NICE LIFE
ISSUE 1 - SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2018
HEARTS : AND HOW KLeAR KaTZ USES THEM TO TELL STORIES
By Raymond M. Clark
Shot by Edward Mercado. Pittsboro, Indiana.
It’s the brink of autumn. Leaves have begun to redden and snap off the branches of the stalky and wafer-thin trees across the suburbs, and a decent amount of shoppes have thrown their buildings up with Thanksgiving and Christmas decorations. As I stroll across town there is a farm in the distance accompanied by a wide corn field reaching for as long as a mile... Until, when I turn to my left, I am welcomed by this ginormous bushy tree, with - underneath it - the neighborhood sign: Cardinal Estates.
This is Pittsboro, Indiana, where I‘m invited to have a sit with the R&B duo KLeAR KaTZ.
KLeAR KaTZ is an alternative R&B duo by two recording artists-slash-producers David “dayb” Braxdy, and Cooper Tecnologik, both cousins... And they’re cats. They started their journey making music together since they were children, way back in 2011. Since they were still young, they had a long way to go in order to perfect their craft. And they’ve proven exactly that. From Chiptune, to Rock, to Electronic-Pop, they’ve been searching for their sound, and they haven’t shown one sign of stopping.
When I pull through the driveway, David Braxdy (known as "dayb" at the time, pronounced like "day-bee") appears form the front door of the one-story house. He welcomes me by shaking my hand, I look up and I can see Cooper peeking behind the front door and he waves back. He beckons me to the door and they both offer me a seat on their couch in the living room. I walk a few steps to my left, and I notice frames of family and pet photos are surrounding me everywhere. There’s this big flat screen TV stacked on top of a wide drawer taking up quite a portion of one side of the whole living room. And Gumball is playing on TV. A Christmas tree with lights and ornaments complete with a glowing golden star is posted behind these black huge, comfy leather couches. Cooper offers me some hot chocolate and I end up with a mug of cocoa set on a black folding table, they have their own cups as well. David and Cooper sit side by side each other, David sips from his cup and sets it down in a cup holder in between the couch. When I’m certain everyone is comfortable, we begin.
Shot by Edward Mercado. Pittsboro, Indiana.
Hi, guys!
Cooper: Hey, nice to meet you.
David: Hi.
Nice meeting you both. We’re gonna be able to have more people out there discover who you guys are. And I get to learn a bit about you as well!
D: (chuckles) Thank you!
Cooper nods and dayb sips his chocolate.
So we usually see you two together almost all the time. But I believe it’s now for a bigger reason, right?
D: Yeah, I’ve worked on music here for under a week.
So, why Pittsboro?
D: Well, the place we're in right now, this is Cooper's home. He lives here so he’s basically chilling, but, like, around the time I was making the album, this was the same time I was visiting from Georgia, where I’m from.
C: And this is the first time in a few years when he came.
Shot by Edward Mercado. Pittsboro, Indiana.
And from what I’ve seen, I think you couldn’t leave for some time?
D: Yeah, I was basically stranded.
Bummer. So no flight back?
D: I had to wait forever because my family couldn’t afford it at the time. But I made the best of it, so…
C: Also, there’s really no rowdy neighbors, no one is bothering you, complaining about how much noise you make. So I was confident in what he made and how it turned out so far. It‘s been peaceful as hell, it’s the perfect place to make a mixtape.
I’m glad to hear that! Seems like the ideal getaway vacation, I suppose.
D: Eh, it’s nothing like that at all. It’s not like I’m out the country! I’m just, like, in a more reserved area when it comes to making music. Remember, this is the suburbs. If you take enough time to chill here, Pittsboro is sick. Especially in the summer.
And because of this reason, it’s more known that you guys aren’t usually doing a lot musically, until now, it seems. You guys are unknown artists. I’ve caught up on your history and I found that you had little to no recognition in the past, till this very moment...
C: Yeah. Pretty much.
And this is all from a mixtape that was produced in, what, five days? NINE songs, in five days?
C: Yup. Dibs called it “the tales of our hearts.”
“the tales of our hearts.” That’s quite a name.
C: Agreed.
David giggles at the way Cooper answers.
Shot by Edward Mercado. Pittsboro, Indiana.
And what made you say to yourself, “Oh, I wanna make a mixtape, I’ll just throw one out there the quickest way possible?”
D: Well, there was nothing I could do during those last five days here. I couldn't fly back home, so I used all of those days to my advantage.
Oh?
D: Yeah, all I knew is that I wanted this tape to have a very lo-fi type of vibe. And that was my target from then on. So at that point, I knew this is what I wanted to make more of. Like, this is the genre I’ve been missing out on my whole life (laughs).
I’m glad you found your way. And I like how all three sections of the tape have their own mood. One touches on topics like heartbreak, the next one, giddiness, the last one, insecurity… It fits you guys perfectly! Looks like Lo-Fi definitely does wonders for you.
C: You can say that he got into Lo-Fi through me.
Oh, so you introduced him to Lo-Fi?
C: We knew what it was before we made the switch, and what… say, boosted him with that switch, was Joji.
Nice, that makes sense for why the tape sounds the way it sounds. But for clarification, are you saying that Dayb linked up with Joji?
D: Nah, but that’s my dream, haha! But umm, we both know who he is, I just never took the time to listen to his songs back then. Sometime in the summer when I made an EP for Cooper - it’s scrapped, now - Cooper sent me “will he,” and after hearing it, I was hooked.
So “will he” must have gave you this big impact at the time.
D: Yes! I put that junk on replay!
We all have a short laugh.
Shot by Edward Mercado. Pittsboro, Indiana.
D: His music inspired me to a whole new level during the mixtape.
That’s what I admire so much about that, how you dabble on all these different love and hate situations, but there are so many hints in this tape to grasp onto, we [the listeners] might not understand its true meaning. Because, what does this mixtape stand for? Give us a synopsis on what “the tales of our hearts” is, as a whole project, and what it stands for to you.
D: “the tales of our hearts” is really the second installment that masks itself as the first chapter. This mixtape is the second edition of the EP that was scrapped.
So this is a part two?
D: Kinda. Not really, but still… I don’t know if I want this to be the first or second project.
Can we expect a trilogy?
D: Maybe. I gotta talk with Cooper about that. I have a bunch of concepts ready for the next project, if we ever make one.
Now that we’ve learned there are - were - two projects I assume that they both correlate. I mean, are they the same sonically?
C: The difference between the EP and the mixtape is that, on that summer, I reached out to Dayb and gave him songs that I’ve written, which I needed help bringing them to life. I had four songs worth. Dayb and our partner Hailey K [Hailey Kende] produced and recorded all of those four songs in four days…
That’s incredible.
C: He was determined!
D: I know, right?
Sadly we won’t get to hear it though. It just feels so incomplete knowing there was a first part to this series all along.
D: We chose to keep the EP to ourselves. Coop gave the songs to someone as a gift.
Wholesome.
C: Yeah.
I’m expecting all the project names to have “heart” somewhere in the title.
D: You might be on to something!
Now, dayb, I’m getting a lot of different vibes off the tape that you and Hailey delivered. Were there any more influences like Joji that, say, made the album?
D: Okay, so my top five have to be... James Blake, Smino... Monte Booker - Smino's producer, both those guys are SUPER slept on... who else... BROCKHAMPTON, and The Black Eyed Peas.
There’s lots of people that don’t know who they are. Sounds like you really dig deep with your music taste.
D: Shoutout Spotify!
I noticed section two on the tape is more upbeat than other songs.
D: Yeah, that’s what I was going for. I wanted that said upbeat Monte Booker vibe, but I still wanted to keep the Lo-Fi energy. In fact, I used a Monte Booker beat over “coco.”
C: And just a quick note, I reviewed the first three songs on the mixtape.
I love Hailey’s vocals on “don’t you know [lost],” even though it may be one of your most simplistic songs on the tape, I gotta say she’s done such an amazing job with dayb on that song.
D: Thank you, I’ll tell her that!
For those who don’t know who she is, would one of you mind telling?
C: Sure, uh, Hailey Kende is our female singer. She’s kind of a “ghost member” of the group and she makes several appearances in our songs. She’s also my cousin!
D: I like to say she adds flavor to the music.
We come to a stopping point and watch a cartoon on TV. Dayb takes a swig if his hot chocolate until it mug is empty, and Cooper gulps his marshmallow-filled drink down in no time flat. I’m left with a baffled reaction and Dayb notices and laughs hysterically. I suggest asking them several more brief questions before we call it a day.
How did you get your name? Where did KLeAR KaTZ come from?
C: You tell him.
D: I was basically Google searching a name to see if it existed. Our original name would have been BluKatz, but at the time someone had a website with that exact name. My goal was to come up with a name that wasn’t searchable but still something that you could type.
And why the lowercase vowels? “E” and “A” specifically? Is there a meaning?
C: For the aesthetic...
Favorite emoji.
D: 🤠
C: 👻
What are some good shows that you’ve seen?
C: Hai to Gensou no Grimgar. That’s an amazing one.
D: Cooper got me into Sword Art Online. People say it’s trash but I just can’t understand why. Oh, and One Punch Man - sick as hell.
Spongebob or Gumball?
C: Gumball, hands down.
D: I love Gumball, but I say both. Spongebob is immortal. You know how many memes there are?
Why are all of your songs on the mixtape censored? Are we gonna get an explicit version soon?
D: It depends. But I’m dropping it on YouTube the day right before Thanksgiving. SoundCloud is pretty limited when it comes to dropping songs out for free…
Will we get some music by the end of the year?
D: There are so many ideas that I have for new songs, so I hope so!
I had a good talk with the boys in this interview, we would trail off topic for minutes on end, until we remembered it was an interview again. They definitely made me feel at home.
Until then, we’ll be holding on tight for the next project in the nearest future.
Listen to “the tales of our hearts” here:
the tales of our hearts by KLeAR KaTZ | Free Listening on SoundCloud
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