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Bedroom Bliss

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Davin and Kevin Chong are twin brothers who are both students working towards a general science degree at the Univeristy of Alberta. Unlike most siblings the two have alot in common, especially their love of ambient, experimental and minimalist music genres. They started collaborating musically together in 2000 when they were 15 years old and since then have worked towards their upcoming album "Ariel Winter" with their project called keys.

1. What is your first music memory?

Davin: Listening to early Brian Eno stuff had always been memorable in my childhood upbringing. Excessively loud and playfully bombastic offerings by such artists as Sun Ra and My Bloody Valentine also intrigued me to some great extent at times. Carrying around and old Sony Walkman listening to deteriorated cassette overdubs of my favorite artists probably had much to do with my adamant love of cassette-tape hiss and other analogue-degradatory-based nonsense I hold today.

Kevin: I know it may sound odd, but those early Bee Gees vinyl singles ruled. "Jive Talkin'" was absolutely funky and adorably danceable. "Words" always made me cry. I don't know, but that early disco-funk-ska movement by the Bee Gees is all I remember listening to growing up. That and Neil Diamond, of course. I was listening to all this hip, funky stuff while my brother played his weird minimal stuff; boy, he sure had a head start on me.

2. What kind of music were you listening to as a child and when did you start getting into the music that you listen to today?

Davin: Again, early Eno and some John Cage material really introduced me fully to the minimal scene that I find myself so immersed in presently. It's odd, I remember feeling quite out of place sitting on the local bus drooling over Eno's quintessential ambient work "Here Come the Warm Jets" with all the other kids staring at me, perpetually dumbfounded, and perhaps simultaneously mesmerized by the igneous ferocity of my behaviorally confounding head-bobbing. Ever since I purchased my first Walkman, I knew I enjoyed music that made me feel certain ways at certain times, not just music for the sake of making sounds (although I'm certain there exist some who can amiably contest to this).

Kevin: I think the mind-bending work of Keith Rowe really altered the way I looked at music. Being further exposed to Rowe's brilliance in AMM (founded in 1965, I believe) played an integral part in my musical development. It wasn't until I listened to AMM's breathtaking release on Fat Cat in 1998, "For Ute" that I knew musical experimentation was what I was really interested in. Realizing I wanted to make those sounds took another few years.

3. When did you think about playing instruments? Did you take lessons when you were younger or did you teach yourself? What kind of instruments do you currently play?

The piano that Davin and Kevin sometimes playDavin: I don't think I ever really consciously thought about playing instruments; however, I suppose my mother's constant nagging and unarguable insistence that I take classical piano lessons had much to do with my musical beginnings. I remember distinctly harboring a decisive hate for the piano by my fourth or so year of lessons. Fortunately, I persisted and I continue to play occasionally today - I have grown to love its distinguished, grand timbre. Along with piano, I have taken up the guitar (although I like to view the guitar not so much as an instrument in the traditional sense, but more so as a sound source of sorts). I like to also perceive the computer as an instrument. After all, it can create its own sounds - with the uncanny ability at times to take on a life of its own (if you let it).

Kevin: Classical piano lessons were literally forced upon me at a young age, so playing instruments was never really an option (thank God). I have been able to teach myself how to play the guitar relatively well over the last few years, along with manning a pretty mean analogue synthesizer.

4. When did you start noodling with compositions and creating your own sounds?

Davin: I started at a wildly early age to experiment with sounds and ideas of my own. Even from an early age I vividly recall disassembling my cheap Casio keyboard hoping to generate new and fascinating sounds. To my utter dismay and naive disappointment, I realized that wires indeed needed to be in one piece for any sort of sound to be produced. Oh silly me. But on a more serious note, preliminary recordings for "Ariel Winter" began as early as five years ago (2000) - collecting sounds, samples, recorded live snippets, radio short-waves, and so on.

Kevin: It must have been as early as when I was twelve or thirteen when I helped my brother pick apart a used Casio keyboard. Boy, that was dumb.

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