[Exclusive] Interview with EXIT TUNES Dance Production's Musicians - Ryu☆, Kors K and Kradness

Popular electronic style music composers and DJs from EXIT TUNES Dance Production (EDP) - Ryu☆, Kors K and Kradness made their way to Comic Fiesta 2017 to close out the night with a bang! Check out their website for tour dates and upcoming music http://edp-edp.com/ .  Ryu☆ is a notable musician rooting from creating music for Beatmania and has branched out to other gaming music. Kors K started his music career similar to Ryu☆ with Beatmania, and has now officially joined EDP in the year 2017. Kradness is back in Malaysia once again and he jumps started his career from the online world, garnering many fans and has made his way towards bigger music productions. Check out what the beat popping musicians has to say below.

As musicians, why do you think its important for a convention like this to exist?
Ryu☆ : I am mainly into game music production therefore events like this enables music to overcome the language barrier and also allows a wider exposure of our music.

Kors K  : I find that no matter where I go, there’s always a number of people who are anticipating and waiting for us to perform and this event allows us to actually get on stage and perform for the audience.

Kradness : I have a significant amount of YouTube following, and from that, there’s always a small amount of fans who have been supporting me in my live events. Last year, I too attended Comic Fiesta and performed. Because of my performance last year, I now have new fans and when they announced that I’ll be performing once more this year, a lot of people are excited for my show. Events like this in other South East Asia countries do help our exposure.

How did you knew that the Electronic genre is what you wanted to pursue?
Ryu☆ : Me and Kors K started in the music gaming industry. We entered a song competition and it ended up on a game back in the year 2000. We’ve been doing this for about 17 years and in the club scene before that. This played a big part on why we chose to do EDM.

Kors K  : In the music game industry, the music will always have to be the front of the line. It has to be the newest and the best. The music we produced, had followed the trends of that time and the flow of the style changes. That is the biggest reason  why we are focusing on EDM and to be at the forefront of EDM is the biggest accomplishment.

Kradness : I tend to focus more on vocals, I first got introduced to the electronic style of music through the Konami style of music games. Through that I found EDM and got hooked on it. I found that through the beats, it can surpass the language barrier and reach a wider audience. It translates really well without language.

Have you considered opening up to the Western market?
Ryu☆ : If the chance is given to collaborate then it would be great, but the focus of our music is to represent the Japanese interpretation for the club music scene. We want to be able to showcase that first and foremost.

What’s your process in making music?
Ryu☆ : Actually, my process is not that much of a difference compared to any other music producers. But from travelling around and visiting other countries, boosts my inspiration and translates into how I make music.

Kors K  : My process is a little different compared to Ryu, I does get inspired from travelling too but when I’m making music, I must have a mindset in which “I am creating music”. When I goes into the studio, and takes out my computer and the mindset must be there. I don’t take a shower and a beat magically appears, I have to seriously go into creating music.

Comic Fiesta 2017 audience rocking along!

Since you travel quite a lot, would you consider incorporating traditional instruments on to making music?
Ryu☆ : That has been done before with Japanese classical instruments but our focus is on the Japanese scene. And if the sound of the instrument flows well with our style of music, then of course we would incorporate it with our music.

Kors K  : For me, I enjoy traditional oriental music as a genre, I would like to bring that sort of sound in. When it comes to traditional instruments, it’s difficult to replicate the level of mastery people perform. We try to take the flow of the tune of the instrument and insert it in the music.

What do you think is the appropriate way to approach them for a collaboration?
Ryu☆ : Because of our main focus is game music, one of the ways to get in touch with us is to enter game music competitions. This will get the individual’s name out and on the radar. Aside from that, approaching us through our management and request to collaborate. But if we find an artist style of music we like, we too would reach out for a collaboration.

Kors K : Other than just depending on collaborations to get their music out, the other option is to put in the hard work and get their names out there on YouTube and naturally earn their following. This will get people’s attention. When you put in the hard work and get everything up and running, artists will definitely notice you and it will increase the exposure of a collaboration.

Kradness : Once you’re in the music production circle, and build up your name. It’s easy to cross path with another music producer and this will sometimes ease into a collaboration from either sides.

Speaking of working hard, how do you unwind when it gets too overwhelming?
Ryu☆ : I really like entertainment such as manga, anime and watching movies. Additionally, I really like cricket and baseball.

Kors K : I prefer to spend my time indoors.

Kradness : My way of rewinding is to play games, whether its on mobile or on a Nintendo platform, online games. Whenever I have free time, I’ll be gaming.

When you make a game soundtrack, how do you go about it?
Ryu☆ : If its a game based on an anime or a manga, then I’ll study the previous works and get a feel of how the music will be and try to interpret it on the game.

Kors K : Compared to Ryu, my process is much more personal. I try to put myself into the music and interpret it how I want it to be.

Speaking of club music, what do you think defines Japanese club music scene?
Kors K : I want to clarify when I mention Japanese club music, I don’t mean the mainstream club disco music. We focus more on using game music as a base and it attracts more of the "otaku" community. The club scene where we work in is not the late night parties, because there’s a lot of minors who attend our concerts. A lot of our events are done in the day. Recently there’s a surge of events such as “Day Parties” in which a club will open during the day and there will be no alcohol.

Ryu☆ : Compared to the overseas club scene, the Japanese club scene has more sounds incorporated to it. The melody is more oriental, eastern and Japanese.