Exposed Vocals Interviews Avo Kooto

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

Avo Kooto: I grew up in Cambridge Ontario, one of the reasons I wanted to start making music was because of my dad, he loved to play around with different music programs and just from me watching him over the years as a kid, it kind of carried on to me as a teenager. When I was 11 years old my mom had been in a relationship with a close family friend and they eventually got married, my mom even though Cambridge was her home town she was never happy there, which resorted to us moving to a small town of under 800 people just outside of north bay. I started of making dubstep at the age of 13 because at the time dubstep was new,  it was popular and just loved that grungy wobble sound that old dubstep had to it. Eventually I started to realize that I wasn’t really improving, I was getting better at putting things together but the sound quality of my music was always the same, and at that time dubstep as a genre started to change and evolve itself, and with that my desire to make dubstep kind of faded away. I went about 2 years without making music at all and during that time I found a love for a new genre, rap. Rap to me was so diverse as a genre, each artist with there own style, flow, and the more I dived into it and really started digging into the underground stuff, the more I wanted to try rapping myself. One of my best friends at the time and sort of had a childhood playing around with music as well so we both had this idea that we would start rapping together. Unfortunately we never really had the time to sit down together and make something, we were always busy with other things like school, girls, sports, and our method of making music was my old desktop computer which is not the easiest thing to lug around, at the time my dad was always pushing me to make music, as a teenager I tend to always quit while I was ahead, I would never push myself to be better, always comparing myself to other people and being worried about what people thought it took a tole on me, so my dad would always try and pick my spirits up, and give me that little push that I needed. For my 17th birthday he bought me a new, smaller computer, as well as a microphone to go with it so at this point I didn’t need anything else but motivation to start making music. One thing I was worried about when I started uploading my music was the image it would give me to other people, but as time went by and I started to get better and better I didn’t care what other people think, I had such a strong group of friends that the amount of support they gave me overruled any criticism or bashing that I received for being a rapper in a small town, and that support strengthened me into the artist I am today and im forever grateful for it.

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

Avo Kooto: My father is Portuguese and Avo is Portuguese for grandmother. My and my friends would be hanging out, smoking weed, playing video games, typical teenager stuff and I would tell them stories of my grandmother and my funny Portuguese family from Cambridge and they just liked the sound of it, so they started calling me Avo because i was Portuguese and it just stuck. The reasoning behind Kooto was because In grade 8 my teacher and the whole school in fact thought my last name was spelt Kooto, even on report cards and awards my name was spelt this way, I’m not sure where the school got this last name but it was still quite funny to me!

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

Avo Kooto: I love being able to share my music online its such a good way to get yourself out there and meet new people, Ive met so many different artists and people who just have a general love for music like I do, and it also boosts your confidence immensely. Music was always sort of a way for me to express myself and really release some of my stress and emotions, I think if started making music just to make money, I would lose that creativity and that effect it has on me, I’ve always planned to just release my music for free because I see my music as art that I want to share with everyone.

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?

Avo Kooto: Stay true to yourself always.

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

Avo Kooto: A lot of my inspiration comes from the artists I listen too, even though I use a lot of those artists for inspiration, the most important thing for me when I’m making music is creating my own style, my own kind of sound, and writing music that relates to me. Usually my songwriting process is quite long, Ill lock myself in my room, get a pen and paper, and I just let the words flow with the emotions of that day. Sometimes it doesn’t fit, I throw out verses all the time, all can really do is put myself in a better mindset the next day and try again. 

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

Avo Kooto: https://soundcloud.com/avo-kooto

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

Avo Kooto:  I would probably set myself up with a nice place to live with my friends, have a nice studio and just continue to make music, travel around the world, and see some of my favorite artists preform.

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

Avo Kooto: Social media is my main method of music sharing, Soundcloud is my go to website to share my music. I also use twitter to get my stuff out there! A lot of my friends are on twitter so they like help out with the sharing part of it as well.

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

Avo Kooto: Right now I’m working my first mixtape, I haven’t decided a name for it quite yet and Its a long way from being finished, but I’m excited for whats next to come for me.

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

Avo Kooto: I probably would be focusing more on acting, in high school I was a big theater kid, I was really passionate about acting, but because I lived in such a small area it was hard for me to really pursue it.

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

Avo Kooto: I always made time for music in my life, no matter what I was doing that week or how busy I was I would make sure to dedicate myself to at least  a few hours a day of making music.

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

Avo Kooto: I get better every time I sit down and make something, I’m constantly growing into a stronger artist everyday and at the rate I’m going tight now, I think 2016 is going to be a very good year for me.