Interview with The Mad Conductor

The Mad Conductor has dabbled in shameless Zevon cops as well as the rude space rock before settling on a unique brand of hip hop, characterized by uncommon time signatures, obscure storytelling, and crisp production. Not too long ago, I had the opportunity to get in touch with the MC of MC, MC Devlin- touching base about the past, present, and future of the band.

MC Devlin- The Mad Conductor started in 2005 when I had gone to Dan’s house to record a hip hop record. I had planned on doing  a solo record and calling myself “The Ill One” and releasing some raunchy hip hop. But then the head engineer, Dan McKinney began collaborating like 50/50 on the  project so we decided to incorporate ourselves into one group. I dropped the solo album and he kind of directed me down a more mature path, lyrically. My rhymes became more structured, the ideas kept getting better, and we kept feeding off each other lyrically- so we decided to call ourselves the Mad Conductor. I forget how that happened really. I think I changed my name from The Ill One to MC Devlin because Devlin’s my middle name and I wanted MC to stand for something so I was like “Mad Conductor Devlin” and then we just called the group The Mad Conductor. Then we cut our first little demo the spring of 2005 and it hit the streets that summer and it started to spread quickly. People started to like the sound, it was something they hadn’t heard before- a psychedelic blend of reggae, hip hop, punk, and jazz. Anything we wanted to throw together. It was a studio project with just the two of us working on it, so it was really easy to put in any sound that we wanted. We dropped our first EP, self released around Christmas that year- 2005.

Tweaking- I’ve really been digging the EP you released earlier this year- Central America. What are your thoughts on it?

MC Devlin- Central America is an EP that I wrote in New Orleans- I just moved there and gave up on playing music for a while. I had been touring for years straight without a job or anything. I had to get my personal life back together so I kind of dropped out of the East Coast scene and went down into the Central Time Zone- that’s why I called the EP “Central America”. Over the course of a year I recorded about 10 demo tracks and I scrapped 6 of them, only keeping 4. The 4 that I kept were hip hop songs written in odd time signatures. Usually hip hop, 99% of the time, is done in the 4/4 time signature. I actually had never heard  a hip hop song that wasn’t in 4/4, so  it was something that I had been wanting to experiment with. So I cut some  demos, went back up to Pennsylvania and recorded the 4 songs with Brandy Sharlani on drums. It was a real treat to have him in the studio. And it was the first time that we did a record with all live drums. Usually we’d have live drummers and cut a little snippet to loop there. But this time he pretty much played the drums all the way through the track, but musically- it was all Dan McKinny doing all the production, the piano, and the synths while I did all the bass and guitars. So basically, just the 3 of us. It was nice to get together because Dan McKinny and I hadn’t recorded something together in a long time.

I don’t know how well the EP was received by our fans. It’s kind of funny because usually we have a lot of ska influence on our records-ska and reggae. But this time there was virtually no ska whatsoever, so I think that it was received better by our fans who are more hip hop-oriented. So it was more of a cult following MC record, more of an experimental album. I’ll say I like the odd time signature thing, I’ll probably be experimenting more with that in the future.

Tweaking- So if you could name only one thing, what is the biggest influence on your music?

MC Devlin- On Central America?

Tweaking- Sure, yeah.

MC Devlin- I would say the biggest influence for me on Central America was an anti-influence. Just hearing everything that was going on- you know all this corny hip hop. I can’t even call it hip hop. Just this corny rap music. Corny dance and R&B, you know everybody putting effects on their vocals, trying to make themselves sound flashy. Hearing that made me want to make something new. Something raw. Something different. So I pretty much pulled myself out of traditional thought when it comes to songwriting and did what I felt. So I guess you could say my influence was that which was detestable to me. I wanted do something completely different from that. So in other words, I made a record without the idea of selling copies, but rather with the idea of charting new territory musically.

Tweaking- So getting off the Central America topic for a minute, is there a particular hook or riff that’s been stuck in your head for the past week or so? Something that’s been resonating a lot with you lately?

MC Devlin- Well just now on my ride home, I’ve kinda been trying to write a new a rhyme to the beat of this Nice & Smooth album. Nice & Smooth is an old school hop hop group. A lot of the time, I’ll  get a record that I haven’t heard yet- a hip hop record or an LP and sit down with it for a little bit. You know, start to write lyrics for that and then you know take it over with my own music.

Tweaking- So what’s your favorite show that you’ve ever played?

MC Devlin- You know, I would like to say that I’ve always been partial to the scene in New Orleans. Back in the old days when I used play in punk bands, up until touring there with Mad Conductor. That’s why I moved here from Pennsylvania. When I’d go there, I’d see how much energy there was and how it felt physically. You know, all the kids down there was always cool, along with the other bands, and the whole scene.

The ironic thing is that when I moved there (New Orleans) I kinda stopped playing music. I think it was just because everyone around me was playing music and I was just like, you know “I gotta do my own thing”. I’ve always kinda been like that, you know? Whatever everyone else is doing, I’ll do the opposite of it.  I came from a small town in Pennsylvania where there weren’t many bands coming out of there or any bands to speak of. You know there’s a few that I dug- No Service Project. But other than that, it was weird kinda pioneering that scene. Then when I got outta there and moved to New Orleans, everybody and his brother was playing in a band, trying to get big. The whole thing, with all the demos and whatnot made me think, “you know what? I’m not really down with this rat race and I just don’t care. I’ll just do my own thing and take care of my own head.” You know, look out for number one for a little bit.

Tweaking- So back in the day you used to sing for a crack rock steady punk band, No-Cash. Do you have any resonant retrospective thoughts about that time in your life?

MC Devlin- Well, the thing about No-Cash was that I was a kid, you know? It started when I was 15- angry little punk rock kid who hated going to school and hated living at home with my family. I thought I was too good for that. I was a mean little kid and that shows in my music, I was really angry. So looking back on it, I was kind of embarrassed of it until a few years ago. When I was in the process of maturing, I’d look at No-Cash and myself back then, and I didn’t know anything. I used to preach about the government. My lyrics were real bland, you know, I didn’t really know what I was talking about. And that kind of embarrassed me. Everybody was all like “oh yeah, that’s cool” (in a goofy ass voice) but those people were all like 15 year old kids and I was just like “well, what the hell do you know? Who are you to say that band is good? I’m saying that band sucks and I was the one who was in it. But now, as I get old, I can look at that band and be like “awww little knuckleheads” (affectionately). And then I kind of look at the fans of that band the same way, you know, little kids with an upside-down flag on their shirt. I think “awwww little rascals, you’ll understand one day. You won’t be blasting No-Cash you know when you’re like 30 years old while you’re picking up a nice girl on a date. You won’t want to be listening to some song about killing your parents. You’ll want to listen to like Bob Marley and just chilling out. So that’s how I sort of look at No-Cash and the whole punk rock scene in general. I see a lot of people who are like 30 or 40 still rocking the mowhawk, tight black jeans, and all this and that, and I’m like “whatever works for them”. But I’m glad that I grew out of it and that I’m evolving constantly. I would say to each his own, but that’s not really what I want to do with the rest of my life- running around, screaming about how I hate cops. I still don’t love cops, but you know, I don’t feel the need to write 12 songs out of 14 on an LP explaining why I hate them, you know what I’m sayin?”

Tweaking- So that being said, it’s safe to say that you’re not going to play Gasoline (an old No-Cash jam) again anytime soon?

MC Devlin- (laughs) Nope. I’d feel a bit uncomfortable performing that song. It’s not who I am anymore, you know what I’m saying? It’s like the Rolling Stones being like 60 years old, 70 years old still rocking songs that they wrote when they were 20. Granted they’re probably paid a ton of money for that, but when I see them doing those songs it seems so forced. I don’t wanna get up and sing a song I wrote when I was 16 years old. It wouldn’t make sense. Same reason Operation Ivy hasn’t done a show. You don’t want to live in the past. Progress. Live in the moment- work towards the future.

Tweaking- Where do you think the Mad Conductor’s headed?

MC Devlin- Well, I’m going through some different things in my own life. To me, the Mad Conductor was always super-abstract. I would just rhyme stream of consciousness and usually it would seem like I was talking nonsense, but I always meant something by what I was saying. But I think that I would like to write a few songs that are more to the point. I’d like to write some songs that people can relate to on a personal level. I’d like to get into more topics that get into real life- in the past I would just talk about werewolves and fighting monsters. Shit like that (laughs). I would like to write songs that better explain the real thoughts that I have in my head as a man, not a pot-smoking lunatic who was running around the country.

Tweaking- Do you think you’re gonna get the Mad Conductor back together? Are there any upcoming tour plans?

MC Devlin- I really would. Music is really important to me. When I look at my life, all of my friends and all of the places that I’ve been able to go and the people that I’ve gotten to chill with have been through music. Music brought me to New Orleans. All my friends in New Orleans, I met through music. My friends out in Texas, California, England, Ireland- all these people that I’ve met have been through music. I feel like I need some time to develop myself as a person. I took so much time out on the road, non-stop playing shows on tour. Shows every night. No job. No money in the bank. I realized I needed to slow down. So I moved to New Orleans to grow as a person, but I was doing it the wrong way- drinking and getting into the party scene. I needed to slow down for a minute. So that’s when I started taking kung-fu. I went up to a kung-fu master and was like “teach me”, you know? Pretty much every day for the past year and a half I’ve been training kung-fu. I picked it up quickly. When I get into something, I devote myself 100% to it. So I wanted to spend a couple years learning kung-fu and learning how to fight. I’m trying to take care of myself and become a better person. I really feel more like a man than when I started. More confident. 

I would like to write a batch of songs more confidently and not have to be so abstract about what I’m saying. I want to come right out and say what I want to say. I would like to get a band together and do some more touring. There’s a lot of the earth that I haven’t seen. I can’t tell you when. I can’t predict the future and I won’t try because I used to try to do that and would always end up foolish when I said that I would tour in May. May came and went and I didn’t do the tour. I’m not going to do that to people anymore. I’ll just leave it up to time. Time will put me on the road in some van at some point. I can’t say when, but I know that I have to. Dan McKinny and I plan on recording some songs at the end of this summer, so hopefully we’ll get to put together a new record and do a show.

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Until we're graced with the yet-to-be announced next Mad Conductor record,  be sure to check out some jams off of Central America. Some righteous jams off of Central America. 

The Mad Conductor - Yo Kid

The Mad Conductor - The Parthenon 

Interview with Boas

A few weeks ago I spoke on the phone with the art-savvy, melodic IDM powerhouse that is Boas. Known as Tyler Newbold to his mom, this producer hails from Richmond, VA--which as he assures me (and as you can see), is a hotspot for crazy/awesome/original music acts these days.

His latest self-titled LP release is a fluid, ever-rippling work, held together by synth patches you could only dream of and 'pasted together' broken dance beats. Along the lines of an acid tripping Thom Yorke, his songs manage to break into intricate grooves while still maintaining emotionally driving melodies. I'm not kidding when I say that he has truly made something completely original.


While reading the interview, why not play this track? It's trippy, it's mathy, awesome. (You need headphones to fully enjoy the intricate craziness)


Boas - Dipole

Q: Your name is Boas, but how do you pronounce it? Is it like 'Boas' as in multiple snakes?

A: Yes, exactly. [laughs] A friend of mine said that same exact thing and he asked me something--it was something 'like multiple snakes?' he said those exact words, it was hilarious.

Q: Where does it come from?

A: It's kind of embarrassing but I was doodling--mostly just doodling--with street art, graffiti style-stuff and that was something that I was writing a lot, just because I liked the word, how it looked. I never really did anything with it really, I mean you know, it was just something I was doing in sketchbooks and it was just this weird thing. There's absolutely nothing behind it really, other than that. Naming a project is a torturous process.

Q: I think it fits your music pretty well. Okay, so what were you doing musically before Boas?

A: I play in a band in Richmond called Cold Toast and we were doing that for a while--just like three people--and we're still doing it. So I've been playing in Cold Toast for several years, since I moved to Richmond basically. Even before that I was recording solo stuff. I've been recording solo stuff for a really long time. But I never released anything and I dunno, I was always just kinda waiting until I was perfectly satisfied with my efforts I guess.

Q: All of the visually artistic aspects (the album art, the myspace, everything else) were done by you?

A: Yeah

Q: Okay, so can you tell me about your artistic endeavors?

A: Well I went to art school. I just graduated last August in illustration, communication arts, and I also majored in English. I learned a lot in art school, as kinda bullshit as it was in ways. I still learned a lot about design and that's sort of another career that I'm sort of a beginner in.
In the future, I wouldn't necessarily do it myself, but I feel like it's interesting when musicians do their own art, gives them a lot of control. But I think an element of collaboration is really important, so I think in the future I might outsource that stuff because I know some really interesting artists who would be really cool for that. So I think it's gonna be a one-time-thing for the most part. But who knows.

Q: As an artist/musician, who or what would you say your biggest influences are? Specifically for the album?

A: I feel like the bands I listen to are probably pretty 'clear', clear as far as anybody else would think, on this album at least. But I go through phases when I don't listen to much music, like when I'm working on stuff I sometimes keep clear of conscious external influence. But in those other phases, I am really into new music that I feel is changing things. Specifically on this album, there was a wanting to sound very contemporary, and even urgent. Like most could assume, there's influence from Clark, Animal Collective, Dosh, The Books, people who I really stand behind. But there's a lot of influence on an immediate local level too, like my friends from the Chocolate Milk Collective, here in Richmond, who are some just flourishing and inspiring djs/beatmakers. Vocally, it's sort of a different ballgame, harmonies and stuff. I love Crosby, Stills, and Nash. Sorta like folky music with really really nice tight harmonies. Vocally, I also really adore Bjork. Whenever I'm in a situation where there's a song that needs this appropriate and specific melody, which is sometimes so hard to conjure, I think of what Bjork would do!

Q: Is there anything in particular that attracts you to sacred geometry?

A: Yeah, well I mean, it's a big influence--not like musically or specific 'artist-wise'--but it's sort of this new age stuff that I've been into for a while as far as like conspiracy theories and ET--ET life--and sort of this realm of consciousness that you can pull into your daily life. I saw this documentary about crop circles called 'Star Dreams,' a while ago, and that really turned me on to the intrinsic power of geometry, harmonics, energy. There's very much an urgency feeling around the world, you know, like it's sort of an insanity. But with the understanding of some of these ideas, I think you can break through some barriers, socially, spiritually, and live a little more viscerally. It's just like a synthesis of that stuff, I guess.

Q: Do you have a process when you make songs or do they just kind of work themselves out when you make them?

A: [There are] typically long processes on the songs that you could probably assume would be such. But sometimes there are tracks that I'll do most of the legwork in like a day, and others that will take months and months. But basically it's just like sometimes a long process is like sculpting something. It usually starts off very very basic, ya know, in terms of letting one thing lead to another in terms of what you can hear. You're sort of forming sounds then all the sudden you start hearing things that like [come to you.] In that sense, it's sort of a spontaneous thing in terms of melodies and vocals and stuff. A lot of times the producing/mixing process is a pretty big chunk of the song writing even--in terms of cutting things up and using a collage-y element as opposed to a one shot performance. 

Q: Can Boas songs be played live?

A: Yeah, ya know it all comes down to whether or not I want to do it so soon without wanting to get it right. They can be done live, I could play them off my laptop and sing over them, which I've done very rarely. With Cold Toast we were actually playing some of that stuff. Cold Toast is a bit more poppy, I guess, and more straightforward in terms of performance and things. But yeah, we are playing them live. A few tracks off this album I play with Cold Toast. So it's a mix of laptop and live drums (sort of a deconstructed drum kit.) So yeah, it's pretty interesting to do [laughs]. But I am currently  in the process of brainstorming a live band, both with instruments and electronics, to perform the Boas stuff properly.

Q: About your album, it sounds like there's something conceptual about it, kinda like it's taking you on a journey. Did you do this intentionally? What kind of trip were you trying to take us on?

A: [laughs] That's great, that's super. Yeah, I definitely love that aspect of listening to an album. It is conceptual--there was a lot of thought put into the flow, and giving you very defined plot points in the album that are very dynamic--parts that are really really sort of heavy. And all in the span of two or three songs, and then having two or three songs that are a complete escape from that. So that inevitably keeps you attached in some way; you can hopefully think that's conceptual.

Q: So about that, about halfway through the album, I think the song is called 'Dipole,' the album undergoes a sort of a transformation. What is the idea behind that?

A: The idea was for it to be a big turning point on the album, to depart from vocals and get into some more sonic territory. I think that point of transformation is complete when the song itself undergoes its own change, exactly halfway through the song. I liked it because it felt like a release from the previous four songs. Like you can just sit back, not worry about a focus in the sound, but more the ambience of multiple parts working together. That was just a process of a song--that's actually a really old song--and yeah, that had been through so much time and sort of remixing over and over as I grew a lot in working with that gear. I think that the way that song started was me, pretty early on, trying to figure how to use software and stuff, and so I think that song started as sort of an experiment doing what was sort of uncomfortable at the time like trying to sequence and stuff like that, and I was trying to make a song out of like a pretty coherent thing, even as simple as it was, then it sort of got regurgitated many many times. I sort of grew with that song. I like it because you're sort of thinking that it's going to be sort of another like "acidy weird gargly mess," but it does shift around, and I like those moments of release, you know, where it goes into the ambient realm, because ambient I feel, is a very universal way of musical communication.

Q: How do you do your synths? Software, hardware, both?

A: Yeah it's a mix of both. My studio is really really modest--there's really not much--but I was able to get a Juno 102.  But the thing is totally glitched out and it sounds insane. You can hear it all over the album. Certain notes will hold, go into overdrive a bit, starts screaming. It's used on a lot of songs, it's got a really really extreme personality and that's really the only hardsynth that I used, but I did use it a lot in terms of sequencing. And then a lot of it is stuff that tends to be more sculpted digitally using a softsynth. Which there's a lot of that, too.

Q: Kinda on a different note, can you tell me about your work with Galt?

A: Yeah, he's a good friend of mine. He's a songwriter and I've liked his music for a while. I've been producing other people's songs here and there, different songwriters and JOR producing, And then I started getting into electronic music and then he wanted me to produce his album and record it. So we've been working on that for way too long actually, we're getting really eager to get it done because it sounds really great. But yeah, basically, we're just trying to get this album done. He's gonna try to promote it, so hopefully it'll be good.

So yeah, be sure to check out the Richmond scene--between his other band and Galt, you can get a glimpse of the diverse sounds emanating from this southern hotspot.

Be sure to listen to the other music he's produced--hell, have him do a remix for you! (you can email Tyler at newboldtv [at] gmail.com)