Post by Adam B on Jul 19, 2005 10:44:18 GMT -5
The Earthquake Institute Interview
by Adam Bernard
The art of Hip-Hop. It's something that's occasionally discussed, but seldom seen. The Earthquake Institute, consisting of Spit-Ball and Simon Sez, however, wants to bring the art back into Hip-Hop. Spit-Ball explains "that's our whole angle the art, the beat making aspect of it." Simon Sez seconded this, saying "at the end of the day if you're a real producer and you're coming out with a unique sound you would have studied the music for a couple of years or you're a DJ and you're working and studying it."
A couple of years is an understatement when it comes to the history of these two. The duo that make up The Earthquake Institute are originally from Oxnard, California, where they started DJing separately in the late 80's. In the mid 90's Spit-Ball and Simon Sez started doing production and a few years ago they moved to their current location in Northridge, across the street from the epicenter of the earthquake that partly inspired their name.
The equipment they taught themselves production on is no different from the equipment they use today, in fact, they never switched from their original stuff. "We're still working on the stuff since we've had since the 90's, the SP1200 and the ASR10," explains Spit-Ball, who continued "we're still making the beats on those pieces of equipment because they have that classic dirty east coast sound, like Marly Marl and Bomb Squad of the late 80's so we stay on those pieces of equipment."
Becoming producers was not an overnight thing for The Earthquake Institute. According to Simon Sez "there was a process there of a couple years of learning the engineering process, making beats, writing, just trying to evolve as artists. We figured out early on if we were going to have a company and have a group you were going to pretty much have to rely on ourselves."
The self reliance of Spit-Ball and Simon Sez led to a few independent releases and now a full fledged album, titled "Super B-Boy Pimpin," being out. Spit-Ball notes "it feels a lot different now that we have distribution and we have our stuff in the stores." The album is a combination of all the years put into learning the crafts of both DJing and production mixed with a love of diggin' in the crates.
Spit-Ball describes him and his production partner as "hardcore avid beat diggers." The duo head out on a weekly basis looking for albums that have been ignored by the masses. "We're definitely into going into the old thrift stores and finding the old samples," notes Simon Sez. There has been one casualty from all their beat digging, their personal space. According to Spit-Ball "our studio is wall to wall vinyl, and our house." "Our whole damned house," adds Simon Sez "it's at the point where you start considering storage."
The sound the duo have created and is on display on "Super B-Boy Pimpin" is something Simon Sez describes as "ground shaking, body shaking Hip-Hop," adding that it's "different but danceable." This, along with the earthquake that rocked Northridge in the 90's, is the inspiration for their name, The Earthquake Institute. The first people to catch on to the ground shaking sound outside for their community were the folks over at Mun2, the Latin television station.
While the single "Super B-Boy Pimpin" and "Swerve" were finding their way onto Billboard's Rap / R&B singles charts Spit-Ball says "a lot of the networks like Mun2 gave us a lot of spins on our videos on the love tip." That love, and that courage to play something new rather than simply playing what everyone else was playing, helped develop a major buzz for The Earthquake Institute. The buzz motivated them even further as Simon Sez notes "that really made us say we had to lock down this distribution thing because we had spins and we needed product out."
Getting spins on Mun2 and charting on a Billboard chart are some major moves for an independent group. The whole time, however, Spit-Ball and Simon Sez were on their grind making even more moves. Simon Sez explains "one of our strong suits was our live shows, so we'd find out which clubs were happenin, hop in the car, meet the promoter and set up a live show." "We would drive to LA four times a week," added Spit-Ball "an hour up and an hour back."
As they have proven, both to themselves and to everyone who knows them, all the hard work paid off in a major way. The duo not only has an album in stores, but Simon Sez I quick to point out, they've also learned the business end of the industry along the way. Simon Sez notes the importance of learning the business end of things saying "at the end of the day if you haven't figured out how to market yourself as an artist you're just going to be a really talented guy in your bedroom."
Ladies and gentleman, The Earthquake Institute has left their bedroom.
by Adam Bernard
The art of Hip-Hop. It's something that's occasionally discussed, but seldom seen. The Earthquake Institute, consisting of Spit-Ball and Simon Sez, however, wants to bring the art back into Hip-Hop. Spit-Ball explains "that's our whole angle the art, the beat making aspect of it." Simon Sez seconded this, saying "at the end of the day if you're a real producer and you're coming out with a unique sound you would have studied the music for a couple of years or you're a DJ and you're working and studying it."
A couple of years is an understatement when it comes to the history of these two. The duo that make up The Earthquake Institute are originally from Oxnard, California, where they started DJing separately in the late 80's. In the mid 90's Spit-Ball and Simon Sez started doing production and a few years ago they moved to their current location in Northridge, across the street from the epicenter of the earthquake that partly inspired their name.
The equipment they taught themselves production on is no different from the equipment they use today, in fact, they never switched from their original stuff. "We're still working on the stuff since we've had since the 90's, the SP1200 and the ASR10," explains Spit-Ball, who continued "we're still making the beats on those pieces of equipment because they have that classic dirty east coast sound, like Marly Marl and Bomb Squad of the late 80's so we stay on those pieces of equipment."
Becoming producers was not an overnight thing for The Earthquake Institute. According to Simon Sez "there was a process there of a couple years of learning the engineering process, making beats, writing, just trying to evolve as artists. We figured out early on if we were going to have a company and have a group you were going to pretty much have to rely on ourselves."
The self reliance of Spit-Ball and Simon Sez led to a few independent releases and now a full fledged album, titled "Super B-Boy Pimpin," being out. Spit-Ball notes "it feels a lot different now that we have distribution and we have our stuff in the stores." The album is a combination of all the years put into learning the crafts of both DJing and production mixed with a love of diggin' in the crates.
Spit-Ball describes him and his production partner as "hardcore avid beat diggers." The duo head out on a weekly basis looking for albums that have been ignored by the masses. "We're definitely into going into the old thrift stores and finding the old samples," notes Simon Sez. There has been one casualty from all their beat digging, their personal space. According to Spit-Ball "our studio is wall to wall vinyl, and our house." "Our whole damned house," adds Simon Sez "it's at the point where you start considering storage."
The sound the duo have created and is on display on "Super B-Boy Pimpin" is something Simon Sez describes as "ground shaking, body shaking Hip-Hop," adding that it's "different but danceable." This, along with the earthquake that rocked Northridge in the 90's, is the inspiration for their name, The Earthquake Institute. The first people to catch on to the ground shaking sound outside for their community were the folks over at Mun2, the Latin television station.
While the single "Super B-Boy Pimpin" and "Swerve" were finding their way onto Billboard's Rap / R&B singles charts Spit-Ball says "a lot of the networks like Mun2 gave us a lot of spins on our videos on the love tip." That love, and that courage to play something new rather than simply playing what everyone else was playing, helped develop a major buzz for The Earthquake Institute. The buzz motivated them even further as Simon Sez notes "that really made us say we had to lock down this distribution thing because we had spins and we needed product out."
Getting spins on Mun2 and charting on a Billboard chart are some major moves for an independent group. The whole time, however, Spit-Ball and Simon Sez were on their grind making even more moves. Simon Sez explains "one of our strong suits was our live shows, so we'd find out which clubs were happenin, hop in the car, meet the promoter and set up a live show." "We would drive to LA four times a week," added Spit-Ball "an hour up and an hour back."
As they have proven, both to themselves and to everyone who knows them, all the hard work paid off in a major way. The duo not only has an album in stores, but Simon Sez I quick to point out, they've also learned the business end of the industry along the way. Simon Sez notes the importance of learning the business end of things saying "at the end of the day if you haven't figured out how to market yourself as an artist you're just going to be a really talented guy in your bedroom."
Ladies and gentleman, The Earthquake Institute has left their bedroom.