They've been featured on labels such as Industrial Machine Music and Re:Mission Enterainment.
Nek from 27 club conducted an interview with Waijdan recently. Here are the answers they gave to our nine questions.
Nek: Describe your favorite and least favorite part about being a musician/producer.
Waijdan: My favorite part is seeing that people are actually listening to and enjoying my stuff :) The worst part is the time between tracks, when you have nothing going on and are struggling to create something new. You start doubting yourself and think that you have "lost it", then all of a sudden you get inspiration again.
Nek: I'm interested to know if you think that doing music long-term can be viable, even if you do not view it as a business model.
Waijdan: Sure it can be, depending on the person. I tend to get really into stuff, keep at it for a couple of years and then something new interesting comes along and I get stuck in that. However making music is the first "non-technical"/"creative" big interest I've had though, before I used to get into more software development stuff. Something might come along tomorrow that will shift my focus away from music a bit, but I think I will always be making some beats.
Nek: How hard do you find working on music with other people? Would you picture yourself in a band or does this look more like a nightmare to you?
Waijdan: If you can work together in a studio or rehearsal space it can be very fun and inspiring, but when you sit at home sending ideas back and forth, it gets very tedious. So, if I could find a local industrial band I could meet up with a couple of times each month and just try out ideas that would be super fun, but it would have to be in that context.
Nek: What's a music trend that has come and went away that you absolutely despise? And what's a current music trend that you can't wait to go away?
Waijdan: I cant really recollect a single past trend when I'm thinking about it. One current that I've heard a couple of times on the radio while I'm driving is this horrible, horrible overly autotuned/pitch automated vocals used on certain hip-hop tracks. I don't really care if it goes away though, they can keep at it if they like, I will just turn off the radio. :)
Nek: What has happened to you so far that made you realize you may be onto something with your music, despite all this saturation in the music industry? Like what was this tiny milestone for you, that you achieved, collected a smile from it (if you actually collected a check good for you!) that made you say "Hey, this might be fun after all!"
Waijdan: I guess when I see that people have put up my stuff on their Youtube channels or their Spotify playlists, that kind of gets me going.
Nek: What was a piece of advice that once upon a time you'd look like the Holy Grail of wisdom, but you've completely changed your mind and would not ever give to a fellow music producer/musician?
Waijdan: Don't know man, when you start out you always love very specific advice like "Always tune your kicks"/"Never/Always EQ before compression" because they can act as rules to "get it right". With time you kind of learn to throw all these rules out and figure out what fits in the current track.
Nek: Does the prospect of working on a whole album excite you or are you a singles person?
Waijdan: I prefer working on an album basis, it just feels like I can show off more aspects of my music that way. Also it takes more time so I don't have to feel as pressured to "release something soon" etc. However I realize that singles are better from an promotional standpoint and I'm not against releasing an album single by single.
Nek: I have watched the actress Kristen Stewart (who by the way I think is a brilliant mind) saying that "The first time you experience something, it’s the only real experience. You cannot duplicate that, it will always feel like a false imitation." Let's transfer that to your creative process: Is it those first minutes that you work on the song, when struck by inspiration that will end up being 95% of the final version of the song? Or do you go over the song deducting and/or adding parts until you say to yourself 'this is it'.
Waijdan: I usually start by setting an atmosphere and from that I create a melody that fits. That is usually the most important part of the track, but perhaps not 95%. Once that part has been established its usually easy sailing from there.
Nek: What's your favorite number?
Waijdan: I've always been a big fan of 4.