5 Questions with Rags #28 - Def 3

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I’ve seen Def3 rock a few crowds over the last year and his album Wildlif3 has been in regular rotation on the headphones since its release. This past summer I saw him rock out with the mighty SkiiTour at Shambhala and, more notably, he opened the first night of hip-hops at Phillip’s Brewery on the first night of the Rifflandia festival, here in Victoria. That was more notable for a couple of reasons, 1) It was just Def3 and his band doing their thing rather than working in support of a DJ, and 2) In a night full of yelling and barking and needlessly profane trap-rap, Def3 embodied everything I love about hip-hop and specifically, Canadian hip-hop. When Def3’s joints are pumping from the stage the love and respect for the art form is palpable and wholly addictive. I’ve been wanting to get ahold of the homey for a few minutes now and was happy to get him fresh off rock Portland with fellow Canadian hip-hop masters, Sweatshop Union. We talked about Hallowe’en, Thomas Edison and the current, amazing state of hip-hop. Respect to Def3 and Saskatchewan, because really, how often to I get to shout Saskatchewan?

1. Do you remember the first album you went out and bought with your own money?

Yeah, actually. It was Wreckx-N-Effect,  Hard or Smooth, on cassette.

Do you still have it?

No. I have some of my tapes, but that one I don’t have anymore. I still have quite a few but a lot of them are pretty damaged.

It’s not a particularly hardy medium, eh?

No. <laugh>

2. Can you think of a movie that had an affect on the way you saw the world?

If we’re talking about fiction, I’d say Magnolia. That was really cool. Documentary-wise – I watched a movie called Forks Over Knives that kind of twisted my head up a bit and turned me into a vegetarian for awhile.

For awhile…You’re not a vegetarian anymore?

No. I’m not anymore. I was for almost a year, not super long. I went to Europe and tried for awhile. Interesting story: I met a person will full-blown cancer who was a vegan and that also twisted me up a bit. I thought, “How is that possible?”

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5 Questions with Rags #27 - Kevan McGovern (Filmmaker)

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Vancouver filmmaker Kevan McGovern is in the midst of a huge undertaking, attempting to document the importance and impact of electronic music and festival culture with his feature-length documentary I/O (Input/Output). What started as a love-affair with the legendary Shambhala Music Festival in Salmo, BC, has become an all-encompassing passion. Last year saw the release of the Shambhala Experience, a smaller documentary that dives into Shambhala specifically. I had the pleasure of catching it last summer right before the festival and highly recommend it for those who have gone to the festival and those that are even the least bit curious about the festival. Luckily it’s been made easily available as part of a new Kickstarter to help with the completion of the feature-length I/O. The documentary goes beyond Shambhala to capture the spirit that makes the EDM festival culture so vibrant, unique and ultimate important. (I know EDM is a shitty term, but it’s all-encompassing and easy to type, so lay off.)

It’s not every day you get a chance to nerd out hard about something you love with a genuine expert (And a bigger nerd about it than you) so I couldn’t just leave it with the 5 Questions this time. Take a moment to check out what I/O is all about, and then enjoy our nerdy Shambhala chat and another rousing round of the 5 Questions!

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1. Do you remember the first album you bought with your own money?

The first album I went out and picked was the the Crystal Method’s first album. That was probably my first exposure to electronic music.

I think that was a lot of people’s first exposure, right? Certainly the beginning of mine.

They were some of the first electronic music pioneers that made it into the mainstream before a lot of others.

Have you seen Crystal Method live?

I’ve seen one of the members play at Burning Man, but haven’t seen both of them?

2. Can you think of a movie that you saw that had an effect on the way you saw the world?

The first thing that comes to mind is the Matrix. I was very deep into that. My favourite movie is Almost Famous and that made me see things very differently. I saw myself in the protagonist. I just love that movie so much. I could watch it forever.

I could watch Philip Seymour Hoffman doing Lester Bangs for all times and be happy.

I know right. “Do not make friends with the rock stars.” There are so many amazing cameos in that movie. It’s mind-boggling how many people pop up.

It’s got my boy Marc Maron!

A lot of people don’t remember Jimmy Fallon is in there too.

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The Big Work - I try to explain why you should listen to Dan Bern by listening to all of the Dan Bern. Pt.1

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“When I tell you that I love you don’t test my love, accept my love, don’t test my love, ‘cause maybe I don’t love you all that much.” – from “Jerusalem” (Dog Boy Van EP, Dan Bern)

That’s a bold way to introduce oneself to the world and with both his first EP and full-length debut, Dan Bern did it twice. If you look at the words long enough or hear them sung enough times you can see it all right there, the lifeline that runs through one of the most consistently strong songwriting careers this side of <BLANK> (You can fill this in with any songwriter you like that was going before 1996). It’s a short simple string of words that is at once audacious, painfully self-aware, slightly nihilistic, dripping with feeling and most importantly (?) very Funny.

I discovered the music of Dan Bern sometime around my last couple of years in high school, when I was just starting to fumble around in the dark, attempting to carve an identity for myself. By this time, Bern had released three full-length records (Dan Bern, Fifty Eggs & Smartie Mine), so there was a lot to devour. A music nerd from my youngest days I was pretty well versed in guys with guitars, but I’d never heard anything like this. Listening to these first few Bern records broke something important in my head, set it free and permanently changed my core temperature. It’s difficult to overstate the importance this man’s music has held in my life and as such, don’t read on looking for scathing criticism (Spoiler: I'm a fan of his work across the board), but rather to remember or learn some stuff about one of the great songwriters of our time and the important connections made between people and art.

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5 Questions with Rags 1 Year Anniversary Spectacular w/ Dan Bern!

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Last month Dan Bern released, Hoody, the latest in a neverending string solid-to-classic records. (I am currently attempting to tackle all of said records in one massive review. I'm struggling. But keep an eye out for it soon. You can read my short review of Hoody for exclaim! here.) The album is further proof to my claim that Dan Bern is one of the greatest living songwriters. His albums have come to serve as marking points in my life. They always have something to give me, whether it be a nugget of wisdom to ponder, a few tears to clean out the ducts or a laugh to get me through a day. His music has been a constant source of inspiration, in fact, if you recall, Dan Bern is the main reason this 5 Questions exists as well as the first answerer of the questions. Doing this over the last year has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. With that in mind, I caught up with Bern last month at his stop here in Victoria and asked him if he'd be into coming back for Round 2 to ring in another year. Just like last time, we did it completely unprepared after the show. I wrote frantically as he answered the questions. The meat is here and the trimmings are in my mind. Don't worry about it. 5 wasn't enough, so we did 10. It's a special occasion. Enjoy.

*As this is the 1 Year Anniversary of the 5 Questions, I've taken a "Best of" approach for this Q&A Extravaganza and taken some of the best Guest Questions.

1. When is the last time you did something for the first time? (DJ Murge)

I don’t recall but I know the next thing I’m going to do for the first time is learn to ride a unicycle. I made a pact with a friend that I would learn. I really gotta get on that.

2. If you could spend a day with anyone living or dead who would it be and what would you do? (The Gaff)

I’d spend a day with my dad. Maybe we’d go to the movies. Or I’d spend the day with my family, just doing what we do.

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5 Questions with Rags #26 - OthaSoul

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If you take hip-hop from afar and don’t look too deeply you may be under the impression that the art form has given way to nothing but crass commercialization. But really, that’s an illusion. There are people making great hip-hop all over the world. In every city there are cats going about the art of hip-hop the right way, imbibing their music with respect for the form, the trail-blazers from the past.

I don’t think of London as a hotbed of hip-hop but somewhere in that concrete jungle OthaSoul are making the goods – Real, gritty, honest hip-hop without shtick or pretension. Their recently release album, The Remedy, is one of the finest, smoothest pieces of art you’re going to put in your ears this year and definitely not something you should be sleeping on. The album is city hip-hop in the most classic sense of the word. I’ve never been to London, but it sounds how I imagine the city feels – heavy breath holding up a pulsing heart, tense and relaxed at once, straddling light and dark. Listen to it, cop it, spread it around because it’s important stuff and music that every hip-hop fan should be introduced to.

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1. Do you remember the first album you bought with your own money? Do you still listen to it? Favourite track?

Louis VI: I think it was Nirvana... either that or Quality by Talib Kweli but I think it was Nirvana. 'Come As You Are' was a tuuuuune.

Dozer: Real talks… I got Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield on CD when i was like 10. I don’t know why, I just saw that shit in Virgin Megastore, took it home and listened to it like the weird ass kid I was. It’s actually kinda tragic, cos I didn’t really get into hip hop til the MP3 age had kicked off. So I was getting everything from my boys and just downloading shit. Common was my favourite artist at the time, so me and my homie ran out to go get Universal Mind Control on CD when it came out. Got home, listened to it once, never listened to that piece of shit ever again. Mad disappointing!

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