Dimi Kaye is a synthwave producer and guitarist from Greece. His new album Not Holding Back was released last week. In this interview we talk about the new album, the past and the future and his favorite cartoon from the 80s.
Dimi, can you tell us a bit about your background?
Hello and thank you for the interview! I am Dimi Kaye, a synthwave/outrun/shredwave producer from Greece. I am a metalhead and I've been playing guitar now for 18 years. In 2013 I played a videogame called Hotline Miami and I loved the soundtrack. I searched around in forums and found out that this nostalgic 80´s inspired music was called synthwave. I immediately fell in love. Since then I have released 4 full synthwave albums, an EP, three singles and worked on many compilations and collaborations with fellow synthwavers like Volkor X, Vulta, Timestalker, Turbo Knight, Straplocked and Moonraccoon.
How did you first get into making music?
I got into music because of heavy metal. When I was 12 years old I listened to The Trooper by Iron Maiden and I loved the energy and melody of the song. At that moment I was hooked with heavy metal music. A few years later my mother asked me if I wanted an instrument for Christmas and ofcourse I asked for a guitar. Since the moment I got hold of the instrument I was eager to learn, doing exercises, improving and creating music. I am still learning and discovering new things which makes playing guitar and music in general very exciting.
Congratulations with your new album ¨Not Holding Back¨. How was it to work on this album?
Thank you! Not Holding Back was something new in relation to my oldest releases. I always used melodic guitar solos in my tracks but this time I used heavy rhythm guitars together with the synths and pretty fast & technical melodic guitar solos. It was a risk using strong rock/metal elements but the reception was very positive. I hope people will enjoy the music!
Now your album ¨Not Holding Back¨ is out, can you tell us something about your (near) future projects?
I always think ahead and what I would like to try musically. Not Holding Back is a love letter to my metal influences. I knew the direction of it since I released my previous album Dangerous. Same thing right now. I know relatively the direction that I want to take with my new stuff. It will have strong new wave/post punk elements with catchy and massive synths. I want to have vocals in each of the tracks and the compositions move in that direction to facilitate a singer. I already have a couple of very good ideas that I want to finish and we will see what more I come up with.
Where do you get your creative inspiration when you are making music?
From many areas. What I definitely do is practice on the guitar almost every day. Even if nothing good comes up, I do some training and slowly become a better player, which helps when a good idea finally comes. Other than that, when I don't play, I listen to other people's music. I learn how to produce or to learn music theory. Everything helps to get me inspired. Ofcourse, I get the themes for my music from films, documentaries, series, books and graphic novels. The idea for the artwork of Not Holding Back came after I watched a greek cult movie called The Turn. A few of my tracks have names from beloved films, like Only the Strong and First Blood. Yes, art fuels me!
I am very curious about the synthwave scene in Greece. What can you tell us about this?
There are some incredible synthwave producers from Greece. VHS Dreams, Kristine, my buddy MoTER, Beatbox Machinery, TZA, Erebus and a few more. The mainstream doesn't know what synthwave is, but the fun thing is that it slowly makes its way out of the underground. I met some new people recently in different situations and they knew and liked the music. This is always good, means that the reach and fan base becomes bigger, it helps all of us. There isn't a proper connected scene though. Most of us create music on our own. I hope that changes soon, I would love to play some live shows with people who love synthwave like me.
What is your favorite cartoon from the 80´s and why?
Easy answer: Thundercats! Badass intro, incredible song and solo (most of the 80´s cartoons had amazing intro music). The story and characters amazed me when I was a kid and I used to wake up early on Saturdays to watch it on television. Great and nostalgic times.
And finally any last words to the (Dutch) synthwave community?
To all my Dutch friends, thank you so much for checking and streaming my music! Please keep supporting all synthwave artists, known and unknown, as there is some incredible undiscovered music out there. I hope you enjoy my new album Not Holding Back. Lots of love from Greece!
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