Formal Funk
An Interview with Koko Dozo: a bit of Madness – and a lot of Teamwork – into the mix
The rock and roll super group – a group made of musicians who are well known to be in other groups, or, solo stars who band together in one entity, like the comic book heroes X-Men and The Avengers – has a long history in rock music. The super group Blind Faith comprised of guitar giant Eric Clapton and drummer Ginger Baker of Cream, along with Steve Winwood of traffic. Clapton also working with the legendary Allman Brother Duane Allman and super drummer Jim Gordon form Derek and the Dominoes, who recorded the classic rock album 'Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. "
Often in jazz, musicians from different groups (which are great solo artists in their own right) come together and make great music. This is not always the case. Groups composed of great artists – used to work alone or be the "star" – can sometimes lower than the sum of their parts, as egos clash and the group as a bad basketball team, where everybody wants to score and nobody wants to display or play defense. Koko Dozo, however, is a dream team. Each member of the group, polarity / 1 contains, Rubio and Amy Douglas is an equal contribution, with the entire group to use each member's skills and talents. Once again, there are no egos collide. Exactly the opposite happens, as members offer support and encouragement for each other. On the group's debut 'Illegal Space Aliens,' Koko Dozo shows that individual and collective expression can sign in one, and – like a good jazz band, baseball team or this years Boston Celtics – can result in something even greater than the sum of its parts.
[Mark Kirby] What kind of music was played in your house when you grew up?
[Polarity / 1] I started with records of my father. My earliest faves were Cab Calloway, Tito Rodriguez and other salsa music, Elvis, James Brown, Chuck Berry, The Beatles and Led Zeppelin. Then there was the radio and TV shows like American Bandstand, Soul Train and the Ed Sullivan Show.
[Rubio] My parents were fundamentalists and went through this period of fear or a more secular music in the house, so for a while we had nothing but this old 8-track with Pat Boone and Bob Dylan is a Christian album. No, I'm not making this up. I used to stay nights just surfing the dial on this crappy transistor radio I had and absorbing everything I could get my ears on.
[Amy Douglas] I come from a family that played instruments. Growing up, I was fortunate to parents who have loved music a lot. All my father was About Jazz – Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Brubeck, Duke, Bird and Diz, etc. – so my love for jazz from him and my grandparents. My mother was a huge fan of artists as Carol King, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Paul Simon, Jim Croce and Elton John (still one of my personal heroes to this day). She was also a big fan of Smokey Robinson and the miracles, the Temptations, Philly soul, and all that Gamble and Huff touched, from Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes to the Spinners and all in-between. She loved black music in general. Also strongly on rotation in the house growing up was Aretha Franklin, who served as my first influence in the opening of my head and wailing away, and Stevie Wonder, who was one of my biggest influences of all.
[Mark Kirby] What incident or moment ignited passion to perform or otherwise get into music?
[Polarity / 1] When I was in high school I discovered Brazilian music, Appalachian folk, Eric Dolphy, 16th century Japanese court music, Bob Dylan and Mahavishnu Orchestra. My thing with Dylan I got a guitar to buy, I could get my anger at the hardships of life on earth. Within weeks I was writing clueless protest songs about important political issues I never bothered to read about.
[Rubio] I have a passion for music as long as I can remember it. I used to get mad about it even as a child apparently. I started lessons at the age of four. When I was 11, I have formally decided to devote myself to music. I was classically trained on piano and organ as a child. As a teenager I started getting into heavy metal and prog rock and things like that.
[Amy Douglas] I think growing up as a child in the 1970s served as a source of constant inspiration and was a catalyst. Alone constantly have to listen to my parents' music, and then turning on the TV or radio, it seems almost everything affects me. But if I had to narrow it down to a few choice moments, I'd say playing Stevie Wonder's "Songs in the Key of Life," seeing Chaka Khan on Soul Train, see Bowie everywhere on TV, hearing all the Beatles albums and most important, hearing Led Zeppelin, my favorite band of all time. Between the TV shows Soul Train, Midnight Special and Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, there was no shortage of good things to draw on. I think the combination of hearing all this stuff as a child was like a bomb going off. Sure, I have almost all my visual cues from Donna Summer, P-Funk and Chaka.
[Mark Kirby] Describe your musical backgrounds. Did you study formally in school? Or take lessons?
[Polarity / 1] When I was 14 I bought a guitar with a plywood book of tunes that had chord charts, and then I started writing my own songs. A few years later I took a few lessons and learned how to make major and minor seventh chords, so I had some jazz and bossa nova to add flavor to my songs.
I have one semester at the Berklee School of Music in Boston, that was a weird move, that I could not functionally read music and my brains is not provided with formal learning. But I could write notation a little and tried to prove that I was Berklee-worthy by hot-dogging the homework projects – Like scoring an arrangement of Monk's "Epistrophy at 7 / 4," which nobody could play. I was relieved a few years ago when I was a 7 / 4 thing for Pete McCann and Gregg Bendian to play on "Munton's Revenge" on the polarity / 1 'Speechless' album recorded. They nailed it pretty quickly. What good was about the year at Berklee was that even though I could not learn in a normal way, [with] what they throw at me, I was able to sort of "visualize" all those concepts as functions and chord voicings. It all came in handy much later in an unexpected way if I could create quite complex things without "knowing how" and be taken seriously. In that sense, I had a very real musical training.
[Rubio] I had your lesson until I was 16, especially classical music. When I was younger, we had a deal where I got free lessons in exchange for performing Kawai, presenting their instruments in malls and conventions. Because of that, I had some training as a performance good. By my 17th birthday I played full time with bands and earning my keep.
[Amy Douglas] I started doing music from age six on. I first discovered that I could sing when my elementary school teacher wrote my mom a letter saying, "Ask Amy to sing for you sometime." My grandmother taught me piano Initially, and from there I took lessons. From sixth grade on, I was one of those disgusting "Music Big Concert School" kids. I started learning music theory in high school and I got high praise from New York, won the Louis Armstrong and Eubie Blake music scholarships and then went to study jazz theory and composition at New York University. UUUUUUGH.
[Mark Kirby] What were some of your earliest musical experiences?
[Polarity / 1] My first gigging experiences in high school were great antidotes for bad looks and bad conversation-starting skills. Making music is all good except for a difficult period where I have a real-world lesson about where my strengths and weaknesses were. My songs began in folk and rock. Then they got jazzy and funky. Then I wanted to elements of the late John Coltrane, Mingus and Mahavishnu bring. So I have a bond with all jazz guys instead of folk-rockers most [ly] cool – except I'm not that kind of player with that kind of training. Since my only interest in the guitar was for songwriting, I had no chops and could not bear much to the instrumentals the other guys were writing. And she needed a serious jazz / metal guitarist. So I got fired from my own band. It provided a transition to a radically different direction, where I had to start from scratch and my own creative process was to discover and then make a commitment to succeed on my own terms. And with that kind focus, I found that a whole lot of different things that I do not really good with my own vision and method and developed big chops with it.
[Rubio] It was rough from 11 to 16, because I actually had to go into a hole and hibernate in order to switch from organ to piano, and not live at all at that time. It was a definite case of withdrawal. My first few rock bands were rough, too. I was nicknamed "Wendel" because that was Gomer Pyle's real first name in the TV show. I'm sorry to say that at the moment The name fit perfectly. I was more than a little naive. I am very grateful for that time, though, because I learned a lot very quickly.
[Amy Douglas] I got my first pro action at age 12 and won my first pro session at 13. I told my parents I did not want to go to school. From then it got darker. My first pro gig was at a Supper Club on Long Island. Among the dishes of steak and shrimp, I sang a mix of jazz standards and disco classics. It was a blast.
[Mark Kirby] Describe your individual travel from the first musical bands Koko Dozo.
[Polarity / 1] I started writing songs until I joined the SIM (Studio For Mutual Media) department at Mass Art (Massachusetts College of Art) when I Cage, Xenakis, George Crumb, Joan LaBarbera discover, Steve Reich and others. I made a decision to melody, harmony or rhythm not use in a way that seemed to songs or jazz. And since I was an artist at that time, the art scene locations for this new direction. So my visual stuff, music and text re-writing was channeled into composing music for choreographers and performance art and experimental theater. I also formed a group called Vocal Effects that are totally improvised only singing performances, which morphed into abstract vocal sounds, words, free-associated lyrics, rhythms and harmonies. Then I moved to NYC and got obsessed with groove. I studied African drumming, played in samba bands and had a hip-hop thing with rapper DAV called Medicine Crew. Hip-hop was an easy transition because I was already into looping and collages, but in a abstract mode, and my performance poetry worked in a rap format. I was always into groove since I was little – funk, salsa, African drumming, calypso, samba and reggae. A few years later I got back into songwriting and all that stuff merged into songs and electronica when I Polarity / 1. And that led to film scoring and working with Rubio on Audioplasm, leading to Koko Dozo. And recently I've circled back to the art world, scoring for Battery Dance Company and Quorum Ballet from Lisbon.
[Rubio] My first band I was in was ruled with an iron fist by the absolute tyrant and it was a real wake-up call. Those were very good times, of course. After a few years in my hometown of Winnipeg, Canada, I moved to Toronto for six years before coming to NYC in 1997. I've done just about any kind of action you can think of at that time, both live in the studio.
[Amy Douglas] I had been gigging steadily in my own bands, ranging from funk to rock. I was part of a group of downtown artists known as the "Gay Corp." scene. I was [also] a part-time member of the Squeezebox Band – same Squeezebox she recently released a film at Tribeca Film Festival this year – in fact my 20s or gigging, doing sessions or hanging out with drag queens and getting into trouble.
[Mark Kirby] How did the three of you meet and come together?
[Rubio] I had Polar met in 2003 through a mutual friend, a drummer named Curtis Watts, with whom we had a mutual interest in samba. It clicked and began working sporadically. In the autumn of 2005 we decided to completely redesign Polar studio with my help and work on each project. That flourished in our working together on a number of production equipment, mainly soundtracks for documentaries, and an instrumental collaboration called Audioplasm.
[Polarity / 1] Rubio and I were working on the album Heavy Meadow at the same time, he and Amy in her "Red Hot Mama "show. He suggested that the three [of us] to come together to see if we could come up with something interesting.
[Amy Douglas] I had a show called "Red Hot Mama, "which was a rock vaudeville show, and I had hired Rubio as the keyboardist, and we really clicked. When the show folded, he introduced me to Polar, the two of them done a project called Audioplasm. I am so happy to Koko Dozo than I've been in just about everything I've ever done. We were at a super hot summer day in 2007 and realized we had it is capable of incredible music based on our collective musical passions and influences, including a group dedicated to Brazilian music, Afro Beat making, and Latin music, so we really had a whole pot Brewin 'by the time we started to write songs.
[Mark Kirby] How to get the name Koko Dozo?
[Amy Douglas] At the risk of hurting myself by myself knocked on the back, I'm drawdown. My ex-boyfriend had called to an avant-garde project to do and he threw Koko Dozo as a test name. When we think about names, I threw it there, and the boys liked it. I think it's Fab. [My ex-boyfriend] has so little to me, as we work were [so] at least he gave the band a great name.
[Mark Kirby] What is the musical concept of the band?
[Amy Douglas] It's really a giant. First and foremost, it is virtually force people to have to really listen to what we do and who pandered to the public and reduced to a kind of lowest common denominator again grow some brain cells help. The music is obviously a lot of fun, it puts you in the mood for some serious dancing to do and there is more than a healthy dose of silly swirling around in the mix. But really listen to the words and you hear that we have some deep challenges we face and we do address them in our songs, ranging from our distrust of our government, the polarization of culture in our house in New York City and a whole bunch of other things. Our musical concept is to shrink the world as well, the Internet has made the world smaller and We wanted to find a way to fuse cultures, languages, styles and influences together in a way that smacks of New York City life, but will appeal to an audience that is truly global.
[Rubio] In general, Polar handles the arrangements and the drum and percussion elements. I come with harmonic ideas, playing most of the keyboard / bass type things and mix the tracks. Amy is the voice of the project and handles melodies. Obviously there is much overlap. There is a song that I arranged and produced ("Boomchi). Polar and I each perform a solo voice ("Kokodozonomics" and "The Heart", respectively). There are songs that Amy did the chord structure and played keyboards. Polar is very avant-garde and always push the envelope. Amy is very melodic and tends to create things that are catchy and mass appeal. I'm kind of in the middle.
[Polarity / 1] We have an open source attitude about music. Between us, we worked just about every genre category there is and we feel no compulsion to limit where we're going. Every song has a strong identity of its own, but they all sound like Koko Dozo. Conventional wisdom dictates that our approach will ensure that we never find an audience. But we know that nonsense. The post-corporate online music business has made it's good for people to trust their intuition about the music they discover. An amazing variety of people respond. We're reaching young electro heads, world-beaters, dance-clubbers, boomers, electronica geeks and po-po-pomo gonzoid hairy-backed Noiz GIMPS live in the basement of the basement on a diet of sticky buns and penis butter and Toe Jam sandwiches. The parents and the kiddies like us too. And we write in different languages (English, Spanish and Portuguese), which goes even further. Also We have this whole bargain-basement room vibe that makes it really fun.
[Mark Kirby] What's the story behind the Sun Ra-like (a new word!) Dress and alien mythology?
[Polarity / 1] Here's the story: we came from space and landed on Earth to exploit its resources – and for other reasons we'd rather not discuss. We are the low-rent part of the universe where you wear whatever is around in the alley on garbage pickup day dumps. That, coincidentally, is the same galaxy where Sun Ra came.
[Amy Douglas] {Laughter} Well … the word "alien" permeates much of what we do and we want to riff on the term. Alien, as we mean that internally, the feeling that they are not comfortable in your skin, feeling out of sync with the world around you, feeling like the constant outsider. And we decided to really play with the word, and we decided that a space age "alien" theme would suit us wackos pretty well! Besides, it gives me an excuse to wear wigs and glitter, which I feel I was born to do.
[Rubio] We really wanted the fun and craziness back in music. Too many projects take themselves too seriously these days, passing ironic.
[Mark Kirby] Describe the writing, recording and producing process for this CD. Were you all in the same studio at the same time?
[Polarity / 1] Since we working in my studio, I'm for the whole process. Generally I let Amy and Rubio a track which I think would work for Koko Dozo. It maybe just a sketch, almost completely, or something in between. I could have complete texts as well ("Face On The Dancefloor ',' Kokodozonomics") or just an idea for the lyrics Amy and I are together ("Shine"). Or Amy and / or Rubio, one of my tracks and put it into a song ("Second Time," "The Heart"). Amy has a song and sometimes I build a track around her chord changes, melody and atmosphere and help with the lyrics ("Down"). Rubio and Amy wrote "Boomchi" Rubio and co-produced track.
Rubio is the man with the engine-ear. He comes in when a track is pretty much set and start tweaking things. He will also have keyboard solos, bass and sometimes the more harmonically dense keyboard stuff. I have the keyboard parts not needed big chops. Then Amy comes in and we follow singing. Rubio and I finished am with the mixes with Rubio in the big chair. Joe Lambert masters everything Trutone Studios. He has done all the polarity / 1 and Heavy Meadow things too. Recently, Amy has played some key components.
[Rubio] Inasmuch as the record, we were generally all there. I personally never definitive record of votes without anyone else in the room to give me a sense of perspective. Polar has a lot of operations on its own, but often I also noticed that work. The mixes were generally done in Polar and me, and we would roughs to Amy to send for her input.
[Mark Kirby] What is your live show like? Is there a full band?
[Amy Douglas] It is a full-on brigade of madness! We operate as a trio, currently using our tracks and the addition of live keys and guitar, bass and percussion.
[Rubio] I would like to have a live band, but the circumstances and logistics just do not allow. The three of us to conduct all live. Polar plays electronic drums, guitar and hand percussion, I play keyboards live and we all sing. We use versions of the tracks that have been adapted for live shows, so what you hear on stage is not necessarily what you would hear at the studio version.
[Polarity / 1] Our shows are fun for us, and I think the audience likes to see grown people making funny noises and it bounces around like homeless space mutants. Amy's wigs and Rubio's Viking helmet are worth the price of admission. And staring at my psychedelic death-ray yarmulke is a life-affirming way off blowing Shabbos.
http://www.kokodozo.com
http://www.myspace.com/kokodozo
About the Author
What are some love songs can play a base guitar?
I picked up a guitar about 6 months ago with no formal training and I'm pretty decent (think I). Most of the songs I learned to play jazz, funk, rock, etc., but nothing I can really use for sweeping a girl of her feet. And yes, I can sing while playing too. Any suggestions?
for the ultimate guitar-songs and watch the air and his bass VAT
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