KJ Sawka

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PREVIOUS BLOGS:

Quite a few things have happened since my last blog in January that I would like to share with y’all. Before Pendulum hit this summer’s European festival tour cycle, we had a small break after the Austrian Snowbombing gigs in early April. So I buggered off home to Seattle and worked on my new KJ live show for the rest of the month. Dialing in some new gear with bits from my new tunes I showcased this on the KJ Sawka North American Tour. The tour was a smash and I sussed out what was working and what was not. Now the Pendulum Summer Tour Cycle is in full effect. We just played main stage at Glastonbury, the biggest gig any of us have every played! Well, that goes for anyone really as it is the biggest concert in the world; 175,000 people. Words cannot really explain the magnitude of Glasto. Along with the Pendulum festival cycle I am also writing for my new full length KJ Sawka album. I am very excited about this album as it is quite a bit different from what I have done in the past. There are a lot of guests on the album and a variety of different styles. After the summer touring cycle I will be doing a few other small KJ touring runs previewing the material before the release sometime next year.

You know what's up ...

- KJ

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Another great run of tours filled December finishing off this year for the Pendulum live show. We started with the UK arena tour; every show staggeringly epic. It was nice to be back in the UK since our last UK tour back in May. The mayhem crowds were right back where we left them, slam dancing debauchery was in full effect. Wembley for the second time in a year! This one was twice as epic as the last as we brought the lasers in for a few tracks. The winter weather was tough and we just missed the major storms that would have potentially cancelled some shows. Rerouting of flights and truck routes were right at hand but fortunately nothing affected the show times.

After the UK tour we hit Russia; for me, a first. What a mental place in good and bad ways. The Moscow and St. Petersburg shows were pretty sick. -15c outside, I stayed in the hotel till we did our sets. After Russia we hit the Scandinavian tour; Helsinki, Stockholm, Copenhagen and Oslo, Norway. Norway got to -20c! All the shows went bananas while the snow and cold were still in full effect. Up there, they have all the equipment to deal with the snow, unlike Heathrow and Seattle. But still, this was a big winter for all it seems.

As I write this I’m sitting at Heathrow; one more flight till Seattle for Christmas and New Years break. This run of tours was just a month but felt much longer. It will be good to get home.

- KJ

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I am writing from London as Pendulum is rehearsing for our UK arena tour. We are setting up some great stuff for this tour; I'm looking forward to it. Going back to what we've just done, our New Zealand and OZ tour; what a smasher it was. One of the biggest highlights was playing our version of the OZ ABC news song which Pendulum basically remade as a huge electro floor crusher. For me it was a real treat to play the drum parts as there is a huge metric modulation ending part. The tempo modulation goes from electro house bpm to dnb tempo but the best part is what we did with sample shifting and sample modulating.

New Zealand was real nice; it was the first time I've been there. It reminds me of America except everything is backwards. Plants grow down instead of up and the trees are purple. After New Zealand we hit Australia playing the big 5 cities and it went mental!

After the tour I flew straight back to Seattle via means of Perth-Singapore-London-Chicago-Seattle; what a stupid journey. It took a total of 76 hours door to door. It would have been a little shorter but I got stuck in Chicago for the night. Right after the round the world trip, I went straight into Avast Studios in Seattle for 2 days to record drums for the Dabouge record, an LE song and some new crazy licks for next Pendulum record. I walked out with some great beats and drum sounds. I also got to work with Producer legend Steve Fisk which was a real treat!

Following the recordings, I did my Trilogy Tour; Phoenix, AZ, Philadelphia and Harrisburg, PA. The tour was a travel nightmare with late sets and very early flights. It was another big blast of no sleep for 3 days. The gigs were good though. A small gig in Phoenix started the tour. It's been months since I've done some solo gigs so it took some warming up and technical shifting. The hours where I did have the chance to sleep I was up programming and editing the set as it was filled with brand new unrehearsed and never before played material. Philadelphia was much better as it took one gig to sort out a bunch of segues and other programming issues. Philly was the proper dnb night of the tour so I had to get that right; then Harrisburg. Oh Harrisburg, home of bands like Live and Poison; it was a pretty cool gig with cool peeps. Not much going on there though that's for sure. All in all it was a fun tour. January I might do another trilogy tour. Till next month ...

- KJ

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Pendulum has just successfully smashed another amazing tour!! This time a full European tour; kicking off with a short hit and run set in London at the Royal Albert Hall for Orange Rock Corps that started things off with a bang! After that we set sail, playing Alzet, Luxembourg, Munich, Rome, Milan, Zurich, Innsbruck, Vienna, Brussels, Hamburg, Bochum, Berlin, Paris, Lyon, Amsterdam, Tilburg and The Netherlands. It was a decently long 3 1/2 week bus tour which was a wicked success. Sold out every venue and the crowds went nuts!

As the tour progressed the set really started heatin' up. The back to back gigs were tough and it only made us play better and better and the crowds were right there with us. One highlight of the tour, well not really a highlight but a bizarre moment was when we found a passed out random kid on our tour bus as we were about to leave a gig. I wont go into details but it was definitely a moment in history with most of us as this had never happened to any of us before. I was trying to figure out what was the best and the worst part of the tour and all that, and this situation just summed it right up.

I am writing now as we are in New Zealand about to rock TSB Arena on our New Zealand and Australia fall tour. Stay tuned for next months blog and keep your eye out for the up and coming KJ Sawka online drum lessons. I've been working on these drum lessons for sometime now, still tons of work to do. Soon they will be released and you can dive into all the dnb and jungle beats you can handle ;)

Till next month

- KJ

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The summer festival season is officially obliterated; what a success blowing up the Leeds and Reading Festivals! With a smashing warm up show at the Cambridge Corn Exchange; it really set a great rolling vibe for the big festivals. It’s nice to have a show to warm up with before some of the big festivals; it gets us in the right vibe. Reading was definitely the pinnacle festival of the year. It was better than expected by far and no rain! Amazing. Finishing up the festival season was Mallorca Rocks and Ibiza Rocks. If you have never been and you love electronic music and the Spanish beach atmosphere, you’ll love the islands. After those shows we rehearsed for the Maida Vale BBC 1 Live Lounge Show. We played “The Island” and a mystery remix tune.

After the Live Lounge performance we set sail for our European tour which we are on now. I’ll tell you all about it in next month’s newsletter. ;)

- KJ

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As the full summer festival cycle continues, this month we played some legendary shows and places.

First off, the rock and metal festival Sonisphere. I must say it was a great honor to play with all my favorite bands growing up and my all time heroes of drumming. When we pulled up I heard Slayer on stage; my double kick hero. Then Alice in Chains and The Cult came on, both were staples of my early musical influences. We opened for Iron Maiden, which was a complete mind twist. I had all the Iron Maiden videos and cassette tapes as a kid. When I first heard that we were opening for them, I had no idea what to think.... Iron freakin' Maiden !!

As we were getting ready to hit the set, the crowd was insane. Throwing things at each other and having plastic bottle wars. I didn't know what to expect as we were basically going to play in front of an all Iron Maiden crowd of 70,000. Pendulum is pretty hard, but not exactly metal; but it didn't matter what we were up against we had the confidence to rock our set the best we could. Plus we had a very special guest with us to help the metal edge.

After Sonisphere we went to Japan. Never being to Japan before, I was inflamed by the atmosphere and culture. I felt a strong connection to the way of life and the people. We played the Summer Sonic festivals in Tokyo and then took the bullet train to Osaka. The shows were mental and the crowds went off the hook. We didn't expect that to happen at all.

I've got loads more to tell everyone so stay tuned till the next blog. As the festival adventure goes into overdrive for France, Belgium, Holland, then back to England for Leeds and READING!!!

Coming soon... the Japan Bullet Train Beat Blog > Next month don't miss 'Sawka Studio Secrets Unravel into the Paranormal.. . . . . . . . . . . . ...... ... .. .0....0.0.0.0.0.0....1..1.1.1.1....0.0.0.0....11111..1.1.

-KJ

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This month has been filled with more great Pendulum touring. We rocked Balaton Sound festival in Hungary and one of the biggest of European summer festivals, 'Exit' in Serbia. The dustiest festival was 'Monegros' in Spain. The dust was so heavy it reminded me of being at Burning man.

Then we smashed Milton Keys bowl, holding a sold out crowd of over 65,000 people. We supported The prodigy, who had hanging ambulances on either side of the stage. That was pretty epic to see. We've added even more new tunes to the set and they've had an amazing effect on everyone. This festival season has been great so far.

Till next month

- KJ

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This month I've been busy touring with Pendulum, and rockin' the European festival circuit. Its been fantastic and we've been smashing the sets to massive crowds. So far we've played Croatia, Sweden, Germany, Finland, Scotland, Austria, Luxembourg and many others. We have been adding more new songs from "Immersion" to the sets and spicing up older bangers with Amen break switch ups; which is always a massive plus for those beat heads out there and for my personal enjoyment. We also have been changing up the set list each night to give each show a special original flavor and energy.

As I've been on the road I've been producing the video beat blogs that have been attached to these newsletters. The music in them is some of the beats and basslines that are in upcoming loop and sample packs I've been working on and new tunes for the next album. As its very tough to slam out tunes on tour the next album is talking a little while. But the influence and inspiration for each track is of great substance and a full mix of clarity and full on disseminated broadcast litter is in full affect.

Till next time,

- KJ

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The Pendulum UK tour is coming to an end - the HUGE festival season is just getting into gear. A spectacular two week mission of slaughtering sold out venues across UK and Ireland. It was great really getting to know all the guys and crew. We've integrated the Immersion songs into the live set and they have been slaying the dance floors at every show. Headling Radio 1's Big Weekend in Bangor was mind altering. Wembley Arena was blazing hot. I didn't know we were doing pyro till I saw all the gas tanks and fire retardant. Cardiff was another real special event. After playing the big high pressure shows, Cardiff was a breeze making the energy and hype of the show even higher. We all felt it.

Back to London to wash up get my marbles back in order and set off for the festival season.

- KJ

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So, what have I been up too? I've been in London rockin' with Pendulum!

We've been rehearsing for the live show which kicks off in MAY. Whoohoo!!

The rehearsals have been great fun. Energy is high. We are getting an extremely solid foundation of groove, cohesion and POWER DNB EPIC ELECTRONIC ROCK !!

The first week of rehearsals I've pounded out the tunes from Hold your colour, In Silico and other tunes working out all my drum parts for integrating into the live show.

Now this second week we are getting the new tunes that we are going to do prepped for live. Lots of work in all areas. Very involved and intense process.

Before this months rehearsals, in late February, I recorded drums and percussion on the new album Immersion.

It was an amazing time working with Rob in the studio. Together, we got the specific tones, stylings, patterns, fills and percussion riddems to fit exactly what Immersion needed.

Behold, a masterpiece of an epic album is done !!

I feel Immersion is the sickest thing Pendulum has EVER done. Just when you think it can't get any better... It does.. And feel honored to be apart of it.

-KJ

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Seeing Kevin Sawka on the drums is the only way to believe the hype. He can play the most complex of jungle, drum'n'bass and breakbeats utilizing no loops and no extended samples -only his two hands and two feet. If you can catch him in the right moment –live, at a show, or in a studio session- you’ll witness him perform each and every 808 bass kick, snare slap, and compressed highhat tick himself, in real-time.

“I’d like to be able to play like that all the time, however, live, I want to give the people the fully-produced, complex sound I’m envisioning, so I not only play the drums, but I manually trigger the basslines, melodies, riffs and now even the light show and projections with my drums –so it’s a lot harder to focus on playing every single little single sound with my sticks. But it’s like I’m playing even more with my sticks lately, not less.”

To say that Sawka never quits and has a tireless and endless passion for producing, creating and playing music is an understatement. His dedication to his craft and his tireless pursuit of perfection lead him to play with such astonishing precision that most people are left mesmerized by the sheer talent and speed with which he plays. Add to that his multi-tasking ability to trigger his samplers and sequencers when needed and that leaves you with a humanly impossible live show with which Sawka pulls off with ease.

Along with his solo shows and other band projects, Sawka continued to push the career envelope and collaborate with an array of talented musicians to include: A-Sides, Amon Tobin, BT and Blake Lewis. However these side projects did not deter Sawka from working incessantly on his own music as the world saw the release of “Synchronized Decompression, “Cyclonic Steel”, “Undefined Connectivity” and “Undefined Connectivity/Remixed”. Sawka also continued to share his insane talents with the world by creating and releasing through Sony his very own loop and sample pack called, “Drum’n’Bass and Beyond and simultaneously releasing through Hospital Records another sample pack entitled Live Drum and Bass Drums.

Throughout this time frame, Sawka continued to push himself and his hard work was rewarded with the opportunity of a life time, when in 2010 it was announced to the world that KJ Sawka would now be performing with the Australian/UK electronic group, Pendulum. Quickly Sawka stepped in to this new arena and lend his incredible drumming skills to an already uniquely talented group of musicians as they created Pendulum’s newest album, “Immersion”, which instantly went to Number 1 on the UK album charts.

As Sawka continues to tour and play before massive crowds worldwide be sure to stay tuned as he prepares to focus his talents and energy into producing, creating and presenting to the world his next full length cd which should arrive sometime early next year.