Corey Baker, aka Kill Paris, recently took the time out of his packed tour schedule to chat with WRR about music, life, and of course keeping it sexy. We caught up with him before he opened for Bassnectar in Lowell, MA this past weekend, his fourth show on the NSVB tour. After speaking for about 20 minutes it was time for him to take the stage with his trademark keytar and he proceeded to throw down. There were sexy synths, funky bass lines galore, and he dropped his remix of Flux Pavilion’s “Freeway” as well as one of his biggest tracks “Baby Come Back” which really got the crowd going.
The road to opening for Bassnectar has been anything but smooth for Baker and his project Kill Paris. He has been playing music since he was about 16, made the decision to go to Audio Engineering school in Florida, and then moved around quite a bit before settling in Colorado where he now lives. After a quick stint in Nashville, TN where he played in country music bands as well as a Bosnian cafe where he was paid in porkchops and mashed potatoes, he moved in with Jake Dubber aka Shock to the System in Florida and really started getting into DJing. After that ran its course Corey moved back in with his parents in Indiana, then to L.A. for a bit and now he’s chilling in the beautiful state of Colorado.
I caught your set at Red Rocks in May and was blown away, especially by the Keytar. How does it feel to be opening for a legend like Bassnectar?
So him and my manager go way back to like when Lorin was playing under the name DJ Lorin so they’ve kinda been pseudo friends for a while. Somehow out of pure luck or pure grace idk what you want to call it I ended up on this tour and its been great so far man its been a lot of fun.
The journey from graduating school to playing shows and festivals has taken roughly five years for Kill Paris and I wanted to hear his thoughts on persevering through the tedious times, moving around, and improving his music
I guess at the end of the day its about putting the time in and working every single day focusing on music. Whatever it is that anybody wants to do it always seems impossible but at the same time all you can do is wake up in the morning and do whatever shit you gotta do and spend time on whatever it is you wanna do. And that’s what I’ve done for however long now… I can’t even remember how long its been but just been working on music every single day and after a while you start to get some feedback.
Kill Paris’ big break came from a message on SoundCloud from Skrillex back in 2012. We spoke about the evolution of social media like SoundCloud, Facebook, and YouTube and their effect on the music scene.
I think its been good to a certain extent, theres never been a better time to go do what you want to do especially through social media because its easily accessible.I remember when SoundCloud started, like I remember when it began and there was only like a couple thousand people on there and its funny how things progress and social media has become such a big part. Its easy to access people but at the same time theres a certain disconnect.
Its weird but as we go through in time, everything is getting a little bit better and things are kind of changing like Facebook is starting to fall off which I can kind of appreciate because it’s so hard to reach people through Facebook! Like fans that have actually liked my page.
I first discovered Kill Paris through production tutorials on YouTube (of which he’s made like 32 installments) so I had to ask about his time as an Ableton Certified Instructor in both Indiana and L.A.
I still do a couple seminars here and there, I wish I had more time to do it. I’s a very rewarding experience because a lot of times I learn just as much as someone I’m teaching.
What’s it feel like knowing you’re influencing the youth in music?
That’s kind of been the coolest thing like just seeing reactions from people who are paying attention and trying to learn something. It has nothing to do with me, nothing to do with my artistry its more about helping people.
I have fun doing that stuff and its actually good homework for me to break down and vocalize how to do a certain thing in Ableton which is hard for us producers because it’s a lot of intuition and you’re kind of pushing buttons until stuff sounds good.
While on the subject, you went to school to be an audio engineer, what would you say to those who are torn between pursuing a musical career, or going to college?
I think winging it is great! I learned a lot of stuff in school but I’ve learned a lot of stuff that doesn’t pertain to what I’m doing now because with electronic music all the rules have been broken. That’s a good thing thats how creativity should be.
If you can find a really good teacher, somebody that inspires you, I don’t think you can put a price on that.
Going forward, you have a new album coming out, how are you going to continue to make music that stands the test of time? What elements should be present, besides sexiness of course?
I mean I hope it stands the test of time. I’m trying to make it as musical and expressive as I can which doesn’t always hold up in the live scene. With the new album trying be as expressive and musical and have as much feeling and vibes as I can. Everyone has their opinion and at the end of the day you either like it or you don’t, that’s it.
Its so subjective and its tricky because you start to think into other peoples minds. Is this type of person going to like this, are you going to like this, or these other people going to like this? But at the end of the day you have to feel what you’re doing and if you don’t, what’s the point?
Will that be on OWSLA or your new label you’re working on?
I’m working on my own label, Sexy Electric. The first album, Digital, is going to be totally free and I’m also going to make some vinyl.
I want my music to be free thats the only thing I hated about being on a label is that any time you say “I want to put my music out for free. I want anybody who has an internet connection or their friend has an internet connection to be able to get the album. I don’t want people to have to pay for it.” And I know a lot of artists feel the other way, well if its free, people like it they’ll pay for shows they’ll pay for merch, they’ll pay for all that other stuff but the music…anyone should be able to hear it.
Its stupid to me to put a restriction on getting something that’s purely a feeling, that’s what music is it’s a feeling. When you listen to music, especially stuff that you like, you’re listening to it to get that specific feeling and so it feels stupid to put a price on that.
Anybody you want to shout out?
My parents, Bassnectar, Manic Focus, Big Gigantic, GRiZ, Gramatik, Bees Knees, Sexy Electric the Kill Paris label, World!
Thanks so much to Corey for taking the time to talk to WRR about anything and everything Kill Paris! Check out his latest remix “Freeway” below and be sure to get there to one of his sets if you’re attending a show on the NSVB tour!
Connect with Kill Paris:
https://www.facebook.com/killparis
https://twitter.com/killparis
http://www.soundcloud.com/killparis
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