She’s a design student by day and spinning turntables by night. At 21, Euna Kho is pretty much living the dream in New York City and making a name for herself. I’ve been in contact with her for nearly a year trying to get this interview with her, but let’s face it, the girl is busy. Euna has accomplished a great deal for her age having worked with Epiphany Media, Nylon Magazine, the Molecule, and now with her musical career taking off, it looks like she’ll never get a break (not like she would want one anyways.) Her life is fast-paced, but her achievements are impressive for a college junior. I can’t help but constantly wonder how she does it all. Euna is no local DJ. Last year, she performed at a celebration for the Winter Olympics 2010 in Vancouver and at UCSD in San Diego in front of a crowd of 10,000 college students. Where she’ll be tomorrow, next week, or next month, who knows? Keep your ears open though because you won’t want to miss her.
Q: Euna, how old are you and where are you from?
Euna: I just turned 21 and I’m from New York City! I was born in South Korea, lived there until I was about 7 and then moved straight to the big apple!
Q: You’re a design student by day is that correct? And then a DJ by night, how do you make it work? I imagine your schedule must be incredibly busy.
E: I don’t really sleep. I’ll sleep when I’m dead! Plus, I love everything I do… so I have fun doing it. My schedules insane, but I enjoy every second of it! Life is too short to do something you don’t love!
Q: How long have you been doing this for and how did you get started?
E: I started producing music when I was very little. I used to use old school tape machines to record samples and play with my keyboard to make loops. When I was a child, I didn’t have much so the only cheap and fun thing I could do was make music and art!
As for making remixes, I got my first laptop right before I went to college and started mixing around with Garage Band and Logic Pro. I eventually found out about DJing with Ableton Live (around 3 years ago) and that’s when I started making mixes and playing live shows!
Q: I noticed that you also work with Epihany Media, Nylon Magazine, and the Molecule. Can you tell us about some of the things you do with them?
A: I worked at Epiphany and Nylon Mag in high school. I did a lot of photography and graphic design work for them. I currently work at the Molecule. It’s an awesome post- production studio. We make awesome visual effects for TV shows, commercials and films (especially explosions!)
Q: What’s a typical day for Euna Kho?
E: Work hard then party hard.
Q: How exactly did you come up with the name BEARBOT?
E: My moms a bear and my dads a robot.
Q: If you were to someday be given the title as Euna Kho, the girl version of Gregg Gillis of Girl Talk, how would you feel about that?
E: Girl Talk is awesome! I think his genre is more pop based and mine is more electro/hip hop based which puts us into different categories, but he’s a great inspiration and it would be an honor to be compared to him!
Q: Designing and music appear to be your biggest passions. I even noticed some of your mash up in your design videos too, how did you develop these hobbies and would you ever incorporate the two into a longer-lasting career? If so, how would you go about doing that?
E: I’ve always wanted to be a VJ (Video DJ) so I would mix live music and live videos at the same time. I also have this goal: producing an epic film that tells an epic story that I can project and sync to the music I mix live…but that’s a whole load of work and I’ll need more time to make it happen. Maybe when I graduate, I can start that mission…we’ll see!
Q: What are your top five albums of 2010?
E: This is a really hard one…I really like the new albums by Bassnectar, Pretty Lights, Ghostland Observatory, Deadmau5, Big Boi, Rick Ross, Wiz Khalifah … I’m probably missing huge albums/mixtapes that I freaked out about, but these albums/mixtapes were real dope!
Q: Tell us about your latest album Evocation.
E: Evocation basically means creating something new or imaginative re-creation. I really wanted to re-create the sound and feel of the mixes into something really dirty/heavy/bass to the face. I also chose that name because I’m bringing the original samples into a whole new genre of music, re-shaping it, re-forming it and sculpting it so that it fits in a different world.
Q: Do you mostly DJ around New York or do you do some traveling as well?
E: I used to DJ a lot just in NYC when I had residency at Webster Hall and then I started traveling around a lot and fell in love! This year I toured in Canada and played a bunch of random shows in the states. I’d love to go over the seas and go to crazy places like Australia, Japan and Europe but I gotta wait until I graduate!
Q: Where did your favorite performance take place and why was it your favorite?
E: My favorite performance probably took place at UCSD in San Diego. I headlined a show down there and around 10,000 people showed up! Everybody was dancing and having a good time. It was an amazing feeling to make 10,000 people move to the same tune.
I also loved playing for this rave in Canada a couple months ago and also, this private party I DJed at last week for the website Grooveshark.com. I met amazing people and got an amazing response from the crowd. I can’t really pick a favorite…those are my top three choices but all my shows have been amazing!
Q: Do you want to come perform in Seattle? Can we make this happen?
E: Absolutely! Hook me up with a school or a promoter and I am there!
Q: If you could collaborate or work with anyone, who would it be?
E: Oh man… if I could pick someone that is dead it would be the Notorious B.I.G… alive, I’d pick Pretty Lights or Wolfgang Gartner. They’re fucking amazing!
Q: I’ve worked with several bands in the past and sometimes my favorite part about seeing the contracts are going over the riders to see what ridiculous items bands want in their green room. If you could put together a rider, what would those items be?
E: 2 giant blow up cats… so I can throw ’em into the audience during my performance.
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Q: Where do you see yourself in five years?
E: Either on tour, meeting amazing people and partying with them OR sitting at a computer at some production studio in California OR chillin in space!
Q: What are you listening to these days?
E: I’ve been listening to a lot of dub-step lately. I love bass. Also, when you drop a dub-step song when everybody is drunk on the dance floor, people go bat shit insane. The response is always great.
Q: Where can we expect to see you next Euna? What’s in store for you as a design student and for BEARBOT?
E: If we can set up a show in Seattle, I’d love to come out and play for you. I was on my way to Vancouver a couple months ago and stopped by Seattle. You guys have awesome coffee and the vibe is really great. I would love to go out there again and see what the nightlife is like! Otherwise, I’ll be playing around at random schools and venues around the states. Look out for info on my website – www.bearbotmusic.com or become a fan on facebook and you can find out info there!