Kid Simius: Ghosts, Gazpacho, and the Balearic Beat of a Comic Book Summer
- Filip
- Aug 4
- 5 min read
Updated: Aug 12
For an artist like Kid Simius — who’s as likely to cite a zombie movie as a musical scale, and who would bring a gazpacho to an island afterparty — summer isn't a season. It's a state of creative overflow. Fresh off the release of his new EP Gente de la Noche on Permanent Vacation, the Granada-born, Berlin-based producer returns with more than just music: a hand-drawn comic book full of Balearic lore, DJ mythology, and surreal afterparty flashbacks.
Kid Simius opens up about psilocybin microdosing, quitting alcohol, falling back in love with instruments, the comic-book process that unexpectedly shaped his EP, and why, despite everything, he’s still probably going to miss his flight.
What kind of summer are you trying to have — one with SPF 50 and yoga retreats, barefoot raving and questionable cocktails, or something else entirely?
Worldwide fitness studios with saunas, psilocybin microdosing, mocktails (I quit alcohol two years ago), and sunny open-air parties with great DJs. Also: music making and drawing.
Sounds odd, but doing music as a job sometimes makes you forget why you love it. So I’ve started taking piano and guitar lessons again. Haha.
It started when my therapist encouraged me to find a hobby outside of music and family... At first it was just a fun personal project, but weirdly, the stories I was drawing were all about clubbing, Ibiza, and the Balearic EP I was working on.
Do you believe in summer flings, or is music your long-term relationship?
The only way to find your long-term relationship is through summer flings.
What’s something your friends know about you that your fans definitely don’t?
I love horror films – ghosts, possessions, zombies, all of it. Both the terrifying classics and the trashy ones where you don't know if its comedy or horror.
I’d love to score a horror movie someday. If any horror directors are reading this, hit me up!
“70% pre-party lifter, 20% post party stayer, 10% ghost and 10% zombie.”
You’re stranded at an afterparty on a remote island. You can only bring one synth, one snack, and one person. Who and what makes the cut?
Korg M1 or Korg Electribe, gazpacho, and David Bowie or Grace Jones
Are you more of a pre-party lifter, post-party stayer, or a ghost who vanishes after your set?
Pre-party lifter with post-party tendencies.
But I’m a ghost if I play a bad set or if the party’s no fun.
70% pre-party lifter, 20 % post party stayer, 10 % ghost and 10 % zombie.
Doing music as a job sometimes makes you forget why you love it. So I’ve started taking piano and guitar lessons again. Haha.
What’s your “I’m too old for this” moment that still happens anyway?
You know that moment when you have a late-night show and you think it’s a good idea to go to bed instead of going out, and end up getting 2-3 hours of sleep, then you set an alarm so you can hit the club feeling fresh and full of energy? Well, when that alarm goes off after just 2 hours of sleep, that’s the exact moment I realise I’m too old for this.
The same goes the other way around… when you stay at the party after the show and tell yourself, 'Okay, my flight or train is at this time, so if I go to bed in an hour I’ll still get 5 hours of sleep.' Then an hour passes and you think, 'Alright, if I go now, I’ll still get 4 hours,' and it keeps going like that… until the moment you say: fuck it, I’m going to the airport with no sleep.
But I’m a responsible person now.
If your aura had a playlist, what would be track one and the 6am closer?
Opening track: Morenas Hazme Soñar or Sueño Latino by Manuel Göttsching
Closer: Play Paul - Spaced Out or J-Lo " Una noche más"
When you decide to skip going out after a late gig and instead sleep for 2–3 hours and set an alarm... That’s the exact moment I realise I’m too old for this.
Do you believe in signs from the universe — or do you just trust in timing, chaos, and your booking agent?
I believe in signs — in the form of impulses. People often talk about manifesting as if you're attracting things to you, drawing in what you want to happen. But for me, manifesting feels different. It's not about pulling things toward me — it's like I'm being pulled toward them. LOL.
It doesn’t matter where they are; I become a kind of human compass. I don’t overthink it — I just move, go, create, act.
What do you wish people asked you about more — and what question do you wish would disappear forever?
I think how I came up with my artist name could disappear forever. It’s been asked a thousand times.
I wish people ask me about more questions like the questions you are doing to me in this interview: Either funny questions, or really deep ones — the kind where the interviewer, through their reflections on things I’ve done instinctively, like my music, ends up helping me learn more about myself by the end of the interview than I knew before.
If you weren’t making music, what kind of mischief would you be up to instead? Be honest. Life coach? Street magician? Dog psychic?
I’d either be hosting a tv show about paranormal activity – ghosts, possessions, that kind of thing – or a therapist for DJs and nightlife folks in Berlin, or care worker
Or maybe I’d be a NBA superstar. Who knows?
This new comic + EP combo is so hot. Tell us more!
It started when my therapist encouraged me to find a hobby outside of music and family. I remembered how much I loved manga as a kid, and the idea stuck.
Then I went to Japan – and it all kicked again . I went to an art shop and told the woman there, 'I want to draw a manga. Please, give me everything I need.'
At first it was just a fun personal project, but weirdly, the stories I was drawing were all about clubbing, Ibiza, and the Balearic EP I was working on.
Then the drawings started inspiring the music – and vice versa.
When I showed it to a friend (Because I was embarrassed to show them), she loved it. So I kept going and now I’m creating music and stories in parallel.
The first story I ever drew was called The Incredible Adventures of DJ Alfredo in Ibiza.
The idea for the Balearic EP came after Benjamin Fröhlich from Permanent Vacation told me he’d love to hear another Balearic record from me, like the one I did a couple of years ago.I thought, hmm, that’s not a bad idea...
Suddenly, everything clicked into place. At that moment, I was drawing Balearic-themed mangas, so why not create a Balearic EP as well? To be honest, I was already in the mood to make something more vibey and emotional — not so much dancefloor-focused, but still inspired by the club atmosphere.
Which track on Gente de la Noche is your current obsession and why?
Definitely "#TheIncredibleAdventuresOfDJAlfredoInIbiza".
It features samples from an interview I did with DJ Alfredo, the father of Balearic beat, when I had a radio show a few years ago.
He passed away last December, so this track is my tribute to his legacy.
The interview was beautiful and deeply inspiring. His love for music and DJing really resonated with me – he was like the Velvet Underground of DJs. Everything he said in that interview still echoes in how I approach music today.
Interview by: Amanda Sandström Beijer
