TALKING INDONESIAN HISTORY AND ROBOTS WITH ROY EL KEI

Roy El Kei has without a doubt established himself as one of Holland’s most prominent rising stars within the techno scene. His music reflects his attention to detail in the studio. It therefore comes as no surprise that he is signed to respected labels such as Bush Records, Rhythm Converted, Bush Records, Recode Musik Records and Marco Bailey’s MB Elektronics

He recently toured throughout Asia and Australia. In The Netherlands he performs at popular venues including Studio 80, Westerunie & Factory 10 and major events such as “I Am Techno” to Wildness Festival, Solar Festival, Chateau Techno and Kingsland. Roy El Kei has become a permanent fixture in the global touring techno elite.In Since 2009 he has been instrumental in organizing and performing at a highly successful event called DEEP. The list of artists who have participated at DEEP includes Marco Bailey, Ben Sims, Gary Beck, Cari Lekebusch, Steve Rachmad, Egbert, Secret Cinema, Tom Hades, The Advent and Industrialyzer, Slam, Mark Broom all of whom are well known nationally and internationally. At the same time he has organized underground events called DEEP UNDERGROUND in a warehouse. These alternative events have contributed towards the popularity of techno music in his hometown, Zwolle.

From the very beginning DEEP has been hosted at Hedon, a popular and vibrant venue known for having one of the best sound systems in The Netherlands

First thing we noticed after stalking you online for a while is you must have Indonesian heritage, live in Indonesia or atleast like to go shopping alot in Bandung? Tell us some more about your background? Where your from and what your ties are to Indonesia?
My grandfather was a KNIL military in the second world war and have fight for the dutch government. They grow up in the south east of Maluku. Island called Kei Besar. It’s a long story with a lot of lies from the Dutch government. You can find the whole store on internet. My father was born in the jews camp in Holland called Westerbork. We went several times back to Indonesia to visit our family. I have a lot of family living Kei, Ambon, Makassar, Jakarta, Bandung and Yogya.

Have you been to Bali before? What have you heard about the clubbing scene in Bali? The events, festivals and the crazy late night techno sessions?

I have been in Bali 5 times now. I know the scene a little bit. I have played in 2011 in the Dejavu and it was really good. Played some Deep/Techhouse that genre wasn’t really big in that time in Indonesia. I heard some good stories about the Koh and also the Jenja. Never been there before.

Do you intend to spend some time in the studio working with other artists while your in Indonesia and more specifically Bali? Are there anything your not telling us about some other local artists that we should know about ?
Normally I work alone in the studio and talk a lot with other techno producers about making music in the studio. At the moment there are a lot of great young producers in Holland and the level is really high now. In Indonesia i have met Glenn Fredly and Nicky Manuputty those guys are really good.

Whats your current set up in your studio at home vs what your working with while your travelling and how do you make them work as one ?
I have a lot of outboard gear at the moment combined with some hardware synths and vst’s. For example speakers PMC TwoTwo8, UBK Fatso Compressor, Tubetech Summing mixer, Elektron Analog Rytm and many more. I make music on my laptop and mix it later on in my studio.

We noticed you are pluggin a project called Creators and Machines Vol 3. Can you tell us more what that is about , the artists involved and who’s behind it?
I have a good relationship with Marco Bailey and the artists on the Creators and Machines Vol 3 are all great producers and a lot of big names in the scenes are playing their tracks.

Your Dutch correct? Hows the scene going out your way? The clubs? Do you find Techno is strictly a underground vibe around your hood or its reaching out to a much wider audience?
Yes i’m Dutch/Maluku, the scene is really big at the moment. In the summer you have more then 500 festivals. I don’t know how many but there are some many festivals that you can go to at least 5 at one day. Techno is really populair at the moment and a lot of people are going to events all over the country. I give an event called DEEP now for 6 years at Hedon in Zwolle Holland. Gary Beck is coming 14th of nov and 26 dec we have Cari Lekebusch. You can find us on FB DEEPzwolle.

https://soundcloud.com/royelkei

What have been some of the highlight shows for you in 2016 and what made them stand out both at home and overseas and how do they differ?
The best gig I had was at DEEP and played a closing set and everybody went completely crazy. That was a really amazing moment.

We love new music and discovering new artists. Can you give us your 3 favourite tunes from artists that most people in Bali would not of discovered yet and how you found your love for these artists?
I have been in Maluku now for 2 weeks without any internet. Ramon Tapia made a awesome EP on Bedrock, Loco & Jam are also amazing producers and they release a lot of amazing tracks at the moment. Oliver Lieb – Dynamo is a wicked track!

Whats your golden collaboration if you had any wish granted? The studio set up, the artists , the label and the surroundings?
I think working together with Reset Robot would be my golden collaboration. Because he is making a lot of stuff for other artists.