Exclusive Interview: Who Cares

This week in the Artist Spotlight we have Jon Gorecki aka Who Cares. He also released a new remix of R. Kelly’s Ignition today. Check out the interview we did with him where he talks a little bit about how he got started and what he’s got coming up. Be sure to check out his new release below.

How did you first begin DJing/Producing?

I’ve been really involved with music since I was a little kid. I started playing the guitar at eight years old, and ever since I learned to play my first song, I was obsessed with making music. I would play everything from metal to singer/songwriter to John Mayer stuff, but didn’t really even listen to any sort of electronic music until the very beginning of college when the “dubstep” wave hit. “Raise Your Weapon” by deadmau5 is probably the single track that truly got me into electronic music. Even though I was always looking for the newest, coolest tunes I could find, it took me a few years to decide I actually wanted to do more than just listen to electronic music. In 2013, I started fooling around with Ableton and DJing some after hours parties with my twin brother at my place at school. People heard us playing at these little shindigs and started asking us to play parties, and eventually one of the bars on campus gave the two of us a night to play. In the fall of 2014, I got my first residency at that same bar, and in March of 2015, I released my first remix to the public, so I feel like I’m really still just beginning to produce and DJ.

Who is your biggest influence(s)?

My biggest influences at the moment would probably be Wuki, Chris Lake, and Shiba San. I probably play a track by one of them in almost every one of my sets. But I also listen to a fair amount of future bass and tropical house, so although I mainly make house and breakbeat, I also sometimes find myself doing something a little different just to keep myself from getting too narrow-minded.

What’s your favorite record of all time?

“Strobe (Original Mix)” by deadmau5. No question about it. That song is beautiful, complex, and incredibly well done.

What was your favorite party of all time that you have played?

Gotta be #Afterlife. I played right after the homie Xonic and had an absolute blast. I was able to debut my first original, “Boom Boom Bap” (release date TBA), and after my set, Xonic pulled me aside and told me that the whole group he was with was basically in a trance for my entire set. That’s probably one of the best compliments I’ve ever gotten about my music.

Who do you want to collaborate with in the future?

My dream collaborator would probably be Taiki Nulight for my house stuff. He’s another huge influence of mine, and his sound design is really off the wall and cool. As far as my other, less housey stuff goes, I think Louis The Child would probably take the cake. Those kids are absolutely incredible, and that’s before you consider how young they are. Those kids are going places fast. As far as collaborations I could realistically achieve in the near future, Intermodal and I have been talking a bit and want to jump in the studio together and see what happens.

What’s the most embarrassing thing thats happened to you at a show?

My first time ever on CDJ’s, for the very first night of my residency, I loaded a track onto the wrong deck in the middle of my set. I was so mad at myself. I’m just glad I did it on a Tuesday at a college bar and not some big show. Now I’m really careful and check to make sure I don’t do that again.

What do you like to do when you’re not working on music/DJing?

Honestly, I don’t do much besides work and make music. It’s not that I don’t enjoy doing other things, I just really do love making music that much. I guess if I’m not making music or at work, I’m having a drink with my friends, at a show to see my friends play, or cooking for my family. Cooking up some tasty tunes or some tasty foods.

What is your opinion on the current EDM scene?

I think that it’s kind of in flux right now. You have all these innovative producers like Porter Robinson, ODESZA, Autograf, Disclosure, and Louis The Child showing people that there is more than just 128 bpm big room house, and that’s really awesome. I’m starting to see fans move away from the festival trap and “bangers” and start to explore new things. I like that a good amount of tunes I hear now are starting to get more housey and moving away from the “loudness war” of EDM. People want a track to do more than just shake their speakers to pieces, they want it to move them in some way. But then again there’s also still the same headliners at all these big festivals that a lot of people are only seeing because they heard them on the radio, and some of the time, those tracks aren’t even theirs. More on that later.

What do you think will be the next big thing in EDM?

I think the next big thing is going to kind of split between future bass and EDM that actually feels like house music. I also think there’s going to be a lot more live instrumentation in producer/DJ performances.

What do you think about all these “frauds” in the EDM scene using ghost producers, buying likes and purchasing their own tracks on Beatport?

I see those as three separate issues.

When an artist uses a ghost producer, especially early in their career, I think its really unfair. I think everyone should make their own music because in all honesty, its not that hard. If your name is on a track, you better have had a hand in making it, even if it was just doing the mixdown, or writing the bassline. JUST DO SOMETHING. I understand that ghost producing opens a lot of doors and can make people a lot of money while being able to enjoy a quiet life, but I want to know who you are so I can hear what you make and support you, not the guy who wants to get famous off your work.

Buying likes is actually really dumb. The way that Facebook’s algorithms work, it only initially shows your post to a small percentage of people that like your page, but if they interact with it, more people will see it. So if half of your page likes are fake, you’re really missing out on a lot of fans that actually care about your music. It may make you look good at first glance, but it hurts you in the long run. Its like asking a mannequin on a date. It may look like a person at first glance, but you’re still going to have dinner alone.

And as for buying your own track on Beatport, I think its cool that artists are basically giving their tracks away for free the way Laidback Luke did by sending people money if they sent him the receipt for their song purchase. But one guy buying his track a thousand times is just unfair to other producers who don’t have the same capital to work with. I don’t really use Beatport too much to find music, I only really use it to buy tracks I’ve already come across so the “Beatport Top 100” means very little to me. Do I want to see my tracks on there someday? Sure. Do I want to get there by buying it myself? Not even a little.

Is there any upcoming releases/shows we should keep an eye out for?

I just released a track as a Free Download via Future Factory today. Its outside of my normal house / breakbeat style, but I had a blast making it, and I hope you like it. It actually was the first remix I ever tried to do, but I ended up giving up on it because I didn’t know enough about music production back in January when I started it. About two weeks ago when I was going through my old projects, I opened it up just for a quick laugh, cried a little at how bad it was, then started frantically fixing things out of habit. The next thing I knew I was changing the arrangement and then sat back for a second and realized I actually had something on my hands, so I finished it up and I’m giving it out for free. If you want to take a listen, here’s a link for you:

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/228095495″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

I’ve got another free download I’ll be releasing sometime over the next month as well. Its a remix of “My Neck, My Back” by Khia, and I haven’t even played it out yet. I’m really excited to see how people react to it. Its really dark, almost a little techno flavor to it.

I’ve also got a few originals that I’m ready to release, but for now, you’ll have to see me at one of my shows to hear those.

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