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The Dirtball Interview
By David Friedman "Crook County" is your third full-length album for Suburban Noize Records. What were you going for and what are you looking for this album to do for your career? Usually, I’m just getting random beats, trying to piece albums together and it’s just been that for my first two with Suburban Noize. This one, I wanted to focus a little more on that. Since I’m a drummer, I teamed up with Mike Kumagai, the Kottonmouth Kings producer. And I recorded beats here in Oregon — a lot of the familiar patterns of beats that I do. I sent them on our hotline server down to Mike and I flew down there for a couple weeks. We sat in his studio and created these tracks that were oriented around my drum beats because I’m gonna have the drums out in the future. Kottonmouth Kings drummer, Lou Dog made me this cocktail kit and I’m just slowly bringing it out. Is the sound similar to what we got on your last album? My goal with that was to have a familiar sound for me and a lot of live banger tracks that I could ultimately rock on the road. That’s kind of how I went into this record as far as the music. As far as lyrically, I just went in trying to showcase all types of rapping I can do. Mostly, I’ve become more known for my fast rapping, which I did do three or four solid tracks. I kind of have a hard time getting away from it anyway. But there’s some other cool styles on the album — a little more rock influenced. I brought in guitars. I kind of brought it back to where I felt comfortable with the whole project. It was just closer to me. When you get so many different beats and stuff, it can kind of be a little further away from you. So I just wanted to bring it more home, close to me, so I could feel more comfortable rocking it for the next year. On this tour you have coming up you’ll be headlining with Big B. Will you be playing drums as well as rapping? Not on this "Born For Battle" one that Big B and I are doing. More likely, I’m thinking it will be on the "Strange Noize" tour in August. That’s when I’m gonna break it out. I can actually rap even tighter and more intricate when I’m on my drums. That’s how I schooled my rapping. It’s crazy because that’s how I rapped for a long time. I’ve been into rap music since I was little. But I’ve had bands and this one band, I had a boom mic in for a couple of years because I kept hitting my teeth and chipping my teeth. So I straight up rocked a headset. I know it’s a weird thing, but I ultimately had to do it. And through those next three, four years of doing that with my band, I straight up schooled myself with rapping. That’s where the fast rapping comes from. So people will see it at the end of the summer. I’m just gonna showcase it. I’m not gonna be rocking the whole song and stuff. But ultimately, I’d like to have a backing rhythm section if I could do some stuff like that — you know, take it to another level. Have you talked to Lou Dog or maybe another drummer about possibly joining you on the road? Lou actually brought it up! He said, "If you need a drummer, keep me in mind." You’ve seen all his crazy creations. I mean, he just made this one that’s so awesome. It’s like all "Raptillion" green. It’s totally different from the theme of this record, but still it’s tight. So I’m gonna bring a kit out on tour. It’s kind of like my little back card thing. People are gonna be like, "What is this dude doing?!" So that’ll be coming out. I didn’t necessarily do all the tracks with drums just to play them, but just because I can rock harder when the beats are my own. Why do you think that is? I don’t really know actually. It’s an interesting thing. I was just sitting down and playing my drums yesterday and rapping. And I was like, "Man, it’s such a different thing!" I don’t know if it’s just the fact that all four limbs are ripping and your brain and it’s just intoxicating or what! But it’s pretty crazy. I’ve been talking about it too much lately. I just have to execute the whole plan. So you feel like the drumming gets your rap delivery going faster? That’s how I schooled my rapping. I kind of shaped my patterning, so to speak, with my raps off of hi-hat patterns and kick-snare patterns. So ultimately, when you hear me rapping, you know that. Then you’ll be like, "Oh, OK." And when you listen to me again, you’ll be like, "Oh, man, that’s crazy." Tech N9ne was just in town the last couple of days. He had a barbecue over here and he was talking about the same thing. He drums and that’s how he does a lot of his patterns. It’s just an interesting conversation because it’s never-ending patterns. You’re writing four bars in a different pattern, four bars in a different pattern and then just linking them all together. That’s what kind of does it. Were you inspired by other rappers who rap rapidly — like Twista or Bone Thugs-N-Harmony? I like the Dungeon Family — like Outkast, Cee-Lo. A lot of these rappers, I wasn’t super-influenced by. Outkast, I was pretty heavily. But you can see the same kind of laid-back, fast, double-time action with Big Boi and Andre. It’s the same thing, so that was a big influence for me. But I’ve been influenced by a lot of rappers over the years. I feel like I’m getting too old. I’m 33 now. So anywhere back to Boogie Down Productions. Granted, I am only 33 and a lot of people can go further back. But I am influenced by a lot of people. Boondox from Psychopathic Records told me that doing the song "Tried True & Tested" with you for your "Crook County" CD brought out the lyricist in him. That’s cool to hear. I met him a couple tours back. I think it was on the "Hallowicked" tour, when me and Big B were on that — a year and a half ago. He kind of reminded me of myself a little bit, just cranking out there. I really liked his style. I was like, "Man, of any Psychopathic artist, I would definitely choose Boondox." We kind of talked about it a little bit. It was his first collaboration from another camp and kind of mine as well. That was a cool thing. I made this rock track. There’s a lot of guitars. I remember he had mentioned liking rock music and he had his drums out there — Lil’ Pig was out there playing drums for him. So I figured it would be a good match. What do you think it will be like going out on the "Born For Battle" tour where you’re finally a headliner? I mean, you’ve opened so many tours and you’ve been on just about every Suburban Noize tour in the past few years, right? I know. It seems people are getting sick of me! No, I’m stoked. I’m about to revamp the set and just recreate the vibe. When Big B and I perform together, we like to keep it just straight banging, in-your-face all the way through. And usually we have limited time. So now we’ll be able to flex a little. We’re not slowing it down by any means, but we’ll do some different tracks and throw some pauses in there. We’re just vamping up our touring capabilities because I’ve never honestly been on a headlining tour. This is the first headlining experience I’ve ever had. So I’m pretty pumped. I hope the fans are stoked and we’ll just bring them a lot more music is the bottom line. You even have a jazz choir on your album. How did that come about? That’s another thing when I made this record. I brought back a few angles of my previous musical endeavors. I’ve been musical an I’ve been playing music since I was little — going to camps. Music has been my life. And I’m just so stoked I can keep doing it. That’s the amazing thing for me — this never-ending dream of just constantly doing it. I used to play drums in the rhythm section for our jazz bands and jazz choirs. So one of my teachers at my high school — because I still live in the same town I grew up in, in this little town called Bend, Oregon... I just felt like I needed some choir on it. It’s on that track with Boondox. It’s a spooky, eerie choir. So I thought, why not just go back in, record these kids and give them a day of a weird thing to do. I had them record some choir runs. I wanted to stoke my old teacher out and make the kids see that, yeah, you can go further. When you’re in high school choirs and bands, not many people are thinking about doing that with their lives. So it was interesting for them to see and they killed it. It sounds really good. I didn’t use a whole bunch of them, but it’s just on the track with Boondox. So your teacher will read about you in Murder Dog Magazine? Yeah! He’s gonna trip out just when he gets my CD because the first song is just about eating mushrooms pretty much. I don’t know what to tell him! What are you going with for a first single from "Crook County?" The first one that they released is called "Mushroom Cloud." We’re kind of doing three different singles. There’s a song called "Moonshine Rhyme" that’s becoming what some people are spinning in different sectors of radio. We just hired a radio team, so we’ll see what happens. That song with Lady Love, "Just A Friend," that’s being pushed a little bit. I also like the song "Phantom Power." What’s that one inspired by? That’s one of the ones on the album that I flex a little faster on. Tech N9ne and I were doing that song, but he didn’t make it on there. So, in turn, I made it onto his new record ("Killer"), which I’m super-pumped on. But "Phantom Power," I’m just a silent rapper. I don’t get a lot of attention. Like you said, I’ve been on all of these tours. So that track sort of pertains a little bit to that — just my fiery silence. The raps — I don’t go into depth on anything. I’m just spitting good flows and good patterns. But it’s basically about being a silent force. Does that get frustrating to you or do you feel like you’ve still got plenty of time to make it to the next level? No, it’s frustrating, man. You just said it. You like to think of time and is there a time when this is all gonna end? Yes, there is. But I feel like I’m on a pretty steady, upward progression. And I’ve been so patient my whole career that, at this point, I’m like, "Yeah, there’s plenty of time." You also have to look at yourself in the mirror and say, "Do you look like you’re 50 or do you look like you’re 25?" So I’m the latter. I have that going for me. I look younger than I am. It’s a weird thing. I try to avoid the time issue — thinking that I’m running out of time — because ultimately all this is just gonna evolve and keep flowing into production. It’s just about which steps and which paths I take. Suburban Noize is doing a lot of good things for me as far as allowing me a good progression. Like I said, Tech N9ne and working with these guys and Strange Music is really helping me. So we’ll see what happens this year. I also like the song "Nightshade" featuring CeeKay. How did that joint come about? "Nightshade," I met CeeKay through Danny Diablo, the DMS Crew. I heard actually a mixtape of his that he’d given Big B and I was like, "Man, that dude can flow. He’s really good." And then we did a show with him and he came out with the song he does — Danny Diablo came out and put him up. He does it on Big B’s last record, "More To Hate." And CeeKay came out and flipped this verse. I was on stage and I was like, "Whoa!" I definitely gravitate toward the fast-flippers and go-hard rappers. I was like, "Oh, man, I’ve gotta get that dude on my CD." So when he rapped, I just asked him. The track is kind of darker. It’s got a good gangsta bounce to it. There’s a hook that’s about the universally creepy other side of my life — a little darker side. He latched on, wrote a sick verse and that was it. That’s one of my favorites, for sure. What is Crook County? That’s where I live. That’s the county I live in. This is a logging town/old Western mining area. So it’s just a trippy deal. I’ve grown up in Crook County my whole life and now I’m looking to build this house out there. It’s just kind of a lawless area. Actually, where I’m building this house, the fire department and police department — you can’t even get a hold of anybody out there. There’s no real meaning about the word Crook County. I actually had some kids Wikipedia that thing and send it off the other day to me — a bunch of pictures of homesteaders and stuff! But I was, again, coming back to a little closer to home. With the guests, I had the choir and then my folks have a bluegrass band (Quincy Street Band). They’re super-talented as well. So I have them on a track and then I have my buddy (Jake Price) who grew up in Crook County too on a track. So for me it’s like a total wrap up of the CD — a comfortable product that I can feel proud of when I’m pushing it. Quincy Street Band is like a four-piece, full bluegrass — around the mic style. My mom’s on standup bass and they’re all harmonizing. It’s something you’d see in "O Brother, Where Art Thou." That’s the track with Lady Love. You can hear the guitars and banjos and shit. That’s cool that you were able to get your parents, a friend and a former teacher you liked onto a rap album — without any of them being rappers! Totally. I hope the public isn’t like, "Oh, whatever." But I was like, "My parents play in this awesome situation. I’ve gotta get them on there!" Don’t you sing on "Crook County" as well as rap? Yeah, on "Moonshine Rhyme" and there’s a couple tracks where I’m flexing my singing. I’ve been tonally on it since I was a little kid. So I’ve been able to sing. Some people just can or can’t sing and I realized a long time ago, "OK, I can actually sing." So I’ve been trying to flex a little bit more on this album on that tip. "Moonshine Rhyme" really worked out for me. How long have you been on Suburban Noize Records and who are some of the people associated with the label that have taught you considerably along the way? This is my fourth active year. I signed about five years ago now, so there was a year lull for me before I actually started touring with them. I’ve gotta say, Big B’s been a huge influence on me as far as he and I just honing our hustle out there and just grinding and keeping our heads up. So he’s been a good thing for me at Suburban Noize. Daddy X obviously has inspired me — just in my own job — insanely. Just seeing what he’s put together with Suburban Noize and how he’s done it and how he keeps cranking, man. I idolize him, for sure. Pretty much everybody there. Kevin Zinger, the head of the label, his business savvy — and I’m not trying to run everybody down and kiss ass or anything. But it’s just crazy to watch him function on an underground, independent type of movement. All the other artists have been inspiring to me. It’s just a cool camp. I couldn’t be in a better spot as an underground emcee. For anyone who hasn’t picked up your first album, "Pop-A-D-Ball," or your sophomore album, "Raptillion," how would you compare those two releases to "Crook County?" I definitely would go ahead and say you’ll notice different varieties of music on each album. The first two, actually "Raptillion" has a killer variety of songs, I think. And the first one is a lot of different kinds of songs. When I first did "Pop-A-D-Ball," it was songs that I had written three years prior and up to the present. So it was more of a pieced together, different sound. And I was even making some of the beats back then. Now, with "Crook County," they’re gonna hear a little more mature Dirtball sound — a little more produced, more palatable sound, I think, a lot of variety but still a short record. So I’m hoping that when "Crook County" comes out, I’m crossing my fingers that people start buying "Raptillion" and it’ll appeal to people because it’s different. I kind of reinvent myself usually every time I release a CD. I always have anyway. So that’s my goal, so people aren’t like, "Ahh, it’s that same sound." That’s what I think people will hear anyway. How did you get your rap name, The Dirtball? Dirtball is from drumming. My friends gave it to me when I was 13, so I just held onto it. It always starts out with Dirty D and then it moved into The Dirtball. It really just came from — I had a buddy that played drums as well and he was the clean drummer that had everything. And I just used the kick-snare, hat and just busted off beats. So one of my buddies was like, "Dude, you’re The Dirtball." Is there anything else you’d like to say to your fans who are reading this article? Just go out and pick up the record and keep paying attention to the underground channels and what’s out here. There’s a lot of underground music and you just want to keep that awareness going. Thanks to people like you for helping us do that.
For more on The Dirtball, visit: www.thedirtball.com www.myspace.com/thedirtball |
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