Posted in Interviews

Interview: Chiddy Bang

I had the opportunity to chat with Chidera “Chiddy” Anamege and Noah “Xaphoon Jones” Beresin, the duo behind rap group Chiddy Bang. We discussed Chiddy’s record-breaking freestyle for MTV.com, their new mixtape Peanut Butter & Swelly, their upcoming (and highly anticipated!) debut album Breakfast, and their involvement with Taco Bell’s Feed The Beat Program. They’ll be performing a concert in Philly next week for Taco Bell and for those of you who can’t make it, you can catch the performance live on the Facebook page.

Check out the full interview below.

Chidera “Chiddy” Anamege: Yo yo yo what’s up? How are you doing?

LitS: Good, how are you?

Chiddy: Good, good, just chilling in Orlando, Florida.

Noah “Xaphoon Jones” Beresin: Wassup?

LitS: First off, Chiddy, congratulations on your new world record. Nine hours is an incredibly long time. What was going through your head while you were freestyling?

Chiddy: What was going through my head was like, “Man, I hope I have the endurance to be able to successfully rap for nine hours.” After the first hour, I was like man I could do this because I thought I had been rapping for maybe twenty minutes or so, but when I looked at the clock it had already been an hour, hour-fifteen. I was like, oh that went by kind of fast! Time pretty much flew by.

LitS: Why did you guys decide to do the freestyle in the first place?

Noah: I think it was actually our manager’s idea, right?

Chiddy: Yeah, it was our manager’s idea.

Noah: Our manager came up to Chiddy and was like, “Yo, you’re gonna rap for nine hours. It’s gonna happen.”

Chiddy: And I was just like, “Okay, I mean, I can rap, you know what I’m saying?” I thought about it and was like it’s a big achievement, you know, and I was thinking to myself, like I could actually have a Guinness Record. This was something I felt that although it was long and extremely strenuous, I did it. Continue reading →

Interview: Sink Tapes

We recently got a chance to speak to Gabe Chilarello, lead vocals of Sink Tapes, an indie band based out of the Asbury area of New Jersey. We were able to learn a lot about the background of the band, their first album, Same Strange Dream, their upcoming sophomore album, what they’re all about, and what they’re about to bring to the plate.

LitS: So, Sink Tapes, many people are curious as to what the origin of your band name is. Could you tell us?

Sink Tapes: It’s probably better left unsaid. It’s kind of one of those things that no one will understand. It’s a name we decided to go with because we had already been called a few other things and we were forced to figure out what to call ourselves, and something just happened where we decided the name Sink Tapes. There’s no meaning to it, but we had people telling us we should be “sync” tapes, but we like NOT making sense so it makes it fun, just like how our songs are. Just fun.

LitS: When did Sink Tapes first form as a band?

Sink Tapes: We probably started playing about two summers ago as Sink Tapes with our original songs. We first met through friends; none of us go to the same schools and we just started seeing each other at shows in the Asbury area so we decided to jam together on covers and what not. Eventually, we played a backyard show with a few bands and since then we just kept playing. I don’t think we meant it to happen, but it slowly got serious yet fun, and now we’re working on our second album.

LitS: Are your current members the original members?

Sink Tapes: Yes, it’s just Alex, Ricky, Tom and I, just like it has always been. Alex goes to school in Maryland, which sucks, but whenever he comes home we make it a point to play shows as a four-piece.

LitS: So, when he’s not around, you still perform with just the three of you guys?

Sink Tapes: We don’t prefer to play with just the three of us because with Alex, we have a more complete sound, of course. But over a few months, we relearned how to play our songs as a three piece so we could continue to play while he was in Maryland so we don’t slow down and we’re able to keep process. When he goes to school in the fall, we definitely want to travel there and play a bunch of shows with him in his area. Continue reading →

Interview: Valencia

We recently had the chance to chat with Brendan Walter, guitarist of Valencia, discussing the band’s new tour, their most recent album Dancing With a Ghost, their return to I Surrender, and their plans for the rest of the year. Check out the interview after the break.

LitS: First off, how are you guys doing?

Valencia: We’re doing great!

LitS: You guys just began a tour with A Rocket To The Moon, Anarbor, Runner Runner, and Go Radio. How excited are you?

Valencia: So excited. Everything has been going swimmingly and the shows have been insane (all sold our so far – 1 week in). We couldn’t ask for a better tour.

LitS: Which shows are you looking forward to most on this tour?

Valencia: I’m really looking forward to the Anaheim show. Chain Reaction is always such a crazy place to play. Kids are just so excited to see and experience music there and all of the positive vibes really make for a good time. Continue reading →

Interview: Surrogate

I just recently had an interview with Daniel, from the band Surrogate. They talked about releasing the new Diamonds and Pearls EP, fun concert stories, the band’s future, and more. Check out the interview below.

LitS: First of all, how are you guys doing?

Surrogate: Good; busy. When we’re not doing this whole band thing, we all work, go to school, some of us are married and have families. All that real life stuff. So there’s definitely not a lot of down time.

LitS: How did you guys all meet?

Surrogate: We all live in Chico, which is a small college town in Northern California, and we basically knew each other from just being in bands and playing shows together over the years. Chris Keene and Jordan used to play in a band called Number One Gun, and when that band parted ways, they started working on some music together and started playing around Chico with Daniel Martin on keys and a couple of our other friends, Trevor, who was also in Number One Gun on bass, and Chris Armstrong who was in a band called Sherwood on guitar. This was 2006 or so. When Trevor had to split to go out on tour with another band, I took over on bass, in the early part of 2007, a couple months before Love is For the Rich came out. Michael took over for Chris A. right before the next record, Popular Mechanics came out in 2009 and we’ve all been playing together ever since.

LitS: What genre would you guys consider yourselves to be and what bands influences your music?

Surrogate: I tend to tell people that Surrogate is a melodic indie pop band, which is something of a cop out, the usual platitudes. But it gets the point across. You can’t really say that youre an “indie” band anymore, because that really doesn’t mean anything. And “indie rock” at least to old folks like me sort of recalls bands like Fugazi or The Dismemberment Plan or bands that were more on the loud side. So melodic indie pop seems to work, at least in so far as it lets people know that we’re definitely not yelling, or playing crazy riffs, but we’re not Ke$ha or some overly tuned radio garbage.

We all have pretty disparate tastes in music, but the Surrogate sound, at least as much as you can call it a general “sound” would definitely seem to fit pretty squarely in that pantheon of post-shoegaze bands like Pedro the Lion, Starflyer 59, Rogue Wave or even Death Cab for Cutie. We’re all constantly trying to dig new music, though, so it’s sort of a constant evolution. Continue reading →

Interview: ZAK!

We recently sat down with NYU student and up-and-coming rapper ZAK!, who recently released his new Stuck To The Sidewalk mixtape (download here). He talked about his tour with Hoodie Allen, his sound, his friendship with Joakim Noah of the Chicago Bulls, and more. Check out the interview below.

LitS: Who’s your favorite rapper? Who would you compare yourself to?

ZAK!: I don’t really have a “favorite” rapper. There’s some I listen to more than others. I also really don’t like making my own comparisons. People can make them themselves. Even though I definitly grab influences from other rappers I like to think at the end of the day I’m doing sometime unique to myself.

LitS: What producer do you really enjoy working with?

ZAK!: Right now I’ve been working with my DJ / Engineer / Producer DJ Fresh Direct. He basicially does it all. And on this next project were really going to sit down and create some serious stuff. Its good for me to able to help him create the music, and vice versa when it comes to the song lyrically.
Also my good friend Astro Raw has produced multiple of my tracks and really has a solid New York vibe.

LitS: How was your recent tour with Hoodie Allen? Any memorable stories?

ZAK!: Those were my first two real shows. And I got to say the crowd at U of Mich was pretty nuts. Honestly wasn’t expecting it. Otherwise the whole weekend was kind of a blur I unfortunately had thew flu. Pretty sure I vomited a few times. Continue reading →