11 Mar 2017

The Kiwi beat-maker quietly making it in America

From RNZ Music, 4:00 pm on 11 March 2017
Quix

Quix Photo: Supplied

In recent years, Soundcloud has proved to be a powerful marketing tool for musicians, particularly those working in a specific niche. It's a way to get your songs out into the world, and has helped several New Zealand musicians find success, sometimes without leaving their bedrooms.

Jono Schnell makes trap music (a type of instrumental hip-hop) under the name Quix. Now 22, Jono's been making trap for four years, and found himself getting noticed by the wider world when New York trap artist Party Thieves heard a Quix tune on Soundcloud.

"His management got in touch with me, we created a deal, and I've been with them ever since".

Which means that to organise an interview with Jono, for example, one has to arrange it via an American management team, even though both parties are in Auckland.

Quix

Quix Photo: Supplied

Auckland is no longer Jono's home, though. Quix is now a Los Angeles-based project thanks to an increasingly popular series of tracks. His collaboration with Boombox Cartel is nearing 2 million plays on Soundcloud, and his recent remix of Purple Lamborghini by Skrillex and Rick Ross has been garnering huge response at American festivals when spun by the likes of Flosstradamus.

Quix

Quix Photo: Supplied

Up until recently Jono was working as landscaper during the day, which meant that mid-week gigs could be brutal. 

"When they were happening at 2 in the morning it meant I'd have to travel there, come back home and get a couple of hours sleep before I woke up at 6:30am to go mow someone's lawn. But I felt like each day i was closer to what I wanted to do, which was tour the word and be a famous DJ. Which is funny to tell people, but hey, look at me now."

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