Los Angeles, CA-based band KNOWER is playing a show at The Middle East Upstairs on March 27 on their tour across the United States. KNOWER is composed of Louis Cole and Genevieve Artadi. The two started making music together in 2009 and gained most of their notoriety from YouTube collaborations with Jack Conte and Nataly Dawn of Pomplamoose, along with other videos that have gone viral online.
Q: Are there any major influencers in your music style and in your distinctive visual style?
A: Oh yeeeeaaaahhh a ton of music. Miles Davis, Tony Williams, Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Skrillex, Ligeti, James Brown, Jimmy McGriff, The Beatles, Mozart, Bach, Debussy, Beach Boys, Aydin Esen, Starfox, Jim Black, Mario Kart, Chopin, Boards of Canada, Steve Cole, Clint Bazz, Mahavishnu Orchestra, MAX and the Lark, Stereolab, Nate Wood, Thom Gil, Spencer Cole, and like a hundred others. Also we like how the movie Tron looks, and 2001 Space Odyssey (the while thing, but that end scene is so searing), Prometheus, Under The Skin, and cool movies like that. And Nintendo vibes.
Q: Is there anything that changes within the process of performing songs in a YouTube video to performing music for a live audience?
A: Usually live we know the song better now that we already made it (event though live versions usually have some extra special different stuff in it). Also having a room of people screaming and singing along makes it cooler.
Q: Which part of making music is the most difficult for you?
A: When you know a song is going to be really sick, but it’s not good yet and you don’t really know why, and you’re going nuts trying to get it to that dream-level that’s in your head. Sometimes you figure it out in 1 hour and sometimes it takes a year of thinking about it and working on it and stuff.
Q: Your music is most widely known within the context of being a “YouTube musician,” especially with collaborations with Jack Conte. Have you embraced that association, or are you actively trying to distance yourselves from that sort of labeling?
A: We haven’t heard people call us a “YouTube band” for a while, and it doesn’t feel like we’re limited to just YouTube or anything. We definitely do everything ourselves, and we definitely use YouTube as a way to get our music out to the world. But we’re just KNOWER and we’re just trying to create the best music we can.
Q: What kind of music do you like to listen to casually?
A: Damn it I should’ve brought my iTunes. There’s a LOT. Listing to Lush the other day and Nobukazu Takemura, Shai Golan, Tony Williams Lifetime…
Q: Is there anything you’d like to add about the show?
A: With all the music and the visuals and all the everything, we’ve spent over 12,000+ hours working on this show and it’s going to be insane.