For Interview #15, I got to talk to Mikail. from Germany! We discuss how he started out, his goals and things that inspire him, how he creates music and more! Check it out here:
trtlz: This is very cool. Thanks for doing this interview!
trtlz : Let's begin with an introduction. Who is Mikail.?
Mikail.: thanks for having me! I really appreciate that.
Mikail.: Mikail. is a kid who doesn't really fit into normal boxes, he never did and he always has been some sort of outcast compared to his peers, which is represented in the music and emotions portrayed in certain songs.
trtlz: Not that being an outcast is cool, but I think it's cool that your music is personal in a way that anyone who listens gets to know you a little better
trtlz: How long have you been doing music?
Mikail.: Technically I've started at the age of 10, but as a ten year old listening to street rap, my lyrics were just realllly bad so I quit due to heavy bullying because I've lived in a really small town where things/gossip spreads fast haha, but I've decided to start making music again in January 2017!
trtlz: Well I am glad you started back up again! So you started with singing and rapping? I know you also play guitar. How long have you been doing that? Do you play any other instruments?
Mikail.: At first I was all into rapping, singing came a little later once I've done daily vocal exercises and got more comfortable with my voice but I started playing the guitar in February of last year, mainly because I always wanted to play an Instrument and the Guitar was the best thing fitting to my taste in music.
Mikail.: I don't play any other instruments, however I've played bass and drums in my former school band for the school concert!
trtlz: That's awesome! That must have been really fun
trtlz: You've also been creating some of your own beats as well, is that right? Mixing in your own music as well as samples? How long have you been doing that?
Mikail.: I'm really bad at making my own melodies, so samples kinda save me there haha but I think I've made my first beat in August last year in my song 'Indecisive' featuring aquariiius. I make my own beats here and there but unfortunately I am not at the point yet where I dont need other producers. But I'll get there, in April I dropped my first song with a beat I played the guitar for and I have a couple of Melodies that wait to be recorded as well , I'm getting there haha
trtlz: Well I think it's awesome to see you grow as an artist!
trtlz: Is that something you would like to do eventually? Produce your own beats? What about mixing? Do you do your own mixing?
Mikail.: Thank you! Yes I really want to do more live instrumentals but that might take some time until I'm ready to do that.
Mikail.: And yeah, I've always mixed my own music, I've never let someone else mix my vocals since I'm very stubborn about that. Maybe because I taught myself most of the stuff I know now, I never had someone showing me how stuff works. Of course some of my older songs that are still up might have a pretty bad mix compared to now but thats all part of the growing process and I'm not afraid to show that!
trtlz: Yeah every artist has a rougher beginning of course. But like I said, it's really cool to see you grow as an artist and see your skills progress!
trtlz: What inspired you to get into making music?
Mikail.: To be honest, I don't really know what got me into making music specifically
Mikail.: maybe it was because I always found musicians very fascinating in general, either seeing them perform on stage, the music videos or the artistry as a whole. But of course I don't make sad songs or 'emo' songs because I want to appeal to a certain type of audience and get in on the whole depression Trend. I just felt like I could say things or express myself easier with an Instrumental.
trtlz: That's one of the best parts about music. It's such an amazing way to express yourself and also relate to and connect with others who feel the same
trtlz: What are some of your favorite tracks or projects you've released?
Mikail.: I feel like my most recent EP called skatin' into sunset has some of the best songs I've ever made on it like 'Go Away?' and 'Infinite Tsukuyomi'. As far as solo songs go I feel like Pain Killer is a really solid one, it's hard to pick one cos probably every month I make a song that I feel like is one of my personal favourites like 'beautiful demon' that I just released at the beginning of July or a song called 'Alternative Girl' which will drop soon :)
trtlz: "Go Away?" is one of my favorites from the EP! Yeah and I can see how it's hard to choose a favorite because your songs have so much variety too
Mikail.: Happy to hear that, thank you!
trtlz: I think it's really cool you have a bit of variety with your music. Like one song will have like a grungey sound, another will be more hiphop, then you have like a more chill indie type song. To me, it keeps it interesting and it's always a surprise like what will be next. How do you feel that has been working for you?
Mikail.: At around November of 2018 Ive felt like I finally found my own sound which was Grunge, all my Grunge songs started to get a good amount of views and that only validated my feel for the new kind of sound I've found for myself, currently however, I tend to be all over the place, on the one hand I have certain sounds I enjoy way more than others like Grunge, Punk or Indie but on the other hand, these sounds/songs don't write themselves, especially during writers block I tend to do more generic songs suck as 'Trap Rock' haha also there is the fear that if a new listener finds my music, he may like that one song but either the next one he listens to or the one a week after that might turn him/her away if it's way too different, but I got used to that :)
trtlz: Thats true. But then there's also people like me who appreciate a bunch of different genres and gladly embrace it haha
trtlz : Do you have a specific style you enjoy most? Is it grunge?
Mikail.: Yeah it's Grunge for sure, not only are some of my favourite Band Grunge Bands like Nirvana or Alice in Chains but also I feel like I can embrace my self the best possible way. I can be very direct whilst being rather vague with my words if that makes sense.
Mikail.: Also, most of the grunge Instrumentals I use fit very well to my voice which makes singing easier for me since it's in a fairly comfortable key, after Grunge it'd be Punk Rock due to the topics and the energy I can embrace as an Artist!
trtlz : Yeah that does make sense. And I can see how that style fits with your voice. I think I would agree!
trtlz: And I also love the energy that comes with punk rock haha
trtlz: I also think it's amazing how you release a new song just about every Wednesday! How long have you been doing that?
Mikail.: Well, I played with the thought pretty much ever since I started because one of my favourite Artists 'Russ' did it for some time before he got big but I really started in October 2017 and even though it can get tiring I get that really rarely. Also I never missed a day because I didn't have anything to drop !
trtlz: Wow. Thats impressive you are able to come up with that much music!
trtlz: What is your favorite thing about making music?
Mikail.: I don't want to repeat myself too much but it has to be the way I'm able to talk about my feelings. I get more vulnerable and I open up more when I write these words for a beat. Also, even if rarely, seeing people feeling better through a song Ive created is a really good feeling that makes all the negatives feel not as bad :)
trtlz : Expressing your own feelings is awesome. But seeing someone connect your music like that I agree that has to be an amazing feeling. That would definitely make it worth it to me.
trtlz : What would you say is the greatest challenge as an artist?
Mikail.: In my opinion the greatest challenge is dealing with subjective underappreciation, I put 'subjective' cos I don't want to seem like a douche who thinks he's soooooo underrated all the time but yeah sometimes I create something I am realllly Proud of it and it goes unnoticed and not only messes that with my moral but also my motivation just goes out the window all at once
trtlz: I can totally understand that. Sometimes I get super bummed out when I share music of an artist that's not very well known but I feel really deserves it and then it doesn't get much appreciation and it's sad so I can't even imagine the feeling when it's your own music
trtlz: What is the most important thing you feel you have learned while growing as an artist?
Mikail.: Ooh, thats a tough one, maybe something along the lines of like, it's okay to be imperfect in things. For example I am not the best singer, I have a really small window of keys I'm comfortable with but I still sing, that is because I focus on the grungey/moody vibe in my songs and through that I've learned that I need to perfect the imperfect, you know? I just gotta rock with what Ive got :) But also something very Important I've learned is that it's okay to be different, it's all about embracing the difference!
trtlz: For sure! That's perfect. And definitely something every artist can relate to.
trtlz: I know you have performed live at school events and such, which is awesome! Have you performed anywhere else yet? Do you enjoy performing live?
Mikail.: Yes I have actually! I performed at about 3 times in a small communtiy center for young lads, that was the only time I performed purely because of my own music! That was in 2017 though! I loved it a lot but i think my favourite performance was with the school band for around 2.5k people. We've played generic songs that everybody knows and I bodied it lmao, also I performed my song Pain Killer at a school concert, that live version is on my streaming sites!
Mikail.: After that I kept looking for small venues but in Germany I feel like I'm at a disadvantage because I make english rock music which isn't common at all so it'd be hard to find some place that'd let a nobody like me perform haha
trtlz : I saw you very recently graduated from school which is incredibly awesome, congratulations by the way. Do you have any goals already planned out for what you want to do next? Both in life or related to your music?
Mikail.: Thank you so much! I will be studying in an university in either october or April! I'll study music production with things like mixing and mastering
Mikail.: And some management-studies like tour management so I guess it will be helpful for my career further down the line :)
trtlz: Yeah! That's really cool! It will definitely help. And sounds really fun too
trtlz: What is your absolute favorite show to watch?
Mikail.: I know I'm a little late to the party but I'm hooked on Breaking Bad atm, it probably is my favourite Show right now, also some of my all time favourites are Malcom in the Middle for nostalgic reasons and Fullmetal Alchemist as an Anime-fan :)
trtlz: Yeah Breaking Bad was pretty interesting, I liked it!
trtlz: Last question! If you could perform anywhere, where would it be and who would it be with?
Mikail.: As a place it would probably be the O2 arena in London, just because I like the UK as a whole and a lot of artists from the UK too
Mikail.: also I have friends over there and I would definitely love too perform with my friends Dylan xo, aquariiius and pastnight, I think we would perform a hell of a night, also the chemistry would be perfect on stage, well one can dream haha!
trtlz: I agree. That show would be a blast! I wouldn't want to miss that haha
trtlz: Is there anything else you'd like to add?
Mikail.: uhm, first of all, thanks for having me and also thanks for supporting the music! It really means a lot. Also, to the reader, if you connect with me as a person then feel free to check out my music which drops every wednesday at 5PM EST :) Hopefully I didn't come across as a pretentious type of person haha, thanks again and have a great great day!
Check out Mikail.’s music on SoundCloud here: https://soundcloud.com/mikaildot