Montpellier born producer and dj Citizen Kain has been constantly on the rise in the past few years, releasing music on reputable labels such as Afterlife, Stil Vor Talent, and Filth on Acid. Citizen Kain production genres are mostly techno and melodic techno. As a dj, Citizen Kain has showcased his music at festivals such as Family Piknik, Fusion Festival, Burning Beach Festival, and many more. Our team had a chance to interview Citizen Kain about his musical background and his latest activities around music production, as well as his near future plans. Read the full interview below.

○ Tell us a few words describing your musical career and background!

Hi guys, I originally come from Metal/Hardcore music. I was a guitar player in several bands during my childhood. Around 1995, I decided to swap my guitars against 2 decks and a mixer and I started to learn deejaying. I have always been a composer. After 10 years of deejaying, around 2005, I started to learn to produce Techno and I released my first tracks in 2007.

○ How was 2020 for you, and how has 2021 started?

Like most of the people doing music, 2020 has been a very hard year. I had the luck to tour a lot from January till March, and when COVID arrived, all has been suddenly stopped. So I spent most of my time locked in the studio to produce new music. I am still in the same situation in 2021. I continue to produce a lot and I have occasionally played some gigs, but obviously it’s not crazy. It has  already been something good for my mental health. I am so motivated when I play that I think I didn’t played a set of less than 3 hours for each gig!  

○ With no touring in 2020, what did you do most of the time?

As told above, I produced a lot of tracks and spent a lot of time to learn new techniques to go further in my music career. I did some works in my house and took more time to be closer of my family.

○ We heard that you have onboarded new members to be part of your team, could you give us some insights on that?

Indeed. This period allowed me to take better decisions for my career; one was to change my management. I am now with a magical team coming from Lebanon. It’s without doubt the best thing that happened for me since a long time! Each person of the team has an important role. James is the main manager, Renaud my booker, Anthony & Stefano take care of the pictures and videos, Elie, Oliver and Ziggy are managing all the contracts, papers, etc. I have finally the team of my dreams!

○ Congrats on your first release on Afterlife! What is your take on the compilation and which one is your favorite track besides “Pancho Villa”?

Hard question! The compilation is really awesome, but I guess if I have only one track to choose, it’s Innellea – The Verge

○ What are your plans for 2021?

To still work hard in the studio. I have enough tracks to make at least 2 albums, so I will continue in this way, and will release all this new music when the situation will be better. I am going to release some tracks at the moment, but not a lot compare to what I have in my computer. The next one is coming March 19th on Maceo Plex’ imprint, Ellum. It is called Charly Charly.

○ Tips for upcoming producers during quarantine (general & technical)?

I think the best thing to do is to profit of this dead time to learn more and more techniques, and to make more music. I think we are lucky to have this passion to kill the time!

○ Thank you for your time. Our team at Deep Tech Minimal wish the best for you and your team in 2021 and beyond.