On paper, Joe Nice and dubstep are a bit of an odd couple.  While dubstep has found success in understatement – bare percussion, minimalist sub-bass, and a squinty, red-eyed gaze – Joe Nice thrives on a bold personality, off-beat catchphrases, and a contagious enthusiasm for music.  Sporting an easy demeanor, a bald head glistening with sweat, and a steady stream of conversation, he helps fill in the blanks left between dubstep’s sub-bass pulses.  Based out of Baltimore, Nice has been the leading American dubstep DJ since he co-founded GourmetBeats Radio in 2003, where he has broadcasted the best in dubstep over the Internet ever since.  On December 9, Joe Nice brought these sounds to Good Life Bar as part of Boston’s longest running dubstep party, Bassic.

Following his tradition of beginning his sets with an old school tune, Joe Nice kicked things off in Good Life’s basement with MTume’s 1982 funk hit “Juicy Fruit” to a crowd evenly split between young professionals and dreaded glow stick twirlers.  Tucked inside the exposed brick DJ booth, Nice sifted through his bag of records for the next plate to throw onto his turntables, most of which were unreleased and bore a simple white label with a handwritten ID tag.  Indeed, much of his appeal stems from his extraordinary access to songs that either will not be released for a while or will never see an official release.  These exclusive tracks, both old and new, help distinguish Joe Nice from other DJs and reinforce the idea of going to a club to hear music you can’t enjoy anywhere else.

As advertised, Joe Nice delivered the goods.  Fresh cuts from Mala (“Brazil Electronica,” “Harvest”), DJG (“Melon”), Goth Trad (“Seeker”), and Pinch (“Grump”) were interwoven with established rarities such as Mala’s “2 Much Chat” and “DMZ vs. MZN.”  Out of the 30 tracks played over the course of an hour and a half, I only recognized nine and could take a guess at the producer credit for a few more.   This wasn’t a problem though, as Nice’s selection was consistently on-point and interesting, mixing tribal drum rollers, peppy 4/4 grooves, staggering wall shakers, and everything in between to great effect.  Joe Nice’s exclusive dubplates may place his record bag head and shoulders above the rest, but it’s his taste, timing, and personality that set him apart as a DJ.  The night was another huge win for Bassic and a testament to dubstep’s ongoing evolution.

Tastemakers Magazine (TMM): You usually start your sets with an old school track.  Why is that?

Joe Nice (JN): I want to let people know the sounds I grew up on and the tunes that influenced me. Plus, I enjoy easing the crowd into dubstep. You always dip your toes in the water…you never dive in head first. The same goes for me and my sets.

TMM: How has your new night, Reconstrvct, been going?

JN: Reconstrvct has been excellent. V.I.V.E.K., GothTrad, Lost, DJG, BunZer0, CDubs and a few others have played the event. The show takes place at The Morgan in Bushwick, Brooklyn. We decided to go back to basics: a room with big sound, top notch talent and tunes. In my opinion, that’s always been the way to experience dubstep and we want to uphold that tradition. Reconstrvct isn’t a substitute for DubWar, another party I helped create. [DubWar NYC, started by Joe Nice and Dave Q, was the first dubstep club night in the US].  DubWar was a separate experience and a separate time and place. It can’t ever be duplicated. Reconstrvct is a new chapter, the next chapter.

TMM: Is “Low Frequency with Decency” the “Meditate on Bass Weight” of the United States?

JN: Yeah…I’ll agree with that. It’s funny, at DubWar, we always had a “slogan of the night.”  It was something silly that we’d all say, like “save your receipts” or “blame Dubwar” or “tell your friends.”  One of those slogans was “I AM NOT OK.” I’ll say this much, that slogan had legs.  Buttons were created.  After a while it became a mantra.

TMM: You have been a vocal opponent of brostep’s rise in popularity and deep saturation into the dubstep scene, especially in the United States.  Do you feel pressured to play more aggressive tracks in America versus the UK and other parts of Europe?

JN: I never feel pressured to play more aggressive tracks. I play what I feel to play. I’ve been involved with dubstep for ten years. I believe I have reached a certain level of consistency with the tunes I play and how I present the music to the audience. I’ve been doing GourmetBeats Radio for eight years. When you see my name on a flyer, promoters and partygoers know what to expect.

TMM: You’ve famously held onto using dubplates [acetate pressings of songs in the 12" format] even as many DJs have moved towards CDJs out of practicality.  Aside from your preference for exclusive and unreleased tracks, what leads to your preference for the dubplate?

JN: I am a DJ. Disc. Jockey. A disc has 3 characteristics: it’s flat, circular and resembles a plate. A jockey: someone that operates a specific machine, vehicle or object. It’s also someone that rides a horse. In either example, the operator is in control. Stop. Start. Fast. Slow. Dubplates are the truest representation of that disc jockey ethos. When you play a record, there is rotation. With rotation comes vibration. Vibration equals physicality. Dubstep is a physical sound. In my opinion, dubstep is best heard in that format. Vibration is also a feeling. Vibes. Dubstep is vibes. Dubstep is also emotional.

TMM: How did you start receiving so many exclusive dubplates?  Is there a large degree of trust involved between you and the producer?

JN: Honestly, all I did was ask. If you don’t ask the question, the answer is always no. Plastician was the first to send me tunes on the MSN Messenger (yeah….remember that?!). Old bits like “White Gloves” and “Pump Up The Jam.”  From there, other producers started sending me tunes. There’s a large degree of trust because these tunes are their work. They value their work, as do I.

TMM: Despite being involved in the dubstep scene since the early days, you haven’t really expanded outside of your role as a DJ.  I know you’ve experimented with production, but is there any interest on your end to form a label and release records?  It seems like it would be the natural extension of your taste as a DJ and ambassador of the dubstep sound to America.

JN: I am dabbling in production, but my passion is playing and performing dubstep. If I did create a record label, easy…GourmetBeats Music. When you see a gourmet meal, you instantly recognize that a level of quality has to be attained in order to be called “gourmet.”  Same for what I would need to do with the label. Cream of the crop tunes. Best of the best. Nothing else will do. Quality control is a must.

TMM: Dubstep seems to be headed in many different directions in 2011.  You have James Blake and Darkstar making the more melancholy, vocal tracks, Addison Groove and Ramadanman bringing in strong Chicago house influences, and others like LX One only getting deeper and more submersive.  Who are your favorite producers that are shaking things up and keeping the sounds fresh?

JN: There are so many talented producers that are making fresh beats, but I’d rather focus on labels that are continually breaking boundaries. Deep Medi. For me, they’re the best going. There’s a focus on the sound the label wants to represent and the target is always hit every time. Chestplate, Get Darker, Hessle Audio, Hyperdub, Tempa, Keysound Recordings, Swamp 81 are some other labels that are consistently making moves.

Joe Nice hosts a monthly radio show at GourmetBeats.com, with all past shows dating back to 2005 archived and available for free download at JoeNice.net. Follow him on Twitter @JoeNiceDJ for the latest updates.

TMM (Tastemakers Magazine): You were talking about The Revival Tour tonight. What would you think ten years ago if you knew you were going to play with Chuck Ragan of Hot Water Music.

Brian Fallon (BF): It would freak me out. I was actually thinking about that. I was wishing that I could call some of my friends from home that I lost touch with. That was a big deal for me. Hot Water Music is a huge thing. I distinctly remember the very moment that I first heard them. It was life changing. To hang out with Chuck and have all of those guys be my friends and to know that I can call them up at any time, it’s cool.

TMM: When did you know that you had to do The Horrible Crowes?

BF: American Slang had just come out and we knew we wanted to do something else. I talked about it with the guys and I said, ‘what do you think about this’ and they said, ‘why don’t you just do it?’ We knew that we ended the tour cycle for American Slang last year and then it was like well ‘what are we going to do’ because we aren’t going to have a record come out for two years. I wanted do something, so I did The Horrible Crowes. Then this (Elsie) came out and it got really busy, so I had to stop because I had to do the next Gaslight record. It was a weird time for Elsie to come out, so it was bizarre.

TMM: When can we see The Horrible Crowes tour?

BF: I don’t know. We did a couple shows and that was probably it. We thought we would be able to tour more, but then The Gaslight machine just got going. 15 songs into a record and you have to just do that. It’s just the way it goes.

TMM: On the past Gaslight albums, there has definitely been a theme. Is there a clear theme for the new album? 

BF: Yes, this one is extremely literal. There aren’t stories and there are no names for characters. I’ve kind of done away with a little bit of that because it was…. For a while you kind of come up with something that becomes your own, but when you’re a band you have to change after a while. We realized that now is kind of the time for it to become something else and what it was, was great. You can always play those songs, you can always be that, but you kind of have to find your own thing.

We started to do that on American Slang  a little bit, but on this record there is definitely a theme where all the songs were written very organically, they were written by hand. I have a notebook of all the songs. It was the first time I’ve ever done that, where every song was written out by hand. It was really cool and then it makes it very personal because you think about every line. When you’re typing on a computer, you can just delete something very quickly and that’s gone and then you can change lines and move your text around. By hand, you have to really think about, ‘I’m writing this by page’. Ya, you can scribble it out. But you don’t really work like that because when you open the notebook there is something blank there and you have to fill it by what you put down and it’s very, very connected.

And I also felt that I didn’t have anything else to say about the characters that I was working with before. I feel like all the bands that I’ve liked, whether it be U2 or Pearl Jam or Bruce Springsteen, they’ve all had a mark in their career where they’ve changed. Something happened and it was exciting. I think as long as you don’t forget what you were and you don’t change completely, it’s okay. We’re finding something that’s ours, which is good.

TMM: Tonight you discovered Tumblr. Are you going to go home and raid all of your Brian Fallon pages?

BF: No, no, no. I don’t read anything. People send me stuff from magazines, like our management and stuff, and I look at the pictures and that’s it. I don’t read anything anybody says anymore. I used to read every little thing and I used to keep up with the Internet. It would start to affect the way that I wrote songs. I would be like ‘well they want to hear this’, but you can’t do it like that because when I used to paint houses, I would paint houses the color that you wanted, but I didn’t get into this to do what people wanted. I did it to be an expression of myself. The true thing is that’s why people liked you in the beginning, because it was a true expression of yourself and it resonated inside of them. In order to fake that and try and make something that is resonating inside of someone else isn’t exactly what I would consider right or artistic. Why would they listen to that when they could just write those songs themselves?

There’s this new thing when people charge money and you can give them a topic and they write a song just for you and I think that is horrible. I think it’s absolutely horrible and I don’t care if it’s the guys from that guy (Max Bemis), I don’t care. I think that it’s lame and that you’ve got some explaining to do and I think you’re taking your art and you’re prostituting it, that’s what you’re doing. Sure, do we all do that by selling CDs and could we all just give our music away, absolutely. Am I going to do that, no way and I don’t think anyone else should do it either. I like that thing where you go to the movies and you pay nine bucks and you see something that’s worth something and I would hate it if someone called me up and was like ‘what do you want me to make a movie about for you?’. That’s ridiculous, man. I want to see what you are thinking and your experiences and I want to hear something that I don’t know. There’s a lot of stuff out there that’s cheapening art. I’m bitter about that. How do you put a price on that?

TMM: You mentioned the elections tonight. Would you ever be willing to offer your political views as a band?

BF: Sure, we all have four separate views, but there is a lot of things that we agree on. We all agree that the whole benefit to the new America is that we have a choice and that we can all go and say ‘well I want to be a musician’ or ‘I want to be a carpenter’ and sometimes your situation dictates that and I’m not naive to that, but if you look at guys like us, like I was a carpenter and decided that I wanted to be in a band. It takes a lot of work, but you can do it in this country. None of us are Republicans or Democrats or Liberals or Conservatives or anything. We strictly look at who is the best for that period in time. I think that we all feel like they are not giving Barrack Obama the chance. We all feel that way, all four of us feel that they’re blaming things on him like the economy. Well, the economy has been in a downturn and he’s trying to pick up the pieces and you’re not giving him the chance because he has a House full of Republicans. There’s nothing wrong with Republicans, but you can’t fight all the time. It’s a country, it’s not a contest. But yeah, as we get older we start to care more about this stuff. We didn’t care in the beginning. We were like, ‘nobody cares what we think’, but people do care what we think and it’s important to stand up for that. It may seem ridiculous that we talk about polar bears and stuff, but it’s important because if ice caps melt, you’re going to have your house flooded. It’s about people.

TMM: It seems like a lot of bands are afraid to state what they think.

BF: I think there’s that and there’s the thing that makes me mad when they say what you want to hear. All of us have such different opinions and we have opinions on things that are not popular. Some of us go along with a more liberal mindset and some of us are much more conservative and that’s just the way it is. You just need to state your opinion. It doesn’t mean you’re right. I think as long as you’re looking out for people and you’re not taking people’s freedoms away, then it doesn’t really matter. I think that you can think that something’s wrong and not be against it, which is tough. That’s a tough line to walk and not be cruel to someone who you think is fighting against you, but I guess that’s how the president feels, but he’s handling it very well. But looking at the candidates is scary. We were watching the Michelle Bachman thing and it’s crazy. There was some weird stuff. I heard that gay people are possessed by the devil. I was like, whoa alright. Geesh! I don’t want to live in your house. Don’t walk by the windows! That’s crazy.

TMM: Alright, last question: What is your favorite Springsteen lyric?

BF: I don’t know. I mean, there’s a lot; he’s a good writer. My favorite song of all time is not one of his, it’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” by Bob Dylan. But lately, actually what I really love is “Keep On Rockin’ In The Free World” by Neil Young. I love that line when he says, about the drug addict that puts her kid away, “That’s one more kid who will never go to school, who will never fall in love, never get to be cool”. That’s my favorite lyric for right now. That’s a good one.

White Arrows were kind enough to sit down with me after their gig opening for The Naked And Famous. The L.A based band easily claimed their territory as a band to watch with their beach infused electronic rock. Between the Hawaiian shirts, raw energy, and their down to earth nature, White Arrows won the Paradise over that night.

The White Arrows is Mickey Schiff (frontman), Henry Schiff (drums), J.P. Caballero (guitar), Steven Vernet (bass), Andy Naeve (keys).

Tastemakers (TM): I heard your cover of Springsteen’s “I’m On Fire” which is totally different than the music you are working on now. How much have you guys evolved?

Mickey Schiff (MS): I don’t know if it is evolution as much as manic schizophrenia of being influenced by so many different things that so many different sounds come out.

J.P. Caballero (JPC): Sometimes your Pokémon evolves.

TMM: During the show you (MS) said you lived in Boston for a year?

MS: Yeah, before I moved to New York and made the E.P, I lived in Boston for a year. I was actually just talking about it because my dad was at the show tonight and asked, “Do you remember what you were doing when you were here in Boston?” and I do remember. I lost 50 pounds, I was emaciated, I had a beard, and I only biked around on a little BMX bike because I didn’t understand the T and I didn’t have any interest in learning it. But I would bike from Boylston and Tremont or around Southie to Paradise, The Middle East, and T.T the Bears three nights a week.

TMM: You’re brave!

MS: Especially on a little BMX bike that was built for a six year old girl (laughs). I’m six foot three and it looked like I was in clown school, but I saw some of the best shows I’ve ever seen while I was living here in Boston. I saw the Black Keys at this club (Paradise). The Red Sox were in the World Series against the Yankees and everyone was watching, so there were five people in the audience.  The drummer gave up and gave me his drumstick after they played. I saw the Libertines here too when Pete Doherty was still in the band so this is a big night for me to play this place.

TMM: What do you miss most about Boston?

MS: Pretty much this club. It’s hard for me to say what I miss in general because the people that I missed in Boston have since moved, but I haven’t been back to the Middle East or T.T the Bears. I would love to go back to those clubs. I was actually here for school at Emerson for a year before I transferred to NYU. I loved Emerson. The people I met there I have reconnected with when they moved to Los Angeles. They are all awesome, creative, but intelligent people.

TMM: The face painting in your video for “8050 (Too Fast Too Slow)” set the bar pretty high for your Halloween. What are you being this Halloween?

MS: I might go back to the face painting and become a Juggalo for Halloween.

JPC: I’m going to be an airline passenger in economy seating because we are flying back to L.A. I’m going to get a little blanket and get comfortable.

TMM: If you guys were in any movie what would it be?

MS: I would probably be in a surrealist movie, something that’s not so narrative, but has kind of a story like 2001 Space Odyssey, like El Topo or The Holy Mountain. Just like a 10-year-old boy walking naked alongside a Zoro looking character riding a horse.

JPC: I would choose something like The Cannonball Run.

TMM: How do you guys pass the time on tour?

MS: We are in an RV and we listen to a lot of music, we read some books, we play some guitar…

JPC: …we try to work out at the YMCA.

Henry Schiff (HS): Not all of us do that. A lot of just veg out and just stare out our thumbs for like 40 hours (laughs).

TMM: Who’s reading and what are you reading?

MS: I’m reading a book called 2030. Albert Brooks wrote it. It’s like what happens to America and the world in the year 2030.

Andy Naeve (AN): I’m reading all of my Vonnegut books on Kindle.

HS: My Kindle broke during the first tour, so I’m pretty bummed.

TM: What newer music are you guys listening to?

MS: We love Deerhunter and Animal Collective…

HS: I’ve been listening to this band called Wiseblood. We played with them at The Echo and they’re rad. I’ve been listening the E.P a lot.

MS: …The Black Keys and I’ve recently discovered Oberhofer. It’s funny, you listen to music after people compare you to the music, so there’s no way that you could actually be influenced by the music. Then you try to find the similarities that people are talking about.

TMM: What are you guys excited for this year, in general?

JPC: The Coming Apocalypse.

MS: The Olympics and for us personally, our first full-length album. It will be due out this year and it’s the most exciting thing to date.

HS: I’m excited about it! I think about it every night before I go to bed.

Check out photos from White Arrows’ set at Paradise!

Tastemakers Magazine: Since you’ve played around Boston so much and you’re something of a “local legend” here, can you talk about growing as an artist in this city?

Will Dailey: A legend, eh? [Laughs] A local legend. Well, I’ve just kind of pounded the pavement here for a while. This is where I’m from, and it’s where I want to remain. I just love it here. I love the music scene, and I love the diversity of the music scene. It’s strong no matter what club you’re going to or what kind of music you’re going out to see. And I’ve also been lucky. A lot of people work hard here, and I’ve had the fortune of having great fans here that help propel this and keep this afloat.

TMM: Let’s talk about the new album, “Will Dailey and the Rivals.” It’s your fourth full-length – what are some of the things you were hoping to achieve as you worked on it?

WD: Well prior to this when I’ve done interviews, they always say “singer-songwriter Will Dailey.” And I guess it’s an appropriate way to start an article or description of somebody, but it means something different in today’s music culture than it does in my brain. [Laughs] To me, a male singer-songwriter that I admire or look up to would be John Lennon, or Tom Petty, or Elvis Costello. That, to me, is a male singer-songwriter. But you don’t call them that, they’re just musicians. They’re songwriters. They’re performers.

This time in the studio, we just made it about us as much as possible. With producer Tom Polce, we just kind of locked ourselves in there and banged it out together. I think in the past, I had done it a little more on my own. [This time] there would be more people involved in the studio process – other musicians, and they would pitch in equally – and now it’s definitely more of a democracy with the four of us. With the Rivals and myself.

TMM: And I’m guessing that’s why you decided to self-title the record?

WD: Yes, absolutely. And also because we wanted to make a rock and roll record… There’s something very special and unique about being able to take your best friends and people who you’ve created these things with, locking yourselves in a studio, and just all focusing all day and all night together. Taking that ride, and not stopping until it’s done.

TMM: You guys don’t get sick of each other?

WD: Of course we do! [Laughs] But that’s what any relationship is. You go through these things. Sometimes you rebuild, sometimes you explore deeper within yourself to find what’s bothering you. That’s when you know you have a good relationship and you work well together.

TMM: During your in-store event at Newbury Comics, you mentioned – and I forget your exact wording – but you hinted that the process of putting this record together was laborious at times. Can you expand on that?

WD: Well sometimes you’re making something and… at this point in my career, I’ve had these successes that I’m excited about. But we’re still breaking out and building a name nationally. Sometimes it’s difficult when you’re locked up away from the world and you’re making this thing. You get out and you wonder, “Okay, now what?” At the time, I wasn’t on Universal Republic. I was just making [the record]. That’s what made it hard on us. We didn’t know how we’d even put this record out, exactly. We were just making it what we wanted. So while it was cathartic, I think it was also scary.

TMM: What about the title track, “Counting on Karma?” Wasn’t it inspired by a conversation you had with a friend?

WD: Yeah, you know, you have those conversations with a friend and they’re in kind of a “woe is me” type of mind frame. They’re just letting it out, and saying how opportunities don’t come to nice people. And I have to disagree. And it was actually my friend who said, “Well, I’ll count on karma, then.” It was one of those light bulb moments, so I just wrote it down: Counting on Karma. [The song] poured out pretty quick later on. But there’s plenty of good things that come to good people.

TMM: So is that your favorite song on the new album? Do you have a favorite?

WD: Right now I’m really liking “Loved You First” and probably “Out on the Floor,” just because we’ve been playing it the past couple of events… those are my favorites right now, but I try not to play favorites at the same time. I try not to think too much about the songs as I’m performing them, I’m in the moment of each one.

TMM: What kind of music were you listening to when you put together the record?

WD: Well, it’s hard to find music that I don’t like or appreciate. Even music that the blogosphere might not deem “worthy” is good music in somebody’s life.

TMM: So you’re saying you listened to a lot of the Jonas Brothers?

WD: [Laughs] I couldn’t tell you a single tune by them, it’s not for me, but I’m glad it’s out there. Some young girl has music in her life, and later on she will discover the Beatles, you know? She’ll get into something else because she found that it’s fun to get into music. It’s an important muscle to exercise. There can really be no “bad music” if it’s filling that gap in someone’s life. If everything sounded like the cool band of the week, there would be so many left-out people. We’d be in a terrible state.

But while making this record, particularly for me, I focused on what I thought was a gap in the music world. A gap that Tom Petty filled with songs like “Into the Great Wide Open.” The way he constructed that album, where it was rock and roll but there was adventure – sonic adventure and lyrical adventure – that was kind of my focus on this album… songs that are rooted in rock and roll, but are accessible pop tracks.

TMM: One last thing: I read somewhere that you actually had to sell your car in order to be able to afford putting out your first record. Is that true?

WD: Yeah, which made touring incredibly difficult. But yeah, I did. I was out of money towards the end of it, and I sold it to finish a couple days of tracking and mixing. And I’d do it again. I might sell the car I have now, who knows. But what’s more important? There is public transportation. And I have a bike.

Check out Will Dailey & the Rivals’ self-titled album – out now on Universal Republic!

With Coheed and Cambria being back in the news, it seems appropriate to revisit this interview with the band’s guitarist, Travis Stever, from last year. Since 1995, Coheed and Cambria have been melting faces while telling the story of The Amory Wars, an epic series created by singer and mastermind Claudio Sanchez.  The story of  Coheed and Cambria is a theme that unifies the band’s albums and solidified them as a true concept band.  Fifteen years later, Coheed and Cambria released the prequel to the series, Year of the Black Rainbow, and have been touring on it ever since (which is where their recent incident occurred.)

Although primarily known as a concept band, Coheed and Cambria’s infectious hooks and irresistible guitar riffs make them relatable on any level.  I got the chance to catch up with guitarist Travis Stever to talk about the being a concept band, the writing process and summer festivals.

OS:  First off, how did you get into music?

TS: I know a lot of people probably hear this, but my father was a musician.  Actually, it was my mother and father.  But, my mother decided that she didn’t really want to do it anymore.  So I grew up around my father and his songwriting and at the time, it seemed like the least appealing thing ever.  Then I guess I started to hear bands that I liked from Metallica to Guns ‘€˜N’ Roses and then got into the older stuff like Sabbath and Iron Maiden.  Eventually I got into even more classic stuff like Neil Young and I wanted to be a musician.  I realized I wanted to try it because I saw my dad doing it.  So I picked up one of the numerous guitars around the house and was like, ‘€œI’m gonna try that thing.’€ It’s been a passion of mine ever since.

OS: Through the years, you have told the story of Coheed and Cambria all while growing as musicians with side projects and as a group.  How has your personal growth manifested in the music and the story?

TS: Well, we’ve all grown as musicians in terms of musical growth.  In terms of personal growth through the concept, Claudio’s personal life has been dictating the outcomes of that concept throughout the years.  It’s very much a big part of it.  If you take The Year Of The Black Rainbow novel, however, it’s very concise and to-the-point introduction to a complex story.  You can follow every word and understand exactly what’s going on.  It still has parts of his real life in it.  Anyone who feels like they’ve been missing out before because they didn’t know where to start‘€” this is it because this is the beginning.  It is a prequel.  I think it’s the most to-the-point, even though it’s a long book.  It’s a perfect place for anyone to start digging into the concept.  Back to the growing part, I think really on The Year Of The Black Rainbowyou can just tell how everyone reaching into the bag and going back and taking some of their earlier sounds from the first albums and also adding in the new aspects of our individual playing.  On the other side of the coin, you have Chris who this is his first album to be able to record with us.   And you can his influences are all over the album.  So, that’s definitely played a huge part in how this album turned out.

OS:  So Claudio writes the hard copy story, but it needs to translate to music somehow.  How does the writing process go for you guys?

TS: Well, he’ll have the skeleton of the song and we’ll all write our parts around that and there’s been occasions where he and I will sit down and put the music together.  Usually with a lot of the songs, he already has the skeleton and lyrics and already gone in a direction, but the music can completely change when it comes to the band.  The lyrics most likely won’t, because he’s telling a story. But, the story doesn’t dictate what’ll be played musically.  His music is really influenced by real life experience, just like anyone else.  That’s why people who don’t give a shit about the concept whatsoever can still relate to our records.  When it comes to it, it’s a group collaborative in every angle.  Especially on this album everyone’s parts and every note is paid attention to so everyone felt happy.

OS: What would you say are the advantages and disadvantages of being a concept band?

TS: People sometimes won’t take it seriously because there’s this concept going on and sometimes people take it a little too seriously and it can get a little complicated.  You don’t have to read into it too much.  Like I said, you can enjoy us as a rock band and relate to us on the normal, ‘€œI can get it’€ level.  Whether it be about heartbreak or something about religion‘€”it’s masked by a concept and some people can’t get past that concept to accept the music on its own.  So sometimes we get judged quickly for that in reviews and such.  People just take a shit on something that we’ve done because it’s concept‘€”Dungeons and Dragons, which is bullshit.  We’ve never played Dungeons and Dragons, let alone it’s totally the opposite of the way the band is.  We are first and foremost all musicians and we’re very proud to have this concept going through the music because it’s very, very unique.  It’s a unique way to get your point out and get your music be more of an inclusion to the story.  Have the music have something extra so that the listener can feel more included in it.  The story makes it so that the listeners can indulge more in the music and become more involved in each song and each note and know what it means.

OS: How have you seen your audience grow with you guys as you’ve gotten bigger and your story’s progressed?

TS:  We have the best fanbase ever, so’€¦ Sometimes they can find it hard to take certain new things and be like ‘€œwhy did they go this direction?’€    For some people, it’s hard to see your favorite band change and go in a new way.  For me, I’ve always been a fan of seeing those bands change a little bit from album to album‘€”especially in classic records.  I mean, there are people who listen to Led Zeppelin and love that early sound and then Graffiti is their cutoff.  Then if you mention In Through The Out Door, it has the more kooky keyboards going on and they think that album doesn’t cut it.  But I love that album and I love it because it’s different.   Sometimes it’s hard for people to accept those changes and to have an open mind like that.  When I listen to our newest records, I actually think we have a lot of the old sound and old albums on it.  It’s probably because we did the Neverender endeavor where we played all 4 albums and released them on DVD.  I think that that affected our music more than the fans realize.  When we put new music out, there are so many ready to critique it.  I’ve been there before and done the same thing.  Sometimes in this day and age with everything at our fingertips, I guess they’re more prone to be a critic right away.  I think the fact is that most of our fans, it’s been a grower.  They’ll listen to the album a couple times and then come back to it and get blown away and get really excited about it.  I think it’ll be that way with a lot of the people because there’s a lot to take in.   But once you take it in, I would hope that it’s inevitable that it will grab you.

OS: I think what’s going to pull people in even more is your video series giving insight to each track of this new album.  How did you get the idea to give fans an explanation of where you’re coming from with album?

TS: Honestly Kathryn, I think has to do with the way things are with the Internet.  You’ve got to brainstorm and be like, ‘€˜Okay, how do we work with the way things are?’ Because we love giving things to our fans.  We always have and we’ve always wanted to make them as happy as possible.  It’s almost like we’re working with the times because everyone’s looking for that extra thing now.  Music is so easy to get, which in it’s own way could be sad.  At the same time, it’s music.  You have to get creative in finding other ways to make it more unique and more personal.  That’s why we find thing to make it more special.

OS: Well, as a fan, I’m interested in what you have planned next.  Now that you’ve gone back and done a prequel, what will be the next step?

TS: Right now, we’re just really excited to be touring on this record because we’re so proud of it.  Within the concept, I know there are so many different angles we could go with.  There’s this whole universe that Claudio has developed and we can explore things in there or we could just record a regular rock album.  I hate to skim the top, but really the sky is the limit.

OS: Speaking of touring, I got the chance to catch you guys at Coachella in 2010.

TS: With USC? That was awesome!  That was a lot of fun playing with the marching band.

OS: How did that come together?

TS: Pete Stall, who works in our management, approached them because they had already played ‘€œWelcome Home.’€  It was a no-brainer.  We wanted to do something special for Coachella and they already knew the song so we put the combination together and we have a really fun experience.  A lot of bands have done that before especially with USC.  Fleetwood Mac did it and Outkast used them.  It was a lot of fun’€¦ a lot of fun.  It was one of the highlights of being in the band for me.

OS: What is your favorite song to play live?

TS: Right now, I’m really enjoying playing ‘€œWorld of Lines.’€  It’s been a lot of fun, but it changes night to night.  Obviously, ‘€œWelcome Home’€ is a blast to play because we feed off each other from fan to band.  Everyone knows that song and goes buck wild and it’s a blast.  It always feels like brand new.

The Dirty Dishes have made quite a stir in Boston over the last year.  Between rocking the Converse sponsored stage at SXSW, being hand-picked by Passion Pit as one of Boston’s best bands, and being nominated as a “Best New Act” by The Phoenix, the group has garnered more than their fair share of attention.  Playing their own brand of brooding shoegaze, The Dirty Dishes walk the tightrope between the snarl of rock and pop’s melodic sensibilities. Tastemakers sat down with them after their set at the two day B.O.M.B. Fest music festival to discuss their recent successes, their In The Clouds EP, and plans for the future.

Tastemakers Magazine (TMM):  So you all attend Berklee School of Music.  Is that how you met?

Dirty Dishes  (DD): No, we met out in Boston through a bunch of mutual friends.  Mike and I played in a different band a long time ago… (laughs)

TMM:  You’ve been making music for about two years now?

DD: Yeah, I guess so.  In the fall of 2008 we were first like “Oh, let’s have a band,” but we didn’t play a show until the beginning of 2009.

TMM: Your EP (Stolen Apples) came out about a year and a half ago.  How has the reception been and how are things shaping up for your forthcoming release?

DD: Well In The Clouds was really haphazard.  We recorded it in a bunch of different places.  Drums and guitar were recorded in Mike’s basement, bass was done in Jay’s room and we even did some vocals in the back of our van. (laughs)  It was a bit weird but we worked really hard on it.  I guess the reception’s been well because we’re almost out of it!  We’re pleasantly surprised; we didn’t think anyone would listen to it.

The new one…we have no…we’re working on it.  We’re done tracking most of the stuff.  We still have to track vocals and do a bunch of shit.  We have to mix it, that will take a while.

TMM: Is that being recorded a bit more consistently or are you doing it in scattered sessions?

DD: We did it all in one studio, except for vocals, in Wooly Mammoth in Waltham.

TMM: Nice.  How do you like B.O.M.B. Fest so far?  Have you been on the festival circuit for long?

DD: It’s fun.  We haven’t done too many festivals.  We just got done with a two month tour in February and March so this is one of our first festivals.  Well, we’ve done South by Southwest the last two years and then North by Northeast.  But we like playing outside!

TMM: How was the second go around at SXSW?  It seems like it’s pretty grueling…

DD: It gets better every year.  We did eight shows in three days and that was an experience.  A good one, but a lot of work.   It was nice having people load our gear for us!

TMM: I’ve heard that SXSW can be a bit of a crapshoot in terms of who’s coming out to your shows and if you’re reaching the people you need to reach.  Do you feel like SXSW has been helpful for you?

DD: Oh hell yeah.  Way more than last year.

TMM: So you feel that it was better the second time?

DD: Yeah, we had more shows, but the first time was pretty sick.  We had a nice crew with other bands that are from our scene and had more friends out there.  That was awesome.

TMM: Any standout memories?

DD: We did a Converse showcase that I liked because it was outside.  It was on a roof right off of the main street.  It was a lot of fun.  The museum show was awesome too…

TMM: A museum?

DD: Yeah, the Austin Museum of Art.

TMM:  Wow, how big is that space?

DD:  You could fit a couple hundred people in that room.  It was packed.

TMM: I saw you played a show with Mike Watt (ex-The Minutemen).  Was that a full tour or just a show?

DD: Yeah, we played with them at TT The Bear’s.  They were super awesome and nice.  We were surprised.  He came up and met us individually and the rest of the band were great too.

TMM: Was that a weird crowd to play for?  He seems to play a sort of jazz/punk hybrid that doesn’t fit with your sound.

DD: The crowd was older, but everyone was so nice and the reception was good.  After our first song everyone just stared.   I feel like like no one clapped.  But then by the end everyone was so into it.  We sold a lot of CDs.  We like playing for different audiences because we’ve sort of run dry our main spots in Boston.

TMM:  Have you been making an effort to tour outside of Boston?  Are you seeing certain cities are supportive of your sound?

DD: Maybe not a whole city, but certain shows.  We played Portland, Maine and we’re going back there tomorrow and they are so receptive and good people.  We did a lot of DIY spots when we toured in February and March and some places are just way more open, like Strasburg, VA.   We played in Alex’s cousin’s  kitchen and we were like, “Hey we’re touring and we need a place to play” and he’s like “Alright, come to my house” and we get there and he says “I thought we’d just play in the kitchen!”  So we set up in the kitchen with the band we were touring with, Grass is Green, and played with Alex’s cousin’s hardcore band.  The reception was unbelievable.  We were all really surprised.

TMM:  Aside from the EP that you guys are piecing together, what else is coming down the pipeline?  Any big shows or tours that you’re lining up for the summer?

DD: We’re playing a festival in Brooklyn called the Northside Festival in June with the band that we were touring with, Grass Is Green.   We’re also playing at Great Scott  in late July but we’re mostly focused on recording and playing shows in the New England area outside of Boston.   We love playing Boston but we feel bad making our friends come to see us… (laughs)

TMM: Will you be self releasing the EP?

DD: Yeah, probably…unless someone really cool wants to help us get it pressed and help us push it.  We did the last one all by ourselves so it worked [and] it’s likely we can do it again.

TMM: How’s Band Camp working for you guys?  Do you see a lot of people buying your record through there or mostly streaming it?

DD:  Well, we’ve noticed that with Band Camp vs. iTunes, people are way more likely to buy the entire album with Band Camp.  People on iTunes will buy a song or two and on Band Camp they’ll buy the album.  Band Camp’s awesome.

TMM:  Alright, thanks guys!  Have fun for the rest of the day.  Who are you guys looking forward to seeing?

DD: Best Coast, definitely.  I was looking forward to seeing George Clinton…

TMM: Weezer?

DD: Oh hell yeah.

TMM: Blue Album or Pinkerton?

DD: Both.  What do you think they’ll play?

TMM: Probably everything…

DD: Everything but the Blue Album.  Where do you think they’re hanging out?

TMM: I figured they’d be with you guys!

DD: Well if you see them, tell them to call us.

Despite our best efforts, we weren’t able to reach Weezer.

The Dirty Dishes will be performing alongside Grass is Green at the Northside Festival in Brooklyn, New York on on June 18-19th.  They’ll also be at Great Scott with Craft Spells and Garden & Villa on July 31.  You can download their debut In The Clouds EP at Bandcamp.

Tastemakers Magazine (TMM): So I guess the main thing people are interested in right now is how the full length is coming.

Cale Parks (CP): It’s good man, we’ve been making a dent in all the songs that we’ve been  [writing], and narrowing down which songs to put on it. We started and we had [only] four songs and made all these demos and put them on Myspace. Then after that we had a bunch of songs we played live but no proper releases. We just kept writing songs since last year. We were just analyzing what could be on the album and there’s like 27 or 28 songs that we’re picking from’€¦ and we keep writing more. But we’re trying to sift through all the rubbish and pick the ones that make the most sense together on an album. We’re going to try to record it when we get back from tour and we’ll see how that’s going to be released.

TMM: Is there the potential to do something like a B-sides or double album with all the leftovers?

CP: Maybe. I feel like an album has to be something that has a flow to it and a theme spreading through out. I think the stuff we’re getting rid of is the stuff that doesn’t really fit, so maybe a double album may not be the best thing. Some B-sides to send to our fans on our mailing list might be better. Having a bunch of songs is never a bad thing

TMM: Can we expect to hear those live this tour?

CP: Mhmm. We’re going to be doing a bunch of the new material on this tour. We may only be doing one or two of the songs that were on our initial demo [plus] the two songs on our 7 inch and some of the stuff for the album.

TMM: I’m excited to hear how it sounds.

CP: I feel like it’s getting more mellow. More thought is going in to it.

TMM: That get’s me thinking about how I first heard of BRAHMS. It was when Stereogum featured you as the artist to watch about a year ago. You had only been together for three months and the band was very fresh.

CP: Yeah it was maybe too fresh. I don’t want to say it wasn’t realized; I think it was realized for what it was then but it wasn’t what it is now. I’m glad we took the time and didn’t really rush a full length or anything. We’re still working on it. It’s a painful process figuring out a lot of things within the band. We all write different songs and different things, especially [our guitarist] Drew [Montag Robinson] and I are coming up with ideas and areas where my weaknesses show very strong in those areas and vice versa. It works well together.

TMM: BRAHMS is an interesting name. It immediately evokes the composer and it makes you a little hard to search. Was that intentional?

CP: We didn’t want to make it difficult for people. I have a million reasons why BRAHMS, to me. I studied music classically, and in college as well, and always admired Brahms’ music. I loved how rich and lush his melodic themes were compared to other classical composers, especially the three Bs of Beethoven, Bach, and Brahms. His are just my favorite. I threw the name out there, when we were forming the band, in an email chain between all of us that was like 50 messages long. It was the first one that we all unanimously agreed on, but then we tried to make it all caps to differentiate [on iTunes]. That’s sort of why we did that. Drew also puts it simply; he has a relaxed way of looking at it. He just says ‘€˜We took the name from a dead person who didn’t need it anymore.’

TMM: So you weren’t being difficult?

CP: We weren’t trying to make it difficult for people to search for our music. We were just trying to do something that fit with our sound. He was sort of a deep romantic thinker with lush themes. I feel that with a lot music today, especially a lot of new electronic music, melodies don’t always come through. The melodies aren’t always that rich and I feel like people focus on weird samples and delays and all these things and you can’t understand the lyrics. And there’s that whole chillwave thing that was happening for a while. They’re good melodies but they’re not insanely catchy. So writing a line [with] really catchy tunes [is] behind it too and that’s sort of how Brahms did it.

TMM: Electronic and classical music are not typically mentioned in the same breath. Thinking about the intersection of the two what is your philosophy on live electronic performances and the use of backing tracks?

CP: Man, that’s a really good one. It’s really weird for me to say this because I did solo music for a couple of years. I relied on laptops and backing tracks when I would perform live because it was just me. But now when I see a band with five people on stage or like three, or sometimes seven  (of Montreal) with a laptop playing the majority of their crazy arrangements and sounds I don’t understand why. It’s almost like [the point] when they cross over and start to get really big is when they have backing tracks, especially with bands using electronics now. I don’t necessarily agree with it now. If there is a time that there is a song that BRAHMS just cannot do without having backing tracks or a laptop then so be it. Right now we don’t use any of that. It’s all an analog drum machine’€¦ which attaches to my mic stand’€¦ which is sometimes hard to control and it gets kind of static because I can’t do five things at once and control it. We don’t really have the funds or ability right now to add another person. We rely on a very heavy live energy when performing in public. There’s no backing tracks.

The electronic music that I really love is the European techno or ambient, nondescript synth music that doesn’t really cross over to club worlds, unless it’s an electronic club, and you don’t really have people singing pop melodies over it. It’s a fine line to ride between truly sophisticated electronic music and pop songs. When you sing over really cool beats sometimes it can be nice, sometimes it can be cheesy so, I don’t know what I like and what I hear. I’m sorry that’s probably too much information.

TMM: Oh no that’s perfect. Thank you for your time.

BRAHMS is in Allston Friday (2/25) opening for Asobi Sesku at Brighton Music Hall. Go to www.BRAHMSband.com to sign up for the mailing list and see when BRAHMS is playing in your city.

Tastemakers Magazine (TMM): Your last two albums, Hush and Rewolf, were both called departures from what you broke out with in Citrus.  Hush was more stripped down and Rewolf was all-acoustic.  When you recorded Fluorescence, did you have this in mind?

James Hanna (JH): We tried not to.  I think it just reflects where we were at — a kind of ‘€œgo-for-broke’€ thing where we put every guitar we could possibly imagine on every song, and then tracked some other stuff.   And now we’re getting more into playing live again and being a little more raucous.

TMM: And was it easy to get back to the electric sound after recording and touring all the acoustic stuff for Rewolf?

JH: Yeah’€¦the acoustic stuff was cool but it was never supposed to be anything more than pretty much a once off thing.  It was something that kind of just happened but it was fun.  It was definitely like ‘€œdoing a thing,’€ and not our primary identity.

TMM: I’ve listened through Fluorescence a few times and it seems like it’s a bit of a departure from your last few albums. You have a lot more synth, some programmed beats, and a song like ‘€œMy Baby’€ is really poppy in comparison to other songs of yours.  How do you go about crafting these new songs, and how do you decide what will be included or cut from a track once you have a rough idea?

JH: I don’t know.  It’s always kind of different.  We started working on the songs I guess a year ago, just me and Yuki, me playing a lot of drums badly and her playing synth, so I think that may be part of the reason why the synth figures more prominently.  It was just the place we were at.  It was pretty energetic.

TMM: Recently, a lot of people have been remixing the new single ‘€œTrails,’€ such as Holy Other, Painted Palms and Deerhoof.  How did that all end up happening?

JH: It kind of just all came together.  I mean, record companies have plans for stuff like that, and we just thought of some people we’d like to have remix it and they said yes’€¦and we were really really flattered that they would do it.  And for free nonetheless!

TMM: Did you have the same experience with [graphic designer] Vaughn Oliver who did the cover art?

JH: Yeah.  I think he was really excited to work with us.  He has been around a bit, so he certainly was not going to work for free, but he really liked the record and we sort of just ripped him out of the blue.  We just found his email address online and he wrote us back.

TMM: You’re about to start another U.S. tour.  Care to share a tour experience that sticks out in your mind.  The good, the bad, the terrible’€¦

JH: We just did a tour of Asia, which was incredible.  And we got stuck in traffic in Indonesia for like fifteen hours.  They said there was going to be traffic and that it was going to rain, and I thought it was just going to rain and have a little traffic.  But what it meant was that the whole city was going to flood and our car wasn’t going to move for about half the day.   But somehow, we go through it.

Be sure to check out Asobi Seksu’s newest album Fluorescence (out now) and their 2/25 show with BRAHMS at Brighton Music Hall in Allston!

The Australian band, An Horse, is only made up of Kate Cooper and Damon Cox, but the full rich sound they craft makes for something so much more than one could imagine a two-member band to be capable of. The soaring, sincere choruses and the confidence of the two as they opened for acts like Silversun Pickups, Tegan and Sara, Kaki King, and Death Cab For Cutie, have caught the attention of many. The band has been taking advantage of the opportunity to tour the U.S and Canada since the release their EP, Not Really Scared. As they realized that An Horse would become something bigger than what they could have created while just touring Australia, they went back to the studio to create their first LP, Rearrange Beds, in 2009. Kate and Damon are now planning on releasing their second album in Spring 2011.

Tastemakers Magazine (tmm): I know that Sara Quin (of Tegan and Sara) is a huge fan and I was wondering if she had a part with your new record?

Kate Cooper (KC): Yes, she’s actually our A&R assistant, so she was there to begin with. She’s done everything from day one, so she’s seen the songs develop and kind of pushed it to develop. And then when we were in the studio, she was hearing mixes and drops of the songs and commented about it, so yes. She was fairly heavily involved.

tmm: You recorded in Australia last time, but didn’t you record in Vancouver for this record?

KC: Yes, we recorded in Vancouver over the summer.

tmm: Also, the last record was full of heartbreak, but did you find yourself in a different place during the writing of this record?

KC: Yes, I think that’€¦there’s heartbreak on this one, but it’s a different type of heartbreak. It’s very hard for me to write a happy song, but I am really happy. (laughs) But there was a lot going on during the record that was kind of nifting with my head.

tmm: I have heard that you’ve moved to Montreal. Are you permanently moved there?

KC: I go back to Australia a lot. Yes, technically I live in Australia, but I’m actually living in Toronto at the moment. It was actually a couple months ago because my partner has moved here. I get back to Australia usually two or three times a year and then I tour a lot, and then when I’m off touring I’m in Canada.

tmm: Do you find that you are away from Damon more often, making it harder during the writing process, or does it really matter?

KC: It doesn’t really matter. We just e-mail each other demos and then when we need to be in the same place, we’re in the same place. In fact, I was in Australia in March and we wrote and recorded. I had demoed several weeks before then and then we got together and wrote together. Then we kind of arranged it together and people in Vancouver united for a couple of weeks for preproduction. I think because we tour, we can live anywhere. It would be different if more people were in the band, but with two of us it’s really easy.

tmm: You are a big reader, and I know that you find some inspiration through your reading’€¦

KC: Fairly all of it.

tmm: Could you tell us what you were reading during your writing process of the new record?

KC: That’s a really tricky question. I’m trying to think what I was reading’€¦ I think I was reading the ‘€œRun Rabbit Run’€ series, really depressing. I was reading Raymond Chandler because I like to reread him a lot. I was actually reading a really depressing book. Let me get the name of it because I actually threw it out of a window of a tour van. I was reading it on tour and then I threw it out the window because it was so depressing. It was ‘€œThe Grapes of Wrath’€. It’s kind of a bummer. If you’re feeling bummed, don’t read that book.

tmm: It doesn’t look like you have anything planned for 2011. Is there anything you hoped to do this year or anything you know you are going to do this year?

KC: I know lots of things, but they’re all secrets.

tmm: Oh man, I guess I won’t get it from you today, but I know you did SXSW two years in a row. Would you consider doing SXSW again or any other festivals this year?

KC: We would consider any festival. A bunch of them are great and really fun to play.

An Horse have confirmed their return to America at New Jersey’s Bamboozle Festival this summer and the new album, Walls, will be available in April. We’ll keep an eye out for more festival announcements.

Tastemakers Mag: Tell us about your new record and the IAMLOVEDRUG effort.

Thomas Bragg (bass): We met, we became friends, we traveled, we played jokes on each other, we got a little crazy, we loved, we lost, we drank, we fought, we became better friends and somewhere in there we wrote a lot. This record is so important because we became a real band; a better band. This time we wrote with purpose and an understanding of who are fans are and what they believe we’re capable of. This record is about feeling connected.

Jeremy Michael Gifford (guitar/synth): Honestly, this is our most important record. We’ve pushed ourselves to write the best songs we can. This album is an exploration of places we weren’t able to go to before. We’ve honed in on a sound. We’ve matured as a band. We’re ready to do this. This is our rebirth.

Michael (vocals/guitar): It’s important to us because we feel as though this is a new beginning for us and for our sound. We’re excited and want to be able to share it with everyone. We aren’t the type of artists that are satisfied making art for ourselves: we don’t sit around in our kitchens listening to ourselves saying “wow, listen to how cool we are”. We like the idea of commercial success. There have always been pop elements to what we do. We want everyone in the world to know who we are and to give our music a listen. We believe in what we are doing and love it. Now we just want everyone else to as well. Our fans have stuck with us through the many years of ups and downs. We owe [it] to them to make this record and through this PledgeMusic campaign the fans are making this record a possibility.

James Childress (drums): The songs that are going to be on this next record are so important to me. We have done our best to capture our emotions and make it in to musical candy. We want people to move and feel a little sexy when they listen to it. I feel these songs will do that. There comes a time as a musician when you want to look back on your past and say “I was a part of that.’€ that’s what this feels like to me.

Today is the last day to pledge. For previews, exclusives, and to donate to the cause, head to www.IAMLOVEDRUG.com.

ZeeK is a Boston rapper and producer whose latest EP, The Sounds Of Elevation, is available for free download now.

Tastemakers Magazine (TMM): Did you come from outer space? Where were you born? And what inspired you to start making music like this?

ZeeK: I’m from Boston- Roxbury, Massachusetts. My full name is Ezekiel Akinwumi.

TMM: So that’s where the moniker came from- ZeeK? Do your friends call you that?

ZeeK: Yeah.

TMM: Makes sense. What about any musical inspirations? Growing up, what did you listen to?

ZeeK: When I was younger, I listened to a lot of Jay-Z, Kanye West. I listen to a lot of young artists too, like Drake.  I like B.o.B.

TMM: What’s interesting about ZeeK, if you don’t know, is that he produces all of the tracks that he raps on, which is pretty awesome, especially because the music is great. So how did you get into production? Is it something that went hand-in-hand with rapping?

ZeeK: I started producing music back when I was 14 years old.  My father is a musician, so a lot of music that I like is from him. I learned a lot about composing music from him, ‘€˜cause he was the leader of a band. So when I was 14, I started composing music.

TMM: What kind of applications do you use on your computer? How do you throw beats together?

ZeeK: I use Fruity Loops.

TMM: What’s that like?

ZeeK: It’s like Garageband, but it’s much easier. It’s real easy to use.

TMM: Can you describe your sound for people who’ve never been to a show or heard your EP?

ZeeK: You’ll get straight hip-hop, you’ll get a little bit of pop, a little bit of alternative. You’ll get something that’ll make you dance.

TMM: What were you thinking when you released The Sounds Of Elevation for free digital download instead of charging people for it or trying to service it to labels? Do you think it’s something that’s more par for the course among hip-hop artists nowadays? You give out a mix tape, you get feedback, you gain a following?

ZeeK: I mean, that’s basically what I wanted. I wanted more people to listen to it because earlier this year, I dropped a mix tape called The Fly Society Mix Tape, and a lot of people reviewed it. And to me, they critiqued it the best way. I took it. Some of them said I sounded like a lot of artists who are out there right now, so with this project, I wanted to switch it up. I wanted to bring me, bring the real me so they can’t say I sound like somebody else. So that’s why I decided to put it out for free, so people can hear it.

TMM: That being said, what do you think comes across on The Sounds Of Elevation? As a complete package, what do you hope listeners get out of it? What do you think, overall, is the message or the sound?

ZeeK: That I’ve gotten better. That’s what I want them [listeners] to say after they listen to it. ‘€œHe got better. I’m really digging this, I’m really liking it.’€ To look forward to a new one. That’s why I was looking forward to it.

TMM: Where do you get fan feedback from? You have a Twitter handle, you have a Facebook, and you have a Myspace, which are critical nowadays for artists to have.

ZeeK: Well I get it back from locals. People from out in this area- really, people hit me up and say, you know, ‘€œReally good EP.’€ I just get like really random feedback from different people, and I feel happy about it because I feel like I’m really doing something. Where I’m going, I feel like I’m really doing something.

TMM: What about other figures in the industry or your friends, part of your crew? Where do you get feedback from other musicians? Do you have a mentor or two in your life?

ZeeK: Well yeah. Before anyone hears it, I play my music to my team- my SOS team, my SOS Boston team. I play it to them first, to see what they say.

TMM: Can you clarify for our readers: What is SOS Boston? What does it stand for? What does it do?

ZeeK: SOS Boston stands for ‘€œSave Our Souls’€ Boston. It’s a group of my boys who came together to display creativity and art, and they’re branching out now to collaborate with other artists, with video production. First they started out doing tee shirts, but now they’re creating videos.

TMM: So they’re kind of a resource for local or underground artists who need collaborators or need a push, right?

ZeeK: Right.

^ZeeK performing “We On” live @ The Middle East on 10.6.10^

TMM: A couple weeks ago, I heard from a bunch of people that his performance at the Middle East here in Boston was very live, and that’s unique in-and-of itself because the venue is typically one that houses rock acts, rock artists, and of course, you’re from the hip-hop realm. What can we expect to see as fans and listeners in the next year? What’s going on with ZeeK?

ZeeK: You can expect to see more shows, more music. And look out for that new video that we just finished shooting, ‘€œGo,’€ off my EP.

TMM: Where can we find all this information and get up-to-date?

ZeeK: You can find it at SOSBoston.com, and you can check out my new blog, ZeeKisdope.blogspot.com.

For even more info on ZeeK, check out his Myspace, Facebook & Twitter pages, and be sure to download The Sounds of Elevation EP.

Special thanks to ZeeK’s manager Samson Awoson for producing this video Q&A.