Click Here To Watch The Live Interview: https://youtu.be/6OZl_IJADd8
Toronto-based, Chinese-Canadian EDM duo Alex Kade will make their live performance debut with five performance videos featuring EDM mixes accompanied by live drumming, guitar solos, keyboards, and vinyl scratching, by releasing one per week on their YouTube channel starting September 25th, 2020.
Preceding the videos is the release of their debut single “Found.”, on September 18th, 2020. “Found.” follows up the back-to-back releases of official Alex Kade remixes for two TikTok stars – Emily Vu’s “WEEKEND” on July 3rd, 2020, and Tray Little’s “Mask On” on August 14th, 2020.
Combining DJ and producer Alex a.k.a. DR3A (Andrea Chow), session drummer and producer KADE (Kenneth Wong), a desire to write music within all subgenres of EDM, and an unconventional approach to performing EDM, Alex Kade’s sound and performance bring a fresh view to the EDM of today. “We’re tired of DJs just chilling behind the board at multi-million dollar festivals.” says KADE. “We’re going to change that.”
What inspired you guys to pursue music?
Alex: For me, my father is pretty musical. He produces music and plays guitar, so I grew up with the musical knowledge. And I took piano lessons, of course. I also had a fascination with poetry – I loved reading and writing poetry. Eventually I learned how to play the guitar online, and by putting my songwriting with the guitar chords I was able to write music. From there, I got into electronic music production and producing in Ableton. Then I got curious in the performance side as well, which led me to the journey of DJing.
Kade: For me, like many Asian children, I was put into piano lessons as a kid. I picked up drumming when I was 12 because of the video game Rock Band. In high school, I was picked up by a Chinese pop band, and that was the first instance of me making money with music. I didn’t know that was possible, and when I found out it was possible – the rest is history.
Can you tell us a little something about each of you?
Kade: I really like dinosaurs.
(cue awkward silence + awkward look from Alex)
Alex: I don’t really like dinosaurs, but I like aliens because I think they’re pretty cool…
What is it like being in a duo?
Alex: It’s…a’ight.
(Kade let’s out a scream of pain in the vocal register of a 5 year-old girl)
Alex: Just kidding! It’s pretty awesome – Kade is pretty cool. He works so hard. I’ve known him for like almost 14 years now. We’ve always liked the same type of music and our values are similar, so we vibe really well.
Kade: Honestly, it’s freaking awesome to work with Alex. I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a band, but it’s literally the worst experience when you’re trying to get a rehearsal together with 4 or 5 bandmates with their different schedules. Like when you’re trying to organize a movie date with 4 or 5 of your friends – it’s such a mission! But when you’re working with just one person, especially with someone as organized as Alex? It’s so much easier.
How would you describe your musical style as a duo?
Alex: EDM.
(awkward silence)
(awkward silence)
(awkward silence)
Kade: We just love producing and mixing so many different styles of EDM. My favourites are Future Bass and Trap.
Alex: Yeah! I love dubstep, trap, pretty much anything.
Kade: There’s just so much to love in this genre.
What artists do you guys look up to right now?
Kade: Illenium, Marshmello, The Chainsmokers….I love Kanye. Brockhampton is a pretty big one for me.
Alex: Electronic music-wise, I love Rezz, Alison Wonderland, deadmau5, JOYRYDE, Jax Jones, Diplo…there’s just too many.
What’s the meaning of the name “Alex Kade”?
Alex: I’M ALEX.
Kade: I’M KADE.
Alex: ALEX…
Kade:…KADE
You guys just released your new single!! How excited are you guys to get this song out into the world?
Kade: We actually wrote this back in November of 2019 and finished it in January, and a lot of the music that we’ve been making recently – I honestly like it a lot more. But everyone who’s hearing “Found.” now – they’re all loving it, and I’m boggled that something we wrote so early in our journey is being loved by so many people. We’re just going to keep pushing it out and hopefully it’ll keep doing well!
What do you hope your supporters will think of the new song?
Alex: Hopefully they love it. So far, I’ve gotten so much great feedback in my DMs and in the comments of our videos, and we’re just so thankful. We also released these music videos on YouTube that go along with our debut, and one of them almost hit 1 000 views in the first day, which is insane to us.
Can you tell us how this song came about and the meaning of the song?
Kade: We really wanted our debut single to show off what we’re about, so we just mashed up our favourite EDM genres and put it into a song. “Found.” is basically a representation of us finally finding our sound, finally figuring out what to do and how to do it in the music industry, and also just failing so much and learning so many lessons to find the right ways to do things in this setting.
Are there any other projects in the works you can tell us about?
Alex: We’re always working on new mixes, new videos, new music, and new content for you guys.
Kade: We’ve got all these collaborations too, with all these different artists. None of them really venture in the EDM world, so the stuff that you’re going to be hearing – it’s going to be pretty unique.
Why do you think social media is so important for artists today?
Alex: To talk to our fans, DUH.
Kade: That really is it. We’ve met and talked to so many of our fans and followers that they’re honestly becoming friends and family to us. It’s amazing to think that all these people from Russia, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Mexico…so many different people from so many different places are reaching out to us, and they like our music.
What social media platform do you use most to stay connected to your fans?
Alex: We use instagram 🙂 You can find us @AlexKadeMusic. My personal instagram is @djdr3a.
Kade: I’m @MusicByKADE on Instagram. I’m also on TikTok (@MusicByKADE) – I post some pretty stupid stuff.
Alex: And we’re also on YouTube! YouTube.com/AlexKadeMusic
How do you want your relationship to be with your fans?
Alex: Real. I love seeing how fans connect with our music.
Kade: I just want to talk to all of them and say thank you. I want to make sure they know we love them, we appreciate them, and I want to give back to them in music and entertainment, the amount of energy and support they give us.
What’s an average day like for you guys?
Alex: A typical day is wake up, exercise, make breakfast, write a list of things to get done (ie: practicing, recording new mixes/content, brainstorming ideas, editing audio/video). By the evening, we just chill so we can regain our energy for tomorrow.
Do you have any last things you want to tell your supporters?
Alex: You guys are so amazing, and we genuinely thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all the support and love. It’s a fun ride and we’re just so thankful.
Kade: We love you guys. Thank you so much!
