Dimi Kaye is a Synthwave & Dreamwave producer from Greece. His sound fuses mid-tempo rhythms with synth chords and melodies that create a purely nostalgic and melancholic feeling. His melodic guitar solos add even more to the whole experience and are becoming his signature. The goal of his music is to bring back memories of a time long gone but not forgotten.
Where did you grow up?
I grew up in the city of Ioannina, Greece. For almost a decade I left for university and work in Germany, but since 2019 I am back home.
What is one of the first songs you remember liking as a kid?
I would listen to music my parents were listening to, disco and popular greek stuff but the songs I personally remember wanting to know the names (and are still songs I love today) were Duran Duran - Save a Prayer and Men at Work - Overkill.
What influenced you to get into music?
Heavy metal made me want to pick up an instrument, synthwave made me want to do this my main job.
At what age did you start playing/singing?
It happened gradually. At first an uncle of mine brought me a Casio keyboard when I was probably 9 years old, but I couldn't make sense of it, and I had no one to teach me. When I was 12, I discovered heavy metal, and that made me want to pick a guitar up and learn how to play.
That happened 6 years later when my mother offered to gift me an instrument. I chose a guitar of course! It's been 20 years and I'm still playing and loving it. Throughout that time, I got into some games that made music with loops like the Playstation1 Music2000, dance eJay, then a friend of my father gave me Cubase SX for PC and I started recording myself.
In 2008 a good friend of mine showed me some electronic/house music that was incredible, like early Westbam. That made me get into mixing and production.
If you could go back in time, what advice would you give to yourself after finishing school? I'd say to myself "You love music, you love playing, try to make that your career. The earlier you start, the better". What are some of your favorite songs at the moment? Genlog - Airwalk (Microwave Prince Remix), She Past Away - Durdu Dünya, Riot City - Burn the Night, Stephen Bishop - On and On, MoTER - Slam and maaaany more. Do you listen to your own music? Yes, throughout making it I listen to every track countless times. After release I let them do their thing and I immediately focus on the next EP/album etc. that I want to release. It might take me months to go back to old tracks but that's only because I need to clear my head from all the details and work I did on them. Usually when I listen to my previous work after some time, I immediately discover what I like and what I need to improve on. Which musician would you like to collaborate with next? Tyler Lyle, Chris from W O L F C L U B, Carpenter Brut, Mitch Murder, DEADLIFE and many more. I am super lucky to have worked with some fantastic artists, many of them I call my friends today. There are other artists I would love to work with and I'm in the talks with them which is super exciting. In general I love meeting and working with people, to me it makes music way more enjoyable. What is one of your favorite memories so far in your music career? Discovering and getting involved with the synthwave scene. That was a life changer for me, for real. Since then there have been so many beautiful things happening that I could never expect or experience otherwise. What advice would you give to someone that is just starting to get into music? Don't wait for someone to discover you. Our audience is not our small city or country, it's the whole world. Go out, don't be afraid to use social media and share your music, upload everything on streaming services, Spotify, Bandcamp, YouTube.
Different people listen to music in different places and you should want yours to be available everywhere for everyone. Also, very important, have patience. We run a marathon, not a 100m dash.
Check out Dimi's music on Bandcamp and
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