Masia One
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All right, so what’s an average day like for Masia One?
Oh boy.
Wake up, check my email, answer fan mails … right now I have 200 outstanding emails I haven’t answered. And the other thing is people are surprised when I answer emails myself. I run the monthly M1 Academies, and we put out really personalized touches on our flyers, like hand-beading two-hundred bookmarks, things like that. After that, we hit the street and do in-person promos to make sure the stores have our CDs.
[KhanhRtist:] Having a real personal approach to promotion, like with those bookmarks, they’re really successful because everyone remembers us. Even if they don’t go to the show they’ll remember your name.
[Back to Masia:] I was in Second Cup and there was someone reading a book, and I looked over their shoulder, and my flyer was there, and I was like, “yeah!” Nowadays I’m trying to cut down on shows (in the summer I was gigging all the time), and I try and sit down, lay down some beats, write, and then in the evening again it’s back to promo and hitting the streets.
[Lopan, who follows these things:] On a whole other note, let’s talk pop music. Ashlee Simpson was just revealed to be a lip-syncher on stage: surprised? Her managers obviously had excuses, and Avril came out and said lip-synchers are pathetic. What’s your take?
That doesn’t surprise me because it’s pop music, you know? Everything’s gotta be glitzy and shiny. But I think as a performer who is a serious musician, an artist, you love nothing more than to get up on stage and be able to rock the crowd because YOU are rocking the crowd. I even heard Elton John say that people who lip-synch at a show where people are paying a hundred quid should be shot. But I mean, it’s pop music, it doesn’t surprise me, it’s all a business. It’s not music, it’s the music business. I think it disturbs me more that, for example, Hilary Duff, who had an interview on MuchMusic and was asked if she was excited about her first concert in Toronto. And she said, “yeah, because it’s the first time I’ve ever performed live!” and I’m thinking, you’ve moved how many records? And this is the first time you’ve performed live? And that’s so disheartening for all the incredible musicians who CAN rock the show and get their fulfillment from performing live in front of a crowd. I mean, that’s the very BASIS of being able to do music, you start out gigging before you move those units, you put your time in.
For all the Lil Kims out there, all the girls who rap about their genitals and jewels; I’m not going to come out and say it’s stupid ’cause there’s (unfortunately) a time and place for pretty much everything. But there also needs to be a balance. So for every Lil Kim there needs to be an MC Lyte, for every Jacki-O there should be a Lauren Hill. So with the pop music, for the industry to be healthy, for every Ashlee Simpson that they bring in, they need to bring in a counterbalance. But they don’t.
As sort of a follow up to that, we know you have to always find a balance: the first album was more spontaneous, and you’ve described as a sort of demo-album. So with this second record, are you considering putting in a couple club tracks to create the more marketable structure and content of a pop album?
Ah, THERE’S the question … after dropping the first album, I learned about the whole business side of things very quickly. I learned it’s really easy to write a club track - I write the catchiest club tracks in the shower ….
[Lopan with a nonchalant air:] Yeah I do that too ….
Yeah, I mean, I’m killer with this, but at the same time, I put myself out independently because I have the freedom to do whatever it is want to do. So I’ve played with the idea of making two separate records: one with sorta club tracks, easy to pump out, sort of a joke and tongue-in-cheek, but most people might not get that it’s supposed to be tongue-and-cheek ….
[Dialectic being a cynical bastard:] Yeah, people are stupid ….
Hahaha … yeah, I can’t say that thought hasn’t crossed my mind. I’d say if anything I’ll still put out something true to myself and something I like to talk about. But I also understand you can be self-conscious or you can be wildly artistic, but if you can’t communicate with anyone, if no one understands you, you’re not getting yourself out there. If you’re a musician and you wanna get a message out, you still have to be a communicator. I think I’ll strike a balance between the two, and I’ll still put out the weird obscure stuff I want to put out, but at the back of my mind I’ll still remember I’m trying to communicate with people.
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