Christopher Ruskis and Wen-kai Ying are Chris & Kai, the two young producer-DJ hotshots from New York who famously handed a demo to Deep Dish and were immediately signed to their Yoshitoshi house label. Today, the likes of Sasha, John Digweed and Sander Kleinenberg drop their tracks, which blend house, techno, beats, guts and charm. Here’s what Kai has to say before he hits HK for a gig this Friday, December 17.
Q: You kicked off your Asia tour at Club Class in Shenzhen. How was it? A: It was the first time I’ve played in the mainland. It was a blast! You know that kid who grew up with real strict parents and wasn’t allowed to party... and then the kid goes to college, then starts partying like no tomorrow? That just about sums up China’s attitude towards partying! Dance music is about to blow up in China big time. Big ups to DJ Eddie (Nesh project), KK and Joe for having me over and showing me an amazing time.
Q. Speaking of the Chinese, what is your cultural background? A: My parents emigrated to Taipei in 1949 but they feel equal attachments to both China and Taiwan. I think it was tough for them growing up in Taiwan being “outsiders” and being picked on by the other kids whose families had lived there for many generations. I would say that I am Chinese/Taiwanese but culturally American. My parents have been very supportive of my career, which is quite surprising given that most Chinese parents are very conservative with their kids. I think in the beginning they thought it was a passing phase, but once I proved I was very dedicated to being committed to this career, I think they saw my drive and passion and have stood by my ever decision.
Q: How do you compare the Asian clubbing experience to the US and/or Europe? A: The scene here in Asia has a great, fresh energy compared to the US/European scene. For many Asian club-goers, I think the music is still a bit new to them so there is less judgement and more enjoyment of it. For instance, with a musically educated city like New York, the drawback is that you’ll see a lot of the crowd just kinda standing there, with arms folded and almost asking, “Impress me! You better be good.” Getting these people to dance is a bit like trying to light a fire with ice cubes… So far in Asia, the resident Djs and managers I’ve met at the clubs are very cool people who are dedicated to sharing this music. I’ve noticed that the Asian promoters know how to market this music very well, with cool flyers, flash e-mail invites, radio show/TV show tie-ins, magazine ads, etc. It’s quite exciting to see dance music being promoted in this way. In the US, this is far from reality so I’m quite envious of what you guys have here! I will say the one thing though: I’d love to see the Asian dance scene do is to start embracing their own kind when it comes to DJ talent.
Q: How did you meet Chris? A: We met through a mutual friend. We were both producing tracks and she thought our sounds could be compatible. Sure enough, things did work out very well and over a few tokes from the peace pipe our partnership and friendship was forged. It was funny because the way our friend introduced the other one, we both were thinking, “Oh boy, another joker who thinks he’s a producer.” But after we heard each other’s tracks, we were down to start working together.
Q: On paper, the formation of Chris&Kai and your signing to the Yoshitoshi label seemed so easy and fast. What's the real story of your earlier days and getting started? A: Hehe, the full REAL story will stay a secret. I will say: Even before I met Chris, I was going to every single Deep Dish gig so I could to pass them my CDs. The key moment was handing Dubfire two CDs at their HMV appearance in NYC. At this point, I didn’t expect to hear back since I’d given them SO MANY CDs already, and it was 2 weeks away from the Winter Music Conference. The night before we left for it, I Sharam e-mailed: “The ‘Suffocation’ track is amazing. Is it still available for signing?” And that’s how everything began with Yoshitoshi. One thing that really helped was having the same logo on everything. Our logo is the Chinese word for East. I think that made the CDs very recognizable and almost all the Djs I know remember the logo well.
Q: You have a history of music via the piano (like a good Asian kid?!). How did you subsequently get into producing and DJing? A: In high school, I studied at the Juilliard School of Music but honestly, I’m not a good musician. I think my ear was always more interested in composition of some sort. My parents bought me a keyboard in high school, which introduced me to the basics of sequencing and multi-tracking production. I began to realize how to actually go about making songs such as the ones I heard on the radio. My mom had a nice collection of ’70s records that I listened to as a kid. The disco and soul music left a very deep impression on me and ever since then, I always preferred music with a strong beat and bassline. My urge to do my own music came from the fact that music on the radio was cool but didn’t have punchy drums and phat bass. Then once I encountered dance music, my whole world changed. “Prodigy – the Experience” was the album that changed my entire life.
Q: If you hadn’t found such early success in music, what would you be doing today? A: Probably working at a branding consulting firm or media company (but it would probably still be related to the music business!). I’m very into media and marketing because it’s all a mind game: The whole idea of supply and demand for a pop culture product. It’s a never-ending flow of energy that I’m very drawn to. It’s very much like DJ-audience interaction in the club: a dialogue between two sides of the same coin but yet both cannot exist without the either. This is very much along the lines of Taoist philosophy. As a side note, my production company is called EP Productions, AKA Eastern Philosophy productions, because I am very into Eastern philosophies of Zen, Taoism and Buddhism.
Q: What’s the difference between Chris&Kai and your other alias, Naboombu? A: The primary difference is who leads the direction. Naboombu reflects more of Chris’ personal tastes in production and these tracks are built much more strongly for the club as his background is built around a stompier techno sound and rock/breaks. The Chris & Kai project is a platform where both him and I try to make club tracks that still pass for listening music outside the club setting. Even though our tracks are labeled “progressive house”, I don’t really agree with that term. We do have a “progressive” approach to making our music but I think our tracks don’t really sound like a lot of other “progressive house” tracks out there. I am also putting out some tracks and remixes under my own name Kai, which is a strong reflection my DJ style. I feature two of my new tracks on an upcoming mix I made for Digweed’s Kiss FM show. One is my remix of “Medway – Resurrection” and the other is a remix of “UDG – New Generations.”
Q: You guys delve into the worlds of both electronica and hip-hop. What’s the deal with that? A: The hip-hop projects stemmed from my interest in soul and R&B. I love early hip-hop, back when it was fresh and cutting-edge. Nowadays its basically the new pop music but there is a lot of amazing fresh stuff coming out from France (Saian Supa Crew). NYC is the capital of hip-hop and R&B so I figured we should give it a shot and try to make some extra dime. I actually still work on hip-hop beats here and there and I’m working on shopping these out so we’ll how it goes. I was inspired by what The Neptunes had done in hip-hop. I think Chad Hugo is the one who does a lot of their production (Pharrell does more of the songwriting) and so The Neptunes sound is actually the sound of Asian hip-hop! We actually worked on a set of tracks with an artist (Walt Anderson aka Bless) who was on MTV’s “Making of the Band.” The project hasn’t gone anywhere yet, but we learned A LOT about major label production and business.
Q: Compared to when you guys first started out, how has your output and the scene changed on both a producing and DJing level? A: We started working together in 2002 and as we always take a lot of time to work on our tracks, we are far from being prolific producers. But now that we’ve gotten the Chris & Kai project name out there, we are both starting to push our own side projects (Naboombu and my solo work) since its faster to work alone. We’ve got plenty stuff in the works to keep Chris & Kai alive but we are waiting to see where mp3s are going before we try to put them out because we may just end up saving it all for an album project. It’s very discouraging to work so hard on a track and to sell it for peanuts. In the meantime, my aim is to DJ a lot more because it’s the reason why I got involved in the scene in the first place. The scene right now is moving back into the live performance aspect and I feel we are in a transition phase while the kinks in the industry are being worked out.
Q: If we visited New York next week, where could/would we find you? A: Not to sound boring, but honestly, we are both in the studio most of the time! I am a bit of a workaholic. However, you could probably find me at some small anonymous lounge downtown with my friends just drinking and hanging out. I actually have a passion for eating (even though I look like a stick) and having dinner with friends is very important to me. In terms of clubs, we just opened for Sander Kleinenberg at Crobar last month and there is a good chance we’ll play there again. We’ve also played at Sullivan Room, which is one of the best venues for house music in NYC, and another club called Discoteque.
Q: When you come to HK, what are 3 things you’re itching to do here? A: Eat the food, meet the girls, and have a great time taking it all in!
Kai of Chris & Kai spins this Friday, December 17 at 1/5 (Starcrest, 9 Star Street, Wan Chai; 2520 2515) from 10pm on. Entry is free.
