We are Knife Party (aka Rob Swire and Gareth McGrillen). Ask us anything!

How do you feel, knowing that you're competing with Chris Rock's AMA on the front page?

feels bad man

Who has a better beard between you two and me?

pix or stfu

So... how's the new Pendulum album going?

---

Edit: For those asking about tour dates: http://knifeparty.com/shows

Keep-management-and-fans-happy answer:

It's not going at all (yet). We have a bunch of unreleased material from the last two albums that we still love, and would like to finish / re-work into something new, but we're not actively working on it just yet.

Honest answer:

It's been nearly 5 years since the last Pendulum album - even if we do release new material, it will most likely sound completely different, just because...well, people change, and get bored of things, etc. I have no real desire to make drum'n'bass anymore, I have no desire to fuse it with rock, and I sure as fuck don't have any desire to tour with a live band.

Around about the time we started Knife Party, I really lost my heart for the project. I remember playing Glastonbury 2011 on the main stage - we played just before Beyonce to a crowd full of parents and their kids waiting to sing "Crazy in Love", staring at us with blank faces. I was watching the TV coverage of the show afterwards and I just thought "how the fuck did it turn into this? this isn't the kind of project I wanted to be involved in at all". It wasn't even the crowd response, I just didn't like anything about it.

On top of that, we weren't making any money since we were spending it all on crew members wages, freight costs, transport, production assistants etc (touring with a band is REALLY expensive). Now, we were never into it for the money, but as you start getting closer to 30, you start to think "oh yeah, I have to...be able to eat food n stuff" - and if your heart isn't in the project, well, there's not much point in continuing.

We're contracted for another album. I have no idea what's going to happen. I don't really want to do one - I'd prefer to work on something else with KP or perhaps a new project altogether. If I have to do it, then I will, but that's never a great place to start making music.

TL;DR - maybe. dunno.

Would you ever create a jazz album, just to piss people off?

probably

Will you ever do a coffee run with deadmau5?

We had this great idea, where we'd pay some actors to hijack the car at gunpoint and lead Joel away, blindfolded, on our own coffee run of darkness and despair

But now that's in the open, we will never be invited

can you leak this swagilicious thing so we don't have to listen to it in potato quality anymore?

You know when you're really excited for an unreleased track, then you hear the full quality version and you're like "...oh :("?

That's what it sounds like.

Welcome to reddit!

How did you guys decide on your emblem... what's the story behind it?

Our logo was made by the talented Mr. Protski - https://twitter.com/protski

IIRC we held a competition (omg crowdsourcing, so 2011) and his designs were the best. Pretty lame story, apologies

What's your guys thoughts on Worlds by Porter Robinson?

its great , he's great, life is great

Do you enjoy a good bonfire?

love it

How does it feel having El Hornet and The Verse still performing (and making money) as a "Pendulum DJ Set" when you two were the production brains?

Even if you're still friends, them making relatively easy money whilst Earstorm lost and arm and a leg on touring the full band must sting a bit.

[redacted]

What's your favorite thing that you could not do in Pendulum that you can do now?

Conversely, what's your favorite thing that you could do in Pendulum that you can't do now?

Could not do in Pendulum: drink alcohol on stage without the constant fear that one of 12 PCs running Linux/wine VST ports might crash at any given moment, ruining everything

Could do in Pendulum: tour bus

hoooooly fuck, you were running it in WINE? Massive props for never having it EXPLODE on you

it did a few times but we ran every unit in tandem with another into a box that detected a signal fail and would switch over to the redundant receptor ;-)

Which track from Abandon Ship are you guys most proud of?

Probably 404, because the mix turned out well and we finally found a way to make Windows errors profitable.

To Rob: What's the story behind you singing on Deadmau5's Ghosts n Stuff..and how do you feel about where the song went?

Story: Joel asked if I wanted to do vocals on it...so I did! V proud of it, although in retrospect I think may have borrowed the melody from Chris Isaac "Wicked Game" /lawsuit/

Who is the smelliest DJ you've worked with? Where do babies come from?

We do have an answer for this, but no one must ever know.

edit: the first question, I mean. We have no idea where babies come from.

What's the best groupie after party story you guys got?

I once offered to post a photo of myself giving head to a statue of Obama in return for after party information.

OP delivered, but after party was not forthcoming. Sad times.

How about linking it?

All I could find was this: http://twicsy.com/i/jHWnhb

...and the picture is missing :(

How would you describe your roles on the studio, specifically with division of labor?

Basically, who does all the work?

RuPaul

If you had to DJ anywhere in the world, where would it be?

private island in the Maldives and the moon, done the Maldives one so...

What's your opinion on drugs in the edm scene? Does it bother you that people get high at your shows? Have you ever used anything personally?

this is a hot potato, and a grey area, and many other cliched analogies

we do believe people should be free to do what they want however

Who inspired you?
How did you guys know each other?

winston churchill

highschool

What are your thoughts on ghost producers like Vorwerk and their effect on electronic music?

its a can of worms we dont want to open right now

rob edit: -opens can- Personally I have infinite respect for the guy. I think the people who USE ghost producers are...well...a fucking joke, but I have lots of respect for Vorwerk and the other ghost producers themselves. It's a hell of a business model: sit in the studio all day, sell music to talentless DJs, keep your anonymity, ???, profit...sounds fucking great to me, I wish I could do it!

Electric Forest this year, gents?

not sure, hope so

Do you like pulled pork?

pulled anything

Gareth what is it like being the god of predicting the outcome of soccer games?

with great power comes great responsibility

You guys IMO are the best producers in the world right now. So I thought I'd take the opportunity to ask a few production questions.

On your screenshot of the resistance project file, you have 8 FX tracks, what are those? Also, how come you have 2 group channels for each group? Lastly, could you recommend any resources for some advanced mixing tips / theory?

Thanks guys, and keep on pushing the boundaries on production!

I just have 8 FX sends set up in my default project...mostly for short reverbs, delays n stuff. Nothing special really.

The 2/3 group channels are just subgroups - sometimes I want to process parts of the drum mix together (kick, snare, toms, a break), and leave the rest (crash, sometimes hats etc) unprocessed while still being able to solo with one click.

Apologies if that doesn't make sense, it's 6 AM here.

Do you guys even lift?

like so much

Hey Rob and Gareth, what are your favourite video games to play?

we're both currently playing farcry 4, alien isolation and destiny also

Whats the strangest thing you've ever eaten or drunk on tour, either as knife party, pendulum or solo or whatever?

rob ate stingray in japan, gareth's eaten kangaroo and crocodile and baby seal eyes on toast

Can you give us a status on the track "Baghdad" with Hardwell?

hardwell has all the parts

General opinion on neurofunk? Seems to be going strong and was wondering what the consensus is on it and I know Rob's posted a couple neuro tunes, any chance of some KP take on it?

I love it, but I'm pretty sure the entire scene is just full of aging dnb heads who wish they could re-live 1998-2001.

Perhaps we'll produce some one day, using a scientific-sounding pseudonym like...Chemical Kastration

Any plans to play some UK festivals next summer? Perhaps two certain festivals beginning with R and L?

Hope so! I'm pretty sure R&L is in the works...but no promises.

yes of course

Loving the new album, I just have one question. Why the bee?

why not the bee?

When will you guys do a UK tour?

have done and will do