Kenny Oesch a.k.a. KennyActive (and some people know him as the RadioActiveMonkey… but thatʼs another story) was born in Switzerland in 1993, and his life is already a fat book of strange twists and turns, and some of those twists and turns are the reason that he's sitting here doing this interview with us.
They are the reasons that he produces music, that he's a Dj, and that he's a Dive Master.
This is his story.
How did you end up on Koh Phangan?
I was 10 Years old when I experienced Koh Phangan for the first time on a family holiday. In 2009, my parents decided to move to Thailand for health reasons, I was 15 at the time.. I mean come on.. youʼd be crazy if you didnʼt think that it was cool twist in your life; leave Switzerland which is really cold and move to a tropical paradise in Thailand with one shipping container of our life, my mother and father and 4 dogs.
.
And then what?
My family is half Italian, so I basically grew up in a kitchen. As soon as I got here, my dad, a former Chef in Switzerland, gave me an intensive course in cooking and in managing a restaurant and resort. We soon opened a Swiss/Italian restaurant near Thong Sala. After about 1 year we expanded and moved the business to a European-style resort with 9 bungalows in Wok Tum.
In between the cooking, the gardening and looking after the guests, I was always practicing music. There was always a guitar either in my hands or really close by. 16 years old and trying to cram in as much as I could about anything to do with music. I was lucky to have met Moscowfish (2 Canadian musicians that arrived on the island at about the same time as me). We seemed to be on the same wavelength from the first day we met and now I had 2 new friends and 2 new teachers for guitar, blues harmonica and music philosophy in general and in depth. Somewhere along the way I got into didgeridoo and found that I could do circular breathing and I really enjoyed learning more. I even started building them out of bamboo in the small workshop at our resort... I was thinking of selling them to make some extra money but I ended up giving them away to people who were interested in learning. And by giving a few lessons I started learning how to teach.
What motivates you?
Music and Diving… letʼs start with diving.
Diving is a passion that I followed from the beginning on Koh Phangan. The Phangan Fun Factory was my school and I I did all my dive courses up to “ Rescue Diver” when I was 16 but by law I had to wait until I was 18 to finally finish my Dive Master course. You could easily say that I was hooked on the deep pleasure diving from the very first day.
Music
In the middle of all this activity I never stopped making music. I started with an acoustic guitar and it wasnʼt long before I got an electric guitar and started playing it through my laptop using digital audio software, because I didnʼt have an amp but I did have teachers that were tech heads. The more I used the software the more I discovered that I could add drums, basses, leads, pads and ideas to produce the pieces of music that were in my head. Itʼs taken me hours and hours spent learning the software, and the lucky fact that this island has an amazing amount of professional mentors, people that have really helped me to understand what I want to do musically, and how to get there at a world level.. I realize that for me music is more than a passion, itʼs a word I havenʼt found yet but when I find out what the word is Iʼll let you know.
Has the Koh Phangan influenced your approach to Dj-ing ?
Not long after we settled on the island some friends brought me over to Guyʼs Bar. The energy was great, the people were beautiful and the music and DJ's were unbelievable. I loved the way Marc London, David Chong, Peter G and Joe where moving the crowd. Hour after hour, Friday after Friday they were banging out the best tunes on the island for a 12 to 15 hour stretch of time. I loved how they could keep the people on the dance floor with the pure unique “Guyʼs Bar” groove.
What an amazing influence. I started practicing dj'ing when I was about 17. After about a year I was invited to play my first gig at Joon Bungalow. About a year later I was playing at Guyʼs bar. Iʼve been dj'ing 4 years now and Iʼve swapped Traktor for Ableton Live and use an APC 40 with a re-loop jockey to control it. The possibilities you have with this software are just endless. Since that first party at Joon Bungalow, Iʼve played at many parties on the island to name a few: The Halfmoon Festival (with Moscow fish as 2030 project), the Jungle experience, Pirates bar, Sramanora, Hansa Beach as a 3 month resident for the Full Moon Party,
Mellow Mountain bar and at Naka Place (Naka was a freestyle place – the right idea in too small a place…).
And so far Iʼve been invited to play in Malaysia a couple of times: at the Frequency Festival in Miri (May 2014) and at the 10th JB Arts Festival in Johor Bahru with Moscowfish as “2030” and “Jamming with Robots” and also as a headliner Dj (September 2013).
What have you got on the go right now?
There are quite a few things…
The exact date hasnʼt been fixed yet but my first track “Maycontaminated” will be released on the “Sounds of Juan” label and it will come packaged with a remix from the Norwegian artist Ponytech who I would like to thank for the great support and interest in my music. Example:
There are some other people that are interested in remixing some of my tracks including Jourdan Bordes who is looking at 2 of my tracks and Iʼve always liked his style creating of music and I look forward to hearing what he would do. I also hope to be able to work with Moon Island Records in the future.
2030 is a fairly new project that is a live collaboration between Moscowfish and me. Together we fuse/remix their tracks with my deep techno feeling and create a unique style of electronic music. Example:
Jamminʼ with Robots is another project with Moscowfish which we developed for the 10th JB Arts Festival in Johor Bahru. Itʼs a true interface between Dj and live music thatʼs built on trust. My job is to give the beats grooves and cool mixes and their job is to jam live with guitar, voice, voices, harmonica, bass, synth, some surprises and all of the live studio effects that you could imagine… I donʼt know what they are going to do and they donʼt know exactly what Iʼm going to do and it has created some very special moments on stage and we always get great feedback from the crowd.
Works in Progress means Iʼm constantly at it. Either producing or refining or creating something new. It could mean Iʼm mining Moscowfish project files or… working at working …
What makes you make music?
I started producing when I was 16 and and today I still feel the same sense of excitement about the possibilities, the endless options and the never ending chances of expression through music.
I love deep progressive techno (thatʼs the tag I would use for most of my productions). I love melodies and deep fat bass lines. I love synthesizers. I often catch myself in the middle of a project when Iʼm supposed to be focusing on the progression of the track but Iʼm lost playing the keyboard for hours generating sound ideas out of an empty preset…
I sit at my studio desk in my beautiful house in the coconut jungle of Maduea Wan for endless hours
surrounded by my instruments playing music, recording samples and creating tones… I try to not follow any mainstream in music. I try to create something unique every time.
What is the best thing you ever been involved with or done?
A: Music of course :) and all the great people I was able to meet here so far.
Do you find Koh Phangan to be a good place for your project/s?
A: I donʼt think there is any better place on the planet. There is so much inspiration and creativity going on here. The island itself is so inspiring, I couldnʼt imagine a better place to create and to live music.
Do you have a favourite spot on the island ?
There is a secret spot on the southwest side of Khao**** that no one knows about and Iʼd like to keep it that way :)
When I need to free my mind, I take my didgeridoo and go sit up there, watch the sunset and feel the deep vibrations of the dream pipe.
Anything else you want to add?
A: Yes… all in all Iʼm probably one of the luckiest guys on the planet and Iʼm really grateful for it. I am lucky to have the parents I have and I am lucky to have the friends I have. Without them I would never have been able to do what I do. So special thanks to my mom and my dad, Jurgen Drexler Ted & Ea (Moscowfish), Daniel Schwoerer (Dj Sanuk), Kosta (Kosma Solarius), Hai, and David Chong who was the Dj that inspired me to start Djing.
Iʼm lucky to be on this island and Iʼm lucky to be able to make music and Iʼm lucky that my teachers taught me to learn from everything.. if itʼs good and even if itʼs less than good, analyse why.
And I want to thank the Phanganist for giving me the opportunity to tell a bit of my story :)
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