Oh boy, I feel like it’s this huge thing that if you don’t understand
it you can just get utterly lost and end up hurting yourself as an artist. That being said it can be very useful,there are people out there that just wanna help artists and further their career @Krosstoutmusic
Live Interview
Episode #369 : A.V.A Live Radio Behind The Music with Jacqueline Jax : http://www.blogtalkradio.com/avaliveradio/2016/10/04/episode-369-ava-live-radio-behind-the-music-with-jacqueline-jax
GETTING TO KNOW KROSST OUT
by Jacqueline Jax host of A.V.A Live Radio
Krosst Out
Oh boy, I feel like it’s this huge thing that if you don’t understand
it you can just get utterly lost and end up hurting yourself as an artist. That being said it can be very useful,there are people out there that just wanna help artists and further their career. I think the biggest thing for me is that I’ve just been learning so much of what I need to do, before I get to that point of not knowing what to do. I feel like I’m in no way, shape or form, ready for a record deal or to be signed but I’ve been learning what an artist should do if they are in that position and that helps me to understand a lot of the next steps I need to take and maybe some mistakes to avoid.
A huge con is that my brain tells me I should quit, just go home and give up.
That happens whenever something goes wrong or doesn’t quite work out as planned. My
brain is an asshole. Also, I always like to think that I have a thick skin, and for the most part I do, but every
once in a while someone with just the right comment can break through, and it sort of perturbs you. “Why would you say that?” “Is my music actually that bad?”
Talk about the differences in your marketing strategy to support your preference.
It’s kind of really at the point where singles are better than albums. Instead of focusing on putting albums out its more oriented towards putting singles out. Singles over Albums.
That being said, I’m still all about albums.
I always have been. I’ll listen to singles from artists but I’m always more excited when an artist I dig drops an album. During the past couple months and following, I’ve been doing the singles game. I dropped my first single Contradiction (Issues) July 6th on YouTube to promote LIFEOFTHEPARTY and show my fans that I have been actually working on something. That did pretty well. I was happy with it. Then on August 19th I dropped my second
single Skincrawler, and I’ve just been really promoting it so that can build hype around my EP.
I really like the fact that you are able to connect with your fans
and have real chats with them. Put out opinions and start conversations. I enjoy that there are so many different
platforms to choose from and with that you can build different audiences around your music.
Grandma might not be on instagram, but she’s on Facebook,
and so I can get her to check out my music there. Meanwhile her grandson is on Instagram and I can connect
with him via that platform. It’s so diverse now. An artist can benefit in so many ways by curating a strong social media presence and strategy. I heard it said that you need to choose three. Three social media platforms that
are your strongest and build those the most. For me those three are, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
I think there can be way too much influence on being trendy.
In Toronto, Drake is a huge deal and so a lot of artists wanna jump on the Drake sounding train. Or there’s a
lot of artists that will walk up to producers and say, “gimme a beat that sounds like Metro Boomin”. I think in that sense you can only hurt yourself as an artist. It should be more trendy to be yourself!
In actual fact though, if an artist is real, people feel that.
They feel like this person is actually connecting to them and they treasure that. People see authenticity, and respect it, and that’s what I’m trying to bring out in my music. Being real, not holding back my feelings or just speaking on something that’s actually on my mind and that I’m wrestling with personally. My music is a reflection of me, from punk, rock, hip hop, metal, it’s all there.
To be honest I just power through them.
There’s a lot of times I just wanna quit, but I know that if I did that I would regret it. Music is something I’ve always wanted to do and I haven’t had any other plan for my life other than just doing music so I guess quitting
isn’t really an option.
Well, I have this big problem with authority.
I think it stems from being pushed around a lot as a kid and letting people just take advantage of you, but I really don’t listen to what people say. So when someone says I can’t do something, I feel inclined to go out there
and do it. I also tell that person to not tell me how to live my life. So I just sort of do what I want, within reason, I’m not saying I go out and commit crimes, I just go out and live how I wanna live. It’s really the golden rule type of deal where it’s, “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you”.
My first inclination is to choose Eminem,
just because the guy has been such a huge inspiration for me and my musical development. But if I could choose somebody, I would pick Joe Strummer from The Clash.
I think that man was truly talented and intelligent.
He questioned a lot of what was going on in his time through his music. As he says he liked to cause a lot of chaos, and was good at it, but chaos that was well natured and had a purpose. People like him need to be respected, someone who has such an insight into what life is, or better yet, to see what it could be and speak about it.
He has actually inspired a lot of the way I sing.
By that I mean how I don’t sing. The guy couldn’t really sing to be honest he more or less just yelled, but it worked. It worked in a way that he was popular and made a difference. It worked in a way that he is still loved today through his music and people connect with it. Anytime anyone says “Aaron, you’re not the best singer” I just riddle off a bunch of names of artists who aren’t good singers either. Joe Strummer is of course one of them. I take his approach when I need to sing, I really don’t, I just yell.
I think music has always been in me since day one.
My dad was a rocker when he was my age, playing in bands and that sort of thing. So I grew up listening to groups like Dire Straits, Eric Clapton, The Who, The Police, Led Zeppelin. Those guys. I remember being 12 though and going into a music store and hearing this track by an artist called Flame, and being in love. It was crazy, something I’d never heard before. Then later a friend of mine came over with a CD from an artist called KJ 52 and I went out and bought that CD within the week. That CD was like my holy grail for a long time, it got me started into rapping. I would sit there and just read the lyrics, listen to this guy rap. It was the first kind of music that really connected with me.
Skincrawler
Skincrawler is really about how hard it is for me to communicate
to others what it is I’m feeling, and about how I wish people understood me. I think as an introvert it’s one of
my biggest wishes, that people just got me or understood this thing I’m doing, that thing being music. I know so many people that think I’m crazy for doing music, those people also have nice jobs, families, cars, and food.
Support Artist: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/skincrawler-single/id1141899329
Well, this track is actually the first track I wrote on, way back last year.
The way it came about was that I was working at this trade show downtown and I ended up meeting this
guy by the name of Daniel Salj. We just ended up talking about music and he mentioned he was looking for a hip hop vocalist for some of his tracks. I went on to take Skincrawler and write over it. After a couple months we were hanging out in his basement, recording my vocals and his friend Eric Soto popped by and loved what I was doing, which always is gratifying cause here’s this dope track and then I come in and start wrecking with my words you
know? Eric was the guy that actually ended up producing a lot of the album with his beats after that. So this track just help spawn my whole EP LIFEOFTHEPARTY.
My EP is called LIFEOFTHEPARTY,
essentially the meaning behind this whole concept is that it follows my thought process and sort of stories of growing up in a small town and the parties.
I started writing with this kind of very upset point of view at my hometown,
where all you do there is party really, and everyone there is sort of narrow minded. I thought I could take this concept of how growing up we used to think partying and drinking and being reckless was super cool and just turn that around to show that actually, it can wreck you up. Sure it starts out fun but really what is there? What do you have to show for it? That sort of party lifestyle is glamourized too much nowadays, it’s not really what it’s cracked up to be.
I tried really hard to make LIFEOFTHEPARTY a story,
in a sense, something that you can listen to from start to finish and you understand me a little more. Very raw, but at the same time a journey. I’m really hoping that’s what listeners get out of.
I currently live in Toronto, ON.
I actually moved here because the music scene is just way better than anywhere else I could be at the moment.
It has a very thriving nightlife and music scene, there’s a lot of other artists out there that are doing their own thing and killing it.
I personally love going to sneaky dees,
because of the vibe and the long island ice teas, but there’s some other dope places for music, like Lee’s Palace, and Mod Club.
Social Media Links:
Website: http://www.krosstoutmusic.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Krosstout/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Krosstoutmusic
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChNrTFttdmA2tdUOWli_s5A
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/krosstout/