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Issue 4 Articles

Alien Ant Farm Thinks They're Pretty F@%*ing Lucky Article and Interview
Review - Wormwood Pre-Party 5/26/2006
The Honolulu Jazz Quartet

Alien Ant Farm Thinks They’re Pretty F@%&ing Lucky

And Ruminate About Hawaii’s Local Music Scene

Interview by Celester of IndieHonolulu.com, Article and Photos by Katie Whitman

(read transcript of interview below)

Remember Alien Ant Farm, when they hit the big time in 2001 with their cover of Michael Jackson’s Smooth Criminal?  I still remember that music video.  With the tilty floor making them lean over precariously this way and that.  Getting a glimmer of recognition?  Well, I was excited when I heard Alien Ant Farm was coming to town, even though I had no idea what their original music sounded like or what the band members themselves were like.

So I got to work listening to some AAF and discovered that they are indeed rock-metal oriented, with their fast power chords and heavy bass lines, a bit of reverb and a good drive.  I also discovered one of my new favorite songs – a boppy, swingy, handclapping ditty entitled “Glow” that brings out drummer Mike Cosgrove’s jazz background.  

Lester, of Indie Honolulu, and I interviewed AAF with the added bonus of hanging out with the guys while they were in town.  I must admit, at first, I thought these guys were just about sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll.  Could a band that made it so far really be nothing more than a cliché?  But they were more.  Great guys, in fact.  They also had a lot to say about Hawaii’s local scene.

Alien Ant Farm is currently touring to promote their new album, Up in the Attic, with their new single Forgive & Forget.  When asked about this album, lead singer Dryden Mitchell jokes “It’s like, oh hey, look at my baby.  Isn’t she beautiful?  Well, your baby is pretty frikking ugly.  It’s that sort of thing.”  He goes on “I’d like to see what happens with it.  Right now we’re kind of out of the spotlight.”   Mike adds “I think that we just want to go and do our job and play our music and have a beer.  And it’s not a matter of how big it gets or on what level it’s perceived.  I don’t know that we’re making popular music or shitty music or good music, course we’re just trying to have it be heard.”  Personally, I think they are being awfully humble.  Their music draws from the power and drive of metal, incorporates compelling melodies and vocals, and wraps it all together with tight musicianship and engrossing showmanship.   

Alex Barreto (bass player) is, in his own words, “shiny brand new” to the band, though a longtime friend.  He asserts that AAF have put their hearts into their new record and is excited to be part of the tour.  In fact, when asked what has in his CD player right now, he quickly responded, “Alien Ant Farm.”  The newcomer of only three shows is making sure to do his homework.  Guitarist Joe Hill is also new addition to the band, but not in danger of being “put back” as Alex quips about himself. 

Alien Ant Farm experienced a pretty horrific accident in 2002 where their tour bus driver died and Dryden broke his neck.  When we commented that perhaps they had experienced more than their fair share of bad luck, Dryden starts in: “I just read that some band was making their third record and said ‘I’ve never been more stressed in my life.’   I’m like, you’re pretty fucking lucky, dude, just to be doing this.”  Mike muses that a band like that is tripped out on maintaining fame, but that “it is more stressful to stay a band and [face] personal challenges.”

Later on in the interview, we get to Hawaii’s local bands.  They all have a lot to say on the subject, particularly Mike, who has produced the young Long Island band, The Rivalry.  The clear response by all is that, as a young band, you have to go out and tour and get exposure.  They recognize that the situation here in Hawaii is unique: “This is an island, so that being said, I don’t know.  The key definitely has to be more like a brotherhood, if not than it would just suck.  I don’t know how much touring you can actually do on this island.  I’m sure you can do the rounds of the six or seven, if that, clubs.”

Mike has an epiphany and launches into a mini-tirade that follows these lines:  Islands are often countries.  Countries promote their own local music.  Hawaii is a part of the US and our bands are overlooked because the US already has L.A., New York, etc.  There is no business machine here (for anything other than actual Hawaiian music) to support the local bands.  No “MTV Hawaii.”  You need that one band from Hawaii that “crashes open.”  Other countries set aside time for programming of local music and actually promote the musicians that prove themselves in the local scene.  

Not in Hawaii.  The opening acts for AAF are the perfect case in point: The six year old veteran band that plays originals and has released their own independent album and music video OPENED for the two year old COVER band.  Come on Hawaii!  Where’s our respect for the local artists who are trying to create something new?!

AAF admits, “Yeah, we got big on a cover, but we didn’t do those gigs where we just played a bunch of covers.  A [Hawaii] band is going to have to move to L.A. to get some recognition because there isn’t any money coming out here [to support local bands].” 

After the show, AAF does their bit to support the local music scene, and we all meet up at The Wave.  AAF are glad to visit the club in the last few nights before it closes forever.  They see three different bands play on The Wave’s stage and say good things about all of them.  Alien Ant Farm rocked Hawaii for us and clearly they are inviting us to get off our asses and rock the rest of the country for them.

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TRANSCRIPT

What is in your CD player?

Alex: Alien Ant Farm, Red Hot Chili Peppers (all)

Joe: I listen to Mike’s Hank William’s CD.

Dryden: Books on tape.  A lot of comedy. Da Vinci Code. Drive By by Mitch Hedberg.

Where you guys hoping to go with the album?

Dryden:  I’d like to see what happens with it.  Right now we’re kind of out of the spotlight.  All that was fun, but we knew it was easy come easy go.

Later on:  Oh hey, look at my baby, isn’t she beautiful?  Well, you’re baby’s pretty frikking ugly.  It’s kind of that sort of thing.

Are you looking for more of an underground following?

We’re not really underground!!

Mike: I think that we just want to go and do our job and play our music and have a beer.  And it’s not a matter of how big it gets or on what level it’s perceived.  I don’t know that we’re making popular music or shitty music or good music, course we’re just trying to have it be heard.

Alex: I’m new in the band.  They have a lot of good material.  They put their heart into their record and they want to show kids, remind kids that they’re still doing it.  It’s cool to be part of that myself.  This is my third show.  I’m shiny brand new.  They might take me back.  I might be put back.

You’ve been through your share, or maybe not your fair share, of bad luck.

Dryden:  Yeah, but just having this job is like..  I just read that some band was making their third record and said “I’ve never been more stressed in my life.”  I’m like, you’re pretty fucking lucky, dude, just to be doing this. We have had some bullshit happen to us.

Mike:  They are tripped out on “Man, we gotta keep this fame” and that is stressful but it shouldn’t be about that.  It is more stressful to stay a band and [facing] whatever personal challenges.  When people are stressing out in a studio like that, you know that they’re thinking “How long will I be famous for? Fifteen minutes?”

What is your advice to the local bands, the new bands just starting out?

Dryden: I’m still trying to figure out how to be a successful band, too, you know.  I think a lot of touring and traveling is the main thing.  This is an island, so that being said, I don’t know.  The key definitely has to be more like a brotherhood, if not than it would just suck, you know.  I don’t know how much touring you can actually do on this island.  I’m sure you can do the rounds of the six or seven, if that, clubs.

Mike: Jack Johnson is huge, but he kind of made it in a weird way.  This place still has a thing where they need to…  like New Zealand.  That’s an island, but they broke out.  You know why?  I think it is, too, that when it’s an island, it’s a country usually. And they’re real nationalist, so they want to export some music or entertainment.  Whereas, Hawaii is part of the US which has L.A. and New York and all those other towns.  For Hawaii, they need to have that one rock band that kinda crashes open, like Australia has their stuff.  And England – England’s not so huge.  They push their stuff.  Hawaii does not have an agenda. 

Dryden:  It’s cool for bands if they want to stay, but being a big fish in a small pond, but it might be a bit [restrictive].  You kind of want to venture off.

Mike: Right now, the band is playing a bunch of covers.  And yeah, we got big on a cover, but we don’t do those gigs where we just play a bunch of covers.  A band is going to have to move to L.A. to get some recognition because there isn’t any money coming out here [to support local bands].  Most countries have their own labels and support their own music.  Part of their programming is set aside for national (i.e. local) bands.  They don’t have that here in Hawaii.  They don’t have that machine working it.  There’s no MTV Hawaii.  Other countries have their native stars and other one that come in.  When they have those bands that prove themselves and have a chance to break out, [the country] says “Hey, we’ve got this success story.”

Japan – there’ s a lot of money going into their music.  They buy and sell a lot of music there.  Again, it’s a business over there.  They don’t really have a business machine working here.

The biggest stars will come to Hawaii and play, because they want to come to Hawaii.

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REVIEW - Wormwood Pre-Party @ Detox, May 26, 2006

Above: Nocando spitting some impromptu rhymes

Below: Icon the Mic King (Philly) freestyles blindfolded about

each object handed to him by crowd members.

 

by Dan Beal, Photos by Katie Whitman

For someone who has just arrived on Oahu, the island doesn’t seem to offer night-goers much beyond cramped nightclubs filled with mindless, droning dance music. But look close enough, and you just might see a small second floor room with graffiti-covered walls at the corner of Beretania and Alakea streets. The lettering on the outside of the building says Detox, and on the inside you just might catch a white guy from small-town America drinking a beer and being surprised by a menagerie of underground hip-hop artists.

Artists from Hawaii and beyond gathered May 26 for the Wormwood Pre-Party at Detox for a night of fast-driving hip-hop.

The performers ranged widely in experience, from first-timers Divine Sight to the versatile and skilled Icon the Mic King.

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m no authority on hip-hop, but I know talent when I see it and talent was there in abundance that night.

The performers at the party included (but were not limited to) Nocando, DJ Handprints, Icon the Mic King, Lightsleepers, Malcognitas, DivineSight, and Nabahe. The performances framed the pre-party for Wormwood, a hip-hop mic battle that followed the next evening at Detox.

The party started off modest enough. Divine Sight made its debut performance in front of a sparse, but responsive, crowd. From there the performers marched through their sets in rapid succession. The groups seldom introduced themselves, and members of different groups frequently popped up during later performances.

Other highlights from the evening included a performance from The Malcognitas. Though not a hip-hop group, lead singer Ara Laylos Karen O-esque vocals and Jack Tawils four-to-the-floor disco punk beats offered a refreshingly different sound for the night.

Another notable performance was The Unusual with DJ Observed, an MC and turntabalist duo. DJ Observed’s fingers accelerated to blinding speeds as he worked the mixer and laid down a beat.

By midnight the small bar was getting packed, and as the evening progressed the air grew dense with smoke and hot with the heat of crowded bodies.

Before headliner Icon the Mic King took the stage, Nocando entertained the audience with a full set including an impromptu acapella rap and accompanied with some beat-boxing.

By the time Icon began his set, my ears had adjusted to the deafening volume of the bar’s PA system. This probably means permanent hearing loss, but I’m not complaining

Icon’s performance was furious and skilled. At the height of his delivery, he tied on a blindfold for some blind freestyle. Members of the audience handed up random items, which Icon identified and rapped about by feel. His freestyle was smooth, confident and impressive as he incorporated each item into his rap.

”I rap better than most rappers do with their eyes open,” he rapped at the end of his performance stunt.

In all, the evening was an experience to remember. It was refreshing to see the tightly-knit network of artists working and weaving their craft together. For fans of hip-hop, this is definitely a scene to watch.

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Introducing the Honolulu Jazz Quartet

by The Old Hipster (webmaster of HonoluluJazzScene.net)

Wow man, it wigs me to be asked to do a jazz article for this new ultra-cool zine that hips all you cats & kitties to what's REALLY going down in Our Fair City culchuah-wise.  So without further ado,  let's cut to the chase.

What better introduction to the Honolulu jazz scene than the Honolulu Jazz Quartet?  These cats have been blowin', growin', and glowin' for the past several years.  Their latest CD - Sounds of the City - made the top 40 jazz radio playlist nationwide within a week of it's official release and is selling quite well.  You can even hear it interspersed in the playlist of the Internet's most prestigious jazz feed, The Jazz Den, out of England.  ('Case you don't know 'bout it, point your audio player to listen.thejazzden.org.uk:10025.)

So who are these cats and what's their story?  Well, the leader/bass-player/mastermind of the ensemble is John Kolivas, a 'local boy' from O'ahu.  He blows bass with The Honolulu Symphony as a "day job" but has managed to get his jazz quartet regular gigs at many of Honolulu's most high-toned jazz joints in the evenings.  He's a very talented composer, arranger, bassist, and band leader.  He's also one of the sweetest cats you could ever meet whose love of life and love of jazz make him accessible to everyone.

The sax man is Tim Tsukiyama, another 'local boy' whose "day job" is with The Royal Hawaiian Band.  He blows fish-horn (soprano), alto, and tenor with equal expertise.  And let me tell you, his jazz chops on all these axes is world-class.  I know Tim quite well so don't  listen to him when he says, "Shucks, I'm no great shakes", he's just modest.

The piano man is Dan Del Negro, originally from Chicago.  If you know anything about jazz piano and Chigago-style in particular, then you know what it takes to 'hold your own' in that heavy scene.  And Dan not only 'held his own' but excelled in the jazz, blues, R&B, rag-time techniques that Chicago pianists lay down.  That he chose to settle here is Chicago's loss and Honolulu's gain.

HJQ's drummer is Adam Baron, originally from Kansas City.  Just like Chicago turns out some of the best jazz pianists, KC turns out some of the best jazz drummers, and Adam ranks among the top few.  When you watch/hear him hold forth you think, "Wow man, this cat is somethin' else!".  Well too bad KC, he's ours now.

Check your entertainment listings -  Honolulu Weekly (http://www.honoluluweekly.com/calendar/gigs/), Honolulu Advetiser's TGIF (http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/current/en/tgifcal), or The Honolulu Jazz Scene Network (http://www.honolulujazzscene.net) - to find out where and when these cats are holding forth.  If you dig jazz, you'll find these cats are the "real deal".

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Sacred Art Tattoo