Meet Conan “Con The Artist” Karpinski | Award winning film composer & musician

We had the good fortune of connecting with Conan “Con The Artist” Karpinski and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Conan “Con The Artist”, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
I think one of the key ingredients to any form of success is putting the stuff you create out there and being open to where it takes you. It sounds a little cliché, but I am doing a lot of things in my career now that I never set out to do and loving every second of it, and it’s all thanks to putting myself out there and rolling with the punches. I originally started in this industry as a frontman of a band whose only goal was to write rock music and perform it live. Now I find myself composing music for feature films, directing music videos, and producing tracks for other artists in all genres.
Staying open to new lanes is key. If I hadn’t been open to taking on new projects outside of my comfort zone then I think I would still be at the starting line. I was in my band, Soul Push, for many years before I started film composing, and it was all because director Trevor Mack was a fan of my band’s music that he approached me and asked me to write music for his feature film. That was a door I never saw opening for myself and ever since I stepped through it I have been introduced to a career I love that I probably wouldn’t have discovered on my own. Half of the projects I’ve worked on are because of efforts I’ve done in other artforms. Much like my unusual introduction to film composing, I got my first directing gig because I made a music video for my own band. Directing other artists’ music videos led to me writing with those same artists or even touring Europe with them. I also got my start in producing hip hop records because an artist that goes by Transit22 heard a remix I had done for Bombay Bicycle Club’s single “Feel” and flew me out to his city to produce beats for him. Now I’m currently in LA writing for my solo pop project, working with people that I’ve met from all those different worlds combined. This is all to say, you just never know where the art you create is going to take you and this has proven to be true in my case. Even if it were never my lane, I would never say no to a project I didn’t think I could add value to, because they all eventually feed off and into one another. I think that’s been important for me.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
It can be difficult talking about yourself sometimes, but here goes… I’m a South African born artist & musician that is constantly flirting with both film music & pop music, which often produces interesting results.

I kicked off my career by playing in a band called Soul Push and we’ve been fortunate to tour and open for acts like Kodaline and Cold War Kids, and seen some cool success in the sync world on Netflix and Disney+. It’s definitely what solidified my spot in the music business, and I love doing it with my friends when we get together. However, I’m happy to announce for the first time that I am going solo and I’m currently working with producers and songwriters in LA on my debut singles. My solo alias is “Con The Artist” – it’s playing on the term ‘con artist’, and it is also a nod to my birth name and the fact that I am an artist… which I think I was afraid to say out loud for a while. Imposter syndrome. I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to consider myself an ‘artist’. I think that’s been one of the biggest challenges for me, the thought “do I belong here? Will anyone notice that I’m not that cool or I’m not some musical prodigy and realize that I’ve faked my way into the room?” It’s a thought I constantly have, but looking back I’ve done some really cool shit and the creative life is what I’m all about so I’m owning it now. I write, produce, direct, and compose music for films… that’s what artists do right? I think I’m just trying to take back some ownership of who I am and what I do by putting it in my name.

I feel like my band was a great trial run for me. I got to discover the music business and all its beautiful and dark sides with my boys, but now I’m excited to take everything I’ve learnt over the last few years and apply it to Con The Artist. And definitely have fun with it… I think you gotta not take yourself too seriously. That’s one thing I’ve learnt. I used to take myself too seriously in my band days and it would always bite me in the ass. My new mantra is “don’t take yourself seriously, but take your art seriously” . I heard that somewhere and loved it.

I grew up in the pop and rock world and have developed a pop sensibility that is grounded in melody driven ideas and arrangements. However, the last few years I have found myself in the film composing world which feels like a totally different part of the brain. It’s all about texture, layers, and a whole new whack of color and instruments I didn’t grow up with. I’m finding a lot of joy these days in combining the two. Sometimes I let my pop brain drive a film scene I’m composing to, and on the flip side I also find myself now using my composing chops when writing pop music. My worlds collided perfectly when I composed music for the Indigenous film `Portraits from a Fire ”, for which myself and collaborator, Andrew Dixon, won a LEO AWARD for in the category of: Best Musical Score in a Motion Picture. I think that’s what made director Trevor Mack initially approach me, he knew he could get both indie pop songs and traditional film cues out of us.

Coming up, on one hand I am producing pop music and gearing up to play live shows, and on the other I am flying off to Europe to work with a 34 piece orchestra to develop my craft as a film composer. It’s very exciting to be wearing both hats and I can’t wait to find more reasons to have those two worlds collide.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
This is an easy question to answer because one of my best friends visited me in LA this past weekend and we got up to some great stuff. My homie Brenden and I started our weekend by grabbing some grub at Mama Shelter in Hollywood before catching some friends at Good Times at Davey Waynes. However, the MVP of the night was Joes Pizza on Hollywood BLVD, their grandmas pizza is fire and I have been getting it almost once a week. The next day we hit up Swingers which might be my favourite diner in LA, and I think it was a highlight of his trip too. We also did the wheel in Santa Monica and then found ourselves grabbing some drinks at The Saddle Ranch before hitting the comedy store to see Leslie Jones. After the show we went to Pinches Tacos, which was a hit.
The next day we went to Bacari in Silverlake for lunch and I think it’s safe to say I will be going back there a few more times. I love mimosas and that spot did not disappoint. After lunch we did a hike near Griffith Observatory then found ourselves dining at the Cheesecake Factory in the grove before heading to the Hollywood Forever Cemetery to watch Goodfellas. It was the perfect Saturday.
The final day we went for breakfast at Mels Drive and got a gas station beer for the walk home… Walking the streets of LA on a hot day with a cold one is one of life’s greatest gifts.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
This is so important, I love that you ask this. My parents always encouraged me to follow my passions and never once doubted me, so they get first dibs.
Along with producer Ryan Worsley for teaching me a lot of what I know, Dylan Padgett who gave me my first bass guitar cause he believed in me, and my band mates Tim, Dallyn, & Andrew, who helped shape me over the last few years. I owe my band mates a lot of gratitude because they enabled me and supported me in expressing myself artistically. A lot of my success comes from the doors that were opened because of the band I was in. So I want to acknowledge that they played a huge part in my journey.

Additionally, a big shoutout has to go to Jack Steadman. Jack was instrumental in my formative years. He’s mostly known as the frontman of Bombay Bicycle Club, but he also releases solo music under the alias “Mr Jukes”. I started out as a fan of his but we slowly became good friends over many years. We’ve got a crazy story, which I’ll save for a different day, but we landed up getting close and when I was living in London he gave me his entire recording rig which allowed me to start and run my own studio. I had produced music for other artists before, but don’t think I would have continued unless I had a studio at my disposal. He gave me the opportunity to work on my craft and explore new areas of the production world. Growing up as a fan of Bombay, it was pretty special to be creating records on the same gear that was used for a lot of the music I grew up listening to. Jack, thanks for being so down to earth and generous to a young up and coming artist – especially when no one else knew who I was.

There are so many people who have helped along the way, and I hope they all know how much they mean to me and how grateful I am for their advice and friendship.

Website: www.contheartist.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conanjurek/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/conankarpinski/?originalSubdomain=ca

Other: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1VE511BtguLOEx20MoKdRa?si=b52ce57c64904881