MP3: Wouldn’t Wanna Be Ya
MP3: Let Us Play Your Party

When I heard that Seattle’s The Spits are dropping a new LP – their fourth – on the 4th of July, I smiled… That smile was brought on by a couple of different reasons. One – I, like many others, thought there might never be a NEW Spits LP, since the band went on a hiatus due to some of it’s members moving to different cities and getting involved in other projects. Two – there is no more appropriate band to celebrate our great country’s birthday with then The Spits. Why? Because to this humble fan The Spits are what America is all about – taking back alleys, playing parties, drinking beers and being weird.

To those of you who are not in the know, The Spits play the most basic type of punk rock, reminiscent of the great Ramones with a splash of new wave and a whole lot of FUN! The perfect soundtrack for a killer party gone out of control. They bring it live as well. I’ve seen them play a show at our very own Bobo Street where those in attendance, myself included, would not let them of the stage until they played every song that was yelled out at them. So if you get a chance, shell out the dough at the door and never look back. Also make sure to pick up all four of their self-titled LP’s and a singles comp called 19 Million AC. You’ll thank me later!

The Spits were gracious enough to answer some questions for us via e-mail. Also they attached a killer track Wouldn’t Wanna Be Ya from the new album for us to enjoy (link above). So, here we go!

You and Sean are from Kalamazoo, MI originally. When and why did you guys re-locate to Seattle?

Sean and I had been traveling the country for a long time, separately and together, working as dishwashers and just seeking our fortune in general. When we landed in Seattle in the early nineties, the city had just the right combination of music, chicks, mountains and thrift stores. We knew we had found our new home.

When and how did the Spits start?

Well, Aleks, it was your classic “Boy meets girl, girl loves boy, boy goes to college for degree in 17th century French literature, boy drops out of college, girl leaves boy, boy hits girl, boy goes to jail for assault, boy gets out of jail and goes on 13-day vision quest with the Ayuhuasca shamans of the Amazon, boy starts band, band turns music world upside down and single-handedly rejuvenates punk genre, girl wants back with boy, boy sleeps with girl one more time and then sleeps with her sister in girl’s house and videotapes it, girl becomes murderous with rage, boy goes on long tours with band in Europe and U.S. to stay one step ahead of vengeful girl, boy blah, blah blah….” We’ve all been there. (more…)

MP3:Matt & Kim-Yea Yeah (Flosstradamus Remix Final)

Flosstradamus are playing at the Venue(Club Karma/Redzone) Saturday, June 20th along with DJ Detox, and CJ Townsend..

Flosstradamus are a deejay/remix duo from Chicago that has been doing it big for couple years now. They exist in the weird hybrid Electro/Juke whatever the fuck you call it world that has you playing Lollapalooza one day, and a small club date the next.

I spoke to half of them, J2k aka Young Josh aka Kid Sister’s brother on the phone when I was hanging out at the MilkBar a couple days ago. (J2K is the one with the Slingshot) J2k talked about their worst show, working with De La Soul, the backpack vs. hipster dynamic, and his love for midwest crowd.

what’s good with you?

J2K:Just played Los Angeles last night.

How was it ?

It was cool. The crowd was like 1200 people. It was a blast. It was fun.

Is that your usual turn-out on the West Coast?

It varies. We are playing at a club that holds 600 people in San Diego tonight.

What was your wackest deejay experience?

I wouldn’t say it was the wackest…We were at DJ AM’s club LAX. The people were not into it at all. It was a jiggy crowd. After about Ten minutes some girl told us we sucked. We got booted off the tables. Everyone hated us.

Did you still get paid?

Yeah. Of course. We went back 6 months later and killed it.

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(Duffy note: We’re really happy to have Aleks Shaulov, known to many as the guitarist for The Feelers, writing for donewaiting.com. Expect lots more punk rock coverage, obviously.)

MP3: Laguna Beach Rules
MP3: Bolder Than

I heard Vegetative State for the first time a few years ago, when they befriended my old band on Myspace. Immediately my cohorts and I thought that we’ve stumbled on to something awesome. Here were real teenagers, playing real teenage angst driven honest to gawd punk rock with no extra flab, kick, catch, or whatever else you could think of to make it “fresh” or “current”. Soon after, we asked them to play a show with us. A little bit later the label that my friends JG, Mindy and I were running put out their 1st EP. But before we did that, we had to have a meeting with some of their parents at the White Castle, to which we showed up hung over as fuck!!! They were around sixteen at the time and it was understood that parents know best. Since then they’ve smashed more guitars, shocked more innocent bystanders, broken up and re-started again more times then Ol’ Man Hank Rollins got laid.

The band is celebrating the release of their new album tonight at Carabar. Sick Thrills and Necropolis are also playing. Here’s all of the dirt and more as I sit down with the lead singer of VS, Andrew Wagner.

Where does the name come from?

AW: Originally we were called Kamikaze Motor Cult. I came up with that. I thought it was really cool, but we were really young at the time and we kind of thought it was stupid, because nobody liked us at the time, because we were playing at the wrong bars. So, then we changed our name to The Problems. We all knew it was a temporary name. This was all around the time the Terry Schaivo controversy was going on and so I had the bright idea that we’d name the band Vegetative State and have the whole “duuuuuuuh ” (drool) thing be the gag…that and abortion. (more…)

Show info: Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit / Deer Tick perform at the Rumba Cafe on Friday, March 6. Tickets are $10 (advance) / $12 (at the door) and the show is 18 and over (under 21 pays a $2 surcharge).

(Jason is also playing SXSW)

Ex-Drive-By Trucker guitarist Jason Isbell and his band – The 400 Unit – released their self-titled album in mid-February . It’s Isbell’s second post-DBT release but the first where he’s put a name to the guys backing him up. And it’s with good reason that he gives credit where credit is due – the 400 Unit brings a consistency to Isbell’s sound, a consistency that was lacking (a bit) on his 2007 debut, Sirens of the Ditch. Don’t get me wrong, I loved that album and went so far as to call it one of 2007’s most “outstanding country-influenced rock albums” but it sounded exactly like what it was – a culmination of years worth of songs that had been brewing in Isbell’s head.

With less time to write, and more input and influence from his band, Isbell’s latest sounds like the fully realized vision of an accomplished Southern songwriter and contains some of Isbell’s strongest compositions to date (”Sunstroke,” “Good,” “No Choice in the Matter” and “The Last Song I Will Ever Write” are personal favorites).

MP3: Sunstroke

I sent Isbell some questions via his publicist a few weeks ago. Read the interview after the jump.

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It’s a big day for The Damnwells. At 9 a.m., the band will release it’s third full-length CD, One Last Century, exclusively through Paste Magazine’s website. Fans of the band’s first two releases will want to download the new CD for tracks like “55 Pictures”, “Bastards of Midnight” and “Down with the Ship” while those who just recently discovered the band due to their inclusion on the Chaos Theory soundtrack will undoubtedly fall in love with “Jesus Could Be Right”, “Closer”, and “WWXII”.

My personal favorite is “Like It Is”, which Alex first debuted in a YouTube video accompanied by his wife Angela on backing vocals. As you listen to it, just imagine the Dixie Chicks providing backing vocals, banjo, and violin.

MP3: “Like It Is”

On the eve of the virtual release, I gave Alex a call at his (temporary) home in Iowa where he is attending The University of Iowa’s Writers’ Workshop. The following is our close-to-40-minute conversation.

MP3: Interview with Alex Dezen

And in SXSW news, Alex revealed that The Damnwells will play an unofficial day party hosted by September Gurl, Organic Entertainment, and Ripple Entertainment on March 18 at Threadgills (South Store).  More info as we get it.

Now get to downloading One Last Century. (available after 9 a.m.)

When ex-Dipset member Chubby Baby left the C-O,  the rotound alleged drug kingpin left a large void in the hearts of Columbus.  Don’t get me wrong. People still fuck with the Dips. (Really looking forward to Cam’ron next video, “I Used to Get it in Ohio)

 But the Dipset presence was partially diminished by not  having a local lieutinant. This absence was soon filled by Atlanta Trap-star Gucci Mane. Gucci didn’t live in Columbus. But he came here so often it seemed like he did. Then, oops,Gucci Mane got locked up again. Gucci’s penchant for incarceration put the sentiment of our cities’  tall tee, fresh fade and  J’s crowd with his So Icey-bff Atlanta’s O.J. Da Juiceman.

I talked to O.J. on the phone yesterday about various things. We chopped it up about his new album the Other Side of the Trap, him getting shot 8 times, hustling with Gucci Mane, and Souljah Boy biting his adlibs.

Columbus loves you. Why do you think we fuck with you so hard. People love the Cuilinary Arts Mixtapes?

They see me working the skreets. I did 16 mixtapes. Skreet shit.  I did this independent. I’m from the skreets. The skreets feel my struggle.

So What’s the Other Side of the Trap?

It’s a skreet album. Before I was doing mixtapes. But this is me. 100 percent. I was in the skreets before. Now I am making rap money. The Other Side is rap money. This is letting them get to know me. I got another album in June.

Do you worry that now you are on a Major people are gonna get mad?

No cause the skreets saw me build this success. This is just a distribution deal. I been doing this in skreets since 1999. 16 Mixtapes. They happy to see me shine.

Is the album better than the mixtapes?

I had more time. I am a quick writer. More time made the album better.

You have a song the on the album called Batman. After you got shot 8 times in April, you compared yourself to Wolverine…

I was fucked up. They asked for a comment right after I got shot. So I made a joke about ‘I’m like Wolverine’. Shot on Sunday. Out the hospital on Wednesday. Show on Sunday.I just get stronger. It was a joke. I got shot on Sunday. Got out the hospital on Wednesday. Did a show on Saturday in Cincinnati.

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No use in reinventing the wheel. Two Cow Garage has gotten as much love on Donewaiting as just about any band short of Miranda Sound or Ted Leo so I’m not going to waste my time with a historical background or even a song-by-song analysis of the new record, Speaking in Cursive, the band’s first for what has quickly become one of my favorite labels, Suburban Home. What I will say – in way of an intro – is that just as with previous Two Cow CDs, it took me a few listens to really get into the songs, probably (no, not probably, DEFINITELY) because I have yet to hear these songs played live.  But after a few spins, the CD has really, really grown on me.

The Two Cow live experience – all the blood, sweat and tears – is as fine better than 99.9% of the other bands out there trying to make it by relentless touring. Even despite some potential line-up setbacks (read Deville’s cover story in the Alive), Two Cow soldiers on without letting it effect what they give back to the audience, regardless of size, hundreds of nights a year.

MP3: Brass Ring
MP3: Your Humble Narrator

Having just wrapped up a few weeks of tour dates, Two Cow Garage returns home for Saturday night’s Skully’s 7th Anniversary blowout where they’ll hit the stage at 9:20 (this show also serves as an official CD release party for Speaking in Cursive). Somewhere between Austin, Texas and Columbus, the fellas (Micah Schnabel, Shane Sweeney, Chris Flint, Andy Schell, and Cody Smith) answered questions I sent them via email about life on the road.

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Last time I wrote about Columbus rapper Envelope was a review of his release party. I put something out there that that might have sullied his image as the most likeable person in Columbus because it seemed more interesting than me repeating the press release SO..i figured he could answer any misconceptions that I may have created herre. I mean I never want to see a rapper take a dive like Greg Loughanis on my account. Just trying to keep it right. (more…)

My birthday was yesterday. I didn’t celebrate. My real present came Sunday night courtesy of Rob DeLuca, bassist for Sebastian Bach’s band, who hooked me up with killer seats for the Poison/Dokken/Sebastian Bach show at The Schott in Columbus. I’ve been a fan(atic) of DeLuca’s since his days slinging bass for Spread Eagle and though the band never blew up the way they should have, I still tell people about driving DeLuca and singer Ray West to a party in Akron after a Spread Eagle show at the Akron Agora in ‘90 or ‘91.

If you thinking about checking out one of the upcoming shows – there are still a month and a half of dates left – do yourself a HUGE favor and get your ass to the arena early to check out Baz and his band tear things up (here’s my review of the Columbus show).

After the jump … Rob DeLuca answers some questions I sent him via email on an off day on the tour.

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photo courtesy Holy Mountain Records

San Francisco’s Wooden Shjips are the quintessential Terrastock band. Fuzzy, loose around the edges and classically Psychedelic, their unique brand of head music draws equal inspiration from Japanese rock, Kraut, modern minimalism and their lysergic fathers from the American West. To put it simply, their discography is essential listening for anyone even remotely interested in the Psychedelic with a capital “P”. I caught up with mainman Ripley Johnson in anticipation of the first of what will hopefully be many Terrastock slots. This is my top festival pick.

After a flurry of releases in 2007, we’ve had about seven straight months with zero Shjips material. What gives?

We’ve been putting more energy into playing live, which is what we did in the first half of 2007 as well. We have a split 7″ with The Heads coming out, which will be available on our July tour with them in Europe. We’re also finishing up our 2nd LP for Holy Mountain, which will be available in the fall. And our early vinyl releases have been compiled as “Vol 1″, and is out on Holy Mountain in June. There should be another 7″ or two out this year.

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I’m pretty psyched to see Oneida. I’ve loved this band since I first laid my ears upon Come On Everybody Let’s Rock. Within there’s a song about cocaine that’s “profound.” But that was a while ago, and in the past decade Oneida has flown under the underground, doing exactly what they feel like doing. And doing Terrastock is something they should’ve been doing a long time ago. That decade has produced albums like the monolithic double LP Each One Teach One and their opus, The Wedding (a record made with industrial-sized, player-piano cylinders). To say they’ve been underappreciated is premature, just wait until your kids get a hold of these albums. Needless to say, the main attraction of Terrastock, besides a Simply Saucer reunion, is getting to finally see four of my head heroes in action (though they swear they played Bernies at one point). I caught up with Fat Bobby before some very prestigious shows in NYC.

Do you ever feel like you’ve reached a threshold of “epicness”? Like it’s getting harder and harder to top what you did last time?

Your question assumes a certain level of premeditation that just is not there in the creation of our music.

I remember a time when you were searching for a real harpsichord. Did you ever find it? What are you looking for these days?

Ha! You have an excellent memory. We did NOT find the harpsichord we wanted at the time we wanted it….and then, lo and behold, we stopped stressing, moved on, and recently an electric harpsichord (in terrible shape) has come into our lives. A classic example of chilling the fuck out and letting the universe have its way with you.

Not to dwell on Oneida’s past, but how did you get the idea to record The Wedding with giant music box cylinders? Did the process ever overshadow the recording of the songs? Were you happy with the results? Are we ever going to hear the raw tape from those sessions, the once promised “dub” version? (more…)

MP3: Blueprint vs. Funkadelic EP

Blueprint is giving away his new EP, Blueprint vs. Funkadelic, for free on this and a selected few sites. The cd is a limited run of 500. It can be purchased on Weightless.net and a couple stores around the country. I chopped it up with Print a couple nights ago as he prepared for his Wednesday release party at Cafe Bourbon Street in Columbus. We talked P-Funk, Aliens, the future of Weightless, and the Sean Bell Verdict.

I used to hate on the West Coast for using so much Funkadelic in the Early 90’s. Its kinda died down now. What made you gravitate towards devoting a whole project to it?

I felt it was kind of played as well, but what I think the difference is that a lot of what they sampled was actually Parliament, and not Funkadelic. Granted, they’re both groups that George Clinton started and lead, but the Funkadelic catalog wasn’t pillaged as much as the Parliament catalog because Parliament was more successful than Funkadelic.

Until recently I personally didn’t really know the difference because people always referred to them as P-Funk as if they were the same, but as I started to listen to Funkadelic’s catalog i realized it’s a lot different than Parliament’s catalog, and it also sounds different. Truthfully, I didn’t even put much thought into the creation of it. One day I was listening to an album of theirs and I heard all types of good breaks that hadn’t been used. That by itself changed my opinion about Funkadelic and made me really see how different the two groups were.

Whats the difference between Blueprint vs. Funkadelic and a Mash-up?

Well i think the standard “mash-up” is basically about taking vocals or lyrics that aren’t really new, and are fairly popular mixed with instrumentals that are already sort of popular and bringing the two worlds together. The stuff I’ve done with the Greenhouse vs Radiohead and now with the Blueprint vs Funkadelic project is more from a fan and producer’s perspective. I sit around listening to these records and I do them as a fan first. I just start making beats out of everything that i think is usable then i start putting rhymes to it. Sometimes the rhymes are songs that I’ve had lying around for a while, and other times they’re things i write to the beats. Sometimes there may be something that I start on a record like this and eventually flesh out and take a little bit further on another project I’m working on. It’s something that only takes me about a week or so to do because I try to really be in the moment with it, but sometimes the looseness of it is what really helps it comes together. I don’t want it to sound like i really thought it out. I want it to sound really fun and as lo-fi as possible. The only thing that prevented this project from coming out sooner was that I couldn’t find any audio interviews of the members of the bad talking for a while, but after I found that it really helped bring it together.

Who Flipped P-Funk The Best?

I’d say the D.O.C “Diggy Diggy Doc.

Your last solo album, 1988 sold like 15,000 copies. What did you decide to do a run of cd’s limited to 500 and give it away as a free download?

Truthfully it’s kind of an experiment. When I first started doing records i had this tendency to hold back for a special situation or time before I put things out, but I dont think that’s really necessary anymore because the model for getting music to people has changed so much.

Personally, I’m not into holding things back anymore. I love doing music too much. As an artist or label, you can determine the scope of a release much easier now than you could before and that’s kind of what I’m doing this for. It’s primarily for people who last heard me on 1988 and have been waiting on something new from me. Right now, I look at it as just one release of many that will start seeing the daylight. I want to see how people respond to this and hopefully people download it and share it with their friends if they like it. (more…)

The picture above is from a 2004 Killed In Action Show. The Catalyst is the guy standing on a table looking angry.

Anyway its 08, and his new mixtape, Fuck The Radio, is an instant classic. Dood has the voice and patterns of someone from the Rakim school. Bo has the humor and shock value of Big L and Eminem. He has the relevance of a T.I. or Wayne. And he can make social commentary like Rass Kass or Canibus. And he delivers it all with the clarity of Ludacris.

Sucks I put such a silly looking photo of him up there, huh. Cause dood could easily be the next great. Plus he reps the O-H, like iono, John Kasich. Anyway him and I got drunk and I documented the conversation. I am gonna completely misrepresent him by posting said interaction.

(The Catalyst will be performing tonight @ Cafe Bourbon Street. DJ Top Speed from Indy will be performing as well.)

Wes Flexner:Who is a bigger wigger Envelope or Copywrite?

The Catalyst:(Laughs)Definitely Pete(Copywrite). If I didn’t know Tony(Envelope) I wouldn’t be able to tell he even listened to rap on first impression.

WF:Why are you so fond of hanging out with wiggers?

TC:Cuz half of me is a huge wigger. The black side of me is an oreo. He’s comparable to that of Bryant Gumbel.The white side of me is a West Side Hilltop Resident with bangs.

WF:How does the blackside manifest itself?

TC:Through attempting to rap and occasionally smoking Newports while drunk.

WF:That doesnt sound like Byrant Gumble?

TC:Well see… that’s where it gets complex.the black side manifests itself through the white wigger. Cuz the black side isn’t black at all.The black side reads the Wall Street Journal while drinking lots of milk.And listening to Abba. And it has good credit.

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Any Cleveland metalheads out there? Back in the ’80s and early ’90s there were a couple of clubs on the West Side (Shadows, The “Real” Flash Gordon’s) where you’d likely hear live metal 7 nights a week- and I’m talking all sorts of different metal, from the poofy-haired spandex variety to blue jeans-and-leather-pants thrash. Something about Dead Child’s debut, Attack (Quarterstick Records), reminds me a lot of those days and those clubs and reading import copies of Kerrang and Aardshock that I’d occasionally find at Chris’s Warped Records or Shattered or My Generation.

Three of the 5 Dead Child members have spent time recording and/or touring as members of indie rock noise legends Slint, an almighty band in their own right but not exactly what one might call “metal”. Hell, if you’ve got an hour to read through the impressive resumes of the players on Attack, you might even call Dead Child a supergroup of sorts though, once again, you probably wouldn’t have guessed a band made up of these members would churn out basement metal that pays homage to the likes of Priest, Maiden, Metallica, and all the other obscure shit that never made it to MTV’s Headbanger’s Ball in 1987.

The most (only?) recognizable name in Dead Child is David Pajo (pictured wearing a vintage Dio t-shirt presumably many years ago) whose guitar playing career has included a full-time gig with Slint as well as temporary positions with Billy Corgan’s post-Smashing Pumpkins project (Zwan), Tortoise, Royal Trux and a few others. He’s also recorded more than a dozen solo albums under various names (Aerial M, Papa M, Pajo).

A comment by Jill Ebenezer in the Donewaiting message board (”You can file them under ‘taking a quarter off of college metal’ along with Sword, Mastodon, Early Man, 3 Inches of Blood, etc. Basically, ‘metal’ you can listen to and your mom won’t get upset aka safe metal) inspired one of the best interviews I think I’ve ever done (made great only by Pajo’s answers).

Before getting to the interview (a must-read if I do say so myself), take note Columbus metal fans: Dead Child will be playing this coming Friday night (April 18) headlining Ruby Tuesday’s (1978 Summit St) with support from Prosanctus Inferi, Sword Heaven, and deadsea.

MP3: Sweet Chariot

Message boards are lame, anonymous users with the freedom to say what they want without being held accountable. That being said, you’ve been taken to task by a few posters on the Donewaiting message board essentially as being a “fake” metal musician. And Dead Child has been mentioned in the same breath as bands who supposedly previously wouldn’t claim their “metalness”, if you will, but now are perceived as jumping on the bandwagon. So I ask you, Mr. Pajo, would you care to silence your anonymous, hiding behind a name, “critics”?

This is a bummer but I anticipated this kind of backlash. It’s a risk for us to call ourselves a metal band and it would be just as easy for us to drop it. But we set out to form a metal band so why refer to it as anything else? I’m trying to get away from this elitist bullshit! Besides, aren’t there more fruitful efforts to pursue while we orbit on this tiny pebble than sorting out what’s metal and what’s not? Metal is a broad fucking term – ultimately, it’s just music and attitude.

I understand the sentiment though – poser metal (hair metal) was a real problem in the 80s and I used to hate those guys/bands. But these days it’s not so much of an issue, except for that nu metal shit. Hot Topic metal. I think you’ll see more and more people like me coming in (or back) from other genres that have finally ‘seen the light.’ I think this should be welcomed because it will help expand and fortify the genre. It’ll be interesting to see what develops from these new influences. What I’m trying to say is, I understand that metal is precious to you and you have every right to be suspicious but please judge us on our music. Not our recorded history (which only tells a fraction of the story). If it’s not your cup of tea, we are easily ignored.

I don’t know why people would think we’re jumping on some sort of bandwagon, it’s not like I’m milking the market dry. I’ve had prominent people in the indie rock world, people who I thought were friends, turn their back on me for “committing career suicide.” Quarterstick is pushing the record as hard as they can but we’re all still broke, sleeping on floors, averaging $100 a show, playing to tiny crowds. I’m 40 years old, We got $0 the last two times we played out and they were legitimate shows! I’ve been doing this shit for a long time. Yes, I gave up a successful career in the indie rock world and my old friends don’t talk to me any more. But I can’t deny where my heart is, and I can’t help that it’s 100% in metal. (more…)

Y’know the Blueprint/Brainbow combination is fierce because it’s the first time an upper echelon rapper and an artistic-minded band from Columbus have gone the collab route that worked for De La Soul & Teenage Fanclub, The Roots, and pretty much no one else. Who remembers Sir Mixalot’s corny line on the Judgement Night Sountrack, “I Want to Put You In the Mud-honey?” We don’t need to even get into Limp Bisquit and all that other stuff that is the worst of the terrible.

So given that the locals in Columbus love to tell the story again and again about how diverse the music scene is. And how it’s prolly the only place in country where pretty much the most talented and successful in the city in all music forms from Noise to Hip Hop hang out in the same places, and support each other. It’s interesting that this is the first time this has happened.

We love to ride for how Daymon Dodson, 3cbsa, Thought Set, Weightless, CDR, Print/Black Keys at the Newport, Scotty, The Apes/Meta4ce, Killed In Action and Przm/Fonosluts changed the game forever with next ups like Triceratops, IGLU, PBJ, DJ Detox and Milk Bar’s DCKareem watching in the crowd . Who can forget the famous El Jesus Alive cover that solidified Daymon as the Mac Dre of this movement? I could site examples forever. Sweetheart’s crowd. Skylab. Carabar. Beat Lounge. Most Weightless bills. TNV’s support of a mourning Hip Hop scene. It’s embedded.

If you are in Columbus, you prolly already know what I am talking about.

Point being, cats shared spaces and bills for long enough that you can call it culture. But this show is a first. No one was dumb ever enough to do a wack some rap/rock jump-off just because people were friends. So you know this Bluebow thing is supposed to happen. And it will be epic. I caught up with Print and spoke to him about the perils of the live band/Hip Hop problem. He explained to me how Brainbow, and himself were able to prepare something that is locally historic and musically sound.

Hip Hop with a live band is always a very thorny endeavor. What common mistakes do people make?

Blueprint: The main mistake I think people make when they pair up with a band is to base it completely around what they’ve already heard so it comes out sounding like terrible imitations of what’s already out there. Or they just get a bunch of random musicians who love the edge of hip-hop but just want to jam out, so the results sound like a hip-hop jam band; the music goes on and on for 10-minutes at a time and the end up freestyling or rapping about complete nonsense.

What have Brainbow and yourself done to avoid these errors?

Blueprint: The most important thing to both of us is to avoid compromising the integrity of what we’ve done already. And I think the best way to do that is to make it about the songs. The arrangements and the spirit of the songs should be the first thing that determines how you present that music. Some hip-hop songs work perfectly as chopped-up samples, but they lose their effectiveness when they’re played out by musicians. At the same time, there are some hip-hop arrangements that translate extremely well live, and those are the arrangements you want to focus on. For example, the production work I’ve done that’s more layered, and spacey tends to translate better than sparse minimalistic stuff. Nobody in a band wants to be playing the exact same riff for 5 minutes straight anymore than i want to hear them play the same riff for 5-minutes straight. So before we ever met up to rehearse i sat down and brainstormed about what songs I had in my catalog that could translate well in terms of arrangement; songs with intros, verses, choruses, and outros, etc.. Then i sent them to Brainbow to see what they felt could work. Just by approaching it like that i think we eliminated a lot of the problems other people may have when they try to do this. Now, I’m not saying that we’re any better than anybody else because we have yet to play the show yet, but I do feel confident that nobody will leave the show saying that we sounded exactly like they expected us to sound, and I also think we sound like something brand new.

Brainbow and Blueprint will be playing with Miranda Sound, Mike Shiflet, and El Jesus de Magico Saturday at Skully’s. For more information, click here.