In this interview spotlight, I chat with Trace Kotik about the latest release challenges, technology and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
I’m from a small village 30 minutes north of Tel Aviv. I create music to ease the body and to trick the mind, somewhat simple, somewhat grand, yet tender and rough. I know that it’s contradicting but so is life most of the time. Anyway, I sort of love being misunderstood because it makes me see other things in people and myself that i
wouldn’t have seen if i was immediately understood. I also love distortion and clean acoustic sounds, and drums.
What led you down this path of music and what mo9vates you to keep going?
Music has always been around me family-wise, my late grandma used to sing in a choir and my dad was a big 70’s-80’s prog rock fan. I took guitar lessons from when I was ten until the end of high-school, which was about the same time i started singing and writing, of course coming from having crushes, heartbreak, and to impress the
ladies and what not.Shows keep me going, every time i go on to perform I’m being reminded of that; that outburst of energy that just can not happen anyway else, shooting light out of yourself and into the universe to see how the universe replies. Even though sometimes it’s quiet, mostly it isn’t and that’s globally endearing to me, the best feeling on earth.
How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?
This album was my first true LP release, in the past i had bands releasing stuff but in order to release this one properly i erased the former releases from existence. These songs are largely the age of a big kid- some were written when i was still in high school, before i even had a roman@c rela@onship. I grew and changed and so did
they, and i love them deeply.I actually tried to break the Guinness World Record for longest album title, but couldn’t afford to buy the right to break the record or something like that. On paper I broke it.
Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this over saturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?
Well, you said it yourself, oversatura@on and ever growing markets aren’t helpful to newcomers, online and social marketing really helped me to reach people that wouldn’t have probably heard me anywhere else but through the web in some way or another.
What was the last song you listened to?
Tiny Dancer by Elton John.
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
Vinyl yes, CDs yes, MP3 no.
How about this one…. Do you prefer Spo9fy? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
Bandcamp. The Money goes straight to the artist, their fee is reasonable, and you get the actual file of the music, without the audio damage of streaming services. Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music? Instagram i guess, but also mail, facebook, in person, you know, wherever i may roam.
Anything else before we sign off?
I wish to tour everywhere, so hit me up if you want to see a show. Hope you enjoyed reading.
