This Saturday, Dub land Underground and ACT:LIVE are proud to present the international talent of Louis Logic and the up and coming New York rapper, Homeboy Sandman.
There have been a lot of questions brought to my attention regarding Louis Logic, Homeboy Sandman and Louis Logic's history.
Well, here is a chance to answer some of those questions and get to know Louis Logic.
I spent some time on the phone with him this past week and talked about his relationship with Fat Beats Records, what he has been up to and more importantly, his new found love with a band from Denmark and their project, "Spork Kills".
Peep it...
ACT:LIVE: Let’s get into the new material…what’s new in your world Mr. Logic?
One of the reasons for booking this show is because I am testing out the waters for a new project I have, and a new format.
JJ (Brown, Louis Logic’s DJ) will be in the studio for the next six months working on an album with Reef The Lost Cauze, so on the side I have been working with a live band from Denmark.
We (the band and Louis) just completed an EP, the band is called Spork Kills. (Spoon and Fork)
ACT:LIVE: How did you meet up with these guys (the band)?
I met them while on tour in Denmark. The results from sessions of goofing-off were so great that I decided we should make a whole record together.
The recordings are so wild and adventurous, that we came up with some sounds that I haven’t heard anyone come up with yet.
We decided to take a specific sound we had toyed-around with and develop a concept EP around it, just to drive the point home that we had stumbled into this mixture that nobody has done yet.
It’s a surf-rock and rap record. It’s really “60’s” sounding and really cool.
A lot of people tell me it sounds like a Quentin Tarantino soundtrack. It’s really crazy stuff, man.
The EP just came back from the plant, so it’s officially available. We’re going to use this EP to generate attention to the project, the band, bookings and will look to settle a full-length record deal. We’re just building it up and getting the machine going.
We really believe in this project. It’s the first time that I feel like we really hit an untapped territory and it just so happens to be very relevant to what’s going on in the music industry right now.
There is a lot of hybrid stuff out there right now and I think this is something brand new.
Artists have gone through all the Motown stuff, the neo-soul music all mixed with some rock in there somewhere. Over the years, when people have gone back to retro music, a lot of what’s been sampled and used is what would be considered “black” music.
This is the first urban record that taps into what I would call the “whiter” sound of the 60’s and 70’s era. Specifically, surf-rock and ‘loungy’ jazz music.
I'm just so psyched to show people the new stuff.
ACT:LIVE: What kind of music was the band playing previous to working with you?
The band itself is not an actual surf-rock band. We even have some eastern European, Balkan stuff on there too.
ACT:LIVE: When is the complete act going to be touring?
We’re going to try our first tour as a band in May. We’re going to start in Europe.
We will spend most of the summer on the road, all the way into July.
I haven’t made any plans for a U.S. tour at this point because touring in Europe will be a lot less risky.
ACT:LIVE: How so?
Well, the band is in Denmark, so it’s more cost efficient for me to fly over there as opposed to the band flying over here. The European audience is much different than the U.S. audience.
They’re a lot more open to saying something is cool instead of waiting to be told what is cool.
The way the industry is so dialed and regimented here, it’s like music is an exact science.
Europe still has their MTVs and online sources, but they don’t dominate the industry like they do here.
Kids in Europe will come out and support something that is new before it’s been endorsed and they are told ‘this is new’.
ACT:LIVE: I heard something about a new video of yours that MTV is interested in…tell us more.
Yeah, they said they really liked it and want to play, but asked us not to put it up online until they have the opportunity to debut it. It was formally submitted today.
ACT:LIVE: What song is that for?
It’s called ‘Night of the Hip and Dead’. It’s a zombie metaphor for party kids. The video was a lot of fun and looks sick. It’s a bastardization of my favorite 80’s flicks, most prominently, Teen Wolf.
It’s a really wacky video. I cracked the piggy bank for it.
ACT:LIVE: People have been asking if you have ties to Rochester…do you?
No, actually. That’s the weirdest thing…Rochester is a phenomena in my career.
We seem to have a pocket audience of people that reacted really strongly to what we have been doing.
We had been up a few times and turnouts weren’t so great, so we just gave up coming back. That was until we were contacted by The Dub Land Underground, when they first opened.
One of the kids who attended one of my, 5-10 person turnout shows, contacted me and said he didn’t understand why there was such a small turnout, but guessed that it was due to poor promotion.
So, he asked me to come back and play at this new place (Dub Land) that is closer to where the kids from college go out and promised the turn out would be different.
I went back there by myself, first, before coming up with JJ Brown and Dub land didn’t have everything that every other club had, but the idea was there, the place was cool and it was a great space.
At Dub Land, it just got better every time.
It’s weird, because, I have toured all over the country a few times, and to some venues multiple times, but in Rochester things worked the way they are supposed to in the sense that every time I’ve come back, it’s gotten bigger and better.
We’ve played here so many times, so Rochester has become a second home of sorts.
The staff at Dub Land Underground has been really good to us and the shows have been a lot of fun, so we keep coming back.
I’ve never seen an audience drink shots like the kids in Rochester. It is a mad house.
Once, I came with a girl I was dating at the time, and she said she had never seen a performer take as many shots as I did on stage and followed that with, “Those kids are maniacs”! (laughs)
ACT:LIVE: We do have a pretty crazy party scene up here! Cheers to $2.50 shots of Jameson at Dub Land! We have also been putting in the promotional work to help Dub Land grow as well.
It’s a little oasis up there.
ACT:LIVE: Definitely, glad you think so. If you are into the live band thing, the group, The Surgeon General Trio will be opening up for you and I can guarantee that they would love to jam with you.
I think I am going to do a little bit of jamming. I don’t know how much, but it’s something I’m interested in.
ACT:LIVE: Can you explain what’s going on with you and Fat Beats Records?
I released a record on Fat Beats, but I don’t have any plans to release another one through them.
I wasn’t terribly happy with how things turned out with them. That could be for many reasons, but I just don’t think we were as good a fit as we thought in the beginning.
Technically, I signed a 3 album deal with Fat Beats, but the way my contract is phrased, I don’t have to do another record with them if they don’t ask for it within a certain time period. It gives me the option to make the decision of writing another record for them.
I don’t have any beef with Fat Beats, it’s nothing like that. Fat Beats had an expertise in marketing music that sounded like my earlier stuff, but they aren’t as good at reaching kids who are into experimental and more alternative hip-hop stuff.
I also keep drifting further and further from what people know me for.
ACT:LIVE: It sounds like you have a good plan for what you want to do. I firmly believe in evolving and keeping it different. I do my best to explain that mentality to the artist I represent, Reece Q. I believe that if you don’t push the envelope and push yourself artistically, you won’t go anywhere in this day and age. You can’t have an album like your last one.
I agree with you completely and I think you should encourage him to do that. I checked out Reece’s stuff and I think he’s really talented.
It was exciting for me to hear a dude from that area that can hold it down. I always meet a lot of kids who are into the music and scene, but not a lot of solid MCs, and Reece is one such guy.
ACT:LIVE: Are you still performing with the keys?
Yeah, I still do that. For a couple of songs at this show I will be on the keys, but the format is going to be different because I won’t be with JJ Brown.
I had a little bit of money in the budget to bring someone along with me, so I am bringing someone I have become really fond of from New York and his name is Homeboy Sandman.
He is amazing.
He is fairly new to the scene, only having been around a few years, but because I am such a big fan of his now I am attaching him to every show I can for the time being.
He has a unique style, has been working really hard and now is getting paid gigs, so I think the timing is perfect to make friends with him and take him on the road with me.
He isn’t quite known yet, but he’s on the cusp of tipping over into the music scene.
He has become the master of guerrilla marketing and hard work in Manhattan...He was named ‘Best Rap Act in Manhattan ‘08’ by the New York Press, which is a counterpart to the Village Voice and was a part of the Unsigned Hype at Source Magazine.
ACT:LIVE: What is your message to the ‘Reece Qs’ of the U.S., and in Rochester?
The music industry has changed so much and the rules are gone. Gone are the days that you need a radio single, or that you have to follow any certain format or guidelines.
Do whatever you can to distinguish yourself as being great, push yourself as hard as you can independently and take risks. You will get attention.
You might get all kinds of responses on MySpace that you would be inclined to ignore, but don’t. You should always respond and make friends because you never know where your relationships will take you.
Turn over every stone. Try everything and have no fear. That’s the thing to do.
The rules are definitely gone.
Louis performs this Saturday, January 17th, at The Dub Land Underground with:
Homeboy Sandman & The Surgeon General Trio
w/ Visualizations By Nicholas.G.Baish & candlelight for the ladies.
Admission is $8 and is 18+
Peace kids...
- Games
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