I know the pose and bike is as hipster as it gets, and the grafiti
background is pretty tacky, but I still quite like this picture!
(Just be happy it's not the one with his sunglasses!)
Click on the picture to see some other shots I took of him!
Sup? Been a while since my last interview, but I'm back with another one, and this one has more goodies than the other ones ever did! Firstly it's got piercing questions with answers that give you an insight into the life of house DJ/producer Lukas Lyrestam, better known as Stupidrichkidz. He's also given us a new free tune to download and dance to! Last goodie is he's done a photoshoot with me. Anyway that's enough chatter from me. Well apart from the when I ask the questions...
So are you really stupid and rich? How did stupidrichkidz start?
The name really should be stupid poor kids, as I never seem to have any money. The name is reflective of the music I play, which is all about indulging yourself without having to worry about careers, money etc. Stupid rich kids just have it too easy!
You seem a bit dare-devil-ish. Most stupid thing you've ever done at a gig?
Two years ago I was playing a new years gig in the Phillipines. At the stroke of midnight a gorgeous french girl snuck into the DJ Booth and gave me a proper snog. The stupid thing about it was probably not finding her afterwards and giving her my number.
What's your musical background and which artists/genres
The name really should be stupid poor kids, as I never seem to have any money. The name is reflective of the music I play, which is all about indulging yourself without having to worry about careers, money etc. Stupid rich kids just have it too easy!
You seem a bit dare-devil-ish. Most stupid thing you've ever done at a gig?
Two years ago I was playing a new years gig in the Phillipines. At the stroke of midnight a gorgeous french girl snuck into the DJ Booth and gave me a proper snog. The stupid thing about it was probably not finding her afterwards and giving her my number.
What's your musical background and which artists/genres
do you gain your inspiration from?
I've been involved with music from a very early age. At school I was very involved with musicals and all sorts of performance related material. It soon led to me pursuing a vocal career singing with the local jazz band/choirs and even a singing competition in Holland. I've been playing guitar for about 8 years now and played in a large number of bands when I was younger. I was a real guitar wanker but couldn't pull off a career in the heavy metal scene with my generic Swedish curls. Recently I've found myself admiring the work of 80's outfits such as The Police, Prince, and Simply Red.
I would describe your music as funky chords with punchy kicks which gives it a really nice, very danceable balance! Is that what you would say you intend to do with your music or am I putting words in your mouth?
That's one way of describing the sort of stuff I do. I fell in love with dance music because of electro but the longer I keep doing it, it becomes more and more important for me that the music is groovy and forward thinking. I love a bit of bang but I'm not going to sacrifice dance-ability for noise. Coming from a deeply harmonic musical background I'm also a big fan of chords, it's the sort of thing that gets the hairs on your neck standing up.
Is there any sort of feeling or 'journey' (as all the djs on the essential mix seem to put it) you want the people on the dance floor to be going through when you play out?
There's a lot of very good music out but often people are too lazy to search for it or don't know where to find it. I feel it's my job to educate these people and show them what they are missing, to stop them polluting their ears with meaningless GaGa Guetta shit. Feeling the general atmosphere of the night I try and push the boundaries of what people know, without alienating the vibe or killing the groove. I'm always keeping an eye on the floor because at the end of the day, dance music is all about enjoying yourself and forgetting about everyday life.
Where would you say the house scene is at right now? As diverse as it is and can be, it doesn't really seem to be catering for people on the heavier end of the bass scale (I personally, am still waiting for a fidget house comeback...) at the moment
Over the last year in particular house music is slowly reinventing itself and drawing influence from soul, jazz, and hip-hop rather then indie, punk, or metal. The large influx of banger inspired music since the rise of electro around 2007/2008 saturated the sound and gave rise to a large number of sub-standard impersonators. Personally I feel America in particular killed electro. Banger fixated culture has slowly made it more important how loud and dirty a track rather than it's general musicality. If you listen to the fathers of the banger sound (Justice, Daft Punk, Digitalism etc) the songwriting comes first, and the bass second. This an aesthetic that I wish more producers would adopt. When people start realizing this we will see a return to high quality bass music.
Another similar development has occured in dubstep. The deep and absorbing sounds of Skream's earlier work and Burials first and second album show a great modesty and acceptability, which is a shame since an exposure to the mainstream has warped dubstep into a noise oriented beast. Characters like Skrillex (whom I'm not a very great fan of) have butchered the original aesthetics of dance music and ruined it's enjoyability by making it a business and not an art.
House, Disco, and Techno in particular are having such a resurgence at the moment because people are rejecting the plastic and often forced sounds of Skrillex, Magnetic Man, Etc. What I personally see happening is labels like Sound Pellegrino, Made To Play and Turbo embracing the best bits of house and disco with elements of the heavier end of the bass scale. This is a movement of which I completely agree with and strive to be part of. Have a listen to my British Summer Mixtape to get what I'm talking about.
I've been involved with music from a very early age. At school I was very involved with musicals and all sorts of performance related material. It soon led to me pursuing a vocal career singing with the local jazz band/choirs and even a singing competition in Holland. I've been playing guitar for about 8 years now and played in a large number of bands when I was younger. I was a real guitar wanker but couldn't pull off a career in the heavy metal scene with my generic Swedish curls. Recently I've found myself admiring the work of 80's outfits such as The Police, Prince, and Simply Red.
I would describe your music as funky chords with punchy kicks which gives it a really nice, very danceable balance! Is that what you would say you intend to do with your music or am I putting words in your mouth?
That's one way of describing the sort of stuff I do. I fell in love with dance music because of electro but the longer I keep doing it, it becomes more and more important for me that the music is groovy and forward thinking. I love a bit of bang but I'm not going to sacrifice dance-ability for noise. Coming from a deeply harmonic musical background I'm also a big fan of chords, it's the sort of thing that gets the hairs on your neck standing up.
Is there any sort of feeling or 'journey' (as all the djs on the essential mix seem to put it) you want the people on the dance floor to be going through when you play out?
There's a lot of very good music out but often people are too lazy to search for it or don't know where to find it. I feel it's my job to educate these people and show them what they are missing, to stop them polluting their ears with meaningless GaGa Guetta shit. Feeling the general atmosphere of the night I try and push the boundaries of what people know, without alienating the vibe or killing the groove. I'm always keeping an eye on the floor because at the end of the day, dance music is all about enjoying yourself and forgetting about everyday life.
Where would you say the house scene is at right now? As diverse as it is and can be, it doesn't really seem to be catering for people on the heavier end of the bass scale (I personally, am still waiting for a fidget house comeback...) at the moment
Over the last year in particular house music is slowly reinventing itself and drawing influence from soul, jazz, and hip-hop rather then indie, punk, or metal. The large influx of banger inspired music since the rise of electro around 2007/2008 saturated the sound and gave rise to a large number of sub-standard impersonators. Personally I feel America in particular killed electro. Banger fixated culture has slowly made it more important how loud and dirty a track rather than it's general musicality. If you listen to the fathers of the banger sound (Justice, Daft Punk, Digitalism etc) the songwriting comes first, and the bass second. This an aesthetic that I wish more producers would adopt. When people start realizing this we will see a return to high quality bass music.
Another similar development has occured in dubstep. The deep and absorbing sounds of Skream's earlier work and Burials first and second album show a great modesty and acceptability, which is a shame since an exposure to the mainstream has warped dubstep into a noise oriented beast. Characters like Skrillex (whom I'm not a very great fan of) have butchered the original aesthetics of dance music and ruined it's enjoyability by making it a business and not an art.
House, Disco, and Techno in particular are having such a resurgence at the moment because people are rejecting the plastic and often forced sounds of Skrillex, Magnetic Man, Etc. What I personally see happening is labels like Sound Pellegrino, Made To Play and Turbo embracing the best bits of house and disco with elements of the heavier end of the bass scale. This is a movement of which I completely agree with and strive to be part of. Have a listen to my British Summer Mixtape to get what I'm talking about.
How do you know the guys from not nice?
During my gap year I spent about 3 or 4 months living in Beijing. After a few pilled up and regrettable nights out I started making buddies with the local dancing music crews. I originally met Tom's sister Alice first but after realizing that we were both DJ's it was love at first sight. I booked him to play Ministry of Sound last September and noticed we are all about that heart-breaker sound.
And finally are there any artists you'd like to introduce to us that deserve the exposure?
Nu-Disco and Future Garage has been making some serious appearances in my cd-case as of late. I'd advise you to check out the warped sounds of Canblaster and the post-dub hype of Evil Nine. But I couldn't end this interview without bigging up the most underrated artist of all time, Siriusmo. This guy makes the most heartfelt and fulfilling music ever.
Big thanks to Stupid Rich Kids for being up for this! Make sure you look at the links bellow for the photoshoot, free music from Stupid Rich Kids as well as his deets especially if you're that gorgeous French that girl he met in the Phillipines!
ciao
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