Wild Adriatic will boldly go where few bands have gone before, as they’ll play their 1000th show together! To celebrate this milestone, they’ll be using Putnam Place’s video wall to present “Wild Adriatic Goes to Space,” part of a 75 minute nonstop set of space themed covers and Wild Adriatic originals. Toronto’s After Funk will kick things off at 9pm.
In determining that this would indeed be their 1000th show, Wild Adriatic drummer Mateo Vosganian looked over the band’s spreadsheet a few months ago and his reaction was a bit of a surprise, as Vosganian puts it, “Oh Shit, haha it’s our 1,000th show soon! So we threw some ideas around about how to make it special. We’ve always wanted to go to space, so what better time than now?”
Starting in 2011, Wild Adriatic has toured across the country, performed at countless festivals including Bonnaroo, and even have two tours of Europe under their belt. “Some of our 2011-2012 shows were a bit hazy on when/where/how but luckily digging thru emails and a few old booking spreadsheets helped me put it together. Google Docs is my savior.”
“It’s also funny because even though we’ve played 1,000 shows I feel like we’re just getting started. Like this year we just figured out how to write songs together in a really meaningful way to the three of us. It’s sort of like these 1,000 shows have been preparation for the next step. We have a ton of new material we’re going to start unveiling in the next year and have a stacked summer tour ahead, so it’s just a really exciting time. Super happy to be able to celebrate with our family and friends in Saratoga, especially before the summer gets insane.”
Steven Van Zandt, best known as guitarist in Bruce Springsteen’s E-Street Band, is on the road this month with The Disciples of Soul for a tour benefitting TeachRock, the Rock and Roll Forever Foundation’s national initiative to bring music curriculum into middle and high schools across the country. His recent album Soulfire was noted by Billboard as taking fans “back to Van Zandt’s classic first album of gritty, greasy, horn-accented ‘60s-style rock and soul.” But one aspect of this tour that takes centerstage is the focus on teachers and the efforts by Van Zandt to bring Rock n Roll directly into classroom lessons and integrate this key aspect of American culture into educational curriculums across the country. As such, Van Zandt will be hosting workshops for teachers before each stop of the tour, bringing TeachRock that much closer to the classrooms in the towns on each stop of the tour.
NYS Music spoke to Van Zandt ahead of his latest show at the Playstation Theater in New York City to discuss the TeachRock workshops, why he wants to bring rock music into the classroom, and the teacher that had the most influence on him growing up.
Pete Mason: How did the idea for TeachRock Workshops come together, and what will teachers who take part expect from the experience?
Steven Van Zandt: We wanted to show our solidarity for the teaching profession, which is the most underappreciated and underpaid of all of our working classes. And they are under siege right now, on strike in several states and with good reason. So we decided to dedicate this tour to teachers and invite them to come to workshops in the afternoon where we will tell them about the Rock and Roll Forever Foundation’s music history curriculum, which we have been writing over the last 10 years and exists online, over 120 lessons right now at teachrock.org. We’ll be explaining the curriculum, which is built to assist them, and they will hopefully use it and spread the word and give us their feedback, we’re always improving it. They’ll also get a free ticket to that night’s performance. We’ll be doing that the rest of the year.
PM: What role do you see yourself taking on as you help to bring Rock history into the classroom?
SVZ: What we hope is eventually, if we have enough coverage, and we are in all grade levels and all schools, I’m hoping that artists who are on the road from any genre, from Hip Hop to Country, Jazz, Blues, you name it, can walk into any school and take part in a class. So our role is basically connecting the two things; connecting the artist with the education process. And it’s going to take a little while, but that’s one of our goals.
PM: Were there any particular teachers you had growing up who influenced who you are today?
SVZ: Yeah, we all have a couple of teachers we remember. I had Mrs. Wojciechowski, for my music class. Another big influence for me was our school librarian actually, who said to me, “You like this Bob Dylan guy don’t you?” And I said, “Yeah.” She says, “Do you know where he came from?” I said, “No.” So she gave me Allen Ginsberg books and poetry and Rimbaud and I was able to learn who influenced Bob Dylan and also got turned on to eastern philosophy through Allen Ginsberg, who was into Buddhism and then of course George Harrison with the Beatles would continue that with his interest in Hindu philosophy.
PM: You refer to teachers as ‘the most underpaid, underappreciated working class in our country.” How can your fans, and citizens in general, support teachers in their hometowns?
SVZ: Well the most immediate way is to vote for bigger budgets for education in general, but certainly for their salaries. I mean the average teacher’s salary is something like $40,000 a year. Somewhere in that neighborhood. And then you read stories about teachers out of that meager salary buying pencils or buying paper for students or buying books out of their own money, which is just a travesty that needs to be dealt with. And I just think we should have an appreciation day, better yet an appreciation hour every day, something where we acknowledge that these people are on the front lines of creating our society. So we just need to be more aware of that and do what we can to support them. If they go on strike, they’re going on strike for a good reason. Show support for them and talk to the government, talk to whoever they’re dealing with in any given situation, and show support on the teachers’ side.
Little Steve and the Disciples of Soul: TeachRock Tour 2018
May 1 – Ridgefield, CT – Ridgefield Playhouse May 2 – New York, NY – Playstation Theater May 4 – Albany, NY – The Palace
May 5 – Morristown, NJ – Mayo PAC
May 8 – Memphis, TN – Minglewood Hall
May 12 – Kansas City, MO – Uptown Theater
May 13 – St. Louis, MO – River City Casino & Hotel
May 15 – Nashville, TN – CMA Theater
May 16 – Atlanta, GA – Center Stage
May 18 – Orlando, FL – Hard Rock
May 19 – Clearwater, FL – Capitol Theatre
May 21 – Mobile, AL – Soul Kitchen
May 23 – New Orleans, LA – House Of Blues
May 25 – Austin, TX – Paramount
Swimmer has premiered “Hyperbole” off their upcoming album Throw it Out, exclusively through NYS Music. The 11 minute track is a sojourn through tempo, winding through 70s rock with a disco beat, while jazz flows through the composition.
Matt Dolliver (keys, sax) says of the track “Hyperbole is a journey. It’s up and down. It’s left and right. It’s fast and slow. It’s here! Oh, look! It’s over there! It’s a tune we wrote collaboratively and has proven over time to be a highlight in a live setting.” Catch Swimmer this summer at StrangeCreek Music Festival, as well as stops in Buffalo and Syracuse this month.
Veteran New York DJ and producerNickodemus has released the first single, “Inmortales” from his highly-anticipated album A Long Engagement. A project with international focus, the latest single offers another glimpse in the form of “Inmortales (Body Move)” ft. Patagonian trio Fémina, an internationally renowned female group with a rap-folk aesthetic.
Nickodemus fuses a Middle-Eastern tinged rhythm with the Latin American rhymes of Fémina and seamlessly conjoins the two cultures. “The songs lyrics are about relating to one another and reflecting each other,” explains Nickodemus. “A beautiful message that were all human and need to break down barriers especially in this political climate where everyone seems to be moving towards putting up fences and walls.” Previously, two tastes of the project have been shared, with Arabic influenced “Do You Do You?” Feat. Carol C & The Spy From Cairo, and Afro-Caribbean stunner featuring legendary Reggae vocalist Jahdan Blakkamoore on “Livin Your Dreams.”
Fans can hear a collaboratively album in A Long Engagement featuring Grammy nominated act Innov Gnawa, The Pimps of Joytime, Carol C (Si*se), Jahdan Blakkamore, Femina, Alsarah, Grey Reverend (Bonobo), LA Yegros, and The Real Live Show on the 13-track release, due out May 4th via Nickodemus’ label Wonderwheel.
Beginning in the mid-90’s, Nickodemus has sculpted an international presence for himself DJing parties in cities across the world from Seoul to São Paulo. Through his travels, Nickodemus has been provided with a unique perspective that has allowed him to create an original sound that compiles soundbites from his journeys around the globe. Boasting a discography that contains three full-length albums (Endangered Species, Sun People, Moon People) and nine compilations, the producer has acted as a trailblazer in the global club music movement thanks to his international mergers. Aside from his nearly two-decades of original releases, the artist is also well-known for his many remixes for artists including Bob Marley, Billy Holiday, Nina Simone, Thievery Corporation, Quantic, Mr Scruff, The Pimps of Joytime, Miguel Migs, Natasha Atlas, and more. In the event space, Nickodemus is also known for his famed NYC parties Turntables on the Hudson that have now made their way around the world to cities including Cairo, London, Kalymnos, Barcelona, Budapest, and more.
TOUR DATES
April 30 – Montpellier, France- Le Rockstore
May 3 – San Diego, CA – West Coast Weekender 2018 May 4 – New York, NY- Nublu
May 9 – Los Angeles- Subsuelo
May 12 – Detroit-Motor City Wines May 18 – Brooklyn, NY- Output
May 26-June 3 D’Jamena, Chad- TBA
Jun 8 – Madrid, Spain- Cafe Berlin
Jun 9 -Tenerife, Canary Islands- TBA
Everyone Orchestra is all-star pure improvisation. With conductor Matt Butler leading a rotating cast of big name musicians, these shows thrive on in-the-moment improvisations, twists and turns that can only be found among talented collaborators. On May 3, Butler brings together an all-star cast for the next Upstate New York installment of Everyone Orchestra.
Featuring John Kadlecik (Furthur), Michael Travis (The String Cheese Incident), Al Schnier (Moe.), Andrew Altman (Railroad Earth), Sam Brouse (Papadosio), Shannon Lynch (Conehead Buddha) and Shaun Bazylewicz (Conehead Buddha), you’ll be on your toes all night dancing and seeing what comes next out of this musical mashup of individual artists who know a thing or two about improv.
Tickets are only $20 in advance and 25 day of show. The show is 18+ with a $5 surcharge for those under 21. More info on the show can be found here.
Allie Wenner had an idea for the second episode of her podcast ‘My Favorite Band‘: to interview Phish fans over the recent New Years run at Madison Square Garden, and see what happened. But before she headed to to MSG, she came across NYS Music’s article on Groovesafe, an organization formed to combat unwanted touching at concerts and shows. It struck a cord for Wenner who says “I have been touched in ways that made me feel uncomfortable many times, but this was the first time I had heard about anyone really talking about it.”
https://myfavoriteband.co/episode-2-phans-punks/
Wenner reached out to Ashley Driscoll, founder of Groovesafe, and met at American Beauty for an interview, finding what she had to say quiet shocking, especially “the liability issues around this and how venues and promoters are dragging their feet when it comes to establishing policies to protect patrons from sexual violence.” Ashley emphasized that this kind of unwanted touching was not just happening at Phish shows and not just happening to women, so the next day she decided to interview some fans at the Hotel Penn PhanArt show and found out that she was 100% right: “Men, women, gay, straight, old, young — nearly every person I talked to had a story to tell about being touched at a concert, and it was pretty striking.”
“Some people had had it happen to them personally, but many people also told me stories about people harassing their significant others or friends as well. And the fans I talked to also confirmed that it wasn’t only happening at Phish, or even just at jam band shows. So after I got back from the NYE run I started doing some research about how other scenes are trying to combat sexual violence, and found some articles about last year’s Warped Tour, the SaferScenes booth, and War on Women, and things kind of went from there.
Listen to the second episode of My Favorite Band Podcast, and check out the first episode where Wenner looks at Insane Clown Posse fans (Juggalos) and how the FBI has labeled the entire fanbase of ICP a gang, alongside the Bloods and Crips etc.
Wenner is a multimedia journalist based on Princeton, N.J., who is passionate about live music and storytelling. She created My Favorite Band to give music fans a platform to talk about issues that matter to them and how those issues impact both their concert-going experiences and lives in general.
The greatly anticipated Human Music from Cousin Earth, is unlike any studio album you’ll listen to this year. Immense talent is found in this Brooklyn five-piece, and share a wide range of influences that all align greatly. The variety of songs throughout the album are each presented without pomp or overshadowing any other. Well produced and executed, Human Music is an exemplar of how to showcase the influences of your music while drawing the listener deep into an album.
“Peculiar Patterns” opens up as the mildly upbeat intro, finding a Goldilocks Zone of not too hard, not too soft – it’s just right, and has a great swell of energy to close. “I Got This” gives off an electric feel and shows fantastic guitar work from Joey Calfa that sends this for a late-80s hair metal loop. “Train Luck” gives the gripes of subway transit in NYC with a Zappa flair and a 70’s era music video to go along with it.
The EDM-inspired “Super Fun Laser Beams” delivers in spades, driven by ukulele wunderkind Joey Calfa and steady beats from drummer Nate Searing and percussionist Terry Brennan. Clocking in at 9:05, you can easily picture the laser beams on the crowd as they get down. Mid-Eastern flair can be found throughout the mesmerizing “Dirty Wet Rock,” some Latin tanginess in “Puerto Rican Pancakes,” and sax-driven funk throughout “Alive,” all of which burst with ukulele driven jams that take command and guide the song.
Do you like kazoo in your music? Cousin Earth has you covered on “When the Dinosaurs come back from Outer Space,” a funky ditty that could crossover to a children’s album with ease. Tara Lawton puts on her Broadway musical shoes for “Keep on (Show me the Numbers, Ian),” but she really shines across the entire album, versatile whether singing, on keys or melodica.
Bassist Corey Feldman charges out of the gate slapping away on the bass for “Capricorn on the Cob,” the final track and an exclamation point on the album. This is the only track that sounds like something from a jamband, with elements of Umphrey’s McGee’s prog-rock, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong’s bouncy, driven rock and flowing jams of moe. The start and finish of Human Music is 100% Cousin Earth and a hearty taste of what you can expect live, where they shine even brighter.
Listen below on Spotify or purchase on Bandcamp and don’t miss the album release show tonight at Bowery Electric with The Phryg and Hunt for Hunter!
Key Tracks: Peculiar Patterns, Super Fun Laser Beams, Capricorn on the Cob
Scott Hannay Plays Video Games (Multiplayer Edition) opened up for Pink Talking Fish on Saturday, April 21 at Putnam Place, and have released the video for “Chemical Plant Zone” from Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Scott shares some insight on the set below.
“This particular multiplayer edition was significant to me, as I had Pat (Nolan) and Rye (Wylie), a rhythm section I’d played with locally in a number of different projects for years as I was growing as a musician, and also Colin (Shore), who enjoys the best games to win real money, and who I’d just spent more than a year out there in the trenches on tour with. Everyone came together without a rehearsal aside from a short bit of testing questionable sections at soundcheck, as is the way all of these sets have been. I have charts and notation put together to help separate parts for everyone, and keep communication clear so we can all have a super-enjoyable time playing the music of our childhood that a lot of us at the time never realized was so listenable and memorable…and then jam it out proper.”
Scott Hannay Plays Video Games (Multiplayer Edition) will next perform on Friday, May 25 at JP Bruno’s in Glens Falls, NY as part of the official 102.7 WEQX Primus Afterparty. The lineup includes Scott Hannay – keys (Mister F), Matt Pickering – drums (Mister F), Lowell Wurster – percussion (Lucid), Matt Richards – keys (Formula 5), Bill Comstock – bass (Brickdrop) and Matt Dempsey – guitar (Cosmic Dust Bunnies) More info can be found here. Read our January interview Scott and get a behind the scenes look at from where his unique project developed.
For comparison, here’s a gameplay video of the Chemical Plant Zone on Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
I first caught Hartley’s Encore late last year when they performed at Guthrie Bell’s 25th anniversary show at The Hollow. Funk is on the rise in Albany, and Hartley’s Encore honed in on the reason why – the influence of funk forefathers Soulive whose albums are influencing the next generation of funk musicians. Their self-titled debut album is an alive EP, all killer, no filler.
The core of Hartley’s Encore – Luke Malamood, Jeff Nania and Chris Oliver – graduated from Guilderland High School in 2003, but their playing together goes back to the early 90’s when they were in first grade and Luke learned to play piano at Jeff’s while Jeff was learning trumpet. The core of Hartley’s Encore, Luke Malamood (keys/vocals), Jeff Nania (saxophone) and Chris Oliver (guitar) sat down with NYS Music to get behind the band name, talk about their early introductions to funk and their love of Soulive.
Pete Mason: Where does the band’s name originate from?
LukeMalamood: It comes from the time Chris and I were working on this project in fall 2016 and Titanic was on TV and my daughter was watching it and as the ship is sinking, the band keeps playing even as they know they are going to their certain death, but it provided relief for those who were trying to survive. The band leader, Wallace Hartley, is the one who says ‘it’s been an honor and a privilege’ and it was easy to find some info about him. In a loose way, this is right around the time we’re gearing up for the craziest presidential election ever, and people were saying the world is coming to an end, so Hartley’s Encore is a loose tribute to the band and bandleader and we think it’s important that we do what we do.
Chris Oliver: For me, the encore thing, when we decided on it, it was real in an historical sense, but Luke and I have played together for years, and he and I reuniting was its own encore. So it made sense to have the name Hartley’s Encore.
PM: What was the experience like working with Alan Evans (Soulive) at Iron Wax Studios?
Jeff Nania: We did the second Chronicles album with Alan and one thing I like about this approach is that he doesn’t make you try to sound a particular way, he has the mics and know-how to make you sound the best. Before having heard us, because we didn’t have any recordings yet, he asked for three records we really liked that he could use to get a vibe for our sound.
CO: Tower of Power Tower of Power, The Meters Rejuvenation and Dr. John Desitively Bonnaroo were the three we shared, and it’s pretty clear to some extent that we wear our influences on our sleeve. When we got there, he said ‘give me a year’ to reference, and I said “Whatever year ‘Hey Pocky Way’ came out.” (1988) Alan was pretty hands off and wanted to make us sound as good as he could. I was pretty intimidated from a musical standard but I went in there and he lets you go in there and do you. He prioritizes the artist remaining true to who they are, and as a guitar player and songwriter we were allowed to go in there and just be us.
LM: There was an intimidation factor working with Alan that grew out of the first time I saw Soulive in October of 2003. We had just graduated from high school and a bunch of our friends had gone to Bonnaroo and everyone was all about Soulive. When we went to see him, it was incredible seeing any of them. Neal Evans is my hero, he has to be one of the funkiest dudes on the planet. His left hand I would put up against any bassist in the business. When Neal was active in Lettuce, even with Jesus Coomes who’s a monster bassist, Neal was also hold down the bass parts. Even though I’d met Neal and Alan, it felt like hallowed ground just being there with Neal’s brother. It was like hip hop beats with jazz and funk. He was probably the biggest question mark having met Neal and (Eric) Krasno in the past, but Alan I didn’t know too well. He was the coolest guy and I couldn’t have asked for this experience to be any better and professional. I got to play on one of Neal’s organs and he was the coolest, sweetest dude. Justin Henricks had a great experience working on the Wurliday record so it was a no brainer for us to work with him. He met and exceeded our expectations. Both Wurliday and Hartley’s Encore had the album mastered by Brad Smalling at EverGroove Recording Studio, so two funk bands from the Albany area got the same treatment done on their first albums.
PM: What were the early funk experiences that tipped you towards making genre of music?
CO: I was probably the last person to get on the funk train. When I moved back to Albany a few years ago, Luke sent me a Meters album and “People Say” was the one that hooked me.
LM: I have been obsessed with Soulive since I first saw them play at Rev. Hall in the fall of 2003. Are they a “funk” band per se…I mean, I hate labels in music to begin with. Plus, I’ve yet to read a definition of the word “funk” anywhere that I can wholeheartedly endorse. To me, with funk, it’s like, I know it when I hear it. Soulive is jazz, soul, hip-hop, and of course, funk. More importantly, I look at Soulive, and their cousins Lettuce (really the whole “Royal Family”), plus probably Dumpstaphunk and Galactic, as the godfathers of the growing modern funk/soul scene, as it currently exists. I was in college from 2003-2007, at Villanova, right outside of Philly. Between being at home and being away at school, with all of the incredible Philly venues at my fingertips, I got to see all of these modern funk/soul godfathers when I was relatively young, and I listened to them a lot (Jamiroquai too). Those guys never shied away from celebrating their influences, so through them, I got really turned-on to a lot of the funk/soul OGs: James Brown, Parliament/Funkadelic, Stevie Wonder, The Meters, Earth, Wind & Fire, Tower of Power, and Average White Band, to name a few. Of course I had heard “Cold Sweat,” “Superstition,” “September” and even “Cissy Strut” before, but these modern godfathers really wet my appetite to go back and dig in some more.
Then, (though I’d spent one boozy night in NOLA with some buddies during my senior year in college), my first real trip to New Orleans was in March 2009, a that trip changed my life (in more ways than one). Among other things, I made my first trip to the Louisiana Music Factory, a legendary record store in New Orleans, and got my hands on my first Meters record, which I believe was Rejuvenation. As one of my favorite singer/songwriter/pianist/keyboardists, Jon Cleary, has said, “Funk is the ethnic folk music of New Orleans,” and once I got my first real taste of that, being down there, I was hooked. Ever since then, with multiple trips back to New Orleans, countless nights at Brooklyn Bowl (especially for Bowlive!), and really me just digging deep into the genre, I’ve connected the dots between the modern funk/soul godfathers of today’s scene and the OGs. I am now way down the funk/soul Rabbit Hole, have been for years! It feels real good in here, and there’s a lot of love to go around, so I’ve got no plans of coming out any time soon!
JN: I think I discovered Soulive in my sophomore year of high school. When I was younger my dad was a jazz head and I was constantly listening to jazz in high school, especially Blue Note records which was legendary label, with Wayne Shorter and Coltrane’s most famous albums. I was dating a singer/songwriter who she worked at Coconuts in Stuyvesant Plaza and she gave me a handful of CDs. There were two that popped out – Medeski Martin and Wood’s Shack-Man and The Dropper. Soulive Turn it Out was the first record I had heard of theirs. I dug it at the time because Blue Note was putting out some new jazz and I was coming at it from a new angle.
PM: What has the Albany reception been like, having only started out a little more than a year and a half ago?
LM: I’d give credit to Justin (Henricks) who started the Funk Night at City Beer Hall (ed note: now held at Parish Public House) that started to be a time when I could get out to see live music again after having two kids. Much like funk night, the reception has been pretty consistent and incredible as we’ve had max capacity shows and shows with like seven people there. In the funk and soul genre, we’ve only had a jam band thing in Albany and that overlaps to the funk scene, as well as an Indie scene. I think there is a healthy scene here in Albany and we can do it with the best in terms of being a small city. There are a lot of things that go into the reality of venues on given nights. Early on, we leaned heavily on friends and family to turn out. But gradually, slowly, we started to organically make some fans, the kind who keep coming to shows and we know by name. We were lucky enough to have Greg Bell add us to some big shows, including his 25th anniversary show. Slowly but surely, we started to see some people organically catching onto this, and that’s really what I think our goal would be – play once or twice a month and get people out to the show and have a celebration.
CO: Both Luke and I will admit we are better songwriters than musicians. When we put our heads down and kept getting big on our own, Jeff took us under his wing, and given his playing in the region for the past seven or so years, we started to meet musicians and people who were in the scene and it kind of allowed us to get to where we are now and it helped us tremendously. I got out to see Justin Henricks and people who were doing it in Albany and that connection came from Jeff.
LM: this is a snapshot of who we are now, and we can attribute it to people like Greg Bell putting us on shows and NYS Music giving us some love and helpful in getting us to be able to be welcomed in this community.
Hartley’s Encore released their self-titled debut album on April 20 and will have to album release shows in coming weeks. Catch them at The Hollow on Friday, April 27 with Victory Soul Orchestra and at Bowery Electric on May 18 with Sauce on the Side. At both shows, Luke, Jeff and Chris will be joined by a rotating rhythm section of Josh Gordon and Brad Monkell (bass), Mike Gilet and Erik Pravel (drums), Phil Chow (trumpet), and Alex Gonzalez (percussion). Hartley’s Encore is now available on Spotify and Apple Music.
Buffalo rap group 14 trapdoors – Short Moscato, Bendyface and Wza – have partnered with Mass Appeal to premiere the video for “Holy Water,” a vividly mind-altering experience. The self-produced single unveils clever rhymes traded bar-for-bar atop a minimalistic track highlighted with an echoing bass, ticking snares and haunting operatic rock backing ad-libs.
Directed by S’likedat, the psychedelic rollercoaster reflects on their hometown life in Buffalo, New York and symbolizes their cleansing relationship with music. 14 trapdoors explains, “Holy Water supposed to cleanse the soul. We use music to cleanse our soul. The music is our holy water,” with Short Moscato calling the song “a collage of our lives.”
With the focus on the Queen City, Wza says, “We wanted to show the world how we get down here in Buffalo. The video is a tripped-out glimpse into how we’re living and the friends and fellow artists we surround ourselves with for motivation and inspiration.” And that trippy video by S’likedat? Bendyface considers it “either the cure or cause of epilepsy.” They’ll perform at Mohawk Place on Tuesday, April 24.
14 trapdoors have self-made a sub genre of hip hop, coined New Trap Boom Bap, and draw on a wide range of influences that span Aesop Rock, Big L, El-P, Jay Z and fellow Buffalo artists Westside Gunn and Conway, as well as Pink Floyd, Prince and Led Zeppelin. “People who gravitate toward the golden age of ‘90s boom bap will fuck with it because we focus on lyricism and new age youngins will fuck with it because we have songs with a more ‘trappy’ vibe,” Bendyface says.
The rappers met on the Buffalo hip hop scene and decided to pool their assets during the summer of 2016 when they all happened to release projects at the same time. They are all solo artists and Bendyface is also a member of the duo Chronic Collective. WZA mixed and mastered their recordings, resulting in them spending a lot of time together at his studio.
The name 14 trapdoors pays homage to their hometown. The 14 represents the summation of the digits in their 716 area code and trapdoors is a reference to the city’s DIY scene. “Everybody you know is trapping something out their house, whether it deals with music, art or drugs, and when you are a rapper, you need all three of those things,” WZA says. “So you find yourself walking through many trapdoors.”
They attribute their sound to Buffalo, a city where one of hip hop’s most respected eras still gets its props. “Our whole stance on music is that It’s all about truly being yourself and being honest with yourself,” WZA says.
NYS Music spoke to Van Zandt ahead of his latest show at the Playstation Theater in New York City to discuss the TeachRock workshops, why he wants to bring rock music into the classroom, and the teacher that had the most influence on him growing up.
