T.H.E Interview – Kaiser Souzai

Kaiser Souzai talks to us about his creation process, “The Man With The Red Face” remix, and more.

T.H.E – Hey Markus, welcome to T.H.E Music Essentials. How are you?

Kaiser Souzai – Great! Thanks for having me.

T.H.E – How has the last year and a half been for you? What’s kept you going?

Kaiser Souzai – Difficult on a personal level, since, as free spirit and world traveling human I’m not used to being locked away, on a creative level this time was perfect to crank out more new and fresh music, like the entire Purple Kaiser album “Entangled”. It also led me to a new platform and community RCRDSHP where I’m selling lots of my music becoming more independent from the income of touring.

T.H.E – Are you back to playing gigs now? How does it feel?

Kaiser Souzai – Yes and it feels good when I see people with no masks, behaving normally, doing normal club life, where we humans can connect (again).

T.H.E – What did you learn during the pandemic year, what did you miss most?

Kaiser Souzai – I learned a lot about people, society, cognitive dissonance, how to become a better stoic, making life good in shitty circumstances, getting out of comfort zones, cutting off Mainstream Media, learning about cancel culture, and becoming a better human being. I missed traveling the most, as I said I don’t like to be grounded.

T.H.E – Where does the impulse to create something come from for you? What role do sources of inspiration like dreams, other forms of art, personal relationships, politics etc play?

Kaiser Souzai – First, I need time, lots of time to explore, to find new paths and ways to make music and produce. The Lockdown gave me this time, so I ventured in making an album for Purple Kaiser and a full trailer album with hybrid and orchestral music for horror movies. Music for Zombies, that was a hell of fun!! Maybe bad politics helped to create that one. Since making music is a very personal and intimate act, I like to be alone, so all I need is time and a closed door.

T.H.E – For you to get started, do there need to be concrete ideas – or what some have called a ‘visualisation’ of the finished work?

Kaiser Souzai – Depends, sometimes yes, sometimes no. A pure coincidence of finding a special sound can drive me in a completely new direction, so I give coincidence permission to override any given plans. Like in life, you never know what happens next, even, re especially when you plan out things (too much).

T.H.E – What inspired the man with the red face remix – where and when was it written for?

Kaiser Souzai – Well, that is an old track, which never say the official daylight of release, just as a bootleg. So, my friends from Valiant Records in OZ asked me if they could release it, if they could get permission from Laurent Garnier, the mastermind of the original track. I thought, it’s old, but gold, so why the F** not, it will make many dance floors a happy place.

T.H.E – Why tackle such a classic? Was it daunting? How did you know where to start? Why did you think it needed updating?

Kaiser Souzai – I did some classics in my past, like Blade Runner, The First Rebirth, Plastic Dreams… and more never released bootlegs. When I worship the originals and feel up for it, I have a go at it, sometimes I release them, sometimes not.

And since I’m a drummer and musician with a band-background I like real instruments, so I was happy to find this great sax player from Poland (nobody knows him here) to play. That made the track work.

T.H.E – What makes it such a classic do you think? Why has it endured through the ages? What makes a classic a classic?

Kaiser Souzai – Good question, maybe because it never looks/ sounds dated. It will always remain fresh. Of course, you can seriously fuck things up when you have a go at it. I liked and like the result and gave it a go. The rest is up to you guys.

T.H.E – Are you making tunes to play in your own sets, with certain clubs and situations in mind?

Kaiser Souzai – Most of the time I play my own tracks ..between 60- 100% per set. Since I have a vast variety of tracks, I can choose my tracks for the rights setting. If you book Kaiser Souzai, you get Kaiser Souzai.

T.H.E – What’s next, what else you working on?

Kaiser Souzai – I work on some sets and music that will be exclusively dropped on RCRDSHP right now. Also, I’m preparing a remix pack for my Purple Kaiser “Entangled” album.

After that? Let’s see where coincidence takes me….