Leftwing & Kody Interview

Bursting onto the house scene in 2012, dynamic duo Leftwing & Kody celebrated their first twelve months with a DJ Mag nomination for Best Breakthrough DJ. This auspicious start has never let up, the pair courted by leading labels including Hot Creations, VIVa, Knee Deep In Sound, Suara and MadTech, as well as setting up their own Lost label, home to friends including Darius Syrossian, Max Chapman and Josh Butler. Throw in a regular Rinse FM show and you begin to understand their meteoric rise.

Head of their Lost Record showcase this Friday July 15th, where the pair are joined by label mates Nathan Barato, Pawsa and more (tickets here), we found out how their overnight success was actually the result of years of grafting...

You only formed Leftwing & Kody in 2012 so it's been an amazing four years for you both. What were you doing before that? How long had you been DJing and producing for long?

We had been producing together for about two years before the L&K project started and before that we were producing solo stuff too. It’s been a great journey so far and we hope it continues.

Did you meet while DJing? Where was it and how did you know there was potential for doing something together?

Yes, we met while playing on the London circuit at a club in Vauxhall. We hit it off pretty quickly and we started playing our solo productions in our sets so we thought why not hit the studio together and see what happens.

It seems that you went straight in at the top. First there were releases on Andre Crom's OFF Recordings and Tom Budden's ALiVE, then next on Anjunadeep. Were these all from speculatively sending out tracks or did you already have connections with the labels?

We didn’t have any connections to these labels but the guys from Audiojack were instrumental in us having our first release on Off, which really kick started the career. They had released previously on Andre’s label and originally the tracks we had sent Audiojack were intended for Gruuv. However, due to scheduling conflict they were unable to release the EP so they sent it to Off Recordings to see if they wanted it and Andre signed the EP within half an hour of receiving it. So we owe a lot to Audiojack for that! Once we had that release on Off it just snowballed from there. Labels were reaching out to us for music.

You have a show on Rinse FM but we read you used to play on pirate radio. Can you tell us a bit about this. What stations were you on?

That’s going way back - we used to be on stations like Pure Magic, Erotic FM, Freek FM & Upfront FM These were based in the grimiest tower blocks and doing shows at ridiculous times over the weekend, but it was all for the love of music and having the opportunity to play to an audience.

You started Lost just a year after your own first release. Why did you set out on this venture so soon? You didn't actually release anything of your own until last year, which is often a reason that artists start their own label.

Having our own label was something we had always discussed and at the time of launching it we were both still doing day jobs and getting some extra income from DJing so we decided to put all the DJ money back into music and launch the label. It’s certainly a costly venture as we quickly found out. Having the extra income really helped with getting it off the ground. There is so much start up costs involved - advances/remix fees/promo/artwork - so starting it at that time when we had extra money seemed the best plan of action. We started the label as a vehicle to release music from people that had supported us and also as a label that would help bring through new talent. We didn’t release on it for a year as we had so much amazing music sent to us we didn’t get the chance to release any of our own productions.

From your own experiences now as A&Rs, what advice do you have for new artists looking to get their music listened to and signed?

Try and sound different to everyone else, put your own stamp on things. Of course, there is only so much you can do with house music, but if you add your own spin on things then it will make you stand out. A perfect example of this is Latmun, who has now got a sound that everyone recognises straight away. He has accomplished that in a year simply by adding something different and distinctive to his productions.

How has Ibiza been this year? Are you living over there again? Have you made any new discoveries on the island beyond the clubland which you can recommend?

Ibiza has been amazing again so far this year, although there are no plans on staying out there for any lengthy periods this time. We have so much to do in the studio this year there isn’t time to escape for a whole month like we did last year. If you’re looking to escape clubland then you should head to the north of the island; there are so many beautiful places to see up that way. Also check out Es Vedra and Atlantis (if you can find it), but make sure you bring lots of water and wear sensible shoes as there is lots of climbing involved.

We hear that you're mixing this year's ViVa Warrior mix. Who are some of the artists on there that you've been feeling recently?

Yes, we were lucky enough to curate one of the Viva Warriors comps this year.We had to source and sign original track,s which was a great process to be a part of. There are tracks on there from some of our friends like Max Chapman, Cera Alba and Jey Kurmis, alongside producers that we are really feeling at the moment like Emmanual Satie, Michael Bibi and Onno.

What else do you have coming up in terms of releases?

This year we have releases lined up on Kaluki, Mobilee and Viva, as well as another top secret label that we are really excited about being a part of but can’t mention yet as the contract isn’t signed. Keep your eyes and ears out for those!

Where did your name come from? It sounds half like the leads in a '70s American cop series, half like characters from a Japanese anime.

Hahaha, Kody was a mixture of our surnames and Leftwing just sounds cool although neither of us are good at football or politics.

Name three tracks that represent what you're likely to play at Egg.

Leftwing & Kody - 'Sub Syndrome'