RB Exclusive Interview: Kove On Starting Nightfires

We had the chance to speak with the superbly versatile producer/DJ Kove recently, who filled us in on the making of his last EP “Nightfires Vol.2” – a collection we’re still thoroughly enjoying.

You’ve just completed and released your next “Nightfires” EP. What prompted the ideas for this one in the first place? 

Nightfires” has been an opportunity for me to release the music I’m digging at the moment. I’d ended up in a situation over the last 18 months where I just wasn’t content with the music I was writing or putting out, or the direction I was heading in. So I took some time, reassessed, and decided to put these EPs out my own way. I wanted to go darker, more club-ready, be a bit more selfish with the musical decisions I was making. Plus I love the format of the EP. It’s less defined than the album, but gives you the option to experiment much more than a standard A /AA single.

Do you feel you have to look for fresh inspiration or does it just seem to find you? 

I think inspiration as a whole is a very hard thing to quantify. I wouldn’t say you can actively go looking for it, rather I think living day-to-day becomes your inspiration, whether it’s something you’ve heard, something you’ve watched, something you’ve experienced… However if I do get stuck, I tend to find just leaving music totally alone for a while gets the juices flowing again. It seems counter-intuitive, but really works for me.

Do you have a particular track on “Vol.2” that you enjoyed making the most? 

I’d have to say “Bring Me Life.” It’s got a bit of a loose rock’n’roll swagger about it which I’m proud of, because getting that feel in the world of quantisation and the grid can be quite taxing. Working with Jonny Fears on it was a great experience, too. In dance music you tend to work with singers cut from a certain cloth, so to get in with someone from a totally different world is always fun, and he nailed it.

You have the incredible ability to switch seamlessly between genres. If you could only choose one to keep producing in, what would it be? 

It’s a tough call, but I’d have to say drum & bass. It’s the genre that really got me into electronic music wholeheartedly, plus I think the scope for sound and experimentation is so wide, it’s always exciting to see what you can come up with. 

How has this summer been for you in terms of live shows? Do you find festival crowds a good gauge for new material? 

This summer has been different for me. Through circumstance I’d given myself the summer off, which creatively has been fantastic. Last year I spent so long on the road, I ended up only writing about 2 or 3 tunes, which just wasn’t good enough. It’s different for everyone but I just can’t write when I’m away from home so by the time you’ve recovered from the weekend and got back into production gear, another flight/festival has rolled around. So this summer I’ve been burrowed away, writing as much music as I can, which has been a treat.

On the topic of festivals being a good gauge? I think so, crowds at festivals often aren’t there to see you exclusively, so if you can get someone going who has no idea who you are, the tunes are probably on the right track.

Thanks, Kove! Grab “Nightfires Vol.2” here. 

Connect with Kove: Facebook | Twitter | Soundcloud