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With cut-throat lyrics and razor-sharp UKG house rhythms to match, Orphan.Records co-founder, Sage Redman aka. Klein Zage is not going to be put in a box.

 
 

So tell us a little bit about the inspiration and overall feeling of this mix, from what I understand it features a lot of tracks from Orphan.Records, a label run by yourself, Billy Meddleton and Joe Gillick, between NY and Berlin?

Correct! There’s a couple tracks from my Womanhood EP that came out in March, Joe’s release as Joey G ii from July as well as some tracks from our World Mental Health Day compilation that came out on October 10. I always try to mix with a fair amount of newer material that I’ve been into - this one kind of nods to my love of UK club music and my nostalgia for living there. I also like to toe the line between sonic darkness and lighter subject matter. I recorded on Halloween so moments might have an element of *strange* to them ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

How did Orphan.Records start, were you all friends before-hands? 

Joe and Billy have actually known each other since the early days of primary school. They grew up around the corner from one another in SW London. I moved to London for school at 18 and Joe and I were in the same program at Goldsmiths studying Popular Music. Joe and I started collaborating and I met Billy through Joe. We started Orphan. as a club night in September of 2015 - first at the Waiting Room in Dalston and then we brought it home to SE London and did bi-monthly parties out of a small club in Deptford called ‘The Bunker’. We wanted to feature DJs that were sort of the un-sung heroes of the music we loved - not regulars in the London club circuit per-se. The dream was always to be a label at some point. When my visa ran out, Joe and I moved to Seattle and Billy to Berlin shortly after us. We started Orphan. Radio in Seattle to fill the pirate radio void we were feeling since leaving London. From there we formed the label and started releasing our own material. When Joe and I moved to New York in January we discontinued the radio (because New York does not need one, not to mention it was a lot of work!) so we are now solely a label that throws the occasional party in NYC & Berlin.  


 

“I think there’s a reason people often turn to the arts and music in particular at a young age - feeling misunderstood, not in control of your life or whatever it may be.”

 

You’ve just released Orphan Records.VA1, an amazing 14 track compilation with contributions from the likes of Ciel, Nathan Micay and Ariel Zetina (to name a few). You released it on Mental Health Awareness Day (October 10th) with all proceeds going to the Child Mind Institute New York. Can you tell us a bit about the inspiration on choosing the Child Mind Institute as the beneficiary of the compilation?

We knew we wanted to do something for Mental Health Awareness Day and were thinking about the right charity. We got to talking about our own struggles with mental health and concluded that these things really start from a young age so we wanted to find a charity that helped children. I think it’s still a very stigmatised subject and we each felt, as well as a lot of the musicians involved, that we weren’t necessarily met with understanding or compassion dealing with these things as kids. I think there’s a reason people often turn to the arts and music in particular at a young age - feeling misunderstood, not in control of your life or whatever it may be. Child Mind Institute does some incredible work that I personally think needs greater recognition and support. 

 
Photo by Jacob Rosen

Photo by Jacob Rosen

 

What else can we expect from Orphan.Records in the not too distant future? Will there ever be a Reunification in the Same City party?

Hopefully! Last September we all got together in Berlin and threw our first event there which was a blast. We also talk about doing something at the Bunker in London again for old times - we’ll see. In terms of the label we’ll be releasing our first EP by a musician other than us in the spring of 2020. He’s a stellar dude from Sacramento called Gloved Hands (his track with Joey G ii is on Or.VA1 and also the first track of my mix!) I also will release another EP as Klein Zage in 2020.

Can you tell us a little bit about the context of the tracks in your debut Womanhood EP? I originally came across you via a mix from Ariel Zetina featuring your track ‘Womanhood’ and I was blown away by it (not to mention the Pepper Spray artwork that went with it)!

Ironically, I originally wrote the lyrics to the song Womanhood for a friend of mine’s club track (a dude) cause he asked if I’d like to collaborate and put some vocals on an instrumental of his. No hard feelings but he either wasn’t thrilled or just couldn’t get the track to work so he actually released it without me (and later with a guy MC over the top lol).

It just got me thinking a lot about male/female relationships - be it collaborative, romantic, passing a stranger on the street, sitting next to someone in the cinema - whatever! - and the way that a woman’s presence or body language can be mis-interpreted so easily. Joe and I released music as a band for years and marketing a ‘male female duo’ was not easy. Every write up assumed I was ‘vocals’ and he did ‘everything else.’ Hilarious when you think we both play instruments, we both sing, we both produce - we both did all those things live and still I was put in this ‘singer’ box. I also think part of me hated the way ‘just singing’ (if that was even solely my role) was somehow seen as less impressive or not a ‘craft’.

 
 
 


I dedicated a lot of my studies in school to people like Elizabeth Fraser, who focused on one instrument - in her case her voice, and absolutely mastered her instrument. When I decided to release as Klein Zage I wanted the main expression to come from my voice - in this case my lyrics. So I started crafting this material around the lyrical content and the different characters I wanted to inhabit. Long winded answer but there you go! 


Since moving back from London to Seattle to NY, with Berlin in between, do you feel like these landscapes have significantly impacted upon your sound, or have you found it headed more or less in the same direction you had always seen it going?

Yes definitely. The UK will always have my heart I think. That’s where I first started going out, listening to club music and just discovering a whole new world really. I grew up writing songs on the piano and performing as more of a solo singer-songwriter in post-grunge Seattle. London definitely turned things on its head for me. I also thought we would ride and die as our band instead of peel off into these solo projects. I don’t think I’ll necessarily make club music like this forever - look for my Klein Zage album circa 2021 lets say - but the music I most admire right now has a strong foothold in the electronic space. But I’d never really consider myself a career DJ or just a producer trying to make beats for the club. I want to perform the stuff I’m working on now live and kind of tie together the band world and the club world on whatever’s next. We’ll see!

 
 

“Every write up assumed I was ‘vocals’ and he did ‘everything else.’ Hilarious when you think we both play instruments, we both sing, we both produce - we both did all those things live and still I was put in this ‘singer’ box. I also think part of me hated the way ‘just singing’ (if that was even solely my role) was somehow seen as less impressive or not a ‘craft’.”

 
 

You’re juggling between industries, working in wine as well as producing and mixing (which sounds like the absolute dream) Are you going to ever try and combine the two or keep them separate for now?

Haha I’ve thought about starting a mix series with wine pairings or like a wine event that coincides with future Orphan. releases. I think music and wine are a pretty easy thing to combine so I’m sure I’ll get something going here in the near future ;) Long term I’d like to make wine and label it under the Orphan. umbrella. Something about our door logo I just think would look really good as a wine label. DREAMS! 




TRACKLIST:

Gloved Hands ft. Joey G ii - ‘Twin Beds’ · Local Artist - ‘Boys Cry’ · Klein Zage - ‘Womanhood’ · Special Request - ‘237,000 Miles’ · ANF - ‘State/Function’ · Detroit Swindle - ‘Unfinished Business’ · Gallegos - ‘Save Your Love For Me’ · Klein Zage - ‘Womanhood (Dark Mix)’  · Will Saul - ‘My Left Sock’ · Klein Zage - ‘She’s Out There’ · Hypho & Squane - ‘Hack’ · Mr. Mitch - ‘Shirley Temple’ · Joey G ii - ‘An Echo of Glory’ · Klein Zage ft. Joey G ii - ‘Steppin’ (it’s ok to be positive)’ · Jad & The - ‘X-Treme Drum’ · Joey G ii ft. Klein Zage - ‘Working Aspirations’ · Jacques Greene - ‘Say Nothing’ · Mr. Mitch - ‘Premier Jacuzzi’ · Skee Mask - ‘Slow Music’ · Mala - ‘Changes (Harmonimix)’· Little Simz - ‘Venom’ ·
Lanark Artefax - ‘Ferthenheap



Keep up to date with Klein Zage here and her visual diary here.

 
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