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Katie Boyle, vocalist of bass music duo Koven, on her unique DJ setup, creating live performances and how to write tracks
UK duo Koven have made a name for themselves over the past decade with releases that touch on DnB, dubstep and bass music for labels like Monstercat and Anjunabeats.
The duo comprises producer Max Rowat and vocalist and DJ Katie Boyle, who performs solo under the Koven moniker. Having to balance mixing and singing in her performances, Boyle’s shows are unique in both gear setup and how she plans and executes her sets. We met up with Boyle to chat about her approach to DJing, how she works in the studio with Max, and take a tour of her bespoke, Patchwork London-designed in-ear monitoring setup.
What’s your musical background?
“My original background came from my mum. When I was in my early teens, I was in an ABBA tribute group with my mum. That was my first lead into like, actual performance. But I really quickly realised I hate ABBA and didn’t enjoy any of it. Then, at the same time, my brother started producing breakbeat. So I started writing for the stuff that he was making. That’s how I originally got into dance music. With Max, I know he was in a band. He went to uni and did music production, but he dropped out when things started going well with music. The thing with Max is, I think he’s just incredibly naturally gifted.
“Max started Koven in 2011, I joined three years in, which was in 2014. My god, yeah. So Koven’s been around for over a decade now. Before I joined Koven, I was working with various producers. Once I’d started making tunes with my brother it kind of got me into dance music. Then I started hitting up producers online and just writing top lines for them. I knew of Koven, I was a massive fan. I was listening to everything Max was putting out. Then he approached me and said they’re looking for a full time vocalist.”
Had Max been working with other vocalists before that?
“Yeah, he’d just been working with a bunch of different vocalists, but decided he wanted to get someone involved full time – so he hit me up, which was really incredible for me. I went down for a meeting with him and James, our manager. And we pretty much just started straight away. We booked a studio session, literally in the next day or two, to start seeing how we could work together.”
Did it click pretty quickly?
“It was pretty quick, actually. I mean, it’s scary, any kind of situation you put yourself in when you’re having to put your creative ideas out into a room, and there’s always going to be that initial point where someone says they don’t like what the other one suggested. That was such a big fear for me,
