Q&A with Cut Snake
CUT SNAKE. They're tan & blonde & good looking, pretty much what you'd imagine a stereotypical Australian/San Diegan hybrid to be. But the boys are also funny & friendly. Let's just say these two gentlemen are not to be taken seriously. They've got a very rampant sense of humor, more so Paul, what with his dick surfboard and all. But one thing is perfectly clear: Australia has the best waves. Sorry California, you just don't cut it for these lads from the Land Down Under.
Cut Snake's music can be best described as chill wave techno. Their jams are the kind of thing you tap your toes to, nodding your head & swaying slightly to the beat. The duo will be playing at HARD Summer on August 2 + 3, their first festival in Los Angeles.
Cut Snake's music can be best described as chill wave techno. Their jams are the kind of thing you tap your toes to, nodding your head & swaying slightly to the beat. The duo will be playing at HARD Summer on August 2 + 3, their first festival in Los Angeles.
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| Paul (left) & Leigh (right) |
Names:
Leigh Sedley & Paul Fisher
Age:
Leigh: 30
Paul: 28
Hometown:
Leigh: Sunshine Coast (Australia)
Paul: Fuck knows
Location:
Both: Los Angeles
What do you think the other person brings to the duo?
Leigh: Fish brings nudity, bad breath, and A LOT of noise.
Paul: Music, picks his nose a lot, always scratching his ass too. He also brings a shit smell with him.
Where do you find inspiration?
Leigh: I find a lot of inspiration in old music, I try to be open and listen to everything. I dig almost all styles of music, and so listening to a wide range helps me bring different elements into whatever we're working on.
Paul: The beach.
What's the music-making process like?
Leigh: Normally just us sitting in the studio for 10 hours with a carton of beer. By the end we emerge thinking we have made THE BIGGEST TUNE EVER.
Paul: Fun. Loud. Repetitive. Slow. Fast. Grooving. Dancing.
How did you two meet?
Leigh: We met when we were 12. We had to stay together for 3 days to film a small TV surf documentary. He was an absolute animal. To this day, I don't think I'll ever see a looser 12 year old than Fisher!
Paul: We met at the beach competing against each other. From there we travelled the world, surfing, and partying having the hell time.
What are you most psyched about for HARD Summer?
Leigh: This is our first festival in LA, so I guess just getting to play such a big festival amongst so many of the artists we look up to.
Paul: Just to play in front of a crowd that loves house music and is there to go crazy and have fun. Also watching other amazing artists from everywhere going mad! I also just wanna get right amongst it and have a boogie.
What's the best television show ever created?
Leigh: The Simpsons.
Paul: Breaking Bad.
How would you describe your perfect day?
Leigh: Wake up to a big healthy breakfast in bed, followed by a long surf with good mates in perfect waves, a few beers in the afternoon watching the sunset, then hit a Jimmy Buffet concert in Hawaii.
Paul: Getting barrelled all day, coming in with all ya mates and just having beers, listening to good tunes while the sun goes down.
What's the San Diego surf culture like compared to Australia's?
Leigh: It is very similar but the waves in Australia are way better.
Paul: SD waves break once a year. Australia breaks everyday.
Do you dream in color or black & white?
Leigh: Colour of course!
Paul: Colour. I love colour.
What do you do when you're not making sweet sweet music?
Leigh: Surf, eat good food, and travel. It's a tough life.
Paul: Surfing my brains out. Hanging with my girl, friends, and family!!!
Leigh & Paul's personalities & tunes showcase their style effectively. You don't have to be best friends with them to know that they're cool kids. From Oz to U.S., from The Simpsons to Breaking Bad, from the Sunshine Coast to "fuck knows," Mr. Fisher & Mr. Sedley are good guys, good vibes. Stay updated. Stay cool. Stay positive.
Find the boys on:
Facebook
SoundCloud
Twitter
Website
Read more of my Q&A interviews. :]
Bloglovin // Facebook // Instagram // Twitter
Find the boys on:
SoundCloud
Website
Read more of my Q&A interviews. :]
Bloglovin // Facebook // Instagram // Twitter
Q&A with Shiba San
SHIBA SAN. This French native is making waves globally, taking house music from his home to yours. Paired with his background in hip hop, Shiba San's music style contains bits of deep house and ghetto funk. The artist is scheduled to play his premier U.S. festival at HARD Summer 2014. The electronic dance music festival takes place on August 2 + 3 at the Whittier Narrows Recreation Area in Los Angeles. "Okay," one of Shiba San's latest songs, has garnered quite a bit of attention throughout the EDM realm. Bust out your speakers, take a listen, and let it soak in. Okay? Okay. Shiba San is very chill and bassy, perfect for summer.
Name: Shiba San
Age: Changing all the time
Hometown: Paris
Location: Paris
Where do you gather inspiration? It's coming from everywhere. I'm listening to a lot of stuff coming from a lot of countries. Sometimes when I'm riding my scooter--that's a very Parisian thing to do, riding a scooter--I have an idea for a melody, I stop and I record it on my iPhone. Thank you Steve.
Why the name "Shiba San?" It's a Japanese dog, which I like a lot, with a similar personality as mine. Moody.
How do you define success? Berthillon on a sunny Sunday afternoon in June. You have to be Parisian to understand.
What is your favorite thing to see in the audience while you're on stage? I obviously like to see people reacting to my music, jumping up and down, booties & boobs, you know what I mean.
What are you most excited about for HARD Summer? That's going to be my first festival in the US. I saw the videos, so I'm very impatient to be there.
What's the best film of all time? Se7en.
What do you do when you're not making music? I listen to music.... a lot. I like to play tennis too and I like spending time with my friends and not with my manager.
If you could have one superpower, what would it be? The one from Sangoku.
Find Shiba San on:
How to Tie Dye a Shirt with Bleach
If you've heard of tie-dying with bleach, you might be wondering how on earth do you do it. Is it complex? Nope, dyeing with bleach is pretty simple and you can switch up the results.
Supplies you'll need:
+ An old t-shirt (must be cotton!)
+ Bleach
+ Water
+ Rubberbands
+ Spray bottle
+ Spray bottle
+ A well-ventilated area outdoors
Other optional items to bleach:
+ Sweatpants+ Sweatshirt
Hello, my dear friends! It's been a long time coming, but I'm proud to bring you a super easy DIY project. This is an easy bleach tie dye DIY project to do with any old t-shirt that leaves you uninspired. We all have some old tees that we never wear anymore. Once you learn how to tie dye with bleach, it gets easier to create patterns.
Of course, you could do this do-it-yourself project with anything you have, sweatshirt, sweatpants, an old towel. It doesn't have to be a t-shirt but this is a great starting point. Go through your closet to look for items that need to be upscaled or tossed out.
Of course, you could do this do-it-yourself project with anything you have, sweatshirt, sweatpants, an old towel. It doesn't have to be a t-shirt but this is a great starting point. Go through your closet to look for items that need to be upscaled or tossed out.
This bleach tie dye DIY project only takes a few minutes & you can witness the magic as it happens. Using bleach to tie-dye shirts is fun but make sure you're safe.
I recommend you find a well-ventilated area and let's get to it and wear rubber gloves. The total time of this tie-dye technique should take no more than 20 minutes.
Other optional items to bleach:
+ Sweatpants
+ Sweatshirt
Love DIY? Try this easy DIY sugar scrub.
+ Sweatpants
+ Sweatshirt
Love DIY? Try this easy DIY sugar scrub.
Materials you'll need:
+ An old t-shirt (must be cotton!)
+ Bleach
+ Water
+ Spray bottle
Note: this is my way. I didn't do it the standard way, which required way too much bleach. I really like how it turned out. But that's usually how I roll. I like to do it my way. If you like how it turned out, here's how to do it:
Steps:
1. Grab an old shirt that you don't care for anymore. Make sure you're wearing old clothes yourself in case any bleach gets on it. Prepare your shirt for dyeing. Make sure it's clean and ready to go. Twist the shirt haphazardly and add 2 or 3 rubber bands. Locate your spray bottle. Now mix equal parts bleach & water. For this particular bleach tie dye DIY project, my mixture amounted to about 1/4 of a cup.
Protect yourself. You need to be in a well-ventilated area. Make sure you go outside for this. Bleach is extremely toxic, so get a lot of fresh air! Gloves are also recommended.
2. Twist or fold the fabric in shape to create a pattern. You can do a spiral pattern, make it random, or follow a particular design online.
3. Applying the Bleach: You're going to spray the bleach solution mixture directly on t-shirt. As you apply the bleach, the more you spray the solution (the more damp it is) the lighter it'll get. Depending on the color of your shirt or how dark it is, the bleach could potentially turn it white. You want to make sure the bleached parts are damp. On my shirt, the lighter sections had a considerable amount of bleach versus the reddish areas that had less bleach. I like the contrast and color change.
4. Spray your shirt. Now take out the rubber bands & relocate them. Essentially, you're going to do steps 1 & 2 several times until you get your desired result. Your bleach tie dye DIY is your creation. If you only do it one time, your shirt will be mostly unbleached (& incomplete). Let it sit to let the bleach continue dyeing the shirt.
I would've taken a photo to document the process, but my hands were bleachy so that was a no-go. Keep spraying to keep bleaching. Take out the rubber bands & replace until you have your desired look.
5. After it's dyed with bleach, wash and rinse your shirt in the washing machine. Rinse it separately since there's bleach on it. After the rinse and washing, you can add color to the bleached areas if you want.
How long do you let bleach tie dye sit?
Leave it for a few minutes to let the bleach continue dyeing the shirt.
This easy bleach tie dye DIY method only takes 10 minutes, a maximum 20. It only takes a few minutes to see the initial results. Of course, there are various methods, but this one is quite simple. If you're outside on a nice, sunny day you can literally see the bleach working as you spray it. Give your revamped shirt as a gift to someone else or enjoy your 'new' shirt. It made this plain, black tee so much more fresh & fun.
You can even dye the bleached areas for added color and dimension.
Before you dump those old grimy clothes, you should see if you can DIY it first! Have a great day. Stay crafty and add this to your list of craft projects. The best thing about this home project is that you can use something from your own closet, something you might not have wanted. It gives you the chance to revamp it. You can experiment with different fabrics too. Hope you enjoyed this tutorial.
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:
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