So what are the things in technology that you look for and inspires you to create, work, and even think about the future in terms of creating your own hardware?
I just love technology. I obviously like techno music, and that kind of music for me was always something that looks in the future and is connected with technology, so what I like with technology and the future is that I don’t know what to expect. I cannot answer. I’m not looking forward to something specific and that’s what I like about the future and technology, I want to be surprised. That makes me excited, what’s new, what is going to come, I’m curious. And then of course I’m also into old technology. I like to discover old units and platforms. If we speak about new things in the future I’m excited to be surprised and if we speak about the old platforms and technology, I’m looking for a very simple kind of devices. As for example you can find a box with only couple of knobs, where each knob performs only one function. This is something very basic and I really like the idea of making music out of nothing.
Earlier you mentioned your friend Neville Watson and now we spoke about Sierra Sam, which other artist would you collaborate with on a big scale project?
Right now I want to take two directions for the new year. First of all, I want to focus more on my own music, because in the last couple of year I had a lot of music partners like Sammy and Marc Romboy from Germany, also a good friend, we did a lot of records together, Neville as well. I want to continue my collaborations with these friends who are almost like my family now, but I want to focus more on my music.
If we speak about future collaborations I’d like to work with new talents from Bulgaria, unknown people. I know a lot of people form my country that have talent but don’t have the means for exposure. I’d rather work with that kind of person instead of finding somebody that is already famous.
Can you name some of them?
I’d love to do more things with my friend Nick Nikolov, who is now based in London but is originally form Sofia. He is a very talented young producer. I want to collaborate closely also with a good friend of mine who is currently totally unknown. His name is Konstantin Petrov and he hasn’t released any music but is just a DJ. Actually he is the guy who showed me how to make music many years ago, but unfortunately he is in it just for fun, not doing it professionally, even though he’s a total music enthusiast. But for all these years we managed to keep in touch and lately we meet more and more often and we have many new ideas which I can’t reveal yet, but we are working in a couple of directions together. Lastly I’d like to collaborate more with my other label fellows from Porno BPM. Basically the goal is to manage to represent them internationally, and if I’m able to invite them to events internationally that would be great.
Speaking of Bulgaria, you travel all around the world and see all kinds of scenes, clubs, cultures and to most people Bulgaria has always been a question mark. Do you try to create awareness about our country even though it does not have much to offer in terms of electronic music?
Yes of course. Recently a friend of mine was joking that I’m the Bulgarian minister of techno culture. I represent Bulgaria and not only in terms of electronic music, I’m some sort of a messenger and try to make a good impression and represent my country in the best possible way. Often people ask me what’s the scene like there? Unfortunately there is not much to show. It was very strong in the 90s like everywhere in Easter Europe. Because after the political changes we were very hungry for Western culture, and electronic music was a big part of that. From early, mid and late 90s electronic music was kind of exploding, but now things somehow came “back to normal”. We don’t have that long tradition of this genre like the UK and France for example.
The explosion was in the 90s, now its back to normal but still slowly picking up again which is happening more natural and I definitely have hope for the future. So in conclusion to this question I’d like to say that maybe there is not much to see in the clubs but there is a lot to see in general in cities like Sofia, Plovidv, Varna… Just beautiful cities with really nice people and what I find interesting is that you can listen to really cool local acts which you can find at some small venues.
But this is something you really need to look for and especially hard without knowing locals.
Yes, but that’s the thing there, you make friends very quickly and within a week you can already know all the right places. We like foreigners. I totally recommend anyone to come and visit us. Sofia is not Berlin yet but we have still a lot of things to offer.
Your name in Bulgarian literally means to “awake fear in others, to provoke respect”.
That’s right, it’s a really strange name. I used to like it when I was a kid (the meaning), but now I’m a very soft and positive person and the way you explain my name is very correct, but I’m not really sure that it fits with my personality.
But then in relation to that how do you feel about being called the Bulgarian phenomenon almost everywhere in the press?
I don’t want to make a compliment to myself but very often when I finish playing the next artist asks me “Okay what can I play now after you?”. I play in a very dynamic way and what I do is very interactive and even if the music is not that good I try to make the best out of it of course, but even if people don’t like the music they like the show. So in a situation like that maybe my name fits. (laughs)
If I have to be serious I get a lot of compliments about my music lately and I can say that I’m really happy because it was my dream to do what I do. Now that I’m doing it professionally all the compliments I get make me go on and go crazier and experiment more so this is good. If you are not so secure you are maybe afraid to take risks. I am now completely free, I can do whatever I want.
So there are no limits for KiNK?
No, no the only problem is there are only 24 hrs per day and you have to sleep once in a while. Other than that no limits.
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