Rain Man Talks Krewella & His Take On Albums and Social Media In iEDM

If you only know Rain Man as "that guy from Krewella," you are missing out. Kris, AKA Rain Man is arguably one of the best producers of our time. Not only is Kris tremendously talented, but he's also incredibly down to earth and just straight up hilarious.

At Imagine Festival, I had the pleasure to sit down and get inside his head. It was one of the most enjoyable experiences of the weekend.

iEDM: So by the way, you’re set was awesome!
Kris: Thank you so much

iEDM: I really don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone actually drop the Macarena in their set before.
Kris: I was going through my promo folder like 2 months ago, and my buddy DJ E-V from Ohio had it in there. It was Macarena times some Moombahton beat and I was like YES 100%.

iEDM: I heard it and I was like yes this is awesome I don’t think anyone else will ever do this.
*Spoiler, Dillon Francis dropped it in his set later that night, BUT WHAT ARE THE ODDS*
Kris: It was kind of a low-key vibe, it wasn’t a crazy rager, it was like hmm play the Macarena

iEDM: Yeah I mean it took you back to when you were like 9 learning it in elementary school.
Kris: Well that depends, I’m like 40.
iEDM: Well alright, I think I was like 7.
Kris: I’m not actually 40.

iEDM: So after so many years of being in a group, how does it feel just to be solo and do your own thing?
Kris: I mean yeah it's cool you get to play songs like the Macarena if you just feel like it. I really enjoy that about what I’m doing now, it’s hard to be in a democracy, especially in music. You only get so many songs you get to play in an hour so that’s definitely awesome to be able to choose whatever you want to play.

Besides that, I like being solo. All the credibility that’s coming to brand anything that people are really appreciating they know it’s all me. When I was in a group with three people and we were signed to a major label and they were like, well do you even make your own beats? And that’s what I’m trying to do now is just really prove that I’m making my own stuff. And be all about the one; I don’t even have a manager right now. So it’s just me and my label, I have no manager, and no tour label.

iEDM: Do you like being solo better?

Kris: It’s great I really don’t have to answer to anyone. The hardest part about leaving Krewella to go solo was that everyone cared about Krewella. And Jahan and Yasmine are beautiful girls, and whether you like them or not, you want to go to that Krewella stage. With Rain Man, there’s a lot less hype.

iEDM: So now that you’re alone you said you get to do everything on your own, what genre are you looking to fall into? Or are you even trying to fall into a genre?

Kris: Definitely not, I really don’t want to get stuck into anything so like "Bring Back the Summer" and "Visionary" are totally different songs.

The whole point of the first year was to put out bass songs because there were a lot of questions. Ghost producers? Do they even make their own music? Does Rain Man even produce? Jahan and Yasmine said I couldn’t DJ, that I didn’t DJ; all these things. So the first year of my career was bass music - let’s make some beats, let's prove to people that I can make some bangers.

I have like 5 or 10 or 15 songs on my computer that are really just done but since I don’t have a manager, I think that’s a negative part to it, I don’t have that much planned ahead of time.

iEDM: So do you think you’re going to drop an album soon?
Kris: I thought it was awesome what DJ Snake said, he was like “that was my first and last album.” I was like that makes total sense. He sold 8,000 copies I think it was. Only 8,000 copies and it went number one, it’s just such a sad market for albums. Definitely not. I would say no albums. I’m going to put out a single, and a single, and a single, and an EP, and a single.

iEDM: So no albums, ever?
Kris: Ever? That’s hard to say. In the next year, year and a half, definitely not.

iEDM: It’s kind of sad that the entire album industry is so dead.
Kris: It is really sad. Everything matters about the single, and you can’t really discover a band based off a single because of some of our favorite bands have had singles that don’t sound anything like the rest of their music. So when singles are driving the entire industry, it's just sad in that way. That you cant really discover what people are really about. People like me, I don’t want to make an album, I don’t want to tell what I’m about in thirteen songs because no body cares. Maybe 8,000 people will care, if I go number one, but that’s it.

iEDM: You mentioned the Krewella girls before, so are you guys on good terms now that the dust has settled?
Kris: Nope. Bad terms.

iEDM: Do you want to expand on that?
Kris: Sure, they want to be friends and I don’t want to be friends.

iEDM: So they want to be friends with you?
Kris: Oh yeah, who wouldn’t want to be friends with me?
iEDM: True, I mean, I wanna be your friend.
Kris: But in all seriousness, I don’t want to be friends with them. I think you really only have one chance to make it right with me and there’s a line drawn in the sand. Once you cross that line, I can’t go back and be like, "oh sweet I dated you for 5 years, it's cool."

iEDM: So there’s no Rain Man – Krewella collab coming up anytime soon…or ever?
Kris: It remains to be seen. Everything is just so swiftly moving that if I sat here and was like I will never ever, ever, it's just like "what does he know."

iEDM: Have you been intentionally keeping a low profile? I feel like you have been out of the media and everything.
Kris: Ummm, I think that’s a result from having no manager. I go and I play shows that come in, and then I go home and make music. Twitter for me, right now, is not something I’m interested in, I don’t know why. I’m not going to tweet every day or four times I day. My phone, I just hate it. I hate it. I will ignore it for 2 whole days.

iEDM: Yeah I can tell, I texted you at 9am and I got a response at like 3:45pm. I was just sitting there thinking like umm he’s on stage in literally 5 minutes.
Kris: Let's have that on the record. *Haha* Yeah I hate my phone. Everything about it makes me feel like I need to answer people. I’m really just kind of like, I want to make music and get in my zone, I don’t want the phone ringing.

And then I’m not going to pull it out of my pocket and be like hmm here’s my thoughts on twitter. I haven’t put any energy into social media recently. It would be an amazing thing if I could make good enough music over the next year, two years, three- five years, that I wouldn’t have to go on social media to keep my career active. Because that’s what these people are doing.

iEDM: So does that mean you don’t play Pokemon Go?
Kris: I have not played Pokemon Go, I think Pokemon is lame as fuck, BUT let me just jump in real quick, Magic the Gathering on the other end, is way f*cking cool. If there was a Magic Go, I would play the F*CK out of that game. Pokemon Go is the lamest thing ever. Like, Squirtle? Magic has beasts with like four or six talons that are like ripping you to shreds. Pokemon is Squirtle and Charmander and all these cute little characters and then over here we have this brutal intense game. So no, Pokemon Go is lame because it’s not nearly brutal enough.

iEDM: Is there anything particularly you want your fans to know?
Kris: I have a plethora of material coming up. I’m still working on it. If there’s anything I do, I live to make music. So there’s a lot of music coming up, and not so many tweets coming up.

As we wrapped up the interview and said our goodbyes, Kris looked at me and said "try not to make me like a huge ass okay?" and laughed. Don't worry Kris, I think I did okay making neither of us look too bad. He may not be social media active, but his music definitely speaks for itself.

Keep an eye out for his new music dropping to Soundcloud and the internet because he may just surprise you and wake up one day and decide to drop a new track with no notice.