Bondax and Karma Kid epitomise the DIY ethos – young, home grown talent who’ve shot through to the Mainstream with nothing more than a computer and great music. We had a chat with them to find out what being a DIYer is all about…

 

Firstly, you guys are fairly young compared to most producers, which is a big trend at the moment. Why do you think this is?

Bondax:

It’s simple – it’s much easier to make music nowadays than even five years ago due to the way technology is developing. We heard there was a child in China who was playing a Kaos pad in the womb, mad potential!

What were the milestones to getting where you are today?

Karma Kid:

My first Radio 1 play was the main milestone for me so far, as it kind of made me and my parents realise where I was heading in terms of a career.

We’ve named individuals like yourselves ‘DIYers’ does this resonate with you?

Karma Kid:

It’s interesting because although we may be seen as DIYers, it feels like we’ve got it pretty easy. It’s so easy to get your music out there with the internet, and with the right messages and emails – it’s very easy to promote yourself.

A common term associated with DIYers is ‘bedroom producer’ – what does this mean to you?

Bondax:

If it’s about where you make your music then I’m pretty sure many of the people we all see as big producers could be named bedroom producers nowadays.

Karma Kid:

If you wanted to produce music in the 80s-90s you had to invest in a lot of studio equipment, but now I can literally just lie in bed on Ableton in the morning before I get up, which is pretty weird really…

Do you see parallels with DIYers in other fields?

Karma Kid:

Whenever I’ve had photo shoots, they’ve always been from young freelancers – they’re young and they love what they do, they put in a lot more effort to make a good job of the photos and they always come out looking great.

Bondax:

I guess we’re all working with similar intentions doing what we love. We’re all trying to be original and create something new while at the same time we work through similar means to get there.

As ‘bedroom producers’ you’re limited by the equipment you use – how does this affect your creativity?

Bondax:

Being limited can sometimes be a great thing as you have to do the best with what you’ve got instead of just alright with a trillion little things.

Karma Kid:

When I was younger I would blame my bad productions on a lack of the right plugins or hardware, but it’s only as I’ve matured that I’ve come to realise that you don’t actually need much at all to make good music. I know that myself and a lot of other producers just use laptops, monitors, headphones and keyboard to make music and it’s all relatively cheap. I don’t think there’s much more you need as a bedroom producer.

Check out Bondax and Karma Kid:

http://soundcloud.com/bondax

http://soundcloud.com/karmakidmusic