Jammerzine Exclusive

An Exclusive Interview with Slug from Atmosphere (The Week in #Indie Segment)

An Exclusive Interview with Slug from Atmosphere (The Week in #Indie Segment)

I love it when a guest in one of our exclusives is brutally honest and to the point. That’s the way the world should be. It cuts through the bullshit and things get done a lot faster and more proficiently. And today’s guest is a perfect example. That guest is Slug from Atmosphere. It’s that very honest, both with others and introspectively, that helped make Slug what he is today: A legend in the music industry and a founder of one of the most respected labels in that industry, namely Rhymesayers Entertainment.

Today I get to talk with Slug about the importance of being honest to one’s self, as well as their following. We also get in depth about ‘Mi Vida Local’ (My Local Life) and the meaning of the music and the process of making the album. We also get some updates of the Mi Vida Local Tour (tour information below) and the supporting acts.

Think of this more as a conversation with a true innovator.

Atmosphere on tour
US Hip-Hop legends Atmosphere return to Europe for the Mi Vida Local Tour. After extensively touring North America since the release of their ‘seventh’ album, Mi Vida Local, the kings of indie Hip-Hop will be coming across the pond for eight exclusive live shows this April.

Mi Vida Local has received extensive critical acclaim since its October release and showcases their innovative and defining style of Hip-Hop. With over 20 years in the game and such a phenomenal back catalog, Slug and Ant promise a run of unforgettable performances.

Main support for the Mi Vida Local Tour Europe will be from newer Rhymesayers signee deM atlaS off the back of his debut album Bad Actress, which was produced entirely by Ant (Atmosphere) and was also released October 2018. The innovative rapper/singer/crooner also released his spellbinding 5-song visual EP, “Bad Loves Company” in line with the album. Additional supporting artists include The Lioness and DJ Keezy.

Featured image credit: Dan Monick.

LINKS:
https://rse.lnk.to/MiVidaLocal
https://rhymesayers.com/artists/atmosphere
https://www.facebook.com/Atmosphere
https://twitter.com/atmosphere
https://www.instagram.com/atmosphere

An Interview with Evi Vine (The Week in #Indie Segment)

An Interview with Evi Vine (The Week in #Indie Segment)

Ethereal alt-rock outfit Evi Vine presents ‘Sabbath’, a sweet and heavy preview of their long-awaited long-play ‘Black Light White Dark’, out now on vinyl and CD, as well as digitally. This powerhouse track features Evi Vine’s gossamer vocals and precise orchestration, cleverly woven together with bass guitar by Simon Gallup of The Cure and guitar by Peter Yates of Fields of the Nephilim.

Produced by Dave Izumi (Nordic Giants, Ed Harcourt, Magic Numbers) and mixed by Phill Brown (Talk Talk, Jimmy Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, John Martyn, Robert Palmer), this album also features contributions from several other celebrated artists. Apart from Simon Gallup (The Cure), this album also involves Martyn Barker (Shriekback, Billy Bragg, Marianne Faithfull, Goldfrapp), Peter Yates (Fields of the Nephilim), and Geraldine Swayne (Faust).

As a group, Evi Vine is joined by Steven Hill, Matt Tye, and David ‘GB’ Smith. Their music explores the dark elemental nature of the human heart, as well as environmental and post-apocalyptic themes. Evi Vine’s sound is both sublime and haunting. Creating a unique and uncompromising atmosphere, the effect is reverential, physical music, evoking a rare experience that is beautiful, sparse and deeply intimate.

“I know a lot of people are being shaped by experiences in our lives, ghosts of childhood, self-destructive pain and sorrow, all our personal struggles, doubt, and change. I can feel the earth dying and it makes me so sad. We write reflective songs about the circular patterns of man, and reflecting beauty and violence in the world,” says Evi Vine.

“We recorded live for the first time, which meant we were perhaps able to express the energy in the room together, vibing off one another and experimenting with new sounds, in a new space. Writing in the room was a new experience for us. Its the first time we’ve gone in with no finished songs. We had a few ideas and riffs but took the time to let them breathe and worked on them until we felt we had captured a special moment. After producing two albums essentially at home, this feels like a re-birth for the band.”

Evi Vine’s debut self-released debut album ‘…And So The Morning Comes’ was heralded as “the underground gem of 2011” by Drowned in Sound and championed by Simon Raymonde (Bella Union, Cocteau Twins) as his album of the year. Directed by Oscar-winning Nick Brooks (Fight Club, The Matrix, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Evi joined with internationally acclaimed photographer Patrick Fraser to make the stunning video ‘For the Dreamers’.

Their second album ‘Give Your Heart to The Hawks’ (2015) was co-produced by Richard Formby (Mogwai, Spacemen 3, Wild Beasts) and mixed by the legendary Phill Brown (Beth Gibbons, John Martyn, Talk Talk, Led Zeppelin, Robert Palmer). The album also featured Martyn Barker, Peter Yates, Tatia Starkey (My Vitriol/Lola Colt), and Billy Cote (Madder Rose).

Evi’s career has been filled with color. She formed this band while living in LA, quickly getting a support show opening for Slash at the Whiskey-agogo. She has collaborated with Graham Revell (SPK, The Crow Soundtrack), The Eden House, Tony Pettit (Fields of the Nephilim), and Peter Yates (Fields of the Nephilim). In 2016, Evi sang on Phillip Clemo’s ‘DreamMaps’ album, together with Talk Talk’s Simon Edwards and Martin Ditcham, subsequently making appearances on BBC6, BBC3 Late Junction and Jazz FM.

Most recently, Evi Vine contributed backing vocals on The Mission’s 2016 album ‘Another Fall From Grace’, which hit the UK top-40 album chart, and collaborated with Michael Ciravolo on the debut album from LA-based Beauty in Chaos, involving members of The Cure, Ministry, The Mission, Cheap Trick, The Offspring, King’s X and Ice T, among others.

In recent years, Evi Vine has toured with The Mission, Chameleons Vox, Wayne Hussey, And Also The Trees, Phillip Boa and The Voodoo Club, and Her Name is Calla. After hearing Evi Vine’s debut album and including it among his top five albums, Wayne Hussey invited them to tour with him in 2016 and subsequently with The Mission in 2017. Invited on stage to sing three songs by The Mission, the seed was sown and Vine joined The Mission as the featured vocalist for their 30th Anniversary Tour.

“The new album is intense – dark, layered, wonderfully atmospheric, fragile, and at times stripped bare – an album to get lost in….and then surface with Evi’s haunting and delicate vocals and the endless space,” explains Phill Brown.

The Cure’s Simon Gallup elaborated on his involvement in this project: “Hammersmith …me drunk …meet Evi for the first time I mumble that I’d love to play on a couple of tracks …don’t hear anything for ages than an email out of the blue …Three songs …feel nervous but really enjoy the songs …a day trip to the coast and a lovely welcome with dogs ..have beer and made to feel even more welcome ..worry that what I’m playing isn’t right or not going to fit in but enjoy myself and the warmth of everything ..have to dash as there is a prom on …a very bad hill start and a dash back down the motorway ..a quick day that had started 20 months before.”

LINKS:
http://www.evivine.com
https://www.facebook.com/evi.vine.music
https://twitter.com/evivine
https://evivine.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/evivine
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcPbQaScYhloAHQFURajuZg?view_as=subscriber
https://itunes.apple.com/mn/artist/evi-vine/433578453
https://open.spotify.com/artist/4pZRfgJDhjBjNuYQV09lLt

An Interview with Ashton Nyte (The Week in #Indie Segment)

An Interview with Ashton Nyte (The Week in #Indie Segment)

The Awakening was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1995 as the creative expression of artist Ashton Nyte. Nyte is the sole songwriter, vocalist, producer and primary instrumentalist behind The Awakening, accompanied by hand-picked musicians for live performances. Dubbed “dark future-rock” and “Johannesburg’s Bowie” by the press, Ashton came to prominence in 1997 with The Awakening’s chart-topping rendition of The Sound Of Silence, followed by another five #1 singles and twelve top 10’s. The anthemic single The Dark Romantics became a staple on alternative dance floors around the world, one of the many gems of The Awakening’s catalog of 8 full-length albums, 3 EPs and 2 greatest hits collections.

Ashton Nyte and The Awakening have toured extensively and headlined festivals in the US, Europe, and South Africa, including Ramfest and the Oppikoppi Festival to over 30 000 people. Nyte and The Awakening have been featured in a diverse range of media, from Rolling Stone and Metal Hammer to Dark Beauty and Fangoria.

As a solo artist Ashton Nyte has released 7 stylistically diverse albums in addition to his work released as The Awakening. After relocating to the US in 2008, Nyte released the cinematic dark-folk album “The Valley” which was toured from New York to New Orleans, played on over 200 US stations and drew comparisons to Nebraska-era Springsteen and Johnny Cash.

Nyte toured South Africa in March / April 2014 to promote The Awakening’s “Anthology XV” release, as well as the release of “Moederland”, his first Afrikaans-language album. “Moederland” was named one of the top 10 Afrikaans albums of the year by Netwerk24 and enjoyed two number 1 singles on Afrikaans radio and featured the Nyte-penned duet with Karin Hougaard.

Nyte’s most recent solo album, “Some Kind Of Satellite” (2015) received critical acclaim and was featured in a variety of press including Gothic Beauty, Sonic Seducer, Dark Beauty, Giuseppina and Auxiliary Magazine, among others. The album saw the artist perform a national sold out headline tour of South Africa, in addition to performing with British alternative rock legend, Wayne Hussey. Nyte’s works have been featured on NPR/PRI in the USA, and he has performed live in-studio to 125 million listeners on the international radio show “Border Crossings”. A prolific artist and activist, Nyte has also written and performed in theatrical productions and organized philanthropic events including his “Rock Against Rape” concert series, and presenting a lecture series at US universities focusing on tolerance and acceptance.

2016 saw Nyte collaborate with British guitarist Mark Gemini Thwaite (Peter Murphy, The Mission, Gary Numan) on MGT’s debut solo album, along with Ville Valo (HIM), and a host of other alternative music luminaries. Nyte also completed a 17 date sold out tour, spanning 12 European countries with The Awakening in October 2016. The tour was in support of UK band The Mission’s 30th Anniversary and included prestigious European venues like O2 Shepherd Bush (London), Hard Club (Porto), Markthalle (Hamburg) and many more. The Awakening was the only support for their leg of the tour and crowd response and merchandise sales reflected an ongoing growth for the love of Nyte’s voice and various musical incarnations. Nyte performed with MGT at the Wave Gotik Treffen festival in Leipzig, along with a UK date in June 2017.

In 2018 Nyte co-wrote and co-produced the second MGT album, called “Gemini Nyte”, with Nyte as the only vocalist and lyricist. The album also featured Paul Ferguson (Killing Joke) on drums and was toured with Jyrki69 (The 69 Eyes) across the US in March of 2018. Nyte is currently completing a range of releases for 2019 and has contributed lyrics and vocals to 3 songs on Michael Ciravolo’s “Beauty in Chaos” project, which features members of The Cure, The Mission, Ice-T, Ministry, Cheap Trick and more. The Nyte / Ciravolo composition “Bloodless And Fragile” was used in the television program “The Purge” on USA network. The Awakening has just released a new album, “Chasm” on 26 November 2018 with first single “Back To Wonderland” currently receiving airplay worldwide.

Ashton Nyte ended off 2018 with working on the score of the movie “Relive” with composer Ethan Gold. The movie stars David Oyelowo, Storm Reid and Mykelti Williamson and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2019.

Check out the full interview HERE.

LINKS:
https://theawakening.com
https://facebook.com/theawakeningofficial
https://youtube.com/theawakeningsa

https://ashtonnyte.com
https://facebook.com/ashtonnyte
https://youtube.com/ashtonnyte
https://instagram.com/ashtonnyte
https://twitter.com/ashtonnyte

Jammerzine interviews Jaki Nelson (The Week in #Indie Segment)

Jammerzine interviews Jaki Nelson (The Week in #Indie Segment)

Two time Top 10, four-time Billboard charting pop/dance artist Jaki Nelson is a singer and songwriter from Los Angeles. Her single, “What We Wanna Do” spent six weeks on the Billboard Dance Club Songs Chart and peaked at #29. Her follow-up single, “Uh Oh”, spent 12 weeks on the same chart and peaked at #9. “Uh Oh” also debuted at #12 on Beatport Future House chart, peaking at #4, and was featured numerous times as a Spotify Discover Weekly track.

Jaki has performed at NY Fashion Week (2016/2017), LA Fashion Week (2017) and prestigious clubs including TigerHeat at the legendary Avalon Hollywood 2018 & 2019 (Previous performers include Lady Gaga) as well as LA Pride Weekend (2018) and a headlining spot on the main stage with powerhouse DJ Hector Fonseca (Beyonce, Rihanna) at San Francisco Pride (2018).

In 2018, Jaki released “Dancing With Strangers”, written and produced with GRAMMY winner Dave Aude who has created over 120 #1 Billboard dance remixes (Madonna, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Rihanna). “Dancing With Strangers” peaked at #10 on the Billboard Dance Club Songs Chart and was the only single by an independent artist in the top ten for her week. Jaki shared the honor with greats including U2, Ariana Grande, Cher, Lenny Kravitz, Kygo, and Calvin Harris featuring Sam Smith. The track also peaked at #41 and debuted above Steve Aoki and Vanessa Hudgens on the Billboard Hot Dance/Electronic Chart.

Now, Jaki is debuting her track “High Wasted” by Rayne & Jaki Nelson, produced and co-written with Rayne (“America’s Got Talent”). The “High Wasted” music video continues the story in “Dancing With Strangers” as a prequel.

Jaki is also the featured artist on “The End” (Want It All), the new single from Disco Fries & LoaX. Production duo Disco Fries have worked with everyone from Britney Spears and Katie Perry to Selena Gomez.

LINKS:
https://www.jakinelson.com
https://www.facebook.com/jakinelsonent
https://www.twitter.com/jakinelsonent
https://youtube.com/jakinelson
https://instagram.com/jakinelson

Beauty in Chaos Release 'Un-Natural Disaster' Ft. Dug Pinnick, Zakk Wylde & Ice-T (The Week in #Indie Segment)

Beauty in Chaos Release ‘Un-Natural Disaster’ Ft. Dug Pinnick, Zakk Wylde & Ice-T (The Week in #Indie Segment)

‘Un-Natural Disaster’ (Collide Mix) is the first song to be previewed from the soon-to-be-released album ‘Beauty Re-Envisioned’, which will contain an extremely wide variety of remixes and alternate versions of many of the tracks that appear on their debut album ‘Finding Beauty in Chaos’. Both albums are produced by Ministry’s Grammy-nominated producer Michael Rozon at Ciravolo’s own SAINTinLA Studio.

This track breaks the constraints placed on the debut album, not only due to the addition of synthesizers but also in the wicked unleashing of a blistering guitar solo by guitar guru Zakk Wylde.

“Zakk plays more notes on this solo than I did on the entire album, but with taste, technique and a ton of flair,”
Michael Ciravolo laughs.

For this project, Ciravolo – a New Orleans native – teamed up with King’s X’s dUg Pinnick, who previously lived in Houston. Their shared experiences and memories of the chaos caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Harvey, along with the ‘beauty’ of those who came to help the victims, profoundly shaped the song’s music and lyrics.

“When Michael sent me the music and asked me if I would sing and play on it, I immediately said yes. I think it rocks!! And some deep lyrics were my thoughts. Since I come from Katy Texas, where it flooded a few years ago very badly and, not very far away, it was the same for New Orleans, I thought it was appropriate to sing about the un-natural disasters that are happening due to man’s ignorance,”
says dUg Pinnick.

“It was fun putting my bass part on the track and a big surprise is on the same song with Ice-T and Zakk Wylde. What a great opportunity, I’m glad to be a part of this project. And the video shoot was wet!! Lol! And so much fun… and even captures the serious topic of this song.”

Ice-T, famed rapper, actor and frontman of Body Count, also spits out a poignant exclamation point to the extent of these tragedies.

“This song really hits close to home as I was born and raised in New Orleans. I lived in Los Angeles when Katrina hit, but watched as friends and family lost everything. My elderly Aunt was evacuated as the city’s services shut down, and sadly she did not survive the move to Alabama. She along with at least 1200 others lost their lives as a result of this devastating hurricane,”
says Michael Ciravolo.

Vicente Cordero, who directed the accompanying video, also directed the three previous Beauty In Chaos videos, delivers a visually stunning interpretation of this song. Production credit for all four goes to Industrialism Films.

Originally from New Orleans and now based in LA, Michael Ciravolo has played guitar in Human Drama for the past 30 years, most recently on ‘Broken Songs for Broken People’ (2017). Perhaps best known as President of Schecter Guitar Research, he has also played live and recorded with Michael Aston’s Gene Loves Jezebel since 1998.

The debut album ‘Finding Beauty in Chaos’ features numerous music luminaries, including Wayne Hussey (The Mission), Simon Gallup (The Cure), Robin Zander (Cheap Trick), Pete Parada (The Offspring), dUg Pinnick (Kings X), ICE-T (Body Count), Michael Aston (Gene Loves Jezebel), Michael Anthony (Van Halen), Dirk Doucette (Gene Loves Jezebel), Ashton Nyte (The Awakening), Pando (A Flock of Seagulls), Evi Vine, Betsy Martin (Caterwaul / Purr Machine), Marc Danzeisen (The Riverdogs), Kevin Kipnis (Purr Machine / Kommunity FK), Rudy Matchinga (Red Scare), Johnny Indovina (Human Drama), and Tish Ciravolo (StunGun/ Daisy Rock Guitars).

LINKS:
https://www.beautyinchaosmusic.com
https://www.beautyinchaosmusic.com/bic-blog
https://www.facebook.com/beautyinchaosmusic
https://www.instagram.com/beauty.inchaos
https://twitter.com/MichaelCiravolo
https://soundcloud.com/33-3-music-collective
https://beautyinchaos.bandcamp.com

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