This was easily one of the most interesting and mind blowing tracks we’ve heard all week. Whenever you doubt that innovation is stagnant in dance music, a track like “California” by GKC Union comes along to set your straight. A major highlight being the use of arpeggios, brass jazz horns, and deep house as the drop/jam session part of this song. GKC Union is brand new talent that dance music fans should experience. We couldn’t help but reach out for an interview, check out the Q&A session found below.
What is the backstory of GKC Union, how did you guys form?
The two of us met our first week at Berklee College of music and became fast friends. Since then we’ve both been pursuing our solo jazz careers but have always been on the same page about music and have had many in depth convos about our love of different musical styles, stage performance, fashion and pushing the music forward with some authentic shit. We were talking one day over lunch about all of this and bounced around the idea of joining forces, making some beats and trying to write some stuff together.
We found there was great chemistry between us writing wise and ideas were coming out fast. Between the two of us we cover a full horn section, vocals, and production so it’s super chill for us to write together and add in all of these elements and we’re very much on the same page when we make musical decisions since we come from such similar musical backgrounds. We “pass” the mic back and forth as we dub horn lines, vocals etc. and fly with our instincts. That’s how GKC Union was born..very organically.
What are some of your guys musical influences?
Our influences have a wide musical range from Zedd, Throttle, Madeon, Bee Gees, Avicii, Ray Charles, Tower of Power, C2C, Earth Wind and fire, Rolling Stones, Gramatik all the way to Miles Davis
What software do you use to make music in? Do you guys have any other musical background besides using DAWs?
Mainly Logic!
If you could collaborate with any musician, who would it be? Why?
We’re big fans of Zedd. The guys production and music is so fresh and we love how he’s coming from a background where he’s merging his musical influences of EDM, pop,heavy metal, classical, jazz..he’s not afraid to bring all of his influences to the table but in a way that people can relate to and that always serves the song. The chords he fits in at key moments are dope and the range and textures within his music from very lyrical to super hype are so dynamic. We would love to get in a room with him and make some jams with him. I think when we merge all of our musical backgrounds together we’d come up with something really fresh.
“California” feels like it was created in the state is was named after due to how it’s laid back vibes, yet you guys are from NYC. What’s the music scene like in The Big Apple?
NY is bursting with so much creative music and the highest level of musicianship. It’s very inspiring. The other night we were out peeping some dope DJ residency at NuBlu in the village and then walked over to Rockwood Music Hall to see a friends singer songwriter set and then to Dizzys at Jazz at Lincoln Center to see some slamming late night jazz and all in the same city. We wrote “California” when we were out in LA. We found ourselves being inspired by the people, atmosphere, and sunshine. Upon our return to NY we were naturally in that state of mind and it came out in the lyrics of the music as we finished up this single. Even though our home base is NY, our duo is very culturally eclectic. Our roots are African, European, Asian and American. We’ve both been touring musicians for many years and have gotten to travel lots and experience all sorts of culture and music and all of that seeps into our music.
“California” was an impressive first single, can we expect more new original music soon?
Definitely. We’ve been hitting the studio hard the past couple of months and are working on a lot of new jams that we are excited to share with the world in the near future!
What is your favorite city to create music in & why?
We’ve been making all of our jams out of our home base in NYC right now but to be honest, the most important and inspiring part of making music is the “who” and “how.” At the end of the day we’re making music with a computer and mics inside a room or studio. NYC has been a really great spot for us to make music because we have so many homies that we can call up and collaborate with while we’re working on our tracks. The other day we had an idea and called a friend to come track it and he was able to hop on the train and get to us in 20 min! We’re looking forward to doing some traveling in the near future and doing more and more collabs with great artists and producers. We love the art of collaboration and being a room with awesome talented friends. KCNation is from Norway and goes back often for gigging so we’re also very much looking forward to do some future things with our European friends.
Do you guys have any other side projects?
Yes! We both lead our own bands and have solo careers focused in the jazz world. Felix’s “Felix Peikli and Joe Doubleday’s Showtime Band” and Grace Kelly’s “Grace Kelly Quartet.” We both love expressing ourselves in different musical settings and styles.. It’s really fun to bounce between bandleader jazz stuff to our EDM/pop project and at the same time working with different cats on other collabs. We’re juggling many balls but all of it makes us stronger performers and artists.
Any crazy college stories from Berklee?
Haha. Great question. We met each other the very first week of Berklee and since that time have had many amazing musical adventures, epic hangs and everything in between.. We remember some crazy nights of epic jam sessions, bourbon chicken bowls, and mango smoothies in our the dorm room until the wee hours of the morning. Not things you usually read in the same sentence, ha!
Do you guys ever plan on playing live? What would the set up be like? (Since you both can play various instruments.)
Definitely!! Right now we’re focusing on putting out singles, writing and producing but we’re very much looking forward to pairing up our performance skills to include our horns, singing, choreography, and more for our future live shows.
Connect with GKC Union:
https://www.facebook.com/GKC.union/
https://soundcloud.com/gkc_union
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