Grammy Nominated DJ - Robin Schulz talks about his recent Documentary / Courtship tell Adam about their music collaboration with Snapchat / Felicia Temple talks about her time on The Voice / Photography from Aliana Lili & Nick Hudson July 2017 Editor: Adam Crookes
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This Edition of Crookes Magazine is ultimately my Spotify playlist. From Rat Boy to Robin Schulz, all the artists that you ll see over the coming pages have made it into the magazine because I ve been listening to them on loop. A diverse mix: a rapper, a DJ, rock band, a pop singer and an indie duo. Editor of CROOKES Magazine
INTERVIEW BY ADAM CROOKES BLACK SUNGLASSES, A BASEBALL CAP FLIPPED BACKWARDS AND A LAPTOP. AND A GRAMMY NOMINATION. The German DJ is one of the most streamed artists worldwide - raking in a phenomenal 2.7 billion plays. Schulz s most recent collaboration is with the sensational James Blunt. Blunt s sweeping vocals met with Schulz s immersive beats have made for a charting hit with OK. But like many people, I found this collaboration to be quite unexpected. So I asked Robin about what he looks for in a vocal artist. I m always looking for extraordinary voices. For me, that s the key. If the voices then fit into the songs, I m happy. AC: When making a hook or a beat, how do you know when it s done? Would you say it is possible - as a DJ - to over perfect a beat? RS: Sure. But I think everybody has a different working process. You can over perfect a beat pretty fast, but even then, something interesting may come out of that. But usually less is indeed more. ROBIN SCHULZ S NEW ALBUM DROPS SEPT 8
AC: You recently put out a Documentary about your life, what made you decide to do that? RS: It is more about one main part of my life - how I became an international DJ and producer. My team and I had a long discussion with s.oliver, the brand who collaborated on this project with me, about what we wanted the documentary to focus on (or maybe say accomplish instead?). I don t often do such in-depth interviews, so it was the perfect way to answer a lot of the questions my fans may want to know. AC: Do you have more YouTube content coming? RS: A lot! Every week a new video comes out. There s a lot of great content captured during life on tour, and YouTube is a fantastic platform to keep in touch with fans.
Robin Schulz recently released a clothing line following his documentary. Now with a variety of projects under his belt, I was intrigued to know what linked his interests. AC: Q/S Designed by Robin Schulz launched following the documentary, how long has clothing been an interest of yours? What links your passion for music to clothing? RS: I was always interested in fashion. Of course I don t consider myself a fashion insider, necessarily, but I really know what I like and what I don t. I think the combination of simplicity and a few extravagant details is reflected for me in my taste in both music and fashion. AC: Now that fans see these different branches of your creativity, do you consider yourself as an Artist? RS: That s hard to say...is there any certification for that? I don t think so. If being an artist requires having passion and creativity then I hope I can consider myself an artist. AC: What is coming next for you? RS: I m still working on my upcoming album; I just released OK with James Blunt, and there are more new tracks coming over the next few months.. On top of that, my tour is starting again, the summer is full of festivals, and I ll be living in Ibiza from July through October. ROBIN SCHULZ S NEW ALBUM DROPS SEPT 8
Photography of Canada Collection CROOKES PHOTO BY Nick Hudson @NickHudsonPhoto @NickHudsonPhoto
Interview by Adam Crookes Bowling For Soups origins lie in Texas, where Jaret Reddick and the other band members grew up. The band is best known for its singles "Girl All the Bad Guys Want", "1985", "Almost", and "High School Never Ends" In 2003, the band were nominated for a Grammy Award. In your last EP Drunk Dynasty, you included your fans in the entire recording process, whose idea was this? We have been doing the fan funding thing for a while now. It s the new model as far as we are concerned. It amazing to have the fans interact with the album the entire time it is being made. Letting them in on things they might not see otherwise. This one went so well, it became a FULL album. But we left the price for fans the same. You provided vocals for the theme song of the upcoming comedy Greenmount, how did this come about? What can you tell us about the project? That one was a surprise. J.P. reached out to me on Twitter. It seemed legit. So I reached back and he was ready to go! I was actually taken aback that he already had the track and what he wanted me to sing done! So he sent me the track. I was in between several things at the time, so I jacked him around on getting it done a bit. Luckily, we figured it out and I think the song is great! I got to see the pilot. It is really well done. Definitely feel like people will dig it! Having been a Band in the Music Industry for over 20 years, what advice would you give to new Rock Bands that are just starting out in the industry? First of all, don t suck! Make sure you play with people you like. Have fun!! Do NOT get in the van and tour before it s time. Build those socials!! What can your fans look forward to from Bowling For Soup in the future? Do you have any unreleased music? We do! We have new stuff in the pipeline, as well as tons of stuff coming to promote our new albums Drunk Dynasty and Acoustic in a Freakin English Church!! Will Bolton
Photography of Canada Collection CROOKES PHOTO BY Aliana Lili @alleyannalily @aliana.lili
Photography Sam Calcraft Interview by Adam Crookes with Jordan Cardy
From getting sampled by Kendrick Lamar to being signed to Parlophone Records, over the past few years, Jordan Cardy is quickly rising to prominence in the music industry. Despite filming music videos in America and touring in Europe, Jordan s hometown - Essex remains a solid theme in many of his tracks. I m writing about what s happening around me. I only knew essex till a couple years ago. Only had my first passport a couple years ago. At the beginning all my songs were about what's happening on my street, or to my friends. or the pub fights by my work in Wetherspoons. All in Essex. I'm back and forth from London and Essex now and yea still 18 months later all my songs are still about Essex or life in Britain. AC: In terms of the lyrics that hit our ears, what are the best songs you ve written? Photography Sam Calcraft RAT BOY: On the record (you ll be able to hear soon) there s so many stories and things that happened that I put down on lyrics. I d probably say Turn Around M8, Knock Knock, Sign On. There s nice fun lyrics in all of them. Lyrics are really important to me. AC: You ve been very involved in the creative processes of making your Music Videos. How did you go about coming up with the ideas for each video and working with the camera?
RAT BOY: Every song has meaning behind it and ideas come naturally from being in a certain headspace with the music. Sometimes we know we just want to have this story in our mind visually. There s usually a huge idea that's way too expensive and then we have to scale it down [laughs]. I would spend 100k on videos. Videos mean everything to me. I m directing all the shots and storyboard it out and Tommy who s the secret member of the band who shoots us on tour is behind the camera on our music videos too. Cardy s sound is so distinctive that it made me realise that he could ultimately collaborate with anyone and still add a trademark grungy, raw vibe to a track. AC: Do you have any plans to collaborate with other Artists under the Parlophone Label? RAT BOY: I ve collaborated with Damon already who s on the label. Not sure who else..would be down to do something with Gorillaz. I also had Junior Dan who plays with Gorillaz play some bass on a track on my album. AC: What would a Coldplay/RATBOY Track sound like? RAT BOY: A Coldplay/RATBOY would be best of both worlds..fast and lots to say about the state of the world..and then a huge reflective sweet chorus to make you feel okay. We met Chris Martin a couple times. We both won NME awards last year and he was congratulating us backstage. We re fans of what they do. Photography Sam Calcraft
Photography of Canada Collection CROOKES PHOTO BY Nick Hudson @NickHudsonPhoto @NickHudsonPhoto
You recently headlined the Australian Festival - Groovin the Moo and have had tour dates in Australia, has the country influenced your upcoming album in any way? Yes. We were at Groovin The Moo and played various sideshows, the Aussies were once again incredible. We are always spoiled so much by the crowds whenever we go there. But no, I can't say that Australia has inspired our new album. Looking back across your three Albums, what s the one song that you're most proud of and why? Probably Anti-D. So many people have approached me both physically and via the web to say how much that song means to them and that it got them through some very difficult times. It's truly heartwarming and that connection is why we wanted to make music in the first place. Do you have any unreleased music from previous albums? Yes. Quite a lot. I'm not really interested in releasing material that I don't think is that great, I'm quite honest with myself, if I don't want to listen back to it I certainly don't want anyone else to! Thematically, is your new material going to be similar to what is has been or are you exploring new themes in songs? Thematically it is fairly similar, but maybe more psychedelic. It's important for me to write about real things happening in my life and not about time travel or something. For me it's all about reimagining what songwriters have been banging on about for years, and to put my own personal tilt on it. Interview by Adam Crookes
Photography of Canada Collection CROOKES PHOTO BY Aliana Lili @alleyannalily @aliana.lili
FELICIA TEMPLE After competing in NBC s The Voice, Felicia is ready to make her mark in the music industry Interview by Adam Crookes While music had always been Felicia s greatest passion, her interest in medicine and helping people sparked a career (with a degree) in nursing alongside pursuing a solo career. In June 2015 she was diagnosed with carcinoid cancer. While undergoing six rounds of chemotherapy and extensive abdominal surgery, Felicia wrote and recorded her EP. In February 2017 Felicia joined the cast of NBC s The Voice, competing on Blake Shelton s team. Felicia s story inspired millions of cancer survivors and musicians alike- and set the stage for the release of her EP. How do you think your struggle with cancer changed you as a person? Did it empower you to go on The Voice? My struggle with cancer helped me to better live in the moment. I definitely used to put my music on the back burner for my nursing career because I was always more concerned about my paycheck. I used to tell myself that once I made a certain amount of money I would finally make music a priority. Cancer woke me up. I really believe that if I would not have had cancer, I wouldn't have agreed to do The Voice. There would have been no way I would have agreed to leave work and possibly miss out on money. Having cancer empowered me to go on The Voice because I wanted to show people that there is life after cancer, and to encourage them to live their best life. Now. What advice would you give to the next wave of contestants on The Voice? The best advice I would give is to be yourself. Know who you are before you get there. It can be extremely easy to end up portrayed as someone you're not. Stick to your guns and don't be afraid to be unapologetically you. Who inspired you the most during your time on that show? During my time on the show, my nieces Gabrielle and Gianna inspired me the most. I know the answer might seem odd, but their unwavering faith in their auntie always brought a smile to my face and gave me confidence. They think their auntie is the best singer in the world, and I don't ever want to disappoint them! Where do you intend to go next with your singing career? Next up is my brand new EP "The Balancing Act" which will be available at all digital retailers on June 23rd! This EP is very special to me because I wrote AND produced it! I will be doing shows across the country to promote my project and sharing my story with the world. I hope the Grammys are up next!
Photography of Canada Collection CROOKES PHOTO BY Nick Hudson @NickHudsonPhoto @NickHudsonPhoto
Snapchat had recently updated their Stories feature and with this came an electric advert with summer-vibes and brand new music from Courtship. I hadn t listened to the band previously, but as soon as I heard Sunroof, I frantically began looking into who they are and arranging this interview. Being a very new band, there was very little that I could find about Courtship on the internet, making this interview even more relevant. We met playing in this really cool LA band called Bloodboy - Eli was playing guitar, and the keyboard player at the time left to go play keys for Mike Posner. So Micah filled his spot. We kind of stared at each other for a couple months - and then one day Micah asked Eli if he wanted to come over and try some shit. So we did - and Day 1 we wrote our first song called 'Stop For Nothing'. I then went on to ask them how the collaboration with Snapchat unfolded. Love Snapchat! It's awesome - there's like no better way to have personal relationships with our fans. Snap reached out because they liked the song, it was pretty crazy. Whilst listening to Sunroof on my Spotify Playlist, I kept thinking of the Australian psychedelic rock band - Tame Impala. I wasn t sure what they would think of my comparison, but they greeted it with thanks as I asked them about their style. Wow thank you! Tame is definitely one of our favorite bands. Eli comes from a more Indie Rock background and Micah comes from a more Jazz/funk background, so it's kind of just the two of us coming together. Finally, I asked them about the artists that inspired them the most. We are huge fans of Walk The Moon, great guys, so fun. Our dream producer for ourselves is Calvin Harris. Most people only know his new stuff, but he was basically an indie dance band first and it was SICK. Courtship already have millions of streaming listens with only a handful of songs. Their sound is infectious, psychadelic in parts and upbeat whilst roaring with summer-vibes. Interview by Adam Crookes Interview by Adam Crookes
Photography of Canada Collection CROOKES PHOTO BY Aliana Lili @alleyannalily @aliana.lili
Photography of Canada Collection CROOKES PHOTO BY Nick Hudson @NickHudsonPhoto @NickHudsonPhoto
Photography of Canada Collection CROOKES PHOTO BY Aliana Lili @alleyannalily @aliana.lili
CREDITS ROBIN SCHULZ JORDAN FRAZES ELIZABETH KOBER COURTSHIP FELICIA TEMPLE LAUREN KLUNG JORDYN PALOS RAT BOY BOWLING FOR SOUP THE WOMBATS SARA PRENDERGAST CHRIS MELIAN AUSTIN GRISWOLD ALIANA LILI NICK HUDSON ADAM CROOKES - EDITOR