If you think being in a long distance relationship is tough, imagine producing an LP in two different provinces and time zones. Luckily, the Vancouver and Toronto-based duo DJs, Jason Carr and Wesley Marsh, made it work throughout the past six years as Kill Them With Colour.Wesley and Jason have gained exposure through the blogosphere by producing popular remixes and also opening for acts like Azari & III, Fred Falke and Ryan Hemsworth. THUMP Canada had a chance to catch up with the guys about their challenges and strengths as producers in different locations.THUMP: You guys have been working together since 2008, how did you two meet?
Wes: I had just gotten back from Australia after finishing music school and I moved to Victoria, British Columbia with my friend Max. It just so happens that Jason lived across the street. They were friends, so he ended up coming over and we just started from there, just making music, stuff that we didn't think would go anywhere.Jason: The first time I came over, I brought over this synthesizer. We kind of dominated Max's living room—poor guy. We used the synth to make our first experimental track together. Over the next four hours we barely said a word to each other, we were way too focused.W: We made our first official track called "Accelerator", and we gave it to a DJ who brought it down to bar in Victoria. He played it and people went nuts, so we just decided "Alright! This is what were going to do—start making music."Where did the name Kill Them With Colour come from?
W: Kill Them With Colour actually came from my childhood in Trinidad. My mom is an artist and she always said, "If you can't sell something, you can create art to kill them with colour. Just put tons of colour and tons of passion into what you're making and it will sell itself."That's really meaningful.
W: Yeah, so I just kind of took it. She's cool with it though.All your album artwork are very creative. Did you design it yourself?
W: I made all of them except for one, the Kingdom EP, which was actually made by a graphic designer I knew through KwikFiks.Is it difficult to work together in separate provinces?
W: It definitely is. It's trial and error. We send a lot of music back and forth. It's a lot of Skype—a lot of Skype [laughs]. And a lot of just playing music, playing tunes and figuring out if they go well together.J: It's much better when we're making music in the same room, and that will happen soon enough. Until then, we'll continue to send projects and ideas online, but it's not the same.How's the process of picking the song that you guys want to remix?
W: It's usually because we cannot get the song out of our head, and the only way to get it out is to do a remix of it. We have our take on it and let it go. I mean, other times it's just because we love that song and we want to see what we can do with it. It's not that I want to make it better. It's just what I think of it.You've produced a ton of remixes as well. So going back to that, what are some of your favorite remixes that you've done?
W: Definitely the most recent track we did of Disclosure, "Help Me Lose My Mind," just because it was so fun to remake it. Other than that, our remix of Chromeo's "Night by Night." That one took off and we really enjoyed producing it. There are times when you make music and you just want to dance in your living room like two idiots, you know what I mean? [Laughs] You just know it's going to do well.J: For me would have to say our Disclosure remix and ASAP Rocky "Phoenix".What was the work process like for the Tropic Thunder LP? I loved it, makes me wish it was summer.
W: That's when we released it. I'd love to do a re-release of that on an official label, but we'll see. Most of those songs were produced together while Jason was here in Toronto. It was a yearlong process because it was around nine songs compared to our first EP, which was six. When he left we would just send them back and forth and say, "Okay does this kick work, does this snare work, is this breakdown good?" All the little intricate things.There's definitely a fan base for your music here in Toronto and in Vancouver, so what avenues have you guys used to get your music out there other than your social media?
W: Besides those, it's all been live shows. I'm fortunate to have been taken on at Wrongbar and over at The Hoxton under Embrace. Those are the other avenues that have really helped us.J: Luckily for us we've have had a lot of support from blogs such as EARMILK, Salacious Sound and Tracasseur. We are really grateful for the love and support. We just signed with Blueprint Media and hopefully things will keep growing for us.
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Wes: I had just gotten back from Australia after finishing music school and I moved to Victoria, British Columbia with my friend Max. It just so happens that Jason lived across the street. They were friends, so he ended up coming over and we just started from there, just making music, stuff that we didn't think would go anywhere.Jason: The first time I came over, I brought over this synthesizer. We kind of dominated Max's living room—poor guy. We used the synth to make our first experimental track together. Over the next four hours we barely said a word to each other, we were way too focused.W: We made our first official track called "Accelerator", and we gave it to a DJ who brought it down to bar in Victoria. He played it and people went nuts, so we just decided "Alright! This is what were going to do—start making music."Where did the name Kill Them With Colour come from?
W: Kill Them With Colour actually came from my childhood in Trinidad. My mom is an artist and she always said, "If you can't sell something, you can create art to kill them with colour. Just put tons of colour and tons of passion into what you're making and it will sell itself."That's really meaningful.
W: Yeah, so I just kind of took it. She's cool with it though.All your album artwork are very creative. Did you design it yourself?
W: I made all of them except for one, the Kingdom EP, which was actually made by a graphic designer I knew through KwikFiks.
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W: It definitely is. It's trial and error. We send a lot of music back and forth. It's a lot of Skype—a lot of Skype [laughs]. And a lot of just playing music, playing tunes and figuring out if they go well together.J: It's much better when we're making music in the same room, and that will happen soon enough. Until then, we'll continue to send projects and ideas online, but it's not the same.How's the process of picking the song that you guys want to remix?
W: It's usually because we cannot get the song out of our head, and the only way to get it out is to do a remix of it. We have our take on it and let it go. I mean, other times it's just because we love that song and we want to see what we can do with it. It's not that I want to make it better. It's just what I think of it.You've produced a ton of remixes as well. So going back to that, what are some of your favorite remixes that you've done?
W: Definitely the most recent track we did of Disclosure, "Help Me Lose My Mind," just because it was so fun to remake it. Other than that, our remix of Chromeo's "Night by Night." That one took off and we really enjoyed producing it. There are times when you make music and you just want to dance in your living room like two idiots, you know what I mean? [Laughs] You just know it's going to do well.J: For me would have to say our Disclosure remix and ASAP Rocky "Phoenix".What was the work process like for the Tropic Thunder LP? I loved it, makes me wish it was summer.
W: That's when we released it. I'd love to do a re-release of that on an official label, but we'll see. Most of those songs were produced together while Jason was here in Toronto. It was a yearlong process because it was around nine songs compared to our first EP, which was six. When he left we would just send them back and forth and say, "Okay does this kick work, does this snare work, is this breakdown good?" All the little intricate things.There's definitely a fan base for your music here in Toronto and in Vancouver, so what avenues have you guys used to get your music out there other than your social media?
W: Besides those, it's all been live shows. I'm fortunate to have been taken on at Wrongbar and over at The Hoxton under Embrace. Those are the other avenues that have really helped us.J: Luckily for us we've have had a lot of support from blogs such as EARMILK, Salacious Sound and Tracasseur. We are really grateful for the love and support. We just signed with Blueprint Media and hopefully things will keep growing for us.