since Prince and 3RDEYEGIRL left the audience from their second night in Manchester dripping in an adrenaline of black sweat and a glow of funk and roll.
Funk n' Roll - Prince jamming on stage with 3RDEYEGIRL. Photo taken from Manchester Evening News
This was the second night in a row the band played Manchester Academy.
3RDEYEGIRL, made up of Donna (guitar), Hannah (drums) and Ida (bass) came out at 8PM to an already hype crowd - there's a certain energy when you know Prince Rogers Nelson is behind a curtain.
Then the rock began to rumble, and that instantly recognisable voice began singing as 3RDEYEGIRL got into the groove. Every neck craned to see Prince's entrance as he walked cooly centre-stage. The night was young.
Prince could feel the love. The crowd was definitely giving it back to him singing every song with him; cheering as he relayed that love on to the fantastic band. Everyone cheered as 3RDEYEGIRL tore the roof off, this was the ultimate jam session. My eyes were back and forth trying to absorb the ethereal atmosphere of watching Prince sit and play as the band rocked high to the heavens to classics and new songs alike ranging from She's Always in my Hair to Something In the Water. I'll never forget him incorporating "Man - CHESTER" into his many songs consistently thanking the fans.
The heat in the crowd continued to rise. Although quite far back, this was an intimate venue and when Prince looked into the audience I felt his gaze reach my eye and touch my soul. When he told the crowd to sway side-to-side I was compelled to follow his beat. At points he coyly pointed at fans and told them to put their technology down and clap.
It was clear that Prince is built on a foundation of rhythm. It oozes out of him so naturally.
When the band said their first goodnight and left the stage before 10PM, they'd been playing around an hour and a half. I'd heard the legendary stories of Prince playing hours over UK curfews so I knew he'd come back for an encore. What I didn't expect is for him to come back for 6-8 encores - I lost count.
There were points of the show I couldn't see the band or Prince, but hearing him sit and perform The Beautiful Ones was an experience to cherish even if the image I see of him is just his face, far away on stage, an image encapsulated in between a sea of swaying arms. I could see his shadow above my head as I looked to the ceiling.
It was an incredible set list. As he came out for one of the many encores he warned us that with the amount of hits he has, we could be here all night. The crowd were up for that!
It is a night imprinted in my soul, the energy rocked me to the core and the love and respect Prince showed the fans is evident in them all, old and new.
Prince fans have shown their true purple colours via the Prince Army on twitter. I have watched them all rally together and support each other to get to venues, swap tickets and beat the ticket touts over social media.
He rewarded this dedication and came out to every encore request. He brought up on stage those who had queued for hours in the Manchester cold, rain and hail.
Seeing his hard-core fans jamming on stage with their hero is such a highlight – and Prince fans can dance – especially the guy with a beard, who Prince joked looked like Mumford and Sons.
Over 3 hours of pure energy, a term Prince kept repeating - this was Funk n Roll. 3RDEYEGIRL and Prince, they rocked us, they funked us, they brought the house down.
Interview personality Damon Campbell has built a reputation for himself as the man to go to in Michigan if you are a musician. He focuses on the human essence of his subjects as well as their artistic integrity, which makes for compulsive viewing on his websiteMuzikzMyLife.Com.I wanted to allow our readers to discover how he did it.
SD: I love how music is your life. Did you ever want to make music, or did you watch music interviews and aspire to that career straight away?
DC: Thank you. I’ve always been interested in seeing quote unquote “celebrities” for the human beings that they are and learning about their life stories, so I grew up reading a lot of biography books about my favorite athletes and musicians and watching documentaries like VH1’s “Behind the Music,” even some of Sway’s interviews on MTV. But it definitely took a while for me to see interviewing, or even journalism as a whole, as a viable career choice for myself.
In terms of wanting to make music, not many people even know this about me, but there was actually a brief period of my life when I wanted to grow up to be a rapper. It was just a phase, though, and I eventually grew out of it. But I definitely spent a lot of time in 5th grade writing out the lyrics to my favorite rap songs and memorizing/reciting them, which ultimately lead to me performing “Number 1” by Nelly in front of all my classmates at the school talent show that year. Somewhere along the line, I started writing some songs of my own as well, but thankfully they never saw the light of day.
SD: Looking at your site, it looks like you present for your own websiteMuziksMyLife.com. Is this website how you established a name for yourself?
DC: Definitely. Ever since I realized that I wanted to make a career out of this, I’ve always sort of looked at my site as a public portfolio: all of my interviews, write-ups, and — to a certain extent —experiences in the music industry on full display for the world to see. Basically, my intentions with the site have always been to ultimately use it as a stepping stone to greater opportunities, once I’ve proven myself worthy of them.
SD: How long ago did you set up the site and did it begin as a music interview website?
DC: I started the site in 2007, when I was a junior in high school, as a way to help keep people up to date with the latest music because at the time, hip-hop blogs (and music blogs in general) weren’t nearly as common as they are today, and not many people even knew about the few that existed. Friends of mine were often asking me to update their iPods for them, so I saw it as a way to help people out on a larger scale. I was spending all my time on these other sites anyways, so one day I just decided to start one of my own, and I called it MuziksMyLife. As things progressed, I eventually started doing interviews in 2010 as a way to contribute exclusive content to the culture, while also giving my viewers a chance to learn about certain artists and hopefully feel more connected to them as human beings. But for a while I just dabbled, even though I was becoming more and more known for it. I didn’t like the thought of being boxed in and felt like people were overlooking the fact that I could do other things too, so at the time I was still trying to expand my repertoire. About a year and a half ago, however, I had somewhat of an epiphany. I finally realized that interviewing was what would not only take me the furthest in my career, but also where my passion and talent truly lied. So I decided to fully embrace the role by eliminating all distractions and focusing solely on conducting as many quality interviews as possible.
SD: Was your first interview of a famous person? How did you achieve your first interview, and how did you achieve your first interview with an established person?
DC: I feel like ‘fame’ is a relative term, but the first interview I ever did was with a Miami-based rapper named Billy Blue, which was pretty surreal ‘cause his song Story of My Life was the summer anthem for my friends and I the year before. If memory serves me right, I think I got a hold of him over Twitter and he messaged me his manager’s number, who in turn helped me set up a phone call with the man himself that ended up lasting a whopping 26 minutes. That was the first time I realized what types of doors my site could open for me. But the first time I felt like I had knocked a door down, so to speak, was when I interviewed Wiz Khalifa, and I credit that one in particular to persistence. It was only my third on-camera interview (fourth overall), so clearly I hadn’t established myself yet. Not only that, but “Black and Yellow” was already No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 well on its way to becoming No. 1. Needless to say, the odds were stacked against me—so much so that I actually got ignored for like a week straight. But I knew deep down that I could make it worth their while, and that it would ultimately give me the credibility I needed to move forward, so I refused to accept defeat and was eventually able to convince Will, his manager, to give me a chance. From there, I knew that anything would be possible.
SD: How did you achieve your goals in terms of writing and interviewing? Does it help being based in Michigan?
DC: I had to learn to appreciate it, but I’ve definitely come to realize that being based in Michigan gives me a competitive advantage. For starters, I conduct the majority of my interviews when artists come through on tour, and it seems like almost every single tour makes at least one stop in Michigan, if not more. We have so many different markets — Detroit, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Ann Arbor, the list goes on — and each one has multiple venues varying in capacity, which allows for a wide range of talent to come here and perform. And when all else fails, I’m still only three hours from Chicago. Not only that, but if I lived in a media hub like New York City then I’d be further down the totem pole and therefore less of a priority for artists seeking press coverage while in town. Whereas here in The Mitten, I feel like I’ve marked my territory in a sense and really established myself as the go-to guy for on-camera interviews—at least in hip-hop, anyway. Over the years, I’ve also become increasingly familiar with different venues and their tendencies, built rapport with certain staff and security, etc. And since none of these interviews are ever truly guaranteed until they’re completed, it helps to know your way around in case you happen to find yourself in a pinch.
SD: Did you receive any help to get to your position? What tips would you give people trying to make a name for themselves?
DC: Oh, definitely. I mean, on the one hand I’m essentially a freelance journalist who just so happens to have his own platform, so it’s certainly an independent grind in the sense that I’ve had to create a lot of my own opportunities. But at the same time, I’d be foolish to think that I could have made it this far without all the people who’ve supported me over the years and ultimately contributed to my success—whether they even realize it or not. I try my best not to take anything for granted, so I could go on for days recalling certain situations and thanking those who’ve played a role up until this point. But to save on time I’d just like to say that this entire journey, much like life in general, has been about one thing leading to another. It all adds up. Taking that into account, my advice to anyone reading this would be to try and live a regret-free life from this point forward. I know, easier said than done. But think about it: not only are you dwelling on the past, but you’re allowing its negativity to seep into your present. Sure, it can be beneficial to look back on things from time to time and learn from the direct consequences of certain decisions so that you can apply those experiences down the road if you so choose. But the fact of the matter is…even if you could go back in time and change something, it’s utterly impossible to know what type of outcome that would have on even the world in general, much less your own specific situation. It’s the butterfly effect, plain and simple. So there comes a point when dissecting your past only distracts you from your future.
SD: Would you consider yourself an artist? Or how would you describe yourself?
DC: Absolutely. I don’t go around referring to myself as an artist, per se. If someone asks, I’ll say I’m an interviewer or, at most, an interview personality. But if you really break it down, interviewing has become my outlet for creative expression. Just like any other art form, it’s my craft for others to critique, study, and — most of all — enjoy, and I take great pride in my work. I strive for all of my interviews to be the best that they can possibly be, and in the process, refuse to ever sacrifice their artistic integrity.
SD: Are you working 24/7 in your field to maintain a name for yourself?
DC: The last thing I would ever want to do is get caught up in the past and rest on my success, so I eat, sleep, and breathe this stuff. Not only to maintain a name for myself, knowing that all of this could be gone tomorrow if I allowed it to be, but more importantly to continue pushing the boundaries and building upon my accomplishments — always taking things to the next level. As I mentioned earlier, I named my site MuziksMyLife because at the time, I was spending all of my free time listening to music and studying the game, trying to keep up with everything that was going on within the industry. But since then, music — and more specifically as of late, interviewing musicians — truly has become my life, 24/7. One of the things that I love most about what I do is that I don’t have time to be bored. Regardless of what it is, there’s always something productive that I can be doing to help further my career. Even when I am off doing something else, which is rare, I’m usually still multitasking or, at the very least, thinking about my musical endeavors.
SD: Is there anything else you’d like to add? DC: I’d just like to thank you for taking the time out to interview me. I really appreciate the opportunity and can’t even begin to tell you how much I enjoyed your questions. I’d also like to thank anyone who took the time to read this. If you’re interested in watching any of my interviews, you can find them all onMuziksMyLife.com. My contact info is on there as well. Thanks again!
Selina Ditta interviews dance act duo Chidi and Chinwe of TOOCHI who have been riding the waves of the British music scene.
WITH THEIR HOT TRACK SOS (STYLE OVER SUBSTANCE) SPINNING IN THE CLUBS AND THE SIZZLING SUMMER SINGLE FIGHT FOR YOUR DREAM ON THE WAY, TOOCHI, (WHO YOU MAY HAVE SEEN ON SKY TV AT THE PINEAPPLE DANCE STUDIO) HAVE JUMPED IN TO THE DEEP END OF THE MUSIC INDUSTRY AND SURVIVED IN THE FIGHT FOR THEIR PLACE IN THE SPOTLIGHT.
I was so impressed with the spirit of the girls I had to get them to open up for A Creation’s readers.
Selina Ditta: So the new single is Fight For your Dream (FFYD) - what has been your fight? Tell us the journey!
Toochi: We have been fighting for our dream a while and it’s working! Just staying optimistic is a fight in itself…but we have each other to support when the chips are down. There are a zillion jobs to do in our record label and a lot of people to talk to so it can be hard work to keep on top of it all. But our biggest drive is to hear the songs come to life and perform them with our crew. It makes it all worthwhile when we see the end results.
We are promoting the album Play. It’s our way of telling ourselves: "We work hard and now we want to have fun, it’s time to play!" Our album Back to Front will be about the journey of how we began our career – we came out with big ideas and got our fingers burnt and we had to humble ourselves and now we have a better understanding of the whole spectrum of the official process and do things differently. We got ourselves in sticky situations in the past and that’s why we’re much more at ease now.
SD: What were the sticky situations? And what sort of sharks/charlatans/pitfalls have you come across? What should upcoming acts look out for and what lessons have you learned on your journey?
Toochi: We learnt the hard way that the industry can be harsh but you have to remember what your passion is and stay strong in yourself to live your passion even if everyone else tells you not to.
Sticky situation: dealing with sharks and being taken advantage of financially. We actually feel there needs to be more regulation in the industry – it’s taken us 15 years to learn to survive. There could be more to nurture young raw talent and look after those who are at such an innocent stage and eager to present what they’ve got only to realise people want to catch you out in a negative way. If you’re not resilient it’s a lonely place and we have each other for support through the dark times and when we hit dead ends.
SD: Who do you surround yourself with? Is it hard to trust people?
Toochi: We have wonderful family and good friends as resilient as us. They’re positive and supportive and keep us in check too. Our Toochi team are amazing and talented people who we’ve worked with over the years.
SD: How has Pineapple Dance Studio helped your career?
Toochi: Pineapple has been instrumental for our career as we trained there when we first started out years ago, allowing us to develop our dance/music skills. We originally came from the dance world so we were also able to meet and work with our teams that help give you TOOCHI today. We love the energy of dancing together and the discipline it instils - plus it’s also good for expressing what our lyrics say.
“
We have to be disciplined in learning all aspects (i.e. the business) of our craft to achieve the satisfaction of getting our expression (the music) out of it. The drive is getting people to hear the songs.
”
SD: From my understanding you have your own record label.
Toochi: Yes we operate our own label called T Records which allows TOOCHI music to travel from creative beginnings and end up in your iPod.
SD: So what goes into the record label?
Toochi: There’s so many jobs we have to forecast and lots of scheduling and juggling and map planning. It’s about being organised as well as creative. We have learnt so much – from making sure our video specs are right for broadcast – to getting our music to the right promoters and gig spaces and then working with production teams.
Some people we work with are not business savvy they just want to dance and sing and if you can find people you trust to do the business part for you that’s great. We do it interchangeably together – the business side allows the creative side to survive, it took a while for us to understand that. We have to only take on what we can manage as we are a small team. We have the single and the video and the album and we do want to expand to international markets so we have a plan that we’ll execute in phases so as not to crumble.
SD: How do you stay motivated?
Toochi: Always be convicted in your own vision. If we have a good song we get it out there, rather than deal with the politics of releasing it via a label. Our choreographer Mark Battershall really understands us; through the years we sustained dance injuries and industry setbacks. We’ve taken big risks but when you’re convicted in what you’ve got and you think it’ll benefit others – for example, to listen to your song and see others dancing to it and enjoying it is instant gratification. Music has been such a positive influence in our lives, a big tool to channel emotions and we just want to put back in what we’ve got out of it. We get energy from seeing the end results, both of us dream up a concept or idea or melody then hear it, harmonise and record it on Dictaphones. We were having a jam session in the studio with our guitar player the other day and we are so happy when we are in our element and it makes everything worth it!
SD: How is the buzz around you created?
Toochi: You have to knock on a lot of doors to get your video shown and at the moment the buildings are all online so you have to push yourself forward. There is more scope and more reception for independent labels now – in the past, if you couldn’t get signed by a big record label like BMG, you weren’t considered an artist. But now you can make it happen without waiting for someone to tell you that you are an artist and the drive is to get our songs heard.
We’re known in the club circuit as an underground act – we’re so grateful for the DJs supporting I Represent and SOS – and SKY and Pineapple Dance Studio's support. If there is a buzz going on about TOOCHI then that’s very cool and we are very grateful for everyone who buys and enjoys our music.
SD: How do aspiring singers get to make professional videos and make names for themselves?
Toochi: By finding the video directors you want to work with and making that call. Be bold and believe in yourself. You can go for gold if you really want to.
The FFYD video was a labour of love. When you're trying to get your message across and everyone's passion, talent and energy were given 100% it came together with great results.
Financially it wasn’t easy. It’s a long process as we do live our lives and everyone in TOOCHI world has other jobs and work on their creativity on the side. While we’d love to have the funding we have made it work regardless and become business minded.
SD: What sort of messages are on the album? I've seen you tweet some inspiring lyrics?
Toochi: We like to offer empowering messages that can be applied to help our everyday lives. TOOCHI provides positive lyrics to inspire, encourage and acknowledge important things in life like family and having good friends. SOS is curently being promoted in the clubs up and down the country and we did have support from Capital Radio FM and KISS FM when it was first released. The 2013 release has been a great hit with DJ's who haven't forgotten TOOCHI! We're really excited about FFYD hitting the clubs for summer and the IBIZA scene!
SD: How do you decide to become a commercial act and how have you made it happen?
Toochi: A lot of hard work and dedication. We have always loved creating new songs and melodies so we played to our strengths and kept our music genre in that market place. There is a lot of talented people in team TOOCHI that we have been extremely fortunate to work alongside with so the level of talent we work with in TOOCHI is naturally reflected in our music and videos.
SD: You appeared in Coldplay and Robbie williams videos - how did it come about and is appearing in others' music videos a good way of networking in the music industry?
Toochi: Definitely! We threw ourselves out there to try as many jobs as possible as you get to meet the people in the industry and make your contacts. We went to Robbie’s for a laugh- as they were looking for Robbie William lookalikes but we still made the final cut! In the Coldplay video we were extras helping to create a spotlight effect. Chris Martin instantly recognised that we were identical twins when he spotted us! That was nice.
SD: You tweet inspiring messages a lot, also it seems your lyrics follow this. What is your working motto?
Toochi: Be who you are, believe in yourself and don't give up! You can do anything you put your mind to. Its messages we have had to live by that has helped us too in our music career.
SD: Anything else you'd like to add?
Toochi: TOOCHI would like to thank all our supporters, friends and family for sticking by us over the years. We are really excited about our musical path ahead and will continue to provide more TOOCHI tracks for our amazing fanbase. Grab yourself a FFYD T-Shirt and download the track Fight For Your Dream out on ITunes on June 14th!
In the current climate I plan to conduct a series of interviews for my new project A Creation with go-getters who can share their experiences and advise about the pitfalls on the way to achieving their goals.
Damon Campbell interviews Kid Ink
SD: I love how music is your life. Did you ever want to make music, or did you watch music interviews and aspire to that career straight away?
DC: Thank you. I’ve always been interested in seeing quote unquote “celebrities” for the human beings that they are and learning about their life stories, so I grew up reading a lot of biography books about my favorite athletes and musicians and watching documentaries like VH1’s “Behind the Music,” even some of Sway’s interviews on MTV. But it definitely took a while for me to see interviewing, or even journalism as a whole, as a viable career choice for myself. In terms of wanting to make music, not many people even know this about me, but there was actually a brief period of my life when I wanted to grow up to be a rapper. It was just a phase, though, and I eventually grew out of it. But I definitely spent a lot of time in 5th grade writing out the lyrics to my favorite rap songs and memorizing/reciting them, which ultimately lead to me performing “Number 1” by Nelly in front of all my classmates at the school talent show that year. Somewhere along the line, I started writing some songs of my own as well, but thankfully they never saw the light of day.
SD: Looking at your site, it looks like you present for your own website MuziksMyLife.com. Is this website how you established a name for yourself?
DC: Definitely. Ever since I realized that I wanted to make a career out of this, I’ve always sort of looked at my site as a public portfolio: all of my interviews, write-ups, and — to a certain extent —experiences in the music industry on full display for the world to see. Basically, my intentions with the site have always been to ultimately use it as a stepping stone to greater opportunities, once I’ve proven myself worthy of them.
SD: How long ago did you set up the site and did it begin as a music interview website?
DC: I started the site in 2007, when I was a junior in high school, as a way to help keep people up to date with the latest music because at the time, hip-hop blogs (and music blogs in general) weren’t nearly as common as they are today, and not many people even knew about the few that existed. Friends of mine were often asking me to update their iPods for them, so I saw it as a way to help people out on a larger scale. I was spending all my time on these other sites anyways, so one day I just decided to start one of my own, and I called it MuziksMyLife. As things progressed, I eventually started doing interviews in 2010 as a way to contribute exclusive content to the culture, while also giving my viewers a chance to learn about certain artists and hopefully feel more connected to them as human beings. But for a while I just dabbled, even though I was becoming more and more known for it. I didn’t like the thought of being boxed in and felt like people were overlooking the fact that I could do other things too, so at the time I was still trying to expand my repertoire. About a year and a half ago, however, I had somewhat of an epiphany. I finally realized that interviewing was what would not only take me the furthest in my career, but also where my passion and talent truly lied. So I decided to fully embrace the role by eliminating all distractions and focusing solely on conducting as many quality interviews as possible.
Taken from muziksmylife.com Damon Campbell with Berner and Wiz Khalifa
SD: Was your first interview of a famous person? How did you achieve your first interview, and how did you achieve your first interview with an established person?
DC: I feel like ‘fame’ is a relative term, but the first interview I ever did was with a Miami-based rapper named Billy Blue, which was pretty surreal ‘cause his song Story of My Life was the summer anthem for my friends and I the year before. If memory serves me right, I think I got a hold of him over Twitter and he messaged me his manager’s number, who in turn helped me set up a phone call with the man himself that ended up lasting a whopping 26 minutes. That was the first time I realized what types of doors my site could open for me. But the first time I felt like I had knocked a door down, so to speak, was when I interviewed Wiz Khalifa, and I credit that one in particular to persistence. It was only my third on-camera interview (fourth overall), so clearly I hadn’t established myself yet. Not only that, but “Black and Yellow” was already No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 well on its way to becoming No. 1. Needless to say, the odds were stacked against me—so much so that I actually got ignored for like a week straight. But I knew deep down that I could make it worth their while, and that it would ultimately give me the credibility I needed to move forward, so I refused to accept defeat and was eventually able to convince Will, his manager, to give me a chance. From there, I knew that anything would be possible.
SD: How did you achieve your goals in terms of writing and interviewing? Does it help being based in Michigan?
DC: I had to learn to appreciate it, but I’ve definitely come to realize that being based in Michigan gives me a competitive advantage. For starters, I conduct the majority of my interviews when artists come through on tour, and it seems like almost every single tour makes at least one stop in Michigan, if not more. We have so many different markets — Detroit, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Ann Arbor, the list goes on — and each one has multiple venues varying in capacity, which allows for a wide range of talent to come here and perform. And when all else fails, I’m still only three hours from Chicago. Not only that, but if I lived in a media hub like New York City then I’d be further down the totem pole and therefore less of a priority for artists seeking press coverage while in town. Whereas here in The Mitten, I feel like I’ve marked my territory in a sense and really established myself as the go-to guy for on-camera interviews—at least in hip-hop, anyway. Over the years, I’ve also become increasingly familiar with different venues and their tendencies, built rapport with certain staff and security, etc. And since none of these interviews are ever truly guaranteed until they’re completed, it helps to know your way around in case you happen to find yourself in a pinch.
SD: Did you receive any help to get to your position? What tips would you give people trying to make a name for themselves?
DC: Oh, definitely. I mean, on the one hand I’m essentially a freelance journalist who just so happens to have his own platform, so it’s certainly an independent grind in the sense that I’ve had to create a lot of my own opportunities. But at the same time, I’d be foolish to think that I could have made it this far without all the people who’ve supported me over the years and ultimately contributed to my success—whether they even realize it or not. I try my best not to take anything for granted, so I could go on for days recalling certain situations and thanking those who’ve played a role up until this point. But to save on time I’d just like to say that this entire journey, much like life in general, has been about one thing leading to another. It all adds up. Taking that into account, my advice to anyone reading this would be to try and live a regret-free life from this point forward. I know, easier said than done. But think about it: not only are you dwelling on the past, but you’re allowing its negativity to seep into your present. Sure, it can be beneficial to look back on things from time to time and learn from the direct consequences of certain decisions so that you can apply those experiences down the road if you so choose. But the fact of the matter is…even if you could go back in time and change something, it’s utterly impossible to know what type of outcome that would have on even the world in general, much less your own specific situation. It’s the butterfly effect, plain and simple. So there comes a point when dissecting your past only distracts you from your future.
SD: Would you consider yourself an artist? Or how would you describe yourself?
DC: Absolutely. I don’t go around referring to myself as an artist, per se. If someone asks, I’ll say I’m an interviewer or, at most, an interview personality. But if you really break it down, interviewing has become my outlet for creative expression. Just like any other art form, it’s my craft for others to critique, study, and — most of all — enjoy, and I take great pride in my work. I strive for all of my interviews to be the best that they can possibly be, and in the process, refuse to ever sacrifice their artistic integrity.
SD: Are you working 24/7 in your field to maintain a name for yourself?
DC: The last thing I would ever want to do is get caught up in the past and rest on my success, so I eat, sleep, and breathe this stuff. Not only to maintain a name for myself, knowing that all of this could be gone tomorrow if I allowed it to be, but more importantly to continue pushing the boundaries and building upon my accomplishments — always taking things to the next level. As I mentioned earlier, I named my site MuziksMyLife because at the time, I was spending all of my free time listening to music and studying the game, trying to keep up with everything that was going on within the industry. But since then, music — and more specifically as of late, interviewing musicians — truly has become my life, 24/7. One of the things that I love most about what I do is that I don’t have time to be bored. Regardless of what it is, there’s always something productive that I can be doing to help further my career. Even when I am off doing something else, which is rare, I’m usually still multitasking or, at the very least, thinking about my musical endeavors.
SD: Is there anything else you’d like to add?
DC: I’d just like to thank you for taking the time out to interview me. I really appreciate the opportunity and can’t even begin to tell you how much I enjoyed your questions. I’d also like to thank anyone who took the time to read this. If you’re interested in watching any of my interviews, you can find them all on MuziksMyLife.com. My contact info is on there as well. Thanks again.
Visit Project A Creation here, and email us to be considered as a featured artist!
Partial track list to Summers' Photo: Maxwell's Instagram
US singer Maxwell released a teaser at midnight, New York
time for his upcoming record Summers’.
It is the second part of his trilogy BlackSUMMERS’night,
and Maxwell’s cryptic clues to the record online has kept his fans gripped in
the anticipation of an artist who has consistently released great music.
On his Facebook biography; Summers’
is said to lean more towards a gospel sound, and in more recent interviews
Maxwell has described the album as a hybrid of music. He cited some artists he
enjoys such as the xx and Fleet Foxes, and suggested a subtle influence of
indie rock and alt-rhythm and blues sound might creep onto the record.
Maxwell always surprises; n 2008, he came on
stage for his first televised performance in seven years at the BET Awards – to
pay tribute to Al Green – and to prepare audiences for a new album.
Black was released in 2009. He recorded
the album with a live band and archaic microphones to give the record more
character, and hearing his magnificent falsetto and tenor voice on tracks such
as “Bad Habits” and “Love You” made some of my favourite music moments.
In the wait for Summers’, fans were elated with Maxwell’s
surprise appearance on the smoky ballad “Fire
We Make”, a duet with Alicia Keys on her current Girl On Fire album . Their voices, together, accompanied by synth bass and quiet horns is the
kind of material that soul fans dream of.
It makes the prospect of a
collaboration with Marsha Ambrosius on Summers’ even more exciting, which came
about from a hint Maxwell tweeted.
What’s interesting about Maxwell’s
Twitter, is that he has assured his artistic integrity. He doesn’t pander to
his listeners or give in to them, instead he challenges them.
The music industry is ever changing and while some
artists have to release albums to support their tours, Maxwell, thankfully, is
in a position where he can create the timeless album that he wants to.
It’s a work ethic which reminds me of Michael Jackson’s;
he cared about every chord change, every sound and always wanted to do
something different and recorded hundreds of songs for each album. Not to say
you can’t be prolific - Prince is evidence of that, but that’s two ends of the
spectrum of genius.
With the release of Maxwell’s Urban Hang Suite in 1996,
wheels were set in motion for him. He was claimed as a “saviour of soul”, “the
new Marvin Gaye” and “the king of neo-soul”, as the critics tried to put Maxwell – the commodity in his box.
Maxwell told Vibe Magazine’s Selwyn Seyfu Hinds around
the release of “Now” in 2001 about the pressures of competing against his
highly acclaimed debut record:
"You know sometimes when you want to do your own
thing and people just kind of want you to fit within their world...it's a revelation.
So I learned a lot about just perseverance and pure faith. And about humility”.
Embrya, released in 1998, with its enigmatic sound and
interesting lyrics actually makes it a fan favourite.
Plus his audience had already come to realise that Maxwell
had more depth to him. The year following Maxwell’s Urban Hang Suite release, he
would perform on MTV Unplugged and cover “This Woman’s Work” by Kate Bush and
“Closer” by the Nine Inch Nails. People realised he wasn’t only a single-minded
Curtis Mayfield and Marvin Gaye fan.
Like Erykah Badu surprised critics on her second album for
sampling Dr. Dre when her first album had her acclaimed as the neo-soul Billie
Holiday; Maxwell was making the music he needed to. It’s not a new thing or just confined to the
soul genre. Janet Jackson went against advice from her record company to
release Control – part II.
I like those kinds of artists, they don’t’ compromise
their art or just fall into line. Maxwell, Badu and Jackson have all spoken
about growth – personal, spiritual and artistic when asked on their follow up
albums.
Which is why I enjoy listening to Maxwell, I know he’ll
always surprise and challenge me as a listener and I too can grow.
From J Dilla to Sly Stone: Austin Brown's album Highway 85
Austin Brown has been making a name for himself over the last
four years. Nephew to the legends Michael and Janet Jackson,
and the son of Rebbie Jackson, he released a free
mixtape "Highway 85", on his websitewww.austinbrown.com last week.
It is an especially good career move for Brown;
releasing free mixtapes has worked wonders for Frank Ocean, The Weeknd and
Azealia Banks.
Brown's influences include Miles Davis, Sly and the Family
Stone and the Beatles; he has said in interviews he wants his listeners to
dig deep and discover the artists he's referencing in his music.
The black and white video for the single "Ménage à
Trois" showcases he has a band behind him
and demonstrates in true Jackson style, that his music is dance
music.
The song’s intro is a reminder of the stomping feet at the
beginning of "Where Did Our Love Go" by The Supremes; and
sounds like classic Motown with a twist. Brown has described the process of
creating “Ménage” with his producers as an attempt at marrying the
hard drums of a Dilla beat with a James Jamerson vibe bass.
Brown has been mentored by Q-Tip, Rodney Jerkins and Jermaine
Dupri and has been ghost-writing for a while. He and his group, The
Backpackkids, recently produced JoJo's mixtape Agápē and wrote four
records on it.
Austin Brown is a singer, writer, producer and dancer
So “Highway 85” - the title referring to his musical
journey since birth - is a delicious collection of funk grooves and infectious
hooks.
The opening track, "Highway to the Sky", is a stomper
with a touch of Beatles influence. Brown instantly makes his mark with his
mellifluous voice soaring over the marching beat.
"Where Were You" has 90s house influence stamped all
over it; and then there are more sublime moments, like “What Did I Lose To Love
You", which could give Bruno Mars some healthy competition.
Within the melting pot of influences that can be recognised; it
is "City of Angels" that solidifies Brown to his musical
family. This track is showered in a multilayer of
Jacksonified falsetto notes and is a wonderful mid-tempo groove.
“F'd With My Mind” is when you know for sure, Brown
is putting his heart into his music. He opens the song by telling the
girl it's dedicated to: "I know you think that you're the
shit," as he pleads "I still want you" over and over.
The record has blazing funk-groove moments, such as “Stargazer” which
has elements reminiscent of Isaac Hayes’s Walk On By;
to 90s hip hop. “Groove 92”; an easy going summery track to simmer
down to after all the funk, is chock- full of early 90s references and
winds-down to more slower tracks.
The standout track for me is "Volcano"; Brown’s voice
catches onto a pulsating beat which builds up into a frenzy of chord changes
which you can’t help but dance to.
The closing track, "All I Need" has a bubbling
bass and crashing brass section which his voice
effortlessly shines over –making it a good song to end on –because, you're
tempted to press play again right away and put this record on a loop.
And I can't sleep, feeling so sad about Amy Winehouse. I can't bear to watch the news. Everything going on in the world is depressing.
Amy Winehouse live
In the past I've complained about all the bandwagon jumpers jacking Amy's style [debatable, will go into that] while she's been out of the charts herself. I've been missing her herself, and rooting for her.
I just hate the music industry's 'onto the next' attitude - to me Amy Winehouse is a person before she is a product, and unlike what the media reports in response to her passing I believe her music outshone her troubles.
Her troubles were part of the package of being famous, and if you've read/followed Amy, you'll know it wasn't her intention to become famous.
Fame has always been destructive, because the people who are high profile are always struggling to be 'good enough' to whatever expectations are placed upon them. These days it's worse because of 24/7 news and gossip sites hounding people like Amy and mocking them instead of being positive.
I feel so sad that I have to grow old without so many of my favourite artists, Lynden David Hall, Aaliyah, Lefteye, Michael Jackson and now Amy Winehouse. Apart from Michael Jackson I felt like I loved these people before their 'stardomness' or high profileness went into overdrive. Each one of them gave interviews that I related in what they were saying, and I have memories to their individual songs, of buying their albums, or reading about them and getting excited over interviews.
When Aaliyah died I felt like I was experiencing what it felt like to lose Otis Redding - a fantastic young singer who was respected but still growing. I also felt like she was a sister, a really cool sister. I can't believe she died a week before 9.11 attacks, so long ago now, but I remember where I was, how I felt, that I believed it to be an internet hoax, that I used to watch Romeo Must Die bonus features nearly every day until the day she died.When Lefteye died it connected with a personal loss. When Lynden David Hall died on valentines day in 2004 it felt sickenly sad. He died of a rare case of lymphoma which not enough [black] donors give to. He was so talented and soulful but not many paid attention to his benefit concert, and for years not many people even knew he had died. It hurt me that he was not appreciated enough, but I felt priveleged to love him.
When Michael died, wow, I really have to keep that blog to one on its own because that will be long.
And now Amy... That voice. She embraced a sound and style but made it modern and she was a breath of fresh air in today's British music industry. Amy's pain and joy wasn't only in her heart when she sang, it was in mine. Her soulful voice really came from somewhere deep. I can't say the same for the Amy Winehouse bandwagon jumpers. She has writing talent, she took time over creating her music, playing live instruments, sampling and referencing hip hop. This is why she is individual.
I love you Amy, thank you for the music and for giving all you had to give.
