Get to Know- Eliade Krön

By Alex Walden

Following the release of the 1st season of music-based YouTube series Fridays at E’s. Alex Walden got the opportunity to chat with producer and series host and NEUF co-founder Eliade Krön to discuss the outcome of the show, the true value of music and what we can expect in the future.

So for the people who don’t know, what is Fridays at E’s?

Fridays at E’s is a YouTube show that started this year in February where every two weeks I invite a few artists over in this very bedroom I’m in right now and we have to create a track from scratch to finish in like 5-6 hours and the twist is that we have a deck of cards with random track titles on them (just random words) and we have to a track around it basically. The track has to be done in 5-6 hours then I mix and master it and release it two weeks later alongside the video.

So artists apply for this show through a form?

Yeah they fill out a form which I attach in the description of every video.

Awesome, do you pick these artists at random to try mix things up or do you try and find artists that will work well together?

I definitely check out their stuff before, it’s definitely a mix of people though. I try to make it so that it’s not only people who haven’t been on before, but it just so happened that it was people that I didn’t know beforehand, but I do try to have, like some artists that I know and some instrumentalists that I know.

I try to keep so I have teams that are kind of mixed up of instrumentalists, producers, singers, songwriters and rappers so that it’s quite balanced but at the same time, one thing that I learned is that you can’t really organise anything when it comes to making up teams because there will always be last minute cancels and then you have to find a last-minute solution and it can get pretty hectic.

Is it not difficult at all trying to channel so many different approaches into one song all within 5-6 hours?

Yes and no, I think that’s the beauty of it personally, it was harder in the first few episodes but [as it progressed] I gained more trust in the fact that we were going to deliver something good as I did more episodes. That’s the beautiful thing about it to be honest, when you’re running out of ideas, there’s always someone who has one for you. At times you can feel like “how does this make sense” but because there’s one word that unifies us, because of that title, we can always just circle back to it. Actually it’s not even that we circle back to it, it’s more that in everybody’s conscience, this word is floating around and every idea that stems out of it I receive.

I guess the contrary would be there any episodes where you felt that you were surprised at how well it flowed.

Yeah, it may sound crazy, but I think all episodes I can’t lie. At one point I was figuring out how to make the videos and I think that, starting from episode 4, I implemented some feedback I got from a friend where they suggested I do confessionals so you can like, decipher what’s going on and I think every episode since then in the confessionals everyone was like “yeah I was so surprised”.

There’s a lot of times where I really felt that like the song was going to be shit or like it wouldn’t make sense or there were too many parts and then suddenly, you’re like “oh… all the pieces of the puzzle are suddenly coming together”

I find that even in regular sessions with artists, the sessions where I don’t know where it’s going, where I feel like really out of my comfort zone, hell sometimes I’m even stressed by it you know? It’s those sessions that turn out to make a song where I’m like “whoa! This is different”

Going back to how you only have like 5-6 hours to make the song, I’ve made music myself before and I know after a couple hours it’s so easy to hit what feels like a brick wall and have you feeling like “I just can’t do this anymore, nothings working” how do you push yourself through that mental drought?

It’s all to do with the time constraint really. Well there’s two things about it; the first thing is like an old French saying, it goes “l'appetit vient en mangeant” [appetite comes with eating]. If you’re hungry, you’re going to eat something and then be hungry you know what I mean? So it’s kind of the same with creativity, you have a little idea, even if it’s a shit idea, even just one chord but if you commit to it, new ideas are going to flourish out of this idea and then a new idea will flourish out of that one and it will grow naturally, it’s all about commitment. Yeah, it might feel like a shit idea but if I keep looking for a good idea I’m never going to find it whereas if I commit to this shit idea I can build up on it and then maybe, at the end of the day something nice can come to life out of it.

It kind of pushed you in a way to go beyond what you thought you could do.

Exactly yeah, There was an astrological prompt that was like “I thrive in an environment when I’m challenged” or whatever. Basically when things are at steak and I’m not in a situation of comfort that’s where my best protectional comes out.

The second thing is that there’s always other artists that are there with me if I’m running out of ideas and I hit a brick wall. They might not have one, but they might say something that will inspire me, and I can bounce off of that.

That’s the beauty of it, just throwing everything at the wall and hoping something sticks.

Yeah literally and there’s been session where; I think it was episode seven (the dealbreaker one) where there was a lot of searching, because there was no other instrumentalists or producers there it was just three artists, a singer, two rappers and I was the only one there to like give out ideas for the instrumental aspect of it and yeah it was hard to find the good ideas so it was a bit like taking a lot of steps in the dark, there was a lot of ‘let’s take it in this direction” and “ah maybe not, let’s take it this way” but it turned out great as well so I guess it all worked out in the end.

In the very beginning, in episode 1, you spoke about why you wanted to do this, and you said it was to showcase something along the lines of the spiritual side of music and the spiritual process of making music. Could you elaborate on that?

Wow, to be honest with you man, I don’t what I said on episode 1, but yeah its sacred, like, we’re trying to channel something into this and that’s really how I view artistic talent. I’d say I believe that it’s a spiritual thing but to me it’s not a belief, it’s something that I’ve experienced. It like we’re channelling an idea and…

To be fair I understand how it is really hard to explain.

Yeah haha. It’s weird but like, it feels almost arrogant to say that this whole thing is my idea and whatnot because ideas, they just come to us, it’s not something that we can conceive mentally because when we conceive an idea, they tend to be limited but when we channel ideas, that’s when they have an impact that is bigger than us. I feel that as artists, we are trying to empty our minds, empty our mental processes so that ideas can come to us, it’s like a greater force that gives us the idea and then we channel it, without filter, and then when the idea is out and recorded, we feel like “ah this is ok” and then when we use our brain, then when we think like “ok I maybe I can re-arrange the odd thing here and there” and you can build upon it. You build out of raw materials, but the raw material is not from you. I think that’s the spiritual side of music.

I also believe in a right and wrong, which I think is a little weird, in a sense that when we channel ideas that are not ours; I think that there’s a right way of delivering ideas and there’s a wrong way. And there’s many right ways and there many wrong ways but when its right, you know it’s right and so does everyone else in the room and when its wrong, or not exactly right, maybe one or two people will like it but it’s not going to be of transversal truth.

What do mean by ideas that are “not yours”?

when I say that, I think it has to do with like our ego’s. If we detach our ego’s from the ideas that we receive then we’re able to accept that this idea and the way that it is delivered is not exactly right. I feel that what is right is universally right so everybody in the room is going to agree that it’s right. That’s something that I didn’t believe at first but as I began to work on music, the more I worked on it, the more I found out that this is true.

You might have something that you feel is right and your ego is like “yeah this is 100% right” and you’re going to hold onto that idea but then if someone else in the room is like “meh” it’s going to affect your ego but there is a solution that both of you will agree on and that is the right way but are egos can stop us from obtaining that solution.

Looking back on the journey that was season one, is there anything that you think that you’re going to change when recording the new season?

Yeah definitely, I feel that as the series progressed, the more I was able to refine it. I feel that the last episode is a good example of how season two could go. There’s one thing I’ve been struggling with the whole season and that’s colour grading, like it’s not consistent at all; some episodes look yellowish, and some are more blue but I’m in the process of figuring that out. It definitely got a bit more stable towards the end though. It was definitely a new challenge for me as I’m not a trained video editor. But I feel like things like the confessionals were really good, it really added the extra debriefing, and it helps structure the video a bit.

For those who haven’t seen it, what made the final episode so good?

I feel like the three last episodes are good examples of what season two could look like in terms of editing and rhythm but the reason why the last episode particularly was so good was because it was very hurdle free, it was very seamless. There was no tension at all. My flatmate, she’s person that films it, she gave me some feedback and said that the last episode was the most professional one and I was like “yeah, I agree”. It just felt like everyone know what they had to do. But the one prior to that, is totally the opposite, we had a female rapper that plays a bit of guitar, and we had a producer who was more into afro beats and then we had this artist called Leo who did like folk style singing and trying to find the balance between all of them was not as smooth. It worked out really well in the video, but it was like a merging of worlds that needed to happen. It all just depends on the artists that come through.

I guess I could’ve marketed it better too, like once the video is out I could try push it more. I mean, I’ve spent so much time on social media posting and posting and posting but I feel like that’s something that still needs an extra amount of work, it’s just not something that I’ve fully grasped yet.

Yeah the hardest part is that first push where you have to get your feet off of the ground

Yeah exactly, this first season was me getting my feet of the ground and figuring out what i want to do with it all because I had no idea what it was going to become and what I would learn from it. One thing I learned was to not want too much control over the whole thing because when there’s other people involved, it’s never going to turn out the way you want it to… But it always turns out better!

I remember the first episode where an artists cancelled on me and I was all like “fuck them, they cancelled on me!”, I was so pissed but now when it happens I’m like “yeah… ok, whatever”. And then there’s episodes where people have cancelled on me like 10 minutes before and you feel like “Fuck! How am I going to be able to do this?”

In the press release for Friday’s at E’s you mentioned how you tend to gather indie artists, do you think that branching out to different areas and sounds would be a possibility for season 2?

Yeah for sure, when I say indie I wasn’t really talking about the genre indie, more like the aspect of independent artists, regardless of genre. I could definitely branch out though, I think because I’m a little bit more on the hip hop side myself, there’s going to be a certain hip hop element/influence on it simply because that’s like in my nature to give it to that kind of twist. I don’t think I can denature myself to produce something. But I’m really open to different genres, I’m open to different levels of artists as well, not necessarily independent. I feel like the focus of this series was independent artists solely because that is my reach, that’s like the people I know, the people I have around me. I’d love to work with some bigger artists as well, but it also gets more complicated when it comes to stuff like distribution because then they do things very thoroughly and properly.

I guess my final question is can you tease anything for us in for season 2 yet or is It too soon?

Honestly nothing yet, I live every day in the present you see haha! I think it’ll be sometime around September, probably around say, 9 episodes. But pretty much the same concept. I don’t think that there’s anything that I want to change about apart from that I want to be able to promote it better.

Look out for the best of Friday’s at E’s Season 1 Compilation coming 20th of September on the Neuf YouTube Channel.