You’re going to choose Pulp Fiction and feel good about yourself. The video store manager will look up from above her spectacles… when friends bring up Get Shorty you might scoff and say, “Umm…have you even seen Pulp Fiction?”

Well…my question is; have you even seen Nic Van Reenen? 

This is the pedestal I place him on, even from the first moment I saw him up on stage. The front man and lead singer of Cape Town’s finest instrumental band: Bateleur (or so I had believed as I hadn’t yet known what an instrumental band was) headlining: Beautiful Losers – the coolest party I’d ever been to. Playing music, I didn’t quite know how to dance to or really fathom how it was being played on instruments much like my own. These six alternative rock gods (or were they indie?) towered over me as I pondered what genre had I stumbled upon and, who was their lead singer with the blue eyes? They simultaneously played intricate guitar lines to math-rock drum patterns. 

I befriended him at the Waiting Room a few months later. After plucking the courage through a mutual friend’s ambivalence, I ceased waiting and asked him why Bateleur had recently taken a sabbatical. Somewhat surprised by the sudden journalistic outburst and know-how of the young man who had just entered the circle repeating his own name at him, he answered: “We’re just a bit tired, it’s good to take a break every once in a while, when you’re in a band”. 

I was touched; this kind rock star had shed his wisdom on to me and I would take it and follow in his footsteps. I would tell the members of my own band we needed to take a break. A pity it was amidst the first month of forming the band and didn’t continue later, as I’m sure the ultimate demise of my own band might have played out differently had I actually listened. 

Nic was really just telling me they were having a vacation but this is how I held him in stature, and “growing up” in the Cape Town music scene I was lucky enough to be privy to all of what was to come from my local idol. From Bateleur to Fever Trails to Ex Olympic and his audio production company, Field. Nic was both my idol turned friend and counterpart; actually we’re close enough friends to begin feeling quite embarrassed by the professing of this piece. Yet I, rest assured, not as embarrassed as he is. 

I imagine he’s reading this article with a sunken knot in his stomach. ‘’Did he just compare me to Pulp Fiction? No no no…’’ Sighing at the inaccuracies I might have made, cursing at the approval, “I wasn’t the lead singer! We didn’t have one! Maybe there was some coo-ing but we never really sang”.

Nic is really just a passionate musicophile and son of a musician whom when joining the already founded Bateleur, (nameless at the time) happened to be the one standing front-middle during performances. He assures Bateleur never had a front man and were ultra-democratic. How he actually came to the band was through childhood friendship and not vast theoretical music prowess, rather relying on his ears and absorbing from a group of musicians he claims were a lot better than him. 

It’s an unhappy bubble to burst and you’re probably now wondering what the greatest side hustle was at Rocking the Daisies in 2018?
Not to be pessimistic, that’s not the point of what I’m trying to say, and it’s not what Nic is saying either; when talking about Field.Audio;

“The great film directors are all directing commercials, it’s their bread and butter and the film projects are going to be passion projects, so it’s a great IN to work with some strong creative minds…you have a client you need to satisfy but everyone in the boiler room is trying to make something they care about, so it seems like a sort of vapid industry… but I’ve felt like creatives really give it their all and always try make something special because this is one of the creative platforms we have, that is advertising” 

Field.Audio has scored for publications and brands such as Nowness, Adidas, Nike and more. A good example of the symmetry in his work with advertising and film are recent collaborations with Cape Town film-maker Talya Galasko and notably her recent short film ‘Voicenote’ for Hope Guardians. 

In the world of the modern-day recording artist, which Nic certainly is, one can imagine everyone to be the proverbial client in need of satisfying. Otherwise, who else are you making music for? This is an argument that weighs heavily on the more introverted songwriter, wondering if this was all just for him? Why record it. Who, in battling the sea of content commitments, opts to rather write a body of work as opposed to the single. As his predecessors did before him and what the work in which it was influenced by is to pay homage – knowing well that although the term ‘record’ was once referred to as an album (thanks to streaming) it is now used to described a single. 

Ex Olympic’s debut album ‘XO’ further instills Nic into the pathway of teacher for the modern musician, navigating these industry pitfalls through social-media-savvy creative campaigns and strong visual merchandising for tracks. Creating ‘Micro Music Videos’ and ‘Visualizer Loops‘ that all live within the same ethereal landscapes – a world for which Ex Olympic is to live and the audience to participate. 

Before his modesty bins this article altogether, let’s attribute this acute content and album release planning of ‘XO’ to his distributor Danilo Queiros at his recently-signed-to Record Label, Platoon. 

“Danilo was the one who actually said ‘people don’t really watch whole music video? Just make one-minute things?”…for longevity reasons, which couldn’t’t have been more brilliant advice looking back. We all have very short attention spans…you’re going to see something once as you scroll through your timeline and it’s probably not going to come up again. So firstly it really needs to make an impression and if it hasn’t made an impression you’ve lost that person, so this idea of quantity really helps … as well as spacing it over a really long time. It was way more time than I was comfortable with, but I think it was a very good strategy.” 

With this strategy in hand, Nic was tasked with creating these visual landscapes to run parallel with ‘XO’ with close friends Jarred Figgins and Kent Andreasen.
“I’m not a visual artist, I do often have a visual parallel to what I’m hearing in my music, something I’ve never really been able to execute myself. I went to them with a few rough ideas, like being really into tarot lately and loving the imagery of these cards and what they represent, wanting to try get cryptic snapshots that say very little and also lend themselves to interpretation. There’s an ellipsis on the end of the film, like where did this start and where is it going? This lends itself more to audience participation”. 

This begs the question – should we, as artists, be asking ourselves; for what purpose is the music video made? Is it just advertising for the music? With the turning of the century and the death of music television, I start to wonder where the music video is to even supposed to go? Should we all be adapting to shorter content spread over duration? Play the algorithm?

Or, are you a purist? And if so? Is your neighbour down the street one too? Do we even care?

Many creatives would credit the music video to a medium in itself and if so, has the popularity of the said medium met its end and is it one worth preserving? The Grammy award winning album has been won in the bedroom by the individual. I’m lost to even admit what trophy it is that’s awarded to the modern music video. What do we base a music video’s success on when the view on YouTube can be bought or not? If we are creating visual art, is it worth the artists financial commitments to a four-minute-long video or should we rather be following in Ex Olympics footsteps and creating ethereal landscapes; ‘the bigger picture’ so to speak, from short form web content that embodies the body of work as a whole. In doing so, are we not fighting the good fight and returning to the promotion of the album as a body of work that speaks of more than just one topic? 

Enough of the single falling into playlists of the same nature, in which every band you know sounds like every other band you know, based on the radio content that you follow. These are pertinent questions to ponder. 

Written by: Nic Preen 

With notable performances at the likes of Tomorrowland as well winning a DMAS award, he’s also the host of his own radio show on 5fm, one half of CINIMIN and has performed at festivals and clubs all over the world. He boasts a long and impressive list of artists that he’s opened for which include the likes Faithless, Robin Schulz, Fisher, Stimming, Cosmic Gate and Justin Martin, to name a few. 

Kyle is a savant when it comes to understanding a crowd and provides a sensational listening and dance experience as he journey’s you through his sets. He is able to deliver a sound that ranges from classic house, all the way through to deep melodic tech house and underground sonic mastery. We know him as none other than the King of House. 

Kyle, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to chat to us. Let’s dive straight into it. Who is the person that you would say had the most influence on your career to date?

“My dad, no questions asked. Everyone needs a mentor. Most peoples’ fathers will introduce their kids to sports or to creative work with their hands, camping, fishing, all of that. My Dad’s passion for music is unrivalled. My earliest memories are of Funky Disco playing in the house all day. Music was like an escape from the world for him. He, himself DJed before I was even born and his passion for music to this day hasn’t changed a bit. 

Here is a pretty funny story of how I initially got my first DJ gigs that I used to do with my old man; When I was 12 years old, my dad and I used to DJ at my primary school “disco’s” together. There was a guy that had DJed there for years called Strolling Bones and I had begged and pleaded with the principal at the time, to be given a chance to DJ for all my friends. My dad and I were given the green light and ended up replacing him at all the school discos for years to come after that.”

Now that we know who your defining influence is in terms of your passion for music,  who would you say is the person that got you where you are today in terms of the industry itself?

“This is such a tough question because there are so many people that I owe my thanks to and I want to say this without sounding arrogant or overly proud, but I really want to thank myself! The reason for this is because not a lot of people believed in me over the past 15 years. Many [people] kept on telling me that I should go back to my studies or that I wasn’t good enough to make it. For the longest time, I never received a fair slice of the pie. I fought tooth and nail to be where I am today. I had to mentor myself for a long time from my presenting style to my music choice and it really became about me inspiring myself. Linking back to your previous question, my Dad always taught me one thing – you should take a little bit of knowledge from each person that you meet and that’s exactly what I did. Whether it was promoters or other DJs I did just that, and through it all, formulated the Kyle Cassim that I am today. There were many walls and challenges that I faced and I had to traverse them to achieve what I did ”

Do you think 14 year old Kyle Cassim would recognise 32 year old Kyle Cassim?

“No I don’t think so…actually wait, I take that back. 14 year old Kyle would definitely recognise me and he would be super proud. When I was around 14, I already had this plan in place that I wanted to be an entertainer, a DJ and all these things. When I was in Grade 9 I was already bullshitting my own peers, telling them ‘Yeah, I DJ at Sutra’ and all these other places and parties so, at that age, I think I was kind of willing it into existence. 14 year old Kyle would not believe that I have played Tomorrowland, headlined H2O, played all the major festivals in South Africa and even have my own radio show. I guess you can sort of say that at that young age I was manifesting these things”. 

Do you find that the DJing world is incredibly nepotistic?

“Yes, there is a lot of “nepotism”, I even do it myself, and I will tell you why; since I moved into being a promoter it has become of the utmost importance to look after your own brand. I have hosted festivals, roof-top shindigs as well as small parties at venues. So much like any other industry, you are going to hire the person that you know can get the job done. It actually isn’t nepotism as such, people are hired based on their work ethic and standards. The people that get gigs are the guys that are there on time and play incredible sets. From the outside, it would seem nepotistic, but you end up spending so much time with these other artists that you end up becoming friends and family.”

How would you differentiate your music production within Cinimin versus Kyle Cassim as a brand (DJ and radio presenter)?

“Cinimin and ‘Kyle Cassim’ I try to keep as 2 separate entities, largely because I don’t want people to get the wrong idea and think of them as 1 thing. The Kyle Cassim brand is more associated with being a personality, a presenter, promoter and curator, whereas Cinimin is a music production and performance. Cinimin also provides me with a different creative outlet that isn’t directly associated with what I am doing for radio or when I am DJing on my own. On that topic, in terms of music when I am at a gig, I play a lot more of an underground sound and if given the chance, I tend to play a very deep melodic, ‘techy’ sound when it’s only me. Cinimin, on the other hand, leans towards a very commercial, vocal, up-tempo rave sound. That music is made for radio and for the festivals like Ultra and Tomorrowland, ‘Kyle Cassim’ and that style of music, I picture more as being in a much smaller darker and grungier venue with people pulling those faces they pull when a drop is absolutely dirty. I have found it strange that through the years people associate me as a commercial DJ, the core of the music I play is definitely not commercial and it is far more underground.

“I don’t think there should ever be an argument about  “commercial” and “underground” music; there is a special place for both. It’s not like underground leads and mainstream follows, they are essentially two parts that make up a whole”.

I somehow knew you were going to ask this question and it is such a difficult question to answer because it feels like there is no correct answer. I have defined and redefined it in my own mind and in interviews so many times. I think of it like this though, you need to ask yourself, ‘What am I making this song for?’ Do you want it to be a radio hit, or do you want to drop this song in that aforementioned dark and grimy venue with only 50 people there that are incredibly eclectic about their music tastes and partying habits. Often an underground song can become mainstream, just because it’s that good – and a lot of the time, underground music stays underground because it’s really bad. Solomun is the perfect example of an underground DJ that somehow keeps making commercial music, and it is no mistake, it’s because his tracks are THAT good. His music gets played on radio and in commercial venues yet Solomun is seen as the King of Underground. It boils down to the music just being that damn good. Also, to basically define underground to me as a DJ, it means playing things that people haven’t heard and to educate your audience on new things that could potentially resonate with them. That’s only my definition. A lot of people may disagree with me. At the end of the day with both mainstream and underground sets, I feel like you are curating a journey for your audience, and you want your audience to feel the same buzz and excitement that you are feeling presenting it to them. You want to feel that love and emotion through the music. 

I don’t think there should ever be an argument about  “commercial” and “underground” music; there is a special place for both. It’s not like underground leads and mainstream follows, they are essentially two parts that make up a whole.”

Sticking with music, who would you say are some of the producers and artists that you have enormous admiration for that have inspired you?

“In terms of producing, you don’t need to look any further than CIOZ, he sort of operates in the melodic-tech space. Biscits from the UK is also up there in the production game for me and then of course, there is Boogie Vice, who I have been a fan of for years. I am still a massive fan but now we are also close mates and I have had the opportunity to sit in the studio with him – when you sit in a studio with an artist, you get a much deeper level of admiration for the person because you see their work ethic, their flow and their creative genius.  

When was it in your career that you knew that this was the job and life for you, and that it would be sustainable?

“Strangely enough I have never said that it would be sustainable, even today I wouldn’t say it’s sustainable and truth be told; I never followed this career path because I thought it would be sustainable. I followed it purely out of passion. I was speaking to my friend about this the other day. I never got into this game for the money or the fame but rather because I am passionate about performing, entertaining people and house music. Money is a by-product of all of the things that I do. I didn’t pursue this career to be rich or to be poor, I got into all of this because I know that it is always going to make me happy.” 

 If there is anything that you would like to teach people that want to follow in the footsteps of Kyle Cassim, what would you tell them?

“That’s a really great question, and one that I wouldn’t have been able to properly answer until 2015, when I met Idris Elba. I have always wanted to be a DJ, host my own TV show, be on radio, be an actor, a promoter and a bunch of other things…and a lot of the time I felt that was impossible and that you can’t be all these things, but then you look at Idris, he is all of those things and a few more. You need to always remember that you don’t need to only be one thing. It is pointless boxing yourself in, you have endless potential and you can do whatever it that you want to do, as long as you do it with passion. You can achieve anything that you set your heart to, the only thing that could be holding you back is yourself.”

Kyle, so we know that you have a lot of things on the go at the moment, please can you take us through all the things that we can look forward to in this second half of the year?

“I would love you to join me every Saturday on 5FM for my radio show from 19:00 to 22:00. I need to tell you that I pour my heart into this show every week. It is honestly my favourite thing to do, I feel like I give a bit of myself to the audience each week. In terms of Production, Cinimin is dropping some amazing stuff; we are collaborating with one of the most renowned house music vocalists, Kathy Brown, who is this really unbelievable diva-type, gospel sounding artist. We are writing the song as we speak, it is really sounding amazing and is going to be released with Sony Africa and then distributed throughout the world. We are also doing a collaboration with Kususa who is HUGE in the Afro-House scene…imagine, African spoken word with melodic driving house. We also have a couple other songs that are going to be released. While all of this is going on, I am writing 2 Youtube shows, one is with my brother but I can’t say too much about that at this point so stay tuned for that, and the other one is more of a music based show. Cassim’s Kitchen, my cooking show that I did previously, will also be relaunching. I am also working on myself a lot, training a lot and working on myself mentally and physically. I am excited for the things to come, and I hope that all of you are going to come on this awesome journey with me”.

Kyle was interviewed by Duncan Bayne for CEC.