Quote-o-the-Day

“If you can’t run the curb, you can only be a sprint man. ”
— Joe Guillory

we first met Mr. Joe at the Starbucks off of Corporate Blvd in Baton Rouge about a year ago, and every run-in we've had with him since has been there. he's a lively, older and retired gentleman who is an African-American history and social equality enthusiast. every encounter with Mr. Joe leaves us with a new book on our list of "must reads" and a greater knowledge and understanding of our people's past and present. he comes from an era where civil injustice was common place and if a person of color wanted to do anything or be anyone of significance, he would have to fight tooth-and-nail for every inch he gained. from some of the stories that he's told us about his past, we're inclined to believe that he was a bit of a radical...but in a good way. in our last run-in, he brought us back to 1964 where, together, he and Che Guevara stewed some chickens in a Harlem apartment. he also added, "We had to keep live chickens in the hallway because everyone was scared of getting poisoned." one thing we really enjoy about our random meetings with Mr. Joe is his willingness to share his knowledge and experiences and his desire to "put us on game" concerning certain things. Joe Guillory is a legend in our book and we're looking forward to our next powwow with him.  

Hey...We Designed Our 1st Store!

about three months ago we got approached by our good friend Jason Laird to help design and style the merchandise store for "Devoted" 2013, a youth conference held at Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge. interior design and conceptual arranging are a couple things that have never crossed either of our minds, so we both were a bit hesitant before chomping down on this befalling. one of my main thoughts was, "Yeah, this will be cool because we'll get to expand our creative palate." my other main thought was saying, "If this store doesn't come out excellent, our brand will be attached to it." after talking it over amongst ourselves and seeking a trusted outside opinion, we decided to join the team, playing the role of creative vision for making this store happen. over the next couple months, we had meetings with Jason, Ty Hester, & Riquel Archer throwing around some ideas, seeking different influences, and dreaming on a chalkboard about what we thought would be awesome for the store. a primary concern with designing the store was to make sure it was done in a way that encouraged smooth and steady traffic flow. this was accomplished by deciding to make the store's first eye-catcher the centerpiece coupled with a chandelier overhead. once a person looks straight and up, their eyes would then be pulled to the back wall by a bulb-lit, cut out sign. the beauty in all of this is that store patrons are unknowingly corralled to move counter-clockwise because once their eyes leave the lit sign, they're already moving right towards where all the merch is featured. from there, store patrons can conveniently move to a cash only checkout by the entrance/exit or be checkedout anywhere in the store by floating registers (individuals with iPads & card readers). the entire store came together fabulously and the very best was made out of everything the team had at it's disposal. we're proud to say that we helped something so dope as this come into reality. special thanks to Jason for giving us this opportunity and the creative freedom to do what we do, and another special thanks to Ty for being on top of everything, staying organized, and making this whole thing easy on us. 

WomanCrushWednesday

most likely you're probably thinking, who is Mélanie Laurent? we first saw her while watching this summer's latest blockbuster, "Now You See Me". in this film the French actress plays a highly optimistic Interpol agent who is appreciative and sympathetic towards the realms of magic and faith. we like Mélanie because of all that she is not. she isn't the super famous Hollywood actress or the brimming bombshell. her overall look is modest and simple, and that is what makes her great. Mélanie Laurent has an elusive and subtle kind of beauty that, when zeroed in on, makes her absolutely captivating.

iphone-20130605114348-0.jpg

Boards Boards Boards

we wanted to give you an inside look at some of the amazing keyboards we've been using while in production of our upcoming EP, "re-Present". not sure if we'll ever claim to be "keyboard maestros" or anything, but so far I would estimate that we've recorded about 90% of the keyboard parts that you'll hear on "re-Present". the other 10% was laid down by our good homie and bandmate, Orrin Newman. using the keyboards below, we've been able to create and blend sounds like pads that are thick as early morning fog, to synth voicing that are just plain nasty. knowing that it's less about the equipment you have at your disposal, and more about using that equipment effectively and being unafraid to experiment with it, has led us to creating something that we believe is really special.

iphone-20130604093634-0.jpg

1. M-Audio Venom: This thing right here can be heard on a handful of Britney Spears' newer records and once you mess around with it for a while you'll see why. We've used this board to lay down synths, pads, and even drums for "re-Present" and we just love how versatile it is for a virtual analog synth. 

2. Nord Stage EX:  A good friend of ours, Elton Veals, has been gracious to us twice over the past few months to let us hold on to this baby for extended periods. We utilized this world-class board to track layered piano, and organ sounds.

3. Moog Little Phatty I:  Got this analog beast for a great deal over a year ago and we've been employing it in our live shows and recordings ever since. Nothing (I repeat) nothing compares to the fatness and warmness of an analog synth. In recording this EP, we've used the Little Phatty as a bass synthesizer and a producer of interesting, ear-pricking sounds. 

4. Roland Juno G:  This was the first real keyboard we ever bought and we still find some use for it from time to time. On "re-Present" we used it for a couple synth parts and took advantage of a few of the drum kits for some percussion layering. 

5. Korg Triton:  Without this board, our single, "Glow in the Dark", most probably would have never been made. An arpeggio pattern I discovered in this board sparked the creation of that song and this 14 year old keyboard takes credit for about 1/3 of the synth parts on "Glow in the Dark". We had it in our possession for a couple weeks, but eventually had to return it to it's home at The Hope of Glory Church in Gretna, LA.

Favorite Fonts

probably the most important, and at the same time one could argue, the most underated aspect of design is typography and font. there really aren't that many folks outside of the creative/design field who are aware of how crucial and influential the right font can be. whether words are digital or on print, we believe that font adds character and personality to them. we've got a handful of fonts that we like to use depending on the feel of the design being created. here are some of our favs...

iphone-20130601043444-0.jpg
iphone-20130601043444-1.jpg
iphone-20130601043444-2.jpg

Word-o-the-Day

aggrandize: (v) 1. to widen in scope; increase in size or intensity; enlarge; extend. 2. to make great or greater in power, wealth, rank, or honor. 3. to make (something) appear greater.