Krisztián Miklósy, better known by his stage name Quixotic, is a Hungarian electronic musician.
Flamingo Drive-In is Miklósy’s newest full-length album. Featuring 12 original tracks of synthwave music, and heavily inspired by luxury sports cars, Drive-in is the apex of the ‘Outrun’ genre.
Outrun is best described as a sub-genre of electronic music known as synthwave. A homage to the 1980’s and pop culture which often featured car races and hot pursuits with luxury cars. The most frequently cited example is the 1986 arcade racing console game by Sega, Out Run.
Slickster: The album opens up with the track “Metal Cobra”. This instantly sets the tone of the album as an 80’s-style Outrun opus. Is there a formula to concoct titles that evokes a synthwave feeling?
Quixotic: The formula was easy in the early days of synthwave, now it is one of the hardest thing to do, you have to dig deep in 80s culture to avoid overused clichés and come up with a rad and unique title. But when you finally do the good and fitting one, It feels like finding the Holy Grail.
Slickster: You are from the European country of Hungary. How is the synthwave scene in there right now?
Quixotic: We can’t complain, in the capital city, Budapest, the nightlife is world famous and not just because of the cheap booze. I still consider synthwave an underground scene, but as a small country we hosted most of the big guys of this genre, I played on stage with headliners like Carpenter Brut, Perturbator, Danger and Com Truise and we are hosting synthwave parties regularly. I have two of my own: Stranger Synths, based on the netflix hit series and Waves by Quixotic, which evokes a chill Miami Vice vibe. We have an enthusiastic community and a lot of fellow producers too, we even had 3 compilation albums called Hungarian Synthwave Allstars.
Thoughts on The Terminator
Slickster: Track three on the album a tribute to Arnold Schwarzenegger and the melody is a re-imagining of the main theme from The Terminator. Why did you choose this movie theme as opposed to other of his many popular movie themes?
Quixotic: Yes, for first glance it is easy to spot the Terminator theme, but for hardcore Arnie fans, there is more, the high pitched rhythmic notes of the intro are a nod to Harold Faltermeyer’s Running Man soundtrack and after the guitar solo the synth solo using motifs from the Conan theme and the whole track is pumping, like the man himself said, “I’m hier’ to pump you up!”
Slickster: How has Schwarzenegger’s life affected your own? What inspiration does his career bring to you?
Quixotic: As a kid, my ultimate action hero. I remember watching The Terminator for the first time, I was skipping school by I faked being ill and when my parents went to work, I grabbed a chair to reach the top shelf in our living room, the top shelf of forbidden VHS tapes, I couldn’t care less about the pirated western german porn with horrible hungarian voice-over, I just wanted to see this dude kick some ass. Now as an artist, I learned a lot about him, his unbelievable career, how he set the bar higher every time he wanted something to achieve. A true inspiration, an idol for me the perfect example of the american dream, just listen to the monologue of the track.
Quixotic and working with other musicians
Slickster: Your buddy Lazerpunk (Read Lazerpunk’s interview with Slickster Mag here) collaborated on track 4 Shredracer – It seems you were influenced by his recent viral success of ‘Black Lambo’ on this track. This track invokes scenes of luxury sports cars racing through the Miami underground at night with law enforcement officers in hot pursuit. It is essentially an ‘outrun’ track. Can you discuss breilfy your partnership with Lazerpunk and how this track was developed.
Quixotic: This track is an alternate version of our track “Speedracer” from his death & glory album. Since we both love cars and speed, the title was obvious, with this version I added new layers with with some guitar shredding, this explains the title change. We played many shows together even though our music vastly different, opposite edges of the genre, but I came up with the perfect marketing for it. It’s like a jing-jang thing, we are the hungarian jedi knight and sith lord of synthwave, together we bring balance to the scene. This track is a good example of that, a heavy-hitting ride yet accompanied with catchy melodies. Btw I made a remix of Black Lambo, it’s already a banger in our sets and it will be released very soon!
Slickster: Who plays all the guitars on your album?
Quixotic: My guitar hero is Miklós Czifra. He is one the most talented guitar players in Hungary, however he plays in a famous hungarian metal band called Leander Kills, he is obsessed with the 80s like me and became fan of the whole retrowave thing the moment I showed him Electric Youth’s ‘Right Back To You’ back in the early 2010’s. We are also playing together in synthpop band Amigod. But for my project he truly helped to bring the tracks to the next level on the album and since we are doing live shows too his stage presence with his skills and with his awesome neon Ibanez are truly bringing the 80s back to life.
Slickster: After the first five tracks on the album, the pace and timbre of the album changes. After opening up with some heavy Outrun, you shift gears into a much more mellow and subdued tone on Dust to Dust. It lends somewhat of a bi-polar feeling to the record. Was this your intention or did you have two separate projects going on at the same time?
Quixotic: The whole album is a journey. Many of the tracks were previously released over the years, but for the album I reworked, re-recorded and remastered the ‘old’ track tracks to the maintain the quality and make it a bit more coherent, but each track tells a story on its own. My main goal was to make an album which feels like a best of, a greatest hits of synthwave, where you can catch a glimpse of every kind. So if someone asks what is synthwave you just have to show Flamingo Drive-In. One of the reasons I fell in love with synthwave is the diversity of the genre, it’s fun to explore its possibilities.
I used to go EDM clubs and I also used to play on drums in a punk band, two totally different world with two totally different kind of people, they don’t get along, but on a synthwave gig, I see both parties having fun, metalheads, technoguys, it doesn’t matter, the music, the visuals, the nostalgia brings people together.
Slickster: You named track seven White Testarossa. Is that your ideal car?
Quixotic: Well, it was good enough for Don Johnson. It is an ultimate 80s dream car and referencing to your first question I was surprised no one used this title before, because it works even without any music. Also a little nod to my buddy Lazerpunk’s Black Lambo, just to keep the rivalry fresh.
Slickster: Palms is probably my second favorite track on the record. Can you talk what inspired you write this and how long it took to create it?
Quixotic: I wrote Palms back in 2013, after a late summer vacation. I’m not a winter person and I wanted make a track to survive the cold season. Who knew so many people can relate. When I produce I always start with ideas then listen to it in a loop usually until I hate it , but sometimes it can develop into a full track. For Palms, fortunately, it was a fast process, I had to catch the fading memories of the trip, but the tweaking took like 2 weeks, for example the notorious “hiccups” which have some controversy among fans, but it would not be the same without it. For the album tweak the
Slickster: Teenage Hero uses the clip of Matthew Broderick from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once and a while you could miss it.” While this is the least-heavy track on the album, it’s also the best one IMO. Channeling everything 80’s into one sweet nostalgic pop-track Teenage Hero just nails it for the synthwave genre. Why did you include the this track among the darker, outrun tracks on the album?
Quixotic: Like I said before, Quixotic is a journey through the synth waves from 80s Miami sunsets over palms and cocktails to epic outrun car chases with loads of guitar solos. This track embodies my lighter side for sure, originally I just got the guitar solo part from Miklos as an idea titled “80s hero”, then I built the whole song around it and as a big fan of John Hughes movies I was happy that the quote was a perfect fit for the mood and sax was the cherry on top by the other Quixotic band member Rita Baracskay.
Slickster: Will you be doing any live shows in support of Flamingo Drive-In?
Quixotic: Yes, besides my dj sets, Quixotic Live shows are now in motion, a real audiovisual treat with a band lineup with Miklós on guitars and Rita on Sax. We have a few dates booked already in Europe till the summer and planning a full EU tour in fall and hopefully next year in the US.
Wroclaw, Poland April 12
Budapest, Hungary April 26
Slickster: Thanks for talking to Slickster Mag and sharing your music. Is there anything else you’d like to add that maybe we didn’t discuss in the interview?
Quixotic: I’d like to mention The Sonnyfive who made cover artwork based on my idea. He really did an amazing job and we hide bunch of easter eggs for true 80s nerds.
Thank you for the opportunity!
I’m Quixotic and you stay classy San Diego!
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6EoH6bqhkGb1ypHCiASSNU
Bandcamp: thequixotic.bandcamp.com/
Facebook: facebook.com/quixoticmusic/
Instagram: instagram.com/quixoticsnd
Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/quixoticsnd
Youtube: https: youtube.com/Quixoticsnd
Mixtapes: mixcloud.com/quixoticsnd
Tumblr: quixoticsnd.tumblr.com/