Sitting on the breathtaking rooftop of the Arlo Hotel in Midtown New York City, dance music DJ, and producer KC Lights emerges for our one-on-one interview., followed by his debut performance at Paradise Club. The Scottish DJ and electric dance producer, real name Kerr Slaven is becoming one of the most highly recognized talents in the scene. Expanding his talent globally, he has a rare ability to integrate underground house roots into a new and unique sound, establishing his own in the industry. After releasing a few major bangers his DJ status skyrocketed to levels beyond belief. The momentum continues with his newest track, which has had many plays and features in festival sets bringing his status to new levels. It is an uplifting euphoric festival piano edit of his 2021 hit “Hold On featuring Kye Sones” that is out now via Solardo’s special SOLA imprint. “I created this edit shortly after writing the original with vocalist Kye Sones back in 2021. I’ve always been a big fan of spinning my songs in different ways creatively. I had this idea of a ’90s piano riff for the drop and the rest came together pretty quickly. It’s been a song that I’ve been closing out my set with for the past year now and the response has been incredible. It’s one of my favorites!” - KC Lights. Once again, KC uses his diverse talents in the studio, offering intricate melodies that invoke a certain sense of bliss. ”It kind of had a bit of a nostalgic vibe to it. - almost quite like the 90s. I decided to go down that route and bring in a, I like the 90s rave theme and minigame M1 piano, and I can breakbeat over the top of it and it was just something that I thought of. I've been playing it out for maybe a year to eighteen months and it was always like my end-of-set track,” said KC Lights. Kye’s vocals float breathlessly on top helping to build toward an epic climax, while having the full complement of KC’s driving piano stabs and a punchy four-on-the-floor groove. KC Lights' career has been on a steady growth spurt over the last few years. His signature sound has opened doors and driven demand for him to remix some of the world's most prominent artists.
The Beginning:
Following an explosive few years, Scotland's multi-talented musician, DJ, and producer has firmly established himself as one of the most exciting up-and-coming talents on the scene. He grew up on a small island off the West Coast of Scotland, the Isle of Bute, and music grabbed his attention from an early age. His love for composing and performing led him to an honors degree and multiple awards at the University he attended. After a trip to Ibiza in his teens, KC Lights fell in love with electronic music. This new passion, along with his electric musical background, has evolved his expansive production range and uplifting DJ style, with fans touting his unique take on house music.
“I remix all of my records, all of the titles. It's kind of the way that I write. I think just because of the way I describe the way I am creatively or the way I write, I'm like an ideas guy. I just always have a million ideas. When I'm working on a record, even penning down one version is kind of difficult because I've always got a few different versions of it. So obviously I'll always come up with what version - this is a cool version. Then go in and dig in and mess things around and reimagine it in different ways. It's just something I've always really liked I love remixing. I've got a remix a lot of times and I, I love doing that. Just taking something and kind of putting it in a different context almost and the whole thing I'm thinking about because I've been playing it out and for some reason, the vocal reminded me.” - KC Lights
Last year, ‘Hold On’ was one of the most-played tracks at the iconic festival Tomorrowland. “I had the original track ‘Hold On’, that was such a big song for me. It was strange that I did this new edit over, but there was just something that could help me. I never actually expected it to come out. I just couldn't put it for me. It came out in Solardo's label Sola.” He continued about how he teamed up with Solardo to release the remix on the label. “Mark Richards from Solardo reached out to me one time. I've made those guys a few times. They're great guys. I look up to them. Mark made me one day and said, ‘Have you got any tunes’? We can hear the label. So that was the first one I was saying. I'm saying it was right away because it was just a demo I'd been sitting on and he loved it and said, cool, let's do it. Let's put it out.' It was super simple. It was nice when that happens. It doesn't always happen that way, but it is nice when it's that straightforward. I think as an artist, what's important is just having that kind of approval from someone like that in the industry.”
KC Lights - Hold On (Festival Piano Mix)
From then on ‘Hold On’ has exploded into a popular frenzy with elite artists playing it their sets on a global spectrum. Plus, he performs and plays it in his energetic sets in Ibiza, Mexico, Europe, and his favorite festival Tomorrowland. “I played main stage Tomorrowland last year, which is probably one of those bucket lists. It seems for almost any electronic artist. That in itself was special. Just being there, not even a performance side of it. It's just such an insane experience. It was an insane experience, just the whole setup there was immense, catering to the hospitality. That's a special one! There are more like 200,000 people a day or something, that's just in the variety. I played loads of super cool little boutique festivals around the world as well. I was just out seeing Mexico and near Cancun for you to be a festival, which is like a really small boutique festival. That was nothing like I'd ever played before either. It was so much fun. Everyone was just having the best time,” replied KC Lights.
Talking about Tomorrowland made me think about the time I went, it has been eight years since I was in the most detailed and breathtaking festival. It's a global party, everyone all over the world travels to Boom, Belgium a small town outside of Brussels to camp, party, and connect for the three-day festival. “We need those days and people. I think what's cool about it is what they've captured in their experience. Just treat it like you're kind of in another dimension almost. I think that's what's cool about it every detail, everything. I got to when I arrived and we went to this, huge artist village and there are 40,000 people there. One of the producers said, 'We like the idea of being unique. So we rather than kind of commissioning someone else to make all this stuff for us. We just do it ourselves.' So no festival in the world looks like that. I think that's probably why they are what they are. You can't go anywhere else to experience that. It's one of them.” Plus a magical moment happened during his set which almost holds a special place in his heart for the festival. “Someone actually, it is on the live stream as well. My set was recorded on YouTube and someone proposed to their partner during my set. It's cool that it's captured on camera as well. I have no idea how I would try to reach out to them somehow. I have no idea who they are but that's cool. Do you know what? It's probably even in the comments section on YouTube. I've not even had a look. I mean, the other thing as well is people love investigating online. So I'm sure if I just put up a post saying, can we find these people? Well, we didn't take that long,” said KC Lights.
KC Lights has appeared live on BBC Radio 1, Ireland's RTE Pulse, Revolution Radio in Miami, and Sirius XM. He's toured the dance world's biggest stages, such as Creamfields; We Are FSTVL, ADE, The Warehouse Project, Ministry of Sound, and Printworks, and headlined tours both in Australia & New Zealand. He has become a regular on the Ibiza circuit, with performances in Amnesia, Hii, Pacha, Eden & more, cementing him as one of the top household names on the scene. He has released other bangers and grown his audience with original records on prominent labels such as Hervé’s ‘Cheap Thrills’ imprint. "Lose It All" gained support from house music heavyweights Rudimental, MK, and Danny Howard, while his next record "No No No" became the definitive Ibiza Anthem of 2015. His momentum has continued with a slew of releases, including his collab with Mike Mago and club hit “Daylight” on Spinnin’ Records, and his latest single “Temptation," released on Danny Howard’s label Nothing Else Matters.
“Playing music out that no one's ever heard before or they can't get their hands on as I always quite enjoyed and got a few legs and things in my sets."
KC Lights
On The Horizon:
His newest release ‘Better Times’ is on Toolroom Records. Giving him consolidation and the boost he needs in the music industry as an artist. We asked KC Lights what was like meeting Mark Knight for the first time after releasing a few records on the label. “I think the first time I met Mark Knight, I played the Toolroom pool party at Miami Music Week, maybe in 2019, right before the pandemic. I think that was probably the first time I met him. Meeting him was cool because he is a really nice guy, really supportive, and you'd be the guest behind the artistic side as well, it's not just a case of here's a track, he'll be giving advice and feedback about the track. He has more of a hands-on approach than I know a lot of other label heads do. This is cool, especially for someone with that status in the industry, it means a lot. Having someone like that get behind you. He's a nice guy.”
Listen to KC Lights - Better Times [Toolroom Records]:
Inspirational Words:
Being a DJ and producer has helped him on both a personal level and a career level. “They're not totally two different worlds if you know what I mean. I think that's why I chose to pursue a career in music because it's just always been my go-to if I'm feeling low, if I'm feeling happy if I'm feeling like I want to celebrate. It's always been something that I've used. I suppose it's a bit of a means and a platform of expression. Being able to take that into and sharing that in my way with other people and allow them that experience.” On a personal level, he continues disconnecting from everything else and only focusing on music. “If I put on my headphones and just show me, I mean, it sounds corny, but like it transports me to another place. I can just escape, I've always been grateful to have that. I think people find that in different areas of life in different ways. The fact that it's so accessible for me, I can just stick on a pair of noise with my headphones and chill or pump me up or whatever, I love that. It is like another world.”
Concluding his interview which was short and sweet, however, it was memorable following his uplifting and energetic performance at Paradise Club. He packed the nightclub with his vibrant set. His momentum is continuing to grow with multiple infectious releases. He’s been inspired by music his entire life and he continues to inspire others with his music. Keep your eyes open for a few highly-anticipated remixes out later this year. KC Lights has built an impressive musical background with fiery ambition and passion for dance music. He created a distinctive sound drive that is undeniable. He’s a humble person and DJ with already huge accomplishments as a music artist. KC Lights is on tour stopping at Austin, Texas, and San Diego then off to Ibiza for the rest of the summer. He will be performing at multiple parties and iconic events such as David Guetta’s F*** Me I’m Famous and headline night clubs at Pacha plus, music festivals in Europe, more dates will soon be announced.
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