| Q & A: Black Blondie |
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| Written by Max Ross | |
| Thursday, June 26, 2008 at 07:00 AM | |
 Black Blondie - Photo by Christina Rimstad Each of the four members—Liz Draper on bass, Tasha Baron on keys, Kahlil Brewington on drums, Samahra on vocals—has a diverse background when it comes to training and influences, and they’re not shy about mashing them up while leaving in the lumps. Consequently, their individual styles figure into every song: On a single track the instrumentation will shift three or four times (jazzy, bluesy, funky, soulful), cramming the ideas from several songs into one and stringing them loosely together along a steady but inventive drumbeat. Likewise, their personalities are divergent and spontaneous. During our interview, several tangential conversations took place, including a discussion on the correct pronunciation of the word ‘laptop,’ and another on the visual images associated with the term ‘pu pu platter.’ “We’re always like this,” was the chorus repeated at least once by each musician. “Really, feel free to interrupt us at any time.” The following is pieced together from a few of the regrettable interruptions perpetrated by a certain interviewer: Reveille: I’ve seen your music described as hip-hop, trip-hop, funk, soul, jazz, and so on. I was wondering if you’d take a shot at describing your own sound. Samahra: We never write with the intention of sounding like something. I definitely say that whatever happens just happens. There’ve been times when we’ve tried to write, like, an old-time R&B song—which is what we did with “For The Taste”—but it always takes on its own life. Kahlil: Usually it’s just like, “Hey, I have this idea,” and then we build off that. We’ve been calling it ‘Alternative R&B,’ which may sound a little funny. Liz: Branded by us! Reveille: You just mentioned “For the Taste,” which is going up on the site. Can you talk about the song a bit? Download "For The Taste" or stream below: Samahra: It’s not quite a break-up song. It’s just about, like, wanting somebody’s attention and somebody’s time, but from within a relationship. And it absolutely comes from my life. Not from any specific thing or person. I don’t think you can ever write about that stuff—relationships—the way you want to, unless it’s something you’ve felt. So if someone ever asks, is that about you and your husband—it’s maybe from a moment with my husband. But that’s it. I try to write things not about myself, but it always comes back to you in some way. It’s always a little bit about how you feel about something. I could be writing someone else’s story, but in the end it’s me trying to imagine how they’d feel. Reveille: And it seems each of you has your own style that goes into the larger mix. Can you describe how you’ve arrived at where you are, musically speaking? Liz: I went to Interlachen Arts Academy, which is very, very intense, and studied there for a while. Then I studied classical with Chris Brown of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. And basically, kept on with him because he taught at the U of M. Then we have a trio called Lil’ Black Blondie, which is us three (Liz, Tasha, Kahlil), and then Tahsa and I have a thing called Hips Don’t Lie, which is more straightforward jazz. And I also play in a honky tonk old-time band. Tasha: I’m really super passionate about all kinds of diasporic African music. Fela Kuti has been a huge [influence]. I just really, really love that music. I’m passionate about it. The first music I listened to was jazz, and the first pianist that truly moved me was Abdullah Ibrahim, which is South African Township jazz. I don’t describe myself as Afrobeat, but I play some rhythms and harmonies that take themes from that. Kahlil: My whole family was musical, back to my great-grandmother. My grandmother and great-grandmother were both actresses. My grandmother was an actress on Broadway, and a classical trained pianist as well, and an opera singer. My dad’s a jazz musician. I grew up with it my whole life. I had to practice as much as anybody else. On instruments I wanted to play, and on instruments I didn’t want to play. Like the clarinet. Didn’t want to play it, but I had to. Tasha: Clarinet?! Kahlil: Fuckin’ clarinet. I wanted to play saxophone like my dad, right? My dad says, “No way, man. Your hands are small. You want to learn how to do it, you’ll play the clarinet first. It’s basically the same thing.” It sucked. Now I just play drums. Samahra: I’m not classically trained whatsoever. I took voice lessons for quite a while, and I have a theater-y background—I used to do a lot of musicals growing up. I’ve always thought of myself as a singer and a writer … I like to perform. Reveille: Do you think your diverse backgrounds account for the several styles that creep up within each song?  Black Blondie - Photo by B Fresh Tasha: If there’s a switch of emotion in the vocals, a lot of times the music dramatically switches to go with it … Sometimes the music just dramatically switches because we felt like doing that. Kahlil: I think a lot of our influence, the reason for our diversity, comes from sampling styles. Music like trip-hop or hip-hop, or drum and bass, or techno. Using that mish-mash of sound, it kind of lets us utilize all of our influences. If in a song you hear this little snippet of sound here, or that little tempo change there, and then we go back to the normal thing—I think that comes from us having listened to so many samples. Reveille: And is the actual writing process collaborative? Tasha: Mostly we write our own parts, but we all have suggestions for each other. What are we? An oligarchy? A democracy? I think a democracy. Liz: We all write all our own music. But everybody has to agree on something. Usually. Most people are accepting enough of each other’s criticism. Samahra: We all have suggestions for each other, but what it comes down to is, we all are completely in charge of what our parts are. Reveille: It seems, too, like fashion style plays a big part in your guys’ on-stage persona. Samahra: Next thing you know I’m going to purposely break my foot so I can carry a cane. Kahlil: Everyone should wear gladiator helmets. Samahra: Oh my goodness… Kahlil: It would be like, “Have you seen my sword case, dude? My scabbard?” It’d be awesome. Liz: One time we were hanging out and we left the back door open to our apartment building. And all of a sudden this dude comes in, and he’s, like, really cracked out. He’s probably seventy-five years old—he had a big white beard. And he had a sword. And he was telling us, like warning us about leaving the back door open: “People come in here! It’s really unsafe!” And we’re like, dude, you’re coming in here with a sword. Tasha: On tour some motherfucker tried to punch me in the head because I said Samahra wasn’t a prostitute. Samahra: I know, but how was he supposed to know? I was probably dressed like a prostitute … Reveille: And what are your plans for the immediate future? Tasha: Once we finish up this album, which is finally nearly done, we will be touring extensively. We’re going to finish recording this summer, and shortly thereafter, when everything falls into place … Kahlil: End of summer … beginning of fall … maybe Christmas … Samahra: Don’t say that! Tasha: We want to make an epic thing. Not just like, “Oh! I guess their album came out.” Samahra: It’ll be worth the wait. COMING UP: Black Blondie at the Uptown Pride Block Party on Friday, June 27. With Rope Trick, Venus DeMars & All The Pretty Horses, Dykes Do Drag, and Tina Schlieske. Bryant Ave & Lake St, next to the Bryant-Lake Bowl, in Minneapolis. 6 pm to 10:30 pm. FREE. |
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| Last Updated: Wednesday, August 6, 2008 at 11:33 AM |
