Dreams // A Poem
As the night turned to the day
& our bodies turned to dust,
I thought about life's purpose
& what will happen to us.
I pondered about my past.
I wondered about yours too.
Will we accomplish our dreams,
everything we wanted to?
We are dreamers, my dearest.
We've got our heads in the sky,
but I like us like that, love.
We can make it if we try.
So if we end up falling
we can land high on a cloud.
Let's do our best & do it hard.
Then we can always be proud.
Q&A with SoundSnobz
SOUNDSNOBZ. Why so snobby? SoundSnobz, established in 2012, consists of TroyBoi and icekream. The London-based trap duo claim their inspiration hails from all across the globe due to their varied backgrounds. The group is well-traveled, playing mainly in London, but they aim to grow drastically this year. After a delay in responses, the sound snoots very apologetically answered my questions. This brought to light their sense of humanity and warmth, which I appreciated as a writer. It's something about their personality. They care. They care about their music and they respect their fans.
Age:
Troy: 26
ice: 28
Hometown:
Troy: London
Troy: London
ice: Paris
Location: London and Dubai
Where do you gather inspiration?
Troy: Literally from anything! From the knocking of a pen on the table to the Taiko drums of Japan. We both come from extremely cultured backgrounds (Lebanese, American, Nigerian, Indian, Chinese, Portuguese) and we take a lot of influences from music from there too. We like anything quirky and love to explore anything out of the ordinary.
What do you think the other person brings to the duo?
ice: Another flavour. Another interpretation. Another banger. Another opinion. Another sound, amongst other things!
What can we expect from SoundSnobz in 2014?
Troy: Expect a lot of noise from us! Shows, tracks.....it's gonna be a big year! We don't wanna give too much away just yet ;)
Where can your fans see you perform live?
ice: At least every week in London, of course. Always check our IG/Twitter to stay up to date on our moves...
How have you evolved since you first started?
Troy: We have really learnt to embrace each other's styles of production and by doing this we have come off with the perfect formula in order to create a SoundSnobz track. We both have perfected our styles individually and this has been key in order to bring out both our musical characteristics in our tracks that are done together. We really feel strongly about each other's sound and the musical chemistry we both have is incredible.
Why the name "SoundSnobz?"
ice: One of my boys coined it actually. We were in Abu Dhabi arguing over dinner time music selection and I was like: “Sami, there's no way in hell I'm eating to this music!” He then looked at me with disgust and said: “Geeeez! You're such a sound snob! What the hell!!” I instantly knew that name was a keeper and asked my friends permission to keep it forever. He said yes but only if we give him 5% of everything we make.............forever!
What's the best film of all time?
Troy: We both love films! It's hard to pick the best but the Lord of the Rings trilogy might have to be up there!
What's your all time favorite food?
ice: Lebanese
Favorite drink?
Troy: Alcoholic or nice cold Fanta!
What do you do when you're not making music?
ice: Listening to it! One way or another: Radio, Podcast, iTunes, Driving/Walking around blasting it on the speakers/headphones. Also thoroughly enjoy TV shows, movies & current, global affairs.
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| Photo by Skyler Greene Photography |
Check them out:
Q&A with Lizzie Armanto
A couple years back I did a Q&A with Lizzie Armanto. She was 19 and several years into her skating career. She's one of those girls you want to be. She chose a career and she's blowing the competition away. Skateboarding is normally a male-oriented sport, but that's rapidly evolving. Gender roles are not so defined. There's a whole hub for ladies in sports, especially skating. The good news: she's still aiming for success in the skate world. The bad news: she's sporting a knee injury which has kept her from practicing and competing. What has she been up to?
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| Photo by: Ken Hada |
Name: Lizzie Armanto
Age: 21
Hometown: Santa Monica, CA
Location: Santa Monica, CA
Since our last chat, what has been the biggest change for you? Since our last chat, I've traveled to many more places and acquired more knowledge. I visited Japan last year and that was one of the top places I've wanted to go.
How often do you skate? Recently I have been injured so I haven't been able to skate. Before that I wast skating 4/5 days a weeks, not sure how many hours.
Where can your fans see you skate? I hope to be skating in the next Exposure event around the end of this year in San Diego.
What was the hardest trick for you to master? It took me a while to learn how to do airs properly but that was a few years ago.
What's been the proudest moment in your skate career? Last year, I won my first X Games in Barcelona, Spain. I was really proud to be there with my mom and my best friend at the event.
What goals do you have in 2014? Right now my main priority is to continue rehabbing my knee so I can get back to skating.
What's your all time favorite food? My mom's chicken adobo with rice is my favorite, I could go for that anytime.
What's the coolest thing to do in Santa Monica? The coolest thing to do in Santa Monica would be to check out some of their restaurants and hang out at the beach.
Where's one place you'd love to visit? I want to visit Finland, preferably when its warm out.
What hand do you write with? I write with my left hand.
The last few months have not been the same for Armanto, but she's working hard to grind the grip tape once more. "Recovery always seems to go super slow, but I'm really looking forward to getting back!" Armanto said.
Check her out:
Check her out:
Q&A with GAWTBASS
GAWTBASS. Remember the name. Graham Gawthorpe, more commonly known as GAWTBASS, is an up-and-comer in the trap and electronic music scene. "For the last 10 months, I have been in my apartment almost 9 out of 12 hours in the day working on music and perfecting a style that has always interested me: hip hop and trap."
Although he's 22, GAWTBASS has done his fair share of moving around. Chicago. Utah. England. Florida. Colorado. He just wanted a change of scenery; he wanted to experience more than one place. After all, the world doesn't end in Chicago. But what's it like to move around so often? "It's depressing sometimes starting over so much, but at the same time exciting to meet new people," he said. "I look at life as having only myself to rely on." Who is he? Where is he going from here? Get to know GAWTBASS.
Although he's 22, GAWTBASS has done his fair share of moving around. Chicago. Utah. England. Florida. Colorado. He just wanted a change of scenery; he wanted to experience more than one place. After all, the world doesn't end in Chicago. But what's it like to move around so often? "It's depressing sometimes starting over so much, but at the same time exciting to meet new people," he said. "I look at life as having only myself to rely on." Who is he? Where is he going from here? Get to know GAWTBASS.
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Name: Graham Gawthorpe
Age: 22
Hometown: Chicago
Location: Boulder, CO
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Where do you gather inspiration? I usually gain inspiration by taking a walk outside to the gas station to buy myself some cigs. I just listen to some of my favorite artists or some classical piano and by the time I get home I'm ready to knock out another banger. :)
What's the process for starting a new song? Listen to some tunes, brew some coffee, and sit there until I finish my first draft.
How have you evolved since you first started? 2 followers at the start to about 6,250 followers, EDM.com features, I think almost 1 million total views.
What can we expect from GAWTBASS in 2014? Always on the grind for my music, so probably within the next week... new music wise. Shows... not for another half a year to year. I'm still working on a few aspects to my production before I play shows. But I've had offers to play some decent sized shows so I'm sure that won't be an issue when I want to make it happen.
Where can your fans see you perform live? Not yet ;)
As an artist, how do you define success? Making goals, planning every angle (aka the pros and cons) and just making the first step to do it. Then from there all it is, is consistincy and staying inspired and motivated. It's hard but if you look at my progress I had no idea this was possible with just those things.
Where's one place you'd love to visit? Sweden. I have no idea why, it just seems like a nice place and the accent is beautiful to me.
What do you do when you're not making music? Think about making music.
What's your all time favorite food? I love all food!
Who are some of your favorite musicians? Luminox, Beethoven, Yo-Yo-Ma, Tincup, Kai Wachi, Ulrich Schnauss and a lot of acoustic bands.
GAWTBASS, aka Graham Gawthorpe, is a kind soul whose passion for his craft is evident, even through a computer screen. "Comfort is what holds everyone back," he said. "Once you make the step to go and do something, that's when things start happening." Things are happening.
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Mini bio:
GAWTBASS started playing the cello at age 7, performing around the world with orchestras as well as solo and group concerts around Chicago. By age 13 he switched gears and picked up the guitar. He was self-taught but eventually took lessons until age 19.
He instructed guitar for a year then moved to England to pursue a career in computer programming. One year later, he traveled back to the U.S. to attend Florida's Full Sail University in order to focus fully on music. "This didn't go too well, since I've always had a hard time in school and focusing in class, so I dropped out," said GAWTBASS.
"Life got really hard at that point, meeting some bad people and leading me down paths with bad decisions and I had to pull myself out of it and I moved again," he said. Before he moved, he went to popular clubs in Florida, Roxy and Firestone, and "would just spend hours watching the DJs wishing it was me, while everyone would get drunk and dance."
Eventually, he made the final decision to venture to a little peaceful town in Colorado called Boulder. He cleaned himself up and went hard into music. He's been there the last 10 months cranking out songs. Listen to his work and let your ears be your guide.
Check him out:
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