We’re kicking off a new series of 10 questions to people whose stuff we really like. First up: Tame Impala.

Tame Impala are from Australia, make fuzz-rich garage psychedelica and dream pop with facemelting riffs: perfect driving music, strutting music, business time music, cooking music, make out music, rocking out music.. you know: good music.

We’ve posted about them before (HERE all the way back in Feb 2009. And HERE back in 2008 -courtesy of the Soulwax brotherhood).

Here’s my favourite Tame Impala Song:

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TAME IMPALA, YOUR 10 QUESTIONS START NOW

1. What are you worried about these days?
An album coming out that sounds exactly like the one I’m working on.

2. What’s your vice?
Nasal spray, that nose clearing spray they tell you not to use for more than 3 days, been on that twice a day for a few months now. I just need to be able to smell the world or I freak out.

3. Favourite power ballad.
Take the Long Way Home – Supertramp

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4. Favourite stadium rock facemelter.
Babe I’m Gonna Leave you – Led Zeppelin

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5. Favourite lyric of the moment.
“I hope that you’re the one, if not, you are the prototype” - Outkast

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6. Tame Impala is here to save the world from…

Motivation

7. Favourite unsigned band.

Not sure if they’re signed, the singer of My Bee’s Garden gave me their album and it’s right up my dream pop alley.

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8. What’s the weirdest compliment anyone ever made about your music?

“I love it, you don’t know what you’re doing, you don’t know what you’re doing, I love it”

Tom – Kasabian
9. Got any famous fans yet?
I’m not going to name drop! Except the last thing I said…

10. Favourite line to say goodbye:

“Don’t worry we tour a lot I’ll be back pretty soon, I think, maybe.”

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Tame Impala, Half Full Glass of Wine

Buy Tame Impala CD’s, downloads and vinyls at the Modular shop.

2 of my favourite Belgian musicians on one track.

Baloji tapped dEUS’ Tom Barman to lay down some vocals on the remix of his latest single “Le Jour d’Après (Indépendance cha cha)”. Who knew Tommie was harbouring  a tad of Gainsbourg?!

Faisons un pas de deux!

(DOWNLOAD + interview+ lyrics after the jump)

DOWNLOAD BALOJI + TOM BARMAN “Le jour d’après (indépendance cha-cha)“

How well do you know Tom’s music?

Baloji : My older brothers were playing “In A Bar, Under The Sea”, but for me it really started with “The Ideal Crash” and that amazing video they shot at Café d’Anvers (ed. Instant Street)

Have you and Tom met before?

Baloji : Yes, we met at a party for the brand “Marcel de Bruxelles” last year and we’ve seen each other at the Gent Blue Note Festival a couple of times.

What image did you have of him before you actually met?

I thought he looked a bit snobby and jaded, but I was wrong : he’s smart, friendly and madly talented.

Do dEUS have fans in Africa, that you know of?

I don’t think so, but I do think “The Architect “ deserves a Buraka Som Systema remix!

What’s your favourite dEUS song?

They made history with “Instant Street” , but for me personally it’s hard to choose between “Wake Me Up Before I Sleep” and “Little Arithmetics”.

Where you confident that Tom would agree to do the collaboration?

Well, it never hurts to ask. He answered my phone call and we booked the session in less than three days.

Did he know about your music?

Yeah, a little. But I know that Tim Vanhamel and Stef Kamil Carlens are more into my stuff than Tom.

Did you talk about music before/during the recording? Records that you both like, stuff like that?

We talked a bit about the great crooners, tropical music and French chanson but we mostly discussed “Couleur Café” the “percussion” album of Serge Gainsbourg that we used as an influence for Tom’s part of the song.

Was there a specific track you asked Tom to listen to?

I played him “Ces Petits Riens”, one of my favourite songs on that album.

You recorded the remix version in dEUS’ Vantage Point studio. Was there anybody else around?

Klaas Janszoons and CJ Bolland. I got to pre-listen some heavy Magnus tracks!

What was it like, working with Tom?

It took us three hours to lay down the track: choosing the lyrics and finding the right melody took us a while. But all in all it was a really chill session.

Tom sings in Lingala, too. How did that come about?

I wanted it to sound more traditional and CJ Bolland liked the idea a lot and he pushed tom to give it a go! Lingala is such a melodic language so it worked out great.I

Any plans on performing the song together?

Yes, we might do a TV performance real soon.

Tom is working on the new Magnus album. Did you talk about doing a remix with you as an MC?

Yes, we did!  But  they are finishing the new dEUS LP first. I did get to hear some new Magnus tracks and they sounded great.

If you could remix/rework any dEUS or Magnus song, which one would that be? (Why?)

They have this song with a Charles Mingus sample on “In A Bar, Under The Sea”  (”Theme From Turnpike”) that’s screaming for MPC drums. I think I could cook up something for “Roses” or “Nothing Really Ends “ as well…

More Baloji here

Lyrics :

Indepance chacha tozui e
Indépendance cha cha le jour d’apres
O Kimpwanza chacha tubakidi
Indepance chacha tozui e
Indepance chacha tozui e
Indépendance cha cha le jour d’apres
O Kimpwanza chacha tubakidi
Indepance chacha tozui e

Faisons un pas de deux
ou un pas de côté
trouvons un juste milieu
l’envie prend le pas sur les idées

Des hommes d’apparat
ou des hommes d’appareil
ils se couvrent d’embarras
ça ne sera plus jamais pareil

mais qu’est ce qu’il va rester
après les cortèges et les sermons
les accolades et les postures ?

perspective de renaissance
après l’air de la repantence
entre la nuit et le clair obscur

La multitude d’origines
Autant d’éthnies que de coutumes
N’empêche le partage d’aspiration commune

Indepance chacha tozui e
Independance cha cha le jour d’apres
O Kimpwanza chacha tubakidi
Indepance chacha tozui e
Indepance chacha tozui e
Independance cha cha le jour d’apres
O Kimpwanza chacha tubakidi
Indepance chacha tozui e

Les promesses de lendemain, les promesses de l’aube
d’un état souverain où le sol se dérobe
entre milices et rebelles, pillages et recels
peuples que l’on déplace comme des cheptels
de parcelle en parcelle
de gouvernance en tutelle
l’état de droit est essentiel
à nos ethnies unies au pluriel
effet papillon, effet tampon
car ici on change l’or en plomb
la révolution au bout du vote
la force du nombre est l’antidote
pour changer la dette en dotte
autant de droits que de devoirs
plus de points de convergence
que de divergence
oublier l’idée d’état providence

j’ai repris cette chanson fédératrice
symbole de la crédulité de nos prémices
entre indépendance et armistice
mais pour que nos démocraties progressent
faut qu’elle apprennent de leurs erreurs de jeunesse
mon pays est un continent émergent
bâti en moins de 50 ans

tango ya indépendance,sima ya indépendance
yebisa nga nini yango é  changer
toza ko rond point,toza kozinda
suka suka toza kozonga sima

…

Speaking of which, you’ve always said you don’t use computers or the Internet. Is that really still the case in 2009?

Eminem: I don’t even know how to turn a computer on and it’s probably better that way. I look at stuff, but as far as actually sitting there and knowing how to work it and knowing what sites to go on….

So you’re saying you still buy porn on DVD, then?

Eminem: Um… PR: There’s a lot of free porn on the Internet, I think, is what Noah’s trying to tell you. Eminem: Oh, is there? Maybe I should go on the Internet.

More after the jump…

Read the entire interview HERE

More Eminem HERE

My O please moments :

Why did she feel it was necessary to end the show with a Barbra Streisand performance? That’s pretty insulting.

And yeah. We get it. You disagree.

My haha-moments :

Oprah is crushing hard. (Oprah: “Jay, you smell great. What is that?” Upon which an audience member yells : “Swagger!”)

O can’t dance or hold a beat to save her life.

These two have been my heroes for a couple of decades though, so it’s good to see them together.

Watch the full interview after the jump!

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This ‘new’ Kid Cudi video has been around since April, I think. But for some reason, it’s doing the rounds on the blogs since this weekend.

Here’s what Mr. Solo Dolo had to say about it back in September 2008 when the video was shot:

“Kid Cudi: It’s a party scene that shows even when a lot of people are around, there still can be a sense of loneliness. Sometimes we find peace in going out and getting drunk and trying to be around people to try to take our minds off of things, but it’s kind of hard to. But the “Heaven At Night” is in the sense of nightlife being heaven’going out and drowning your sorrows and trying to lighten up your spirits. But at the same time, you can see it in somebody’s face that their mind is on something completely different.

Complex: Do you identify with that?

Kid Cudi: Yeah, all my music. That’s my life in a nutshell.”

Kid got issues.

Watch the video and read the rest of the interview after the jump.

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The setting for Kid Cudi’s first music video was like a homecoming. Since the 23-year-old Cleveland native took up residence in Brooklyn three years ago, he’s been treated like one of the Big Apple’s own, mainly by the pack of self-made cool kids who appear in his new video “Heaven At Night”. To help bring the song to life, he teamed up with multi-tasking party promoter/director Vashtie, who’s known for her unique take on the Pharrell, Lupe, Kanye banger “Us Placers”.

While Cudi’s runaway hit “Day And Night” pushed his name past the indie world, he was still lacking a formal introduction to the world. That is, until this summer when he dropped his Man On The Moon mixtape, which garnered even more attention from influential folks like Kanye, who recently called Cudi the “best new artist.” Can’t beat that. In this exclusive Complex interview, the kid talks about making powerful music, being a dork, and the vision for his forthcoming album…

Interview by Richard “DJ Treats” Dryden

Complex: What exactly is the treatment for this video?

Kid Cudi: It’s a party scene that shows even when a lot of people are around, there still can be a sense of loneliness. Sometimes we find peace in going out and getting drunk and trying to be around people to try to take our minds off of things, but it’s kind of hard to. But the “Heaven At Night” is in the sense of nightlife being heaven’going out and drowning your sorrows and trying to lighten up your spirits. But at the same time, you can see it in somebody’s face that their mind is on something completely different.

Complex: Do you identify with that?

Kid Cudi: Yeah, all my music. That’s my life in a nutshell.

Complex: It’s interesting that you got someone like Vashtie, who’s known for throwing parties, to direct it. Did you look at it like that?

Kid Cudi: I’ve been to several of her parties, having mad shit on my mind. She’s seen me at her parties, I’m sure, a couple of times and seen me looking like my mind is on something else. And sometimes she’ll be like, “Are you okay?” And I’ll be like, “Yeah, you know…” Because that’s fam right there, she knows me and where I’m trying to go with my music. It’s very personal and it made sense to do the video with her. It was actually her idea. I wasn’t even thinking of doing anything off the mixtape other than “Is There Any Love.”

Complex: Did you always have it in mind to do “Heaven At Night” as the next single?

Kid Cudi: “Is There Any Love” was before the mixtape dropped. We were supposed to do a video for that. It was a promo, but it just didn’t get handled right away. Then the mixtape dropped.

Complex: Are you going to release a video for “Day And Night”?

Kid Cudi: I have a vision, and I wish I was a video director so I could do it myself.

Complex: That song kind of grew on its own. Are you surprised at the success? Is that why you’re taking your time with the video?

Kid Cudi: Yes. The song has turned into pretty much a cult-favorite. “Day And Night” is my Sir Mix-A-Lot “I Like Big Butts.” I’m going to be performing that song for the rest of my career. My man Emile told me that shit [laughs]. I’m not gonna be a one-hit wonder, you can quote that. Muthafuckas just need to get ready and understand that. The mixtape was designed to establish that and let people know it’s not a game, I’m not playing no more. This is the alley-oop, and the album is going to be most magnificent piece of music we’ve heard in some time.

Complex: Before the making of the video, you had a making of the treatment clip. What was the idea behind that?

Kid Cudi: That was just for fun. We weren’t even going to put that out, it was just a joke. We were just fucking around, and we just got this crazy idea playing around with iVideo on the Macbook. Next thing you know, ideas sparked and we pretended I was a stalker but I was mad corny and shit. It was basically to play off of people sweating Vashtie. I’m making fun of the guys that sweat Vashtie hard-body. It was a subliminal chin-check’let her be. She’s an amazing person, but…stop being weird. And it was also funny because I was playing me, Kid Cudi.

Complex: Well up until now, no one has really seen any videos with you. To put yourself out there for the first time, you’re [portrayed] as a complete dork.

Kid Cudi: Wow, that is the first video of me even talking. I never thought about that. It’s whatever, it was a joke. I think it’s dope that I didn’t follow the traditional route and be like, “Let’s do a video and it’s all serious.” It also helps to show my character and me as a person that I’m silly. That’s a side that people don’t know that much about me. Like hearing my music it might seem as if I’m a really deep person, and I am, but I have a very very silly side. It’s good that people see that in that video.

Complex: Are you looking to take more of an acting role in your future videos?

Kid Cudi: Oh, all my videos are going to all be cinematic-based, not just me rapping in the camera. My actual album will be cinematic from beginning to end.

Complex: So, a storyline?

Kid Cudi: Not a storyline so to speak, but I’m leaving it open for kids to interpret it. I don’t want to really sit there and be be like scene after scene after scene; I want kids to follow the story and come up with their own shit about it. But there was a lot of subliminals on the album. I hope people really like it and not shun me. I’m really pushing the envelope, as always with everything I do. It’s some next-level shit, I’m putting myself out there a lot and it’s really just powerful music. At the end of the day, I want to help change people’s lives with my music, not just let people dance and smoke a blunt to it. I want to change people’s lives, I think that’s the true meaning of music’to change people’s minds. To help them see that the world isn’t all that bad if you just understand that through every tough situation there’s always a brighter day after it. When it rains there’s always a the sun right after. My faults, my demons, I’m putting everything out there, things that I deal with. It’s therapy for me. When I’m going through some shit, I’ma write about it. I hope this song helps as much people as much as it helps me.

Complex: The song is very close to you.

Kid Cudi: That’s what happened with “Day And Night”. I try to tell peopole, the Kid Cudi movement is bigger than hip-hop, because I’m not just hip-hop’I’m everything. I don’t get into labels, whatever you want to call it. If I wake up tomorrow and say I want to make a country album, believe it I’ll do it, and execute it, and it’ll be great. That’s what I’m about, just doing something and going with the raw emotion and being elegant about it.

Complex: You had some special guests, 88-Keys, Alchemist at the shoot. Are you working with any of those guys?

Kid Cudi: I did something for Alchemist’s album, and we’ll be working together for my album. I’m working with 88-Keys, that’s family right there.

Complex: On the intro for the mixtape, you and a bunch of people are in a movie theater. What’s the significance of that?

Kid Cudi: Just to put the stamp on the movie thing, just a little hint hint, and also it was a joke. It was supposed to just be the DreamWorks theme. But why don’t we flip that and make it seem as if we’re in a movie theater and muthafuckas are just clowning and then the movie comes on.

Complex: What are some of your favorite DreamWorks movies?

Kid Cudi: I can’t think right now, but Transformers was amazing. I’m a huge Shia LeBouf fan. The Dreamworks thing had a significance because my whole shit is about my dream world, dream on. I’m a big supporter of anyone that has a dream.

It’s a story about kids & scars, so no gimmicky pics. 4 pages though…

Pick up your copy of DSM now. If you live in Belgium you can buy a copy online here

Otherwise, try an international news stand and ask for a copy of De Standaard.

All images by Boy Kortekaas.

Backstage story & pics here

(Follow KNOTORYUS on Twitter here)

We promised you the full interview.

DON VS CAPO

Everybody knows Kanye used to call himself the Louis Vuitton Don. In 2006, he walked on stage at the Def Poetry Jam carrying an LV bag -which wasn’t even available until then- against a backdrop of stacked LV trunks. Not long after that, he hires LV-designer/artist/muse Takashi Murakami as art director for his ‘Graduation’ album. Yeezy might as well have been wearing a T-shirt that said: “Where are you Jacobs?”

It took a while, but the heads at Louis Vuitton got the message. In January 2009, Kanye and head-LV-designer Marc Jacobs pose together at the Paris fashion week as the “Kanye West footwear for Louis Vuitton” hype builds. The shoes, in stores June 2009, are a design collaboration between Kanye and a Louis Vuitton capo: Fabrizio Viti.

Viti has been with Vuitton (and Marc Jacobs) since 2004. He started his illustrious career at Patrick Cox, flipped to Prada and contributed to the Gucci heydays alongside Tom Ford. Two minutes into our talk, it’s clear that Fabrizio wasn’t all that comfortable with the collaboration back when Kanye had the first talks with LV in 2007. What’s a sensitive Italian who never ever listens to hip hop -he prefers his Barbra Streisand records- going to do with an American rap singer, chain blinger, holla at the next chick soon as you blinkin’? Hey, and even worse. That Kanye’s a blogger. And he communicates in caps. IN CAPS, HOMIE!!!

Fabrizio Viti: (laughs) It’s true: I was kind of prepared for the worst. You know, when the Louis Vuitton collaboration with Sofia Coppola came up, it was easy for me to imagine what that would be like. I was familiar with her movies and her sense of aesthetics. That being said: it became clear very soon that working with Kanye would be amazing and I’m very proud of our collection. Kanye didn’t put in as much time has he could, which would have been acceptable -I mean, he’s an extremely busy man. No, he put in as much time as was necessary. He’s a perfectionist.

KNOTORYUS: Was it an easy process to go through?

Fabrizio Viti: Well, because Kanye wanted to be involved every step of the way, it was necessary for us to really get to know each other. I just mentioned Kanye is a perfectionist, someone who wants to know about every single detail. He absorbs everything. Fantastic, non?
He insisted to wait until the recording of his album (808s & Heartbreak –ed.) was almost finished so he could completely focus on this project.

KNOTORYUS : I think Kanye’s drive is often confused with arrogance because…

Fabrizio Viti: (interrupting)

Full interview after the jump…
Exactly! I want to formally state that Kanye West is not a hard man to work with. I loved working with him. He’s probably taught me more than I’ve taught him.

KNOTORYUS : How did you guys work together?

Fabrizio Viti: In the beginning it wasn’t easy because we both had to go back and forth between L.A. and Paris. I couldn’t just start sketching, get those to the factory, hop on a plane, show Kanye some samples and hello: collection! That’s not what happened... (laughs) Uhm… actually, it never goes like that, but you know what I mean.

(long pause) Actually, now that I think about it, working with Marc Jacobs and working with Kanye West is very similar. They both got the same drive and work ethic.”

KNOTORYUS: You’ve designed 11 different models. Kanye told everybody he was feeling inspired. What were some of the choices you had to make?

Fabrizio Viti: Kanye is a true style icon, so we had to come up with sneakers he would want to wear himself. Anytime, anywhere. The perfect shoe. Kanye wanted to design a shoe that goes with everything. You’re sitting front row nex to Anna Wintour, you’re out in the city, you’re on stage… It had to be a divine shoe you could wear with jeans as well as with a three-piece suit.

KNOTORYUS: For a while there was talk about a women’s collection…

Fabrizio Viti : Yes. We had to consider the possibility. We made some samples.

KNOTORYUS: Which Kanye was happy to post on his blog adding the title :
“I COULDN’T DO A COLLECTION WITHOUT INCLUDING THE LADIES…”

Fabrizio Viti : (cracks up) I know, right? Anyway, Kanye wasn’t happy with them. Nor was I. So we decided to just stick to a men’s collection and make that one as fabulous as possible. But, yeah, after doing that, we do have an idea about how we may approach that in the future.

KNOTORYUS: One of the many things I like about Kanye is that he isn’t afraid of making grand gestures. He named the shoes after his own friends.

Fabrizio Vitt: We’ve got the the “Don C’s”: the low tops. They were named after Don C, Kanye’s right hand man and shadow. He was there every step of the way. The high tops are nicknamed “Jasper’s”, which is Ferrari Murakami’s real name. He’s one of Kanye’s best friends… Wonderful, don’t you think? And then there’s… (abruptly stops talking)

KNOTORYUS: (happily continuing) … The boat shoe with the tassels called the “Mr. Hudson”. After the relatively unknown British artist Mr. Hudson, who just signed to Kanye’s label and who Kanye claims to be the next big superstar.

Fabrizio Viti: exactly.

KNOTORYUS: Have you ever seen Kanye West perform?

Fabrizio Viti : I’m ashamed to say this, but no. I haven’t gotten around to it yet.

KNOTORYUS: What’s your favourite Kanye West song?

Fabrizio Viti : (excitedly) Oh, I was visiting him in his L.A. apartment and I was probably one of the very first people to hear his album. When “Love Lockdown” came on… Oh, my god! (sings passionately and slightly off key) “Loooooooovve Lockdààààwn!” I said to him right away: “This is the first time I’ve really heard you sing, Kanye. This is a hit!” He made it his first single and the rest, as they say, is history… (laughs)

This interview was originally published in DSM, the weekly magazine accompanying De Standaard.

(r: LV shoe-designer Fabrizio Viti, l: LV shoe-designer Kanye West)

As promised: more backstage pics of the Kanye West Louis Vuitton collaboration. We’ve been sitting on these for a while now (thanks, Tan Dem!) but we had to wait until our DSM article was published before we could post them.

Fabrizio Viti & Kanye West

I love the above pic.

UPDATE : read the KNOTORYUS + Fabrizio Vitti interview here

The honourable Don C in the background.

Kanye named one of his shoes after him (the other one’s are named Jasper after Jasper aka Ferrari Murakami and Mr. Hudson) . I put that in the article but they edited it out.

Fabrizio Vitti told KNOTORYUS :  “Working with Marc Jacobs and working with Kanye West is very similar. They both got the same drive and work ethic.”

If you thought me being able to meet/talk to So Me, tAz Arnold,  Fonzworth Bentley and receiving a mail from Gordon Ramsay (didn’t tell you about that one yet, did I?) over the course of one month was pretty exciting,  wait until you find out who’s call I’m expecting in exactly 95 minutes… The above picture is absolutely NO clue, I just think that’s the dopest sweater I’ve seen in a while.

Sorry, I’m sworn to absolute secrecy. But as always : you guys will be the first to know.

Hotdiggitydamn, I’m nervous.

Crazy ass KNOTORYUSliving.

Read Lucky Girl, PT 1  here

Belgium’s national news site nieuws.be interviewed KNOTORYUS for their ‘Blogger of the week’ section. It’s in Dutch, but you can read the English translation after the jump.

Thanks to the new media twitterati: Hannes.

Who or what is KNOTORYUS?

The creative agency revolving ’round Stefaan Pauwels & Dominique Nzeyimana.

KNOTORYUS.com is who we be/what we do.

What do you write about?
You couldn’t ketchup even if we handed you the tomatoes.

How long have you been blogging?
Stefaan has been blogging for 7 years now, but those are his dirty little secrets.
KNOTORYUS has been blogging for two and a half years (it started at notoriouscopywriters.com) mostly 2 or 3 posts a day. which adds up to about 2000 or 2200 posts, or so my mac dashboard informs me.

Why do you write in English?
The rest of the world is pretty rusty when it comes to reading in Dutch. Also, swearwords sound way better in English.

Do you sweat the technique behind the blog?
Tying your shoes: ok.
Yo momma tying your shoes: not ok. It’s the same when it comes to blogging. Knowledge & DIY all the way.

Do you reads lots of other blogs?

In Dutch : MonoBrow. Hands down the top dog of the Dutch blogosphere. Often imitated, never never (that’s a double-never) equalled. Plus, this kid is member of a pingpong society.

Honourable mention: Bloodyhornycrew. For being the first to inform you when Diplo will be coming to Leuven.
Crucial.

The girls at MISSBEHAVE & MOBliving are the sisters one of us never had and the other would like to do some time. Of course, there’s the classics for the daily rounds: CoolCats, The Fader, Mad Decent, etc.

I do have a long list of Belgians who should be blogging:

Alice of A.L.I.C.E. Gallery in Brussels, for example. She gets the coolest collabos, knows what’s up and looks fab. Sometimes, that’s all you need.

Our mate Fré works for the UN, is a serious crate digger and Liam Gallagher’s long lost twin. His one-liners deserve a wider audience.

And then there’s zen-master Youssouf, who’s in our daughter’s kindergarten class. He should at least be Twittering.

Do you have a favourite news site?

Even before we started writing for DSM (De Standaard Magazine) , standaard.be was a regular stopover for us. Headlines come to us more and more via Twitter. We follow Nieuws.be on there, too.

Which website would you like to be linked by?
A year ago we would have said Colette and Coolcats –Ed Banger Records-boss Busy P’s blog-, but they already have.

Kanye’s blog would be nice. Or maybe a  twitter-link by Oprah… or The Dalai Lama, which is basically the same thing.

Which is your most succesful blogpost?

We were one of the first to post the dates of the Justice world tour. That got us a pretty big and loyal following. The same happened in the fashion crowd when we were the first to spot a certain YSL sweater. Every post mentioning KNOTORYUS, Justice, Soulwax, high fashion or Lil’ Wayne is clicked to shreds. Now you know our Top 5 search terms.

What, in your opinion, was your worst post ever?

Ehrm… *starts scratching butt*

What has been your favourite response to your blog?

Busy P calling us ‘ici’. That means ‘here’. Awesome. Colette when they let us know they thought our designs were good enough to deserve a spot on their bookshelves. Trés cool.

Has your daily life improved because of your blog?

Our blog is hardcore KNOTORYUS. Even though we can tone it down for professional work and a wider audience, our clients do know who they’re dealing with, which makes it easier on all of us. Product managers at the labels & brand PR’s tend to reach out to us because we know how to reach their target audience. So yeah, we get a lot of free stuff. Only about 20% of what we get actually makes it to KNOTORYUS.com. We’re pretty selective. Fair is fair.

We do get free tickets to concerts, but we pay for the gigs of bands we really dig. We love getting promo copies in the mail, but if we like what we’re hearing we do tend to buy the real deal in the shops.

Interviews with designers or bands are also easier to get because they can instantly get a feel for who we are.

The blog also attracted some of the bigger brands to work with us. We ghostblog for several agencies.

Do your co-workers, parents, friends, family know you’re a blogger?

Of course they do. There’s even an extended KNOTORYUS-fam.

Have you ever been censored (or self-censored)?

Never instigate fucked-upness. And we try not to use the words Go, Dick, Eat & A in one sentence. Illegally leaking music is a no-no here. unless the label or artist asks us, of course. But I guess that makes it legal again, so everybody’s happy in the end.

How many visitors does your blog have?

We reach about as much people as the more popular high-end Belgian monthly mags. With one big difference: apart from our Belgian early adopters; we also reach the cool kids in the US, UK, Holland, Canada, Japan and Russia.

*Cough* Advertisers: you know where it’s at. *Cough*