Exposed Vocals Interviews Krooked

Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?

Krooked:  well I grew up in  Lakewood Colorado. My dad bounced on me when I was 5. I bounced around from school to school for the longest time. All of that took a huge toll on my mental well-being And it was hard to find an outlet to cope. So I started doing music because it helped me cope with a lot of the stress I was dealing with. It was also away to get some of the aggression that I was feeling out.

Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?

Krooked: my name derived from a lot of the music I listen to I listen to a lot of horrorcore like ICP and Twiztid and Blaze Ya Dead Homie and Tech Nine. so when you listen to that music it gives you a sense of insanity sometimes so Krooked is like I have a crooked mind state. But it was hard to find a good name I bounced around between names a lot. this name that I have now just stuck it felt right and that’s what it is when you’re trying to find a name it’s what goes along with your style and what feels right to you.

Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?

Krooked:  I agree with online music sharing. I give give away my music for free all the time I feel like gives me a better connection with the people listening to me and promotes the fact that I may be able to make money off of it but it’s not a job it’s lifestyle. I may never make millions off my music but I’ll always have it so why can’t other people have it just as free as I have it.

Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?

Krooked:  well I’m a smaller local artists also and I work with a lot of smaller local artists look into the artist 50 cal he’s my best friend we’ve been working for a few years together he’s got great music can find them on SoundCloud and also look into my friend firewalker and some of the more local Minnesota artist like Stampede Cyco Mico Lil Skam. All of them are great artist with a lot of potential they just need the proper exposure.

Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?

Krooked:  well lot of my inspiration comes from things that have happened in my life and a lot of the music I listen to like my horrorcore style of writing derives more from a lot of the music but when it comes to the emotional stuff that I do that all comes from a lot of personal experience. As for what I do when I’m writing what my process is find a beat that I want to work on something that I can build off of and I sit down and I listen to the beat and I start kind of freestyling kind of not. For me usually all it takes for me to be able to start writing a verse is to find a really good opening line to build off of something that hits you and gets you listening to it something that catches your attention like writing a good book with a good intro.

Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?

Krooked: I don’t necessarily have my own website but I do have a Facebook the real krooked. you can follow me onbandcamp.com just look up Krooked. You can also find me on SoundCloud look up Krooked of D.I.E. also look up the label that I’m starting deadly Ice Entertainment on Facebook follow us we have updates about my projects and all the other artists projects on that page we aren’t very well established but once we’re more established will start posting regularly.

Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?

Krooked:  well first thing I would do is I would invest in some better recording equipment. I would probably work on some new projects get some music done because as it is right now with a lot of things going on in my life I don’t have much time it would be nice to have some time to just sit down and work on music and just music. I would also invest in getting more shows for me and the people I work with maybe start a tour for when my year break is over.

Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?

Krooked:  well I tend to go through social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. I also try and get my friends my family and the people who come to my shows to spread the word about my music show them my music. I do a lot of self-promotion and honestly the way that works best for me is to go out and do shows. that’s the best way to promote myself and it’s worked so great so far because it’s one thing to put out your music and sit by the computer screen and try to promote it that way. it’s another thing to get out interact with the people who are listening to you talk to them get feedback have them spread it because then I can  make a better impression on the people listening to me and it helps them be more apt to go out and spread my music and get other people to come to my shows and jam out with me and my crew when we were up on stage.

Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?

Krooked:  well I have a few projects in the works right now. the one that I can talk about is my upcoming album, sound of violence. I’m setting a goal to get it done by fall of this year. which I will also be posted up on my band camp when it’s done for free. Other than that you can expect possibly a mixtape coming out this summer but that’s purely Speculation at this point.

Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?

Krooked:  if I wasn’t making music I would probably be trying to start a YouTube career. Because another thing I do outside of music as I play a lot of video games passes the time when I’m not doing anything and I don’t have anything to do music wise. The reason for a YouTube career is it’s also another way for me to do something that entertains people and possibly helps people through their hardships. Plus I watch a lot of YouTubers a lot of gaming channels on YouTube so if I wasn’t doing music that’s probably what I’d be doing now.

Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?

Krooked:  it’s not easy juggling everything on top of music does music takes up a lot of my time and it takes a lot of energy to do I tend to try and balance everything out between work and music and school. But it’s a struggle some days because there are days where I just want to say forget everything I have music to work on but I can’t do that because I have priorities that I need to keep in mind. An example is work I have to keep that in mind because without work I can’t get money and without money I can’t afford to get the merchandise I need or get the recording equipment I need to keep ahead in my music career.

Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2016?

Krooked: so like I said earlier this fall hopefully I will be able to put out my album Sound Of Violence it’s going to be mainly horrorcore with a few emotional tracks spread in there. And look for any mixtapes that I drop within the coming year any collaborations I’m doing.  if you want to know about these things follow the deadly Ice Entertainment page on Facebook and follow my SoundCloud Krooked of D.I.E and for future albums go to my Bandcamp end search Krooked. With all this said I just like to say thank you exposed vocals for giving me this opportunity I hope to keep in touch and work with you guys in the future.