Infidel Interview #116: C-LEKKTOR
First of, just want to thank you for participating in this edition of Infidel Interviews. Could you start off by giving a little information about you to the audience? Whatever you feel comfortable with, but name, age, and where you live would be pretty standard?
My name is Markko, I'm almost 41, and my partner JORGE MT and I have been creating music under the name of C-LEKKTOR, which is an Mexican electronic music project in the Industrial/EBM/Harsh Electro style.
How do you enjoy where you live? Is there a vibrant music community where you are? Would you say you find that your local scene influences your attitude and/or creativity?
We both live in Mexico City and find the country to have a great culture, and regarding music we have a lot of diversity with different music genres. We think that Mexican people are one of the best audiences (at least in the genre we participate in). Very are very warm and energetic... and here there is an retro-implementation between people, ourselves and our music...
What do you feel separates your music from the rest of the music in the Industrial music scene?
Well is hard to tell, we are re-discovering the "wheel" and every artist departs from something, we are just 2 friends doing the music we like without labels, just for fun.
What would you say are your favorite themes and topics that inspire you to compose? What draws you to those themes?
We base our songs on our daily life, experiences and any feelings that marks our hearts and minds. It is just about what we feel in the moment we write. Sometimes it can be something melancholic or furious but it is always about what we feel and live.
Industrial and Attitude seem to go hand in hand. With global war, civil unrest, injustice, and political revolution being primary musical themes that dominate your music, how do you feel nowadays about the current state of world affairs?
I think we are facing our own destruction as race, but if you think on this I mean on deeper way, we deserve it cause we brought this to our lives.
What do you see in the near, and far, future for your creative output?
Music my friend, it is all about the music, we are not looking for fame or any status we just create and share, and if in the middle someone likes our stuff, well that's a plus for us. MUSIC IS OUR LIFE...
When you first started making music, was there a particular sound or artistic/musical influence that you would say was your biggest inspiration to start pursuing the creative path yourself?
During all this time we have been composing music we have changed and of course we improve our techniques and our song writing process, and still there is a lot to be learned, but we always try to make it different from the rest of the bands out there, we are not sure if we succeed on this, but definitely we think that we are on the right direction.
Interview continues after this video and all further streaming content...
When it comes to your musical self and your real-world self, would you say that there is a separation? Do you find yourself getting into a character or mindset when you create, or do you find your music is a representation of your day to day self?
You just said it my friend, music is our day by day in our lives.
Are you musically self-taught? Or have you had mentors along the way to help you develop?
When I started to do music it was because I just wanted and needed it, nobody told me how and I never went to a music school or something, I think there was a calling inside me asking for this, everything I know is because I really wanted to do it...
When it comes to composing music, do you approach things with a clear vision in mind, or do you prefer to let songs feel themselves out? Do you have any particular techniques or tricks you use to keep yourself creative and consistent?
We don't have any rules when we write music and every song is just an approximation of an idea running in our ears and head. We can start with an simple loop or an bassline but there is not an certain writing process for us.
When it comes to making music it can be difficult to balance atmosphere, song progression, musicality, and excitement. Do you have any tricks, techniques, or methods that you commonly use to help your music sound coherent and engaging?
Yeah you're right, like I told you we just want to create the best result for every song and we defined our techniques, but there is always hard to find exactly what we want cause we are always pushing ourselves to improve of any every during the song writing process.
Do you spend a lot of time crafting your own sounds? Or do you value song crafting and effects tweaking more? Or do you find it's a balance between the two? What' your relationships with presets? When you make music are you primarily a hardware or software oriented musician? Or do you do a fusion of both? Are there any particular instruments, programs, or effects that you would say are vital to you making music?
Yeah I try to do it as much as i can, free time is a really difficult thing to get at least for me, and yes unfortunately for the lack of free time we need to win time by doing it in an digital way, I admit that is not the way I would like to work with, but at least is bit faster for us...
Do you ever find it difficult to balance the creative and technical aspects of musical creation? How do you strike the balance for the need to craft and tweak your effects and sounds, in contrast to actually just getting the song itself created with structure and melody? What sort of element of creation do you prefer, the sonic shaping or the song creation?
Yeah mixing and mastering is a pain in the ass for me, that's why we always ask for help on this...
Do you find that when you are working on projects where you ended up learning new techniques during the process?
Definitely, but is always hard to leave behind bad habits, but we always try to make it on different way but is not that easy always :P
Playing live shows, recording new tracks, attempting to go live the life that gives you the experiences that inspires it all... it can be difficult to balance the time. Do you have any particular methods that you use to keep yourself focused or balanced in your direction?
Way to hard to be honest. We have sacrificed a lot of things. I mean into our personal lifes, but at least we are doing what we love to.
For fans who have not seen you yet, when it comes to your live show, how would you describe yourself thematically and visually? Are you an energy and audience driven band in the live atmosphere? Or would you consider yourself to be more thematic or presentation oriented?
Energetic and passionate motherfuckers in action :P i think that's how i could describe it :P
When it comes to performing, what are your favorite sort of venues to play in, and what are your favorite areas to tour? If you could tour with any other band in the world who would it be and why? What are some of your favorite memories of touring?
We don't have any particular one, we just let the synergy flow with the audience and together we create a link. For us it is more important what we want to express during our live shows.
Have you had any particular moment(s) that you would like to share, that you would consider to be a crowning achievement in your musical career so far, or moments that you would say truly continue to inspire you to pursue your artistic path?
I remember one time when I saw a band of this same genre playing live and was like mindblowing to me, that moment I decided to do it too...
What are some of the biggest challenges you have had to overcome in your musical career?
To keep creating music after all these years...
What sort of new bands have come out in recent years that have caught your attention? Is there any bands out there you see yourself, or would like to, remix or collaborate with in the future?
Well there are a lot indeed but one that I really like so much is another Mexican project that you should keep an eye on it, GOD DESTRUCTION.
Promotion can be one of the most difficult things in the music industry. Do you have an agent that helps book shows and manage your online presence, or have you decided to trek it out without and mantle the reigns of the social media apparatus yourself? Is it difficult engaging the online world consistently and originally, or do you find it easy?
We always try to do this by ourselves and our label, but to be honest music business is not anymore what it was supposed to be and creating music has become really difficult day by day and to be known even worst, but what the hell, we are just here for our passion for the music, so we will keep trying for sure.
Outside of music, what are some of your favorite past times and emotional engagements?
I love to spend time with my family, as much as i can.
Thank you so much for participating in this episode of Infidel Interview. Any parting words for your fans, or my audience?
Thank you so much for this very interesting questions and thank to your audience for reading this, if you guys can listen some of our music, I think we wont let you down, C-LEKKTOR IS NOW LOADED........gracias
Follow their latest activities on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Clekktor/
Download their music on Bandcamp:
https://clekktor.bandcamp.com/
or on iTunes/Apple Music:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/c-lekktor/202509026
Stream their music on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/artist/1qr9BTgrtRrUIuBcw11D4O
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