Killa Kela : Interview

“My music is for anybody, everybody, I don’t go into the studio thinking about target audiences or things like that. What I think about is finding ways to make music that people are gonna love and music with a message and a concept”. Killa Kela can’t fit enough words into a second to express how much he loves music, and more importantly his music. His passion is intoxicating, his determination exciting, 2010 will be the year for Killa Kela and he is going to make sure of it. 

Killa Kela (real name Lee Potter) is without a doubt one of the world’s finest beat boxers, using his mouth to produce beats and sounds that are ridiculously similar to that of the real thing, it’s easy to see why he is one of the most respected artists in the hip-hop scene. “I got into it way before it was called beat boxing, way before any music influence, I just started coming up with ideas and sounds, it was more of a calling then anything.” Having been discovered in his teens by DJ Vadim (an extremely influential Russian producer) after Kela sent a demo-tape to him; he went on to release his first mixtape, ‘Antistatic Mouthwash’ in 2000. However Kela got into beat-boxing almost by chance, “I got into a lot of hip-hop elemented based art, beat boxing was always just included in that. I just started getting up on stage literally for a laugh and doing it, and I had my crew and a few promoters there and I was like I’m gonna keep doing this because I’m underage and it gets me girls and drinks.”

During his time he has released several critically acclaimed albums, been a member of Scratch Perverts, received a Blue Peter badge, toured with Snoop Dogg and played for the Queen. Yet if you asked your average music lover who he was they would look at you stony faced.“If anything an album opens a lot more doors to the public domain, a lot of people just like buying good records”; Kela is not naive to the reason he is not as known as he may like to be. 

Throughout our entire conversation it is obvious that he knows exactly how the industry works, how people perceive genres and how he can make it work to his advantage. “The reason beat-boxing isn’t mainstream is because it’s got such a devoted live following and it’s hard to engage anyone from outside the environment, I wanna change all that and nothing helps a scene more then music. The most fundamental thing is having music you can buy into and be a part of and understand”. Kela could easily be seen as something of a pioneer, with a vision that could potentially shake up a scene that at the moment is very cliquey, a subject he seems aware of. “Turntablists buy vinyl to scratch with but they wouldn’t buy something with scratching on it, and if you’re trying to appeal to a wider audience that’s amazing live, but it’s like trying to put a one man band on the record.”

It would seem however he does not see himself as exclusively a member of any scene at all when asked about his influences, “I love music with balls man, I got influenced by a lot of music with a message like Public Enemy, The Prodigy, Metallica, Drum and bass, powerful music based on energy”. 

Listening to his forthcoming album Amplified the influences are obvious. Kela has produced an record that is not only innovative but also very listenable; effortlessly capturing the spirit of beat box and combining it with a full live band, and some of the best DJs and MC’s the world has to offer to create almost a hip-hop super group. So how did the band come about? “I wanted to create an all in one in flying circus of a tour van, the idea of the band was I chose specific instruments that I can imitate with my mouth...Its almost a kind of wonky kinda hip-hop band, its all about the energy.”

What Kela has planned for his live shows with the band is yet to be seen but talking to him it is obvious he feels this is one of the most exciting things he has ever done in his career. His new single off the album, ‘Built like an amplifier’ will give an early indication to how the wider public will take to his style, a sound that is consciously unique and cotemporary, something Kela set out intentionally to do. “I wanted to make music that pricked people’s ears up, I worked a lot with James (from Does It offend you yeah?) he’s the man behind this little venture. He wanted to create something that was raw and different and just said fuck you all over.” As well as production credits from James, the album also features contributions by Hadouken! (“I’ve known James for about 3 years, and I am just a sucker for new talent) Bashy and DJ Craze, proof that Killa has his fingers in all the right pies with an album featuring some of the best figures in the industry today. And for any fans wondering how Amplified compares to his previous work, “If you were to take a big skip of shit and drop it on top of what I have just done, I’ve been so meticulous with the album and refined it, in terms of the U.K scene it couldn’t be more fresh”.

So can an established mutli-vocalist like Killa Kela make the difficult transition from beat-boxing demi-god to successful mainstream artist? His new album speaks for itself but Kela’s success depends totally on weather or not the public can get their head around going to see a beatboxer that also raps, and has a full band with him. It may sound odd to some, but it sure does sound incredible.

Words: Kevin Angel

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