Brian Dekker and I met for the first time over breakfast at Busik Court in Salem. He was with his manager Bruke Getachew. They lived together in South Salem in a house that doubled as an office for Spread Label.
Brian was best known at the time for producing Luck One’s album Beautiful Music and collaborating with llla on Moxie Black. He had kind of a weird aura around him within Portland’s hip hop community–everyone seemed to know his name, but nobody knew much about him or even what he looked like. He avoided the hustle of selling beats to local rappers, and the only way to hear his music was to go to his house and convince him to play something.
Even with how well the Beautiful Music album was received on local levels, and with the amazing buzz the Moxie Black projects received, the music he put together with his friend Randa always stood out as being most impressive. Two years later the music was released under the group name Shadows on Stars and Complex Magazine named them as one of their 20 bands to watch in 2012.
(Shadows on Stars is performing alongside Volifonix tonight at Ted’s Berbati Pan in Portland. Free beer until 10pm.)
I caught up with Brian via G Chat, and this is what went down…
Swag.
_____________
Brian: holla
me: Hi Dekk
How are you?
Brian: good
did you get my text?
sorry for the late response
me: Naw, was it good news?
You mean the text last night?
Brian: you texted me asking if 7:30 worked, did you mean for the interview or sound check?
me: interview
Brian: gotcha
me: 7 for soundcheck?
Brian: yeah I was in rehearsal
so I just texted you back
me: Swag, gotcha
Brian: 7 is perfect for soundcheck
me: Now work though? Or should we try for tomorrow?
Brian: now is swag
before we start
1 quick thing
me: Word, my plan is to copy and paste this convo as the interview, so don’t say it
haha
Brian: fuck.. really?
I can
me: I just want to talk about Shadows on Stars
yeah
Brian: just one thing?
me: We keep shit real at WOHM! fam
Brian: haha
me: Message me on FB?
Brian: I’ll email it to you right quick
me: Word
Brian: ahh fuck it
nevemind
lets rock
me: So how are you doing?
Brian: a combination of swag and tired… but mostly swag
me: That’s good. How have you been feeling about the reception of the new video?
First time seeing your faces in one.
Brian: We are really happy man… It’s great to see our reach grow with every release, and that’s what we’ve done with this video. It has been our most successful campaign thus far.
me: Swag. You guys seemed to try to downplay how cool you are in the video though.
Brian: HAHAAA!!
Here’s the thing…
I’m not cool… Randa is the cool one… She’s so fucking swagged out it’s hard to capture on film…
me on the other hand
it took some coaching lol
me: What was that coaching like?
Brian: “Act more like a rapper.”
“Pretend you’re Jay-Z”
“What would A$AP Rocky do?”
me: Swag. He’d probably be pretty and rep Harlem.
Speaking of A$AP Mob, I noticed you are also a big fan of the new track Goldie. Why do you think its so great?
Brian: In a word, provocative. Did I spell that right? It’s just so fucking raw. Reminds me of the type of rap music that I was first drawn to as a kid.
me: The first time I heard it, I remembered how I felt the first time I heard Juvenile’s Ha.
Brian: Word… Yeah see, that flute riff on it reminds of the first time that I heard the piano sample on C.R.E.A.M.
and then the 808 bass line just makes it fucking HUGE!
me: What else have you been listening to lately?
Brian: I’ve been listening to Rick Ross’s last mixtape quite often… And then a fair assortment of newer indie music. But I really feel like rappers are at the top of the music scene once again.
me: Good thing or scary thing?
Brian: I think it’s great man! I was talking with somebody about this the other day, but rappers right now are what the rock stars were in the 70’s
Bowie, Jaegger, etc.
Kanye, Ross, etc.
they’re just the most interesting subjects in music right now in my opinion.
me: Who is David Bowie? Who is Bob Dylan?
Not who are they, but what rapper would be the current day counterpart of each.
Does that make sense?
Brian: haha
yeah
hmm….
I don’t know if we have a rap bob dylan lol
but I can see Kanye as a Bowie type figure
me: I’ve always thought of Aesop Rock as our Bob Dylan.
Brian: especially with his huge theatrical shows
I can see that… except Bob Dylan was HUGE and Aesop is still fairly sub culture ya know?
but I can def see the parallels
me: True, maybe more Atmosphere?
Brian: or…… WOCKA!!!
me: True. I’ve never heard a Wock Flocka song.
Brian: you should
me: You hear that new 2 Chainz and Kreayshawn joint?
Brian: actually, not yet… been seeing the buzz about it though. I need to catch up. But I’ve been somewhat of a studio recluse lately
btw: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7D7zdMf0Jes
Waka Flocka Flame- “Hard In Da Paint” (HD Video)
me: Yeah, it’s terrible.
Brian: haha
me: The 2 Chainz collab with Kreayshawn.
I still haven’t listened to Waka.
So I know pretty much everything about Shadows and Stars, but if I didn’t. what would you tell me?
Brian: Hmm.. Our album is out now, for free: www.shadowsonstars.com
we update our facbook page regularly with exclusive content: www.facebook.com/shadowsonstars
and we’re dope on twitter too: twitter.com/shadowsonstars
also, our lead singer is fucking awesome
me: How has it been working with management in NY? You’ve worked with them on other projects also, right?
Brian: Actually, Shadows On Stars is the first and only project that we’ve worked with them on.
And it’s been fucking awesome!
and they done amazing things for us working closely with our local management.
*they have
swag: http://crookedengine.com/
me: How did you guys get in contact with each other?
Brian: One of the founders of Crooked Engine was working at Atlantic records at the time and I was submitting demo instrumentals for artists in their urban department. Nothing ever came of the instrumentals, but along the way she was introduced to the Shadows On Stars record and fell in love with it. About a month and 3 conference calls later we agreed to work with them on this project and I don’t see us ever going back.
In other words, Crooked Engine til I die yo.
me: That’s Swag.
You guys seem to have a great machine moving. What’s the next step?
Brian: We have another music video coming within the next month and are currently ironing out a plan for a 5th video.
me:We’re also working on new lots of new music and intend on organizing a short run tour in the near future
me: Nice. how important do you think the music videos have been in your success so far? For example, being named as one of Complex Magazine’s bands to watch in 2012.
Brian: They have played a huge role in our success thus far. We are truly fortunate to have talented visual artists in our corner because it adds a component to our music that many new artists struggle to develop.
me: What cities are you looking at for your tour?
Brian: I don’t want to say too much right now because we’re still ironing things out, but we are putting together a trip the puts us on the east coast in the fall.
NYC will definitely be one of the stops as we have played there before already.
me: Swag. We’re looking forward to seeing you on Friday. Still can’t believe it will be my first time seeing you live. What can we expect?
Brian: Lot’s and lot’s of energy. We have a great fucking time on stage man… It’s like we come alive! We just have a good time and hope that the audience will join in.
They usually do!
SWAG!
me: haha, what type of liquor should we have backstage for you?
Brian: Any kind of whiskey will do, but I’m a bourbon guy to be specific. Bulleit is my shhiiiiit.
me: Swag. We’ll see what we can do! Thanks man!
Brian: Thank you! Can’t wai!
*wait
me: shit just got real!
Brian: hshs
hahaha
so real
me: Seriously looking forward to Friday man. People seem to know about it…