Rob Threezy Interview

Here’s the latest Chase March exclusive for all of you. I just did this interview on Friday night and I’m posting it up on a Wednesday. That’s the quickest turn around so far. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this interview. Rob Threezy is a DJ, producer, and remixer. You can download this podcast for free and listen  as you read along. Enjoy!

Chase: “Alright everybody, this is Chase March and I’m here with Rob Threezy. How’s is going, man?

Rob: “It’s going good. Cold weather here in Toronto.”

Chase: “Yeah, it’s crazy. It was out for a run in shorts the day before but it’s hovering around zero today. What’s going on?”

Rob: “I don’t know what’s going on. It’s the Harp.”

Chase: “So tell us about what you do.”

Rob: “I’m Rob Threezy, DJ, producer, remixer, anything involving music, man. That’s me, just stay underground, that’s where it’s at, ya know what I mean. Commercial is cool but after a while, it’s kind of sad to sell yourself, ya know?”

Chase: “Definitely. I’m all about underground, underground hip-hop mostly. I just discovered you recently. Jessica hooked me up with your latest EP ‘Let’s Go Ravers’ and there are some nice tracks on there.”

Rob: “Thank you, thank you.”

Chase: “My name is Chase March and one of your songs is called ‘The Chase.’ That song’s not about me is it?”

Rob: “I didn’t even think about that. That’s good. It’s dedicated to you. ‘The Chase,’ that came out about two years ago. It was released on vinyl on Ol’ Head Records along with Sega, TiMeil, Tim Dolla, ya know, all the club heads from the East Coast, Jersey, Philly, Baltimore, ya know?”

Chase: “You’re from Chicago but it says on your bio that you are big into Baltimore Club. So was that a big influence for you?”

Rob: "Yes, I would have to say that. It just hits hard, ya know what I mean? It’s a different style of house music. It’s club breaks but it does hit hard. I don’t like any soft tracks. I like bangers. I like stuff that hits, that makes people want to dance not to go, ‘okay whatever, I’ll smoke a joint to this.’”

Chase: “So your music is all about getting people to dance. Do you do a lot of live shows?”

Rob: “Yes I do. Mostly in The States. I got booked on this Canada tour in Nelson, Toronto, and Montreal. I was supposed to do Ottawa but I guess that didn’t go through but it’s okay man. I’ll come back later and I can’t say I’m not having fun because Canada has been treating me really good.”

Chase: “Excellent. So I did a little bit of production myself back in the day. Do you mind telling us what kind of gear you use?”

Rob: “I use Logic, that’s my baby. I started off with an MPC. I actually did a couple hip-hop beats on the MPC, I’m not gonna lie. I use a lot of compressors. I use hardware. As far as my sound cards inside my Mac if you want to get into detail, I do have UAD cards. I use the Fuji Ensemble to record vocals. I do basically anything you guys want. I do have a lot of plug-ins. I’m investing in buying a couple synths even though people might say I’m wasting money. But you know there’s nothing better than feeling the gear and stuff.”

Chase: “Do you use samples in your production?”

Rob: “Oh yes, I use samples. Samples are good. Take a kick, sample it from another producer’s track, beef it up, do whatever you want with it, make it your own. I don’t think there is anything wrong with sampling. A lot of hip-hop guys sampled back then on old records, vinyl. I do the same. I’m pretty sure everyone else does it.”

Chase: “I love sampling. It seems that these days a lot of producers are getting away from it. They’re producing their own sounds or using live bands, and it’s a shame because I think that sampling is something that we should be able to do. It’s like taking something old and making something new out of it, which is a lot of what DJ culture is about.”

Rob: “Definitely.”

Chase: “Speaking of DJ culture, what do you think about DJ Hero?”

Rob: “I think it’s pretty cool. I’ve tried it. It’s a little hard, I’m not gonna lie. You get the hang of it but it’s cool. I like it. It’s entertaining. Sometimes I think it’s gonna take away from the real essence of deejaying on vinyl.”

Chase: “Yeah, that’s what I think to. I mean, I played in some bands before and Rock Band, the video game, doesn’t really simulate a rock band experience. You’re playing that, you’re only looking at the screen, you’re paying attention to what you’re doing, you’re not playing off of the other guys. And in DJ Hero, you’re not using the crossfader they way you’d normally use a crossfader. It’s kind of silly. I’m a teacher and some of the kids say, ‘I slide that thing.’ I bring in a record and they’re like, ‘Wow, that’s a big CD.’ So in some ways it’s not really doing its job. I guess for some, though, it’s an introduction to DJ culture, and maybe that in itself can be a good thing.”

Rob: “Yes and no. I say yeah because on there are some of the most demanding deejays. I’m pretty sure that David Guetta, Armand Van Buren and all the big name, star DJs. That’s pretty good because it opens kids’ eyes to the DJ world and that’s where it’s at, ya know?”

Chase: “Definitely. One thing I don’t understand because I’m not so into club deejays and the kind of music you do. I’m more into hip-hop and things like that. I was wondering how that music gets consumed because it’s more about what DJs used to do with hip-hop. It’s more about the live experience from what I understand. But you do have CDs out and how do those sell? Do people pick those up at your gigs or are they in stores?”

Rob: “Before I started actually doing tours and getting booked outside of Chicago, I had to build a following in my city first. I always made mixes ever since I started, ya know, classics from the 80s, 90s, and 2000s. I’m 21. People just follow you because they see that you’re doing something different and you’re not really playing what everyone else plays but you’re still kind of keeping it fresh, not too commercial, it’s good, it’s still underground. You kind of just have to build a following and if they’re dedicated to your music, they are gonna follow you regardless. As far as the whole Internet and people knowing who you are across the world, blogs are the ones that really put you on the map. They kind of give you the lead, and then from there on out, it’s whatever you make of it, and that’s how you distribute everything else.”

Chase: “Do you do much in the way of online promotion?”

Rob; “Yes I do. I don’t have a manager. I’m not under an agency, I don’t have nothing. I do all my bookings myself. Everything is me. 100% me.”

Chase: “Are there any artists you’d like to work with?”

Rob: “Artists that I’d like to work along side with? I would have to say Steve Angello, Afrojack, Chuckie, dude’s mainly in Holland cause they’re really bringing house music back up to where it supposed to be, where it’s supposed to have been a long time ago. They have a particular sound that a lot of people like. I don’t know what it is. It just hits harder, it’s bigger, it digestible. But yeah, it would have to be those artists. Maybe David Guetta, maybe, if he doesn’t go too, too commercial.”

Chase: “That’s interesting because to me it seems that house music is kind of buried. It seems that when I was a little bit younger that we actually had some dance stations. There was one in Burlington that was Dance 108 and then it became Energy 108, and then it became a Top 40 station, and then it became a country station. So where is house music these days?”

Rob: “I think there was a gap. I don’t know what happened. Really I don’t know. It’s good that it’s coming back up cause I see it coming up stronger than ever. Now all these guys are calling it Dutch House but really the sound that I listen to and when they put out their music, it kind of sounds like Old Chicago Art House. They say it’s Dutch House but it really isn’t, it comes from Chicago. Chicago is the Mecca of house music, it always will be. But they add their own little style into it and I like what they’re making right now. I love it, just don’t call it Dutch House guys, it’s house music, that’s it, not Dutch house.”

Chase: “I think a lot of my listeners aren’t really familiar, we used the term a little bit earlier Baltimore Club and I went to your MySpace page and I think it described your sound as Baltimore Club mixed with rave samples. So a lot of people, my listeners in particular, don’t really know what is Baltimore Club?”

Rob: “Baltimore Club, honestly, it is a mixture between hip-hop and house. It’s at like 128 – 135 – 140 BPMs. It’s really hip-hop influenced, I will not lie about that. A lot of samples, a lot of drum breaks, all about that. It’s hip-hop. It’s basically breaks, not funk or anything like that, just breaks and heavy kicks. A good example of who started this Baltimore Club would be Scottie B from Baltimore. He’s one of the pioneers of this. I even asked him what it was and he said it’s a mixture between hip-hop and breaks and heavy kicks and sampling everywhere.”

Chase: “Nice. I really like when we can get back to that because that is the essence right there. I mean, breaks really started the entire DJ culture and that kind of split of into the different genres of it. Even the early hip-hop stuff did have that house influence too like Afrika Bambaataa and where it branched off from there.”

Rob: “Yup.”

Chase: “I’d like to drop one of your tracks right now. So this is ‘Let’s Go Ravers,’ title track off of the latest EP from Rob Threezy. This is Chase March and we’ll be right back.”



That ends Part 1 of the interview. Please come back tomorrow to read Part 2. If you don’t want to wait until then, you can download this episode of The Chase March Show for free right now. You can also check out Rob Threezy on MySpace.  Thanks for tuning in!