Genevieve Artadi, from Los Angeles, is well known for her electronic-jazz duo with Louis Cole called KNOWER along with her independent music that she writes and produces.
Can you tell me about how you would differentiate your independent work from KNOWER, and how you began your collaboration with Louis?
Louis and I met playing in a band with our friend Robbie Marshall. It was like a college thing. The timing was awesome because I was also in music school, but I felt like the scene there was very bebop. Everyone was just trying to improvise in a very specific style of music. When I met this group of people, it felt a lot like people were already branching out, and combining the things that I was learning in school with their own stuff. That’s what I wanted to do and learn as much as I could to make music that was unique. So, Louis was playing drums and I was singing. We started making music a year later. We actually dated for a long time.
Really?
Yeah. It’s been so long now that we haven’t been together, but we’re best friends. So probably seven years, maybe more.
Sometimes that works out, though. I am still close with people I’ve dated. We’re just better as friends.
A lot of people don’t, they think it’s so weird. With this example, it’s good, clearly. We started doing music together, and then basically KNOWER is just a collaboration between me and him. We will have different visions for each album. This one should be more electronic. I’ll bring in an idea, I’ll bring in a song, and then we’ll see what we both do with it together. The latest stuff was like, “Let’s do a whole live album in our house.” Then the process is different from album to album. For the next one, we’re talking about having more metal influences. So, I’m trying to find more metal stuff to listen to and see what I would do with my particular voice.
What bands are inspiring you for metal?
Right now? I would say the main thing is Meshuggah, but I’ve been checking out different stuff. Mostly I’ve been listening to Cannibal Corpse. I found a band called Dahmer. Oh my god. The cover of the album is an actual crime scene photo of a guy’s head and his hands, and I think his penis. I’m like, oh man, if I dive into this, this is just going to be too crazy. The lyrics, everything is so dark, but I’m sure we’ll find a way to make it fit. I just love the energy of it. It seems like the kind of music where it doesn’t matter if you’re young and hot, you can be dirty.
Whatever the fuck you want to be.
Yeah, you can do whatever the fuck you want. There’s this lower level of judgment around it, and it just seems fun. But anyway, my solo stuff is just the music that I want to do that I think I could only write alone. More personal lyrics, weirder harmonies that go in different directions.
What’s the process of you writing alone? Do you drink seven cups of coffee and sit alone by yourself? Do you have a process?
When I write, I get very obsessive, and I can be sober. I can be drunk. Not high, though. I’m so much better drunk than I am high. When I get high, I just fall asleep, and I can’t talk. Time goes by really slowly.
But then when you’re drunk, you’re probably like, “I’m killing it right now, I’m feeling it.”
Yeah. I’m energetic. When I’m writing, I just sit with my computer, and I open a logic session and I have a MIDI keyboard. I usually do drums, or harmony, and then melody, and then vocal, and then lyrics.
Cool. So, you know specific songs you just want to do for yourself.
I also do the same thing where I’ll say, “Oh, I want this next album to be this style.” My last one was very influenced by a love album. A lot of Brazilian music since I was making a big band album. I was invited to be a composer in residence for a big band in Sweden and write a whole album for that. I’m like, ‘How can I make it interesting for all the musicians and also for myself?’ So that was the mentality behind it. Now my next album is going to be anime-inspired. I love anime. I’m thinking every song could be either in an anime or maybe the opening song for one, but whenever I try to replicate something, it ends up like a perverted version of that thing. It never sounds like the actual thing. I just have to fuck it up. I don’t know.
Yeah, but we need that too, a perverted version. That’s probably just you in your own mind. Who has the ideas behind the music videos?
It’s been like a collaboration all the way. We do it ourselves. Most of the stuff is just shooting us recording. Then we also did some videos that were totally just YouTube video tutorials. Louis would come to me and be like, “Can you make a pyramid explode?” I’m like, “I don’t know, I’ll try.” So, our song “I Must Be Dreaming” was probably the hardest we ever worked on a music video.We were learning how to combine live shots with animation.
What’s the craziest thing you’ve done in a music video that you never thought you would do?
I would say in “The Government Knows” there’s a scene where the guy shoots Louis in the head, and then the blood splatters on my face, and then I smile. Also, for “Butts Tits Money” that’s my butt and my friend’s butt. There’s this part where it’s going by and I never thought I would do just a butt shot for a music video. I mean, it could be anybody’s butt. But mine has a scar though. That one’s mine, it has five lines on it. I burned it on a heater when I was a kid.
I was going to ask you if you’re single, but it sounds like you’re not after coming from hanging with your boyfriend.
I’ve been with this incredible musician, writer, guitar player named Pedro Martins. We actually met on stage in London. Well, we were friends on Facebook like, “Oh, I like your music, blah, blah, blah.” I had missed a lot of messages from him, and then once he was like, “I’m in London at the same time.” I said, “Do you want to play on a song?” because I knew he was good. Then we met on stage. He was late, and I didn’t get to meet him before the show.
He didn’t go to soundcheck? You met him as he came on stage to perform with you?
Yeah, exactly. I wasn’t even sure exactly what he looked like. I was like, Pedro Martins, are you here? And then he came on stage and shredded the song. It was so cool.
So, it’s very improv-based. Does that make you nervous at all? That you didn’t practice with him or anything? You were just like, Yep, just do your thing. Fuck it.
Not with him. I said, “Do you know the song?” It was out so he could study it or whatever. He’s so good at improvising. But yeah, there’s a lot of improvising in my music. If I get a musician to play my band, most of the time, they have to be able to do it.
Do you write any music with Pedro or play together?
We have a band called Expensive Magnets. It’s a duo thing. I sing and play keyboard in his band, and he plays in my band. So we’re very intertwined. It’s great. But when we’re fighting, it is like, what the hell are we going to do about this tour coming up? I don’t know. It’s really a challenge. Our personalities are so different. He’s very warm and affectionate, and I am too, but when I’m upset, I’m not.
Dude, I feel you so hard on that. Well, are there any memorable moments that you have on stage, off stage, even when you’re attending a show?
Okay. Well, I’ve only moshed one time, and that was in Paris at a Lamb of God concert. I’m 5’1 so I’m really small. The person that took me was my tour manager because she was friends with someone in the band, but she’s tough. She was kind of protecting me the whole time. The first thing that happened when I got into the mosh pit was that I lost my shoe, it was gone. I’m like, “Should I do this or should I just call it?” I decided, fuck it, I’m going to do it. I had just begun doing Muay Thai, so I knew how to block my head at least. Throw my elbows around. I don’t want to elbow anybody, but I know how to not get hit in the head. I did the whole concert with one shoe and one wet sock.
Beer all over the ground.
Yeah, exactly. It was disgusting. There were people that would be looking at me laughing, but also protecting me at the same time. At the end of the concert, she insisted on finding my shoe, and it was on stage. I think somebody probably took it and threw it on the stage or something.
Is it more fun for you to do live shows and kind of improvise than it is recording it?
Oh, I love both equally for really different reasons. When I’m writing, I always try to make myself laugh.
Me too, when I’m writing the magazine. Even if anyone else isn’t going to think it’s funny.
That’s my exact approach for this next album. I’m like, I’m 41 and I love cartoons. I see little kids wearing the T-shirts of the shows that I watch. I still feel like a little kid.
Yeah, as you should.
Even the melodies that I write, the latest thing I’m writing is… it’s absurd. It’s like the bass line is duga duga duga duga the melodies like that,and it doesn’t repeat, it just goes on. It’s psychotic. After I write something, I’ll try to entertain myself by writing something really normal sounding, then slip in some weird dissonances or make up weird words. Instead of saying trajectory. I’ll say trajection. It’s not really that funny, but I try to entertain myself. When I’m on stage, it’s just an energy blast.
I feel like, at least me, you have to turn it on and off. Sometimes you have to be mentally prepared.
I used to get nervous about shows. Why am I doing this? I’d be so excited. And then as soon as it’s about to be showtime, I’d be like, who wants to hear this thing that I wrote in my room? What the hell do they care about this love song? Or how I feel bad about myself? And then one time after a show, this girl had a tattoo of my lyrics on her. I better be careful about what it is that I’m doing because if someone’s tattooing that, I’m writing on them. It just might mean something to someone. So, I might as well make it as meaningful as I can. And remember to try to keep in touch with that.
I mean, even if you make yourself laugh, they might love you for that, too. Getting a tattoo of your lyrics is pretty rad. Any other crazy fandom stories?
I mean, nothing too crazy. We have some fans that will come to a lot of our shows and they’re just awesome people. Louis got me this microphone that was covered in crystals that said “Chicken” on it, because I’m ‘Baby Chicken.’ It’s one of my nicknames that he calls me. It’s black with gold writing, and it’s so beautiful. I did this show in Paris, and there were these two guys. They were like, “Oh my god, we’re the biggest fans. I’ve been listening to you for six years. I love you so much.” So we let them backstage and we were hanging out with them. When we were leaving, the microphone was gone. I had posted something about it and they said, “Should we tell her?” And they put a little emoji of a microphone. They had taken my microphone, but said that they were keeping it safe or something like that. But then…
That’s so rude. What?
I know. Then my friend got it back, but someone else took it from his house. People just like shiny things. You gotta watch your shiny stuff.
If you had one artist that you were going to fangirl over, who’d it be?
There’s so many. Let me think. I feel like I recently did that, but who was it? I have the worst memory ever. Well, I don’t know if I’d be able to act natural around John Lennon, but you mean someone alive, probably.
I mean, shit, anyone. I would fangirl over David Bowie, and he’s deceased.
I would love to meet Sarah Vaughn. She’s a jazz singer. I’d love to meet her. I heard she was really cool.
You guys have been traveling everywhere, right? What’s your favorite place?
I love Tokyo, Easter Island, Paris, Taiwan. The thing is that a lot of it has to do with the people that I meet. I have so much fun in Sweden.
What’s next for you?
I’m doing a couple of things. I’m opening for a band called Dolphin Hyperspace. I’m going to do my solo stuff and Louis is going to play drums for both bands, and that’s at Gold Diggers.
