In essence, KROK ODIL is cut off from the rest of the world. From an isolated island perhaps better known as New Zealand, the artist has impressively been able to generate a following despite a lack of an underground scene in the country. From Nirvana covers to his own original work, KROK ODIL has been an interesting artist to watch, and we spoke with him about New Zealand, the over-saturation of Internet musicians, future projects, and much more.
Underground Underdogs: So you’re from Christchurch, New Zealand. How old are you? What was it like growing up there?
KROK ODIL: I’m 12 – I have a disease where I have the face of a 40 year old man but the body and brain of a 12 year old – I grew up in the 90’s so I used to rollerblade a lot and watch Dragon Ball Z that’s pretty much it.
When did you start making music?
When I got asked to leave high-school because my attendance was so poor. I used to spend most of my time in the school piano room dodging class because I was bullied because I straightened my hair, so I just stayed at home teaching myself the piano, then eventually found a download for a DAW on PirateBay and have been experimenting ever since.
Did you begin with any particular instruments?
Yeah piano and guitar, then I got into sampling and DAW’s, recently I’ve come full circle back to real instruments – I always sang but not very well, I just started getting good this year.
How did your artist name come about?
Having the name Marco was always a source of some amount of teasing through school, especially at roll call – I wasn’t very popular to begin with – so I thought POLO would be a funny name, but my name is KROK ODIL now because I like crocodiles and it sounds and looks cool.
What’s the reason for the change?
POLO was a totally different sound that I’ve matured beyond, and I also kept getting some shitty rappers songs linked to my Spotify account and it was fucking me off.
You’ve released a couple takes on Nirvana covers. Is there any other bands/artists you’d like to reference, or who have influenced/inspired you?
As a kid I guess MJ and Eminem were my biggest inspirations, I used to collect cassettes I had a prodigy one, Wheatus, Teenage Dirtbag, and a bunch of classical ones from like, Pavarotti. As I grew up I got pretty heavily into rock music but after school I was solely interested in Kanye/Pharrell, until I got into SoundCloud electronic artists like Lapalux and Balam Acab. Recently I’ve gone back to more old school music such as Bowie, Nirvana, Led Zepplin, because I feel like those styles of music have a lot to offer for this time period.
Has the isolation of New Zealand affected your career path, chosen genre?
Yeah because there’s basically zero underground opportunities – and any A&R or management I talk to is hesitant to get involved with someone from an island at the edge of the world.
I’ve been fortunate to meet kämändi and enjoy the projects you’ve worked on together. How did you guys meet?
We met on SoundCloud funnily enough, then linked up in real life and I actually lived with him for 6 months – he was always pretty distant and I never got to know him as well as I tried to – he stopped fucking with me and starting leaving me on read for months then blocked me on Insta and Twitter when I roasted him in the comments lol which is frustrating to be honest because if he really put the effort into understanding me he wouldn’t have got his panties twisted and he would still be making music as good as he did in that time period. I have love for him but it annoys me that his ego stopped us creating everything we had to offer.
We are in a period of constant change and fast growth of emerging artists through the internet. What perspective do you have on this?
I used to think it was a positive thing, but I’m convinced now there are a lot of negative things about it.
I think it’s made A&R’s confused and unable to do their jobs correctly – there’s so many artists out there and the A&R’s job has always been a service position. I think many of them are supporting the wrong artists, ignoring ones with less ‘clout’ because they don’t seem as financially viable or have as many Instagram followers – whether that’s because it’s become a more labor intensive job to sift through the thousands of artists in search of the good ones or because they are old and out of touch, I’m not sure. I’m know blogs haven’t upheld their standards though, and it seems because the pace of information is so fast, they are now willing to post hoards of mediocre shit to keep the clicks coming and keep followers just engaged enough to keep a subscriber base.
Do you believe it’s a healthy movement for music and artists or is it causing a somewhat septic breed of clout thirsty musicians who care more for exposure than musical ability?
It’s like a cancer really.
What’s your opinion on drug use and the glorification of drug use within certain current genres?
It’s really crazy to me that people don’t see it as fucked up, it’s like, I’m sure Kurt Cobain has many songs with lines inspired by drug taking but they were always used in a way where they could have a double meaning and he never glorified it. The way modern rap talks about pills is so overt and obnoxious it has become a sort of badge of honor for immature youth and something that’s an easy replacement for actual lyrics, and a cheap way to get likes – I also think it’s especially problematic for race relations in America and not painting black people in a good light and anyone that cares about that should stop supporting it.
I don’t have a problem with using drugs though, I believe in freedom.
What inspires you to create? How often do you create? How do you begin a song?
Energy can come from anywhere, usually every day, all songs start with an idea and the more you explore that idea the more ideas you get – I usually create non stop when I’m not depressed, kinda like I save up energy when I’m depressed like a spirit bomb then put in in art when I stop being depressed.
What DAW/Program do you use? Favourite instruments? General set up? Favourite Plug-ins? (if you want to tell the world)
I use Fruity Loops 10 lol, I only use a couple of plugins I found they are too much hassle. I recommend Camel Crusher Distortion, Nectar 2 for vocal treatment, and Ozone for mastering.
Do you have any other hobbies outside of music?
I’m really into film and as far as my taste goes I’m a big Korine/von Trier fan and I love hunting out new films – I’m also really into wearing clothes.
What does KROK like to eat?
I really like bread.
Are there any artists you would like to work with in the future or are happy continuing doing your own thing?
I’m in the process of working with a few of the ones I really like, I’m doing something with Ashton Traitor, Catslash, Hellion, vague002, Pearl White, I’ve talked to Josh Pan about us working together again too but he’s completely lost his mind and nobody did anything to prevent it.
I see you’ve been doing some shows recently, do you enjoy performing and do you plan to continue doing more shows in 2018?
Yeah it’s the best part honestly and the entire reason I’ve come back to real instruments – every single show I’ve done without them I’ve felt like a total fraud up on stage with a piece of gear – its really impossible to connect with people doing that, I’m not saying tech like that has no place but I think if you aren’t singing, rapping or playing an instrument, even contributing in some way to the experience more than some decks or a midi pad, then you are severely limiting yourself
There is nothing more freeing for a musician than soloing an instrument live.
What does the future hold? Are any particular projects you’d like the mention that you working on?
I’m working on an album/ep thing called ‘Saints Out For Summer‘ which will have me singing without autotune, over guitars, sampled drum loops, mixed with some electronic aesthetics – its basically rock music that isn’t mixed like trash in multi million dollar studios by old dudes.
Any last message to your fans?
Vote for Kanye 2024.
