'Artist Features'

Oz Hip Hop is poppin’ hard right now (pause). Three dope MCs came together, put their solo stuff on hold for a second, formed a group and knocked out a fresh album that’s making some serious noise. The fellas took the time to chat with me about the album and other assorted rap singer related nonsense. Peep game.

Cee: What up, fellas? Peace for chatting with us. What’s good?
IGC: Thank you brother! It’s always a pleasure to chat with The Movement Fam.

Cee: Alright, so let’s back this up (pause) and let us know how In Good Company came to be.

Whisper: Well, in 2010 we came together to make a mixtape. A-Diction (Boltz and Breach) as well as Syntax and myself (Whisper) were all working on solo albums and thought it would be cool to hook up and make a promotional mixtape. It made sense that we could all help each other out with putting something together before our albums dropped. But I think we were all surprised by how quickly it came together and how much we liked what we did. It was packaged and treated like a mixtape, but it was really an album of completely original music. People ended up really feelin it, so this year we regrouped and said, “let’s do a proper album!” We started really working on it in April and by October 7th, it was released.

Cee: So being this is a group effort and all y’all are solo artists (well, aside from Boltz and Breach for the most part), how was the dynamic in the lab compared to your own stuff?

Breach: Well Boltz is now a baby daddy, so he took a back seat on this album. He thankfully was able to bless one of the tracks, but IGC is now officially comprised of me, Syntax and Whisper. The main difference with IGC compared to passed projects for all of us is really time and energy. We’re all really into what we’re doing together so things come together quite quickly. We all have our own skill sets we bring to the table, so we save time and are energised by each others enthusiasm.

Cee: Was the general process of putting this project together any different, or even difficult, as there were more ideas and egos (to an extent) to consider?

Whisper: Haha! Well, there are three of us that are in the group and we’re all pretty diplomatic. When ever someone felt differently about something or had an idea, it was up to the others to accept or reject that idea. As far as process goes, I’m the main producer on the album, so we get in my lab and vibe out. I oversaw the musical side of things with the beats, while Breach and Syntax brought a lot of the lyrical concepts to the table. It was sometimes challenging because the bulk of the work was handled by me during the production faze. But once the album was done, the other boys were able to step in and take on the promotional side of things. We each have our roles. I’m the beats guy. Syntax is the graphic designer and Breach is the driver, haha!

Cee: How did y’all get Obese to distribute the project?

Whisper: I’ve known Pegz for a minute now and have a really good relationship with him. He’s always been really supportive of what I do. Also, last year Obese released A-Diction’s album, so when we came to him with this project he was down from day one. Legend!

Cee: How has the response been thus far? Did you have any goals?

Syntax: Pretty much everyone who hears the album really loves it. Which is awesome for us! The trick is getting as many people hearing the music as possible in this over saturated market. People are constantly bombarded with new music and advertising, so it’s a challenge getting their attention sometimes. I think our main goal for the next little while is to do as many shows as we can and expose as many people to our music as possible. We really feel like we have something special. So it’s about proving to people that we’re worth their time and attention.

Cee: I’m assuming y’all have been on your grizzy promoting the album, doing shows and all that jazz. How’s that been so far?

Breach: So far it’s been great! We did a gig with Urthboy and Pegz at the Espy a while ago. That was probably the best gig I’ve ever done. We got up on stage and played to a packed room where no one knew who we were at the start. But by our third track, the whole place was going off for us! It was sick! We’ve also done a few shows supporting Mantra for his tour. Also we’re having a joint album launch with our fellow label mate Eloquor at Revolver on December 17th. We both recently released projects on the label Myspherical Entertainment, so it’s a family thing. That’s gonna go off! There’s a couple of other things on the way too. We’re just gonna try and keep it movin.

Cee: Gimme all y’alls snapshot on how you feel Australian Hip Hop is faring at the moment?

Whisper: There’s so many really talented people making and releasing really good music now! The scene has really grown and matured a lot and that’s really inspiring! However, I’m not too sure how many people are actually buying music. So getting to the point where music is financially self sustaining is a bit tricky. But hey, I make music because I love it, so that doesn’t really get me down anymore. As a culture, we’re thriving! So it’s great to be a part of that and contribute to the scene.

Cee: Will there be another In Good Company album in the works?

Syntax: We’ll, actually there’s a new little somethin’ on the way. Just a little free release that should be dropping early next year. After that, if all goes according to plan, there’ll be many IGC albums in the future. We really wanna keep this thing going because we all get along so well and we love the music that we make together. Hopefully people will keep wanting to hear it. If they do, we’ll be here.

Cee: What’s up next from all you guys, whether individually or in a group situation?

Whisper: Well, other than the next IGC release we’ve got some other stuff on the way. Syntax is alway busy writing and releasing music. You can expect new Syntax and Death Stars albums very soon. Breach is always writing raps, so you can expect him to be droppin heaters around the joint. As for me, I’m in a group with my girlfriend Ginger Van Es who featured on the In Good Company album. Together we’re called Macula and we make more electro soul type music. We’re working on some stuff at the moment and I’m really looking forward to getting that out into the world soon as well. We like to stay busy. Ya feel me? Haha.

Cee: How can folks cop the album?

IGC: Well, if you live in Australia, you can get it at most JB Hi-Fi stores around the country. Most good independent music stores will have it too. Otherwise, you can get it from iTunes. Just go to,

http://itunes.apple.com/au/album/in-good-company/id463400450

Cee: Hit us with the multitude of social media links where the people can find y’all.

IGC: If anyone wants to find us, they can check us out at,
www.facebook.com/ingoodcompanymusic

http://igcmusic.wordpress.com/

http://ingoodcompany.bandcamp.com/

http://www.myspherical.com.au/index.php

Cee: Thanks for your time, blokes!
IGC: Any time homie. Peace!

It’s not that uncommon these days to see musicians branching into the business world to acquire more income streams. However one bloke out of our hometown of Melbourne is doing a lot more than just starting a business. Chris Ferre is into so many things right now, I have no idea how he does it. We caught up with him to chat about his new bizzo, his new band and his new sport.

Cee: G’day bloke. Cheers for taking the time to chat.

Chris: Anytime!

Cee: OK, so the regular readers of TMF.com might know you as the dude who smashes the shit out of drum kits at our shows for the last couple of years. What’s been happening lately?

Chris: Uni, teaching, drums, drums and more drums, started rock climbing (mental sport!!!), and just started working for myself!

Cee: Word got around that you started your own business, eh…fill me in (pause).

Chris: Yeah! It’s called AUSTRALIAN DRUM SUPPLY. We’re a retailer of TRX Cymbals, Corsair Drum products (sticks mainly), and Pulse drum bags.

Cee: What made you decide to start a business on top of your musical aspirations?

Chris: To be totally honest, the idea just fell into my lap out of co-incidence. I was lucky enough to receive an endorsement from TRX and Corsair for my playing, and due to me having a large client-base as a teacher they wanted to make sure that all of my students were all playing TRX and Corsair.

Cee: How did the endorsement come about, and how does it help your business?

Chris: Basically in a very short story, the importer/director of TRX Cymbals Australia wanted me to on-sell to my students and anyone else. Then I came up with idea of running my own online store, and that was that! It’s awesome to have a great company like TRX backing your business, and it’s awesome that even though the cymbals are of a Turkish design, they really market themselves to everyone, and in a way that is accessible in price and sound, not just to people that can afford expensive gear.

Cee: On top of your playing and the biz, you teach drums as well?

Yeah dude, I teach at a school in Bentleigh east (south east Victoria), and also teach privately out of my studio at home, so that keeps me on my toes and massively busy, with 40+ students ranging in age from 6 to 66.

Cee: And you study music? Jesus son, slow down! How much longer have you got in your course? What’s the plans once you graduate?

Chris: Yeah full time study as well as doing everything else! I graduate one degree this year, start another next year (2 years) and then am doing my masters in music/education after that (probably via correspondence as I need to get back out there and make some money)! All of the teachers/lecturers at Box Hill Institute have massive understanding to what I’m doing, which is awesome. It’s great that you can always ask them or advice when it comes to business/music/education, and they’re always there to help out!

Cee: Currently the business is a webstore, but do you have plans on opening a physical shop at all?

Chris: The business is only fairly young, so there are no plans at this stage – but who knows what’ll happen in the future. We seem to be nailing it on the head at the moment doing what we’re doing so we’re going to run with it how it is at the moment.

Cee: Do you ship locally or internationally as well?

Chris: We mainly ship locally/interstate, but can easily organise to ship O/S. Actually our first few customers were from Sydney and the Gold Coast. Who knows how they got word of what was going on!

Cee: So since you’re studying, working, running a business, teaching and playing, what’s the order of priority?

Chris: I guess the order is studying/playing (the two go hand in hand), running a business, and then teaching. That’s not to say that I take any of these things lightly, especially the teaching, but at the end of the day, good studying methods will make you more organised and therefore better in business, and the end goal is to become a teacher of music, not just drums. In this country you need qualifications to do pretty much anything in education. I barely get anytime to sit down and relax, but when I do have some downtime, you’ll find me down at the all of the indoor rock climbing joints around Melbourne.
So that’s where it’s at!

Cee: At the end of the day, what do you really want to be doing?

Chris: Look, to be honest, I never want to work ever! But that’s near impossible unless I win the lottery, so teaching is the end goal. Australian Drum Supply almost floats itself, so that’s awesome too. The top of the spectrum would be to be in an awesome touring band, flying around the world, and getting paid for it (I wish!)! So everyone should also check out my band, BRONSON

Cee: Hit the people with all your links so they can check you out!

Chris:
www.australiandrumsupply.com

http://www.facebook.com/australiandrumsupply

https://australiandrumsupply.bigcartel.com

and you may as well check these bad boys out!

http://www.facebook.com/bronsonmusic

Cee: Thanks for your time bro!

Chris: Cheers!

Through our Artist Features section, we’ve covered MCs, DJs, producers, models, designers…and now photographers.

Darren Johnson, a young photographer from London, caught our eye and he was good enough to answer some questions while on vacation in Jamaica.

Cee: Hey Darren, what’s good man? I know you’re out in Jamaica right now, so peace for chatting to us on your vacay.

Darren: No problem at all!

Cee: First up, break down your journey in photography for the people.

Darren: I was at a crossroads in my life around 2007, wondering what to do career-wise (which I’m sure most people have the same dilemma once in a while). It then hit me that since I was little I have studied photos either from family, friends or even complete strangers personal collections.

I then nervously enrolled into a course, which luckily was very close by, in film photography, which taught me the basics in the darkroom.

Once I finished the course, I decided to purchase a camera and ever since then a camera never leaves my sight. I’m always looking out for potential photographic opportunities, at the same time building a reputation, brand and business.

Cee: What’s the meaning behind the name iDJ Photography?

Darren: The meaning behind the name iDJ is: i: Eye (being the obvious tool I use in my line of work), D: Darren and J: Johnson.

Cee: Do you have a mentor? Did you take a course? Or are you self-taught? Or a combination?

Darren: I don’t really have a mentor other than the my teacher from the course I took in 2007. Ever since then I have been learning as I go along, reasearching etc.

Cee: You’re based outta London (England, not Ontario for those in Canada). How’s the market out there? Is there a lot of competition? What makes you different from the thousands of other photographers?

Darren: London is very saturated with photographers. Being a photographer in London is a challenge but at the same time London is quite possibly the best place to photograph. In terms of what makes me different from the rest? I’m not sure, I don’t really focus on other photographers with their marketing, etc. I just aim to produce my best work, good value for money and a quick turn around for my clients. This has worked for me so far which has reflected on the glowing references I recieve.

Cee: Out of all the various styles and subjects that you do, what’s your favourite to work with?

Darren: My favourite ‘shots’ are the ones where I could be watching TV or walking to the store and an idea pops in my head and I run with it. I call this my “misc” album, which you can see on my website or Facebook. I do genuinely enjoy all styles of photography, I still get that buzz no matter what/who I photograph.

Cee: What would be your main inspiration as a photographer?

Darren: My inspiration was my trip to Jamaica in 2008! I just bought my first SLR before flying out to Jamaica and fell in love with photography, which was aided with being in such a beautiful country.

Cee: What made you pick up a camera to express your creative side, as opposed to say a paintbrush or a guitar?

Darren: I honestly don’t know the answer that one. I believe life gives you opportunities, and I just simply took this one.

Cee: If you could have any other talent, what would it be?

Darren: It would 100% be a professional football (soccer) player. Football is a big passion for me, I try and watch as much as I can no matter where I am.

Cee: What’s next once you get back from JA?

Darren: Same as before I left, keep pushing the business a much as I can. Working hard on images, ideas, marketing, networking, delivery, etc.

Cee: Let the people know where they can find you!

Darren: Website: www.idjphotography.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/idjphotos

Cee: Thanks for your time cuz!

Darren: Thank you!

Not only is The Movement Fam committed to featuring artists and models, but anyone we come in contact with who is talented, creative and driven. Shane Foran, the man behind Toronto-based Vitaly Design, is exactly that. Shane took some time out of his busy day to chat with us about his company, his inspiration and his future plans.

Cee: What up, man? Thanks for taking the time to chat to us.

Shane: My pleasure dude.

Cee: So break it down; tell us about Vitaly Design and how it came about.

Shane: Vitaly came about while I was backpacking around Asia. I kept having a dream about the Buddha sitting under the Bodhi Tree – this was a time in my life ruled by work – absolutely no balance. I knew little about Buddhism but thought it had something to do with balance. I knew South East Asia was a great place to explore it’s foundation and perhaps a way to level out.

I dropped everything I was doing and with my last pennies, flew there. I stayed for 3 months. I’ll be honest, I didn’t spend a ton of time exploring Buddhism, but I did spend time learning how to live.

Vitaly was born in the last month of my trip. I always loved fashion, but had never even considered doing something with it. I flew to Bali for my last month expecting to surf. A couple days in though, I checked out inland Bali, Ubud, and couldn’t leave. The people… the artisan lifestyle… the masonry… it was inspiring. A couple days in, I thought to myself, these people could make me anything I can draw – wouldn’t it be cool to have something with a taste of Bali and a taste of urban style? I drew up my first double ring. I had several people try to make it from there. A man named Ugenk, a great man who took pride in his work, had the skills I needed. When the first proto was done, I threw a message up on Facebook asking friends if they’d want one as a gift. The response was overwhelming and from that demand and a desire to produce more designs, Vitaly was born.

Cee: Amazing. Why jewellery design as opposed to any other form of creative expression?

Shane: It just found me… I will say though, as a kid, I produced a lot of music and that slipped away. That’s when my life became all about work. Vitaly has brought me back to the right side of my brain and I love it. I don’t imagine jewelry is all you’ll see from Vitaly.

Cee: You were born in Bali and spent some time there, which was clearly a huge inspiration on your designs. What in particular about Bali (and Indonesia in general) hit the creative nerve in you?

Shane: Technically I was born in Edmonton Alberta, but you could say I was born again there… I couldn’t say one thing in particular inspired me about Bali – the place is a epicenter for artists… there’s an energy there. I’m not a genius with words, so I’m not even going to try to do it justice.

Cee: Currently your range is two and three-finger rings, with very simple yet elegant designs. Do you plan on expanding from the rings into other jewellery or clothing?

Shane: Keep your eyes pealed for my next line, which should launch internationally in about 3 months. You’ll see some single finger rings, long chains and French cuff-links. My designs will always be androgynous – I hope to see some women rocking the cufflinks too.

Cee: Your work is stocked in various stores in Toronto, but also in Italy. Are you planning to expand into Europe? For some reason, Italy seems a great fit for your work.

Shane: My work was well received in Italy. Dolce (of D&G) actually took notice… as a new designer, I was pretty flattered. My plans are larger than Europe, to be honest. I’m working on an International roll-out. I really think Scandinavia in particular would receive my designs well, but I’d love to see some presence in Asia (Tokyo, Singapore and Malaysia) as well as the States, South America, etc.

Anyone reading this from NYC? Keep your eyes peeled for Vitaly in September.

Cee: Jewellery aside, what else inspires you? Specifically, do you have any artists (music, visual, etc) that really make you want to create?

Shane: This question is too big!

I could have answered this with a million names of people I worship, but I don’t think they come into play for Vitaly.

What I draw from for Vitaly… Black & White, Ying and Yang, Night and Day, Love and Hate, Time and One Life – Balance. I’ve always been interested in extremes… Vitaly is about juxtaposing extremes to find balance.

Cee: Great answer. You’re planning to add a section on your site that supports local Toronto musicians. That’s really dope; what is the plan behind that?

Shane: It’s simple – we’re all a team – let’s start acting like it. Being an artist is a hard gig – let’s share our networks, prop eachother up and bear-hug each other’s worlds.

The “Vitaly Family” section will be dedicated to artists in Toronto who want their art to be known and who know how powerful a good team can be. It will be musicians, painters, carvers, bloggers, designers of all kinds, etc.

Cee: If you weren’t designing rings, what else would you be doing? Where else do your passions lie?

Shane: The other loves in my life are snowboarding and traveling. I work for a media company whose media exists solely at ski resorts – I absolutely love my work. In my perfect world though, I’d be designing and traveling… I’d have no ‘home’.

Cee: Do you have any words of wisdom for aspiring creative individuals?

Shane: Be good to people – you don’t have to be spiritual to believe in Karma… being good to others perpetuates more good. If you’re driven / love your art (job, sport, etc) and treat all those you meet with respect, I think you’re on your way to where you want to be, because people will want to see you succeed.

Oh, and don’t be a talker, be a doer.

Cee: Where can the people see and purchase your work online? Hit us with the social media links!

Shane: www.vitalydesign.com

My Facebook URL is weak…

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Vitaly-Design/158986170792575?ref=ts

Someone wanna help me fix that?

Twitter:
@VitalyDesign

Cee: Thanks for your time, man. We wish you much success!

Shane: Thanks! – Hope I didn’t talk to much… I tend to do that.

One of the reasons I wanted to run our own blog was to give the folks things they might not ordinarily see or read among regular primarily entertainment/music blogs. That’s why we find models and approach them for interviews and (often) exclusive or first-look pics rather than just re-post random hot chicks we find on the net.

So the other day, my housemate showed me the trailer for a new real-life porn of…The Simpsons. Yup. I’ve heard of – and freakin’ loved – the many hilarious porn parodies over the years, and always admired the audacity and often timeliness of releasing their products, right when a mainstream film is still hot. Anyway, this parody of The Simpsons was next level. The cast generally resembled their character physically, and the styling and make up is awesome. Even the voice acting was great. Shit, the yellow paint bugged me out. Marge be hot, yo.

I was lucky enough to get to chat to the director of said flick, Mr Lee Roy Myers, who took out some time to talk to me about The Simpsons parody, his other work, how to get into porn directing and Canada.

Cee: Cheers for taking the time to chat, mate. How’s things?
Lee Roy: Things are great. I get to shoot what I shoot for a living. And luckily enough people appreciate it and buy it, so I get to keep shooting what I shoot for a living.

Cee: You were nominated at the recent AVN’s something like 5 times. I didn’t check the results, so how did you go?
Lee Roy: It went great. Tom Byron won Best Actor for my movie, Big Lebowski: A XXX Parody, and Best New Line Award went to Romance Line, for which I shot most of the movies. So, that’s like a win in my book.

Cee: How was the event itself? Any stories to share?
Lee Roy: It started with going down the red carpet with three of my friends, Eddie Powell (Director of “Awakening To Love”) & Sam Hain (Director of “Sex Files” & “Sex Files 2″), and Kina Hain, the best caterer in the biz. And it continued with interviews, photos, a cocktail party, and then the awards. Not too many stories to share, but it was great to finally see all of the performers finally wearing clothes.

Cee: To most red-blooded males, you have the dream job. That said, does your constant exposure to porn and sex dampen the excitement at all? Has it just become another job, or do you still get as much of a buzz as you surely did in the beginning?
Lee Roy: First thing anybody that meets me will tell you is that I am a guy that emotes loving his job. I really, really, really love my job. Does working side-by-side with hot naked women get less exciting over time? It’s still exciting, but we work really hard to make our movies. So, most of our energy is spent concentrating on the work at hand, and not the hot naked women around us. So, when we get a chance to see the excitement, it is still exciting. I mean how can you not watch great sex happening and not enjoy those moments, no matter how many times that you have seen them.

Cee: How does one get into the field of porn direction? How did you manage it, especially being from Canada and away geographically from LA (where most films are made)?
Lee Roy: I shot some movies in Canada back in the day, but my work never really got recognized (as they shouldn’t have because they were all really pretty terrible attempts at gonzo & reality porn). It wasn’t until I was asked to write a script – a comedy about a porn office that things kicked off for me. I wrote The Office XXX Parody, which became a huge hit. So, that led to Scrubs XXX Parody, and Seinfeld XXX Parody, which led to dozens more. Unfortunately, because I have been shooting pretty much non-stop in LA ever since, I don’t get back as often as I like. But I do have a Canadian Partner, George Christos at Kookoo Entertainment, who is working hard at bridging the gap between Canadian porn and the international market.

Cee: Your career seems to have mainly centered around parodies, which are extremely well executed. How did that happen?
Lee Roy: Well, the adult industry has taken a huge hit in sales in recent years. Piracy in the form of illegal tube sites & torrent sites, as well as the economic drop most consumers have suffered from have affected people’s porn buying habits. It turned out that parodies brought new porn buyers into the marketplace. So, I just happened to get in at the right time, at the start of the porn parody boom. And thankfully, consumers have been really receptive to my work. However, I have shot gonzo and adult romance movies and original features, but parodies are just what i am most well-known for.

Cee: The sets on the parodies are damn near spot on, too. And it seems you tend to work with a lot of the same talent. Is that because they’re easily adaptable to the various characters, or because you guys have strong working relationships?
Lee Roy: Marko B does most of my sets. The man is amazing. He has a great eye for detail. As for the talent, I like to use people that are look-a-likes and sound-a-likes, but are also able to act, and perform sexually. It’s already not a huge talent pool, There are only so many people brave enough to have sex on camera. So, yes, I do have some people that I keep working with. And yes, that has created strong relationships.

Cee: Your latest parody is of The Simpsons, which looks amazing and hilarious. Where did that idea come from?
Lee Roy: Thank you. I had a good feeling about it being big. But interest and sales are huge. Honestly, I had been thinking about it for a while. After a shoot we had all ended up at a bar next door, and a performer had mentioned it to me, but we joked about it for a while and then I kind of brushed it off. We were all drinking so I thought once I sobered up I would realize what a terrible idea it was. Anyways, I woke up and I started considering it. I brainstormed ways that I could pull it off and started pitching it to a couple of studios. First as an animated feature called “The Sampsons” about the Simpsons sexed up, next door neighbors. Then as a live action movie. Well, nobody was interested. So I let it sit. Finally, I left the studio that I was working for and realized that this was the project I should do. Now, if you’ve never seen my stuff before, you may not know that I have a pretty weird sense-of-humor. I did parodies of Big Lebowski, Human Centipede, Golden Girls, and Seinfeld. So, I knew that this was at least as weird and funny as any of those were, so I went for it. And here we are.

Cee: What did you use to get the yellow colour on the skin of the actors? From what I saw it seems most of it stayed on lol.
Lee Roy: Actually we used full body paint, and post colour effects. Honey Myers, my wife is a genius when it comes to editing and color correction. So, she pumped up the yellow in post and made it pretty vibrant, so it almost looks like a mix between human and cartoon. I really love what she did.

Cee: Will you look into doing more cartoon parodies after this one?
Lee Roy: Sure. I have some ideas.

Cee: What’s next for you?
Lee Roy: Well, you can look out for Pr0n – The Tron XXX Parody (Co-Directed by Sam Hain), Katy Pervy (a very funny parody of Katy Perry, Ke$ha, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, and a very weird & twisted sex scene with Katy & our Elmo parody look-a-like, Elmer. Yes, puppet sex!), Here Cums The President (A huge budget feature, Co-Directed by Ronal Raygun, for a new studio called CEA), and a remake of the classic adult movie, Sex World. Lots more to come after that.

Cee: Any message for the people?
Lee Roy: If you like my movies, please buy them so I can make some more.

Cee: Hit us with where folks can find out about you and your flicks online.
Lee Roy: Well, you can follow me, Lee Roy Myers on Facebook or Twitter, and they can check out SIMPSONS – THE XXX PARODY at www.simpsonsporno.org.

Cee: Thanks for your time man!
Lee Roy: Thank you for chatting with me.

Any Oz Hip Hop fan who seriously follows the scene will be familiar with one of the dopest crews out of Adelaide, Pagen Elypsis, whether it’s through Prime and Purpose’s battle record on WRC, or the various mixtapes and features the fellas have dropped over the past few years.

The guys have just released their debut album, ‘One Way Ticket’, yesterday (August 19th), and they took some time out to chat with us about the album, their line up and their nunchuck skills.

Oh – cop Pagen Elypsis’s album, ‘One Way Ticket’, from iTunes NOW!

Cee: What it does fellas? Aight, I gotta ask this one straight up. Where did the name ‘Pagen Elypsis’ come from?

Pagen Elypsis: Pohetikut & Motive came up with the name in about 06, walking there drunk asses home to a shack during schoolies. The name itself came from synonyms of Pohetikut + Kadowg’s first group the “Skeptiks”, and Purpose and Motives first group “Figures of Speech” i.e. Pagen (syn. skeptic) Elypsis (syn. figure). So it means a skeptical figure, which suits us just perfectly haha.

Cee: Break down the group for the people. Who’s who, what are their skills (ie nunchuck skills, bowhunting skills etc) and why are they better than the other dudes.

Pagen Elypsis: Well the group consists 5 MC’s: Purpose, Motive, Kadowg, Prime & Pohetikut. Purpose also handles production duties on a majority of the record but we ALL have equally great nunchuck skills and I feel for whoever gets to witness that first hand.

Cee: So y’all dropped the Double Or Nothing mixtape back in 07. How was that little puppy received?

Pagen Elypsis: Yeah the “007″ mixtape did well and opened us up to an overseas market we never really aimed it at. About 6 months after we released it, Purpose and Prime generated a bit of a buzz through an international battle comp called the WRC battle series and it had made its way onto the internet without us knowing haha. Around home it did well, having the Battlehoggs DJs a part of it helped a lot in Australia as they were on the brink of starting their official mixtape series.

Cee: You guys took a bit of a hiatus from the group projects between then and now. What happened in between?

Pagen Elypsis: On the music front in between ’07 and now there has been 3 more mixtapes/street releases; a Purpose solo tape, an Aforementioned group release (Motive & Purpose) and the Pagen Elypsis “2010″ promotional tape. We were fortunate enough to play some big shows, P Money + Mystro in Melb, Funkoars in ADL, Xzibit in Middleton, Obese Block Party 2010, Obese Car Jack tour 09. A lot has been in the works but its only really becoming official now. Aside from that a lot of drinking, a lot of sex and a lot of hangovers haha.

Cee: A bunch of you blokes have quite the rep in the battle scene. For you, what’s the difference between making music and battling? And why do you think so many battle MCs make terrible music?

Pagen Elypsis: Thank you, the difference is really the longevity aspect. A battle rapper is only as important as he is in the moment where he’s battling. There are certainly some battle rappers who will always be respected but there are a lot more rappers known for their music who are timeless. That’s more the direction we are looking to steer ourselves towards, we had our fun and enjoyed it but we prefer to spectate these days haha. I don’t think ‘battle MC’s make terrible music’, I just think some people gather so much attention through battling that they put something out before they’re ready to try and capitalize on that hype. It’s a genius idea if your music’s good, horrible idea if you suck cause you will instantly fall into that bracket.

Cee: So tell us about the new album, One Way Ticket.

Pagen Elypsis: The new album really represents something that we’re proud of and that we’ve been working on since we started. It’s a well rounded album that shows all the different strengths of the members of the group and allows us to give people exactly what we’ve been preparing them for over the past few years since we came out. The production has very much the same feel of an ‘Elypsis’ album but with a bit more charm to it. I think we really nailed the balance on this album of bringing what people know us for, and what they would never expect from us. That’s a hard task to do but we are very proud of the results.

Cee: Did you guys get many features? Seeing as there’s a gang of y’all, that might be redundant.

Pagen Elypsis: The only people who feature on the album are producers and DJ Butcher haha. Five rappers is enough, the next album is the Aforementioned album and we got some crazy features lined up for that but this time around it’s all Elypsis.

Cee: Who did you get on the boards?

Pagen Elypsis: Purpose kick started the production off, I think he ended up with 8 or so beats on there. We got a few joints from a cat from Brisbane by the name of Cam Bluff who’s really crazy, a joint from Answer in Melb and we also worked with some overseas cats by the name of Vokab & Kela who we had used on the Red October release so some familiar faces.

Cee: What’s the plans as far as promotions for the album? Will there be a nationwide tour of some description?

Pagen Elypsis: We’re looking at putting together a tour for the album towards the end of the year with some shows all around the country so if you think we should come to your city hit us up on Facebook……NOW. You can keep up to date with any new gigs through the Facebook page or Twitter @pagenelypsis.

Cee: Where can the people cop the album? And where can they find you online?

Pagen Elypsis: People will be able to cop the album on iTunes, Amazon, all good independent stores and we’re negotiating a JB account as we speak so you should be able to get this bad boy anywhere.

Cee: Any final message for the fans?

Pagen Elypsis: August 19th…DONMusicLtd. So neccesary.

Cee: Thanks for your time, y’all.

Pagen Elypsis: No doubt.

Aaaand we back with the first TMF Artist Feature on the new site, so it’s extra fitting that we kick it off with our good homies Tokyo Cigar and Cyclops of The Plexiglass Fountain. These cats are some extremely talented and dedicated artists…but I’ma shut up and let the boys do the talking…

Cee: What up fellas? Y’all are about to drop your sophomore album, is that correct? What’s changed between the making of Left Of The Scenery and this joint?

Tokyo Cigar: We pretty much just stepped it up on all levels. We had more time to put the album together so it’s way more potent overall. Left of the Scenery was a hard album to follow up cause we were on a straight mission when making it. This one is more relaxed but more focused in terms of cooking it up.

Cyclops: Not too much has changed in the actual making of the album. Since this is the 2nd time around, I’d say the group chemistry is pretty solid and we have a more comfortable dynamic. We both record in different spots so Tokyo just sends the beats and then we both start writing and recording and sending everything over email. Even though it’s an unconventional process it works well for the group.

Cee: It’s been like a year between PGF albums, but you’ve both dropped numerous solo projects in the meanwhile. Tell us about those, and how the fuck y’all get so prolific!

Tokyo Cigar: haha. For me it’s pretty much based on big bags of Bionic (shout out Sour Diesel). I’m addicted to music so when I finish projects up I get a little depressed so I stay working. The “Megaman Theory 2″ came from a blunted convo with one of my homies who loved the first part. “Frozen Flesh, Ugly Soul” was an instrumental album I was working on for a couple of years. “The Ladies In The House” was me just wanting to work with singers and testing my production with vocalists. “The 12 Fingered Musician” happened cause keb0 got at me for beats and the EP we did was crazy.

Cyclops: I dropped my solo album ‘Oceans’. That was more of a soulful, jazz infused album. It was very laid back. The album had a lot of different production including EOM, Half-Centric, Tone Spliff, Razorsharpe and Cenzo Beatz. With PGF we have a really left field sound, so with Oceans I wanted to make something more boom bap to balance that out.

Cee: Break down the new album for the people…

Tokyo Cigar: It’s a lot darker and more raw. The lyrics are more personal and the cockiness factor is turned wayyyy up. Overall it’s a brutal album. The beauty parts are Brutally beautiful and the Hard parts are brutally hard. We got songs that are probably gonna start fights in clubs if the DJ plays them. We also made more effort to get more guests on the album.

Cyclops: The new album is called ‘Midnight Hindsight’. It’s basically the same PGF sound but elevated; we stepped up our game on every aspect of the project. The beats, lyrics, and delivery are all improved. Like the 1st album, we touch on a wide variety of topics and have a bunch of different sounds. Overall, I think the whole album is even better than the 1st.

Cee: Tokyo, were you on the beats the whole time for this LP as well?

Tokyo Cigar: Yeah. Most def. I was raised on cats like RZA, DJ MUGGS, PETE ROCK & CL SMOOTH, and GANGSTARR. So I’m more in tune with the one producer thing to give a cohesive sound to a project.

Cee: Any guests you wanna reveal?

Tokyo Cigar: Well The Movement Fam is pretty much Ghostface on Cuban Linx status haha. Cee & Bekah and Notion are on 2 joints. Da Capo who did “The Article” with K Def is on a track. Mally and Cause are on a joint and keb0 came through and blessed a track. I called up Jadakiss but he was busy haha.

Cee: You guys worked with The Movement Fam’s Cee & Bekah on the single ‘Carpe Diem’. Tell us how that came about and break down the song for us.

Tokyo Cigar: When i made the beat I kept on saying to myself “We NEED Cee and Bekah on this!” I just caught a crazy vision for that. Cyclops loved the beat and then I sent it to Cee and Bekah and they loved it too. I came up with the overall concept of going for your dreams with music and when everyone did they parts for it I was like “woooooooooooooooooow!” I felt it was gonna be a great track but when I actually heard it finished I damn near shit my pants. Shout out to Notion for the incredible mixdown too.

Cyclops: We’ve been cool with TMF for a while and even do a little writing for the blog so it’s only natural that the collaboration came to fruition. “Carpe Diem” is a song about coming up in the music industry and some of the experiences that are related to that. Even though it’s about music, anyone trying to make something of them selves can relate. It’s all about working hard and making moves, so it’s a pretty positive message.

Cee: I heard y’all might be doing a video for this joint, what’s up with that?

Tokyo Cigar: Yeah I was building with the homie Cee and we came up with some dope ideas. We gonna try and wrap it up and give heads a crazy visual vibe for the song. Shit would be wild.

Cyclops: The video right now is in the planning stages but when TMF comes to North America it’s a wrap.

Cee: You also worked with TMF’s Notion on the bangin’ ‘Head Trauma Scholar’. That’s some wild shit. Tell us about that joint.

Tokyo Cigar: Yeah. I stay cooking beats so i just made that and I saw Notion going crazy over that. Actually I remixed a whole album of Notion’s a while back. I won a spot on TMF’s remix album for my remix of “New Wave” I loved dudes style and flow and charisma lyrically so I wanted to work with him for a minute. The song is straight Gorilla rap over a soulful beat so I felt he would be perfect for it. He really went in crazy on that joint. One of my favorite tracks on the album for sure.

Cyclops: The song is crazy. Notion has been helping us out with some mixing and mastering so it was long overdue that we all got on the same track. Tokyo and I had the song and we thought Notion would be a perfect fit so we just sent it over and he had an incredible verse. Basically, the song boils down to all of us spitting some crazy bars.

Cee: Do you guys plan to get some shows crackin’ to support the release of the album?

Tokyo Cigar: That’s the only complicated thing. We are in different states so linking up to perform is an issue. We’re gonna work around it. I may go up to Jersey to link up and lace some shows. But we gonna work it out. We on some Phonte and Nicolay shit right now ha ha.

Cyclops: Because we live in different locations that’s pretty difficult but it’s definitely a possibility and something we’re working on. Shows are really important so it’s one of our goals for the near future.

Cee: So what’s the plans from here? Should we expect another PGF release any time soon? Many solo projects on deck?

Tokyo Cigar: Oh yeah for sure. The crazy thing is that we are already working on our third and Fourth project. We also have a top secret project were doing that should blow some peoples minds. Cyclops also has a solo album called “When Inspiration Hits” which I produced entirely for him. We dropping that in December. That joint has some of my BEST beats ever. I’m also lacing an EP called “The Last Dragon” for my man Ra that is gonna be retarded.

Cyclops: We’re working on a few projects actually. I have a new solo album produced by Tokyo coming out in December, called “When Inspiration Hits.” We’ve been working on this album for a while and it’s definitely my magnum opus as a solo artist. Tokyo has some of his best production on that album and I have my best lyrics so the album is going to be something very serious. I also have a project coming out produced by Half-Centric. It’s a very soulful sound and is going to have collaborations with Cee and Notion. Recently, I started on another solo album that’s going to be somewhat of a sequel to Oceans. It’s tentatively titled “The Red Morning Sky.” There’s only 1 song completely finished for that project called “You Don’t Understand” produced by Razorsharpe and everyone I’ve played it for has gone nuts.

As for new PGF shit, I don’t know how much I’m supposed to talk about LOL but we are planning a bunch of different shit. We’re working on our 3rd album, which is on some take it back to 94 shit. I mean, I was only 2 then but you get the idea. We’re also planning a Trip Hop project infused with some poetry and prose. That’s not really fleshed out yet, but I’m sure it’s gonna be insane once we get the ball rolling.

Cee: Any message for the people?

Tokyo Cigar: Please support the Plexiglass click. Our motto is “Music is my Life, Life is my hobby” so we really put our heart and soul into this.

Cyclops: To everyone who supported us and listened to the music, thank you. We work hard to put out the best music possible and when people respond to that it means a lot. To everyone who hasn’t checked us out or is waiting to, please take a few minutes out of your day and listen. All of the music is available for streaming and free download so there’s no reason not to check it out.

Cee: Hit us with the science where folks can grab the music and get more info on Tokyo Cigar & Cyclops.

Tokyo Cigar: We got the website http://www.theplexiglassfountain.com/ and Bandcamp http://theplexiglassfountain.bandcamp.com/

We also got Twitter http://twitter.com/Tokyocigar http://twitter.com/CyclopsCaliberX

Anyone interested in beats get at me thought the homie Big Cee at ceefeezy@gmail.com and Tokyocigartalk@gmail.com.

Cyclops: Check out http://www.theplexiglassfountain.com. Anything that we do as a group or solo gets posted there so it’s pretty much a 1 stop type thing. If you want go to http://www.theplexiglassfountain.bandcamp.com
http://www.cyclops.bandcamp.com or
http://www.tokyocigarmusic.bandcamp.com if you want to download our
stuff.

Cee: Peace guys.

Tokyo Cigar: Peace. Thanks for the interview. AUG. 10th “Midnight Hindsight” support the album. ZOOM.

Cyclops: Good looking out on the spotlight. It’s really appreciated.

Atlanta. Seattle. St Louis. J-Mar has resided in all of these cities, and their style, attitude and swag is evident in his music. Most folks may not know the name, so I’ma let the man himself tell y’all…

Cee: What up man, how you doing?
J-Mar: I’m good dog, just livin’ this North West life.

Cee: Aight, so you represent Seattle, one of my favourite cities in the US for sure. Even though Seattle is on the West, do you think you guys get excluded from general West coast conversations?
J-Mar: In some ways I think we get excluded. I think it’s mainly from the people who ain’t on West Coast. When you think of the West a lotta people associate that with palm trees, Cali life. But cats in Cali if they’re real for the most part, they know what’s up and they put us in the mix. We along wit it, we’re bangin’, ridin’ low low’s, ol’ school Chevy’s, the whole nine.

Cee: Does Seattle have a certain sound with regard to Hip Hop, as y’all did for the grunge movement?
J-Mar: Yeah I think Seattle’s hip hop sound is MCs busting over real smooth, cool out joints. That’s when hip hop is at it’s best out here.

Cee: Tell me about your latest album.
J-Mar: My newest project is called ‘Be A G About It’. It has all kinds a features on there, including West Coast legends such as C-Bo and Marvalous. ‘Be A G About It’, the the phrase is somethang our camp tries to stay true to. It means to handle your business accordingly whether you are the street hustler on the corner or the business executive. Be a G about yours and handle your business.

Cee: What were some of your inspirations?
J-Mar: As far as inspirations go, my cousin Yougn was the first one who pushed me to start rapping for real. We formed a group called North West Heathens. As rappers go, I would have to say Brotha Lynch Hung. He was my favorite rapper growing up but as I traveled around I grew to like artists such as TI and Obie Trice.

Cee: What sets you apart from the masses of MCs these days?
J-Mar: I think what sets me apart from most MCs is my diversity. I have lived in so many different areas in the States that I just naturally picked some of their styles and that especially held true with music. From Atlanta to St Louis back to Seattle, I’m able to tell stories that can relate to all urban living, no matter were you come from.

Cee: What other projects are you working on?
J-Mar: Currently I’m working on my mixtape which is set to hit the streets within the next couple weeks. It’s called ‘Elevator Music (Next Level pt 1)’. Also I’m working on my new hip hop/jazz album called ‘The Cognac Lounge’ with the hit single ‘Pimp Shake’.

Cee: Have you been touring or doing any shows lately?
J-Mar: Yeah I just got off the Prenuptial Agreement tour with J Stalin and San Gin. And I’m doing a show in Seattle with B-Legit from E-40s The Click on May 6th.

Cee: Ever been to Australia?
J-Mar: No, never been to Australia but I would love to come over there to rock a show and kick it with the locals.

Cee: Outside of Hip Hop, what artists have been catching your ear and inspiring you?
J-Mar: I love R&B. Keri Hilson is doing her thang. Neo soul artists like Dwele, Lauryn Hill, Corinne Bailey-Rae and Jill Scott.

Cee: Hit me with some contact details so the people can get at you!
J-Mar: You can find me and my music on iTunes, Rhapsody, CD Baby, MySpace.com/du4self and look for Du4self on Facebook.

Cee: Thanks for your time!
J-Mar: Thank you. Appreciate it, continue to do your thang and don’t forget to be a G about it the whole time.

This is one man who needs no introduction. Any self-respecting Hip Hop fan will know of The X-Ecutioners, one of the most respected and talented DJs crews to ever rock the 1200s. The recent passing of the legendary Roc Raida has brought the guys to the forefront yet again; well, it’s not like they ever left, really.

DJ Rob Swift has just released a brand new album entitled ‘The Architect’, and it’s unlike anything you’ve ever heard before. Hip Hop, Classical, Turntablism. Actually, let’s just call it good music.

I was blessed to do the first Australian interview with Rob (shouts to the homegirl Tamia!), so let’s get right to it…

Cee: Hey Rob, how’s things man?

Rob Swift: Things are great!

Cee: First up, I checked out the album. All I can say is ‘wow’. This is on some next level shit. What was your main inspiration for it?

RS: The inspiration for “THE ARCHITECT” is the genre of classical music. On past albums, Jazz was the driving force for a lot of my creativity. Listen to my first album “THE ABLIST” and you’ll hear songs with live bands. Even the album cover was intended to invoke a feel of the old Blue Note record label. Pick up my second album “SOUND EVENT” and discover tracks like “Salsa
Scratch” featuring jazz pianist Bob James. But this time around, about one month prior to begin working on what would later become “THE ARCHITECT”, I discovered the genre of classical music. It made such an impression on me that subconsciously I was thinking like a classical composer, working movements and things of that sort. Once I realized this, I embraced it.

Cee: How do you feel turntablism and classical music are related?

RS: Both the classical musician and turntablist compose music. Its as simple as that. Obviously, the way we compose our music is different. Turntablists do not read sheets of music. A classically trained pianist or violinist does. However what ties us together is the way sound, rhythm and tempo inspire us to make music in the first place. Both the instincts of the
Turntablist and classical composer guide him on what sources of sound to incorporate into a piece, and so on.

Cee: Why the move to use more classical sound on this project?

RS: I felt the need to reinvent my sound. This was my way of giving my audience something new to look forward to regarding my music. It also served as a way of keeping the process of recording new and challenging for me.

Cee: Why the decision to only include one vocalist on the album?

RS: Well, I was listening by composers like Beethoven, Mozart and especially Frederic Chopin. Their music captured your attention with out the need of a vocalist. I wanted to achieve the same. I didn’t want to use the presence of an MC on a particular song as a crutch!

Cee: What do you expect to achieve with this album?

RS: My goal on all of my albums was to emphasize the turntable is a musical instrument in the hands of the right DJ. For skeptics that didn’t believe it when release my prior albums, there’s no way than can deny it after listening to “THE ARCHITECT”.

Cee: Was this more of a personal record or something for the people?

RS: I put my heart into everything I do. Thus, this album was just as personal as all my other releases. Likewise, I like to stimulate my audience and challenge the way they hear music so in that sense its for the people!

Cee: How did you meet Mike Patton and link up with his label?

RS: I first met Mike Patton at a show the X-ecutioners collaborated with him on in Canada. This was many years ago. Later on, we recorded an album with Mike entitled “GENERAL PATTON VS THE X-ECUTIONERS”. Most recently, I toured with Mike as a member of his band “Peeping Tom”. All of this allowed us to develop a strong musical connection. So midway through the completion of my album, I reached out to Mike about releasing “THE ARCH…” And after
listening to a rough draft of the album Mike responded in a very positive way to it and offered to draw up a recording deal on behalf of his label Ipecac Recordings.

Cee: How did the passing of Roc Raida affect you both as a musician and as a friend?

RS: As a musician, it makes me appreciate what I do for a living even more. It’s easy to grow tired of the countless hours spent on planes, trains and automobiles on your quest to tour the globe spreading the word about a particular project. It’s easy to get comfortable in what you’ve accomplished in the past and play it safe, only doing just enough at a show or in the recording studio. But Raida passing away is a reminder that you can’t take life and the opportunities life offers us, for granted. Raida showed us that none of us know what’s waiting for us around the corner so its important for you and I to give everything we do 110% because after we’re
gone our work on this earth is what carries on our legacy. As a friend, Raida showed me the important roll we all play in each others lives. Raida and I motivated each other to be the best DJ, producer, musician and all around person. At times we accomplished this through being creative. Other times we accomplished this did it through it was through working out
creative and personal differences. Our friendship was deep. Tumultuous at times because of the passion we have but full of love as well. We were like brothers! I’ll miss him forever and for this reason I dedicated “THE ARCHITECT” to him!

Cee: Tell us about the live show for the album.

RS: The live show is something you definitely must witness in person. Let’s just say you won’t be disappointed. I’m usually drenched in sweat by the finally of the show.

Cee: Are you working on any other projects at the moment?

RS: At the moment, I’m working on a DVD documenting “THE ARCHITECT” world tour!

Cee: What’s the plans for the immediate future?

RS: Work, work, work and work some more to promote my album!

Cee: Are you getting down to Australia any time soon?

RS: Thanks to a fine trio of Australians (Tamia, MJ and Aaron – WHAT UP!) I will be touring Australia this May! It’ll be my first solo tour their and I’m really excited about it!

Cee: Any message for the fans?

RS: I’m looking forward to seeing you all at the various shows I’ll be having in Australia and please support my new album!

Cee: Thanks for your time man!

RS: Thank you!

DJ Rob Swift MySpace
DJ Rob Swift Website

So to kick off 2010′s The Movement Fam Artist Features, we thought we’d do it BIG! Normally, we like to spotlight up and coming artists that we believe in and who are about to do big things; however, this time we decided to step that up a bit. Fans of the Hall of Justus (Little Brother, etc) may be well familiar with Miss Carlitta Durand; and although she’s worked with some of the most talented MC’s in the game, she’s on her way to make her mark on the world solo.

Carlitta recently released her debut EP, ‘The Doug & Patty EP’ (based on the 90′s cartoon characters). With eleven songs (does that technically make it an album?), it’s a free gem that really shows off Miss Durand’s vocal and songwriting abilities. Check the interview below for more info, but every song is really dope; that’s rare as hell these days, let alone on a free EP. She reminds me of a young, more upbeat Jill Scott (mainly in her vocal tones and inflections), and has some serious potential to make a solid mark on the Hip Hop, R&B and Neo Soul worlds.

Carlitta was kind enough to take some time out to chat with me about the EP, her upcoming projects and how she got down with Little Brother…

Cee: Hey Carlitta, thanks for taking the time to chat with us.

Alright, so let’s get a little background on you. How did you get into the biz? And how did you link up with Little Brother/Justus League?

Carlitta: Hey, well..a friend of mine had a friend, he eventually became my manager, he worked with HOJ and JL, and Little Brother needed a singer one night, they called me and the rest is history. The song was “Life of the Party”.

Cee: Most of our readers will know you best from your work with LB. How has it been working with such esteemed MCs? Has it helped you shape your craft?

Carlitta: It’s been great, I’ve learned a lot, met a lot of people. It feels good to work with artists who take their craft seriously, and I consider LB to be one of the best rap groups of all time. It’s truly a blessing and has opened doors I never would of thought I’d see. I’ve definitely grown as an artist and a singer since the first night I met LB.

Cee: So after a gang of guest appearances, we finally have a Carlitta solo project in the ‘Doug & Patty EP’. Was this your first solo outing?

Carlitta: There was one before this, a mixtape “Carlitta’s Way” that available on iTunes.

Cee: Tell us about the EP. Who did you get on production? There’s some amazing beats on the project.

Carlitta: The whole project was produced by Vaughn Garcia of M1 Platoon. It features Oklahoma rapper Jabee and he recently released a mixtape as well with Mick Boogie, “Must Be Nice”, be on the look out for him as well. It also features Big Chopps of the M1 Platoon, I believe him and his group got next, they are out of DC and they are very dope. I took a trip to DC to work on the EP for a weekend, we worked all day and night to finish it. I’m proud of it, it’s fun and the music is good. I’m just happy i can share it with the world.

Cee: Feature-wise, there’s no big name appearances. Was this intentional? And notably, there’s no Justus League feature. Any reason behind this?

Carlitta: I wasn’t really gonna feature anyone but Vaughn Garcia, I wanna give everyone a chance. There are rappers out there that we tend to over look and not give credit to but they are very dope. Jabee and Chopps are some of them, I believe in their talent and I think they have something worth listening to.

Cee: What was the inspiration behind using the Doug & Patty characters from the 90′s? That was a throwback!!

Carlitta: Lol ha, there wasn’t really any inspiration, me and Vaughn were just brainstorming names. We get silly when we’re together, I threw out Doug and Patty and he said ‘OK’. That’s it.

Cee: What was the motivation behind making it a free download? There’s a lot of talk about this these days as listeners tend to expect everything free or they’ll download it illegally anyway. What are your thoughts on this?

Carlitta: It was a Christmas gift to everyone…I know there is a problem with downloading but I believe people will pay if they believe in you. When people appreciate what you do and believe in you AND enjoy they will buy you music.

Cee: What’s the plans from here, as far as your next project? Do you have a full length album in the works? What can the fans expect from you going forward?

Carlitta: A full album is coming, touring, more projects and collaborations, shows, videos…anything I can do to share my music.

Cee: Is there any artist(s) who are your main inspirations? And who are the main folks you’re keen to work with on the next project(s)?

Carlitta: Sade, I love her voice and she’s beautiful and I LOVE Prince, he’s a musical genius. I would love to work with Madlib or Stevie Wonder lol, but I’m really open to work with anyone.

Cee: Hit us with your contact details so the fans can check out your music!

Carlitta: Of course:

twitter.com/carlittadurand (The best place to find me lol)
myspace.com/missdurand
youtube.com/carlittad
carlittamusic@gmail.com
and Facebook: search “Carlitta Durand”

Cee: Thanks for your time, much love and good luck with everything!

Carlitta: THAAAANK YOU!!!! LOVE, PEACE AND BLESSINGS!

Download Carlitta Durand – Doug & Patty EP