Rising Artist Interview: KILO

1. Give us a little background on who you are & where you're from.
My name is Perry Avgerinos but go by the stage name KILO. A lot of people have asked me how I came up with the name KILO and the story behind that is I just google searched “cool greek words” since I am of Greek decent and saw it and thought it sounded cool at the time. I was born and raised in the suburbs of Philadelphia about 40 minutes from downtown. I grew up always loving music and started attending hip-hop and EDM concerts such as Made In America and Mad Decent Block party in Philly back in high school, which was the start of my peaking interest for the music industry.

 2. When did you start making music and was there anything that influenced you in to get started?
I started making hip hop beats in 8th grade when I asked my parents for FL studio (a music making software) for Christmas. On Christmas day I spent like 8-10 hours making a full beat and I was so excited to show my parents. The beat was like 2 sounds and some basic drums, but I immediately knew I was in love with the creative process from the day I got the software. Back then I was really influenced by hip-hop production, especially from artists such as J Cole and G-Eazy who produced most of their own beats at the time. I stayed with producing throughout high school and around my junior/senior year is when I got into EDM, especially the future bass scene from artists such as Flume, Wave Racer, and Manila Killa, who were my biggest influencers. I liked future bass because it was very new and different sounding, but also had similarities to hip hop production which I was used to.

3. How have your influences changed from your start to your current position in the industry?
I think as EDM has been evolving since I started making it about 4 years ago, my musical taste has also evolved. There are so many different sub genres that encompass “Electronic Dance Music”, that I know my taste will continue to progress. I still love future bass as you can tell from “Back on My”, but recently I’ve been very into house music from some of my favorite artists such as Throttle, Niko The Kid, Cheyenne Giles, and my friends Ship Wrek, just to name a few. So be on the lookout for more house tracks from me in the future.

4. On to your music, can you give us a little insight on your creative process behind how you go about a new song?
I almost always start a song by writing chords. The chords are like the outline of a paper. Once I have the chords, I can easily develop melodies to compliment the chords, and then it’s just about experimenting with sounds and creating interesting drums. I usually try and get a rough version of the song from start to finish in one sitting, and from there, I’ll go back and edit and edit for days, weeks, even months until I am ready to abandon it and call it “finished.” How’s that quote go, “artwork is never finished, just abandoned?”

5. How was it working with Tima? How did you get in touch/start working together?
Tima is phenomenal to work with and extremely talented. If you don’t know her music, go check her out, she’s worked with some big producers such as Borgore, Tritonal, Dion Timmer, TWERL, Big Z and others. But basically, my manager Noah and I were looking for artists on Soundcloud and Spotify that would be a good fit for this song, and when we came across Tima, we knew she would be perfect. Tima has this rap ability with the way she sings on verses, which is what we were looking for since the production of the verse is structured like a hip-hop beat. She also has this incredible tonal uniqueness to her voice that really helps her stand out, and she killed it on this track. So then my manager contacted her manager and we began working. She works very fast, any change we asked her to do she sent it back within a day or two. So within 2 weeks we had her vocals finished and mixed and mastered with the final production.

6. Besides making music, we know you’re an up and coming dj in the scene, are there any shows you’re really excited about for 2019?
Yes! So I am playing two shows during Miami Music Week this year, one at Racket with Zack Martino, Ship Wrek, Eche Palante, Deerock, and HtPkt, and one at the Shore Club with Throttle, Autograf, CID, and Eche Palante. Couldn’t be more excited!

7. What would be your dream festival/show to play?
I would say Ultra Music Festival, because I have attended Ultra the past three years while at school at the University of Miami. I will be going again this year for probably my final time as a fan, so hopefully next time I’m there, I’ll be performing. Also, Tomorrowland seems incredible, and would love to perform there some day.

8. What's something that helps you get over creative block if you ever experience it?
I try and do something that has nothing to do with music when I have a creative block. Usually shooting hoops or going for a run is a great way to clear my head and get back to a natural state of creativity.