Alli's Articles
INTERVIEWS, REVIEWS, CULTURE PIECES, MUSICAL RAMBLINGS.
As seen here on the blog, rock and indie musicians and bands make up a large percentage of the New Paltz music scene. However, there are many other types of musicians and people who have different roles in the distribution of music in this community that also deserve appreciation in the spotlight. I took a look into the rap scene with BZA, and it was enjoyable and interesting to talk about a genre that I’m still learning about myself. This week, I dove into a field that I really know NOTHING about, and that is DJing.
Going to Murphy’s Restaurant and Pub on Main Street on a Tuesday, Friday, or Saturday is a pretty popular pastime of New Paltz residents. There are many DJs on the bill each night, but a fan favorite by far is Lorenzo, most commonly known as DJ LoHex. Patrons love the songs he plays, and his catchphrase, “Oh my God it’s DJ LoHex,” are six words that are etched in New Paltz's vocabulary. I wanted to know what went into the process of DJing, and what goes through his mind every night behind that gigantic laptop and booth. We planned to meet up a couple times before SUNY New Paltz unfortunately got shut down for the semester due to COVID-19, but we were unable to. We went back to old TwiColl times and we talked through Instagram DMs this week, and I finally got the answers to some burning questions Murphy-goers have been wondering for years. At what age did you start DJing? How did you get your start? I started DJing when I was 16. I got interested in DJing when I started watching festival videos on YouTube and was mesmerized how someone can control the crowd with music. What is the origin of the slogan “Oh My God It’s DJ LoHex?” Who is the voice behind the clip? The origin of my slogan, haha. It came from my friends teasing me in a good way, like gassing me up thinking that I was hot shit but I’m not. I went with it because I started thinking about it and it’s a perfect slogan that can get stuck in your head if you hear it long enough. The voice behind the clip is my friend Paige. I literally asked her to record a voice memo out of nowhere and she said yes, and it stuck! What are your favorite songs to play? Why? My favorite songs to play are really anything that can get you moving, or that you can vibe out to. When I started DJing, it opened up a whole new world of music for me and made me realize there are way more genres of music out there to be enjoyed. So, really anything that gets you moving or singing with your friends or random people you just met. Do you make your own music/beats? If not, would you want to one day? Yes, I do make music when I’m not DJing. I usually focus on making beats for other people, but I do make my own songs here and there. I actually have a couple of them up on my SoundCloud and some on other streaming services. Do you DJ elsewhere besides Murphy’s? If so, where else do you DJ? I do DJ at other places when I can. I know that if I wanna grow in the industry I can’t get locked down in one place. I DJ in Newburgh, NY at a couple of spots like 50 Front and Coyotes. I also DJ in Boston once or twice a year, same with Long Island. In Boston, I’ve been able to DJ right in the heart of the area like Hennessys, and Tavern Allison. And in Long Island, Public House 49. How do you feel about the community of New Paltz? I grew up in New Paltz! I went to school here, etc. I’ve always loved the community. A lot of people are friendly and nice and good people that just wanna have a good time. And I like how it’s a diverse community too. Good vibes. How do you feel about people asking for requests? Ahhh requests, haha. To be honest, I’m really open to requests. I don’t mind people asking for a song because sometimes I forget certain songs and it reminds me to play them. But they really do start to get annoying when people that I don’t play their requests right away come back and repeatedly ask for a song. Or, when people think they are hot shit and give attitude when I don’t play their song. What I would want to say to people is be patient and don’t be constantly asking. I will fit it in when the time is right. I can’t just switch over a song just like that because it ruins the vibe and the energy. For example, if I’m playing “One Dance” by Drake I can’t switch it over to “YMCA.” You have to work your way to that. What’s your favorite thing about DJing? Why are you so passionate about it? My favorite thing about DJing is really playing music and making people dance and have a good time. It feels good that I know I’m the reason people are enjoying their night and making new memories with each other. I love DJing because I love music and being able to share that with people. Making memories with people is just an amazing feeling. Bars and clubs would not be the same if there were no DJs. iPods can’t replace the human factor that goes into it. Thank you DJ LoHex for taking the time to answer my questions! Follow him on Instagram to watch his quarantine DJing live streams on weekend nights! Check out his mixes on SoundCloud!
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Staten Island: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Not the biggest music scene. Don’t get me wrong, it’ll always be my home, but one of the reasons I wanted to go away for college was to meet new kinds of people, maybe ones that were more musically-inclined. What I never expected, however, was to meet people from the same place as me that were infinitely cooler than any Islander i’ve ever come in contact with.
I’ve talked about On Pink before on the blog, in my “First Skatehouse Show” article. Something about them immediately fascinated me. Whether it was their crazy live improv jam sessions, their unique lyrical content and album art, or even their what seemed to be cult following in the area of New Paltz, something was drawing me in. From August, it was a goal to talk to them for an interview. The band is made up of Tom Giuzio, Joe Ippolito, and Danny Eberle. Tom and Joe are SUNY New Paltz students, while Danny attends SUNY Purchase. This past Saturday, I got the chance to sit and talk with the band, along with hearing some bits and pieces of drum practice before their performance at New Paltz house venue The Groove Grove later that night. Alli: At what ages did you guys get together and start making music? How would you describe the early years of the band? Joe: I think we were 12, and Tom was 11. Tom: We met in a Saturday program at the music school that me and Joe went to. We’ve been playing, not as this band, but we’ve been playing together since 6th and 7th grade. It’s been a long time. We used to play covers and stuff. Joe: It’s pretty much the same band as it was back then. *laughs* Tom: Yeah, and then eventually it just turned into writing our own music. Alli: Who are some of your biggest inspirations music-wise? Danny: We definitely have some of the same influences as a band, but we also have a wide array of different influences. As a band, it would be Daughters, Led Zeppelin, Nirvana, The Jesus Lizard. Joe: Yeah, like those are the collective bands that we all listen to. I feel like we have separate influences as well. Alli: Hmmm. Yeah, I definitely hear some Zeppelin in your music. What is the meaning behind the name” On Pink?” Danny: So, I was just chilling at the crib with my friends watching Mean Girls. And, originally, we were like a whole different project me and Tom were making. Joe ended up joining once we did the Saturday project. My friend was making artwork for it and was like “What do you want to call it?” And I was like “On Pink We Wear Wednesdays,” cause, Mean Girls. Alli: Ohhh..OHHHH! Now the name of your first EP makes sense! Danny: Yeah! And then we became a more serious band, we were starting to think about songs and stuff. We were like, we can’t just have a long-ass, annoying band name, so we shortened it. And On Pink sounded cool, so… Alli: Yeah, it is really cool! I can’t believe I just put that together. Joe: I love watching people put it together. Alli: How do you feel about the New Paltz music scene? I was excited to ask you guys this question because most of my interviewees are freshmen and newer musicians, but you guys have been in this scene for longer. Every time I ask this question, people go off about, like, serious problems! And it was something I’ve never expected. Joe: There’s a lot of reasons for people to be going off and there are a lot of issues. Tom: It’s not like the city. It’s not like where we’re from at all. It seems a little too organized at times to be a real “scene.” Everything seems, like, “This is how it’s supposed to be. We’re gonna play our music with the same sort of bands every weekend, and that’s just the way it is. It’s not very loose. Joe: Everything’s super scheduled and overlooked. Everything has to run smoothly, when, in the end, it’s just people playing in a house. It should not be taken that seriously. Even what Tom was saying, too, about the same bands. It’s inevitable in a scene as small as this one, but there’s so many bands around the area. These are just houses. You should just be able to be like, “Show tonight, come through!” And the payment thing too…if you don’t have money, you can’t listen to the music? Like what? Tom: Yeah, and as a band I think we’d all agree that we’d rather have that person that doesn’t have a dollar but wants to support us in any other way. Of course, any musician’s gonna want that, so why turn them down? Alli: Yeah, no, I 100% agree. I feel like a pay-what-you-can system would be ideal. Also, I’ve been agreeing with the same sound thing since Man’s Mother’s interview. I’m glad you guys had some critical input. Now, let’s go home...How do you feel about Staten Island and the music scene there? Danny: It’s so weird, because there's just...not a scene there anymore. There’s bands, I guess, but not really of people around our age. There used to be - I’ve talked to a lot of my friends that are much older and there used to be a crazy scene with Dock Street. The only things you could do on Staten Island were take the ferry and go see a show in the city, or just see a show on the Island because there were a lot of emo bands, a lot of pop punk bands, screamo and metalcore. Now there’s none of that. There was even a shoegaze band that a friend told me about. But even then, that was the only band I knew that wasn’t, like, a cover band. Joe: Yeah, there’s a lot of cover bands. There’s not really a scene. We played at Nothing New (a thrift shop on the Island) twice, and there was a crazy turnout both times. If there were shows, people would come to them, but there’s no one really to play the shows. And honestly, I’m not trying to carry a torch around in Staten Island. It’s not really that worth it to try and start shows there. Tom: I mean, music got me off of Staten Island. So, I’m glad there’s not really a scene there. I just feel mostly negative about it. Music is the only thing that got me away from it. They both went to LaGuardia, so they had the city. If it wasn’t for playing music with them, I wouldn’t have even gotten off Staten Island and knew what the music scenes were like away from it, because there, it just doesn’t even exist. Alli: Yeah, I feel the exact same way about the Island. That’s why I’m here! Like, that’s why we’re all here today. I interviewed one band from the Island last year, and kinda met some more “artsy” people when I did a radio show at MakerParkRadio on Bay Street last year, but that’s as far as my SI-scene knowledge goes. Moving onto your recent release, Scarlett, I love how you guys did a “jam band” type song at the end with “An Improv, Yes.” I got Grateful Dead vibes, I got Captain Beefheart vibes. Are you guys interested in releasing more jam-ish type things in the future? On Pink: … Tom: ...Is this an announcement? Joe: Yeah yeah! Let’s announce it! Why not? So, our next record is going to be completely improvised. We recorded it already. We just recorded, like, a ton of improvised music, and we’re gonna throw some lyrics on it, too. All of it is live and written on the spot. That last song is the direction we’re headed, at least for now. Alli: Wow, that’s exciting! I’m glad I read your minds because when I heard it, a part of me was like, “There’s a reason they put this on there. This is the start of something else.” Joe: We’ve been doing it more at shows recently, too. It’s fun! It keeps every show different and exciting. We played a show here recently where we did that. We just jammed the entire time. Alli: I’m gonna be honest here, you guys are probably one of my favorite bands to come out of new paltz. you see the sticker on my phone! it truly feels like you guys have “rockstar status” here, which is crazy amazing for a local band. They laugh. Alli: Nahhh! Like I really mean it! Everyone talks about you guys! People hang up posters, and everyone gets so pumped when you guys play shows. I know you guys do shows in the city and stuff, but are you guys looking to expand/do a more extensive tour anytime soon? Danny: We’ve been trying to do that, but things have gotten in the way of that. It’s also a lot of money, time, and effort to really etch that out and do a two week tour, but we’re definitely trying to do that as soon as we can. Joe: This summer’s probably gonna have more out-of-state shows. I’d like to play more in upstate towns, because they have a lot of cool scenes up there that we’ve yet to discover. I wanna hit Albany, Ithaca, we play at Purchase a lot as well. Alli: Yeah! And now that I know you go to Purchase, Danny, I’m going to improvise this question; How does their scene differ from the one here? Danny: The Purchase scene is great. It’s so sick. One thing that Purchase students are definitely privileged to have is an on-campus venue, The Stood. It’s a beautiful thing, because it really gives anybody that goes to the school a way to showcase their music and perform for their friends, regardless of what kind of following they have. There isn’t a lot to do outside of campus, so when there’s a show happening, people are usually there. People will come out, and people will give feedback and just have fun. Plus, it’s really diverse. There’s bills with, like, a rapper, and then a noise band, and then a punk band. It’s just really sick. Alli: Finally, who is the pig on the cover of “Scarlett?” On Pink: Scarlett! Alli: Oh! So her name is actually Scarlett! I had a feeling...do you guys know her personally? Danny: Yeah! We recorded the record at Holy Fang studios, which is a farm in Poughkeepsie that this dude Oliver Ignatius owns slash literally lives in. Joe: Yeah, it’s his house and it’s a barn and it’s a studio. Danny: There’s a lot of pigs there, but she was the pig we chilled with the most. She’s literally a house pet, like a dog. Joe: Yeah, she’s a pampered pig. She was the only pig that was allowed in the house. Danny: Yeah, we chilled with her the entire time we were making the album, got a picture, and even recorded her voice for the end of the last song! You can hear oinking. Joe: And we almost spelt her name wrong, too. We almost did it with one “t,” had to redo like, the entire cover. Thank you so much to On Pink for letting me talk to you guys! Listen to their new album, Scarlett, on Bandcamp, Spotify, and most streaming platforms now! |