At 22 years old, Ben Wash is hoping to become a music mogul and electronic music heavyweight.
He's so committed to his craft, he moved from his native Greenville, South Carolina, to Miami in order to gain wider exposure. And with his label King Head Records, he's well on his way.
In addition to himself, the King's Head roster includes Culture Prophet and Treznik, and eventually, Wash says, the label will be scouting for more local talent. And like Dim Mak and Ed Banger, King's Head is looking to develop as a lifestyle brand beyond just music.
We here at Crossfade spoke with the Full Sail drop out (he admits he "really didn't like it that much") about what brought him to Miami, the electronic scene in his hometown of Greenville, and why he started his own label.
Check out Wash and fellow labelmate Treznik at Brisky Gallery this Saturday and Sunday for Basel 2013. They'll also be doing a live broadcast of their monthly radio show Synthesize on Jolt Radio.
Crossfade: What brought you to Miami?
Ben Wash: Mainly wanting to do the label with my brother. We've been talking about it for three or four years, and t came to the point that I wanted to take a leap and move down here and try to get it started.
What does Miami have that your native Greenville, South Carolina, doesn't?
For electronic music, there is a bigger scene down here. I've been working on music since high school, and Greenville is not exactly a mecca for electronic music, so it was just me and a few other people in the whole county. It was hard to do what we wanted to do there. Sounds cheesy, but we wanted to do something in a more happening area and Miami was the closest one to us.
Why not go to L.A. or New York, which have even bigger music scenes?
To be honest, I jump around that question a lot. I've been to New York and L.A. recently, but think Miami is convenient and there's a special thing going on around here. But maybe five years down the line we might consider expanding to another major city if things go really well for us.
How would you describe your sound?
It's hard to label myself, but most say I make electro or electro-house. I just make electronic music. I don't like to label myself. I make the music I want to make.
Managing your own label can't be easy. Why didn't you seek to get signed to an already established label?
I wanted to do more with music than just trying to get signed to a label. There is nothing wrong with that. I think it's great working with a label. But I wanted to do more than just be an artist. I wanted to, in the process, educate myself more.
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