Words by: Dimitri Kalagas
If you haven’t been living in a dark smelly cave in Afghanistan for the last couple of months, you’ve no doubt heard of the whole B-more, Miami bass explosion fronted by the current poster children of the scene, Spank Rock. You’ve also probably heard that the guys in Spank Rock really, really like ass and tits, especially MC Naeem Juwan, whom I was supposed to be interviewing during their current tour in the UK. Therefore, after calling the UK, it came as no surprise to me to learn Naeem had stayed true to form, partying after their show the previous evening and had disappeared into deep dark London with a mystery groupie, leaving me high and dry and extremely amused. A couple of hours later after being roused from their post show slumber, I finally got down to business with the remaining members of Spank Rock, Alex Epton, Ronnie Darko and Chris Rockswell, to have a chat about the fact that there is more to their music than ass, tits and B-more hype.
DK: Yoyoyoyoyo is an incredibly diverse album, did you guys have plan of attack for the sounds on it, or was it more a process of experimentation?
RD: Naeem ended up making a couple of songs with Alex. They made a quick demo. But there wasn’t really a plan of attack in terms of making hip-hop or electro or anything. They just started making songs and it ended up being incredibly diverse because we all listen to a large, diverse group of artists.
DK: You guys seem to be influenced by genres such as electro, drum and bass and glitch. How heavily have these sounds actually been an influence on you?
RD: I would say we are more influenced by old Motown, soul, early hip-hop and party music, but as far as Alex is concerned I would say the electro stuff is an influence as well. Chris and I spin records throughout the set but we also DJ before and after the show and we play an eclectic mix of stuff, a lot of Motown over the top of electro and Baltimore club.
AE: Yeah, I would say we’ve absolutely been influenced by that stuff. When it started coming out, and all the guys on Warp were doing their first records it was pretty exciting, but then it got a little boring. People that are doing that really well now are guys like Modeselektor, Switch, all the French guys like Justice and Mr Oizo. People that use that in the context of making some music that’s actually interesting to people you know, it’s easy to go overboard with that shit though.
DK: Do you play live during your set or is it more of a DJ mashup style?
RD: Early in the routine it’s more of a rag tag electro band. I’ll be on one turntable and an effects machine, Chris will be on two turntables using Serato and a CDJ, Alex will have his computer, using samples and drums with the Logic program and then you’ve got Naeem. We don’t really practice and we make it up live every night. It’s awesome!
DK: How has growing up and living in Baltimore actually helped in the outcome of music you produced on Yoyoyoyoyo?
CR: As a kid, club music was always on the radio. It was around, and we’d play it at the house on the weekends and sort of bug out to it. It was kind of ridiculous because it was kind of being done over and over again. So we’d take the piss and make up our own little songs with it. But there was something about it that was infectious and would make you dance. Through those earlier years I was more into underground stuff, but I wanted to let go of those stupid constraints of trying to ‘keep it real’ in a hip hop sense. It made more sense to start playing around with the club stuff because it was more about just getting loose. I always liked the R&B remixes that the club producers would do, but when I started DJ-ing out in clubs more I would get into playing the original songs from the 50s and 60s and mix those, rather than just the remixes.
DK: Is Yoyoyoyoyo party music pure and simple, or do you guys have some kind of underlying message?
CR: I think you have to look at the songs individually Most of the people who have been talking about the album have been focusing on the Baltimore thing. But if you look at the album, there are probably two tracks that can be considered club tracks, and there are ten other tracks on the album. We actually had an interview with a girl from Australia, and she was asking why the album was so nasty, and we figured out that on the album there are probably seven tracks that don’t revolve around ass and boobs. There are some songs that do, but I think people are looking at what is exciting them and what they want to take from it, which is the stuff that is a little more primal and controversial.
DK: What defines the B-more and Miami bass sound for you?
CR: Being from Baltimore I was very aware of that scene, but was never really a part of it because I never went to the clubs. The clubs there are pretty grimy. I’ve been to the Paradox and stuff, but the club nights have a lot of younger kids wiring out. I was more into hanging out and smoking weed. As we’ve grown up it’s just become something that we’ve wanted to play more. Defining that is pretty tough though and I kind of feel out of place giving it a definition. Defining the records would be easier, it’s like a Chicago house percolator track and early Frank Ski, who moved from Baltimore to Atlanta and started doing bounce music and some remixes for 2 Live Crew.
DK: What defines it in terms of the actual sound on its most basic level?
CR: The ‘Think’ break. ‘Think’ by Lyn Collins and ‘Sing Sing’ by Gaz, are what define it. Those are the two drum breaks that are used, then you stick some boom behind it and a sample that’s catchy and you’ve got yourself a club track! It’s funny, we were in Switzerland the other day and this guy handed me a CD saying that he really liked what’s going on over here, and the CD is entitled Swiss bands/Swiss B-more. So I’m like, “I don’t even know what that means!’ I wish promoters would start booking Rod Lee, DJ Techniques and K-Swift in the places where we’re getting a go. I really wish the guys that made the music popular for all these kids would get booked, not us young bucks that are playing it now.
DK: I guess sometimes it’s about timing, the climate’s obviously right for that sort of sound now, and everyone’s ready for it.
CR: Yeah I think if they’d look back a little bit and bill it right, like ‘we’re bringing the fucking godfathers out’, it’d work. These people deserve some. People outside of Baltimore are obviously feeling the music.
DK: What do you think about the new-found appreciation for hip-hop in its various forms like grime, crunk and B-more? Was it something that you guys predicted?
CR: It’s pretty surprising man, I mean last week we were in Paris and you’ve got TTC and they’re making crunk music, and their DJ, Orgasmic, is spinning a whole set of dirty south, and they’re doing the lean-with-it dance and it’s Paris! It’s fucking crazy! As far as predicting it? I don’t think so. But it’s not surprising. It really doesn’t come as a surprise that ghetto music is popular in all these different places because it’s always happened that way. Ghetto music and rock and roll have always been popular.
DK: Do you feel there is almost a renaissance within the world of hip-hop at the moment? There’s some pretty exciting new hybrids coming out right now.
Naeem and Ron had a conversation in our stinky-ass van the other day, and Ron brought up the fact that hip-hop is going through a midlife crisis right now. It’s been around since the late 70s and it’s trying to figure out what’s going on. I guess the result of that is this schizophrenic crazy-ass shit that’s coming out right now. It’s pretty interesting right now.
DK: have artists like Antipop Consortium and Beans, who also dabbled in cut-up experimental beats and fused that with hip-hop, influenced you? There seem to be some parallels in the sound there.
AE: In the music that we make I think it’s not an influence. It was more something that we heard and were like, that’s cool, but we gotta do something better than that. So I guess it’s an influence only in as much as that’s the competition, you know?
DK: Alex, you did some work with DFA. Has working with them influenced your production in any way?
AE: Absolutely, I didn’t even listen to dance music before. I didn’t think that there was any value in it. When I was interning there I heard all this really great music you could dance to, and not necessarily fucking house music. I mean there’s a lot of good house music and there’s a lot of really shitty house. Some of the best music to dance to is some crazy fucking punk song, or some old weird German art rock.. I was definitely biased against dance music before that.
DK: What is air cock thrusting, (ACT) and how did you guys come up with the move?
RD: It was something that just got made up because I was working at United Parcel Service at the time, and we couldn’t say things that were crude in front of people. So instead of saying large penis you’d say LP. We were really big on acronyms. With the ACT, you’d do it as a celebratory thing and it kind of got misconstrued as a dance move. All of a sudden there was a huge website for it, but basically it’s thrusting your cock and in-your-facing somebody!
DK: What can an audience expect from a Spank Rock show?
AE: It’s up to them. If people want to come and have fun, hang out and dance, then they should come to the show. If they’re going to worry about their haircut or their outfit or some dumb shit like that, then they should probably just not come.
DK: Thanks a bunch for your time, I’m definitely looking forward to checking out your show.
AE: Our absolute pleasure. We’ll be seeing you soon.
Spank Rock are air cock thrusting their way to Australia in mid June, in the meantime, you can get your fix of B-more on their album Yoyoyoyoyo, out now through Big Dada and Inertia.
To check the new video for their jumpin' track 'Rick Rubin' click here.
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