Oh Eight Is Great

Yahsmellme? This weekend, I'ma do it extra big. If you're down, get at me. I'm on the Ave, not real hard to find.

The Show This Past Weekend Was Crazy

I've been getting calls from a few people asking how the pseudo-SWP show went in Greenville on Thursday. Here's the rundown (man, I swore I would never write a show blog... so corny)

I got to Clemson real late on Wednesday night and met up with Areou and G-Sharpe. We talked about set length and whatnot, then I practiced my sets for a little and went to sleep. The next morning (the day of the show) I got some lunch at Peppino's and then went back to Rob's to practice some more. Around 5:30 I packed up my equipment and went to Ben and Jerry's to say hi to Grant. We chilled for a minute while he was on his dinner break, and then I rode out to Greenville to meet up with Biscuit and Rob at the show. I was finished setting up and getting my shit together by 7, so I took a nap on a couch at the venue while people started trickling in. Rob and Biscuit had finished assembling the backing for the mural they would be painting during the show, and they came to cool out with me while I drank some free beer and tried to relax before going on. G had even brought a record I left at a show back in the day, and I was real excited to get it back. Bobbi was there with a few friends, and it was nice to catch up with her. Mostly, I looked at Biscuit's Black Book (sometimes called a Bible... it's like a graff writer's diary where he puts pictures of previous works and sketches of pieces to come). J showed up right before the show began, and we caught up while he set up his sampler and I ran through last minute preparations with the sound man and the other DJ's for the show.

The show started around 9:30 with me doing some pre-planned sets on the turntables. I did the Sunny Sunday in Battery Park mix as well as a new mix of straight-ahead hip-hop bangers (ATCQ, Rasco, De La... etc). There were some issues with the sound (lots of low-end feedback) which got resolved while I took a break to shotgun a couple of free PBR's and say hi to some friends that had recently showed up. I chatted Boot up for a minute while he was talking to an ex student of mine (Kelly... check out her show on wsbf or peep her promo mix here). Tara came out to say hi, and Dani and Leanne were there to rep for Jeremi as always. Grant was doing it big, getting real drunk. I went back on to finish my set once the issues with the sound were fixed, and Wes (one of the other DJ's for the show) cut for a while while I mixed to finish the set. I came off stage sweaty--the stage lights were crazy hot--and relived to take a break and drink with my friends.

Boot and I went outside to talk some shit and get some air while I cooled off. It was great to catch up with him. Rob had finished his mural with Biscuit and he came outside to talk shit with us. We talked about how awesome it is to see someone you teach do it big on the turntables (G-Sharpe... one of my former students was on stage cutting for Hafez). I made sure to tell G and Kelly that I was proud of them for sticking with the turntables and trying to master DJing. Around this time (a few drinks deep at this point) things got hazy. Dani got a little out of control with the come-ons. Don't get me wrong, it's nice to feel lilke a rock star and whatnot when you come off stage and have a fly girl steezin on you, but it got a little over the top for being in public. Anyway, me and Dani danced for most of Havez' set and even through Picture Me Free's set (both were pretty good, Havez has always held it down). She tried to make it about more than dancing, but I was just trying to have a good time with my people, so I tried to keep that steez to a minimum.

Soon (around 1 am) it was time for Jeremi's set. He put on some hillarious sunglasses and started banging away on his SP-404, freaking some new beats and using effects to steez it up. I was cutting over the beats and even layed over some acappellas to do like a live remix. We made live blends of Method Man's P.L.O Style, Nas ft. Lauryn Hill's If I Ruled the World, and a couple others. Shit was wild. John Kutter (from Projekt Lotus) even came up and we went back and forth scratching to J's beats. Wes cut with us too, and shit sounded real good. Then came lights on and last call. G hit us up with some money (more than I was expecting) and we all exchanged thanks and gave each other big ups. We started packing up and talking shit with everyone who was still around (J's girl is reall cool, lots of fun to hang out with). Then came the afterparty.

We finished packing up and making sure everyone had a ride from the show. J and I rode out to Dani and Leanne's place to party with them. I didn't know when we left (around 3 or 3:30) that Dani's place was so far away, and by the time we got there, Leanne was asleep on the floor and Dani was asleep in her room. J and I sat in there living room watching Adult Swim, and then we both drove home around 4:30. I got back to Rob's place around 5:15, but all the doors were locked. I went to sleep on the couch on his front porch happy with the show and happy do be doing it big with my people in Clemson again... I mean, crashing on a couch outside after a show you got paid to do is the definition of doing it big in oh eight.

The Illustrious Origins of Sugar Water Purple

I've got a very long Saturday shift here at the library (9 to 6), so I figured I'd use some of that time to write a post that I've been meaning to get to. See, since I moved away from Clemson I occasionally reference the band/group I played with in college (Sugar Water Purple), and not many people seem to know what I'm talking about. I decided to write the history of the group here for those not in the know. Peep game:

Freshmen Year
Back when I was a freshman at Clemson, I met R.O.B (Rob Vandermolen) when we were both living in Johnstone A. Young Rob was making beats at the time, was a pretty accomplished freestlye MC, and even had a few beat-jacking albums put together to showcase his written verses. We very quickly met DJ Boot (Jeff King) when he walked by my dorm room and we were listening to Reflection Eternal's Train of Thought CD. Jeff was working at WSBF FM Clemson and asked us to come be guests on his late Tuesday night show. I brought some CD's and introduced some songs, talked about some artists, and immediately realized that I wanted to have a radio show of my own. R.O.B freestyled for a few beats, and I think he was really excited to get his own show as well.

Boot was also the Chief Announcer at the station, which meant he was getting paid to train new DJ's and monitor them to make sure they were following the rules. Since we had missed the intern drop-in at the beginning of the semester, he put Rob and I through a crash course and we immediately started interning on his show. I finished my intern hours very quickly and started doing my own show on Monday mornings from 9 to 11 am. I was going by DJ Cordial Mele at the time. It was not the most glamorous time slot, and I had to play music from the station's rotation of CD's (as were the rules for all first year DJ's); but I got through having an early morning rotation show by meeting Rob and Boot up at the station a few nights a week to learn how to scratch a mix records while Rob honed his freestyling skills.

By the start of the second semester of our freshmen year, Rob had just finished his interning hours and began doing his own show. I was doing another semester of a rotation show and trying my best to improve as a DJ (both of the radio and mix variety). I DJed a fraternity party with Boot in the middle of the semester and decided that I wanted to become a mix DJ rather than a radio DJ, meaning I would have to start collecting records, talking less, and really learn how to scratch and mix vinyl. I was fortunate to get elected as Chief Announcer (the job previously held by Boot) at the end of the year, which meant I would be in charge of traning the new DJ's the following year. I was excited about this. I was also excited to move off campus and stay with Chris (a buddy of mine from freshman year). I went home to Florida that summer, but when I got back a lot of things were different.

Sophomore Year
I got back to Clemson at the start of the semester and began teaching the new DJ's around the radio station what it took to have a show at WSBF. I had kind of lost touch with Rob at this point, but once the second semester rolled around, we were both surprised to find that we had back to back shows (his show was Tuesdays from 3 to 5 and I was 5 to 7). I was doing a specialty show (if you held a position on Senior Staff at the station you were pretty much guaranteed a specialty show) at the time, which meant that I could play all my own music as long as it fit an educational theme. I was doing jazz-influenced hip-hop at the time, and that pretty much meant playing a lot of early Aesop Rock, Atmosphere, and anything that was at the time called emo hip-hop.

One day during my show, Rob called me up and told me that he and a few friends were digging what I was playing and were having a freestyle cypher at his apartment to my show. He asked me to play some instrumentals and then asked me to come over to his place once my show was done. I did, and when I got there, Rob was working on a beat and asked me for some pointers. This was the very beginning of Sugar Water Purple. For the rest of my sophomore year, I spent most of my time at Rob's apartment playing video games and getting messed up while he made beats and I critiqued his every move. I thought he would get annoyed with all my opinions, but his girlfriend at the time (Heather aka Hector the Collector) told me that he really liked having me around to give him my ideas. She said that he would always at least try them to get a new perspective on what the work in progress could become. I stayed in Clemson that summer and started hanging out at Peppino's (where Rob worked) in order to make friends with the people that worked there and maybe get a job there in the fall. All the while, I was going up to the station and practicing my scratching whenever I had a free moment. Boot was a huge help to me here, showing me the basics and encouraging me to keep practicing

Junior Year
I was working at Peppino's and WSBF at the start of the year (I was once again Chief Announcer, but I did a horrible job of it since I was taking a full course load, working at the pizza place, and learning to DJ in my spare time). I was going by DJ cookie monster at the time (I was unbeatable at Mario Cart Double Dash battle mode in the cookie land level). Rob's beats were getting incredible. I mean really top notch. Rob was living with me and Rory (Music Director and resident punk expert at the radio station) while he closed on a house in Central, SC. I had been collecting records for a while, and had about two crates (200 records).

The biggest break yet for SWP happened when I asked my parents to help me with buying some turntables. My mom offered to buy me one turntable each for Christmas and my birthday. I graciously accepted. Then I used the money I had saved for the turntables on a mixer, needles, slipmats, and lots more records. I started going by DJ Pocket Cheesburgers (which is Peppino's slang for having 2 sixes before the flop in Texas Hold 'Em and also my lucky starting hand). That didn't last too long, and soon I was calling myself DJ T-Wreks (true story behind that name is far too embarassing for internet publication).

By the second semester of our junior year, Rob's beats were getting even better. He would come over with his portable turntable and dig through my record crates for samples. He had purchased an SP-303 sampler around this time, and was using it in conjuction with Fuity Loops to make his beats. His rhymes were getting more introspective (he and Heather broke up during this time which gave him a lot to write about). But we started making huge strides when we met Nate D. (Nate Laiewski). To introduce, Nate is the best freestlye MC I've ever worked with. The kid is a genius. For background, he is from Clemson, worked at a local Domino's Pizza, and is the hardest working person I ever met. Nate was so productive that Rob and I had to step our game up to keep up with him. He started coming up to our radio show every week to do an hour of freestlying. At the time, I would play beats, Rob and Nate would rhyme, and I would try to make transitions between the records so the flow wouldn't stop. Let's just say that rarely happened.

Junior year was coming to an end, and I was getting ready to move in with Rob at his house in Central. We were going by the name Decepticonz at the time, but that was about to change.

Senior Year
Rob and I were living together at his house in Central. Most of our time was spent working on beats--man, Rob was killing it by this point--and me getting better on my turntables. By this time, I had spent some time with Hunter B (Hunter Bazaco, the best DJ I've personally known by far) and he had put me on to some serious scratch skills. I had moved beyond my own self-tought style into actually knowing how to perform some basic scratches as well as some Beat Junkies style trick-mixing. He was the best thing that ever happened to my DJing. Hunter put me on to lots of old records, showed me what kind of DJ I could eventually become, and generally made me feel like mastering this craft was actually attainable.

The radio show was going great. Rob and I decided to team up again and cohost Sunday School (Sundays from 11 pm to 1 am... the only time we were both guaranteed to be off work from Peppino's). Nate was coming up every week to freestlye with Rob. Amazing things were happening in that studio on the imporvisational tip. We were really starting to get good together. Things got even better when Rob and I met Jerermi (Jeremi Johnson, who would eventually become the third member of SWP with Rob and myself) around this time. Kid was/is the most talented writer I've personally known. His voice is fantastic (some people say he sounds like Del, he hates that). Around this time, Rob and J put together an EP under the name Doc Impossible and the Bandit Bobby Breeze. Rob made all the beats (with minimal help by me) and J was ridiculous on the rhymes. J was also working with another producer at the time (Brad) and they had recorded an EP almost simultaneously. Rob remixed this EP with beats that he made (and helped out with) and we kind of booked a show to perform all the new material.

So one day, we packed up a PA that we borrowed from the radio station, my turntables, a few records, and everything else we would need to do a show all by ourselves. Then we drove to Ashville, NC. We arrived at the roller rink we were going to perform at to find that we were not on the bill. We begged to get on, explaining that we brought our own PA and wouldn't need anything from the promotor or sound man. They let us play in between bands (there were 5), but little did I know that those bands were all on the hardcore post-punk screamo tip. We performed most of the material from the Doc Imposs EP as well as Jeremi's solo joint that Rob had remixed. It turns out the headliner of the show was The Secret Lives of Freemasons (they're real big in NC), and the relationship we built with them that night (we did some live band/DJ/freestyle rhyme type steez) would prove invaluable later on.

J had been coming to the show frequently to practice freestyling as well as improve chemistry between him, Rob, and myself. Around this time we heard Dave Chapelle's comedy routine about grape drink and how its only three ingredients were sugar, water, and purple. We thought that was mad funny, so we made it our name. We also made it clear that those ingredients do not represent each of us individually (like, no one of us is sugar or water or purple, we just make up SWP). Also around this time, Nate said in a freestyle on the show that "Tony's sick like the bird flu". We all thought that was funny, so I changed my name to DJ Bird Flu. Rob was going by Bobby Strangelove at the time, and J was going by Sound Rebel. We started booking a few more shows, and things were rolling along nicely with recording the LP we were planning on releasing.

Over the next few months, we played a show in the middle of College Avenue in Clemson (opening for Heartmonster at a WSBF show), and we booked a show at the Bait Shack in Greenville thanks to DJ Boot. Those shows at the Bait Shack were amazing. The bar was tiny, underground (like literally), had no air conditioning, and we packed that mother fucker out with sweaty Clemson kids, lots of Greenville scenesters, and the respectable number of fans we had accrued at that point. Things were really starting to pop for us. We booked shows in Charlotte, and even at a skate park in Greenville. Then I graduated and moved to Charleston. We were going to try to keep the group going, but we weren't sure how easy that would be.

Post Graduation
I was working here in Charleston when J and Rob called me to tell me they had lined up a show in Charlotte opening for The Blades (a side project of The Secret Lives of Freemasons). The Blades were on some jiggy party shit. Let's just say they listened to a lot of Gym Class Heroes. We opened for them with lots of new material that we rehearsed at Black Fog Studios, where Rob and J were given free studio time in exchange for making beats for artists signed to Black Fog's label. The show went great. The best performance by all three of us this side of the first Bait Shack show (which I have recorded if you ever want to watch it).

Since then, J went to school at the Art Institute in Atlanta, and Rob has been working in Clemson/Greenville. Everyone continues to make beats, rhyme, and scratch. In fact, we just booked a show on May 22nd in Greenville. We're not performing as SWP, in fact, neither J nor Areou (what Rob is going by now, pernounced are oh) will be rhyming. J will be making beats on stage with his SP-404, I'll be doing some cuts, and Rob will be painting simultaneously with what we make musically. Come out and see it. For more info, check out our myspace page, or send me an email.

Sunny Sunday in Battery Park

So, I hadn't touched my turntables since moving them back inside after Ryan's birthday party on Bowens... never even set them back up. Anyway, after walking down to the Battery with Palmer and coolin out/napping in the park; I decided to re-commit myself to the summer mix project I mentioned earlier. I decided to name the mix after the occassion that inspired me to get back to work as well as the perfect situation to play the CD for: Sunny Sunday in Battery Park. Stay on the lookout.

I Don't Usually Like Jam Bands (but)

I am super into Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains (also known as C2B3). You can check out some background information on the band here and here; but all you need to know is Les Claypool (Primus/Oysterhead/Flying Frog Brigade), Bryan"Brain" Mantia (Primus/Praxis), Buckethead (Praxis/G'n'R), and Bernie mofuckin Worrell (Parliament/Funkadelic/Booty's Rubber Band/Talking Heads). No written material, no rehearsals, just straight vamping. Check it:
At Bonnaroo:

In San Francisco:

there you go, Ben

I'm Tryina Represent The Wire

You might remember me writing about my favorite TV show a while back. I saw this shirt on turntablelab's daily updates, and I immediately said gimmedat.

Plans For The Weekend

I don't know if you have any, but I'll be DJing at a party on Bowen's Island on Friday night. It's Ryan's 25th birthday and we're throwing down huge. If you aren't already down and you want to come, just get at me on my cell phone before 9 on Friday (I'll prolly be on the turntables after that and will not have time to answer phone calls). Either way, DIBOTW (Do It Big On The Weekend).