Grant Kwiecinski’s success would have been unimaginable just a few years ago. The future funk artist, diagnosis search better known by his moniker GRiZ, thumb began his career in a time when the electronic scene was still saturated with bigroom house, brostep and moombahton. While all of these party-centric genres had their own merits, they had one unfortunate thing in common: when the artists played to a crowd it was always simply as a DJ, playing track to track with visual accompaniment. There was rarely any sign of an instrument, analog or digital, in sight.
Fast forward five years and things couldn’t be more different. While the older stalwart producers, from Skrillex to Tiesto to Deadmau5, are still making bank as festival headliners, the most buzzed about artists have moved toward live instrumentation. While for some this is confined to clip-launching, where the performer uses a program like Ableton to launch and arrange different stems on the go, more and more are turning to a stagier setup. From fast-rising duo Odesza’s bombastic drum pad work to the full band reworkings that Pretty Lights and Emancipator have attempted, these newer takes on an electronic live show have received an immensely positive reception.
Kwiecinski’s music has been playing into the trend fantastically. Since his days of crafting more sample-driven tracks, he has made an effort to keep the heart of the melody in something analog: primarily with his own excellent saxaphone work. As his profile (and recording capital) has risen, he has moved towards recording instrumentally with a host of collaborators, recruiting big-name friends like Gramatik and Big Gigantic for tracks as well as working with the talented performers signed to his label, All Good Records. His sound is rooted in traditional funk, with blistering breakdowns and heavily distorted synth work adding flavor and depth.
GRiZ live shows are always a spectacle. Working with pads and keys, Kwiecinski keeps a high energy throughout, busting out the sax for soulful bridges and drops. His excellent performances, combined with his “everything for free” philosophy when releasing new material, has earned him one of the most dedicated and passionate followings in electronic music.
Kwiecinski released his fourth album, Say it Loud, earlier in the year and has been touring aggressively since. His goofily named “Super Shagadellic Tour” will be coming through the Royale this Sunday, 10/25, and we caught up with him in anticipation. On the eve of his monumental Red Rocks show last month, Kwiecinski told us about his approach to touring, working with friends and the status of his collaborative project with Gramatik.
Allston Pudding: So before anything else, I wanted to ask you what your thoughts are going into the Red Rocks set this weekend?
Grant Kwiecinski: Don’t fuck up, don’t fuck up, don’t fuck up!
AP: (laughs) Pretty exciting moment though, right?
GK: Yeah, absolutely. I’m prepping right now and hoping that I’m playing all the right tracks for everyone. I’m putting some old cuts in there and some new crazy stuff. The big thing is that I’ve never been able to play for so many people that are close friends, family and fans all in the same place. Pretty remarkable.
AP: Checking out Say It Loud earlier in the year, the first thing I noticed was how feature-heavy it was- 2 songs were just you. Was this a conscious decision for the album, or did you just have a bunch of great collabs done that you wanted to release together?
GK: When you have someone singing or playing a prominent part in your track you want to make sure that you give them a feature. You’re totally right, the only two songs that don’t have features on them, I’m doing the vocals myself. It was a feeling of “fuck it, I just need to put this out!”
Before I was sampling stuff more, so there I wasn’t going to feature a sampled singer or performer. You wouldn’t sample Marvin Gaye and then have “Griz ft. Marvin Gaye”. I’m sure that’s pretty fucking illegal! (laughs) But now I definitely want to give all these collaborators big ups!
AP: Would you say you prefer making recording a collaborative process rather than just going solo?
GK: I think I’ve always been kind of a solo person. It’s always been difficult for me to let someone else steer the ship or even take their ideas. That being said, the new album really pushed me to get outside the box, get outside of myself and listen to other people more. It really, really helped to create some amazing moments musically.
AP: Looking back a bit, when did you first realize you wanted to start fusing hip-hop and electronic sounds with funk?
GK: I started out making IDM (intelligent dance music). Weird sounding computery music; Aphex Twin kind of stuff. I was listening to early drum and bass and IDM, but then I started listening to hip-hop and I was like “fuck yes, this is exactly what I love!” From there, instead of producing hip-hop beats I was producing dancey instrumental hip-hop. When you get rid of the rapper you have to add the electronic elements to it to fill the gap.
AP: Would you say your approach to songwriting has changed at all since your first album as GRiZ?
GK: Totally. I’ve moved myself away from sampling, at least when releasing albums. Recently I’ve been writing songs through the different individual tracks; not starting anywhere specific. I understand that’s not a new idea by any means, but it was new for me on this album.
AP: When you were coming up, electronic music, at least at festival headliner level, was very focused on DJ’d EDM. We’re definitely at a point now where more artists have some level of instrumentation. As an artist who has always played an instrument on stage, was that a shift you saw coming?
GK: No! Well, I thought that maybe people would gravitate towards DJs that incorporate live elements into their show, because a show’s a show. Really though, I just thought it was strange that DJs were a show in the first place. I didn’t understand that. It was when I went to college that I first learned this idea of DJs, DJing dance music. I always thought the DJ was the guy who spun the tracks for a rapper or someone who spins vinyl in a club.
I guess I didn’t see the proliferation of the live element in the electronic world. I guess what I did see is that things evolve. It couldn’t always just be a guy or a girl up there DJing. Eventually it would have to be more.
AP: You have one of the most loyal fanbases I’ve ever seen. Has having that really palpable support affected the way you put together live performances and approach recording?
GK: Yes. When people are paying attention they keep me on my game. They listen and I listen to them. It matters.
AP: So you premiered the Griz live band a few weeks ago on Snapchat. Are you planning on more performances with that group in the future?
GK: Shit yeah! Am I currently planning right now? No. But down the road when I have a little more breathing room and do another album I’m going to focus on it. Seriously though, arranging that and playing in my own band was some of the most fun I’ve had in a long time.
AP: We’re a good few months into All Good Records now. How has life as a label boss treated you?
GK: It’s been great. I love this little ship we’ve got sailing. It’s a bunch of super-creative people that inspire and push me. I like bringing on the shared responsibilities with people I care about, because the people I’ve hired came up with me. Also, it’s cool just to be in the scene in that sense. We’ve got this really good collection of people. This record label is all of ours; it’s not any one person’s. It’s anyone who participates. That has taught me a lot. It’s been a great running lesson and I’m continually surprised and excited by everyone’s work.
AP: Do you tend to get involved in the recording of signees or just let them do their thing and get involved when they ask you?
GK: If someone wants my opinion I will give it to them, but I tend not to. They should make what’s in their heart; that’s what matters. I fuck with these people as people. They are MY people. We’re all together at All Good Records. I wouldn’t want to impede anybody in making the best music they can.
AP: Speaking of “My People”, we haven’t heard anything from Grizmatik in awhile. Anything in the cards for you and Gramatik coming up?
GK: I don’t know, that would be a good question for him! I’ve personally been working terribly hard on my stuff and collaborations with other people, and he’s off doing his own thing right now. We’ll see if we can’t link up soon!
AP: Looking forward to it if it happens!
GK: Yeah, dude’s always somewhere else and I’m always somewhere else. It may be a little difficult.
AP: Moving onto the “Super Shagadelic Tour”… I assume with that name you’re a bit of an Austin Powers fan?
GK: Yeah man! I was trying to come up with a tour name and I don’t like to repeat ideas. I didn’t want to call it the “Say It Loud Tour” again. I don’t want to sell people the same thing; I want to sell them something new and fun and interesting. “Super Shagadellic” was the goofiest thing I could think of.
But yeah, Austin Powers is great. I watched the first one again a few months ago and I was hella inspired!
AP: What’s going to set this tour apart from previous Griz tours?
GK: I don’t think it has to be set apart. Every tour we do is kickass! We don’t have to try to make things special or different, because we already put so much work into each tour that they just become special and different. I’m not sitting around wondering how I’m going to make the next tour the greatest tour ever. The standard is so high that I’m always just naturally pushing myself.
That said, we’ve never done the same production look on any of the tours so that sets things apart. From one tour to the next you’ll never see the same show. I have a team of people that I can really push to help me facilitate and co-create whatever it is that I’m thinking. Keeping that within budget is always difficult. If I didn’t give them those options and that drive to inspire this whole thing would fall apart. No one wants to be doing the same thing every single day. I want to keep learning and discovering.
AP: You’ve said headlining Red Rocks was a goal in your career. Are there any other big goals you’d like to knock out in the next couple of years?
GK: I haven’t quite thought of that yet. My longterm goals escape me, in a small sense. I’ve almost not needed them. My sights are set on 2018 right now, so I guess my goals are always long term goals. I want to tour with a full live band. I’d love to write more music specifically for that round. I’d love to write more songs that I could here on the radio. More than anything though, I want to make music that continually makes me happy.
GRiZ will be playing the Royale this Sunday, 10/25, with openers Big Wild and Muzzy Bearr. The show is sold out.