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J-Zone http://opinionatedjay.com/tuesdays-with-j-zone/You took a little break from music. Was there ever a point where you felt like fuck this shit, I’m just going to do something completely different with my life?
Definitely. Early 2009 I just didn’t have it anymore and I got into a slump. It never really went way after that. My studio got messed up in a flood that summer and I boxed up all my equipment and put it away for about a year and a half because I got to the point where I actually hated the thought of making music, which had never happened to me before. From late 2008 through spring of 2011 I was focused on trying to get established in the traditional job world and quit doing music. I had no plans of returning to music, despite artist retirement being notoriously bullshit.
Nine years later you’re finally releasing a new solo Peter Pan Syndrome, what can folks expect to hear on this album that they wouldn’t find on any of the previous ones?
It’s more honest than the previous ones and even though it’s pretty silly, profane and low-brow like the rest of my stuff, there’s an undertone of seriousness and vulnerability that wasn’t there before. I’m older and am dealing with different life shit. I use the humor to make it digestible and entertaining, but there’s a lot of self-realization that I never approached as an artist before.
Willus Drummond; what the fuck ever happened to that dude? In 2000, you both released the split 12″ single No Consequences b/w L.A Vacation and there was some talk about an album together, but we never heard anything since. How did that even come about? What was that all about? And what ever happened to that homie?
He was a cat named Mike Baxter who did radio promo. That record was actually a big help for me because I was getting ready to release the A Bottle of Whup Ass EP, but couldn’t afford to press a 12” single to start the buzz properly. I kind of threw Music For Tu Madre out there and I wanted A Bottle of Whup Ass to be more official with a single, but after pressing the EP and the CDs I had no money left. I was a true independent artist at that point; I paid for everything myself. I gave him one of the better songs on the EP to put on the record and he gave me a chance to be on a 12” single that got worked to college radio because I didn’t have the connections and money to do it on my own, so it was mutually beneficial. I haven’t spoken to him in years, but he was still doing radio promo last I heard.
Open Mike Eagle http://opinionatedjay.com/interview-tue ... e-eagle-2/
Blockhead http://opinionatedjay.com/interview-tue ... blockhead/