Side FX and Kim Cameron are a high-energ
We caught up with Kim during Amsterdam Dance Event to speak about her recently released ‘Naturally Yours’ compilation, the difference in dance culture across US and Europe, her brand new book series ‘Seaper Powers’, and plans for 2017! Read our chat below. :)
Akshay – Hey, Kim. How’s it going? How’s ADE shaping up for you?
Kim Cameron – I’m very tired! (Ha-ha) I need to go home.
Akshay – You recently played at an event here. How was it?
Kim Cameron – Played two nights ago. It was fun because I wanted to be a part of the event here more than just an attendee, so this year I got to perform. I’m pretty happy.
Akshay – Recently you released ‘Naturally Yours’ compilation. Did you play any tracks from there during the event?
Kim Cameron – Yes, I did. I think they were pretty well received. A number of people came to me afterwards and told me they liked the music. I think in Europe we’re just introducing me and my brand to Europe. So I was happy to hear the positive feedback.
Akshay – Talking about introducing you and your brand to Europe, how did that come about?
Kim Cameron – Well, I saw a natural fan migration over to me from Europe, specifically from Germany, France, Spain, UK. So I had this fan base from here even though I had never toured Europe at all. So people kept suggesting to me that I should try Europe that I had more of a European sound and I could compare to a sort of Kylie Minogue sort of a flavour. Almost a year ago this month, we launched a couple of promotional tours, and then I did some performances in the UK and Germany and Spain and France and then, of course, Amsterdam finished it off. So I wanted to see “Is there something there?”; “Is the fan base gravitating towards my sound?” I think it’s too soon to know, but it’s been an interesting experience for me and I feel much more connected to Europe now, having been across the countries. I very much gained a passion for the European sound and I now gravitate towards it much more than anything in the US. If they gravitate towards me, then that’s the perfect marriage.
Akshay – There’s going to be a difference in the culture across the US and Europe. What’s the one thing that struck you as a glaring difference?
Kim Cameron – People here like to dance more. They’re not afraid to move, even to what I’d consider dance that is not a traditional dance beat. Last night, I went to a party that really if you’d take away the synthesiser and replicate the sound it would be pretty much a metal concert. I’ve never seen people dance to metal music before, so looking at people dancing to a metal vibe was really interesting to me. So I was pleasantly surprised by it. I like seeing people dance, and that kind of took me by surprise.
Akshay – Your compilation has six #1’s, which is huge for any compilation. How do you feel about that?
Kim Cameron – I have a really strong fan base in the DJ world in the US. That’s where those come from. I have some decent as an independent artist, which I still am, I have some decent airplays for almost all of my songs which is also a great thing. What I’m trying to say is that, what a DJ base in Europe decide that they like, it takes over in the US. The DJs are very loyal at this point to me in the US, which is fantastic and I love it. I couldn’t be happier. I just haven’t be able to see if that translates over here yet.
Akshay – Every album compilation tells a story, so what’s the story behind ‘Naturally Yours’?
Kim Cameron – I’m known for being a helpless romantic. All of my songs have romance in one way or the other. I also live on the beach in Miami, so for me I always see a connection between nature and love and since I write dance music, it all seem to work together. This one in particular I felt, like I met some interesting remixers throughout the world, big internationally and it all felt natural to me so that’s kind of how that name came about, because I have representations from L.A. to New York, to Croatia, to UK, Germany, and that all fit together sort of made what the album name was.
Akshay – Specifically talking about the “Moon on the Water” remix. How was the process of creating it?
Kim Cameron – Well, the Wideboys did this super sexy remix of “Moon on the Water”, and it’s really fresh. It’s only been out like 4 or 5 weeks. The DJs in the US loved it. I’ve seen it now that the DJs on the UK have gravitated towards this and I’ve been getting some really good feedback. They really are digging the vibe of it. So, it’s a little bit different from what they’re used to playing, but I think they like that difference. I think they’re sliding in places where it helps people to see a bit of an ear change in the clubs. I’m really pleased by how it’s shaping up now. The Wideboys, I’ve worked with them for 3 or 4 projects and we have a nice compatibility between us. I think their sound and my sound blends really nicely and creates something new but not too far away from what I am or from what they are either.
Akshay – I’m sure there must be some funny studio anecdotes. Would you like to tell us?
Kim Cameron – I was just in the UK two weeks ago and we weren’t planning on it but we decided to record some last minute songs, in the Wideboys’ studio which is down in Portsmouth. When we got there, we were just going to do one song, but right when they found out that my train was leaving, I said “Let’s do one more!” there was a power creation right there in about one hour or forty five minutes. So that whole process was funny because it was like this tornado that came in the middle of the room, and spun us all around, and made us do a creative process in a really high speed format. I would say that was my most recent funny story.
Akshay – Also, this is something fresh. You recently started your book series, called “Seaper Powers”. It’s really interesting that a dance music artist is actually going beyond his/her comfort zone. So how did this come about?
Kim Cameron – When you think about it, Madonna has children’s books as well. This actually happened when I was on tour, in the Caribbean, two years ago. A little girl in the audience came up to me on break, and I don’t remember how we started the conversation, but she said something about how she had this love of octopus and I said “This is so strange. Usually little girls like dolphins, or starfish”. So we kind of started joking about it and the next day, my guitar player and I wrote a song on the beach called “Mr. Octopus”. And it’s just a children’s song. We had never done a children’s song before and he said to me that I should write a story around it. I thought about it for a while and said “Ok”, so it took me a few months. I had never done that before. While talking about it, we thought, “Let’s do an audiobook and find out what happens”. So we created original music, we created an audiobook which is about an hour, so it’s an hour long story. And, we got such great response from the parents out there, that we turned it into a hardback. I was asked to write more, so I created the series. Now we have flash toys, colouring books, and it’s going into its first book fair. We got signed a licensing deal for the series. It sort of all happened at once because of this little girl I’ve met on tour.
Akshay – This particular series is going to have 4 books, right?
Kim Cameron – It has four books right now, the fifth is in the works. There are also discussions about turning it into a cartoon series with one of the US TV shows, so we’ll see what happens.
Akshay – For any child: what do you want that child to take from the book?
Kim Cameron – You know, I wrote it as a chapter book for parents to read when they take their children to bed. So every single chapter is one to two pages. The idea is that the parents take the kids to bed, they read the chapter, the kids get sleepy and then the next night they can read the next chapter. It’s a different kind of children’s book because it’s not short book. It’s not over in 40 pages, there are up to 60 pages on this book. It’s meant to take a long time, so that the kids look forward to that time, one-on-one time with the parents. Parents came back to me and said that they love the design. It’s the one book they don’t get sick of reading because it’s longer and not so repetitive.
Akshay – Why the name “Seaper Powers”?
Kim Cameron – It’s about a little girl who discovers she has powers in the ocean with this magic sea crest that she ends up swimming by. So the names “Seaper Powers”, means she has super powers but in the sea.
Akshay – What is your plan of action in the International Book Fair?
Kim Cameron – The International Book Fair in Miami has about 6 million visitors. So it’s fairly large. I have a group of intercity youth kids that I teach music to during the week. So I invited them, they are like 12-13 years old. They are going to dress up as characters of the book and they’re going to support me in the book fair and help me to sign autographs and things like that, to make them a part of it. The book fair is really to introduce the book series to a larger audience. To people who are avid readers. This book fair has this huge section that’s just catered towards children’s books. It’s sort of my time to see what happens in a larger community versus one-on-one feedback that I have seen so far and things like that. I’m looking forward to see what happens.
Akshay – 2016 was brilliant for you. What are your plans for 2017?
Kim Cameron – I’d like to see us put together, even if short, a European tour. I’d like to see us put together this series in, either a theatrical or a television format for kids. And I need to finish that 5th book… Ha-Ha! To keep the series alive.
Akshay – Time for a fun one! You mentioned you are a hopeless romantic. Is there any DJ you have a crush on?
Kim Cameron – Oh wow! That’s a really hard question. I would say DJ Toca! His label did one of my recent remixes which is on the album. I have a little crush on him, only because he is like a deep house creator. Every time I listen to his music I just think that there’s this fantastic feel. I love the way it all works together. It sort of gives you Goosebumps!
Know more about Side FX and Kim, right here.
