We all know TBD Fest is going to be a helluva party. That’s a given. Three days of some of the world’s best cutting edge bands, DJs and performers right in our own backyard from Sept. 18 to 20. At the end of each night after the encore is done, when the adrenaline is pumping and you’re just not ready to go home, the question will inevitably be: “Where’s the after party?” Well, here’s your answer.
Submerge has got your first look at the lineup for the official TBD Fest after parties, hosted by Requiem Events at Midtown BarFly on all three nights. Confirmed TBD artists you can expect to see at the after parties include: K.Flay (DJ Set), Autograf, Louis the Child, Jody Wisternoff, J-Kraken, Cue22, Jurts and Soosh*E, Dusty Brown (DJ Set), as well as additional top-secret surprise guest sets! A couple of 2014 TBD Fest alumni, Sister Crayon and French Horn Rebellion, will also spin DJ sets. Friday and Saturday go until 4 a.m., Sunday until 2 a.m. Three rooms of sound all for only $20 a night (for TBD Fest ticket holders). Snag pre-sales at Requiemevents.queueapp.com. Midtown Barfly is located at 1119 21st Street, Sacramento.
Last year’s TBD Fest after parties were epic. They also hit capacity rather quickly, so be sure to get tickets ahead of time if you want guaranteed entry. Who knows, you could be rubbing shoulders with Tyler the Creator, Chromeo, Porter Robinson or other TBD Fest headliners. Hey, it could happen, last year members of Empire of the Sun rolled out to Requiem’s TBD after party! Can you say, “celeb dance floor selfie!?”
K.Flay Begins to Find Her Way
It was just days before Thanksgiving when Submerge caught up with K.Flay (neé Kristine Flaherty), but the indie hip-hop artist was gearing up for a working holiday. Born in Wilmette, Ill., the Stanford grad has recently relocated to Los Angeles for the time being. Newly released from her major label, RCA, K.Flay has been enjoying her regained independence and also her new surroundings.
“I think I’ve been here for a two-week stretch at a time, but never really longer than that,” she says of L.A., where she has studio space downtown. “It’s been really nice. I’m really forgetting how cold it would be in New York. I’m like, ‘This is amazing. No wonder why people want to live here.’”
After a couple of mixtapes, K.Flay released her first EP in 2010. Her most recent extended-player, West Ghost, her first and only under RCA, came out in April 2013. Though she’s starting to build up a strong catalog of songs, she admits that she wasn’t really sure what she was doing when she started out in music.
“I kind of stumbled into the whole thing,” she says. “I stumbled into recording a song based off of a conversation I had, and then I got randomly asked to play a show. I was open to whatever with no preconception of what it would look like or what it should look like or if I ever wanted to do it again.”
Now with some time in the studio—and more importantly hours logged onstage—she’s beginning to piece together what she most wants out of her music.
“I’m starting to figure out the aspects of what appeals to me and what doesn’t,” she goes on to say. “I think what was really interesting about music for me was that I had no preconception. I was sort of clueless in a way that made it a really pure experience.”
In the following interview, K.Flay speaks about her welcome breakup with her major label and what we might expect from her music in the future.
Are the songs you’re recording songs you’ve been working on for a while?
It’s all new stuff I’ve been working on. Just last week I left my record label, so I feel liberated and empowered to get back and refocus on the things I want to do and the kind of things I want to write.
Your first two EPs were independently released and your most recent was put out by RCA. Creatively, did you notice a difference between your independent and your label release?
I think, obviously, any time you’re involved with any type of label, there’s an infrastructure that has straightforwardly commercial goals. I’ve always been DIY and self-propelled, so it felt weird to be imbedded within this larger organization. It was a lot harder to get things done, and a lot of people had to be involved in the decision-making process. It’s nice being able to take control of that again.
I read on your blog it was almost like a relationship breakup. Was it something you saw coming or did it come as a surprise?
Oh no, I wanted it to happen. I think it was like a breakup in the sense that it was the right thing, but it was still kind of a bummer that it didn’t work out. I feel great. I feel super happy, but it just wasn’t the right thing at the time, so I’m looking forward to getting back to the things I love about doing this.
I saw you live once before… It was a while ago, and it was just you performing solo. I was blown away because it was just you on stage. But since then you’ve added more people to the live show, correct?
Yeah, it’s like the Partridge Family now… I have added people. I’ve been playing with Nick [Nicholas Suhr], my drummer, for a couple of years now. I felt like that was the first addition that really made sense. It’s evolved to where there’s kind of an indie rock sound to the music now, especially in the live show. That’s been really cool, and on the last two tours I’ve had, I’ve had a DJ [Noah Souder-Russo] come out as well. I still do some controller stuff, but it was really stressful at times controlling all the various electronic things, and it sort of created this distance between me and the audience. I was very hyper aware of what was going on. It’s freed me up to be more involved in the performance.
It’s funny to hear you say that, because I remember at the show I saw, you were tinkering with a lot of things then stepping back and delivering vocals. It seemed like a lot of work.
Yeah totally. It was stressful! I was like, “Why am I putting myself through all this?”
You mentioned the indie rock element, and there was one song on West Ghost, “The Cops,” that had more singing on it. I like the song a lot. I liked the whole EP, but that one jumped out at me because it sounded a bit different than the other songs on the EP. Is that something you’re looking to explore more in your music?
Yeah, I think “The Cops,” in a weird way, was the turning point in my own mind, because that is the kind of music on some level that I really want to make. I think going too far in the electronic sphere on the next thing I put out isn’t really my goal. On the demos I’m recording, I’m moving more toward an organic sound. I’ll still be rapping… When I started making music, I really didn’t even know what I was doing or what I wanted to do. I think the live show and the touring has helped guide me into a little bit more of the indie side of things.
With the new stuff that you’re working on, are you hoping to make a full-length record or do you think another EP is on the horizon?
Who knows what I’m going to end up thinking, but I am working toward putting out a full-length, because that’s what I want to do. I’m notorious for being very fickle and very stubborn. I’ll probably change my mind. Basically, I’d be a very bad government official.
Is another label something you’ll be seeking?
I’m kind of open to everything. The experience with RCA wasn’t an anti-label experience. It just wasn’t the right situation for a number of reasons. I think if there’s somebody who understands my vision, then I would be open to thinking about it, but I’m sort of using this time to return to that place of no preconceptions. I think, for me, that’s a good psychological space to be in.
Being in that place, are you surprised at the kind of stuff you’re writing lyrically and musically?
Yeah, I guess. Maybe this isn’t surprising, but I’m pleased at how it’s making internal sense. The songs relate to one another. They’re starting to feel like cousins in a way that’s really natural. That’s been good. It’s weird writing songs with a pile of expectations. Sometimes it can be really fun and challenging, but most of the time it can be really confusing and can muddle what you’re trying to say.
Are you trying to keep it simpler this time around?
I’m just doing demo stuff, so I’m not finishing 100 percent all of the production, but yeah. I think the mark of most of the songs I really connect with is, I guess, the clarity of the vibe and sound. I’m not over-thinking what I’m doing because I have a tendency to do that.
Do you tend to be more critical of your lyric writing or your music?
I’m critical of everything! I don’t know. I think it’s always weird listening to and looking back on the things you’ve created. I think maybe I just alternate depending on the mood I’m in. I’ve looked back in horror on some of the things I have created.
You have a few more dates with Icona Pop coming up. How do you enjoy being on the road with them?
I played a few shows on the road with them earlier in the year… They’re really awesome people, and their show is a lot more electronic and dance-y than what I’m doing, but it’s nice to have that juxtaposition. There’s that common theme of girls doing cool things. There’s been a really nice energy about that. I have a hometown show in San Francisco coming up, so the shows are going to be a lot of fun. It’s going to be nice, because I haven’t seen them in a couple of months, so it’s going to be like a reunion.
K.Flay will take a one-show break from her West Coast dates with Icona Pop to play Assembly in Sacramento on Thursday, Dec. 19, 2013. Sirah will also be performing. You can get tickets through Assemblymusichall.com. Catch K.Flay the night before at The Fillmore supporting the aforementioned pop superstars.
Ricky Reed infiltrates pop music as Wallpaper
Anyone who’s ever started a band knows that the music business can be a tough and arduous road–even if you don’t have any aspirations beyond playing a few gigs and getting paid in free beer. If you stick with it, though, the rewards can be pretty awesome. Free beer, for one, is always good, but you could become a bona fide super star–or you could find yourself on any number of the rungs on the ladder of success in-between. If you’re looking for an example of sticking with it, look no further than Ricky Reed, the man behind Wallpaper, an Oakland-based electro-pop act. Reed started the project in 2005 as a sort of satirical look at pop music. Ironically enough, he now may be poised for some level of pop stardom in spite of himself.
With the release of Wallpaper’s latest album, #Stupidfacedd, Reed got the attention of MTV and even had the album’s single, the title track, played on the premier episode of this season’s The Jersey Shore. Maybe not the most auspicious venue to get his music heard, but it certainly opened some doors.
“Obviously, you have to be willing to deal with massive amounts of rejection. You have to be able to handle that,” Reed told Submerge over the phone from Los Angeles. “But when all these things came up, they were big and they felt good, but everything feels big and good the first time.”
Before his most recent breakthroughs, however, it was the small victories that kept Reed going.
“The first time that I played at The Press Club in Sacramento and had three to four attractive girls in the crowd, I thought I was winning,” he said. “The first time that I sold out Rickshaw Stop in San Francisco, I thought, ‘Wow, I’m doing it now.’ That’s the great thing about being a musician. As long as you work hard, in theory, things will get better, and every little milestone just feels a little bit better than the last one did.”
Reed’s recent successes have made him something of a sought-after commodity in the pop music world. Recently, he collaborated with Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo to write Cee-Lo Green’s new single “Anyway.”
“We took one shot at it, then took another shot at it, and the second shot knocked it out of the park,” Reed said. “Working with Rivers is crazy. I grew up listening to Weezer, and he’s a really special dude for sure.
“[Cuomo] came with an idea, and we just sort of built it outwards and it turned out great. He’s a class act. That’s the term to describe Rivers.”
When Submerge caught up with Reed, he was in Los Angeles, one night before heading to Las Vegas to play a show at Haze Night Club at Aria with Far East Movement. In Los Angeles, he was diligently working in the studio writing and producing. While he couldn’t divulge all that he was working on, Reed did tell us that he was putting the finishing touches on a new Wallpaper track. He shared some of the details on that and favored us with other words of wisdom in the following interview.
I saw that yesterday on your Facebook page you posted that you’re leaking a new Wallpaper song in a week or two. What’s that track about?
I can say that it’s sports related–jock jams. That’s all I can say about that.
Do you have an all-time favorite jock jam?
Oh dude, all-time favorite jock jam. There are so many good ones–from Gary Glitter… I really like whoa oh-oh-oh-oh whoa oh-oh-oh-whoa-oh-oh-oh whoa oh-oh-oh-oh… Whatever that one is [the aptly titled “Whoa Oh Oh” by Zombie Nation]. That’s a good one. You know what else is a good one? I’m pretty sure they put it on one of the Mortal Kombat themes, you know, “Gonna Make You Sweat” by C+C Music Factory. That was a weird time in music when pop house music was on the radio. Imagine being at a fucking Oakland Raiders game with all your tough cholo bros, and it’s like [singing], “Why waste your time? You know you’re gonna be mine.” The fucking ‘90s, bro. It was fucking unbelievable.
The ‘90s had all kinds of crazy things you’d never hear on the radio now. Like, Soundgarden was a pop band in the ‘90s.
Oh, I know, dude. You’re not going to hear “Spoonman” unless Dr. Luke produces it. I’d love to hear a Dr. Luke remix of “Spoonman.”
So on the scale of jock jams, would you say the song you’re working on is closer to C+C Music Factory or “We Are the Champions” by Queen?
Oh wow, I would say if you could merge those and sprinkle in a “Whoomp! There It Is” kind of flavor. That kind of “Whoomp! There It Is” energy I try to bring to all my records. I would say that “#Stupidfacedd” and “Fucking Best Song Everrr” definitely have a good dose of “Whoomp! There It Is” woven into them.
You’ve got the live show coming up at Ace of Spades in Sacramento. I was reading that your live show has two drummers and at least two other vocalists. Is that something you’d like to incorporate into the studio–having a bigger band?
In the studio, I just try to make the best songs however they want to be made. The live show, we’re trying to produce something special for people in that environment. There’s not a lot of carryover.
We’re going to do something even bigger and crazier for the Sac show. It’s going to be the debut of a new Wallpaper live set. It’s something nobody’s seen yet. We’re doing it that night and on New Year’s Eve with Kreayshawn in San Francisco.
Are you keeping that under wraps?
I want to keep that somewhat of a secret, but I will say that our live act is usually a four-piece setup, but the Sacramento show will be our first performance as a five-piece for those shows.
I listened to your album a couple of times through, and the first time, I definitely picked up on the beats and the energy, but the second time around, I was paying attention to the lyrics, I picked up on some really good lines in there, especially in “#Stupidfacedd” with that bit about the awkward silence. Is that something you throw in just to see if anyone’s paying attention?
You could definitely say that. I think my lyrical philosophy is just try to get people to pay attention to anything, you know what I mean? Like, hear something and realize you just heard it. Pop music is wallpaper. If you ask somebody what was the patterns or the colors on the walls of the rooms they’d been in today, of course they wouldn’t know what that is. They wouldn’t be able to answer you. That’s what pop largely feels like to me. People just run around with their thumbs up their butts, not paying attention to anything.
You say that, but Wallpaper’s music is obviously in that pop vein too. Is this one of those instances where you can be more rebellious inside the system than you can be outside the system?
I think you can stand on the outside and hurl rocks at it, or you can be the Trojan horse. I’ll leave it at that.
I wanted to ask you about the song you did with K Flay. I’d seen her play at a random club a while back. It was one of those instances where you go out and you don’t even know who’s playing and end up really enjoying it. I was wondering how that song came together and if you wrote it with her in mind.
Yeah, well I knew that K Flay was as broke as me… [laughs]. I wrote that record, and I knew it needed something. I think I met her just before that, and it was just the right timing. I thought, “This is perfect, why don’t you get on this?” She did a great job representing herself on that record, but she contributes to the song in such a great way. She’s just super talented and has also become a really good friend of mine.
Like you said, when you’re coming up you have to deal with a lot of rejection, but I’m sure that now that you’re making some headway, some of those nos are probably turning into yeses. How does that feel when that starts happening? Is it off-putting at first?
That was definitely the case. This sensation I feel pretty often is that I’m putting one over on people, you know? I know that my shit is dope, and I stand behind it, but also with how the rest of this stuff is, the rest of this stuff that you guys are signing off on–the powers that be–do you really think that you want to sign me? Are you really sure? Because I’m going to be a big problem for you guys.
