Camp Bisco 7 - AmpLive Interview

Producer/DJ and one half of underground hip hop duo Zion-I was one of the many electronic acts headlining The Disco Biscuits’ Camp Bisco 7, held in Mariahville, NY.

Recently releasing Rainydayz Remixes, an extremely fresh take on Radiohead’s most recent album In Rainbows (2007), AmpLive is quickly becoming a name everyone knows on college campuses across the country.

After his set at Camp Bisco 7, AmpLive sat down with Imprint Magazine’s Music Editor Julian Williams to talk about the event and AmpLive’s work.

Imprint Magazine: So, first off, how are you doing?

AmpLive: I’m doing good.

IM: What do you think about this event (Camp Bisco 7) where clearly it’s not one of the biggest festivals, but it certainly has a particular eclectic fan base.

AL: I think it’s good to mix everything. Especially now with music, I mean, you got rock, hip hop, electro, like, everybody’s into everything. It’s like the iPod generation. So, when you see festivals like this, it just makes sense. You got people that can enjoy all genres of music.

IM: Word. One of the big things that everyone’s been talking about, at our magazine and amongst our groups of people is the Rainydayz Remixes (2008) which is just bumpin’ all over. How did that come to fruition?

AL: Um, I mean, basically, you know, I’m a Radiohead fan at heart, so I knew about the new album coming out and I got the download off the internet and I liked some of the songs, you know? And I was just messing around and I thought it would be cool to remix these and put them out. So, um, I work with a company called 1776 and we just sort of got together and said, “Yo, you should just do a couple remixes and we’ll shoot them out and see what happens.” And you know, we work with Too Short and I’m in Zion-I, so putting them on the track wasn’t a problem. So I threw them all over the remix and just did an instrumental with some other remix and put it out and the response was just so good. It was like we should probably just do the [whole]album. I mean I had no idea that the album was going to get that much buzz and it was just sort of like…it just happened.

IM: To me, it just came out as a word of mouth thing as “this is a cut-up of the new Radiohead CD and it’s fire.” It just spread like wildfire. It’s an amazing album.

AL: Thank you.

IM: Which do you think is harder: DJing and creating your own music or taking someone else’s music and remixing that?

AL: Oh it’s definitely harder to create your own, but I mean that’s what I do. I mean, I’m a producer first and a DJ second so to me that’s just work, you know, doing that type of stuff. I would rather create my own then like do somebody else’s, I mean, I’d rather do original remixes than like, you know, just do the DJ style remixes with the edits and stuff like that but the In Rainbows - I did it that way because I thought it would be an interesting way to do it: As hip hop as possible. So with hip hop you just sample and you chop things up, so I took most of the songs and just acted like they were a sample or something like that.

IM: There are a lot of DJs that are - well, I just talked to Eliot Lipp yesterday and he’s cutting back on the DJing and he’s got a project formulating with the bass player and drummer form the Pnuma Trio. RJD2 was touring with a four piece band for his last album. Have you ever thought of getting into anything like that?

AL: Yeah, definitely. I know with the new Zion-I show we’re definitely going to have live instruments incorporated and stuff like that. And with me I’d love to do some of that stuff too. You just got to plan it out a little bit more because you’re dealing with more people.

IM: This is my most cliché question, but what are your influences – when you’re coming into the studio and about to lay down some tracks?

AL: I’m influenced by everything, man. I mean I listen to all kinds of stuff so whatever is good. Everything, man. Music is just a form of expression - that’s the way I look at it. So it’s just like I try to just express myself in whatever genre I can.

IM: So, to just wrap it up, cause I don’t want to take too much of your time.

AL: No, it’s all good, yo.

IM: What can we expect from you coming up?

AL: Well, we got the new Zion-I album “Takeover” that’s coming out soon. I’m working on Electrowonderland Volume 2, so that’s about to drop.

IM: I heard Volume 1, Volume 1 was hot.

AL: Thank you. I got this artist K. Flay I’m working with….can’t say anything on that. And Codany Holiday’s a solo artist, he actually sang on “15 Stepz.”

IM: That was a real nice voice. I thought that was…the guy from Gnarls Barkley…not Danger Mouse, but…?

AL: Cee-Lo?

IM: I thought that that was Cee-Lo!

AL: If it was, I’m sure the song would have hit a lot different, that’s for sure.

IM: I wanted to ask about that, too – Chali 2na and Del the Funky Homosapien. How’d you hook up with them?

AL: We just all know each other and it worked out.

IM: Just a tight group?

AM: Yeah.

IM: Do you think it’s harder to DJ for something like this, a fairly big festival compared to something along the lines of, say, a club?

AL: Uh, nah, it doesn’t…it just, you know, it matters. You have different types of people for different events and a club, I think, is actually harder because people – a lot of times they just want hear stuff that’s popular or they’ll leave the dance floor. At this type of event, people are just here to have fun.