Many have said Hip-Hop is dead and many have claimed to be the one to bring it back or carry it. If hip-hop is dead or dying, what killed it? Is it the relentless parade of individuals who would be willing to redefine it over and over again? How can something so beautiful and pure be redefined, thus killed by all those who wish to be its next star? This young star hopes to be the one to not try to redefine what hip-hop is, but bend hip-hop to his own imagination.
Articles
Deron: The Underdog
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February 22nd, 2010
Power Pirate: New Sound From Young Talent
A chat with this sensational trio reveals that a mix of fresh tunes, a rallying spirit, and a fierce teenage ambition are the key to musical success.
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February 17th, 2010
Elmo’s World
PASSION is the motivating factor behind this young woman’s journey into making music. Most young artists have dreams of fame and fortune; it’s rare to find someone who loves doing it so much they simply disregard the pursuit of fame all together.
January 27th, 2010
The Dead End Dropouts: Punk-Rock is in Session
Naturals at their craft, this trio of punk-rockers are well on their way to getting their sounds heard along the East Coast. Take a look at how they started and where they’re headed, straight from the mouth of guitarist/vocalist Eddy D.
CapitalNoise: Who are the members of The Dead End Dropouts and how did you meet?
Eddy D: The current members of the band are me, Manuel Hernandez, and George (“Geordie”) Duffy. We all met from random websites, I don’t even remember which ones they were. Geordie found me maybe a year and a half after I posted on it. We got together and started jamming and kind of hit it off. We went through a few lineup changes. Through various postings in Guitar Centers, on Craigslist and MySpace, I ran into the other guys–the original members of the band. We hit it off and did that for about two years. After that ended, me and Geordie continued working on the band. Geordie ended up leaving two or three years ago and we actually got a few more members for the band. It was Craigslist where I ran into Manuel who’s our current drummer. Geordie jumped back into the band about two years ago.
CN: You call your practice space the “Outhouse”. What is it, where is it, and how did you develop your style there?
ED: It’s actually a wood shed at my parents’ house. I don’t know why we ever did this. I think we practiced there because my dad wanted me to get out of his basement playing loud music. So we cleaned out the shed and converted it into a practice space. My dad is the one who gave it its name, but I have no idea why. I’m not really sure how we developed our style there. It was just the noise we made when we were out there. We weren’t going for any particular sound, or trying to sound like any particular band. We just got together, fairly sloppy at first, and just turned up the volume. It’s been our home ever since.
CN: How has doing shows in the DMV treated you so far? How do you choose at which venues to play?
ED: We built it to where now we have some choice. It’s fairly difficult in D.C., especially for the style of music that we play. Maybe if we were doing this 20 years ago, in the 80’s, with bands like Minor Threat and Fugazi around, D.C. might have been a little bit more accepting to us. We really miss T.T. Reynold’s in Fairfax. They were really good to us. We got our start in that venue. But they went away and closed their doors for good. Some other venues in D.C. are pretty fun, when you get people to come out, which has been an issue.
CN: To what do you attribute that difficulty?
ED: The area just has so many choices, and is so saturated with different music. Most people just want to unwind while watching a cover band, and not pay attention. Only a select few people actively jam out to a loud band.
CN: Your debut album, “No Purpose Or Direction”, has that unique old school punk and new pop punk sound. What’s your take on today’s blending of old and new genres?
ED: You have one side with teens who listen to whatever is popular now, like Fallout Boy. Naturally they follow their idols. On the other side you have bands like ours who play what comes naturally and is hard to classify. I doubt a lot of people are intending to blend or mix different sounds. In this band I’ve had drummers who were really into death metal and didn’t want anything to do with punk or alternative music. For some reason, it just blended with the stuff that I was into, and so they would play a beat they usually play and it sounded good with my mid 90’s guitar rock.
CN: Do you find inspiration from any music that wouldn’t directly relate to punk or punk rock?
ED: One of my biggest inspirations, and one of the biggest reasons why I wanted to play guitar, is J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr., one of my all-time favorite idols. He’s so raw–he doesn’t have the greatest voice, but it works for him. I’m also a very big Smashing Pumpkins fan because of the artistic quality of the music. Alice in Chains was one of my all-time favorites growing up. Most of my influences aren’t punk at all.
CN: Do you listen to or work with any other local bands?
ED: Not really, I try to see bands when I can, but there are so many bands out there now that I can’t even keep up with them. I just stick to the old stuff that I’ve always listened to. As far as local bands go, I really like NUMA and Thirteen Towers–they’ve helped us out, and they’ve got an interesting sound.
CN: Are you planning a wider tour route or considering other regions at which to play?
ED: Yeah, we’ve been expanding down to Fredericksburg, VA. We’ve started to get more opportunities down there. We’re looking to branch up to New York City and areas around there. We’ve made some connections with some bands we’ve played with and established new contacts. It’s all about finding the right time to do it–we all work full time so it can get tough. It’s all planned; it’s just a matter of timing.
CN: The Dead End Dropouts website shows your guys’ intention to play in the Vans Warped Tour. Is that one of your biggest goals thus far?
ED: We want to do most festivals like that. There are a wide variety of bands of a similar genre but not exactly the same sound as ours. We really want to grab the younger crowd, and what better way than to grab them than in the masses at shows like that. I think they are more inclined to be die-hard fans, and when I was a teenager I was crazy about going to shows and seeing bands I loved.
CN: Besides these future tours and expansions to other East Coast areas, does the band have any other plans, like potentially another album?
ED: We’re writing material for the second album. We’re also pushing our current album out to as many labels as possible and trying to get some kind of representation. We’re pooling all of our resources from all our connections to try to play bigger shows. We did get the opportunity to play at The State Theater in Falls Church, VA, which was great. That was a nice, big, professional venue. We’re aiming for higher venues like. It takes a lot of work. One day at a time, you know?
CN: What has been your favorite place to perform?
ED: T.T. Reynolds has been my favorite place to perform by far. There were always people there, regardless of whether we promoted a show there. It was just a good vibe, because everyone was there to listen to music. It wasn’t just a bar that had a stage with some band playing off in the corner. The whole venue was built around live music. We’ve been trying to find a venue like that since it closed, but haven’t had much luck. We enjoyed playing at the State Theater too. It felt like we accomplished something huge by being able to play there. A little overwhelming–it wasn’t a homey atmosphere, but it was definitely a professional one.
CN: Thank you, we appreciate you talking with us!
Tracks:
Certifiably Crazy (For You)
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These Songs
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Links:
January 26th, 2010
Tré Thomas: A Natural Contrast
Very often we as listeners tend to get complacent within our preconceived notions of what falls into a genre, and most of those times our notions are correct. In the case of Tré Thomas however, you can throw all those ideas out the window. Though his sound may play as familiar to some, it possesses some very distinctive and diverse messages that may contrast with fixed notions.
Involved in music since the age of five, Tre’s passion eventually pushed him to make it a priority.
“I’ve always been drawn to music. I just liked the way it made me feel. The music I grew up listening to had a certain feeling to it, and I was always drawn to that feeling and I guess with my music I always try to reference that… it’s been my drive for the last 10 years to make music that has that feeling.”
With the release of his debut album, “A Natural Contrast” Tré Thomas now shares that feeling and his message, “that God loves them, and he 
cares. Sometimes we get away from religion, but we still hold on to our spirituality. I want people to know that they don’t have to go through life by themselves.”
The album demonstrates his unique style that masterfully blends R&B styling’s with Gospel sensibilities that reaches beyond the ministry and is accessible to fans of both genres.
“I really wanted to do a project that was different, it kind of went against the grain… and at the same time something that people could grasp musically and mentally.
I wanted to speak to different issues that people have, like depression, and different temptations that people have. I really wanted to speak to issues and make people understand that I as an artist understand what they’re going through. I wanted to relate to people.”
With a cosign and mentorship from legend Richard Smallwood and support from the R&B and Gospel communities, Tré has been able to bring his music to venues like the Lebron James Nike Tour, which proved to be a valuable assessment of his cross-marketability and a different platform for him and his music.
“I was worried about my music, and how it would be received. It was crazy because the people actually loved it. It helped me to understand that my music can go outside certain venues and genres.”
Since the album’s release, it has been picking up steady radio play across the country, which serves as further endorsement of his inevitable success. Tré believes in artistic accountability, and feels strongly on not compromising his beliefs and values in music, which often makes it harder to gain acceptance from the mainstream music media and record companies, but he is more than up to it.
“It’s a challenge that I am seeing I would be able to overcome, so it’s a good challenge.”
Fans can expect a new Tré Thomas project next fall, and to see him make more appearances in mainstream venues.
Related Links:
Tré Thomas MySpace
Tré Thomas ReverbNation
Tré Thomas Twitter
Tré Thomas Facebook
Very often we as listeners tend to get complacent within our preconceived notions of what falls into a genre, and most of those times our notions are correct. In the case of Tré Thomas however, you can throw all those ideas out the window. Though his sound may play as familiar to some, it possesses some very distinctive and diverse messages that may contrast with fixed notions.
Involved in music since the age of five, Tre’s passion eventually pushed him to make it a priority.
“I’ve always been drawn to music. I just liked the way it made me feel. The music I grew up listening to had a certain feeling to it, and I was always drawn to that feeling and I guess with my music I always try to reference that… it’s been my drive for the last 10 years to make music that has that feeling.”
With the release of his debut album, “A Natural Contrast” Tré Thomas now shares that feeling and his message, “that God loves them, and he cares. Sometimes we get away from religion, but we still hold on to our spirituality. I want people to know that they don’t have to go through life by themselves.”
The album demonstrates his unique style that masterfully blends R&B styling’s with Gospel sensibilities that reaches beyond the ministry and is accessible to fans of both genres.
“I really wanted to do a project that was different, it kind of went against the grain… and at the same time something that people could grasp musically and mentally.
I wanted to speak to different issues that people have, like depression, and different temptations that people have. I really wanted to speak to issues and make people understand that I as an artist understand what they’re going through. I wanted to relate to people.”
With a cosign and mentorship from legend Richard Smallwood and support from the R&B and Gospel communities, Tré has been able to bring his music to venues like the Lebron James Nike Tour, which proved to be a valuable assessment of his cross-marketability and a different platform for him and his music.
“I was worried about my music, and how it would be received. It was crazy because the people actually loved it. It helped me to understand that my music can go outside certain venues and genres.”
Since the album’s release, it has been picking up steady radio play across the country, which serves as further endorsement of his inevitable success. Tré believes in artistic accountability, and feels strongly on not compromising his beliefs and values in music, which often makes it harder to gain acceptance from the mainstream music media and record companies, but he is more than up to it.
“It’s a challenge that I am seeing I would be able to overcome, so it’s a good challenge.”
Fans can expect a new Tré Thomas project next fall, and to see him make more appearances in mainstream venues.
January 6th, 2010
Claudette Monet: Remember the Name.
Claudette Monet is an industry veteran, with a powerful voice, and more than enough credentials to garner respect and acclaim from fans and peers alike.
January 1st, 2010
Mark of a Wordsmith
Generally, the scarcely used title of “Wordsmith” is reserved solely to identify the most prolific, and expert of writers. They are individuals who most fluently bond the verbal and cerebral aspects of the written word, true professionals and masters of their art.
I recently got the chance to have a chat with Wordsmith™ (note the trademark), a local hip-hop artist that more than lives up to the name. Although some conservative purists might scoff at the prospect of having someone outside the literary world carry that title, a quick listen to his latest release, “Overdue & Underrated” swiftly puts any doubts aside.
January 1st, 2010
V. Rich “Good Enough To Get Addicted To”
Linger around the music industry long enough, and one starts to take terms such as triple threat, multi-talented, and entrepreneur for granted. These labels become clichés used in countless media kits for the most colorless artists. That is why it’s so refreshing when one actually unearths a musician whose talent and credentials embody the validity of those once cliché claims.
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January 1st, 2010