So my last post was an introduction and hype up of Children of Zeus. I decided to follow up on it and actually ask them a few questions. The guys were kind enough to answer them for me, we kept it brief but I hope you enjoy!
Where did the name Children of Zeus come from?
Konny: We had the first record ready and still had no name (Konny Kon from Broke’N’English & Tyler Daley aka Hoodman was a bit long) so a couple of days before we had to submit it to the label we went for Chinese and at the end of the meal we got a fortune cookie, and Tyler’s said “You are The Children Of Zeus” so we went with it.
Who are your musical influences?
Konny: Too many to mention I listen to so much music and I’m inspired by it all. But I grew up loving reggae and soul then hiphop as I got a bit older.
Tyler: We both have a shared love of late 80s/early 90s street soul. Pirate radio raised us.
What made you decide to work together, given that you were both in your own respective crews when you first met?
Konny: Because if I didn’t have Tyler around I’d probably be rapping to about 30 smelly guys in big jeans who think Immortal Technique is god.
Tyler: I wanted to produce an ep for Konny. When he came round we realised our love for soul and it all went a different direction.
What’s the COZ creative process like, where does it start?
Konny: No real method. Sometimes we start making a beat. Sometimes one of us has already made a beat. Some of the beats on The Story So Far were 15 years old. My favourite thing about working as COZ is we lost the ego. Tyler has written bars for me. I’ve given him lines to his melodies. Whatever it takes to make good music is the only rule.
Does one person do the bulk of the beats or is it equally shared?
Tyler: We both make the beats. Some are done together some are done when we aren’t together.
What’s the response been like to the Story so Far?
Konny: We didn’t want to release it at first. It was a label idea. We didn’t want people to think it was our debut album. It’s a bunch of tracks made over about 8/9 years. Some were made in Tyler’s kitchen with no speakers just a laptop and headphones and a mic next to a tin of beans. But we put it out and it became one of the best things we did. Gave people who probably wouldn’t listen to us on soundcloud a chance to take in what we do. People seemed to really love it. And the maddest thing being a real music head is so many of my hero’s or titans in the music industry have reached out to say they love it. It’s mad to think songs like Still Standing were made 9 years ago and last year so many end of year lists included it as song of the year. Longevity, timeless, classic…all words not many people get to hear when people talk about their music. That means a lot.
Considering your EP was basically a compilation do you feel your sound has changed at all since?
Tyler: Not really. Possibly the only thing that might sound different is there’s a bit more time spent making each song. But we aren’t trying to please everyone. We have a sound that if it’s for you we want you to LOVE it. Remember albums like A Tribe Called quest where you’d put on the album and you could listen to it all the way through. There was no weird grime song in the middle then trap song to pull in as many listeners as possible. We had a plan from day one to stick to our guns and keep it soulful even when no one from round here was doing that. I think we might have different tempos but the soul will always be there.
When can we expect your debut album?
Konny: Looking at June hopefully!
What do you want your lasting legacy within music to be?
Konny: Zed Bias came through to listen to some of the new album the other day. He said something that moved me about Still Standing. He said ‘you know this will be played in 20 years at a soul weekender right’. And to me I just want people to listen to the music in a few decades and it still sound timeless and good.
Manchester seems to be a real creative hub musically right now, who else should we look out for?
Konny: Shiiiit. See this is where I’ve fucked up in the past. You name 499 artists from Manchester and the one you forget then finds a problem with it. So on that note LayFullStop and KSR are on our album so go check them and see where the YouTube rabbit hole takes you!
Thanks for your time guys.
Can’t wait for the album to come out!
p.s I’m sure that one day we’ll get the real story about the origin of their name lol I’ll enjoy the jokes until then.
Peace,
Ramblings of a music fan
Ramblings of a music fan 