We were able to interview Seth -the owner of Sekai Collective aka. Resonata just before he will be going on tour with SIDEWALKS AND SKELETONS and many more.
JACR: Hi Seth, could you give us a short introduction of who you are and what you do?
Resonata: I’m Resonata and I produce mostly sad music as well as run my own music collective.
What is it that got you started in producing music?
I started going to a lot of shows near the end of 2010 and I was really into the growing Dubstep scene at the time. A friend who would always go with me explained there were a few programs I could install on my computer if I wanted to try making my own.
So I tracked down a DAW that I liked. The first that I tried to write. Honestly I was never good at trying to produce Dubstep and always found myself slipping into either more chill compositions or something that seemed inspired by my industrial metal roots.
Already answering parts of the next question! Where does your inspiration come from?
I grew up mostly listening to variations of metal and alt-rock with a dash of electronic music. My dad played a huge part in influencing my musical tastes. Bands like Deftones, Nine Inch Nails, Rage Against the Machine, and Tool reigned supreme on my stereo from a very early age. Around my 11th birthday, I was given Prodigy’s ‘The Fat of the Land’ album and I wore that album out.
Reading this I have a spontaneous question. As metal and rock is where my musical interest started to grow – do you have a theory why people with roots in this kind of music are dragged to genres like Dubstep, Future Garage and Drum and Bass for example?
I like to use the phrase “Dance Music for Sad People.”
Dubstep and DnB, in a way, are very aggressive so that makes sense that some would transition from one to the other.
I do find a lot of old metal heads buried deep inside the chiller genres though and I think it’s something else. Maybe we see beyond the aggression and into the emotional complexity of what we used to listen to. Genres like Future Garage can still be aggressive but it comes from a darker, less marketable kind of place.
I like to use the phrase “Dance Music for Sad People”.
Do you have any “rituals” when producing?
Coffee is usually within arm’s reach (laughs).
Very soon you’ll start a tour through America with other great artists – can you tell us more about it?
I saw an opportunity while planning a move I’ll be making next month and put the word out to a few of my artist friends, from there it birthed into this tour. I Spent the past 5 months grinding and contacting venues and promoters with pretty much every spare second I had to get shows lined up.
We will also be documenting everything with a photographer/videographer with hopes to crunch everything into a documentary once it’s over. Since it’s the first tour of its kind, I am particularly excited [about the documentary] as I cannot join in-person.
As you mentioned earlier you are also the owner of Sekai, what does Sekai stand for and what do you guys do?
I believe it’s Japanese for “world”. I inherited Sekai from someone else so I didn’t come up with the name but I’m largely responsible for its overall growth.
The “World” part was intended to encompass our love for all artists and music internationally.
We started as a regular online collective, but have since expanded into hosting shows and events near Seattle.
Did running Sekai affect your own production in any way?
A little bit. I’d say problematic people in my personal life took a bigger toll on my production though. Sekai takes some time, but the connections I’ve made to artists through the Collective is rewarding in itself. I just want to do more to get underrated artists heard and seen.
The “World” part was intended to encompass our love for all artists and music internationally.
We started as a regular online collective, but have since expanded into hosting shows and events near Seattle.
What’s your perfect Sunday?
Sunny morning by some harbor by the ocean working on music and just being lazy all day in general.
Between eating the most delicious food that blows your clothes off or having your body injected into your favorite MMORPG, which would you choose and why?
Delicious foods because food is life!
Follow Resonata on Soundcloud, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and/or Bandcamp.
Follow Sekai Collective Soundcloud, Facebook and/or Bandcamp.