Wye Oak Interview Part 2

Firstly, we have winners for our Wye Oak CD Release Giveaway! Julia Oat-Judge (Bmore) won the big score, nabbing tix to Thursday night's show at the G-Spot and a signed copy of If Children. Laura Steiner (Takoma Park) is the runner-up. She will be getting a signed CD care package in the mail real soon. Thanks to Jenn and Andy for the swag! And don't forget, CD release show tonight @ the G-Spot, 8PM doors! Now, onto the interview!

On a truly lovely Saturday morning, I trekked over to the Evergreen off Cold Spring Lane for some coffee, a stellar bagel-wich and continued to the second part of our interview (postponed due to the chaos preceding their SXSW trip) with Andy and Jenn of Wye Oak.

We chatted about their virgin SXSW experiences (and Jenn's other career considerations), the importance of family and Baltimore.

Read it all after the jump. You can also catch up on part 1 and listen to their Creative Alliance live set here.
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Aural States- First I wanted to go through the entire SXSW experience, start from the beginning but I definitely saw that Yaris video and we will be touching upon that later.

JW- It was fun and...I'm glad we did it. but as far as the expectations living up to the actual event, it was pretty much over from the beginning. It was a lot of work. We flew down, had all our stuff with us, we didn't have a car and our hotel was ~10 minutes from downtown center. We had to take a cabs everywhere and it was really hot outside, so we basically had a lot of walking around in the heat with our stuff.

AS- Merge didn't have like a party bus waiting for you?

JW- They had a van. They were helpful, but they also had 8 bands to deal with the same way...

ASt- Yeah they were just running around even more crazy than we were. It's a lot like being a little kid and going to Disneyworld and...

JW- Except you get there and Disneyworld SUCKS!

ASt- Yeah some dude throws up on your feet on a ride or something like that.

JW- Haha, no I mean there's a lot of cool stuff going on there. But there's also a lot of awful shit going on and you have to kinda dig through the awful shit to get to the good stuff. And even then you might not get to get into the cool stuff because the line is too long.

The street, 6th street and the adjacent streets for like 6 blocks are shut down entirely. So it's just throngs of people walking down the street in the middle of the day. The earliest we got there was 11 because we had a show. But 11AM, people walking around, they're drunk and shit, wearing booty shorts and bikini tops, lookin nasty and like they haven't slept in 3 days (because they probably haven't). Every 10 feet some dude comes up to you and says "Wanna hear my great band!!" and tries to give you a flyer and shove earphones on you.

They had women in bikinis and high hells walking down the street with signs for bands and their shows...

ASt- It was like Mardi Gras.

JW- It was insane. There was a certain point, in the middle of our showcase after we played, we were super hungry. So we went out to get some food and come back. We were out on 6th for 2 minutes before we thought "We have to get out of here, this is a living hell."

But at the same time, the good stuff was awesome.

AS- How did the showcase go off?

JW- It went great, was really really fun. Probably the biggest crowd we've ever played for. They seemed to like it.

AS- How were you received? Did you get a lot of feedback?

JW- Oh this is great. We ran into the alley behind the club and these two girls were comin in and they were like "Hey it's them! You guys were really good!" So I said "Thank you!" Then she said "During one of your songs, there was this big guy standing next to me and he was like bawling...so I asked what's wrong and he said I don't know it's just so beautiful!" So that was the coolest thing. We made a biker dude cry, apparently. So that's a life goal I can check off the list.

It was different from what I thought it would be just by how crowded and hot and dark it was. We didn't talk to a whole lot of people because honestly there was nowhere to go that was quiet. It was like being bounced around with strangers in a hot sweaty loud dark room for four hours.

ASt- Actually I think the most comfortable place to be I think is on the stage. Because you had a couple feet on either side of you to stretch your arms and breathe.

JW- Yeah, even backstage was hot, windowless and full of people.

ASt- It was fun overall though. The whole thing was very successful I think. We understand now when friends of ours who've been there say it's not all good stuff. When friends say they don't wanna go back for a second time.

JW- I'm sure we'll go again, we'll just have a better idea of what to expect. This time we thought "Oh great! A non-stop party, all kinds of music and happy people everywhere!" And it just wasn't.

ASt- Next time I go, I'll take a can of mace.

AS- What was the most positive thing to come out of it?

JW- The shows we played were great. A lot of people heard us who wouldn't normally have. We played everyday somewhere, but not all shows. Some appearances...like the Yaris thing which was...weird. I explained it to a roommate who was like "Why did you do that!?" We were out on the street and we were going to play a song for them (Stereogum) but it was so loud they couldn't hear us and it was hot and we were like "Why don't we get into the car?" It's quiet, and it's got air conditioning!

AS- It's pretty genius and fun concept. There's another site called the Black Cab Sessions that does a similar thing with artists in London.

ASt- There's actually one also in Paris, I don't remember what it's called (The Big Purple Van Club) that the Dirty Projectors did.

JW- Yeah it's just the two girls and a guitar, playing some tunes. They sound really awesome.

For me, the best thing other than the exposure, is that I have a better grasp on what I am willing and not willing to do with my music.

ASt- And your body.

JW- And my body. So I'm quitting music and becoming a prostitute. No, just kidding. Before I went it was a big question, as far as licensing and advertising. It's been going through my head a lot lately. We haven't gotten any offers yet, but when the album comes out we'll probably be getting offers to do commercials and stuff like that.

Obviously that will be handled on a case-by-case basis, but going to SXSW and seeing the obvious, corporate sheen over everything...

ASt- The whole event is sponsored by Coors Lite.

JW- Yeah, SXSW as presented by Coors. I don't have a moral problem with that. But the trick is that I feel more capable of saying no to things that make me uncomfortable. Before we were so new to this we would do whatever and go wherever you say. I realized that you can say no to these things, that it's up to you. You shouldn't feel bad about it.

I feel more confident about that control now. It (SXSW) was a real wake-up call for me in that regard.

AS- What about performances?

JW- SPOON!! It was AMAZING!

AS- You guys are out of town this weekend when they are playing huh?

JW- Don't remind me! I am heartbroken. Truly. Truly. Heartbroken. Walkmen are great, it's a great line-up. Let me just say, they were my favorite band when I was in 10th grade. I had a t-shirt, went to see them and I just fucking loved them. But you know how you just kind of move on after a while, and you don't listen to their music for a while...when we got signed to Merge I just thought "Oh sweet, Spoon" but I wasn't by any means rocking their album every day. So I kind of moved on.

We went to the show, it was a huge auditorium, festival stage on the river in Austin. Seeing that show...it was so fucking well done that it brought all of these old feelings rushing back. I guess they had won all these awards at the Austin awards night the night before, they cleaned up or something, so they were just so confident and just...kick-ass on stage.

It was really inspiring to see. It's the kind of stage show I can only aspire to be at this point, because we're the opposite of confident. It was just phenomenal, really great.

AS- Did you get to meet them at all?

JW- No it was just way too big. It was a Merriweather style venue.

AS- They weren't at the showcase or anything? Or like the "Merge mixer"?

JW- Haha the mixer, no I don't think so but it was so packed at the showcase I have no idea if they were or not. My new goal is to open for Spoon. I'm pushing that to the top of the goal list.

ASt- Yeah, I was pretty entranced. We also saw Deertick and he was great. He has a really commanding moustache, which was surprising and very entertaining. Destroyer, also really good.

JW- They played our guitar!

ASt-We also saw She & Him, the M Ward/Zooey Deschanel thing. They were actually very good. I wasn't sure what to expect. There are some pretty poorly done actress-turned-musicians...

JW- But she's very talented and her songs are beautiful.

AS- Worst band? Want to call anybody out?

ASt- There were a lot of bands that we heard out on the street...

JW- Generic cock-rock bands...

AS- Local Austin detritus...

JW- Exactly. You hear them when the doors open.

ASt- It's so warm out there that there are a lot of patio venues. When you walk down 6th, it's like a barrage of noise and you hear a lot of terrible music, pop-punk, heavy modern rock.

JW- Cock-rock Staind "alternative" soundalikes. It's coming from all directions.

ASt- We had some really great BBQ! We went to Stubb's though, which I think is pretty famous local establishment. Also, it's a very different climate down there. All the bars had patios...that was some of the best times, just hanging out with people from the label, some of the other bands, just getting out of the Baltimore winter. Being able to escape the crazy street-scenes and the noise and just relax.

JW- I'm looking forward to going next year with car, so we'll have a little bit more control over our own destinies. And we'll have a better idea of what to expect.

AS- Good deal. OK, the other big topic I wanted to broach was Baltimore, your feelings on it, how it has affected you. Let's go deep. Philosophize on the whole scene and situation here. This is especially apropos today since Wham City is opening its new space today.

JW- Yeah!

ASt- Really?

JW- I know for a fact, my friend Rose is a Wham City...er, and she told me last night after work. This might be top secret, I dunno. You might think this is funny. But at the new Wham City they have this small closet-sized room padded with foam. And in it, is a cactus in a pot. And it's going to be the cummed-on cactus.

ASt- The cummed-on cactus?

AS- Wow.

JW- Yeah. And all the bands that come through will get to cum on the cactus. Rose Chase is going to be the first to cum on the cactus, today. Probably doing it as we speak. In case you wanted to know, I just heard this last night.

It's disgusting but it's hilarious. SO. They have that.

I love all the people I know associated with that scene.

AS- How do you feel about Wham City being what many people see as the face of Baltimore music and art? It has definitely taken the lead and spotlight in press coverage until recently.

ASt- I think it's fair. Even if you're not in it, that scene...

JW- Which we definitely are not.

ASt- It's a pretty ubiquitous presence.

JW- I mean, I know a lot of people who are, but I'm definitely not in any way affiliated with it. But a lot of bands that are making it in Baltimore are not. Beach House, Arboretum...there are a lot of bands around that have nothing to do with it. But I think it's well-deserved.

And I think the thing to remember is that they're known not just for the music aspect but an overall art aesthetic.

I don't think of anyone in Baltimore as competition. They're just doing a different thing and I don't think they're infringing on anyone's territory. I think it's great. It's not really our style, but I have a lot of respect for them. I love to see anyone in Baltimore getting attention.

There are a lot of different kinds of sounds and different sounding bands, and there's room for all that stuff. I don't feel like, I've never talked to anyone who has any sort of problem with there being the variety of music there is here. But it's also good to remember it's an art world thing too, not just a collection of bands.

AS- I think they're a good collective to spotlight and represent Baltimore mainly because of their ethos and approach. I think it's emblematic of the city. If not, they're music or art necessarily.

JW- That's totally true. I don't think that people who read about Wham City think that's the only thing going on in Baltimore, but it shows that there is a huge variety of stuff going on here. And a lot of it's weird. They're just kind of at the head of that which is great.

AS- So you said you think there's plenty of room for the many different sounds of Baltimore. Do you think there's an issue with show density at all here? It's been commented to me before that if there are one or two big-draw shows, everything else gets swept under the rug.

ASt- I don't think that's exclusive to this city though. We played in NYC at the Cake Shop a month ago against some big show at the Mercury Lounge...

JW- It was Evangelicals!

ASt- Yeah, Evangelicals and Headlights. There were like 20 people at our show. It was obvious that we were playing against heavy competition. I think it's just a general thing. People will see the bands in-demand.

The one thing is that when we started playing around Baltimore, maybe 2 years ago, there was a serious lack of venues. But lately it has really flowered in that way. Lo-Fi, the Metro Gallery, Joe Squared...all these sort of DIY places have opened up. I couldn't possibly complain about it because it's so much of an improvement over where it started a few years ago. And the Talking Head is back...it's great.

JW- And I think it's a great place to be a band because even if there are fewer people and a lot of competition, people actually care about going out to shows and supporting bands. So you can carve out your little niche.

AS- I've seen some disputes over DC being better than Baltimore for show-going and overall attendance being stronger in DC. But what do you really call filling or supporting a show? A capacity-packed venue with half the crowd talking throughout the set? At the Beach House show this past Friday, Victoria called those set-talkers out. "This is for the music listeners; those of you who used this as a bad excuse for a date, you can go upstairs now."

JW- That's awesome, did Victoria say that?

AS- Yeah, definitely.

ASt- Victoria's bad-ass. People here actually care about the music here.

JW- Some of the best shows I've ever played have been to small crowds. Some of the worst have been to huge crowds. I'd rather have 20 people who really give a shit than a roomful of people who could care less. But rather have a roomful of people who give a shit. So there.

AS- How do you feel the city and the environment here has influenced you as an artist? Has it impacted how you develop?

JW- I don't think I would be...I would probably still be an English major in college, if I didn't live in Baltimore. I don't think I'd be playing in bands at all.

When I went away to school and I hated it so much, part of it wasn't that it was all that terrible it was just that Baltimore was so much better. I'm pretty indebted to the whole atmosphere, the people, everything. I don't think I'd be the person I am without it. But who can really know, you know?

ASt- I think of it on more of a micro level. Obviously there's really great music around. The city has been getting all this attention. The development of our band and sound coming from the people we spend more time with. It's not like we grew up cutting our teeth playing music with Dan Deacon or Alex and Victoria (Beach House). We love their music, but we have a close-knit group of friends, and some are musicians. Some play completely different styles than we do and it's great.

JW- They definitely introduce us to new music.

ASt- Right. Baltimore is home and it's great, but ultimately it's the smaller niche you create that influences you the most.

AS- Have you thought about relocation at all with the Merge deal?

JW- I don't think anytime soon. I don't think either of us wants to just call it quits. Changing up our lifestyles. It all depends on how much we end up traveling. If things go as they have been, we'll probably be traveling a lot. Which is great. If we weren't getting those opportunities, it probably would be a different story. But since we are, I don't feel the urge to go anywhere else.

Even if we did, I think I'd have a really hard time leaving here.

AS- Listening to your music and some of the comments and shout-outs at your Creative Alliance show, family is definitely a huge influence on you. And family is here. Could you talk a little about that connection to you and what it means for your music?

JW- I feel stodgy and traditional when I say this, but most people kind of move away from their families. And I really don't think I could do that. I don't know why. It's such a touchstone for me, I can't imagine not having it with me, within driving distance.

Not to say I hang out with them everyday. I see them every few weeks, but just knowing they're close by is really important to me. Mostly because my family is ummm... a little bit non-traditional. And plagued by various issues. So sometimes I need to be around to help out. I can't just disappear and move faraway.

When I did, when I moved to New York, I was plagued by guilt about it the whole time. Not that they're the only reason why I'm here, but it's obviously part of the reason why this is home for me.

On the other side of the spectrum, Andy's family is hugely supportive. We practice in their basement, they help us out with money. A lot. They helped us buy our van, all of our gear...very supportive. I can't imagine being apart from them either. The fact that your family and my family live within a 20 mile radius, is kind of important to how we function on a daily basis.

AS- Could you say a little about some of the family-based themes in your music, obviously like "Family Glue"?

JW- It's funny, I wrote "Family Glue" while I was up at Skidmore in New York, and I was walking through the kindergarten/pre-first department, I guess the education department? Where they bring in children to play with the people learning to be teachers...

Hah, learning to be teachers. That's kind of funny.

So they had all these pictures on the wall of all the kids with the theme "I am..." and they drew a little picture and wrote the words. One of them was "I am family glue" while the rest of them were like "I am a kid" or "I like soccer," but that one was deep as shit. It stuck in my head and I wrote the whole song in class right after that, no guitar, just kind of bouncing around in my head. That was the only time that ever happened to me before.

I'm hesitant to go too deep into the actual, technical issues of everything that involve my family...but I will say that I get a lot of comments about my age. Most who I only tangentially know think I'm older than I am (I'll be 22 in a week!), but I think that has a lot to do with the fact that when you are put into these situations at a very young age, you grow up very fast.

And I wouldn't trade it for a second. It's made me the person I am and allowed me to write these songs and I'd say pretty much everything I write ties into that in some way. I came of age very young and became self-sufficient at an early age. This might seem braggy and it's not meant to be, it's just how things went down. But I owe a whole lot to those experiences and the kind of songs I write.

Sorry, I've been taking up most of the time yapping. Did you want to say anything about your fams Andy?

ASt- Umm, thanks mom and dad! I did not come of age early. I grew up the traditional suburban existence.

JW- Oh man, I'm not trying to seem like I'm the little orphan girl or something. It’s just that, for someone who thinks about these things and is getting asked about what goes into these things, you start getting all philosophical. I’m not trying to make it sound like there’s all this drama…but there is a LOT of drama, to this day. It’s a part of the game, part of that rap game.

AS- Good deal. How’s the new material coming along?

ASt- Oh we’re recording!

JW- Yes we did! We started and are very stoked. We actually went up to a friend of ours place, he goes to NYU. We’re not going to be able to use his studio anymore. He’s about to graduate and he’s in their recording program, so for his capstone project we were able to go into the studio to record some songs.

We got basic tracks for 6 songs. They’re not complete, but a lot of it is maybe a little more than half complete. The most important part about the basic tracks is getting good sounds from the drums and the guitars. And I’m really pleased with that so far.

AS- Any titles or themes developing yet?

JW- Oh man, titles are the last thing to come for me. I have a really hard time with it. So when we’re in the studio, we just title them with goofy names I come up with.

AS- I actually wanted to try and get a title for one of my favorite songs, an untitled one you played in your Creative Alliance set…I’m trying to think of how to describe it.

JW- Is it the kind of Neil Young feeling one with the kinda loud guitar break? So far, it doesn’t have a name…but in the studio, we’re calling it “Magic Johnson” but that is NOT the title of the song. If you want to call it that for the time being, so be it. But I’m gonna have to come up with a real one soon huh?

AS- Lastly, what about If Children, how did you decide on that title for your album?

JW- Um, do you remember?

ASt- It’s a lyric…

JW- Yeah, it’s taken from “If Children Were Wishes,” because we refer to that song in shorthand as “If Children.” But we kind of started just tossing around that phrase and it’s cool because it’s kind of got that question, like “if children?” But it also can be used like a noun, like the “If” children…so it has that kind of duality to it.

ASt- A desccriptor!

JW- You know what I mean! It had that double use. The list of songs on the album are big into uncertainty, youth and figuring shit out, so it seemed to fit well.

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Get 'Em Mamis Interview

I recently caught up with Symphony and Roxzi of the Baltimore hip-hop group the Get 'Em Mamis. GEM will have video premier party April 5th at the 5 Seasons for their single "When You See Us" from the Beyond Hamsterdam album.

Their new single "Cold Summer" will be released June 24 as a part of the new Hamsterdam album by Darkroom Productions and Koch Records.
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Aural States- Where are you from in Baltimore?

Roxzi- I’m pretty much from all of Baltimore. You know those people that have certain areas of the city that they primary represent, or come from? I’m just from everywhere. We moved every two years.

Symphony- I’m from Westport. I don’t live up there right now, but that’s where I grew up.

AS- Roxzi, what were some places that you lived in Baltimore?

Roxzi- Well I lived in Park Heights, Yale Heights, Forest Park, Woodlawn, Randallstown, Reisterstown…I’ve lived in West Port, Cherry Hill, Lafayette Terrace, East Baltimore around Moravia. I’m telling you I could go on for days, but that pretty much most of them.

AS- What were the reasons for moving so often?

Roxzi- My mom, I don’t know what it was, but she just liked to change areas. We never really had a specific place that we grew up in, because we would move every year or two. Then the older that I got I would just go live with an aunt, not for any other reason than me just wanting to get away.

My mom, she just moved all the time. I don’t know what it was. I guess she was just trying to keep us safe from being…I don’t know. I think she was just trying to protect us so we didn’t get caught up in certain things.

I can’t believe it myself. Like, when I think about it I can’t believe I lived all those places. But I did.

AS- How did the Get ‘Em Mamis form? I know it came out of your previous group the Plague, but how did that come about?

Roxzi- Pretty much it was a group decision over, how can I say this…

Symphony- …Creative differences, as far as The Plague was concerned. Roxzi and I were more of the same mindset, you know, had the same ideas as far as the future that we saw for the group and what we wanted to happen. So we just kind of separated.

Roxzi- Both sides, Symph and I, and L, the other girl in the group, thought it was mutually beneficial to part ways. But we are still friends, we still talk to her, and we just shot a video with her. We are still friends; it’s just that we thought that this would be best route for us to go.

AS- How did The Plague initially form?

Roxzi- It was kind of crazy. It started out with us all as best friends. It wasn’t like Making the Band. Nobody had to make us. It was just one of those things that kind of happened.

Symph and I were best friends, and I was friends with L. So we all use to hang out and party all the time, and it just kind of came up that we all did music. Like I rapped and Symph rapped, but we didn’t know L rapped. We heard her rap for the first time and we were like “Oh lets bring her in.” So that’s pretty much how it started. We started out as friends who realized we all do music. At first it wasn’t a group, but more of a crew.

Symphony- We wanted to do the opposite of what you see now with a crew of guys with the one token female. So we were a crew of girls with the one token make, which was Rev.

Roxzi- Which is my brother, Rev.

Symphony- And again creative differences, you know. He separated from the crew and we became a…

Roxzi- When he left that’s when the crew turned into a group. Rev left and it was us three and he became a group. But we decided we were never going to have no other guy than him in the crew. So he was always going to be there. But he recently passed away. He was murder last year. Rest in Peace to Rev. Actually, it wasn’t last year, it was ’06. So we won’t be replacing him, he can’t be replaced. He’s irreplaceable like Beyonce.

AS- How did you first start working with Darkroom Productions?

Symphony- They actually reached out to us when they initially started the Hamsterdam project. They just showed us so much love. We kind of dug our feet on the situation and ended up not recording to a Darkroom beat. They just took the song that we had and still put it on the CD, which kind of destroyed their concept. But they still showed us that much love and appreciation…

Roxzi- Not necessarily destroyed the concept, but it was crazy that they decided to still use our song. That’s how much love I think Darkroom had for us. It was like “Ok, you guys aren’t on one of our tracks, but we like you and are going to still put you on the CD.”

AS- What song was this?

Roxzi- It was “Rep Your Set”. It was crazy, because it was this crazy Superman beat. It was a sample of the Superman music. So if you can imagine that with some type of crazy, sick hip-hop bass, or something like that. That was pretty much what that song was. It was really big at the time. We were booked for mostly any show out at that time period, and that was one of our hottest songs at that time.

AS- When you are working on a new song does the beat come first, or the lyrics first, or does it change every time?

Symphony- It changes.

Roxzi- Me, I really like to listen to the beat, because I kind of study the beat. I don’t want to sound crazy or nothing, but when I listen to a beat, I hear words. Say if I’m listening to the hook, that’s usually how I create the hooks for a lot of songs that we do.

So I listen to a song 25, 30, 40, how ever many times it takes until I hear exactly what the beat is giving me. That’s pretty much how I write, but it can go both ways. Sometimes we may be writing with a beat. Sometimes we may just be riding in a car and write, or just outside free styling, and it will become a song.

Symphony- There is no standard. There is no formula.

Roxzi- The formula would be no formula. That’s the best way to put it.

AS- Was it harder to gain credibility as an all female group?

Symphony- Yes. Yes, because female are generally looked at as the understudies in the hip-hop community. The guys pretty much dominated. The time that we came out there weren’t many other female groups.

Roxzi- Actually when we came out there was nobody out in Baltimore, groups or solo acts.

Symphony- Right, there weren’t any other females out. So I think that helped because people were more open to hear us, because we were filling a void. But we still had to prove ourselves because we were young and we were females.

AS- When you wrote songs were you conscience of the need to prove yourselves?

Roxzi- No, not really when writing. It was crazy; it kind of helped us. I think it made us better that people just kind of looked down on us, because it just made us stronger.

We’d go to shows and we’d come and we’d look like we were singers. Like I don’t look like I rap. Nowhere I go would people say that I look like I rap. Like we’d come in dressed up in heels, well not Symphony. She’s the rock star, and she wouldn’t wear heels. People would be like “Oh you’re going to sing?”

It would be an all hip-hop show and they would ask us if we were going to sing. I’d be like “Yea we are going to sing.” We’d tell everyone we sang, and then when we got onstage the look on people’s faces was priceless. We had this energy on stage that was crazy. People would just have this look like “Oh my god, they aren’t singers.” We still tell people we sing sometimes, even though we can’t sing at all.

Symphony- I tell them I tap dance.

AS- When did you both first start rapping?

Roxzi- I first started rapping, when I really started to pursue it, when I was about 11.

Symphony- And I knew I wanted to do it since I was 7. 7-11.

Roxzi- Oh I never thought about that. That is so cool. That is interesting.

AS- So was The Plague the first group you were in, or had you been in other groups?

Symphony- We were doing our thing individually before we were actually in a group.

Roxzi- There was a lot before, but not necessarily a group.

Symphony- Well actually you were in a group.

Roxzi- It wasn’t a group, it was just a label.

Symphony- No, your group.

Roxzi- I had a group?

Symphony- Yea. R. D. M.

Roxzi- Oh yea! I don’t want to talk about that group. It was a little middle school groups, like “Oh I wanna rap.” The other two people, well no, one other person in the group could rap. The group was Rev, myself, and another girl that couldn’t rap at all. No one has ever heard this before and I cannot believe Symphony put me on the spot like this. And I’m not going to tell you what it stands for because it’s so embarrassing. It’s kind of the initials for something, but you don’t have to mention this if you don’t want to.

AS- How would you describe your sound?

Symphony- We’re like hip-rock.

Roxzi- We’re like everything. If you mix ever genre of music together, that’s us.

Symphony- I mean we’re complimented by the Darkroom beats. They use a wide range of instruments. Like things you would never even think about putting into a beat. From there we just go whatever way the beat goes. Sometimes we need them to create something for us. Like say I got this crazy idea for a song, and I need some flutes and bells, and they’ll use it.

AS- How is it working with Darkroom?

Roxzi- It’s really nice working with somebody that you actually like. The relationship that we have built with Darkroom...it kind of built the foundation for greatness, you know what I mean? Because we’ve been working for so long, and been through so much together…I mean they have really helped us. It’s been excellent with Darkroom.

Symphony- They give us complete creative control. They basically are with whatever we want to do.

Roxzi- They trust our creativity and we really appreciate that, because that is hard to find. A lot of times when working with other people they want things done their way. Not to say we can’t follow directions, but it’s good to work with people that allow you to express your creative ability. Then you get the artist, not something that somebody else is telling them they should be.

Symphony- Like a package, something created in a lab.

AS- It seems that Baltimore hip-hop is at a crucial point as far as getting national exposure. What needs to happen to ensure the Baltimore scene blows up for real, and not succumb to hype?

Roxzi- We all need to stick together. Like no matter who is doing the best, or who is not doing so good. We just need to stick together and help each other. If we just do that then we are bound for success, bound for greatness. You can’t stop something like this.

Symphony- You can’t stop a movement.

Roxzi- Especially when it’s this strong. So if we all stick together, no matter who makes it first…I hate to use the term “make it.” But whoever does make it first; we should all support that person. What I think is that the Beyond Hamsterdam project that was just released is the best way for Baltimore to come out. It made everyone come together and stick together. It wasn’t one person’s CD that got distributed nationally; it was the whole city put together. We didn’t have a choice but to stick together, because we are all on the same CD. That was genius to put everyone on one CD.

Symphony- And you know it’s a credible source. It not like it was just put together by just anybody. You have a good name on it, you know HBO. They’re out there pushing it. It’s not like it’s sold out of a trunk of a car. You can actually go in the stores and pick it up, and it’s worldwide.

AS- You’ve talked about trying to grow Baltimore hip-hop nationally, but in what way has the city influenced your music?

Roxzi- Baltimore, of course, has a huge influence on our music. You can’t rap about something you don’t know about, and this is pretty much what we know. We’ve lived here our whole lives.

Symphony- Probably about 55% is influenced by Baltimore, and the rest is influenced by where we want to be. Of course we’re not going to keep rapping about Baltimore this, Baltimore that. We want to branch out on to other things. Dare to dream, you know?

AS- Being so closely connected to The Wire, what happens when the show ends? Were does Baltimore’s reputation go from there?

Symphony- It’s up to the music. That’s why the CD is there. It gets you listening, and then you look forward to hearing more from this artist. And because you can’t get more of the show…we’re basically all that is left of The Wire.

Roxzi- We’ve already moved on. This isn’t it for us. Darkroom is releasing an album called Hamsterdam. It’s going to be nationally distributed. It’s Darkroom and Koch Records actually. We are already moving to the next step. This is just the beginning...trust me.

AS- And what is the new material for that album?

Roxzi- “Cold Summer” will be one of the singles released from the album. “Cold Summer” is…I don’t know if I can give it away.

Symphony- It’s a real feel-good song. It’s icy, we’ll leave it at that.

Roxzi- It’s looking cold for the Summer. That is our next project that we are working on. We are shooting a video for that.

AS- And that is separate from the video being released on April 5th?

Roxzi- Right, this is for new material. That video is for “When You See Us” which is on the Beyond Hamsterdam album.

Symphony- Again another example of taking it to the next level, putting visuals with the sounds so the people interested in The Wire, interested in the music, have something more to look forward to.

AS- Who directed that video?

Roxzi- We did. We pretty much came up with the concept for the whole video; we pretty much directed the whole video ourselves. We financed the video ourselves. When we tell you we pretty much did the whole vides-from directing, to financing, to creative…dancers. We found our own dancers. We were the designers, the make-up artist. We weren’t the cameramen. 1 Vision Entertainment, they shot the video and edited it.

AS- What were some of your influences?

Symphony- Beethoven. He’s awesome.

Roxzi- She likes classical music.

Symphony- It’s like orchestrated confusion. All those instruments put together to create this wonderful sound. And he was deaf when he wrote the greatest symphony that you will hear in your life.

Roxzi- We listen to classical music all the time. It’s weird. We’ll be riding in the car and just turn in on. It’s that channel right before 92Q, you know what I’m talking about?

AS- 91.5 WBJC.

Roxzi- Yea, we just listen to that for no reason.

I’d say my biggest influence is my best friend. Symphony has really helped me out. I think she is one of the best female rappers ever, and you can quote me on that. She has definitely helped me with just growth period. You just learn from the best. That’s all I can say.

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Caverns Interview (w/ Kevin Hilliard)

Guitarist Kevin Hilliard, one-third of DC's hard-rocking instrumentalists Caverns took some time out to chat about their music and other miscellaneous topics like the role of vocals in metal. And check out our previous coverage of Caverns here.

Below are a smattering of streamed tracks for you to enjoy while reading the interview after the jump. Don't forget to catch them when they lay down the gauntlet with fellow DC-kids Imperial China, next to Baltimore's own Moscow Telephone and UK crunchy-pop-punk from Buck Brothers on March 21st at Lo-Fi.

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Aural States: So give me a little background, where you guys are from, how you guys formed.

Kevin Hilliard: We all grew up in Montgomery County, we’re all from the Bethesda/Rockville area. We went to high school together. I played in the jazz band together with Pat who’s the piano player in high school. When we got back from college I wanted to play with him in something different. He was more on the classical/jazz side whereas I grew up listening to and playing rock and roll. I wanted to see how the two things sounded together.

We started jamming in 2004, but we didn’t really do anything serious until the drummer Ross moved back to DC. After he graduated college, he lived a couple other places before he came back. He was looking to play with some people so we just came together, a little over 2 years ago.

AS- Just out of curiousity, as a fellow Maryland native, where’d you guys goto high school?

KH- Georgetown Prep.

AS- You said initially you were interested in just seeing how the sounds meshed together. How did things go, how did things sound at first?

KH- Well it started…Pat had a lot of experience working and doing producing work for hip-hop groups. He was also doing remixes. He had a lot of experience with music editing programs like Pro Tools. I always envisioned this band as having crazy guitar offset with more straight-forward and melodic piano, but also, I was at one time a little more interested in doing something along the lines of Mogwai (Wiki). You know how Mogwai will incorporate a lot of electronic elements into their sound like backing loops and sort of play along with it. The initial concept was more like that.

But we decided computers were more problematic than it was worth. We had the worst luck with every computer configuration. And with only the two of us, it just didn’t work. Some bands can do it and it’s awesome, but for us it was such a headache. It just so happened Ross was moving back to town around that time.

When he joined the band, I think that amped us up a little bit more, took us to another level of intensity. When he plays drums, he can be sort of aggressive and loud. We just kind of became what we were. We just started messing around. I would bring in ideas for songs, Pat and me would sort of develop them and they became just a lot heavier than I thought it was going to be. But we were all into it because we thought it wasn’t like anything we’d heard before.

None of us could sing, but we didn’t necessarily set out to be an instrumental band. None of us really wanted to sing. And really, I felt like the piano started acting like a vocalist in a way. So we just decided to develop it that way. Because a lot of the music we listened to and still listen to now, is more instrumental driven where the vocals are either buried, lower in the mix or kind of atmospheric rather than on the top.

I think that was just something we were more interested in exploring. We had all done stuff before that was more traditional. The crux was almost always finding a good vocalist or dealing with that aspect. And we just figured, none of us is a vocalist so let’s just be what we are.

AS- So you never dabbled with vocalists at all?

KH- Nah, after we’d developed enough songs to play a set live, we were comfortable and confident enough in them working as instrumentals. We got really psyched about presenting it as this full musical, almost like classical, vibe. Especially since the piano, the way Pat plays it in the context of our songs, has a very classical sound to it. I was really excited about it being this weird, sort of hyper-aggressive classical music. I don’t know if that’s what it really ended up being but…the idea was attractive.

AS- The piano definitely lends your music a symphonic or classical feel like you said. The closest sound I can even think of is symphonic metal without the ridiculous vocals of a hoarse screamer or some wailing 80s-hair metal vocalist.

KH- Yeah, like I read your review and I really respect like Dream Theater (Wiki), for example. I think John Petrucci (Wiki) is one of the greatest guitarists who’s ever picked it up. But there’s a certain element that always has alienated me from it. There’s this sort of drama club element to it. It’s a sort of overwrought-ness to it that, no matter how technical we get in this music, I always want it to be completely immediate. Not have a theatrical thing going on.

It has that classical element but it’s very much in your face like Converge (Wiki) and Dillinger Escape Plan (Wiki). And I agree, so many times, the worst part about a heavy band whether it’s total cooke-monster shit or super-theatrical like the band Nevermore (Wiki)…insanely good musicians but the second the guy opens his mouth you just laugh. It sounds so dated and preposterous.

AS- The other thing that you seem to excel at is keeping things in balance. Not letting any one member just go off and destroy the flow of a song. So many bands like that can just go off on tangents that wreck a song.

KH- Definitely, like I said, we want everything to be immediate. Bands I’ve seen like Mars Volta (Wiki), go into these long…impressive…but really long-winded instrumental, show-offy things…We’re not about that at all. We just want to get it done and present it. So many bands, instrumental bands, make this mistake…or maybe it’s not a mistake and we’re making a mistake I dunno…but do something in 5 minutes that they could have done in 30 seconds. It’s this weird sense that everything has to be developed to death, almost as an apology for the fact that there are no vocals. We never let ourselves feel that way.

AS- Is there anybody in charge of arranging your songs on the whole, keeping the balance and things like that? Or does everybody write and control their own stuff?

KH- As far as writing the overall structure, the framework of the song, I probably take the lead. But the good thing about working with Pat is that, even though we’ve known each other for a long time, we have almost no common musical interests or tastes. I could list 30 bands that people think Caverns sounds like and he might be able to name 2 of them. He has no history in this scene, he comes from a classical, jazz, R&B, hip-hop vibe. I feel like I present what I have to him and he gives me his thoughts and that does help shape the songs and we make some changes. Once that’s done, Ross will come in and apply a rhythm and make some changes. Especially with Pat’s left hand, which acts kind of like our bassist. But usually I come in with the basic structure, ideas and the general way the songs will go. Pat finishes it in a sense and Ross puts a rhythmic cherry on top I guess.

AS- Are most of your songs born as jams or do you bring concepts in more often than not?

KH- It depends on what we’re doing. The more aggressive, fast and heavy a song is, the more likely it was something I brought to the table. The more loose, mid-tempo and atmospheric songs, we play a longer slow jam in the middle of our sets, that is an example of a song we sat down and took more time together on, shaping as a band rather than me sitting down alone and workshopping prior to introducing it to the band. But they aren’t Caverns songs until the other two guys have had their say.

AS- Since you mentioned 30 or so bands people think Caverns sounds like, name some.

KH- Haha, well the sort of one-sentence, elevator pitch for what our band sounds like…I’d say it’s like Mogwai and Dillinger Escape Plan had a lovechild. We combine some of the harmonic vocabulary that Dillinger or Converge does, some diminished, some whole scale stuff, some super discordant half-step or seventh harmonies. But also looking from an instrumental perspective, using the piano and the way we develop some of our ideas is more inspired by a band like Mogwai or Dan Caballero.

Or even bands like Battles or Holy Fuck.

When I was really young, the first bands that really blew my mind were like Fugazi or Rage Against the Machine. Bands that in the early 90s were really revolutionary to me. Some of the first bass lines I learned were to Fugazi or RATM songs. That’s sort of where I got that punk flavor or element from.

Ornette Coleman you know, and the whole free jazz thing. That really changed my definition of music. It’s one of those things that walks the line between genius and crap the whole time. That’s the thing. Playing music like we play, that’s kinda wild and out there, the lesson that taught me is that you have to make up, in a way for it being some out of the ordinary by being a really good player. Really knowing what you’re doing even if it doesn’t sound like it. One person might go “oh it’s just noise” but another might dig deeper and go “oh this guy knows what he’s doing.”

AS- How do you approach live shows? It sounds that you are all very into and proud of being individual instrumentalists. Does it become just an open jam session or are things more organized?

KH- I don’t think so, each song sort of just exists. The only person who really improvs is probably Pat. The way the piano operates in our songs is that it is kind of above the other things, even though there is balance. But especially the melodic stuff, he has more room to improv.

But since I’m playing a weird dual-role of lead guitarist and also a weird mix between bassist and rhythm guitarist, I have to wear a lot of hats so I don’t have a lot of time or places to deviate too much. Which is why I try to really write runs that interest me. I think that’s part of this attitude that this is our moment, our half-hour or 45 minutes or whatever, to just go out there and kill it. Put every ounce of energy and passion into this.

I just want to go out there and have people remember us.

AS- With that in mind, what are your priorities right now?

KH- We just went through a first-run pressing of our first EP Sing Along that we recorded a little over a year ago with J Robbins in Baltimore. It was like a mission statement. A lot of songs on it were a little older, things we wanted to get out. We had a lot of ideas and those were the songs we had started playing. We're kind of at the end since we sold our last CD of that pressing at the Black Cat show.

Basically, our record Silk Scorpion that we are going to record starting in May is already written. So we're kind of in pre-production for that now. We're on Lujo Records, based out of Louisiana. This is probably, not right now, like a full-time thing for us. But basically every second we're not working we're putting into this band so I feel like our commitment is pretty high. We're trying to do a tour at the end of the year. Our record is probably gonna come out in January.

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Interview w/ Lafayette Gilchrist: Piano man speaks his mind

I recently talked to Baltimore jazz pianist Lafayette Gilchrist over a cup of coffee at a small lunch place on Cathedral Street.

If asked to pick the jazz musician out of a lineup, you'd pick Lafayette. He puts out a vibe of intense creativity on a level that is rare even among artists and musicians, and might not necessarily come across in the transcript.

Going along with that, he also has strong opinions on a broad range of issues, not just jazz music, so the interview is formatted a little bit looser, the questions a little more general on purpose. With that said, even the most mundane opinion can sound like sage wisdom when voiced by a veteran jazz performer of some repute.

Be sure to check out pianist/ academically trained economist and historian/ boxer/ thinker of thoughts Lafayette Gilchrist and his band The New Volcanoes at Joe Squared on March 22.
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Aural States- I recently saw a poster for one of your performances and I thought, “Man, this guy’s name keeps turning up everywhere I look. He’s taking over Baltimore.”

Lafayette Gilchrist- Oh man. I hope that’s not the case, because there are a lot of wonderful and talented musicians here…I mean I hope there is room for all of us. Don’t have to be one cat, just one cat.

AS- You’ve kind of become the piano man of Baltimore, but I was just wondering if you have met Baltimore’s other preeminent pianist, have you met Leon Fleischer?

LG- Yes. I spent an afternoon with Leon Fleischer. John Lewis, who writes for Baltimore Magazine—he does the music articles, the music critic rather for the magazine. He did an article a couple years ago with me and Leon Fleischer actually sitting down and having a conversation. Yea, we did that. He’s a nice man, a very nice man. He lives over there off of…he lives in those nice houses. If I bought a house, I’d buy one in an area like that.

AS- Give a short introduction to what motivates you to make music.

LG- Oh, man. Well what motivates me…I don’t think about it so much these days, but I guess if I had to, I’d still say it’s the sense of adventure, and journey into the unknown that still keeps me motivated. Knowing that each time you play something, you know it’s different from any other time that you played it before, or play it after. Sometimes just that knowledge is stimulation enough. You know, sometimes I can’t wait to wake up, just to play and see what I sound like on that particular day. And I’ve never been disappointed, as everyday it’s a little bit different. I may play the same piece for three weeks in a row, or something, and each time it is a little different. So, I guess to sum it up, music is endless discovery.

You know when you’re on that journey some things are very beautiful, and some things are very painful, and some things fall in between all of that. Ecstasy, agony, you know. Everything between those two extremes is a trip within itself. So music is like life, it’s endless. It transcends human life. It connects you to something else, something else that comes from before the beginning. I don’t know. That’s what it feels like to me anyway.

With art it’s really more about how it feels, than how it is, you know. How it feels has to do with how it’s perceived, how it’s perceived has to do with what angle it is approached from. So if you look at it like that, and you experience it like that, then music is this endless thing that keeps drawing you to it, at least that’s what it is for me.

Like a moth to a flame, that’s how music always drew me, and it still does. I can’t resist it. It calls me. It's like even when you’re exhausted, and you’re just ready to go down. You just had a long night, a long gig, you get in at three or four o’clock in the morning. You just hauled your keyboard up three flights of stairs, but you can’t wait to get that keyboard set backup again. Mine is set up in my bedroom, right next to my bed. I can’t wait to put that thing back together, because no matter how exhausted I am after a gig, I always hear something new, especially if I am playing with the New Volcanoes.

With the Volcanoes I always hear something I hadn’t heard before. Probably something Nate does with the drums, or maybe a figure that Blue might play with the bass, or maybe a snippet of Gabriel Ware’s saxophone solo. I just start playing with it, those little ideas. Those kernels if you will, swimming around. You start chasing them. You get in the water and swim around with them, and before you know it the Sun is up and it’s another day.

That used to be constant. Now that’s not so constant, but it still visits me quit often. Those particular moods still visit me.

AS- Why is it not as constant?

LG- Well I’m starting to travel more, and I’m working more, more material to keep track of…The mundane details of life are starting to crowd in, you know. You can’t practice because you have to be here to do this, or you’ve got to take this person there. You know, just the things of life. It’s more of a fight to keep that at bay, at least long enough were I can create. I guess it’s just a natural process of being a grownup.

But you know artistic people are never trying to be grownups. That’s like the last thing we want to be. We feel defeated when we have to behave like grownups. It’s like “Aw man, I got into this business so I wouldn’t have to do grownup shit. Have someone else do grownup shit for me.” Naw, I’m just kidding.

But still we never really want to be adults totally, because that stuff weighs you down. And when stuff weighs you down, that affects your imagination, you know. That’s just part of being in the world.

Sometimes I think that human lives are like batteries. When you get to a certain point, which is not necessarily a function of age, it’s just a function of living—you know, the pace of it. When you get to a certain point you realize that your batteries may need to be recharged, replaced, or may just run out. Depends on what kind of deal you can work out.

AS- You never played the piano until age 17. What happened in that moment, at age 17, when you first laid fingers on the keys?

LG- It was around ’85 or ’86. It was my freshman year, and I had to take some, what do you call them, buffer classes, or what have you…I had to take some classes over the summer before the fall semester started. So, I got there and registered early. This English class I had to take happened to be in the fine arts building. I happened to wonder into the recital hall one afternoon, where there was a nine-foot Steinway grand piano on the stage.

I started by walking up to it, and approaching it. It seemed like it was just sitting there, waiting on me. So, I sat down to it, and I remember putting my foot on the sustain pedal and just pretending I could play. Then I noticed when I would play something if I laid on the pedal too long the tones started to overlap and mud. So then I learned how to come up off of the pedal, and when to press the pedal and when not to, to make it sound musical, to make it sound full. I was able to figure that out inside of an hour of just sitting down and noodling on the thing.

A friend of mine wanders by, and hears me in there, and says to me “Oh, I didn’t know you played man. You sound good,” and walks back out. I didn’t think nothing of it at the time really. I just came back every day. There was something really therapeutic about the experience. There was a losing of one’s self. It was like I could quit my life for a minute. I could suspend time, and I could suspend having to function socially in a way that felt less than real. So music kind of gave me an escape from all of that.

Slowly I began to meet people in the music department, beginning to become interested in taking music classes, but my mother and my stepfather didn’t see it that way at the time. They really opposed it. So I ended up just kind of doing it in secret. It was like I had discovered something.

For about two years I took music classes whenever I could. I would bug by friends, two of which are in my band. That’s where I had first met Freddie Dunn, and Michael Cerri. I met John Dierker a little bit later. I met John about a year or two later after I had met Freddie and Mike.

Freddie and Mike, around the time that I met them I was attempting to write music out. But I was writing it out all wrong. So they would take it and play through it, and I’d be like “Oh is that what I wrote?” And they would say “Well play for us what you had in mind,” and they would help me with correcting the notation and what not. Slowly I began to learn how to write. I got books out of the library. I would have been a good music student, if I had been able to major in music because I was pretty motivated. I went out and got the books myself.

You can learn anything you want with books and apprenticeship really. And that’s how I really learn to play, from getting music books and seeking out people like Carl Grubbs.

I met Carl in the early ‘90s. I started coming to his house and just playing together. He would teach me things, and have me play through things. I was pretty awful in those days.

Another guy that helped me out a lot was Witt Williams. Witt is like a saxophone legend in these parts, all the cats know him. He’s real tight with Jimmy Heath, you know, all the old school Bebop guys. Witt is coming from the Dexter Gordon, Wayne Shorter kind of approach. Carl is coming more from the Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, Albert Ayler…those people have a little bit more weight with his thing. So I’ve got a nice section of the best of the music from the 50s and the 60s. And then somewhere along the way I fell in love with Thelonious Monk, and Bud Powell, and Horace Silver…all the great Hard Bop pianists—Bobby Timmons, Cedar Walton. Then later I became interested in McCoy Tyner, and some of the lesser known heroes like Randy Weston, Andrew Hill, Horace Tapscott, Cecil Taylor, Don Pullen, John Hicks, of course David Murray…David is probably the biggest impact on my music at this point, because in the last record I put out, 3, I was really able to expand myself compositionally and also learned how fire and energy can be integral parts of my technique. David’s stuff has been really influential in helping me integrate that into my language. It is rooted in Bebop and Hard Bop, but it’s constantly evolving.

That’s the shame about this music called “jazz” in a way, because a lot of that individual development and refinement is ignored. The jazz press has become just like the general press and the media. They are seeking out what they can make into the most sensationalized and hyped stuff without really investigating the substance there. I don’t know why that is. I guess they are trying to sell magazines, man. That rule of journalism--if it bleeds it ledes, if it thinks, it stinks—applies to the jazz press too, which is bad.

AS- Is this true for you? How do you see yourself in that situation?

LG- Yes, I have been really fortunate in terms of media attention, but I don’t credit that to the institutions themselves, as much as the individuals in the institutions who want to seek something else out. I’ve been very fortunate on that front, but in terms of like a larger media break through, or something like that, I feel I would have to dumb down the music and/or tone down the more militant aspects of what I do. Both of which I refuse to do.

AS- What would be these militant aspects?

LG- The rhythmic structure. I am not interested, not interested at all, in using music as some kind of soapbox from which to preach some set of political ideas from.

The militancy comes through an examination of objective conditions and the natural responses to them, and a refusal to ignore them and sweep them under the rug so the people can have nice pretty music. To me that is empty art. To tell the truth, if it’s ugly, then it is what it is. If it’s beautiful, then it’s both at the same time.

AS- You recently played in Europe. Was there a difference in how your performances were received by European audiences compared to an American audience?

LG- There’s not really a difference man. I mean a handclap is a handclap. The audiences are really not that much more different. It’s just that in Europe you have various governments…support of the arts is an integral part of their governments. It’s budgeted better than it is here. That’s the only thing. And what you spend money on, you have to sell; in terms of selling the fact that it is valued, to your population. Europe has always had a stronger tradition of that than America, because it is older. So the cultural environment is a little different with respect to the arts. But that’s because of the leadership in their government, not because of anything peculiar in the population.

AS- About a month ago I went to a lecture at Peabody on a non-Western, non-classical form of music. The person giving the talk kept trying to make it clear to the students that viewing all music through the lens of classical music is myopic. A lot of the students were adamantly against the speaker’s grouping of jazz with Western art music, almost indignant.

LG- Well that’s a problem. If you talk about that, well the root of that is really racial. Not to call the individuals racist, but that’s the institution’s stance in regard to it. And that’s the thing that impresses the Europeans the least about America. That’s the way they look at America. And I’ll be even more blunt, when I talk to Europeans, that’s the way they look at white Americans. They don’t look at me the way. They look at white Americans as European wannabes from a cultural prospective. They look at black Americans as the only original shit coming out of America. Both of which are probably distortions, but that attitude you witnessed at Peabody doesn’t help.

AS-I got the sense that the guy giving the talk really picked up on that feeling.

LG- That’s rough. That’s a rough crowd…But that’s actually part of the conversation that Leon Fleischer and I had. I said “Leon, classical musicians work less than jazz musicians. What are you setting them up for at Peabody? I mean all they are going to be able to do is teach. Maybe some of them will get jobs with an orchestra.” I mean they can’t go out and get any gigs, because they’ve only learned how to do this one thing. If you’re going to work as a musician, you have to be able to do several things. The language that is spoken in American popular music, whether you talking about rock, folk…I mean I’ve done all kind of gigs. I even did a bluegrass gig once. Most the time the music is communicated on paper through what is called a lead sheet. I remembered I played with these bluegrass guys in Arbutus, and I had never played that music before, but they had lead sheets.

When I sit down with classically trained musicians, a lot of them don’t even know what a chord is. If I say “play me an A flat minor and 7, play me a D flat minor 7," they don’t even know what it is. Which throws them out of the loop right there. They can’t read a lead sheet, they can’t swing, they can’t play no other type of music. They can’t swing, they can’t rock, they can’t funk. They’re left with a very, very small thing.

I get very disappointed with the jazz academia guys, because it’s like “Is that what y’all want for jazz? I mean is that what you want for jazz, pushing this great American art form, is that what y’all want? You want what happened to classical music to happen to jazz? For it to be strangled, held? I mean you can only play this little amount of material for which there is little demand.

What are these kids paying to go to Peabody, 30, 40 grand? I’d be goddamned if I would send any of my kid to a music conservatory and paying 30, 40 g’s and all they can play is some damn Flight of the Bumblebee. I mean how are you going to pay that money back?

Some of them will land a nice job in an orchestra, but the orchestras are cutting back. I mean it not just the Meyerhoff, it’s all the major symphony orchestras in all the major cities are having major problems—they are not putting butts in the seats. People are not coming out to hear that music. Part of the reason is they keep playing music that is three or four hundred years old, and they are not mixing it with any contemporary works. They don’t make room for any modern…I mean they barely play 20th century music in most of these orchestras, and we’re well into the 21st century. Where is the growth there?

Part of the problem is that the only people who support classical music are these narrow-minded aficionados that really think they know something, but they know nothing, hardly. They’ve got their own little set of people that they like, and the same thing goes on in jazz radio. The same bullshit goes on in jazz radio. You get this group of elite aficionados that have their favorites, and they have their corporate play list that is submitted to them. And very often what gets on this play list is what is seen as reliable product. And it’s usually some big name that goes along with this reliable product, some big name artist, who watered his shit down 20 years ago. You know everyone loves him or her.

One of the problems with the European scene is that because they had more of an appreciation historically, they were the first to recognize jazz. They recognized its value way before the Americans did. So because of that they feel entitled to comment and weigh in on American jazz and society and how it’s going. They make a lot of good points, but I’m not really sure they know what the hell they are talking about.

When you’re coming from a place like Europe, you’re that much further away from the source, because the source of the so called jazz music…then you’re talking about black Americans as a group from the turn of the 19th century on up to present. Then your talking about a people and a culture with another, almost held captive within a larger people and culture. I don’t want to say it’s a subculture, because that is a bit of a loaded term. I don’t use that term. But it was a really specific culture that existed, and it’s a real inside thing, especially when you get into jazz.

That was a really, really high achievement for blacks. When you think about what black Americans had to go through in this country around in turn of the century, in the 1920’s, in the 1940’s, through the 50s and the 60s, the music was not thought of in the way it is thought of today. When I talk to older people, like my family, like my grandmother…she would go hear Count Basie or Duke Ellington and she said “Oh yea, because that made life bearable. It made us freer, inside.”

And that energy just doesn’t stay inside, it moves. Now it’s different, we’re in a different period. It’s not a segregated society anymore. My generation, and the generation after me, we never knew the outward things of segregation. We came up in a different era were stuff is a lot more out in the open, especially with this election year. Stuff is starting to push out into the open, and I’m sure it will push out more if Barak or even Hillary gets the nomination.

I like Obama. I think that he has tapped into something that I’ve been looking for awhile. For a while I’ve been looking to see who could do it, who could pick up on the energy that’s out there. When I listen to him and Hillary talk about their campaigns, to me that’s the biggest difference between the two of them.

The biggest difference is their campaigns, and the nature of them and how they are run. Hillary sounds in the 20th century, Barak sounds in the 21st century. I mean forget about the race and gender shit, that’s just fodder for people to write about—“Hehehehe…This is historical!” It’s not historical motherfucker; it’s about damn time! I mean what the fuck is so unreasonable about having a woman or any person of color as president…we’ve been having that for over 200 years.

We’ve had great presidents, but my contentions is that you can only pull from one part of the gene pool for so much, before you come up empty and have to give someone else a chance. They might have some answers that you haven’t thought about, some perspectives to add to the thing. And we’re starting to see it like that. I’d like to think, and we’ll see, that a lot of whites are starting to see it like that. Like “Wait a minute, let’s spread it around a little bit.” I mean it can’t be the same guys election after election after election.

If Hillary gets it, it will be disappointing for me man, not because I’m against her or nothing. I think she is excellent, I think she is great. But it’s like we’ve had the papa Bush, the baby Bush, the husband Clinton, and the wife Clinton. No man, we’re in the new century. We need a clean break. Let Obama make his mistakes, he’s going to make mistakes…even Kennedy made mistakes. But the important thing is that the mantle has to be passed.

Even the old Civil Rights guard, who were the hardest guys to get because they were all pro Hillary and didn’t really like Obama that much. But I saw in the news the other day that John Lewis, the representative from Georgia, says, like “I love the Clintons, but my district man, its all Obama. What can I do?” He’s got to come out and endorse Obama at this point.

AS- In addition to touring heavily, and recording new material, you also teach. How does that factor in to the situation?

LG- The thing I’ve having the most fun doing is teaching the children, my kid students. I started teaching students about three or four years ago. I found that the kids, because they ask the simple questions, they really make you think. It caused me to do two things. To take the way I approach music apart and really analyze it and look at it, because I had to.

There I have to communicate this to another person. You can’t say, “Oh man, c’mon you know what I’m saying.” You can’t say that to a seven-year-old kid, because he doesn’t know. So that challenges you to really understand what you are doing from a different perspective, a different angle. Something like as simple as fingering a major scale, I know that. But how do I show a kid to do that, who has never used those muscles to make sounds. You have to start from scratch.

But the biggest thing that you have to communicate to kids is that you love music. To me that is the single message I have to get through to those kids. If kids know that you love music then you’re like the pied piper, you got them. They’re there because they want to know what it’s about anyway. So the challenge is to explain music in a way that is fun, and get them doing things that they didn’t think that they could do. Things that looked so amazing to them when I did it. And they come in not believing that they can do it, and to be able to show them that they can do it, that is a big rush. I love that. I feel that not only am I learning, but I am contributing something really concrete to society.

When you sit up in front of somebody’s kid that’s no joke. They are bringing their most important thing to you. Like “here’s my child, spend half and hour with him once a week.” That’s nothing to play with, that’s serious. So that’s what I’ve been able to do.

--Bez

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Say Hi (To Your Mom) Interview (w/ Eric Elbogen)

Here, I present to you, dear reader, our latest exclusive interview with Eric Elbogen aka Say Hi (To Your Mom). Say Hi produce some of the most endearing glitch-pop to be gleaned from Casio equipment. Elbogen's patented, slightly off-key vocals combined with his impeccable sense of melody make for many beautiful moments...even if a large proportion of his back-catalog is about topics that are generally perceived as less-than-serious (vampires, robots, Star Trek).

Currently, he is on tour supporting his 2007 release The Wishes and the Glitches, and took some time out on Thursday to chat with us a bit.

Enjoy! And don't forget to catch his show Backstage at the Black Cat in DC next week, Tues Mar4. $10, 9:00PM doors.
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Aural States- Thanks for taking time out to talk to us. You are probably a little tired of this question, but I've gotta ask. Could you say a little about why you decided to drop the end of Say Hi (to your mom)?

Eric Elbogen- Well I really wanted to. I've been meaning to do it for a long time. It just seemed a perfect opportunity with the new record having alot less songs about stuff like robots and vampires. It just seemed appropriate to me.

AS- Yeah, I had heard some crazy rumors and stuff about lawsuits from Norway?

EE- No, I alot of times will make stuff up if I'm feeling in a fun kind of mood. I think I put some lines in the FAQ on the website about being sued by a Norwegian death metal band from the 70s.

AS- Hahah OK. Good to clear that up. You moved to Seattle fairly recently?

EE- It's been over a year actually. It was December 06 that I moved there.

AS- What prompted you to move out of Brooklyn?

EE- You know, I still love New York, but it was just time for me to take a break...from living with 7 roommates and not really being able to park our van on the street. I just wanted to move somewhere that had a bit of a slower pace.

AS- Are your roots on the East Coast?

EE- No I actually grew up in southern California, Los Angeles. After I graduated college I moved to New York where I lived for 7 years until I moved to Seattle.

AS- How are you finding Seattle so far?

EE- Oh it's great. Exactly what I was looking for. The people are really great, there's a nice little music community there. And for the first time in my life I can afford my own apartment without roommates. It's just a really beautiful part of the world.

AS- Great. So moving on, could you tell me what your musical background is like, you know, like when you got your first Casio?

EE- Wow, my first Casio...that was probably age 9 or 10. I got one of those, I think it was SK1? The one where you could record a little 4-bit sample through the microphone built-in. My friends and I would make burp or fart noises and play little melodies with it.

But I didn't actually get a guitar and start writing songs until I was about 13 or so.

AS- Were you a band geek or anything more formal?
EE- You know, no. I am still fairly illiterate at reading music. I think I bought the guitar and took one lesson then quit. I just started listening, playing along to Guns N Roses and Motley Crue records and taught myself how to play the guitar. Really focused on writing songs as opposed to getting better technique-wise.

AS- Do you think that has influenced where you've taken Say Hi?
EE- I do, I think that everywhere I've taken my life as it relates to music is based on the fact that I am a former songwriter. Throughout the process of making several records, I've taught myself to play a few other instruments as well...but I am certainly not excellent at any of those. The focus has definitely always been on songwriting.

AS- What artists have been major influences musically?

EE- Early on I was into the Beatles and a huge U2 fan for a long time. And I still am. Maybe not as much on the last couple records, but there's definitely some of those records that I can still listen and consider some of my favorite records of all time. And Radiohead and the Pixies.

AS- Do they also influence you lyrically?

EE- Mostly musical inspirations. I don't really know what my lyrical style is influenced by. I was an English major in college and certainly I use some of the tricks that I learned about how to write when I was in school when I am writing lyrics. But I don't otherwise base it on any other bands.

AS- Other than your more classic influences, who of your peers is really inspiring you, who are you really into?

EE- I am always buying records and getting into new stuff. Right now, the new Black Mountain record, the new Hot Chip and MGMT records. I don't know. I'm sure I'll get bored of those and move onto whatever else comes up.

AS- Have you seen any good live shows recently?

EE- You know I've never seen any of them live. Several months ago I saw Grizzly Bear and Deerhunter play. That was one of the better shows I've seen in the past couple years.

AS- Anyone you interested in touring or collaborating with?

EE- Well like I said before, I am a huge Radiohead fan...as I'm sure anyone who makes music similar to what I do is. Playing with them would be a dream come true. But at this point it's more about touring with people you like to hang out with and respect their music. We've never been the sort of band to be opening huge tours...so...that would be nice but I don't know that I have my sights set on anything at the moment.

AS- OK. So you just put out your fifth album, The Wishes and the Glitches. How do you feel about it? What went right and what is really different from your other albums?

EE- I feel really good about it. People have been responding very well, which is nice. There have been a lot of great opportunities happening because of it. It is a bit different of a record. I tried to change up some of the ways that I go about songwriting. I also tried to sing a little bit louder, instead of doing the whisper singing that I did a lot of on the previous records.

Overall I'm really pleased with how it's being received. But there's no way for me to be objective about it. The only way I can tell how good a record really is is by other people's responses once it is out.

AS- I find it is definitely, as advertised, a more personal album and like you said before, you have pretty much ditched singing about vampires and robots. But I think, maybe as a consequence, the tone is more somber than say Blahs.

EE- I think a big complaint certain people had in the past was that there was a lack of a personal nature to some of the records. It's in my opinion, not a good or bad thing to have that. But I wanted to try something new. I don't know that I've abandoned writing concept records about vampires forever, but for this one, it felt appropriate. I tried very hard not to make it over the top in terms of gushing about all of my fears, desires and dreams. Which, I think, I ended up doing for the most part. But yeah, I would agree that it is a more personal and somber record.

AS- The one track that stands out as possibly "bridging the gap" between your old content and the new is "Before we were brittle." You can interpret it multiple ways, in a sort of fictional way like your previous material and in a deeper, more personal way.

EE- That song has actually been kicking around for a very long time...since the second record. I never found an arrangement and all of the lyrics that I was completely happy with. I think part of it actually exemplifies what I was going for with the record. Starting fresh, there's a line about "maybe we should move someplace new" which is saying "oh yeah, our life was great in the past but it isn't anymore...let's figure out what we can do to fix that."

AS- Other than the tone change, how do you feel the album has changed musically?

EE- You know, I don't know. The hope is always to get better as you go along. I certainly paid attention to writing better arrangements, better songs, better melodies. I'm happy with what I got done. Anytime I finish a record, I've spent so much time with it that I think I grow musically beyond the songs that make it on the record. So I'm already looking forward to using what I've learned on the next record.

AS- I've probably seen you 3 or 4 times now live. Each time, I think you've had a different line-up, be it solo, backing guitar and bass or just backing keyboard. Is this reflective of a changing view on where you want Say Hi to be going?

EE- I think one reason is just a logistics thing. Sometimes the musicians I really want to come on tour aren't available. It's also sorta me, excited sometimes to make it a different show on each tour. Particularly songs that I've been playing for so many years, adding a new musician or changing to a different incarnation really changes how those songs sound. And you're right, it's been a very long time since there's been a consistent line-up between two tours.

AS- Have any of the touring band members affected your recorded output? Or has that been just you solo...kind of like your baby?

EE- It's been my baby for the most part...but the girl who was with me for a couple tours sang on the latest record...but really it just depends on where I am with the recording and writing process and where other people are at and what the songs call for.

AS- I feel like, listening to each new album, that "this is the album that Say Hi cements into a bigger band." Are you aiming for that eventually?

EE- No actually, I mean I like the idea of that. But I don't think this project will ever lend itself to that. Just because of the way that I work and my personality. I would love to be part of something like that, maybe for a different band.

AS- You're almost 2 weeks into this tour. How's it been going, show attendance, audiences?

EE- It's been great, probably the best headlining tour ever. A lot of people coming out, very responsive.

AS- What are your plans for the rest of the year?

EE- More touring, but once we get back, writing more for the next record. Just sketching out some songs and themes for that.

AS- Great! Well thanks for taking time to chat with us, Eric. Any parting words for Baltimore/DC area fans?

EE- No, just I'm looking forward to the show and we always have a good time in DC. Come on out!

Say Hi at the Soundgarden in Baltimore

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