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3OH!3
Interview with Sean Foreman and Nathaniel Motte
Jul. 02, 2008
What 'Chu Want
by: Chris Castro |
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Colorado electronic/rock/hip-hop duo Sean
Foreman and Nathaniel Motte, a.k.a. 3OH!3, kick ass–period. The
enormous, crunk beats, the dance rhythms, the piercing synth-
lines, and the abrasive rapping all merge into a surprisingly
intoxicating solution, easing itself into a not-often-found niche
somewhere between club/house music and crunk hip-hop. Their
latest album, Want, drips with sugary, ‘80s electronica-
fashioned hooks and infectious dance grooves, containing both the
catchiness of pop music and the head-bobbing funk of hip-hop.
Produced by pop-punk connoisseur Matt Squire,
3OH!3 hit “hip-hop, rock, thug rap, country, classical jazz, blues,
and different kinds of music,” says Motte, without losing stride or
stumbling over themselves once, easily trumping any notions of
the inability to combine seemingly unrelated genres into a whole,
new, original (and surprisingly fun) musical amalgam.
The Aquarian Weekly recently sat down
with Motte and Foreman to pick their brains about some of the
little known facts about the dark minds behind 3OH!3.
Let’s start from the beginning. I know how you guys
met, but I want to know how you first got into creating this style
of music–this hard-hitting, hip-hop thing. How long have you
been producing your own beats and rhymes?
Sean: I kind of grew up on underground hip-hop.
My brother was a DJ, and the first music I ever heard was him on
the turntables. He started free-styling, and then I started free-
styling in middle school.
Nat: As far as making beats goes, I didn’t actually
start making them until after I met Sean. They were horrible at
first. But they got better.
Is there a big hip-hop scene in Boulder?
Sean: It’s a college town and it was a lot bigger, but
it’s kind of always going to be an alternative thing.
Could you describe to me each of your roles in
3OH!3. How do you guys define your partnership?
Nat: I make all the beats. Usually I’ll make
something and progressively work on it more or less, and then I’ll
send it to Sean. Sean does most of the lyrical work.
On the new album, I collaborated with Benny
Blanco (Spank Rock) on a few tracks, and that was really fun. A
lot of hours were spent in front of the computer.
Sean writes most of the lyrics.
You have some great pick-up lines in your songs. Do
you ever use your lyrics to pick up girls?
Sean: Sometimes I just rely on free-styling on the
spot. Usually I end up going home by myself.
Is the line ‘our tongues always pressed to your
cheeks’ in ‘Don’t Trust Me’ a reference to tongue- in-cheek
lyrics?
Sean: Some people say that we have a very
tongue- in-cheek style of music, but in that case it was about this
kind of girl who always had her tongue in her cheek.
We’re not afraid to do something a little
controversial. Some of our lyrics may have a bit of shock value,
but we like to have wordplay and we like to have fun.
Many of your songs have a fun, party vibes to them,
but you have ‘Still Around,’ a pretty depressing piano ballad. Not
many party hip-hop albums stop the party and get sentimental like
that. What influenced your decision to put a more sensitive,
vulnerable track like that, with more singing than rapping?
Nat: I remember Sean just wrote that, and it
actually started as a song we were going to send Meg & Dia.
Sean: I wrote it before that. I was in town for a
show and I wrote it on my parent’s piano. We used it for one of
our manager’s other bands, Meg & Dia, just as kind of a little cute
gift.
We definitely questioned whether we should put
something like that on the album, but we realized that’s not the
type of people or musicians we are. We’re not going to be afraid to
push the boundaries of what people might expect on our album.
We’re not afraid to put a piano ballad on our album. We like it,
and we think it’s pretty badass.
When you look into the lyrics of ‘Don’t Trust Me’ it
seems like a pretty dark story, as does ‘I Can’t Do It Alone.’
Meanwhile, these tracks are really catchy and infectious. Do you
ever worry that the grooves and the catchiness of these tracks
might overshadow the lyrical depth?
Nat: Maybe that’s just a reflection on the kind of
dudes that are in the band. We’re tall, dark, and handsome–
serious. At the same time very groovable! And infectious? I don’t
know, man. I have to go get tested [laughs].
Many of your tracks have great hooks. Did working
with Matt Squire have any influence on that?
Sean: He has a very strong pop sensibility, and we
do too. We love listening to pop music and kind of studying it.
Having something you can relate to, say, having a message and
making it obvious, is just one of the best things you can do.
Nat: We wrote all those hooks. It was cool to kind
of go to him with stuff and to have all three of us just listening and
judging the songs.
Why did you call the album Want?
Nat: I think it was because I was texting my brother
or something about the tracks we were making. At one point he
texted me back, saying, ‘I want it.’ So I began telling him how
cool they were, and he just texted me back ‘WANT, WANT!’
Sean: For me it’s a really abrasive word and it’s not
really the prettiest of words, but it can still be kind of catchy.
Sean, do you pay a lot of attention to the specific
details of the words you write, down to the diction and syntax and
the moods it can invoke?
Sean: I was an English major in college and I’m
really into lyrics. Lyrics can make or break a song. I don’t like
lyrics that are too cliché. I like lyrics that are clever or could be
poetic and still sound really good.
Someone wrote on your MySpace that you have Bob
Dylan lyrics and Lil’ Jon beats. What do you think about that?
Nat: It’d be sweet if we were in either of those
realms, especially the Dylan lyrics realm, but its kind of a joke.
We have a lot of fun with our music, but at the same time we’re
very serious about the music we make, so I don’t think those two
are mutually exclusive. We like to walk the line where it makes it
fun for us and other people enjoy listening to, and we have this
thing that we are very proud of.
I saw your set at Bamboozle, and you guys really
know how to work a crowd. Those kids were going crazy, dancing,
singing, and throwing your sign up in the air, just having an
awesome time. What do you guys attribute to the energy of the
crowds at your concerts?
Nat: Fun is a big part of it. When we’re having a
shit-load of fun, and we see people in the crowd are reciprocating
it, people pick up on that and they can relate to that. It’s a show
where you don’t need to come with any pretensions.
Sean: And I think we’re pretty crazy dudes. It’s a
great opportunity to just go insane and the kids get the
opportunity, too. You don’t have to sit there with your arms
crossed, you can actually be physically involved in the music. It’s
a cool thing.
A lot of hip hop acts have started using live bands,
but in 3OH!3, it’s still just the two of you and the backing tracks.
Any prospects of using a band or do you want to keep it as just you
two?
Sean: We’ve experimented. We’ve played with live
bands, but what it comes down to is the dynamic of two people.
It’s very minimalist, but it keeps the audience captivated and we
kind of command the stage. I’ve definitely seen shows with bands
that have way too much going on as far as like instruments and
dance moves. It’s over the top.
After you guys played a show out in L.A., a blogger
said you were ‘the second coming of The Beastie Boys.’ How do
you feel about that?
Nat: That’s an honor! I don’t know if I totally
agree, but to be put in that realm is dope. There are a lot of
similarities between us. They came out of a pretty diverse musical
background, too, and they broke a lot of musical lines and stuff.
To know people think of us in those terms, too, is dope. We’ll keep
trying to make what sounds good to us, and then, hopefully, other
people will be into it.
Sean: It’s just flattering. I like to think that we
have different sounds and we are bringing something different to
the table, but I can understand the comparison. Powerful,
abrasive rapping.
3OH!3’s debut full-length, Want, will be
available in stores July 8. The band will be touring with The Vans
Warped Tour all summer. Check them out July 26 in Uniondale,
NY, and July 28 at Raceway Park in Englishtown, NJ. For more info
visit
myspace.com.3oh3 |
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