JK: Yes and no. We've known each other since college and both attended the same program at Berklee, where we were still learning the music production ropes. During that time, we were constantly opening up Logic (the DAW we were both using at the time) and coming up with silly and fun tune ideas. 

DW: We lived in the same apartment building in Boston and quickly realized we shared the same interests as we were getting deeper into producing. We would constantly be trading music with each other as well as a gaggle of other electronic music nerds and geeking out on new production and sound design techniques. We definitely started a small handful of tracks through the years and always wanted to make more. It wasn't really until after we graduated that we talked more seriously about the project, even if it didn't happen.

JK: David came up with the name GUNK [in 2014]. However, it wasn't until 10 years later that we both found ourselves living in LA and able to actually work on stuff together for the first time in years, so we both said “Better late than never!” and got to work!

That’s so cool! Besides living in the same area again, what made last year feel like the right time to officially launch the GUNK project?

JK: Both David and I had been so swamped for so long with our own music-related projects, day jobs, and other various obligations that it was always so easy to put off. I think we both started reminiscing one night about this GUNK project that we dreamed up years before and suddenly realized, “Oh yeah, it wouldn't be that hard to do now!” And then from there the fire was lit.

DW: Piggybacking off what Josh mentioned, all sorts of life events added up to this being great timing [to launch the GUNK project]. Over the last six years, I have been really focused on my career in [video] game audio, so most of my time and creative energy was being put towards that. Additionally, I have had quite a bit of involvement in event production, most notably with Bass Waffles here in LA, which I helped co-found (we actually just celebrated our 8th anniversary at the end of February!).

I was often making music on the side, but mostly just for myself because I can't not make music.  The video game industry is pretty volatile and I was actually part of a big layoff last summer. I found myself without a job at the same time that Josh was also out of full time work — he was now mainly focusing on Smigonaut. We quickly realized that it was an ideal time to finish the tunes we had been slowly chipping away at and to just do the dang thang.

I love that! It definitely sounds like you guys were in the right place at the right time to finish what you started. So, how long had you guys been working on the tunes that ended up on your debut EP? Did some of those ideas originate at Berklee? Or are these more recent works?

JK: Most of the tracks were ideas that David started over the span of the past few years with the exception of “Hoodie,” which I started last year. I remember hearing a handful of these tunes on sound systems in their early forms when David played them out at various events here and there. 

DW: That’s correct, none of these tunes were made in the Boston days, and I'm glad they weren't because we were still definitely incubating back then (to say it politely). We actually joked about bringing back this one track from around 2011-2012 that we were so excited about at the time called "Stress Ball,” especially since some of our GUNK tunes are tapping into a bit of that glitch hop nostalgia. 

JK: Collectively, we have so many WIPs and tracks that we are constantly sharing with each other to determine if they're 'GUNK' enough to work on. For this EP, we really wanted to focus on the 'gunk' aesthetic, which we always sort of felt was a mix of funkiness with a lot of really textured and [lively] sound design. That is first and foremost what we were looking for when selecting ideas to work on. There's a lot I do with Smigonaut that I don't think would fit the GUNK project (and vice versa) because it may not meet the sonic criteria we're chasing for this particular project.

DW: The first single we put out (and the intro track on the EP), "Under The Big Top,” was one that I wrote in 2019. There are probably some videos floating around out there of me playing early versions of it as Asteroids & Earthquakes. “Gunkin' Donuts” and “Sewer Stomp” were more recent sketches, though, and “Hoodie” was a WIP from Josh that he wanted to bring to the GUNK-y table!

We were getting pretty stoked on the tunes and decided to rent a cabin in Big Bear, where we built out a makeshift studio for a long weekend. This really solidified that we were stoked on the tunes and having a lot of fun, so it felt like this EP built itself up pretty naturally.