EKKSTACY defines the zeitgeist between new wave and soundcloud rap, between post punk and emo - after his four German shows in spring were sold out so quickly and the demand for tickets was high, the Canadian is coming back to Germany in November for six more concerts!
The young Canadian emo frontrunner EKKSTACY definitely knows what he wants and what he doesn't want. Since the beginning of the decade, he has been lacing sincere outsider revelations with a barely tangible and mostly gloomy mix of genres - and in doing so, he speaks from the soul of an audience of millions.
Now himself opening for blink-182 and thus on the biggest US stages, EKKSTACY has announced an exclusive tour in Germany this week. He will also be taking his latest album "EKKSTACY" with him, on which he has fanned out his trademark sound between post-punk, hip-hop, dark wave & co. a little further. While My Bloody Valentine and the Ramones were among the most recent influences in the studio, guests such as The Kid LAROI and Trippie Redd also dropped by. The result is even more indie, with shoegaze and surf rock elements flashing through the lyrics of the songwriter, who borrowed his nickname "Stacy" from an 80s skate legend (Stacy Peralta).
The depressive and abysmal aspects of his music - the demons with which his fanbase has identified from the very beginning - are fed by a rather disastrous childhood and youth: Growing up with a maximum of disorientation, his parents' divorce meant that the last of his stability was gone, and friends at high school were also in short supply. This was followed by a short drug career with psychotic episodes, and finally a suicide attempt by jumping out of a window - a cry for help. A little later (around 2019), EKKSTACY discovered music as an outlet and meaningful element for himself, giving his life a direction and a sound that is now celebrated by almost four million fans a month.
The Outsider single "i walk this earth all by myself", which was released at the beginning of 2021 and has well over 200 million streams on Spotify alone, is crucial to this. Although names such as MGMT and Beach House, Japandroids and The Strokes have been doing the rounds as important influences ever since, Khyree Zienty, as EKKSTACY is known, also celebrates XXXTentacion, Bon Iver, Elliott Smith - as well as hard-hitting deathcore and metalcore acts such as Thy Art Is Murder and Sworn In. "Yeah, sometimes I listen to rap and just think to myself: Dude, I want to be a rapper too. But then I hear a metal song and I think: Shit, I want to do metal too," EKKSTACY summarized this extreme stylistic openness, which has also been referred to as "ADHD Core", in an interview a few years ago.
With three EPs and albums - the EP "NEGATIVE" was followed by "misery" and the current album "EKKSTACY" (2024) - the Canadian emo trailblazer now has enough material to combine introspection and collective moshpit ecstasy on tour: Circle pits, crowd surfing & co. are also pre-programmed for his trip to Germany in November.