasn't ready for it and blurted out
"CAZ" (to not sound like Cass)!
He then started shouting on the mic, "give it up for DJ
Taz!!," the whole time I’m yelling "No, CAZ!" (he couldn't hear
shit, cause it was too loud, lol).
Everyone ended up calling me Taz the rest of the night, so I went home
and looked up DJ Taz on the internet.
Turned out was a ton of DJ Taz's out there! I started to experiment with how else to say
CAZ, and it ended up evolving to Khaz.
So, Khaz = CAS =
Carey Alan Stansfield = Me!
Question 15: What is the one thing you would not be
able to live without?
I was pretty
nomadic in my early life, moving around all over the country and loosing
"important" things during moves and what not. In the process, I’ve learned that you can in
fact live without anything you once cherished.
That being said,
now that I have a 1 year old daughter, I couldn't imagine my life with out her.
(and I would be
really sad if the iPhone was never invented)
; )
