QLS Classic: Kimbra

Recording artist Kimbra talks about what it's like being a New Zealander, the rural wildlife of Silver Lake, California and how she makes records.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
West Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. This classic
episode was produced by the team at Pandora. Hey it's
on pay bill. Check out this QLs classic from November second,
two thousand and sixteen. We sit down with recording artist Kimbra.
She talks about leading from New Zealand, the world, wildlife,
Silver Lake, California, and how she makes records in this

(00:21):
episode originally aired on Pandora. Check it out. Kimbra Johnson lazy.
Now before we even get started, we gotta know, how
did you get such a black last name as Johnson. Wait,

(00:42):
your full.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Name is kim Kimber. That's even that's kind of yeah, yeah,
like that.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
I feel like you gotta you come from the wrong
side of the tracks.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
Yeah, I mean I only realized that when I moved
over here. I'm from New Zealand obviously, And aren't.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
You from Hamilton, New Zealand.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
How did you know that?

Speaker 1 (01:03):
Because I have a computer, How do I know anything?
You're just trying to bring it back to Hamilton. That's funny,
that's funny.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
Hamilton's not the most well known place in New Zealand.

Speaker 1 (01:15):
But I can't say I've been there and or no
can I ask, do you get tired of people kind
of lumping? I feel like New Zealand is the Jersey
to New York or the Baltimore to Washington kind of.
I mean, I know it's cool, but.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, but people over here, I.

Speaker 1 (01:32):
Just tend to think like it's one big giant under Australia.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
There's so many, you know, there's four million people in
New Zealand. It's tiny, you know, So I understand. And
I spent five years in Australia, moved there when I
was seventeen before I came to the States, so I understand.

Speaker 1 (01:47):
It's you know, how long you been in the States.
How long you been here?

Speaker 2 (01:50):
Oh, over three years now. I did LA for nearly
two years and then I'm about a year into living
in New York.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
Wow. What's been the biggest adjustment for you so far? Oh?

Speaker 2 (02:00):
Man, I'm so happy here. I love walking and getting
on the subway and taking like just simple things like
that that change your experience of a city so much.
You know, I was always in the back of ubers
in La. I didn't have a car. So I'm just
loving I live like in the East Village, just so
much history there as well so many amazing people that
have lived in that area.

Speaker 1 (02:19):
So, so, wait, you drive You didn't drive in lle
I know, right, drive in New York City.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
I don't drive in New York.

Speaker 3 (02:25):
No.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
I had a full driver's license, but I just never
got on the car of here. I mean, we drive
on the other side of the road, so it would
be challenging.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
You know. Wait, so you don't drive here?

Speaker 2 (02:35):
I had no, I don't drive.

Speaker 1 (02:36):
Wait a minute in America. The first time we met,
I made you like a four hundred song driving playlist.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
Yeah, but that was a friend. That was Yeah, you
made a sick playlist for the road trip. But I
did that with a friend.

Speaker 1 (02:49):
Oh okay, did I make you for no reason whatsoever?
I'm just gonna I see. Yeah, So I well, I
guess we would all like to know about your humble beginnings.
One You're You're, You're. You have a wise soul for

(03:14):
someone that is four months younger than a tribe called
Quest debut album. Every time I see your birth year,
I'm like, I was a freshman in college when you
were born. But you you seem to acquire a lot

(03:37):
more knowledge than most people that I know that have
a nine in the third year of their birth year
as far as music's concerned, and without the really the
development of the Internet being in full swing until ten

(03:57):
years later. Like what were your first four years? Like
that really has you curious about soul music of all things?

Speaker 2 (04:06):
Yeah, you know, Stevie Wonder was really big for me.
I first started learning guitar when I was about thirteen fourteen.
The guitar is my first instrument. That's what I first
started writing on. And learning a lot of those and
versions and stuff on guitar was super inspiring, you know,
for opening my brain harmonically. And I was singing in
a little choir at school that were doing a lot
of Beach Boys covers, you know, and Sinatra, and this

(04:27):
is like trippy stuff for a kid who's been you know.
I also had on my R and B stuff I
was listening to on the radio, Destiny's Child and all
the Timberland era, you know. But then I was learning
about these other styles of music and I first got
into a boss A track. That's how I started all
my early recordings, all the first album. So then the
kind of producer had started lighting up, you know, and
getting excited about listening to records in the sense of dimension,

(04:52):
and it's just it's like the same as you man,
you know, starting one artist and I mean Prince for example,
and it takes you on such a journey and you
just get super curious.

Speaker 1 (05:00):
It keeps you from being so dismissive, because even I meant,
for whatever nerd degree I have of music, I mean,
I definitely went through that period where, like you know,
when I was six or seven, Marvin Gaye comes on,
I'm just thinking, like, that's my aunt's music, right.

Speaker 2 (05:20):
Right, right, that's something that I'm impressed by.

Speaker 1 (05:23):
Being young, What kept you from being dismissive?

Speaker 2 (05:26):
That's right. We're cynical even, you know, because when you
hit your teens, you start to be like quite niche
with what you like. But I always had quite an openness,
which I see as a gift. I guess. I was
very intrigued by metal music, for example, like bands from
New Jersey like the den'ger escape Plane and Sugar, you know,
for the grooves, something about just from a really open
standpoint of what at the time, like what what makes

(05:47):
me feel so primally engaged to these rhythms, and then
learning that a lot of it comes from Latin. You know,
it's like you just become so fascinated with stuff and
it didn't ever come cross my mind like, oh, that's
that's cool, and that's not cool, and that's what my
friends like, that's what they don't. It was just all sound,
you know, And I don't think we retain that openness.
Sometimes as we get older, we get a bit more,

(06:09):
you know, into aesthetics and into taste, and that's great,
all of that's really cool. But as a kid, I
really I'm glad I had that openness.

Speaker 1 (06:18):
So you started songwriting. I know that you were songwriting
by well you said your first.

Speaker 2 (06:23):
Instrument was well, I was writing just in you know,
singing into cassette tapes and I was like eight or nine,
just little silly songs, but they had structure, you know,
verses and choruses. I love pop music as a formula
for writing.

Speaker 1 (06:34):
Did they come from your family or like.

Speaker 2 (06:36):
Their doctor and nurses? So, I don't know, man, It's
it was a really a who's your.

Speaker 1 (06:42):
Who is your who's that older who's the older brother? Figure?
That no person?

Speaker 2 (06:48):
That well, No, I don't know. I think it was
just I really talk about it almost more in a
spiritual sense, because it's like something needs to come out,
you know, when you have a need to express. And
at that time I was asking just I was curious,
you know, and this became a language malady was very intriguing.
Lyrics were a way of like, yeah, just expression and
then learning an instrument, of course, everything changes because you

(07:09):
can start to really get deeper with the art form.

Speaker 4 (07:13):
Was there ever a moment where you realized that you
could write songs like that?

Speaker 1 (07:17):
You realized like, I might can pay a bill off
of this.

Speaker 2 (07:23):
Well, tell you something about New Zealand. It's really specialist.
We have this competition. It's a high school band competition
called the Rock Quest, and it's not televised or anything.
It's not like American Idol or anything like that. It's
kids in bands, you know, so kids literally stay in
high school to enter this competition. It's super important for
kids to school. And so I entered this competition as

(07:44):
a soloist just on guitar, you know, playing songs from
my bedroom that I thought were just for me, and
I ended up being like the only girl in the
finals and coming second in the whole country, which for
New Zealand was a big deal. You know. Yeah, so
at that point it's probably the same for you. You have
those moments you go, hey, this is not only something
that makes me really happy in my bedroom, but wow,
people seem to be engaged with it. I'm being acknowledged

(08:07):
for it, and maybe I can develop develop it more.

Speaker 1 (08:10):
And they were fully realized, fully arranged songs.

Speaker 2 (08:13):
Yeah, they were there, they were. I was about fourteen
at the time when that happened, and then later got
signed at like seventeen. So from those ages, I was
developing songs in the studio, learning how to record on
an eight track, So the songs moved from being less
guitar based and more recording the entire arrangement on vocals,
and that was really inspiring to me, you know, fleshing

(08:34):
out the drum beat, just beatboxing or just little silly ideas,
but that became settled down. You know a song I
wrote when I was sixteen, which is probably the song
that broke me first here in America before the Gotya.

Speaker 1 (08:46):
Your debut?

Speaker 2 (08:47):
That was the debut.

Speaker 1 (08:48):
Yeah, So how do you How does your debut album
feel in contrast to what you're working on now? As
far as I always feel like you're working all your
life on your first record.

Speaker 2 (09:03):
That's true. That's true.

Speaker 1 (09:05):
Artists wound up like separating themselves from their debut record
once they grow and that sort of thing.

Speaker 2 (09:11):
Yeah, I mean, I'm twenty six now. That record came
out when I was twenty one. I started making it
when I was about eighteen, you know. And the songs
are those ones from your bedroom, you know that you've
lived with all your life. And like you said, now
it's like it's third album time for me, so you know,
new city, new experiences. Everything's changed. The second album, The
Golden Echo, for me, was kind of that was a

(09:32):
very experimental time for me, you know, moving to LA
and so much. Yeah, you're always drawing from where you're at,
but the first You're right, there's something like listening to
it now you kind of look at it like it's
a young child you had or someone and someone you do.
You know, you you you knew, but it's it's a
strange connection that you have with your debut. Okay it was.

Speaker 1 (09:55):
Yeah, I was actually trying to let the whole entire
s Yeah, I mean, does it feel like a burden
that you know, do you feel as though that's not
a burden but it's sort of like an asterisk. Mainly
people might only know you for that.

Speaker 2 (10:18):
That's understandable.

Speaker 1 (10:19):
I mean, yeah, the full spectrum of your Well, how
did that collaboration come to.

Speaker 2 (10:23):
Be like so organic? It's it's kind of because I
was making Vows and the main producer I worked with
on the album was called Francois Titas, and I knew
his work because he produced the first Gutia record and
I was in love with it, you know. I was like,
this is super prog pop. I was so into it,
and I was like, I want to work with a
guy that made that album. And so he introduced me

(10:44):
and Wally, so we just became friends, and we didn't
talk for a good year after we met, and then
he just called me up one day. He's like, I've
got this song. You know, I'm looking for, you know,
the other character in the song, and can I come
over this afternoon and show you it and see if
you'd be down to singing And just came over or
I had a little home bedroom studio, and it's just
so organic. The whole thing. The video is like, never

(11:05):
any notion that this was going to be what it was.

Speaker 1 (11:08):
I was going to say, how long did it take
you guys to shoot that?

Speaker 2 (11:11):
As far as that that was the longest most grueling
video shit I've ever done in my life, no question,
that was. I mean it was a full yeah. So
we didn't move for you know, it's like we took
toilet breaks. But it was a good forteen hours in
that position.

Speaker 1 (11:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (11:28):
Yeah, with you know, sort of strategic breaks and then
back in and just being fed nuts while we because
it's six you know, six or seven photographs and then
a second of you know, sorry, six or se six
or seven seconds in a photograph. There's six or seven seconds,
then a photograph then you know what I mean, you
see the process. Yeah, it was. It was a long day.

Speaker 1 (11:49):
That was amazing. Of course, you had no idea that
you know that would lead to.

Speaker 2 (11:53):
Well would you? I mean, the song is not like
what you would hear on the radio, and it's kind
of yeah it is right, yeah, well you know more
than me. Man, I did not see that coming.

Speaker 1 (12:05):
That's amazing.

Speaker 2 (12:06):
That's but I'm here.

Speaker 1 (12:08):
I'm glad you didn't see that coming. So why why
did you leave? I mean, what was the what was
the community vibe like in as? Okay? Yes, I'm one
of those people that will in New Zealand.

Speaker 2 (12:23):
Have been a bunch of times. I get it. But
the thing is that you need to understand is different.
There's a big difference. Well, first start, we do have
very different accents. Mine is all over the place these days.
But if you go to New Zealand and Australia, here

(12:43):
very significant. Should we do the obvious one? Australian say
fish and chips. New Zealanders say fish and chips. There's
a lot more blunt, it's a lot more the eyes
very different. That's New Zealand one on one Australian.

Speaker 1 (13:00):
Word.

Speaker 2 (13:01):
Yeah, okay, so that's a good one. It's a good
starting place if you give a go back again.

Speaker 1 (13:06):
It's like Jersey, New Yorkers and New Jersey's always battle
with their turf. In DC and Maryland battle with their turf.
Is there a South North Carolina turf war going on?
South Carolina North Carolina kind of sort of? I mean
North Carolina.

Speaker 4 (13:24):
Well, first off, like when people speak of the Carolinas
in North Carolina, we really just count ourselves. Like South
Carolina is like its own separate thing, you know what
I mean. And so in North Carolina, Our leading export
other than basketball is racism. So you know, we we

(13:47):
pride ourselves on that.

Speaker 1 (13:48):
And on the finest show, I mean only the finest.

Speaker 4 (13:53):
I mean it has been aged in oak barrels, like man,
come on. So so yeah, it is kind of like
that North Carolina. South Carolina don't really rock like that.
And in North Carolina, Charlotte is like the capitol. Well no,
I'm sorry, Charlotte is the biggest city.

Speaker 1 (14:10):
That's why all the.

Speaker 4 (14:10):
Banks are so Charlotte is like kind of they think
they're aggressive. They're well they think they are, but they're
really not. Yeah, kind of polity because it's like they
kind of want to be Atlanta. So they're like in
Atlanta on the cusp, you know what I mean, they
trying to get there.

Speaker 1 (14:28):
But it's like, you know, it's like Atlanta is the
Bentley and Charlotte is like the three hundred cust like
it looked like.

Speaker 4 (14:36):
A Bentley into a real Bentley.

Speaker 1 (14:40):
Is the same with I mean, would who would have
the upper hand between New Zealand and Australia culturally as.

Speaker 2 (14:51):
The upper hand in terms of now this is what
are we talking.

Speaker 1 (14:55):
I don't want you to throw.

Speaker 2 (14:58):
I'm just saying, oh, look they you know, like the
landscape of the two countries are chalk and cheese. Really yeah,
I really have to go there and experience it because
they've both got so much to offer and they're both
being a huge part of my journey. You know. I
lived in Melbourne for five years, made vows there, and
New Zealand's my home. That's where I grew up. That's
where I go home every Christmas to see my family.
So they're both important places in America is a really

(15:19):
important place now for me. This is New York's a
home for me now, you know, it's amazing here.

Speaker 1 (15:23):
Was it hard for you to leave there? Did you
have to come to America just so that your music
career could.

Speaker 2 (15:28):
I think it's it's like, I like the idea of
continuing to move forward and having your experiences and form
your art, you know. And I've made a record there.
I felt like I'd taken a lot of experience from
the place, and I just signed to Warner Brothers in
LA and it felt like, yeah, let's do it, you know,
a new experience, a new record. And then same thing
with this one's third album. And I've gotten up and

(15:49):
planted in the New City again. Something about that feels
natural to me.

Speaker 1 (15:54):
I see, so in La you mentioned I know that
you've you've crossed paths with the what I called the
animaniacs of soul, like whenever the Cat, just like the
way that they run that Tasmanian devil like swirl of

(16:14):
wind running in that warner by this tower, Like, yeah,
that's that's how I think of that movement. I mean
talking about no No, I was just thinking.

Speaker 2 (16:23):
Of you know, thunder Cat worked a lot on the
last album. Yeah he became Yeah, it's and again, man,
all of these connections have been so organic. It's even
how I kind of met you. It was just a
mutual like, you know.

Speaker 1 (16:33):
I kind of stalked you.

Speaker 2 (16:37):
I don't put it on public, you know.

Speaker 4 (16:41):
But look, I wasn't go down.

Speaker 1 (16:45):
I wasn't in the I kept it out thought. I
kept it out in the open. I saw her this
is I first saw her on Lino and usually the
music act is the very last segment before the show changes.
And we were this this is obviously in the early

(17:09):
part of UH Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, because I
was still running home to watch the show afterwards. Well,
I mean after like a year, then that wore off
and I stopped. But I'm just saying that when she
was on like, I was amazed, and you know, then
I stalked her in Twitter.

Speaker 2 (17:27):
And then I'm glad you did.

Speaker 4 (17:29):
Hey, sometimes the stalker wis That is the lesson of today.

Speaker 1 (17:36):
I don't never lets keep you from the woman you
look that sometimes to stalk her, wimp. I just had
to take someone give me. I gotta say, you just

(18:00):
spit on your computer. I did computer. Good job, good job. No,
I don't love you, Kimber. No, I mean I should
have get a direct message. You're taking that ship direct
because now now now it's in the world. No, in all,

(18:21):
in all seriousness.

Speaker 2 (18:22):
So organic relationships, yeah, just friends, you know, people that
you meet out or at a gym or you know,
the same way we did. And all of a sudden,
I was living at a farm in LA It was
very weird. Yeah, I'd like eight sheep man, eight sheep
in the backyard.

Speaker 1 (18:36):
Yeah angels.

Speaker 2 (18:38):
Yeah, this is this lady. I found it on Craigslist
and she had a little urban city farm at the
back of her house in Silver Lake. Three sheet dogs,
twenty chickens.

Speaker 1 (18:48):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (18:49):
So thunder Cat Steve Stephen come over and we would
just hang out with the animals and then he'd be like,
play me what you're working on. And he'd be like, oh,
I've got an idea, you know, press recording. That's just
how it started. We're just lying like outside with the animals,
listening to tunes that I was working on. Isn't that crazy?

Speaker 1 (19:08):
I lived in Silver Lake for you, there was a
farm in silver Lake.

Speaker 2 (19:15):
No one believes me.

Speaker 1 (19:17):
I moved out of silver Lake because the skunk used
to chase me home.

Speaker 2 (19:23):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (19:23):
Wow, No, like if you weren't home at a certain hour,
you know, wild animals, that's.

Speaker 2 (19:30):
Well, check this out. Coyotes do you say coyotes?

Speaker 1 (19:33):
Coyotes?

Speaker 2 (19:34):
Coyotes. Coyotes came and ate six of the chickens. So
we had to get three sheep dogs. They were like tough,
you know, they were the sheep dogs. They kept everyone safe. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (19:44):
Wow, you really did live on the farm.

Speaker 2 (19:46):
Yeah. So it just started out hanging out of the
farm and then all of a sudden he was tracking
ideas and then he was like the base, you know,
sound of the last record. So it's very cool when
things happened like that.

Speaker 1 (19:56):
Very creative individual death undercat.

Speaker 2 (19:59):
Oh yeah, it's.

Speaker 1 (20:02):
So still I'm still stuck on farm animal. Can we
talk about the skunk chasing you? Because there's there's more,
there's way. I've got a mental image in my head
running away from the car. Yeah, okay, So like I
would drive, I would drive up a hill if you
know California streets, and like some of them are full

(20:24):
of hills and it's really dark there, and uh, you know,
I drive and then you'd see, you know, their their eyes.
There's like three or four of them, maybe in front
of my door. And I didn't know what to do.
So I thought, okay, this is a smart idea. Let
me get back in the car and I'm going to

(20:47):
approach them at like fifty miles per hour. Like I
was in a zone of like maybe you should be
doing twenty. So I figured if I do fifty, house,
you know, they'll run away. But what I didn't know
was that in the face of fear they spray you. Yeah,

(21:08):
I know that now. And literally I got my entire
like my bill for the car rental. They thought I
had a lot. They're like, wait, we know you you
don't smoke weed. And I was like this is skunks
And I explained and they were like, yeah, you can't
scare a skunk because they will spray you. Yeah, my

(21:31):
car and me never get sprayed by a skunk, let
alone three of them. You have to bathe and tomato sauce.
Is that a true? Is that a true? I didn't
know about that, like to get well. I tried to
dismiss it, but then like, thank god for like we
culture because everyone just thought like I had the good ship,

(21:52):
but you always smell like a bakery. No, it was
the opposite of a bakery. I smelled like I had
that good feel, like somebody that was on his way
to it. Yeah. Now that was the worst. Like that
was mischief night. I don't know if people still celebrate that.
It was like the night before Halloween. Uh, not to mention,

(22:13):
I got egged the next night. I got egged in
Silver Lake. Oh wow, it was a bad first week
out there. Yeah. So that's my skunk story in Silver Lake. Okay,
so right about now, you're working on your your third
album and what is your your your vision or your

(22:37):
how do you even grow past the level experiments that you've.

Speaker 2 (22:41):
Been Yeah, yeah, well I'm excited to do new things.
You know. The last record was like a maximalist album.
I got to meet all these amazing people and kind
of just invited them all down to the studio, you
know why not, which was super cool. But I'm really
enjoying like trying more of a directness with some of
the beats that I'm writing and things that I'm you know,

(23:02):
doing as demos. There are a lot more to the
point than I've ever been, which is exciting and probably
comes with age and maturity. You kind of start to
turn more things off and you don't have to do
as many flourishes to get emotion across, you know, I've
had more experiences. Yeah, I'm inspired by a lot of
records at the moment. I've been spending a lot of
time in Ethiopia the last couple of years.

Speaker 1 (23:23):
Yeah, I was going to say, your Instagram is kind
of off the chain you just came back from.

Speaker 2 (23:30):
Yeah, It's just crazy that place. It's gotten so under
my skin, Like I'm hoping to go back every year
if I can. It's just that powerful. Not only the
music and the food and the culture, but the people
have really touched me. And that wasn't really doing gigs
or anything that was just more doing some kind of work,
like more on a spirit to like spending time with
the woman over there. A lot of them are HIV

(23:51):
positive and kind of being a part of a team
that does work over this. So that's been really cool
and I'm really into that balance, you know, of taking
time completely off music. Have you ever done that?

Speaker 5 (24:01):
Man?

Speaker 2 (24:01):
Seventeen projects? But then it's kind of like you no,
but it's it is like the you are amazing at that. Actually,
you know how you have your finger and all out
of differents that are varied.

Speaker 1 (24:15):
You know, well, is this your version of you need
to recharge before you start creating, so you have to
take yourself out of music too.

Speaker 2 (24:22):
Yeah, I think that's one way of looking at it
for sure, and just fill up with different yeah, ideas,
experiences and and and being. It's something very powerful about
being completely anonymous in that place and not there to
be a musician with all of your that skill set
of that what that brings, but just to be a
human being you know, and observe and offer your heart
and office. So that's been really powerful and I'm excited

(24:42):
to now channel you know, the rawness of some of
those experiences into you know, my next body of work.

Speaker 1 (24:48):
Do you have, well, any artist, especially on artists on
a major label, do you have any thoughts whatsoever about
you know, how far to the left you can lean
as far as experimentations are concerned, and how yeah, far
to the right you should go to make sure that

(25:10):
it's easily adjustable. Yeah, there was ongoing wars with your
current A and R right now.

Speaker 2 (25:16):
I mean, of course, I think I asked that question
to my other musician friends as well. It's like the
balance is always the same, We're all trying to balance it.
I'm lucky at Warner Brothers. We talked about this when
we did the Prince panel. Like Lenny Warnaker like has
been with me from day one. There he's got amazing music.

Speaker 1 (25:32):
He's still there.

Speaker 2 (25:33):
He's my main he signed me to Warner Brothers.

Speaker 1 (25:37):
Oh my god, that is still there even when we
did that. Prince Banel, Yeah, him all the time, Prince Yes.
James Taylor, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (25:51):
He purchased Randy Newman Records. He did the band like
Park's first record. I mean, this guy is an incredibly
musical mind. He'll be I'll be showing a special story.
I mean, just think of how cool this is. Like
I'll be showing him, you know, you're expecting the A
and I to tell you to make the chorus bigger, right,
and you know it's a classic thing. Make it.

Speaker 6 (26:09):
But he'll be like, well, I think, you know, I
think in the third bar you could make it a
little more harmonically complex Ian what if you put a
sound there, you know, just and he will really talk
to me in that sense of like, you know, it
just needs a different contrast at that point. And this
to me is very inspiring, you know, to be able
to have those kinds of.

Speaker 1 (26:25):
Conversations music in that way.

Speaker 2 (26:27):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, maybe lucky.

Speaker 1 (26:30):
I wouldn't trust that situation.

Speaker 2 (26:34):
But at the same time, I've had my battles, of course,
you know, and I continue to and that's kind of
I think the tension that kind of needs to be
there as well, in a sense that it pushes me
to explore both sides. And I have a great love
of pop music, but I feel very strongly that what
I have to offer is notes is a unique perspective
on that.

Speaker 1 (26:54):
You know.

Speaker 2 (26:56):
So yeah, I think if you look at it the
right way, it can be fun. Maybe then it's awful
sometimes you know, it is. I mean it is really
hard sometimes, of course, if you're really going for a
vision and and and people are there to essentially water
that down. You know. Wow, you know a lot of

(27:17):
heated conversations and you have to fight hard, you do.
And I think we you know, we're just talking about
Prince and it's been very inspiring for me to go
back into him as an artist and really be so
reminded of how he never backed down on things, you know,
and and fought hard, but also was super smart and
always listened. That's what Lenny always says. Man, he's like

(27:40):
Prince would you know, he would never he would never
not be listening to you. He would always be taking
it in, you know, and he would always go away.
He'd hang up when he'd be like, I'm not changing
the record, you know, I'm not, you know. And they
thought they didn't have an urban song for Diamonds and Parsons.

Speaker 1 (27:53):
I'm not.

Speaker 2 (27:54):
You work it out, you know. But then that night
he went back to the studio and he he may
get off, right. He just came in with it the
next day and put it on the desk.

Speaker 1 (28:02):
That's right when we first spoke about Prince you told
me your favorite record was Diamonds and Pearls.

Speaker 2 (28:11):
I've seen any of the for you is probably one
of my favorites, right up there with it.

Speaker 1 (28:16):
You're really big on vocal arrangements, and.

Speaker 2 (28:19):
That's what I'm saying. That's when I got the A
Trex started making you know, arrangements with only voice.

Speaker 1 (28:25):
So how okay, So you've probably mastered that. I know
a lot of people that use that device.

Speaker 3 (28:32):
The A t Rex Machineah yeah, but you're probably the
one person that I know that will find ways to
push it into Okay.

Speaker 1 (28:45):
I don't want to say it like it's the C word.
I don't want to say commercial, but to least make
it more accessible because I know that a lot of artists,
uh that use that are far on the left as
far as experimenting is concerned.

Speaker 2 (29:00):
Right.

Speaker 1 (29:01):
What what drew you to that as your weapon of choice?

Speaker 2 (29:05):
Yeah? And well, I think it all comes from feeling limitation.
So I was doing geeks with just guitar. When I
first started playing in New Zealand at little Bass my
dad would take me. You know, I was like sixteen,
and so I couldn't get in and then I fell
I needed to express more color, you know, and get
more across in the performances. So when I learned this
little boss it was you know, the boss loop pedals,

(29:26):
the classic ones. I never really really really read the manual,
but just kind of all right.

Speaker 1 (29:31):
Let me break it down just in case people don't know. Okay,
so this device is to sing with yourself, yourself over okay, Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (29:40):
That's right, that's right. Yeah you can. You can put
your instrument down altogether and just.

Speaker 1 (29:44):
Form a bed for guitars first, and then people started
to sing into the device.

Speaker 2 (29:50):
Yeah that's right. I never used it with guitar though,
I only used it with vocals, and then eventually found that,
you know, my voice has a very different texture when
it's layered, and you know, can sound like a different instrument.
So I started putting down the guitar and becoming more
fascinated with that as a as an instrument and of itself.

Speaker 1 (30:06):
You know, do you keep every performance fresh as do
you have a go to way for using those effects.

Speaker 2 (30:15):
Or here's a funny story for you. When you saw
Jay Lenno. Okay, that was I still refused to play
to a click track at that point. Okay, So usually
when you're doing live television, you probably want to get
the loop like sync so it doesn't completely fall out
of time. On the live television. I was very stubborn
and we had to do it like three times, you know,
because I was so nervous. My finger was shaking something.

(30:35):
Because I do. I change it every time, you know,
I start up the intro just kind of with a
new loop each time to keep it fresh, because I
don't want it to get to uh yeah, rehearsed, you
know too rehearsed, or feeling like, okay, here we go,
she does this, bud, she does that pod. I really
thrived on the danger aspect, but of course live television
is different, you know, you camera crew, and so from

(30:57):
that point onward, I decided to start, you know, involving
Nableton live in the set, and we have aspects now
that a're a little more yeah, you know, locked in.
But there's something to me that's very important with every
live show that there's room for collapse, you know, or
at least the chance of collapse. But you do know
what I'm talking about, because living on the edge of
that tension is what's so.

Speaker 1 (31:18):
Has it ever broken down on you? And concert?

Speaker 2 (31:21):
Of course, I mean, you know, and again there's a
chance for a very human moment, you know, which, yeah,
you know, we always can back it up if things
fall out and you ask the audience can we do
it again? And it's cool. I think always have to
keep that this somehow.

Speaker 1 (31:34):
Okay, So I want to know basic things about your
your life musically related? What was what was your first concert?

Speaker 2 (31:42):
It's a band called silver Chair. Oh yeah, we'll check
it out. They that's right, that's right now. They were fourteen,
they were twelve. Therefore they were a grund rock band
from Australia. But you probably don't know this about Silverchair though.

(32:03):
After they had their big blow up with the grunge band,
they started making some very wild pop music and Van
Dyke Parks himself says that he puts Daniel Jones on
the same level as Brian Wilson as a song Yes,
he does. Now check this out. The song we just played,
Daniel Jones wrote that with me. We did that together
on the piano. He plays the piano on the song
on the record Daniel Johns from Silverchair.

Speaker 1 (32:26):
Wow, really thought you got.

Speaker 2 (32:29):
To get on the later record.

Speaker 1 (32:30):
That reminds me of when I found out that dude
from Spin Doctors worked with Blal on his demo. Yeah
it was wild, that's crazy.

Speaker 2 (32:40):
And Butlal is on the last album.

Speaker 1 (32:43):
Yeah, it's like ten minutes to really make me comprehend.
I was like, wait, who produces no Spin Doctors. I said, no, no, no, no, no, no,
wow who produced this? Who produced it? I refused to
believe it. That's amazing. So okay, this is the second

(33:05):
time that we mentioned h Van Dyke parks like, how
did your pass even cross? Because I mean, yeah, he's
the god.

Speaker 2 (33:17):
Oh he is just he's my fairy godfather. He is
the sweetest. He really is like this ethereal magical person
in my life. So Lenny, I mean Lenny is very
close with Van Dyke, and I had said, what a
huge fan I was of the Silver Chair record called Diorama,
and Van Dyke arranged the strings for the whole album.

(33:38):
Can you imagine this band that had become a huge,
you know success as a grunge, you know, garage rock band,
and then they make a record that I swear these
songs modulate like ten times within each you know, five minutes,
and he gets Van Dyke to arrange all the strings
on you know, he learns piano for the album. I
just thought it was incredible.

Speaker 1 (33:56):
Okay, what's the now Now this is the educational portion
of of our.

Speaker 2 (34:00):
Radio show Diorama. Yeah, yeah, so I loved.

Speaker 1 (34:07):
That exactly why I wanted this show something Yeah, and
nerd out. So you're saying that Diorama was their their
left turn, their departure album.

Speaker 2 (34:16):
Yeah, that's right. Yeah, and you know it didn't do
so well in terms of a commercially you know, but.

Speaker 1 (34:22):
I have a theory now, as a person that really
doesn't know much about Silver Chair, what was the album
that came out before?

Speaker 2 (34:29):
Oh, that would have been Neon Ballroom. Yeah, I mean
it was soon after the big one was I don't
know what the big one was in America, frog Stump
or oh wow, they were fourteen Wow, that was something
like that school or maybe sixteen or I don't know.

Speaker 1 (34:48):
So they were massively large, and you know, these cute
kids playing adult music. And I have a theory about uh,
what they called the Departure records, which you know, I
mean you'll see it as like, oh, spiritual maturity and
growing into the thing, and I guess and it's not

(35:12):
coming from a cynical place. But for every departure album
that there is, there's always the mountain or the shadow
of the eclipse of an album or an image that
they can't escape. And they will do anything, sometimes consciously

(35:33):
and other times subconsciously, like in the case of the
Beastie Boys making Paul's Boutique, they wanted to wash away
the braddy frat boy image. That fight for your right
was in the case of there's a ride going on

(35:53):
by Sly, you know, having just conquered Woodstock in nineteen
sixty nine and you know, had four top ten hits
and finally like the dream was realized after like three
album attempts to make them slam the family stone such
a you know, a household name, and then he kind

(36:15):
of turns his back on everything, I mean, making an
innovative funk record while doing it. But still, you know,
Prince definitely, I'm reading this manuscript, this book right now
of him actually planning Purple Rain and then also planning
his exit strategy. Wow, making around the other day even

(36:38):
before the Purple Rain.

Speaker 2 (36:39):
Tour, and it's just he's sword he had a vision,
is that clips.

Speaker 4 (36:43):
That's going to get trapped into so Okay, So with
that said, would you consider Phrenology to be the roots.

Speaker 1 (36:49):
Bunch of record? You know what I'm I will probably
say that now, maybe I'll take two twenty five percent
credit of it being self sabotage, as in not wanting
to follow things fall apart. But if I'm really truly

(37:11):
honest tipping point, no no no no no no no
no no no no, because I really felt like the
departure for me, no, that that was us being normal,
that was us trying to be like ground zero normal,
which I know. My point is that I think with Phrenology,
with what was happening with Neil Soul, like I shot

(37:33):
a Neil Soul coke commercial like half the CALORIESK. Like
only one of those commercials came out, but it was
like we did a five part commercial. It was like
me Amel Angie Stone Music, Soul Child, like we were
all playing like you know, categories like you know, like

(37:55):
we didn't Wow, it never came out. It never came
out like one of them came. It was like aries all.

Speaker 7 (38:01):
The Wow Neil Soul game night with Yeah, it was
like that basically like real life.

Speaker 1 (38:11):
No, but I mean it there was a point where
I felt like maybe okay because because of us not
knowing that we were gonna win the Grammy, and then
Tarik wanted to shoot a movie and I wanted to
see Voodoo through through the tour, like we took two

(38:33):
thousand off, which should have been the cash in year,
you know, and instead we were like, okay, we'll come
back January two thousand and one and do it all
over again. And then it was just like maybe we
felt like our territorial pissing marks were getting violated. So
it's sort of like, okay, well we're gonna show y'all,

(38:54):
we're gonna do everything but neo soul. But then everyone
had that idea because you know, I mean Stane Cone
and definitely Speaker Box had that that we're going to
turn our back on this thing. Like everybody was going contrary,
including D'Angelo, like you know, when we started Black Messiah,
like it was going to be way more radical, way

(39:15):
more wow it. You know, in his mind he wanted
to do like fishbones, give a monkey brain give I
can't pronounce it, yeah, you know, so I guess I
don't know, I mean, but it still worked for us,
that's the thing. Though it still worked so I feel

(39:37):
like the tipping point wasn't our departure record, but it
was just like it was the album that I had
the least, and I was just like, Okay, what do
I do. I'll take instructions.

Speaker 2 (39:48):
Sometimes I look at making albums like an itch you
need to scratch, you know. And when you said something
about like the eclipse or the vision, that something that's
lingering and the subconscious that you need to kind of
grab for after you've had a moment with a record
or I don't know, there's there's there's something in the
back of your mind that you're like, I need to
get it this. I need to unveil this something that's there.
And whether that be a highly you know six you

(40:10):
don't know whether that's going to Like do you listen.

Speaker 1 (40:14):
To someone and that gets you amped? Like last week
Common played me like five songs from his new record Wow,
and I was feeling some sort of and I'm working
on this record, so I'm feeling some sort of way
like yo, I gotta come with it, Like I really
gotta come with it. So I'll say the first time

(40:35):
in ten years I felt like really, you know, I mean,
when Dyla died then I was just like, I don't
want to do music no more and only like one
record a year, that sort of thing. So maybe between
like two thousand and six and twenty sixteen, I had
this dark law of not really wanting to put my
heart into the record process, like just put all that

(40:58):
passion one record in one record. Now, I'm just like,
I gotta come with it. So like, is there an
artist that you hear that gets your juices flowing? And
I don't mean like I could do that. I don't
mean that way.

Speaker 2 (41:13):
Yeah, but I mean, oh man, there are just there's
so many. I will say that as we were talking
about New Zealand before, there's some very special things that
come out of New Zealand. And there's two brothers and
I listened a lot to well, you know, Unknown Mortal
oakstro I'm shore. So that's Ruben Nielsen, who I've known
for years because he had a punk band when I
was a kid, and I used to go to his

(41:34):
shows and sneak in underage and be front row. They
were called the mint Chicks. They were so rare, they
were great, and the singer of the band huh they
were punk, yeah, super post punk, kind of super screamy,
but but you know, great kind of melodic guitar lines,
very angular rhythms.

Speaker 1 (41:50):
It was.

Speaker 2 (41:51):
It was fantastic. And the lead singer of that band
was Cody Nielsen, which is Ruben's brother. Now he has
his own side projects, his on Ricos. I can't start
listening to it, and like, they just keep reinventing themselves.
You know, I've seen not everyone knows their stories, but
they just keep starting these projects. And to me, that's

(42:11):
really inspiring. And when you say like I've got to
come with it or kind of keep on that, that
new energy, I don't know, it's it's cool inspires me.

Speaker 1 (42:24):
What was the first record you ever purchased?

Speaker 2 (42:27):
Wow? You know what? One of the very first albums
I ever bought with my own money was Frank by
Amy wine House. We've talked about this before, and I
told you what an important artist she was for me
for those reasons. I listened to lots of other albums
before then, but there was something very special about picking
that up. I didn't know anything about her. I was like,
just looks sick on the front cover.

Speaker 1 (42:49):
Wait, you just did it based on the album cover.

Speaker 2 (42:52):
I don't know anything.

Speaker 1 (42:53):
You didn't hear anything.

Speaker 2 (42:54):
I listened to it in the record store, but I
picked it up because you know, you know, when you
I love that. I missed that the CD on and
I am listening to it and I thought, this sounds
great because she she was a guitarist too, and she
was playing these jazz and versions that I was learning,
but she had beats. And that's what I always felt was,
you know, I wanted to explore. I want to get
tougher with my son. I want to be a safe songwriter,

(43:14):
you know, just keep it all pretty, and I wanted
it to have, you know, like some balls, and she was, man,
she just took me to school, you know, and all
of these singers. And it's so funny, man, how the
world connects people. Isn't that crazy?

Speaker 1 (43:27):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (43:27):
It is.

Speaker 1 (43:29):
So I'm just like, how do you know about beats? Though?
I mean, like the average I'm just saying I'm trying
not to be cultural elitist or sexist or any of
these things, but normally there is an older figure, trickled
down person Like I'm the youngest people of people in

(43:50):
my brood, so this was handed down. I mean, what
about you guys, Like were you I had an older
sister who was really into music. She's the one that
got me in the hip hop. She's the one that
pretty much triple Prince. Yeah, yeah, where did you fall?
William Bill? I was into jazz and I had really
great teachers in high school, and then I went to
Africa and when I was in college and that sort
of I love how the white people. No, I'm the

(44:19):
only one in this room that's not that hasn't been.

Speaker 4 (44:21):
I've been to South Africa, but that doesn't you know, Yeah,
that's not real Africa apparently not. Yeah, I mean from
what from you talk to people from the content, they
say that that's like the most westernized country.

Speaker 1 (44:36):
I want to it's the most really hard right now Africa.

Speaker 2 (44:41):
Yet I'm just saying, but it does bring to mind
actually when we're talking about being young and what was inspiring.
I love musical theater and always this makes me sound
like I was a musical theater but I you know,
I was really drawn to the Well, there's such a
connotation with that.

Speaker 1 (44:55):
Your heads down. Oh no, I'm just listening. I'm just listening.
You weren't in musical theater? Hell no, why now?

Speaker 2 (45:02):
I know that's what I mean.

Speaker 1 (45:05):
It wasn't me say heal like h e no man,
like I tried. I tried. I know now, Okay, so
we have three theater kids in there before. I did
a couple of places before I knew.

Speaker 2 (45:20):
Yo. You know what I did?

Speaker 1 (45:22):
I did brew. I did hair in high school. I
didn't I did hair. I talked about I did like
mus school, but I was in music. I forgot about that.

Speaker 7 (45:30):
I did hair.

Speaker 1 (45:30):
I did like school Christmas places and stuff like that.
I was about to say, everyone in this room needs
to stop lying. I know y'all was involved with music
I did. I was a black Sanna actually really yeah,
have the beard back then. I was like thirteen at
the time, but I was. I was black Sanna in
a really white school in Indiana. So in Indian all
the places, right, they was hanging in Indiana? Yeah, Like,

(45:53):
I wait, did you think about the hazy shaded criminals
criminal Okay, wait, we're getting off all the roop no period.

Speaker 2 (46:05):
Yeah, So I think some of the melodic interests might
have come from a love of that. But when you're
talking about beats, I know what you mean. I'm trying
to think I love Jurassic Five When I was in
high school. I listened to them a lot. You know.
There were certain acts that got me thinking, why does
this make my body move like this? And you see,
I started to write vocal lines that were percussive, you know,
I wanted to find the bits between to sing it.

Speaker 1 (46:27):
So maybe that's what I'm now seeing the Jurassic Five.
What happened to Wait, I'm gonna tell you something funny.
I love them too. They were great. So imagine it
being like nineteen ninety nine, ninety eight, ninety nine, right,
and so okay, I'm in my agent's office and we

(46:47):
got to offer. And okay, I don't mean it's no
sort of way, just understand the logistics of the situation.
She's saying that, Okay, you guys are going to open
for or Jurassic five and Black Eyed Peas and we
started laughing. He was like, wait what he said? You
guys want to open? I was like, open?

Speaker 8 (47:09):
Now?

Speaker 1 (47:09):
Was ninety nine? This before Fergie came. The Peas and
Jurassic five was like the consistential underground group groups that
were normally open for the roots, who at this time
were in their platinum powers or whatever. But no, the
thing was is that hip hop so rarely came down
Under to Australia to New Zealand that whoever just went

(47:32):
over there was the man and did five days. If
you did big day out, the big festival, then suddenly
you became. So there was like an inside joke that like, yo,
Jurassic five can play stadiums in Australia. Probably it's like

(47:55):
Black Eyed Peas have an audience of ten thousand in Australia.
Ben Harper can play stadiums like so all the acts
that I mean it was the Roots used to play
like we would go to places that no one else
would go and then conquered. So I always wondered I
was going to ask what was the Jurassic five effect

(48:16):
on they were like the Beatles, Yeah, because no one
else would go over there.

Speaker 2 (48:21):
That's right when New Zealand's interesting. We're talking about the differences,
but R and B and soul is very important in
New Zealand, more important. I'd say. It's funny because of
course you have Highest Coyote and these incredible arm b
x coming out of Australia, but it's more of a
rock thing, you know, with a lot of the music
when you're growing up New Zealand. The Maldi people are
very amazing rhythmic music, very melodic, very soulful. You know,

(48:42):
they're playing churches. They have the mutte eyes. So hip
hop's very big in New Zealand. Hip hop's really big
and soul artists said, yeah, I remember these these head
these are artists were headlining huge venues. You know, they
were big. And you know, when you live so far away,
I mean from New York, it's probably takes me twenty
two hours to get home, almost something insane. You know,
you're so curious about music from other parts of the world.

(49:04):
It becomes a I don't know, it becomes a little obsession.
You know, I've found something on I was around at
the start of blogs and everything, obviously, and your friends
starts telling you about this thing, you know, and then
you take a little rabbit hole with that and you're
so far from it that it's so exotic and exciting.

Speaker 1 (49:22):
So have you coming back to Australia, I mean after
your Grammy success or whatever, like was it the.

Speaker 2 (49:34):
Like?

Speaker 1 (49:34):
Have you had a homecoming welcome as far as New Zealand?

Speaker 2 (49:37):
Right, Yeah, you know it's a big deal. You know,
it's a big deal for a country so small when
artists get recognized and in America, same for Australia, but
especially for New Zealand because yeah, like I said, there's
only formally in people there, you know, So it's it
is a real trip when we are able to connect
and on a sort of global level, so.

Speaker 1 (49:58):
You're able to go home and still like be regular.
Can you go to the grocery.

Speaker 2 (50:02):
Store in Hamilton. Yeah it's different, Yeah, it's definitely different.
I lay pretty low, like I'm all about getting back
to nature when I'm there, you know, to the ocean.
And I didn't have a farm in New Zealand. Don't
grow up on a farm. I only had a farm
in La.

Speaker 1 (50:19):
I'll still never understand that ship. All right, I just moved. Okay, wait,
what are your what are your plans for the future?

Speaker 2 (50:37):
Oh that old question?

Speaker 1 (50:39):
I sound like very white.

Speaker 2 (50:40):
Yeah. Well, like I said, I'm writing. I'm writing more
than I've ever readen which is exciting, and I'm excited
to start sharing some of that. So putting new music
out maybe even before the album and then I start
the album yeah pretty soon, man, next month, I'm going
to start getting into production, writing more writing New York

(51:04):
I'm doing a lot of improvised collaborations. The stuff you
came to the Space Jam and this new improvisation collective
called Exo Tech. Yeah, man, it's kind of the name
kind of came from an interest in like exotica music
and kind of Brazilian rhythms and also technology, you know,
using gadgets and crazy loopers and industrial sounds. You know.

(51:24):
It's like fourteen people in the core ensemble.

Speaker 1 (51:30):
From overplaying.

Speaker 2 (51:31):
This is the fascinating thing about it is when everyone's
tuned in and you're kind of aware of how many
people are on stage. Of course, it's it's very easy
for it to become lasagnia. You know. It's just layers
and layers, but some very special things that happened when
you're conscious of that. So everyone is listening intent intently
to each other.

Speaker 1 (51:51):
So everybody just plays.

Speaker 2 (51:54):
Afterwards and then yeah, that's right, and then we have
over developed the ideas we perform in the rounds. Everyone
one in the audience is quite intimately involved. There's a
bit of conducting, a bit of head nods, a bit
of hand signals with things, but essentially it's just just
going into the unknown, you know, and it's very liberating.
It's very liberating for someone who spends a lot of
time in studio like I do, and you know, being

(52:16):
very intentional about my recordings and production. This is a
time for me to just get back in that space
of pure expression improvisation.

Speaker 1 (52:23):
It's great. Oh boy, how was your day to day?
Those are questions now I'm talking about you a bit
like you actually.

Speaker 2 (52:40):
Okay, okay, my dad's good, My dad's good.

Speaker 1 (52:42):
It was bullets from the matrix.

Speaker 2 (52:44):
No, no, I just there's a lot of people in
this room.

Speaker 7 (52:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (52:47):
So with that collective Exo Tech, which is Sophia Bruce,
who you just heard, this is our kind of joint
little improvisation group and we're starting a Red Bull in
Artists residency where we're developing these songs, yeah, for kind
of to be kind of releasable or at least just
kind of developing them from the improvised context, which has

(53:09):
always been interesting to me because live music is such
a particular thing, the process from taking live jams. David
Burn's very interesting with this, of course, you know, because
so many of the Talking Heads records were kind of
developed from live There so many records gosh, of course, yeah,
but I've just been watching his documentary Let's Stopped Making
Sense one, and that's kind of what we're exploring for

(53:29):
this in artist residency at Red Bull, and I've been
spending a lot of time preparing lyrics for this and
kind of getting in his zone of yeah, taking them
from the stage to the studio.

Speaker 1 (53:38):
See. I don't know if you know this by design
or if you're just doing this organically, but you know,
I've always felt, you know, the idea of community, which
is something that record labels kind of discourage. Yeah, they'd
rather deal with an artist one on one and not
deal with groups or pool families of groups and that

(54:03):
sort of thing, because they're harder to control. Yeah, I
always felt that, uh, the best music movements and the
most successful music comes from uh cruise and people. If
you look at Motown, you know they were a crew

(54:23):
and your native tongues. Of course, Prince his own crops.
So I mean yeah, So is I mean is that
your is that you're end game to gather a community
of people and and cultivate them and create this music.

Speaker 2 (54:44):
And I encourage it wherever I can. You know, I
think I've been very blessed to kind of magnetize the
right people wherever I move, and by I mean the
right like just the open people that are down to gym,
And it always ends up being something that's sound, you know,
like something that comes to inform the music. And I

(55:04):
work alone, you know, I'm not a band. It's I
make these songs in my bedroom and then I bring
in people when I hit walls, you know. And so
even the band that you heard when we played Leno, like,
they become very close collaborators of mine now because I
kind of hit these moments where I reach the limitations
of my own skills, you know, and at that point,
I really like to play on that as much as possible,
be like who can I draw from? Who I can?

(55:26):
It's black being a painter, you know, and you have
this pellette all around you all the time. And I'm
inspired by the same people you said that weren't afraid
to be, like all right, you know, where does this
need to go? Who have I got that I know
can help me take this even further?

Speaker 1 (55:41):
But you also seem very nomadish or gypsy ish, I mean,
just constantly moving. And so how do you like when
will you? Will you leave New York? Once all your resources.

Speaker 2 (55:55):
Are and seasons.

Speaker 8 (55:57):
You know.

Speaker 2 (55:58):
The farm time was kind of there was a period
where I was very isolated there and I didn't leave.
I don't leave much, you know. I just stayed inside
and did That's right, That's that's right. Because the kitchen
was outside as well, so I cooked like outside. But

(56:19):
then it was just the bedroom and the bed and side,
so it was very it was strange animals, it was weird.
But then there would be these seasons where I did
like space Jam. I started space Jam in l A, Okay.
It was every Sunday night. I put it on Twitter.
I called it space Jam. I thought it was fun.
Wait a minute, I don't think I didn't tell Warner Brothers.

(56:41):
You know, I just wanted to do this for fun.
It's was I had, what was doing a tour with
Janelle Monae in Australia and New Zealand and it got
canceled because she got very sick, and I came back
to America and I was just restless. You know. We
were just about to do a tour and so I thought, well,
I'm here, let's do something. And you know, or a
thundercap did it most weeks. Miguel came down to jam

(57:03):
with me, and this is likes a big guys that
you know don't have to do that, but they would
just get up and just go into the unknown with me.
It was very powerful.

Speaker 1 (57:11):
And you're doing in New York for a while. Bring
it back.

Speaker 2 (57:16):
I'm kind of focused on the exotech thing for a
bit now, but I like the idea of bringing space
Jam back in cities and on the road if we're
all feeling up for it, going to a little venue nearby,
and then the spirit of the people we mentioned continuing
that conversation. So there's seasons of being very engaged with
community and seasons where I really withdraw.

Speaker 1 (57:35):
Now, should you leave New York? Do you have any
other fantasy destinations that you would you know, would you
go to Europe next? See what's up?

Speaker 2 (57:44):
And well check this out? No, I just got back
from London. I was there like a couple of weeks ago.
But Japan, I've never been to.

Speaker 1 (57:51):
Japan, even as a professional artist.

Speaker 2 (57:54):
Never, I've never been to Japan.

Speaker 1 (58:09):
Oh man. Now, Japan has been kind of tough lately,
I think, like over for the past couple of years.
Why is other Bill laughing at the punchline? Before because
it was just like here comes some old man wisdom
about Japan.

Speaker 4 (58:23):
Here I go, because like they had the earth the earthquake,
it was the tsunami. They had like a natural disaster.
And then you know it was that and that like
like up for real over there because we were trying
to get over there for a minute.

Speaker 1 (58:39):
Back and you have to go to I've been once
in two thousand and four. It was not a really
good experience. No, I didn't like it. I didn't. There's
a story there, man, It's always a story. Bron So
I went to Japan. Never met it was an African
American male the PC title. I went, man like No,

(59:08):
I went. We went. Okay, we went over there and
we went over there.

Speaker 7 (59:12):
We was over there under some some false pretenses for
one and to this is a little brother edis LB.

Speaker 1 (59:17):
This is two thousand and four. So we went over
there and we went over there, and I remember the first.

Speaker 4 (59:22):
Night we got out there were just out walking around
and we was trying to go to a strip club.
And so I mean and forever I'm not really the
strip club dude like that, because strip clubs are about
pageantry and I think just like a lot of you know,
it's a lot of Yeah, it's a lot of that,
and I'm not really into that. I'm not into the
seeing the tricks.

Speaker 1 (59:40):
And all that stuff. I just from North Carolina, I know.

Speaker 4 (59:43):
But see, but that's another story because it was a
strip club we had called fourteen k But you I'm
sure you know it was legendary.

Speaker 1 (59:49):
So I'm not gonna get into that right now because
that's not the family. Yeah, I love you, honey. That
was before I became Washington.

Speaker 4 (59:56):
The Blood of jus So now so lizal So So
now that So japan were trying to go to the
joint and so we walk up to the door and
as soon as we get to the door, a little
dude comes out no no, no, no Japanese.

Speaker 1 (01:00:10):
Only like we didn't even let us in. We was like,
oh wor so like that right there was just kind
I was like, fuck this fucking place. I mean the
first day, I swear to God. First day.

Speaker 4 (01:00:24):
So we left and I think we ended up eating
like McDonald's for the rest of the day. And then
first of the time we were there, we didn't get
some Kobe beef. Though we went to Kobe and we
had some Kobe Beef and like I saw one black guy.

Speaker 1 (01:00:36):
In uh in the train, I love each other. We
were just so happy. I've never been so happy to
see another black man in my life. You see, I'm
dead ass man. I ain't making nothing shit up, but.

Speaker 2 (01:00:49):
It was, it was, it was.

Speaker 1 (01:00:50):
It was a very same for a moment.

Speaker 4 (01:00:53):
The crowds are very different, so they're not really like
a big like making a lot of noise. They just
watch very probably, but after the show, I mean they're
really they they get me. But no, I haven't been
since oll four. Now I'm really not in a rushback
to go, but I hope you go, and I'm sure
you'll killed it.

Speaker 1 (01:01:11):
I'm actually kind of weirded out by Man.

Speaker 2 (01:01:13):
I gotta make this right, man, Yeah you do, because no,
I'm he's Wow, you.

Speaker 1 (01:01:18):
Might have like of Tokyo despite the fact, no, despite
the fact, man, let's go. Their largest shoe size size ten,
and you know their Jeane size is thirty four. I mean,
I Tokyo is my third favorite place on earth. Wow. Wow.

(01:01:40):
What's the first two? If I had to leave the
Tri State area to live somewhere else. Number one is Portland, Oregon.
What number two is Austin, Texas. Number three is Tokyo.
Number four is the Bay Area. Hopefully I can afford.

(01:02:02):
If I can afford it, I can't afford it on
my salary.

Speaker 2 (01:02:05):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (01:02:08):
Number we're like camping out here. Number five is uh London.
But uh wow, the fact that you've actually thought about
that though, that's the very that you've plotted it out.
I base okay. Portland has uh probably some of the

(01:02:29):
probably the best used record store shopping, the best quality
of records for cheap, Like when they see me, they
won't charge me five hundred dollars for a Gault McDermott record.
Like if I walk into a Connecticut spot, then suddenly
it's nine thousand dollars, Like they don't know the true
value of like that stuff I really love. There's more

(01:02:51):
strip clubs per capita in Portland, and I've never been
to one. Every time I go, I'm in and out.
Nike Headquarters been there. Uh yeah. So I mean if
you have good record shopping, great strip clubs and don't
take much. And the food capital, I mean the food
truck capital of the United States to me is Portland.

Speaker 2 (01:03:11):
That's true. Unknown more orchestra and Portland now I mean
he's from New Zealand, but he works out of Portland.

Speaker 1 (01:03:16):
Now man, smart man, smart man. Well, Kimber, I really
truly appreciate you for taking your time out of your
busy schedule. Schedule, it's not as.

Speaker 2 (01:03:32):
Busy as yours. Well, no, you know it's you are insane.

Speaker 1 (01:03:37):
Though.

Speaker 2 (01:03:37):
No, we're not going to We're not gonna.

Speaker 1 (01:03:39):
Okay, but yeah, I say we should have thought, go ahead, go.

Speaker 2 (01:03:43):
In with how many projects it took?

Speaker 1 (01:03:46):
Look, I took a four day vacation last week. Where
did you go? I just I did nothing in Los
Angeles for four days. That wasn't answered my text messages.
I did, yeah, I said, except to answer my text
I did, okay, Yeah. I stayed in bed and it was.
It was the worst feeling ever made to not do anything.

(01:04:11):
That The only thing I did was I figured out
how to get rid of of ten gigs of music.
I didn't need my DJ computer Like that was the
only work I did. You actually do that for me
because I cannot do that. That's you cant figure out
which one is the kill? No, you got it. You
only need one. Don't stop to get enough. You don't
need seventeen like I'm literally I always I'll have to

(01:04:33):
have like all the different edits and not necessarily, no,
I'll keep the individual edits. But I had, like, you know,
i'd like for j like heart Knock Life for a
billion of them that I didn't need. So yeah, I
mean cleaning out my hard drives my favorite pastime. But no,
I took a four day vacation and I hated every

(01:04:55):
I didn't hate.

Speaker 2 (01:04:55):
It, but it was just you need to be doing
things that you sleep.

Speaker 1 (01:04:59):
So much that you get tired from sleeping.

Speaker 2 (01:05:02):
Yeah, deaf.

Speaker 1 (01:05:03):
No, I got trapped in that cycle.

Speaker 2 (01:05:04):
That's a thing.

Speaker 1 (01:05:05):
And then I was like, oh, this is what depression
feels like. So let me get out of when you
vacation's supposed to go.

Speaker 4 (01:05:11):
Out because otherwise that it becomes like social isolated, Like
that's can't.

Speaker 1 (01:05:17):
I mean, that's why DJ so much like I don't.
I'm not a let's go to the bar. Well, you know,
I'm a I'll DJ in the bar and then you
know that's me going out for shopping, you know that
kind of thing. I mean, I now record shop for
other people, like my new ship is now taking what
we're doing. I tell you, record shopping before no no,

(01:05:40):
I'm saying I record shop for you. Well no, no, no, no, no.
I like my thing now is whenever the parents, whenever
the kids of the past, like you know you my
kids in the pet sound like, then I'll be like,
let's go to me. But and then I'll buy them
like a thousand records like I'm I've started at least

(01:06:02):
thirty record collections. Wow, Because I mean, I'm not doing
to be all noble. No, I'm just addicted to going
to a record shop in shopping. Yeah, I'm not going
to buy like another led Zeppelin three records, Love Scholarship
Foundation for All Musical Can we get out of this, guys, please? Yes,

(01:06:22):
Kimber answer your question.

Speaker 2 (01:06:23):
I yeah, you take that.

Speaker 1 (01:06:25):
I took a four day vacation. In the future, I'm
going to take another seven days off. I'm gonna get
on a train and and hobo. I'm actually waking because
you keep talking about taking my favorite thing on Earth
or just taking a Literally, I got a well the
best travels in uh Canada. So I'm gonna you.

Speaker 2 (01:06:45):
Should go to New Zealand take a train through New Zealand.

Speaker 1 (01:06:48):
Initially I was going to go to India, but I
can't it to travel there and then to do the
four day trek and then the comeback I did and
a half. Yeah, I would need three three weeks to
really recovering. But yeah, I plan on going from New
York to San fran then Vancouver back to New York.

(01:07:08):
Vancouver to New York. You can rent your own car,
have old tiny you know. I get to imagine what
travel was like in the forties without being discriminated, travel
like the best last hears like spens of racism every time.

(01:07:31):
That hilarious.

Speaker 2 (01:07:33):
It is we covered so much, Yes we did.

Speaker 1 (01:07:40):
Okay, okay, So with that said, uh, kimber once again,
we thank you very much for greasing us with your
presence and your music and your artistry and your stories
and your journey. Give it up, lady and gentlemen, for
Kimberly Johnson.

Speaker 5 (01:07:55):
Yes, Kimberly, it's onund Look you're saying, Kimberly, Oh it is.
I know it's kim bro Like you're saying, were your
parents trying to do Kimberly?

Speaker 1 (01:08:11):
I think they're trying to do Kimberly. Okay.

Speaker 8 (01:08:19):
ET Awards celebrates black with Kimberly Johnson going to be lit,
it's going to be This smells like that moment, This.

Speaker 1 (01:08:31):
Spells like that moment is Zoolander before waking up, Before
you go go where. He's like, I don't think you
thought that. I thought you thought that I was repent. Yes,
I know it's Kimbra Lee Johnson. That's more. It's more
authentic that way, not Kimberly. But I think your parents
are trying to name me Kimberly and just didn't know,
you know, it could have been one name. All right, Yes, well,

(01:08:58):
kim Bra Lee Johnson. We thank you very much. To
thank you, of course. Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio.
This classic episode was produced by the team apt Pandora.

(01:09:21):
For more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
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