We’ve been writing about Staunch Moderates since 2021, and now, we’ve lastly had the chance to trace down this very busy musical, social, cultural, and political phenomenon, and discover out what makes them tick.
How do you method mixing as much as eight completely different genres in your music? Is it tough to determine a cohesive sound throughout your discography?
We purchase beats from a couple of completely different producers. We then select the beats which are becoming to the vibe of every observe we’re producing. I don’t essentially know that we preserve a cohesive sound all through our tracks & albums. Then once more, we, “DJ Staunch & the Bigfoots”, do actually have a singular sound that I feel comes from our foremost rapper, Casanova Ace, my secondary, Greg Simmons, rapping voice, the everyday, “on the low down” jazz, R&B & then “not a lot on the low down” rock beats we use to counter our sound. All of the above can be influenced by the philosophical & storytelling lyrics we write to inform historical past & then emanate peace by way of moderation, actually what we’re all about.
What sort of temper have been you hoping to create with the instrumentation and sound of this LIVE album?
The temper we have been making an attempt to create through the instrumentation all through our 19-track reside album, ‘Staunch Moderates Expertise Reside’, is dependent upon every observe, for which we’re telling our 19-track story. For instance, we open with ‘Frank & the Rat Pack’, to start out telling our three-track century of popular culture music historical past. We needed to open with a popping jazzy observe to inform the Frank & the Rat Pack story and did. The second observe is a Ramsey Lewis tribute observe to the only recently handed three-time Grammy-winning jazz pianist. We felt this needs to be a jazzy, cool observe, and in order that’s the way in which we made it. It turned out to be one in all my favourite tracks on the album. Then to spherical out our 100-year historical past, we tribute Rolling Stone Journal. This needs to be a rock n roll observe, and it’s. We picked a beat that to me is harking back to the sound of the Rolling Stones. The subsequent observe within the album is a tribute to our bigfoot mascot, “Staunch”. Right here we selected an R&B beat that catered to mystical Bigfoot steps, the place we layered the strings to carry a component of classical to the observe all becoming a paradigm-shifting Bigfoot from essentially the most terrifying folklore character to the best being on the planet. One might say that is an analogy to the paradigm-shifting intention coming from our Staunch Moderates mental motion to maneuver from all of the partisanship, vitriol, and hate our society is experiencing right into a extra peaceable and loving society. Please be aware how within the subsequent observe, ‘Baseball’, the beat sounds very very similar to the vibe, very chill recreation of Baseball, after which the subsequent observe, ‘Soccer’, is something however a chill recreation, therefore the beat is rather more rocking and in alignment with that of a theme music for a soccer crew. Anybody studying this interview, have you ever ever heard a soccer crew theme music similar to our Bigfoots Soccer: Bigfoot growls, Jeffery Skunk Baxter guitar leads, soccer performs, pomp and circumstance from inside the stadium, and all. The explanation for Bigfoots Soccer & Bigfoots Baseball being tracks inside our reside album is that that is our try to achieve American society for our mental motion‘s consideration by way of the 2 hottest sports activities within the U.S, soccer & baseball, in a enjoyable and playful manner. Due to this fact, the temper we are attempting to create is dictated by the a part of our story we are attempting to inform, fairly much like a soundtrack or rating in a film.
Have been you influenced by any specific music or style within the strategy of crafting the lyrics and total message of ‘Rolling Stone (LIVE)’?
We have been actually influenced by the style of rock n roll in crafting the lyrics for ‘Rolling Stone’.
What did working with Shorty Mack carry to the undertaking?
Working with Shorty Mack dropped at our undertaking a welcome and completely different rap sound, not solely to the undertaking of our Reside Album but additionally to our registered trademarked music sequence and franchise, Staunch Moderates Information (SMN), three editions of it are on this reside album, and the fourth one is at the moment in manufacturing. Shorty Mack wrote and raps with me in a duet in SMN2. It’s like two information anchors going forwards and backwards telling the information, however in a rap music. Once more, Skunk performs lead guitar.
Did you’ve gotten a transparent imaginative and prescient for the Rolling Stone (LIVE)’ music video? How did you carry this imaginative and prescient to life?
We shot some new pictures, used the content material that we had in our archives or licensed outdoors pictures all that match the lyrics to the music. The imaginative and prescient was decided by the lyrics.
What do you hope viewers take away from the visible expertise that they may miss in simply listening?
Past the hope that viewers members are entertained by the celebration of the historical past we audio/visually inform within the observe, we additionally hope they’re entertained by our Bigfoot DJ Staunch® performing and that they then look extra into this Bigfoot who is also the mascot of our mental motion, Staunch Moderates®, all about addressing the Divide and striving for nationwide & world peace by way of the philosophy of moderation. We hope they inform their associates and the message spreads.
What position do you suppose music performs in sparking social and political conversations at this time? In your opinion, what makes leisure media a robust instrument for change?
Let me begin by stating that the present inhabitants within the U.S. is 340,000,000. We now have had over 200,000,000, 30-second minimal, views and streams of our content material. That signifies that we now have roughly reached 2/3 of the nation with our songs and beliefs to plant the seeds for “sparking social and political dialog”. I’ll take this a step additional, we hope to encourage good habits in a cool & entertaining manner. We’ve been at this enterprise for simply over 5 years now. How efficient we’re is tough to scientifically show; nonetheless, we now have heard by way of the grapevine that there’s important embracement of average ideology in our society at this time. What’s it, 80 or 90% of the nation all average? In our opinion, leisure media may very well be a considerably highly effective instrument. Our bets are on that it’s or will likely be!
The place does ‘Rolling Stone (LIVE)’ match into the visible album and your different present initiatives?
Our band, DJ Staunch & the Bigfoots, one of many issues we’re into is entertainingly telling popular culture music historical past, and ‘Rolling Stone (LIVE)’ is a manner we accomplish that for 60 years, Nineteen Sixties by way of the present day. It matches into our album because the third observe, simply after ‘Frank & the Rat Pack’, & ‘Ramsey Lewis’, which tells a 40-year American popular culture music historical past earlier than ‘Rolling Stone’. All collectively it is a hundred years of American popular culture music historical past to honor & 100 12 months have a good time President Woodrow Wilson’s 1919 creation of the League of Nations, at the moment The United Nations, to open our 19-track ‘Staunch Moderates Expertise Reside Album’. This three-track centennial historical past opening of our live performance additionally introduces our fourth observe, ‘Socrates Café’, which is a desk of contents & storytelling of our Staunch Moderates Mental Motion for Peace, 2020, first 12 months in operation.
For different present initiatives, ‘Staunch Moderates Expertise Reside’ is just not solely a reside album, it is usually a feature-length movie, at the moment competing nicely within the movie competition circuit, having received seven awards to this point. We intend for this digital reside live performance to develop into a touring live performance, a play, and even an instructional course provided at many ranges of training. “Rolling Stone Reside” is an integral a part of the story!
Watch the music video for his or her newest launch, ‘Rolling Stone’ beneath, and discover out extra about Staunch Moderates and their music on-line on their official web site, YouTube, Fb, and Instagram.
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