Energy & Empathy: The Rise of Klueless

Sometimes, amongst the rising stars, you find a gem. Mix raw talent with passionate flair, innate musicality and a positively charged kilowatt aura – enter, Klueless. Quickly cementing herself as an enigmatic force to be reckoned with in the bass music world, the mesmerising selecta is on a mission to spread love and high-impact basslines, across every BPM in the book.

With performances spanning a range of bass genres, styles and events, her sets pack armfuls of grit and glittering attitude, along with an irresistible energy that compels audiences to their toes. Part of the new inclusive wave, she’s breaking into the industry and its heart, with a steady determination to platform talent that needs it most, whilst encouraging us to do better, be better and love ourselves more. Klueless is the name but she’s everything but. All heads will know the PLUR message but for this promising artist, it’s the very essence of her work.

Gradually, more of the community are starting to tune their ears to Klueless’ gospel. Fresh off of a series of sizzling summer sets, events season has seen her debut on the Free From Sleep mix series and join the mighty Kool FM in their new roster of shows. We wanted to know; what drives the musically ambidextrous DJ, how she envisions the scene’s future and where the journey has taken her so far. Read on for all things music, mental health in rave culture and the glimmers in between.

Kamila! Why are you Klueless? Because you’re clearly very switched on…

I was at uni, a DJ friend of mine and I went for a walk and a smoke and thought up ‘Klueless’. A lot of people assume that, because I’m a confident, good-looking woman, that I don’t know what I’m doing. That I don’t know what’s happening back here, what those buttons do.  I wanted to take back that power by turning it on its head and saying, yeah, I may be clueless in certain things, but not music, and you’re going to be left clueless by the time my set is finished! There’s a feminist perspective to it, similar to us queer people taking back the word ‘queer’. Plus, my full name is Kamila with a K.

Would you call yourself a feminist?

100%. I think a lot of people don’t understand what that word really means. The best way that I’ve learned that word is from a Beyonce track, Flawless. She quotes Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, an influential black woman activist, speaker and author; the word ‘feminist’ means a person who believes in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes. Anyone can be a feminist if you genuinely believe that men and women can be equal. That just made complete sense to me.

We know the scene needs inclusivity and things that bring us together, now more than ever. How do you think things have changed for the better?

I think we are getting better. It’s been amazing to see a lot more black women DJing and on lineups. Drum and bass music originated from black culture and I think it’s important to support anybody from that background to be more involved in the scene. Don’t get me wrong, we are doing that, but I think a lot of promoters are still booking the same all cis-white-male lineups which isn’t genuinely inclusive and supportive of so much diverse talent. I do think a lot of brands and labels are doing great at being adamant on making sure that we stay inclusive and diverse, which is amazing, but I think it’s just going to take time for more women, more black women, more trans women and more ethnic people to feel more comfortable in representing themselves in a scene where they might feel like a minority. Promoters do better!

I consider myself a minority as I’m mixed Kazakh and English, and was born in Kazakhstan. I’d love to preach and represent a bit more which I’m starting to do. I do know another Kazakh producer; lucidbeatz who makes amazing music. When he released a jungle track ‘with u’ I posted it on my Instagram account straight away. I’ve never heard someone Kazakh make something like that. When I heard this I thought ‘this needs to be reposted!’ Afterwards, I noticed that some people from the scene had started following him. So just goes to show it’s good to branch out and support.

Agree, always show some love to an artist you enjoy, every little bit of support counts. Let’s talk shows. You’ve been everywhere this year!

Ah yes! First of all, I’m really grateful to everybody for including me on a lineup. I’m so humbled to know that people are seeing what I’m doing and want to support me. I am genuinely so blessed! I would say I have a top three favourite nights from this year so far. I was quite proud that I was asked to do Shogun Sessions back in August. Personally, that wasn’t my greatest technical set, but the selection was spot on for the show. The amount of appreciation and love that I got from the community was just unbelievable. 

That – is exactly what I love about bass music and rave culture, everybody being so supportive and sharing the love and appreciation for your work, your curation and your ability to perform. That was something I was incredibly grateful for and a big milestone moment for me. The second one has to be Jungyals and Gays, which is a female and queer based collective that host women and queer centred events. They’ve been killing it this year and booked me for their 360 Bday bash at Loki. I went there without any expectations; it was fucking packed, it was sweaty, and everyone was in such a hype mood. Nobody felt like they had to act a certain type of way. Everyone was in their element, doing their thing. And of course, Unorthodox. That summer day rave was absolutely crazy and the best Unorthodox so far!

It’s been amazing to see more queer events grow recently and in turn grow the scene.

Yes! Everyone is half naked and free; being who they are, just being human. Personally that’s how I resonate with being queer, or my queer identity. I feel human, like a human being, in touch with myself and with my body. I don’t feel like I’m in the matrix. I’m not a robot! I also love how a lot of queer events are multi genre too. At Jungyals and Gays, I heard people spinning garage, then a bit of breaks, then I came on to play dubstep; the BPM just kept creeping up towards the end of the night. It’s had an effect on me by making me start to consider building more variety into my sets, instead of just one genre each time.

I love how you align your identity and values to music. Though first, we know you’re a multi genre queen, but what genre was your first love?

I loved drum and bass before I even realised what drum and bass was. When I first started making music, at 14, 15 for GCSE Music, I based my first ever track on Andy C, ‘Heartbeat Loud’ before I knew that it was drum and bass. The first track I ever made was drum and bass but I didn’t know it! Then I started experimenting with different genres like hip hop and got some vinyl decks at one point, to teach myself how to mix on vinyl and learn how to scratch. I bought loads of old school hip hop vinyls; Nas’ N.Y. State of Mind, Earl Sweatshirt. Then that died very quickly because I got used to fast paced digital DJing with other genres. Dubstep and the garage came in when I was at uni, I got fully immersed in drum and bass, but also explored the bassy speed garage. After uni, I explored a little further and I fell in love with 140 and its super grimy yet deep and smooth and heavy sound. I ended up getting a bunch of tracks which I played around with and realised that mixing them all is completely different. But, you can double garage and dubstep, which I now do religiously.

You’ve got to have a favourite child…

UKG and speed garage are very bouncy and wobbly, round and warm. It fills your chest but you can still bounce to it. But then dubstep makes you feel like a gangster in the sense of giving you a confidence boost. I love it. Dubstep or grime is a genre that’s been misunderstood for some time, but it has some insane history. Jungle has a very unique groove to it, which I really adore, especially the fast scatty drums. Nia Archives is killing it right now and she’s a black woman representing jungle! If I had to pick, it would be drum and bass for the amount of versatility within it.

There’s so much more to the bass genre than at first meets the eye.

It’s a limitless sound, I think bass music is genuinely so limitless because the way that we produce it is through a computer and through that there are infinite ways of creating. We can create anything in sound design, even a new sub genre.

Like skatimal.

Like skatimal. I’ve been saying more often these days thanks to Gabs, or Gifta. There are some tracks that I don’t know how to describe genre wise, apart from being skatimal. 

Who are your favourite artists right now?

Hamdi all the way. Taiki Nulight, borne is making some really cool music. Effin, he makes heavier dubstep using a lot of samples from 1950s music. Flava D probably has been my biggest inspiration, because she is the epitome of everything that I’m trying to do, I very much look up to her. She’s also queer, she’s a woman, and she’s been making music for ages, but she started making grime first, then garage with Royal-T and DJ Q and eventually drum and bass. She’s my biggest inspo for bass music overall, she can make literally anything. Satl also did the LA Fling EP this year with Brandy Haze, an R&B vocalist, which I adored. When I make drum and bass, I love to include jazz instruments or R&B vocals, hooks, to create a groove.

You’ve mentioned production and projects in the past. Is there a Klueless release on the horizon?

Yes! I’m getting closer and closer to releasing something. I have a lot of fun making bootlegs and edits, as well as making my own original stuff. I don’t want to give away too much yet, but I would say I’m still a little way off being ready to finally get that music out there. I’ve had a lot of help from a lot of really good friends, in terms of feedback and advice. I’m really confident in the direction it’s going in, it’s probably the best it’s been ever since I started. I was very on and off for a long time because of my confidence and because of this huge fear of failure. The shift in my mindset has massively allowed me to improve my production abilities. When you use your environment and play to your strengths, you can accomplish amazing things. 

I want to stay as dedicated and focused on the process rather than the end result. If I can get myself excited for what I am doing and not what I haven’t done yet, that massively helps with my confidence. I want to start reaching out to my audience and make more encouraging content on social media to get other people out of that rotten, negative mental space. Because no one can grow in that environment and in that headspace.

Is there a specific habit that you’re trying to pin down as part of your process?

The need to be more aware of creating healthy habits, prioritising real self care, especially when you’re playing out a lot and having late nights. We’re all surrounded by a lot of temptation, and if we’re able to balance the fun nights with the working nights, then that can make things easier. Personally, I make sure that production is part of my routine, if it’s not daily, then it’s at least weekly. I think the biggest creativity killers are comparison and envy. 

I’m generally not a jealous person, I’m very comfortable and confident in myself. But when it comes to music, that’s the only time I’ve ever started to feel negatively and compare myself to others. There have been so many times where I’ve had huge insecurity after playing a set – where I didn’t feel I did that well and the thoughts that I had on myself are just absolutely terrible. I know so many artists who have the same problem. That’s another reason why I want to advocate for mental health. My mom is a therapist and she’s massively helped me with a lot of my mental issues, but also my self esteem. Self esteem for a music artist is one of the most important things we need! We cannot openly share ourselves and our deep work with the rest of the world without it.

Thank you for sharing that. Mental health is important for everyone but the music industry does bring unique challenges.

Practising gratitude, self affirming, doing things you enjoy, getting active, laughter – all these things can help. We all want to be successful. But at the end of the day, just being happy is the make or break in your life, it’s absolutely key. If I was depressed or had difficult mental health problems, I wouldn’t be able to do anything. That’s why your happiness and your mental health is number fucking one. It changes your life completely. We’re all familiar with substances, we’ve all had fun with it. But there is a point where if you want to take this industry seriously, you have to find a balance or get rid of it completely. You have to prioritise what you want. I know artists who are sober, clean, but even then sometimes their self esteem isn’t great, which is why they’ve laid off in the first place. I think we’re getting there with awareness of all this and there’s a lot of wellbeing content online, which I love.

Looking forward, how do you think bass music can help and shape the world?

The sense of collectiveness and the feeling of freedom and care for others can do a lot for people and the world. Standard clubbing environments can feel quite toxic. If you look at bass music, if you go to a rave, everyone is so cuddly and considerate; you say sorry if you bump into someone, you check if someone’s okay if they’re on the floor, if you see somebody upset in the toilet, you ask them if they’re okay. That wouldn’t really happen in other places. Younger generations go raving because they feel safer, that they’re surrounded by good people, they’re free, not being judged. I’ve noticed people are becoming less judgmental, becoming a lot more understanding of mental health and more open-minded and appreciative of culture.

So drum and bass is going to save the world?

Haha yes! But really I think raving does bring a different perspective to the human race, it’s made a big impact so far and we’ll see where it goes.

10000% agree. What do you love most about the community?

The fact that there’s little judgement. Growing up, my mum raised me to be a very self assured person. She’s always complimented me and given me lots of words of affirmation. At school, I was always picked on because of that, people thought that I was too confident for my own good, or that I drew too much attention to myself. I like to have a positive vibe and a positive outlook on life and people and the others didn’t like it. When I went raving, I could truly be myself and not be judged, which is what I mean by freedom. I can be hyper, I can be silly. I’m just happy and love showing my emotions. When I go into a rave, everyone enjoys seeing other people just have fun. It’s very carefree, very relaxed and judgement free.

My heart! I love this. I think we can all feel proud to be part of this community. Quick fire round now; if you had to do a B2B with a non drum and bass artist who would it be?

Hamdi for sure. One because the music is fucking hype and two because its so hype then everyone else is so hype. I haven’t sweated so much in my life than at a Hamdi event.

What elevates a set from good to great?

Energy. It’s all about the way that you show people that you love what you’re doing. I’ve played sets before where I feel like I haven’t done as well technically as I could have. But because of my energy and how much I enjoy what I do, regardless of how well I’m doing it, these nights have been some of the best sets I’ve ever played. Your energy, your persona and personality matter.

Huge! We’re so excited to see what you’ve cooked up! Finally, do you have a message to the heads?

Focus on the process and your systems, rather than the end results. Believe in yourself and fuck what anyone else thinks!