A genre spanning musician and incredibly talented producer, Colton is a big supporter of my blog and it was only right that we finally worked on an interview together.
1. You’re probably the most musically experimental artist I’ve ever interviewed. Can you tell me about some of your favourite genres and what you love most about them?
thank you for that! aside from hip-hop my favorite genres would be black metal and shoegaze and anything that sounds like/takes influence from those. i love the wall of noise, artists like xasthur and my bloody valentine create with their music. i love hip hop because it made me realize that you can literally do whatever the fuck you want when you’re making music. i think after i got more in to making hip hop is when my other music projects kind of improved in terms of quality and uniqueness.
2. Your music is mostly inspired by metal, I’d say. Songs like ‘overdose’, ‘deadstate’ and ‘black mask’ are intense tracks that take hip-hop production to its absolute limits and utilise powerful, screamed vocals. When did you first settle into this style and who were your main influences?
i’ve always had an aggressive approach to a lot of my music and metal has always been something i’m interested in so it kind of just came naturally when i started actually trying to produce hip hop and stuff like that. death grips have been a huge influence on my production as far as influencing me to do whatever the fuck i want though.
3. How long have you been producing for, and what made you want to start?
i’ve been producing hip hop for about 4 years now but i’ve been making music (in bands and other projects) since i was about 14 or 15 (i’m 22 now). when i heard death grips for the first time is probably honestly when started thinking about producing. also xxx by danny brown.
4. What instruments can you play? I’m guessing you’re multi-talented in that sense.
i started out playing drums when i was probably about 11 and that was the only thing i did for a while and then i got a guitar when i was 16. guitar is my main instrument now but i still play drums, keyboard, bass, etc. i’ll honestly fuck around with anything i can get my hands on and try to use it for something.
5. You’ve been in numerous bands, in your opinion how does being in a metal band differ to being a part of the hip-hop world?
making metal (or any other genre for that matter) is a lot different from hip hop because collaborating with other artists almost exclusively is mainly only in the hip hop community. it’s also a lot easier for someone to get into making beats than it is for someone trying to start a full metal band and make music that way. i think anyone can do either one as long as they really have a passion for it.
6. You’ve collabed with a number of producers including Stevie Durag and yungchainsmoke, and you’ve also produced for a number of rappers. How did you first start making links in the underground scene?
i actually don’t think i’ve collabed with chainsmoke unless it’s been unknowingly through stevie, but i would love to collab with him. i joined some group chat in like 2017 or so? but yeah had some disagreements with whoever started it and got in another group chat with stevie, pie$, ruci, los, fried, and $moke. shout out to them
7. The two songs I’ve hosted for you have been some of your most epic, well written pieces of music. Will you continue to release music in that style, or do you have plans to branch out?
thank you! those 2 songs are off of an album i have in the vault called “decrepitude”. there’s going to be 9 or 10 songs in a similar style to those. there’s one song on my computer that’s broken that i don’t know if i’ll be able to get back that’s why i say 9 or 10. but once i have a good working computer again i honestly have no idea what direction i’m going to go in with my producing. i’ve mainly been making black metal and shoegaze with minimal equipment lol.
Listen to Colton on Soundcloud. Follow him on Twitter at @fuckxcolton.