Senior journalist Anabel DFlux was able to get in touch with JDN (Blue Eyed Christ) and Groovie Mann (My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult) of the newly-formed project Trash Deity, to chat about the new single and video (available for your art-thirsty eyes below the interview), this unique musical collaboration, the art behind it all, and so much more. All photographs were also taken by Anabel DFlux, as she had the opportunity to explore West Hollywood with these incredibly musical geniuses.
Why did you pick your band name? How did you two meet and form?
Groovie Mann: It seemed to fit our current state of time. I think we met through the Internet? dating service? haha! But nooooo…though we had crossed paths naturally w/ our histories throughout the years. I knew JDN finally a year Later, I leap from my W.Hollywood Cancerian Nest to NOHO & we had a SAKI POW WOW.
JDN: The name was actually an interesting story. Most bands think of a great name or grandiose concepts before having any songs. We sort of had the opposite issue haha. We had the EP recorded and mixed, but the name was still eluding us, for close to a year..Trash Deity made it to the short list, and it just kind of stuck.
Tell me about the new single! How was the music conceptualized and brought to fruition?
GM: Hmm…. aw, its sorta A sassy jaunt through the current times, I like expressing A GROOVE fast instead of thinking it out; sometimes the results work for what I need to express. Never hold back from what you feel
JDN: It’s called, “Finger on a Trigger,” and it was the second song we did together. The EP will actually be in the order it was recorded, so the listeners can hear the journey. This was one of the more spontaneous and abstract songs lyrically told over a heavy electronic/guitar groove of chaos.
Talk to me about the music video.
JDN: Neil Kull directed it. He did my Blue Eyed Christ “Do You Wanna Touch” video, so I reached out to him about this. It was his idea to take a bunch of stills of Groovie Mann’s art and manipulate the images into a video.
GM: Neil had compiled my artwork from FB + Various Owners into a whirlwind; I was a bit dumbfounded first seeing my art as illustrations, and also seeing them alive through film was such a trip!
Has this collaboration influenced your own music taste, philosophy, and/or ideology?
GM
: Nooo? It just adds to all the other excitement I think or helps things that need uplifting….
JDN: For sure. It’s always a learning experience whenever you work with new people. It’s a push and pull of influences and personalities. That’s the fun part: being exposed to approaching art from a different angle.
What type of recording process did you use? Who produced your recording?
GM: This Is for JDN.
JDN: I produced and mixed everything, and Groovie Mann and I co/wrote all the songs. I mix, engineer, and produce other artists professionally, so it just makes sense. I enjoy the mixing and am way too OCD about my songs to use another mixer, although I’ve thought about it. We did everything at my studio. We would go through instrumentals I already had, some very minimal, some were already pretty developed musically with different sections (verses/chorus/etc)
What inspires you to do what you do?
GM: The waking day usually now not be hungover…hah… I think, Wow I have the whole day to do stuff that makes me alive & fulfilled. Ya I get sick of it ? Then I walk away from it or mix it up before I re-start.!
JDN: I just really enjoy the projects like this and Blue Eyed Christ that act as my artistic outlets. It’s very fulfilling to play people my musical projects, and it’s representative of my vision. I enjoy working with other artists for a living, but that’s me helping them see their vision instead.
How do you describe your music to people?
GM: It’s who I am & someone else too, & now 30 years later its a whole bunch of people who are me in the studio & just a few for the day! (the less the better ) hah especially, in the day! Sybil!!!
JDN: Genre wise it’s usually referred to as Industrial, or EBM, or a few other things, I suppose. I never really minded the Industrial tag like a lot of other artists. Honestly, I’ve worked with so many artists in different genres, I really do think there is good and bad in every genre. I engineered some Gospel records even that were nominated for Grammy’s; it doesn’t get much farther away from Blue Eyed Christ than that! I’ll tell you though, the choir we had that opened one of those Gospel albums could have been from a death metal band. It was pretty epic.
What image do you think your music conveys?
GM: Multiple choices- flash cards- quick edits- compiled imagery= colourized in space? w/ a dash of the Milky Way out of it….
What can you tell us about this upcoming EP? What do you want your fans to know about this upcoming EP?
GM: This has been a real adventure & challenge. I have only worked w/ a few other band/ producers through the years, Big Stick (NYC) & SYNICAL (LA) also PIGFACE (CHGO), Fred Gianelli (Outerspace) + ministroni !
JDN: It was great doing a project like this that gets back to my roots and the kind of music I really love, even better was making a great new friend! Groovie Mann and I have been on the periphery of the same circles for a while, but we really just got to know each other and hang out a lot initially through this project. The EP is 4 songs and it’s called Run 4 Your Lies! We are currently looking for label options for the EP.
WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW:
[embedplusvideo height=”558″ width=”940″ editlink=”http://bit.ly/2fA5qyJ” standard=”http://www.youtube.com/v/mc_etXc30IY?fs=1″ vars=”ytid=mc_etXc30IY&width=940&height=558&start=&stop=&rs=w&hd=0&autoplay=0&react=1&chapters=¬es=” id=”ep8918″ /]
CONNECT WITH TRASH DEITY HERE:
