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 totally different genres in your music? Is it tough to ascertain a cohesive sound throughout your discography?
We purchase beats from just a few totally different producers. We then select the beats which can be becoming to the vibe of every monitor we’re producing. I don’t essentially know that we keep a cohesive sound all through our tracks & albums. Then once more, we, “DJ Staunch & the Bigfoots”, do actually have a singular sound that I believe comes from our predominant 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 means of moderation, really what we’re all about.
What sort of temper had been you hoping to create with the instrumentation and sound of this LIVE album?
The temper we had been making an attempt to create by way of the instrumentation all through our 19-track dwell album, ‘Staunch Moderates Expertise Dwell’, will depend on every monitor, for which we’re telling our 19-track story. For instance, we open with ‘Frank & the Rat Pack’, to begin telling our three-track century of popular culture music historical past. We wished to open with a popping jazzy monitor to inform the Frank & the Rat Pack story and did. The second monitor is a Ramsey Lewis tribute monitor to the only recently handed three-time Grammy-winning jazz pianist. We felt this must be a jazzy, cool monitor, and in order that’s the way in which we made it. It turned out to be one in every of my favourite tracks on the album. Then to spherical out our 100-year historical past, we tribute Rolling Stone Journal. This must be a rock n roll monitor, and it’s. We picked a beat that to me is harking back to the sound of the Rolling Stones. The following monitor 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 monitor 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 notice how within the subsequent monitor, ‘Baseball’, the beat sounds very very similar to the vibe, very chill sport of Baseball, after which the following monitor, ‘Soccer’, is something however a chill sport, therefore the beat is far more rocking and in alignment with that of a theme track for a soccer crew. Anybody studying this interview, have you ever ever heard a soccer crew theme track corresponding to our Bigfoots Soccer: Bigfoot growls, Jeffery Skunk Baxter guitar leads, soccer performs, pomp and circumstance from inside the stadium, and all. The rationale for Bigfoots Soccer & Bigfoots Baseball being tracks inside our dwell album is that that is our try to succeed in American society for our mental motion‘s consideration by means of the 2 hottest sports activities within the U.S, soccer & baseball, in a enjoyable and playful method. Due to this fact, the temper we try to create is dictated by the a part of our story we try to inform, fairly just like a soundtrack or rating in a film.
Had been you influenced by any specific track or style within the means of crafting the lyrics and total message of ‘Rolling Stone (LIVE)’?
We had 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 mission?
Working with Shorty Mack delivered to our mission a welcome and totally different rap sound, not solely to the mission of our Dwell Album but in addition to our registered trademarked track collection and franchise, Staunch Moderates Information (SMN), three editions of it are on this dwell album, and the fourth one is at present 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 track. Once more, Skunk performs lead guitar.
Did you may have 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 exterior pictures all that match the lyrics to the track. The imaginative and prescient was decided by the lyrics.
What do you hope viewers take away from the visible expertise that they could 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 monitor, 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 means of the philosophy of moderation. We hope they inform their mates and the message spreads.
What function do you suppose music performs in sparking social and political conversations as we speak? In your opinion, what makes leisure media a strong device 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’ve got 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 conduct in a cool & entertaining method. We’ve been at this enterprise for simply over 5 years now. How efficient we’re is difficult to scientifically show; nevertheless, we’ve got heard by means of the grapevine that there’s important embracement of average ideology in our society as we speak. What’s it, 80 or 90% of the nation all average? In our opinion, leisure media may very well be a considerably highly effective device. Our bets are on that it’s or can 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 method we accomplish that for 60 years, Nineteen Sixties by means of the present day. It suits into our album because the third monitor, 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 this can be a hundred years of American popular culture music historical past to honor & 100 yr have fun President Woodrow Wilson’s 1919 creation of the League of Nations, at present The United Nations, to open our 19-track ‘Staunch Moderates Expertise Dwell Album’. This three-track centennial historical past opening of our live performance additionally introduces our fourth monitor, ‘Socrates Café’, which is a desk of contents & storytelling of our Staunch Moderates Mental Motion for Peace, 2020, first yr in operation.
For different present initiatives, ‘Staunch Moderates Expertise Dwell’ isn’t solely a dwell album, it is usually a feature-length movie, at present competing nicely within the movie competition circuit, having received seven awards to date. We intend for this digital dwell live performance to turn out to be a touring live performance, a play, and even an instructional course provided at many ranges of schooling. “Rolling Stone Dwell” is an integral a part of the story!
Watch the music video for his or her newest launch, ‘Rolling Stone’ under, 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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