Posted by Anup Parasu on May 13 2015
TweetSugarBeats, a duo based out of Oregon have been blowing up on the West Coast scene. Recently off the "Do Your Thing" tour with the Floozies, we got a chance to sit down with Luke and Ananda to discuss their current Kickstarter campaign, their new album, and what else is good in the world of SugarBeats!
Q. Where did you guys first meet / how did SugarBeats come to be?
SugarBeats: We met at a party free styling and shortly after started a hip-hop project making beats and writing rhymes in our spare time, which was all the time. As we delved deeper into production our focus shifted from writing lyrics to making beats. While Luke moved to San Francisco to attend Pyramind Audio School, Ananda was honing his skills Djing and producing. We reunited after 3 years to form SugarBeats.
SugarBeats: We describe it as a fusion of jazz, funk, hip-hop, and bass music. We've gotten less experimental than we were in the past but we still try to push boundaries and create something new and unique everytime.
Q. Some of your favorite jams at the moment/all time?
SugarBeats: We could go on forever with this! At the moment we're obsessed with "Paradise" by ZHU (FKJ Remix) and "Pretty Thoughts" by Alina Baraz and Galmatias. Some of our all time jams: "Get Down on It" by Kool and the Gang and "The Gang and Superstition" by Stevie Wonder.
Q. Who/what do you consider a major influence in your life thus far?
SugarBeats: Honestly our inspiration comes from so many things in life, be it architecture, poetry, art, or anything else that catches our fancy. As far as musicians go our major influences include Stevie Wonder and Zapp & Roger on the retro side and Haywyre, Opiuo, and Griz on the future side.
Q. You said there would be a wide variety of instruments and sounds on your upcoming EP?
SugarBeats: We've been steadily shifting from sampling to creating our own samples ever since Groove City Romance, so for the next album we want to include a wide array of different instruments. We hope this will enable us to include a wider array of instruments and musicians in our live shows in the future. So far we have musicians that play guitars, keys, sax, trumpet, violin, and a range of others.
We also work with a couple singers, but the one we feature most prominently on the album will be Veronica Rockstar, who we've been working with since fall of 2014. She's been singing since the age of 12 and is a professional contemporary dancer and aerialist. Veronica has a wide range of styles, which makes her easy to work with regardless of the style of track we are producing. She will be accompanying us on tour following the release of the new album.
Q. Favorite venues/festivals to date?
SugarBeats: Playing the Osiris Stage at Burning Man, What the Festival, SnowGlobe, and Escape from Wonderland are some of our favorite festival gigs to date. Some of our favorite venues are The Independent in San Francisco, the Hult Center in Eugene, and the Crocodile in Seattle.
Q. Who handles your graphics / album art / creative etc.?
SugarBeats: Liam Butterz, who goes by Buttervault, is our main graphic designer who has taken care of our recent releases and most of our branding. We'll be working with him moving forward but are open to working with other artists as well.
Q. What are some festivals/venues/regions you hope to play soon?
SugarBeats: We're hoping to make it out to Colorado soon because the music scene is so amazing there, and we've never been to Red Rocks or Sonic Bloom and would love to play there. Shambhala is the mecca for us, top of the totem as far as the festivals we want to play most.
Q. You recently had a west coast run with the Floozies and Manic Focus. How did you originally connect with them?
SugarBeats: We had previously played with The Floozies at SnowGlobe in 2014 and three days after that we opened for them in Oakland. Since Matt and Mark were familiar with our style, they knew we'd be a good fit for the west coast portion of their "Do Your Thing Tour".
Q. Any favorite moments from that tour?
SugarBeats: Our stop at the Independent in San Francisco was killer. The energy was nuts and you could tell that everyone there was a diehard fan of funky bass music. Cruising the boardwalk and goofing off in Santa Cruz on our day off was amazing. The highlight of times with that crew would have to have been our late night dodge ball tournament in a Dojo that Manic Focus had found next door to the venue in Eugene... on a Tuesday - RUTHLESS.
Q. Any upcoming collabs you can speak on?
SugarBeats: We're doing a remix for The Floozies and have a collab planned for down the road, which we're incredibly hyped about. Really stoked to hear how our styles mesh. We have a collab set in stone with Terminite in the upcoming future as well.
Q. You guys have any other hobbies outside of music?
SugarBeats: We had a pool table in our old studio, and we still play almost every night, but we'd probably call that an addiction more than a hobby. And poker night was last night, so there's that too.
Q. What's next for SugarBeats?
Sugar Beats: As far as what's next for us, mainly working on the production for our new album, "Fly High". Additionally we're doing a Kickstarter to fund the new album because we want to pay our singers and musicians but can't afford to do so alone.
The remix EP for Groove City Romance is coming out soon too, which features remixes from Culprate, Terminite, Love & Light, & The Zebbler Encanti Experience. We also have official remixes for Stickybuds and Mochipet awaiting release.
Some of our upcoming festivals include Lightning in a Bottle and Burning Man.
Posted by: Anup Parasu
Tags: Sugar Beats
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