How were you introduced to music?
My mother would listen to Billy Joel, Michael Jackson and the Beach Boys while home-making in the early ‘80s. She bought me a few Muppets records and the “Smurfin’ USA” album. The first two cassettes I bought with couch change in the third grade were Iron Maiden’s “Piece of Mind” and DJ Jazzy Jeff. This was right around the time some concerned parents got together and started ruining my life with Parental Advisory stickers on damn near anything remotely interesting.
When did you start writing and performing?
I started taking lessons for the guitar at age 12 (thinking that surely I would be able to join Metallica if I got good enough). After having heard some ‘77 punk rock and ‘80s hardcore, I quit lessons and started a band immediately. It was a revelation to be unpolished ON PURPOSE. The first show I ever played was in 1994, singing and playing guitar in front of 300 kids. Speaking as a megalomaniac, I just got fed up dealing with other people’s work ethic in relation to the non-music side of being an even marginally successful band. Bands are a difficult thing to navigate, especially when friendship is involved. I began performing solo hip hop-oriented material in 1999 and never looked back.
What is the difference between hip hop and indie hip hop?
Hip hop is a cultural movement comprised of graffiti, breakdance, rapping and DJ-ing influenced by the pluralism of the urban environment and possessing an encompassing collage aesthetic. Indie hip hop refers specifically to music, an independent artist or record label that is largely self-financed and lacks the backing and marketing dollars of a major label. There are purists that simply repeat the past and follow the exact blueprint of the past, and others that are evolving the sound of hip hop by utilizing history as a touchstone and moving forward by experimenting with new sounds. It’s all indie hip hop despite what the purists may argue. If you are not moving the culture forward and helping it evolve, what are you contributing by participating?
What is the message in the music you create?
I am purely a mouthpiece for my own slanted world-view ... and I believe that on occasion this can translate to being a cultural barometer of how a cross-section of my demographic is feeling — educated poor people slouching toward 30. The creative process flows from difficulty expressing extreme feelings and thoughts in a socially acceptable manner. I want people to identify with my catharsis so I can be the social freak show they project their own experience onto. I’ve always been attracted to music with heavy personal content.
Who and what influences your music now?
Emotional and psychological trauma influence the lyrics. I would have to say I listen to my friends’ music the most often. When I’m writing and co-producing, I don’t listen to anything hip hop related. I’ll listen to emotive ‘90s metal like Type O Negative, Pist On or Life of Agony, as well as modern stoner/doom metal and a healthy dose of outlaw country. It is important that I don’t sponge and regurgitate anyone else’s ideas unwittingly.
What’s in the future for Brzowski? Do you have another album on the way?
I’m going to make music and perform for as long as I feel like I have something to say, though the scale will ebb and flow. A limited-run official bootleg CD, “Blooddrive Vol.2,” will be out in March and then, if all goes according to plan, a new proper album produced by Agent 8 will be released in August, likely on Milled Pavement Records. Moshe and I will also be releasing an EP in the future, and that will be a shock to our listeners in the sense that it will be the least “hip hop” release either of us has done in years.