Road Trip
The 21st artist interview would take place in Seattle, with Racoma, an indie-rock band who were 1 of 3 artist recommendations provided by Sofar Sounds, a global community that fosters and facilities intimate live concerts across the world. The other two artist interviews that came from Sofar Sounds recommendations was the 24th artist interview in Nevada, and the 38th artist interview in South Carolina.
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Embarking on the 20th leg of our State2State Artist Discovery journey, in the quest to find the perfect artist to represent Montana's vibrant creative culture, the Northwest surprised me particularly in the realm of hip-hop. One standout rising star was the dynamic hip-hop artist, Joshua (formerly known as "Eddwords"), right in the heart of
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I wish I could’ve met and kicked it with all of the artists, but for the sake of the project and time, I chose the one artist that stood out to me the most, River Merrill. The search began in the capital, Boise, Idaho...
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Just like the journey on the previous interview, I had to travel to the other side of the state to link up with the artists I was interviewing for the 18th interview and state of this project, in Jackson, Wyoming. Along with some more reflection, online artist discovery, heards of Buffalo, a few speeding tickets, breaking over 100k miles, my car dying in the middle of a long stretch empty two-lane highway, causing me to walk by foot to the nearest gas station to fill up a gas jug, (multiple times)...the drive was blissful and mentally productive and necessary. The majority of my views to my left and right was a flat sea of land, hay and farm, but by the time I got closer towards Jackson it became more mountainous. I wasn’t really prepared on how massive and beautiful driving through the edges of the Rockies was going to be.
Besides the amazing views, why Jackson, Wyoming? Well, by the time I was done with the interview in North Dakota, after many streams through social hashtages and bandcamp searches, I hadn’t connected with a sound yet in Wyoming, so I figured I reach out to someplace that for sure had some type of connect with the local music culture--a popular local radio station.
I found a contact from the Wyoming Public Radio Station who referred me to a few locally-known artists. After going through the music suggested, the sound from the Canyon Kids stood out—they had a soufull folk-rock band sound to them, and whenever I feel soul, I feel intrigued. I reached out and got connected with one of the founders, guitarist Dusty Nichols, who invited me to do the interview after their show at one of Wyomings Top Media Marketing Agencies, Orijin, last summer concert series of 2018 at the Anvil Hotel in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, with proceeds benefiting the Grand Teton National Park.
It was an organic experience to drive for hours across the state listening to the music culture of Wyoming, listening to their music, and then meeting them in person right before a live performance, outside of a Boutique hotel in a cosy town nestled within a valley of Mountains. Canyon Kids, Jackson Holes perfect Americana soufull rock n' roll backdrop, as defined by source of Wyoming culture, is a big part of the growing music scene in the state, having performed at several events over the years, releasing 3 albums and even was featured on NPR's "Here and Now" program back in 2016.
One aspect, of many, on what makes them unique is their passion for making music. Life can make our dreams and visions so complicated but it's that passion that keeps you driven to your purpose as an artist. As of 2019 the lead singer and creator of Canyon Kids, Bo Elledge moved to Seattle, Washington, however that didn't stop the rest of the members nor himself from staying on track of their creative visions. Bo has recorded 3 solid singles since the move, one of which already making it on to Seattle's top public radio station for alternative rock.
Dusty Nichols, the other founding Member along with Canyon Kids existing bandmates Leif Routman (Bass) and Shawn Fleming (Drums) are also using this opportunity to create another vessel of music forming a new folk-rock band called Inland Isle. Dusty brought on friend and also one of Wyomings Top Ten Musicians, Patrick Chadwick, and togehter in just 30 days, succesuflly completed their Kickststarter project in March 2020 for their first Album release. As for the Canyon Kids, the passion for making and playing music together remains intact as more projects to be releasesd are in the works and Bo now being in Seattle could offer the band great way to expand their name.
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In a continued search for an organic sound, native to the 17th state on this trip, North Dakota, I figured I head to the most populous city in North Dakota, Fargo.
While I had to expand my search radius for events and artists online, I quickly stumbled upon an album titled Brotherman by Madi Smith Bandcamp. She had moved from North Dakota, but forwarded me to her friend Danny Savage, who with Jordan Eslinger and others merged from a group called Northern Lights, into a band who now go by the name of ‘Mooncats’. Even though they were in Beulah, the other side of the state, their campfire blue-grass sound was just about as organic of a sound as I was looking for, and worth the 4 hour trip from Fargo.
Along with social media updates and online artist discovery, check-in calls with the fam, and restroom breaks, this particular long drive gave me more opportunity to listen to their music, a fitting soundtrack to the Dakota open road, and various agricultural fields that seemed like never ended.
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Danny and Jordan had me meet them by a lake in a park, a spot where they often come to jam out or just draw inspiration from. They talked about their journey from Northern Lights to Mooncats, their passion for music, the changing music scene in North Dakota, genre, coining their own term 'Ameri-conscious Folk', as it related to their own style. They defined it as Americana-Campire-Folk, a combination of the traditional Americana style blended with their own versions of storytelling to tell around the campfire, and even gave me a sample after the interview. Danny busted out his banjo, and Jordan his guitar and harmonica and they got in their zone. See instagram post below along with a few screenshots from the footage.
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15th Interview with Rascal Martinez
Written by Staff Writer
15th State - South Dakota - 15th Interview Rascal Martinez
Next stop, home of Mt. Rushmore, the 15th state on this project, South Dakota. While struggling to find an artist with the limited time in SD, I figured I reverse my search tactics. Instead of looking up hashtagged posts on Social Media, or going through SoundCloud or Bandcamp, I looked up bars/restaurants online that had live music. As I sat in a Starbucks, (my usual go-to spot on this trip), I cracked my knuckles and got to searchin’.
It was refreshing to see a good amount of places offering live music, opportunities for local talent in South Dakota, so it took some time to go through event posts past and upcoming, looking up the sites of the featured artist and listening to their music. I found an event that was happening my last night there at a bar called Fernsons. The artist featured was good, quality voice, had a professional sound to him, and from a genre standpoint, was different from the artists I met up with so far. His name is Rascal Martinez. There was a phone number on his site, he picked up right away and was on board for the interview.
When I arrived to Fernsons, I knew I was at the right location—there was a trailer hitch in the parking lot that had Rascal Martinez written on it in big letters.
Adjusting his microphone on his shirt, he talked about how he was also on tour in the midwest and had just did a radio interview with South Dakota Public Broadcasting a day prior. As busy as he sounded with performing shows, doing interviews, working on new music, he was super chill, calm and collecting. Stylish, happy and super laid back, is how I can describe Rascal Martinez. He was all smiles and welcoming, and had this Modern James Dean look about him. As soon as we wrapped up the interview, he hit the stage with his drummer and bass guitarist and immedialty got into character.
Not only was the locally brewed Fernson beer great, Rascal Martinez and his band killed it. Putting his own Americana spin on covers and originals, he had everyone in the bar on a vibe, and drew more people in. He did everything from Originals, to Folk, Classic Rock, Motown, and current hits. Check out some intagram posts from his gig below - the first clip he remixes Jay-Z's 99 problems, putting his own spin to it, and the second, his rendition of Pina Colada.
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Two Road Trips Connect in Minneapolis, Minnesota - 16th State, 16th Interview
Written by Staff Writer
16th State, Minnesota - 16th Interview, Pinkie Promise with Eleanor Elektra
It just so happened that there was another cross country road tour happening. Three musicians, Minnesota-native Crispin Swank, Brooklyn’s Kaitlin Pelkey who together play in a group called Pinkie Promise, along with Eleanor Elektra from Boston were on their 5th stop on their 18-city music tour across America. I stumbled across a facebook post, checked out their music and liked their experimental drift. There was this mystic-soul, folk vibe about their sound and I wanted to learn more. So I reached out and there were nice enough to do the interview literally right before their show at The Tiny Diner.
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The diner had an outdoor patio where people ate, drank and laughed. Surrounded by large bushes and flowers, there was a machine tucked in the back of the bushes behind the Mic area that periodically blew out bubbles. It definitely added to its intimate environment, perfect for an acoustic set, especially the dreamy and jazzy melodies from these three. Eleanor Elektra kicked it off mixing jazz and folkish blues, followed by Pinkie Promise mixing folk rock and dream folk performing until the sun went down.
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They had their merchandise booth setup by the entrance, so after their set, with all the change I had in my pockets, I made sure I furthered my support and bought some merch. As they caught up with friends I said my goodbyes and hit the road to the next state.
Check out their Music
8/15/18 - Omaha, Nebraska
Day 23: 14th Interview, 14th State
While I thought finding an artist in Omaha would be a challenge, a few hashtags on Twitter, and I stumbled on a Soundcloud post, a track titled Drowning by Naylon. The cover image caught my eye and it had several thousand plays at the time, so I was intrigued. Her voice begins around 25 seconds in, and it immediately draws you, powerful and seductive with a lot of soul. If there was a comparison I’d say a mix between Ariana Grande and SZA, and coincidentally enough she’s got clips of her doing covers of their songs and killing it! Check em' out, including more covers by Frank Ocean, Kehlani and more including some originals on her YouTube.
As good as her voice is, I was surprised to see she only had a few tracks on Soundcloud. But no worries, she teased of new material in 2019.
“...be on the look out for some cool new music, some cool songwriting...”
We met up and did the interview at Edward Zorinsky Lake Park. It was raining all morning long, which stopped right before we linked up, so perfect timing. The only caveat was bee’s kept attacking her during the interview and a few deers got curious as well. Other then that, it was dope getting to know Naylon a bit more, hearing about some of her previous work, upcoming plans, her inspiration, some of her favorite musicians she likes to listen to and see live, and apparently concerts get to her, but in a good way. When responding to why she cries a lot during concerts, she said:
“It’s just a surreal feeling to see people giving their all, and doing what they love.. its inspiring”
She credited Ariana Grande and Taylor Swift as her two favorite concerts she ever saw live. Maybe one day sooner then later, they’ll share the same stage. One artist she did have the opportunity to share a stage with, was none other then grammy-nominated hip-hop artist Logic. Earlier this year Logic sold out a 2018 Spring Concert hosted by Mavericks Productions at the Baxter Arena in University of Omaha, the same University Naylon attended. They wanted someone from the school to open for Logic, and out of the 12 thousands students enrolled they of course chose Naylon, who at the time went by Maria Corinne.
Below is her cover of Thinking Bout You by Frank Ocean
From growing a fan base of over 33k on Vine (RIP), to opening up for Logic in spring of 2018, to growing a listening audience of over 40 thousands on an original song on Soundcloud without any marketing. Naylon is a star in the making and a musical force that continues to shine, continues to write and continues to sing. I wonder what achievements lay ahead for her in 2019???
Afterwards we met up with another one of her friends at a cool sushi bar restaurant called Blue Sushi Saki Grill. I’ve had some great sushi, but this was definitely up for the running. Our waiter, who recognized Naylon from school, recommended this dank dish, and dank it was...It's called.. "Triller"
Off to the next state, South Dakota...
8/14/2018 - Davenport, Iowa
Day 22: 13th Interview - Xavy Rusan
Where many would say living in big cities like NYC or LA places them in an advantage over others, hip-hop artist, Xavy Rusan says being from a place no-one has really heard of, gives him the advantage.
“...you’ve heard the story of what it’s like to be in Brooklyn, Compton, Detroit, Miami, but you don’t know what it’s like to be from here…”
Good point. Referring to where he’s from, Davenport, Iowa, apart of the metropolitan Quad-Cities, Xavy Rusn said he could only speak for the eastside and not the west side of Iowa, but mentioned that opportunities and fan bases were mostly geared toward Folk and Indie Rock genres. So as a hip-hop artist from Iowa, “you got to pave your own way”. To him, this differentiation is a plus and opportunity to stand out. He went on to say that there wasn’t yet, a pioneer in rap, no one in the hip-hop community really speaking for them. This lack of representation in rap, along with his older cousin, were his inspirations for getting into music back in 2013--the same year he released the video for his single "The Christening".
As passion drives us to fulfill a need, his was being able to be that voice in hip-hop for his hometown, for Iowa, for the middle of the map.
As I wasn’t finding any luck or substance via Facebook Open mic events for the time I was going to be in town, I turned to searching for artists via hashtags on Instagram and Twitter. This is how I found Xavy Rusan. I was diggin’ as I did in every city I went to, and I found myself listening to his projects from 2016 posted on Paste Magazine. His confident swag in his tone, thought-provoking and visualizing wordplay with that southern-authentic hip hop vibe, had me like “OK IOWA!”. The vibe took me bobbin' to his YouTube and Soundcloud. He got some hits coming out the middle of the map! Quad City Times even listed him as one of the top 5 local artists playing 'the soul of Quad Cities'.
The Plug
Kodak
So what should we look out for from Xavy Rusan moving into 2019? A continuation of his catalog of good hip-hop. According to Xavy, projects, collaborations, and a lot of visuals.
“I’m trying to get people to look into this world I live in”
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#hiphop #xavyrusan #iowa #middleofthemap
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8/13/2018 - Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Day 21 - 12th Interview - Cullah
Previewing his music via social posts of his project Cullahsus released April 27th, 2018, I was expecting a first impression personality to reflect those vibes on that project, which was energetic, funky, upbeat, etc. (It's really good, y'all got to check it out..) Not only that, just stream through his videos on Youtube, a mix of chill, fun and upbeat, funky vibes, with hiphop lyrical flows and some of that soul-sanging. When meeting Ian McCullough who goes by the stage name Cullah, he was surprisingly very calm and collected, poise, soft-spoken but with a lot to say, and extremely intelligent. From the historic forested and rolling hills of Wisconsin, to its deep germanic roots, and the earliest breweries in America and Milwaukee, and much more, Cullah was full of interesting facts, one after another. He was also full of wit, joking around with me for possible pun-titles of his album project next year set to release on April 27th, 2019…’Spectacullah, Cullahtavation, Cullahflower...' Spoiler Alert.. he’s already chosen Spectecullah, so stay tuned.
We first met at Colectivo Coffee, but then decided to do the interview across the street, right off the water. While getting to know Cullah a bit more while walking there, through his answers during the interview and then afterwards as we kicked it a little bit shooting some pool at nearby bar called Vintage, although very poise and calm, there’s an undenying fierce energy for his passion for music.
I asked what genre he considered himself, and it was hard to pinpoint one genre he resonated with, rather, he accredited many genres being influences over the years, from electronic, to hip-hop instrumental, to folk, blues, parsimonious funk, drum n’ bass, uptempo, downtempo, and more. He did mention a cross-discipline or cross-fusion of multi-genre and Future Blap. Check out his Soundcloud and you be the judge.
Beats and Open-sourced
When he’s not laying down raps on stage over funky and groovy AF vibes, Cullah is also a talented producer, producing his own beats he’s flowing on, and they’re good. Just check out his catalogs at https://cullah.com.
Prior, he was also a computer engineer, and actually makes a correlation between music and code, stating music should just be like code, open-sourced.
“...It’s information, just like code. Music should be free and accessible….”
Via Creative Commons, all his albums are open-sourced, as he believes in the beauty of royalty-free music, which is how he builds his fan base—collaborators using his music on their own projects, usually film, credits his name, people here it, and he gets new Spotify listeners, about 20k listeners per month to be exact. That’s correct two, zero.. 20 thousand.
“People get access to them, you get YouTubers with Influence, people hear about it, then they go on my Spotify, and then thats how I pay rent”
Come to find out through several stories of people recognizing him, and the name, Cullah, he’s also pretty popular, especially around town. While playing pool someone recognized him from a performance at an open-mic years ago. We ended up playing doubles…and of course won.
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But back to the music..
Milwaukee Music Scene
He discussed the scene out in Milwaukee, saying there’s a lot of talent there and 'things are changing', yet many creatives he knows are leaving and going to larger cities like NY. But there's definitely a scene and opportunities for artists are changing for the better. While there’s a lot of Punk Rock, he’s seeing a lot of success and shows being sold out in the hip-hop community and Americana Folk, two genres (of many) he fuses together within his own music.
2019
When asked what his goals are he responded about Spectaculluh releasing next year and also mentioned his open-sourced goals. ”I’m planning to release free music every year. By 2020 I’ll have done an album a year for 50% of my life. That’s my next goal..”
If you like to support Cullah for upcoming projects, check out his Patreon Page. https://www.patreon.com/Cullah
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August 12th - Chicago, Illinois - Xavier Keyz
I first met Chicago-native R&B singer Xavier Keyz back in 2015, through AnywhereButHome (ABH) singer/rapper from Northern Virginia, who I would interview apart of the DMV area later on in this trip. We and another Chicago-native hip hop artist, R.O.E., caught up at Heartland Brewery Co. downtown NYC after an event held by Xavier's friend Ryan Leslie. I didn’t attend the event, but them three did and had a chance to chat it up a bit with Ryan. The motivating vibes carried to our discussion at the brewery as we ate and talked our about each and one of our grinds and goals.
So after three years it was good to finally catch back up and like the other two artists, R.O.E and ABH, Xavier Keyz has been working, growing his fanbase, selling merch, and performing outside of the U.S, doing international tours across Europe and Asia. He’s performed so much that now his time has been devoted to not only working on future projects, but also setting up his own Masterclass where he’ll be teaching the art of performing live, overcoming stage fright and more—so stay tuned for the knowledge and insight he's about to drop.
Xavier Keyz style of music is mostly R&B and hip-hop, but demonstrates some of that pop/dance sound as well checkout some of his tracks below.
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Link up, Interview
When we linked in Chicago it was only right that I greeted him sporting his fitted-branded hat I bought a few years. He got a good kick out of it and it was a good seg-way to kick off where we left off, talking about the grind. He’s got his hat now in different colors, which you can select and buy here. He choose to do the interview where, according to him, his love for music began, Kenwood Academy his old high school.
Ironically it just so happened to be the day where his school was having a reunion block party for all the classes. So after the interview we walked around the ticketed area in the parking lot, which he caught up with some old friends and then ended giving me a brief tour down memory lane inside the school.
The need for grub was real, so he recommended we check out one of his favorite spots to eat at, an authentic Jamaican Cuisine call Ja’Grill, downtown Chicago. People… this place DOES NOT DISAPPOINT. I got his recommendation which was their ribs with their jerk seasoning, and damn they were amazing, the flavor was juicy to all types of levels, and the meat slid off the bone and everything as they say a characteristic for some good ass ribs. It was a nice hot day so we sat outside in their seating area, the atmosphere was right and the prices not bad, definitely not bad for the quality and amount.
A week prior, Chicago made national headlines with a spree of shootings and killings, a reason why I didn’t want to stay in Chi-town overnight, but Xavier mentioned that the violence is only in some parts and that the city is often overshadowed by the negative media. The area where he lived, went to school at and where we ate at was safe. The funny thing though, while we waited for food, we heard shouting down the street that got everyones attention. A fight was about to happened, a guy got out his car, while people were holding him back yelling at another dude. I kept the camera rolling… Police soon came though and broke it up, so all good.
While we left, walking back to the garage, we stumbled across an art show tucked away in that same plaza. The art was friggen ridiculously dope, and actually symbolic to anyones experience driving around and taking in the artistic nature of Chicago. Sculptures and wall murals decorate the colorful city. The artshow was hosted by Chicago Top 5 with Connect Gallery. See below.
TURN YOUR DREAMS INTO REALITY
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Day 19th - 20th: August 11th Interview with The Lobby.
Next stop, Detroit Michigan for the 10th interview, a creative collective known as The Lobby comprised of Freebxll Will, Demigod, Freebxll Rome, Kerwin Clemens, Milf Melly, and Joseph Cook. They got a certain wave that’s addicting and catchy, wavvy hip-hop with a lot melody, bounce and energy. While some of the members have dropped solo projects with a bunch coming up, such as Milf Melly’s recent ‘Milf Tape’, and Freebxll Will’s upcoming project ‘King Of The Free’, collectively they've released a few singles so far, but much in the works. The track, 'Love Lost' below is one of them. But do you feel this??
Living in NYC for the past 5 years my mind was use to a certain time perception when looking at distance on maps. So when meeting up with them at their studio in the metro area I miscalculated where I was in relation to them and ended up being almost two hours where I needed to be. They had a show that night starting at 8pm and it was already 4/5pm, so we had to put the medal to the pedal. Luckily I didn’t get stopped, however several states later my luck with that would run out, but we'll get to that later...
I made it there in good time for us to do the interview, and just kick it a little bit with them. The energy was dope, and they had me listen and feedback on some tracks they were working on. See below.
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After vibing heavy, we left and I followed them to their show Vamp Night hosted by CrowdFreak, a promotion service that book artists to get on shows and sometimes open for big acts. We got there early on, but little did I know, it was the spot where Eminem notoriously did that rap battle on stage made famous in 8 Mile, The Original Hip Hop Shop.
The spot was dope, artwork hanging in both rooms, DJ spinning bangers, host cracking jokes, red cups getting refilled, and just chill vibes. With over 30+ Artist on the ballot to perform, It was pretty lit throughout the night.
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Day 17th - 18th: August 9th - 10th, Interview with 'Los Lemons'
While Cleveland had a large pool of finding accessible local talent, and the next two upcoming cities were already confirmed with the upcoming artists. The struggle of finding some substance began to set it, however, fortunately that was short lived. While scrolling through the Facebook events for local music performances, I came across a band called Los Lemons performing at a locally popular and booming craft-cocktail lounge in Fort Wayne, Indiana called HT2. The event invite provided a link to the band's bandcamp, and I immediately fell in love with their wavvy, California-beach chill, psych/garage rock sound, a different vibe from the previous genres from the artists we’ve already linked up with.
I reached out on FB messenger, and we set up the interview. The vibes felt through the music were also felt with them in person--really chill laid back dudes who've only been playing together for a few years—Kodi on the guitar and backup vocals, Victor on the main vocals and rhythm guitar, and Wade on the drums.
We did the interview right outside where they were going to be performing, and right before it started raining - perfect timing? By the way, the clouds in Indiana are no joke.
HT2 provided a nice atmosphere for Los Lemons to jam out, where they did a mix of covers, originals and often just freestyled in between tracks.
“...that’s what music is..you got to feel it” - Victor
…and they definitely felt it. Below is a clip from the gram of them going off of a vibe with two guitars and drums.
The first of their tracks uploaded intended to just be demos, but one of those tracks, titled ‘Slow Down’ spread like wildfire and now has over 100k listens just on Soundcloud. Listen below.
With a chilled-out wave of a project out since then which you can stream below, if you're from the Midwest area expect to see more of Los Lemons performing live near you, but in all they’ve got a lot in the works to release in the near future, so wherever you’re at be on the look out.
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#Loslemons #Diversalstate2state
Airbnb Lodging
We continued lodging with Airbnb in Indiana not just because of the convienience and price, but because of the world-renowned ‘Fort Wayne’s Hanselmann House’, or at least that’s what it use to be called since it was built in 1971 by the famous architect Michael Graves. However, now dubbed ‘The Cube House’ by the current homeowner, who by the way recommended the trip out to the only brick n' morter Sweetwater Sound retail spot where he works at--The Cube House has been used to rent out for Airbnb and other hosted art and music events. The comfiness is to the max, and the elegant and luxurious interior mixed in with the eclectic mix of wall art, sculptures and cool decor makes this spot a hands-down must for anyone traveling to the area of Fort Wayne, Indiana. This isn't a sell pitch also, it's just a dope spot!
(Source: http://www.inputfortwayne.com/features/Cube-House-Airbnb.aspx)