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Indiescoveries: Interview with Kevin from the Multivariate Outliers!

Writer's picture: GhostofRuckerGhostofRucker

Updated: Jun 15, 2024









Ghost: Can you tell us about your journey into music? How did you get started, and what inspired you to become an indie artist?     


Kevin: Music – a wide variety of music – has always been around me from a young age. I’m incredibly thankful to my parents who have an omnivorous taste in music which they have passed on to me. My desire to make and write music myself came from the hours of listening to music of all genres: A day of listening to music may have consisted of metal in the morning, classical in the afternoon and a bit of hip hop in the evening. It is from all these influences and more that I draw my inspiration when I write my own music, which I started doing when I was fourteen. After writing and performing the songs for two live bands, one during my school years, the other during my university years, I have now turned my focus to recording music and I am delighted to be able to share it with all of you! 


Ghost: What is the story behind your artist name? Does it hold a special meaning for you? 


Kevin: I had the honor of proofreading Sophie’s theses for her university studies. At the time we both played in the second live band I mentioned earlier. When I stumbled upon the term “multivariate outliers” in her thesis, I said to Sophie “now that’s a band name right there!”. It took a little bit of convincing, but Sophie agreed that it’s a unique name (albeit not a very memorable one) that is abstract enough for our eclectic music and we came back to the idea when we started recording music together as a duo (Joel has joined us since then to work on our second album). Finding band names is so hard nowadays – all the catchy ones are gone! Once unsure of our name (due to it objectively having way too many syllables), we have now grown fond of it and it’s here to stay. 


Ghost: How would you describe your music style? What genres or artists have influenced your sound?        


Kevin: This has always been and will always be one of the most difficult questions that anyone has asked me about the music we make. We never set out to make music “in the style of…” or “that sounds just like…”. Instead, we just follow the ideas that come to us and see where they lead us. Sometimes, the song comes out in a certain genre because that’s what suited our original ideas best: On our upcoming album we have a song that sits neatly in the singer-songwriter genre and another that can easily be classified as electro-pop. At the same time, we are working on a new song for our third album that mixes Latin music with metal guitars. So what is our music style? Good question. Can I just put down “eclectic” as an answer? 


Ghost: Can you share the creative process behind your latest album/single? How do you usually go about writing and producing your songs?  

      

Kevin: One of my music teachers once told me that a truly good song does not need a huge production or an insane arrangement to shine – it just needs “good bones”. If the song works with vocals and a guitar or piano accompaniment, it’s a good song. This idea really stuck with me and it’s the way I usually go about writing songs nowadays. Once I have an acoustic, “bare bones” version of a song ready, I go about arranging and producing it and I enjoy putting on all the fancy bells and whistles a lot. All of our songs on our upcoming album have been written and produced this way, regardless of who wrote the song, either Sophie or me. If you listen closely, you will also be able to determine whether the instrument we wrote the song on was the guitar or the piano – usually one of the two becomes the foundation for the entire arrangement. 


Ghost: What challenges have you faced as an indie artist? How have you overcome them?      


Kevin: To put it in one word: Time. Finding the time to devote to writing, making, recording, and producing music is challenging on top of a full-time job, family, friends and other obligations. Sometimes it’s difficult to find the energy to engage creatively after a long, tiring day and I get frustrated about the half-finished projects that lie on my hard drive, stagnating. To really get musical work done that I am thoroughly satisfied with, I need at least two or three hours of undisturbed concentration. Sometimes, it’s hard to find that time and I’m still working out ways to make it easier to find it. 


Ghost: Can you tell us who inspired your passion for music growing up?        


Kevin: Here again, I need to name my parents who have never questioned, but rather encouraged my wide taste in music (which I’m sure was difficult at times, because I’m sure they didn’t appreciate every band I enjoyed growing up). Another important person on my musical journey was a friend who was quite a few years older and who could play virtually any song on guitar, or at least that’s what it seemed like to me. We sang a lot together and I was amazed how he was able to make any song his own. Wanting to be able to do what he did, I looked up to him and was inspired to pick up playing the guitar myself. I can still remember how proud I was when one day he handed me the guitar and told me to play the next song. “Here, you play it”, he said. “You’re much better than me now anyway.” I had wanted to be “that guy” and then suddenly it came true. In the grand scheme of things, this was just a tiny little moment on my musical journey, but when I feel like I’m not going anywhere with the music I practice and make, I remind myself of the fact that we often do not even realize how far we have come and how good it feels to be reminded of our progress. 


Ghost: What message do you want to convey through your music? Is there a particular theme or emotion you aim to evoke in your listeners?        


Kevin: There’s not an overall theme or message that I would like to convey through our music, but what would make extremely proud is that people connect to it. Everything we put out is deeply personal since they are the musical ideas that we love and celebrate, and the lyrics that we come up with from our personal experiences. If someone is out there who listens to our music and feels a little less alone or a little less unseen, then I am proud. 


Ghost: What are your future plans? Are there any upcoming projects or collaborations that your fans should look forward to? 


Kevin: As mentioned earlier, we currently have our second and our third album in the works. The reason why they are going to come out as two separate albums is that it seemed to make more sense to group the songs by similarity. The next album we’re releasing will have more of an acoustic / singer-songwriter vibe to it, whereas the third album leans more into distorted guitars and heavier production. This wasn’t an easy decision to make since we’re postponing great songs that will only be released later on, but artistically it just made more sense. So, wish me luck that I finally solve my time management problem and there will lots of new tunes by the Multivariate Outliers coming your way really soon! 




Ghost: I'd like to Thank Kevin for giving us the opportunity to dive into the beautiful soundscape of one of the most amazing bands in the world! Multivariate Outliers!


Check out this awesome interview from Blue Grazer Records!




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redprintboz
Jun 16, 2024

Another great read, amazing how stories are so different but also are simular in some ways.

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