Dirty Bass: Interview with Far East Movement
You have an upcoming album, Dirty Bass. What can you tell me about that?
Kev Nish: When we first got signed, we got signed to Cherrytree and we had the song Girls on the Dance Floor. That mentality was bringing a Bass sound, the LA Bass, to the dance floors. And we got the song Like a G6 and another song called So What, keeping that Bass mentality to pop music.
We thought that with this album, we wanted to take that ideology and sound further. And we really dug into our roots of growing up in LA, listening to Masta Ace, Easy E, Boys in the Hood, just that hip-hop with heavy bass.
So these bands have influenced your new album?
Kev Nish: What we did for this album, to bring us back to high school, riding in your mom’s Ford with heavy subwoofers in the back, we actually bought a 1989 Cadillac and we fitted it Dirty Bass style [shows me a picture of their pimped out Cadillac limo with crazy rims and a fat sub in the trunk]. There is a TV on the sides of the car, and a major bass sound in the back. That’s Dirty Bass.
That whole album is inspired by that heavy bass music, but with pop. So, Free Wire was a match up with all the genres like hip-hop that we love. Dirty Bass is also a match up, but with pop music that we love, and this album is a lot of fun.
If you compare this music to your first album, Folk Music, how do you feel the music has evolved?
Kev Nish: It’s changed. In Free Wire we matched up a lot of genres, and it was more of an experimental album. With Dirty Bass we really focused the sound so that it’s more to our inspirations in Bass music. So that is definitely in our song writing. Our song writing is pin-pointed a lot more. We wanted to say what we wanted to say in fewer words and express that lifestyle. And the hooks that we are writing are better than the last album, I think.
How come, the hooks are better in this album?
Kev Nish: In our last album, we wrote or co-wrote all of the hooks on there if other artists were singing them. That’s like what we as producers like to do. And with this album, we are definitely showing the lifestyle and getting our feelings out more clearly. And for us that’s writing better songs. So a lot of touring, co-producing and meeting other artists made us feel that we have become better as a band.
My final question, we have a lot of bloggers who follow Asian music and a lot of Kpop. One of them is Linzer Dinzer who asked this question: I’d like to know more about the Cherrytree family. It seems to me they have more of a team pride than most American labels and are more similar to Kpop in that way. Do they hang out together? Any collaborations in the future with Colette Carr or anyone?
Kev Nish: That’s an excellent question, and that’s very true. That’s why we signed to Cherrytree. The mentality of the label with the head of Cherrytree, Martin Kierszenbaum, was unlike any other label we could find in the US. We have toured with all of the Cherrytree artists, like Robyn to LMFAO, La Roux. And we all worked together, we all hang out together. Whoever has a record out, we all help each other. And so it is that family vibe, and there are some special collaborations.
Like what?
Kev Nish: I don’t know if I can announce this one. Ah, whatever, I can announce this one. We haven’t said it on any interviews yet. We officially have a song with our Cherrytree label mates Tokio Hotel. I’m telling this because the album is getting closer and we wanna let people know.
Their fans and our fans have been wondering who they have been working with, so… that kind of shows the mentality of the Cherrytree in its essence.
Alright, thanks guys. And good luck tonight performing on Annexet.
All the guys: Thanks a lot, Peter.
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By Peter Andersson
