Kyle Shortman and Adam Reckseit started off their music careers as separate acts. After deciding to work on a collaboration together, they realized that their individual strengths complimented each other in a way that could not be ignored. Adam having been DJ’ing for years and Kyle doing the same with production, they banded together, using their respective strengths to create Out of State.
Out of State’s purpose in making music is simple. It is to make great dance music and play stunning live shows that everyone can enjoy. Their dreams are to travel the world and play their music for crowds of people everywhere. Out of State wants to continue their steady progression towards becoming a Globally recognizable act in dance music.
In this exclusive podcast interview, we chat with Out of State about the new project, surviving in a digital world and more.
Full Q&A audio along with transcription available below.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Email | RSS
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.)
Well first we just wanted to say thanks for the opportunity. it really means a lot as an artist trying to make a name for yourself in such a saturated market place these days. it really does mean a lot so we really appreciate it.
So myself and my partner Adam are both from North Jersey (just west of New York City) but we actually didn’t meet until a few years ago at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee where we both go to school for audio production.
I think our style of music is very unique just because we pull from so many different genres of electronic music. I think a lot of times you’ll see a lot of genre blending with electronic music whether it be future bass with progressive house or trap with dubstep and I think thats being done a lot these days but something that we do thats unique and something thats unique about our style of music that we create is that we don’t just pull from two or three genres, I think we pull from as many different genres as we can in each one of our productions to really just create this new blended sound of electronic music.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to stay the course?
So I think what got Adam and I started making electronic music and ultimately creating this project Out Of State was the fact that we were introduced to dance music at really young ages like 11, 12, early teenage years. We both just talk about how amazed we were by the sound from it, and how it instantly became our favorite type of music. Back then whether it be 10 years ago or so, dance music was nothing like it is today and not even close to as popular. We really just fell in love with it and then we had this desire to make that kind of music. we were both very musical people growing up and I remember we sometimes talk about the first time we opened up a DAW (We’re logic users) and the first time we opened up logic it just seemed like the possibilities were endless.
Well as far as what keeps us motivated and what keeps us working hard with Out Of State is that I think Adam and I just talk about a lot how we just have this desire to strive for something great. Its as simple was that, we really aren’t 9-5 workday kind of guys, thats just not appealing to us. Also, I think a really important part of it for both of us is that we started Out Of State and our entire musical journey from the ground up. We really came into it knowing nothing and we’re learning more and more each day. We want to make a name for ourselves because we want to show other up and coming musicians and musicians that are just getting started on their journey that this is something that you can do with your life; this is a possibility for you if you work really hard and you give it your all and I think thats a message that we really want to spread to people.
How is your new release different than previous ones? Did you set out to accomplish anything specific?
One of the ways that our latest release, our Never Forget You Remix, is different than some of our other releases is that we’ve really been making a lot of hard earned investments in our music in general and our equipment so we had a lot of new tools to be working with on this song. I think because of that, it had a different, almost more professional sound than our previous tracks. We loved the vocal when we heard it, I remember Adam heard the song on the radio and he instantly texted me saying “You gotta check this song out the vocals are incredible”. I instantly wanted to make a remix of it, so we got the acapella track. We quickly realized that a lot of DJs had already made plenty of remixes of it so it was definitely a risk going after this track because there was already so many remixes of it out there but we wanted to try something different and I think we really achieved that. I think that our remix doesn’t sound like any of the other ones out there, so we’re really proud of it.
Do you face any challenges as an indie musician in a digital age? On the flip side, how has technology helped you (if it has)?
I think the biggest challenge that up and coming artists have these days, especially with the digital age and everything, is really just standing out. I think because music production has become so much more available for cheaper, that there is a much greater number of people trying to make a name for themselves in the music industry and therefore its become a lot more saturated and a lot harder for upcoming musicians to separate themselves from the abundance of music out there. Now on the flip side of that there are a lot of positives. Its become really easy in our observations to organize everything in our studio and also a huge thing is being able to communicate and build relationships with people from long distances. I think that is really important when you’re trying to make a name for yourself and the digital age has really made that a lot easier for artists.
Where can we follow you online and hear more music?
Yeah so we’re on Soundcloud (thats really our main hub for our music) and we also just launched our youtube channel so subscribe to us on there and we’re also on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Anything else before we sign off?
Lastly, we just wanted to say thanks to Middle Tennessee Music, and thanks for tuning in. We got tons of new music on the way and we’re hoping to announce shows in the Nashville area soon so follow us on social media and stay tuned!
