Biography
1994–2012: Early life and career
Zak Arogundade Gaterud [2] was born in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1994or1995. [1] His mother is a Swedish makeup artist, while his father is a British graphic designer, writer, and architect of Nigerian heritage. [3] Arogundade was raised in Stockholm with his mother and in London with his father; [4] he lived briefly in London, being mostly raised in the Hornstull area of Stockholm. [3]
Arogundade had his first experiences with visual art at age 5. His dad gifted him a graphics software and taught him how to use it. [1] [3] At the time, Arogundade liked to create covers and logos for nonexistent music and bands. [3] His interest for graphic design later expanded to include illustration and photography. [3] In 2004, he became classmates with Benjamin Reichwald (Bladee) and founded the punk-oriented project Krossad ("crushed" in Swedish) the same year. [1] [3] They released a demo CD in 2007, which was subsequently ripped and uploaded online. [5] That same year, Ecco2K created his first fashion label, Alaska, a streetwear brand. Although he was only 16-years-old, he managed to do that by talking online with Chinese factory managers who didn't know of his age. [1] [3] This experience led him to join Swedish sneaker brand Eytys. [3]
2013–present: Drain Gang
In 2013, Arogundade founded the Drain Gang collective, then called Gravity Boys, with childhood friends Bladee, Thaiboy Digital and Whitearmor, [4] adopting the alias Ecco2K since then. [1] Originally part of Smög Boys, the four left and decided to create their own group. [6] The name "Ecco2K" was inspired by the titular character of the Ecco the Dolphin video game series. [7] Drain Gang signed with Year0001 [6] and started regularly collaborating with group Sad Boys and labelmate Yung Lean. [4] [1] [6] The same year, Arogundade became Lean's creative director. [1] Still in 2013, Arogundade started his music career by releasing singles "Bleach", "Hold Me Down Like Gravity", and "Mirage"; [2] "Hold Me Down Like Gravity" received a music video directed by Arogundade himself. [8] In 2015, he released an instrumental EP, Crush Resist. [5] He later appeared on Drain Gang compilation albums D&G (2017) and Trash Island (2019). [2] Arogundade also founded fashion brand g'LOSS, under which he designed Drain Gang merchandise. [1]
In 2017, Arogundade started playing his first solo live sets. [1] The next year, he walked the runway for Alyx Studio at Paris Fashion Week, and served as a panelist for the first "Challenge the Fabric" competition at London Fashion Week. [1] On 27 November 2019, Arogundade released his debut solo studio album, which was also a surprise album, E . To record it, Arogundade had to leave his day job as a designer and photo retoucher at Eytys. [1] [4] It was recorded in Stockholm, Berlin, Los Angeles, London, Falun, and Bangkok, [9] and preceded by singles "AAA Powerline" and "Fruit Bleed Juice", with the latter receiving a music video. [1] The next year, Arogundade toured Europe [10] and released more music videos for E songs: "Peroxide" on 29 January, [10] and "Security!" on 30 July. [11] That year, he also released singles "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" with Bladee on 24 February, [12] and "Pollen" on 17 September, where Arogundade sings in Swedish. [13]
On 31 March 2021, Arogundade released a surprise EP, PXE , fully accompanied by a video from artist and animator Freddy Carrasco. [14] Unlike E, PXE was produced entirely by Arogundade. [15] On 19 January 2022, he released the standalone single "Amygdala" with Bladee. [16] Two months later on the 17th, both released a collaborative studio album, Crest , [17] which was "recorded amongst nature". [18] The Fader staff considered it the 22nd best album of 2022, [19] while Pitchfork included it in their list of "Best Progressive Pop Music" of the year. [20] After the album's release, Arogundade toured worldwide with Drain Gang in their first world tour as a collective. [21]
On 19 April 2024, a collaborative single with Bladee and Thaiboy Digital, "TL;DR", was released. [22] Ecco2K played at the Sydney Opera House on 1 June. [23]
