Tag Archives: Odd Future

Trash Talk

Where the Wild Things Are: Trash Talk’s aggressive style bridges the gap between hardcore punk and hip-hop

I love Lee Spielman’s tweets. Sometimes you can tell he’s been smoking weed: “Antwon just showed me a photo of @JLo and said ‘Look @MelissaJoanHart got ass.’” Other times, you can tell he’s high out of his goddamn mind: “You ever stop and admire how nice someone’s front yard is?” And, on occasion, his tweets are downright frightening: “Talking to the Sacramento newspaper later today about playing our first show there in about 7 years. Might Marshawn Lynch the interview.” Ah, Lord. Do you know what is worse than an awkward interview? Nothing. So for the next day I was truly scared about talking with Spielman, the singer whose band Trash Talk I consider one of my favorites.

Trash Talk has been playing hardcore music for the past 10 years and the band has seen a dizzying amount of success, especially for such an aggressive, not-pop-friendly band. They’ve played huge festivals, gotten to work with incredible producers—like Steve Albini (on the Trash Talk album) and Alchemist (on No Peace)—and they even signed to the Odd Future label, which still confuses hardcore and punk purists to this day.

The band, known for their chaotic live shows where the crowd tends to break limbs and destroy venues, is 100 percent chaotic energy. So, needless to say, the prospect of talking with Spielman was exciting, and I had a lot of questions for the Sacramento native. I wanted to know what he thinks about his old hometown and why he left; I wanted to ask him about his collaboration with Odd Future; I was dying to hear him discuss his band’s wild reputation and some of the trouble he’s gotten into with Trash Talk; and I was also wondering why his publicist said he was working construction.

So, I guess the question is: Did Lee Spielman Marshawn Lynch this interview? Well, that’s up to you to decide.

trash-talk-2015

I was so stoked to see you still have a 916 number.
Yeah, I’ve had the same number since I’ve ever had a phone.

The publicist said you were doing construction.
No, I’m building something for us.

What are you building?
Just a bunch of shit for our tour. A bunch of crazy shit. I can’t really talk about it. You’ll see eventually.

Do you work on a lot of other stuff that’s not music?
Yeah, we’re working on a lot of shit. That’s why I’ve been building all fucking day. Working on a lot more stuff that’s outside the box. The last couple months we’ve been having a lot of fun doing creative stuff, from, like, art and ‘zines to collaborating with other artists and brands that we like and not keeping it so cookie cutter on our side.

Oh, OK. Man, I love No Peace. It’s so good.
I appreciate that, man. We were trying to do something different from the demos to what we have now. I don’t even know what the next stuff is going to sound like, but it’s just kind of boring to make the same music over and over. We all know by this point we know how to make short, fast, aggressive punk songs. It’s kind of fun to test ourselves, and we try to do that every time.

When you think back to the beginning of Trash Talk is it odd to think that your little hardcore band ended up being successful and you’re getting to tour and travel and things like that?
Yeah, it is weird. But, then again, it’s something I’ve always loved and have been involved in forever. So it’s weird, but I don’t know what else I would want to do. I’ve been involved with this stuff since I was a little kid, so it almost makes sense. And it’s kind of rad that it turned out the way it did. But I think [our success is] because ever since we started we’ve been 100-percent all the way.

What do you think you would be doing if you weren’t in Trash Talk?
I have no idea. I’d probably would have went to college and shit like that.

Is it weird that we still kind of claim you as a Sacramento band?
I did a lot of things there as a kid. We started playing there when I was a little kid. I booked shows there for the better part of high school years. It was almost like I could say that I learned how to be in a band and how to tour through booking shows in Sacramento.

Was that at Westcoast Worldwide?
Yeah. [Mike Hood] would leave for tour and me and my friend Jason T. would legitimately go to every single show there. We didn’t care what kind of band it was, whether it was a thrash band, a punk band, whatever. I don’t even think they knew my name until the first year. We went so many times and…we kind of took over for a little while. That taught me how to treat bands on tour—how to pay bands, how to book shows, how to promote shows. I kind of owe that whole area of us starting [to that period of time] because I booked all our first tours and it was like, “Hey, remember that time I booked you a show in Sacramento? Can you book me a show in New Jersey?” It was just kind of a tradeoff and punk and hardcore is cool for that. I met all my best friends like that.

Anthony Anzaldo from Ceremony was talking about Westcoast Worldwide and he remembers it being a huge pile of shit.
Yeah, it was a shithole. But it was our shithole, so it was OK.

Do you ever miss Sacramento?
Yeah, my family still lives there. Some of my best friends still live there. I’ve just been going so hard doing other shit. I don’t know, the day I turned 18 I got in our bass player’s car and drove straight to Seattle, and then I haven’t moved back home since then. But it’s been fun because I’ve lived in London, Seattle, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Richmond, Virginia. I feel like every kid should get out and see what’s up. Sacramento is a beautiful place and I’d be psyched to have a house there one day or some shit. I’m too young to be stuck there right now.

Do you think it was important for your band to get out of this place and just go?
I think we got to the point where it was like we were getting asked to play a lot of shows in Southern California and stuff and it was like, “Fuck it, let’s just go to Southern California. We drive there every weekend, anyway.” We all kind of moved apart. Our bass player was living in Bakersfield, our drummer in Los Angeles, our guitar player in Seattle, so one of the main reasons of me moving out was so we could all move to one place and operate as a unit. That helped us get a lot of shit done.

What has Odd Future helped you do?
There’s just other opportunities. It’s more like a whole new set of eyes and ears to work with on the creative side. And just kids in general. I don’t feel that punk and hardcore should be stuck to punk and hardcore kids. [Music should be] projected to someone that can make their own opinion to whether or not they like it, but a lot of time people don’t get the chance. Some kid at an Odd Future show may never have heard of anything like this, but the second he sees it he’ll know it’s his favorite shit. So I think it’s really important to do shit like that in general. Like, we’re coming through Sacramento with Ratking. We’re down to play with Wavves. Or a DJ. Or whatever. It doesn’t matter.

I never heard Ratking until I looked at your flyer and YouTube’d them. They’re really good.
That’s what it’s all about. Shit like that. And then vice-versa. There’s probably a kid in Sacramento who’s never heard of us and going to see Ratking and typed [Trash Talk] in and is like, “Damn, this is tight.”

Skateboarding has always had this connection between punk rock and hip-hop.
I’ve always said that forever. Like, Ratking, we’re going on tour with them. There may rap and stuff and we play a different genre or style of music, but at the same time we’re all the same kids. We got into music for a reason and we’re traveling with our friends, seeing the world, having fun—skating, tagging—doing whatever we want. At the end of the day, regardless of the genre, we’re kind of the same kids.

Since you guys are touring so much, do you ever just get tired out? Like you don’t even want to go on stage?
For sure. Sometimes I’m like, “This fucking sucks. I can’t do this.” But then maybe like 10 seconds before the first note it’s like, “Alright, this is OK.” Then five minutes into the set it’s like, “This is fucking sick.” Halfway through it’s like you forgot how you’re feeling. But this next tour is like 30 days. It’s definitely going to take its toll.

Have you ever played Harlow’s before?
No, I’ve never been there. Is it on J Street or some shit?

Yeah, it has a weird ‘80s lounge vibe. And VIP booths.
That’s tight. We haven’t played Sacramento in hella long. I’m curious to see what’s going to happen.

Do you guys get in a lot of trouble at your shows?
Yeah, a lot. It’s a blessing and a curse. It’s one of those things, people book us to play and they’re like, “Oh, I want this crazy show!” and they get it and they’re super bummed. The crowd’s not bummed. It’s usually the owners or some shit. But it’s not like we ever go out of our way to intentionally break anything. It’s usually not even us. It’s usually the crowd doing too much. We’ve been in trouble a shitload of times. We’ve had riots. We’ve had police shut down our shows. It’s kind of weird now. Every time we pull up, they know we’re pulling up and they have a list of rules of shit we can’t do before we walk in the building.

Is there one rule that people always have for you guys?
Don’t climb on shit.

Well, good, man. I’m glad you didn’t Marshawn Lynch me.
I thought about it.

Who knows what will happen when Trash Talk plays Harlow’s. That’s why you have to be there to find out. The show is March 16 and also features Ratking and Lee Bannon. Tickets for the all-ages show are $15 in advance and can be purchased at Harlows.com.

Trash Talk_S_Submerge_Mag_Cover

Stay Connected

A constant collaborator, indie rapper Murs remains strongly individual

Los Angeles rapper Murs never sought to be different as an angle or platform to get his music heard. His moniker is an acronym that translates to Making Underground Raw Shit or Making the Universe Recognize and Submit. Now in his thirties, Murs is still out to make raw music, but with a grown man’s wisdom.

Murs came up in the Living Legends collective, a group of eight rappers from the Bay Area and greater L.A. area. He’s put out seven records as a solo artist, on both indie and major labels, and worked on collaborative records with Slug of Atmosphere (as Felt), 9th Wonder, Terrace Martin, and his group 3 Melancholy Gypsys. Murs related that his openness to collaborate and exclude no one from his inner circle stems from moving a lot as a kid and an adult philosophy on acceptance.

He brings this philosophy to his Paid Dues Festival, which he held last month in San Bernardino, Calif. He said he fielded some criticism from people who crusade for “positive rap” for including the L.A. collective Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All on the bill.

“Just because they’re negative, doesn’t give you the right to say you’re positive, but fuck them,” he said. “As soon as you step outside of your positivity and say fuck someone else, you’re no longer being a positive person who listens to this progressive music you’re so proud of.

The same philosophy on life has to be extended to your music and the same philosophies in your music have to extend to your life. There are a lot of people who don’t do both.”

Murs’ latest album, Love and Rockets Vol. 1: The Transformation, was released in October 2011, but he’s just now beginning to work on Vol. 2. In the following interview, Murs speaks more about the Paid Dues festival as well as his slate of upcoming projects, including a collaboration EP with Fresno-based rapper Fashawn.

What I’ve enjoyed about the Paid Dues Festival you throw, is that there never seems to be exclusion or allegiance to a certain sub-genre of hip-hop. You have no problem inviting Mac Miller and Dipset, along with Boot Camp Clique and Brother Ali–people who probably would never share a bill together. What’s your mindset in curating?
It’s started with me trying to get all my friends together. I was the guy that was friends with Aesop and El-P and down with the Legends. We all knew of each other, but I was the one who’d sleep at their houses and know everyone’s wives and girlfriends and kids. That kind of stuff. So I was able to bring everybody together.

In the same groove, I did a song with Kendrick Lamar–like before Dr. Dre knew who he was. So I was in with those guys. I was at the first Odd Future Christmas show. My former assistant is now their road manager. I have a genuine connection to so many people. Growing up I realized that people aren’t all that different. I seem to be in the center of this web. Five years before the Based God was born, Lil’ B was coming to my shows at Berkeley.

I don’t have any borders in my life. So the festival has always been a reflection of me bringing my friends together.

Living Legends just rocked Paid Dues together. You guys still make music together. Not a lot of groups can say that about their careers over the passage of time. What keeps everything tight knit amongst the crew?
I don’t know, man. Everybody is who they are. We’re a group of eight individuals. The name and the crew existed, and we didn’t even think about making a record together until Almost Famous in 2001. We’d been living together and touring together for years and never even thought about it. Then, it was three or four years before we thought about making another one.

As much as people say it, it was never Wu-Tang Clan or Odd Future or Hieroglyphics. It was something different. It works for us, but the individuality for other crews may not work.

Love and Rockets Vol. I is obviously part of a series. How is Vol. 2: The Emancipation coming along?
It’s not on a deadline. I think about it every day, write little notes for it, but I don’t think it will come out until like Paid Dues [Festival] 2013.

Will it be produced by Ski Beatz again?
Umm, probably not. It could always change. I know certain things about it I’m not ready to reveal yet. It was never intended to be Murs and Ski Beatz Present Love and Rockets. There will be another book with it. I can say that. It may be an electro record for all I know. It may be a symphony. I don’t know who I might meet next. I don’t want people read this article and say, “Aww, he said it was going to be Araabmuzik producing soft jazz shit.” I don’t want that down the line.

What are you looking at releasing before that? I saw on your wiki page that you’ve got an EP in the works with Fashawn.
We’ll hopefully have that done by the summer. These two producers, K-Salaam and Beatnick, we’d talked about doing something together for a while. My solo albums, up until my last one didn’t seem to be working out, so we’d been trying to find away to work together because I’m a big fan of their music. They suggested collaboration with someone, threw out possible members of The Lox and went through all these musicians and connections we both have.

Then, he brought up Fashawn, and Fash is a kid I’ve seen around and talked to, had him on Paid Dues, but we didn’t ever vibe or kick it. I’m a fan of Fash though, like I have his album [Boy Meets World] and the Grizzly City mixtapes. But it seemed like it might make sense as an outsider option. Randomly, Fash’s manager called me just asking for advice and just update on business. I told her it was crazy she called me. But I had to ask if Fashawn was even a fan of mine. I didn’t want to assume anything.

Have you recorded any songs yet for the project?
We recorded a song that was completely funny. We have a lot of similarities. He goes through the same things I go through. I’m associated with the backpack crowd like Aesop Rock and Atmosphere. He’s associated with The Alchemist and Evidence. But, we’re in a middle ground together of rapping about inner city and at-risk youth–but we’re both non-traditional with it. Things are naturally coming together. We’ve got way more in common ground than I expected.

K-Salaam and Beatnick have this really mid-to-late ‘90s sound they’re giving us. It’s sounding like, what I hope will be the West Coast version of [Only Built 4] Cuban Linx [Raekwon’s solo debut]. That’s ambitious, but you set the bar high to shoot for the stars and land on the moon, type thing. It will be for people who genuinely love Raekwon and Ghostface and Tha Dogg Pound.

Have you and Fashawn had the opportunity to record together or is it a project that’s emailed back and forth?
Every time we’re both in L.A. we’ll hang out for four or five hours. We got the name of the album, while hanging out with Maseo of De La Soul. Maseo basically named the record.

As long as there’s an understanding or friendship between the two it works. I used to think that we have to be sitting there and looking at each other. But, the more I’d talk to people like DJ Quik and hear about how he recorded All Eyez on Me, people can tell if there’s a true connection or if it’s forced.

Have there been projects you’ve turned down from a lack of connection?
Definitely. I wouldn’t name those projects though. There’s people I’m good friends with, but we haven’t made good music together. Brother Ali and me are the best of friends, but we’ve never made a song together. We’ve toured together. That’s my homie. That’s my brother. We’ve just never recorded a song together. It’s never even come up.

There are people I’ve tried to record stuff with and we both just let it sit there and nothing happened with it.

Have you considered updating the MURS acronym?
No. I’m not doing anymore. No more of that shit.

Odd Future has started its own record label & will be distributed by RED (Sony)

[audio:odd-future-sandwitches.mp3]

Odd Future, the rising indie hip-hop group from Los Angeles, has started its own record label. Odd Future Records will be distributed by RED (Sony) and will cover releases from all acts associated with the group. Odd Couple leader Tyler the Creator will release his latest album Goblin on May 10, 2011. The album features “Sandwitches,” a song he performed alongside bandmate Hodgy on Jimmy Fallon with The Roots as their backing band.
-Brad F.