"Sweatshop Union put on an electrifying show this weekend."
The Sweatshop Union group put on an electrifying Vancouver show at Fortune Sound Club this weekend. It was the type of show that any music lover would want to be a part of. Their performance consisted of routines that were shockingly well coordinated being that the group consists of six and sometimes seven members. It is astonishing to see so many differing personalities come together to result in something so synchronized on stage. To add to the hype Kyprios took the crowd to another level with a surprise performance with the group. The crowd went nuts, and we would expect nothing less from the boys who have been performing together for over ten years now.
Sweatshops new release is an amalgamation of all of the member’s personalities. It is the type of record that hypes you up for a run on the sea wall as well as one that helps to make a fabulous smoky party all the more interesting. Itchy Ron’s skills as a DJ have become almost unsurpassable. His scratches on the songs “Bill Murray,” and on, my personal favorite, “Bring Back the Music” showcase his finesse, adding to the albums distinctive feel. The boys came together on this release to make it something like we have never heard from them before, and now that we hear it it feels a lil like we have been missin out.
The current members Metty the DertMerchant, Mos Eisley, DJ Itchy Ron, Mr. Marmalade, Conscience, and Dusty Melodica sat down with us before the show to talk about everything from what the new record is all about and why they think it is the best release yet, to losing Kyprios as a member of their crew.
Tell me about the title of the new release.
Metty: Lee (aka Marmalade) slept with Bill Murray on tour.
The Province had an article in it this week entitled “Sweatshop Union Crew at the Peak of their Powers,” do you guys agree with this title, are you at the peak?
Metty: No I don’t think we are at the peak. Fuck that we got lots ta go man. The summit is in sight.
Conscience: We are definitely on an upswing, and the summit is in sight, but we got things to shoot for, for sure. We are ramping up.
Why do you think that they came up with this title? Have you gained power since your last release?
Metty: They are just expressing that it is the best record that we have put out.
Conscience: I know that Stuart (The Province reporter) really liked it, and it is the best work that we put out in our opinion and in his opinion, so that is what he is talking about.
How do you feel that things have changed since your last record, and why is it so much better than your last release and the releases before that?
Conscience: It is three years later; we are all more experienced as writers, and musicians. We are older and wiser.
Metty: I think we almost intentionally made it this way. For the first time we actually discussed this album and really tried to get on the same page, those of us that were working on the record. Like I was outta the loop, and these guys had been on tour and stuff, but when I joined them I picked up on the vibe right away, and you can see the direction that we are aiming for. It’s clear through the music. You can’t sum up our approach in a couple words ya know what I mean, but we got it and you can see the direction.
“Makeshift Kingdom” was your debut single and video off of this release. Why did you choose it to go with as your debut?
Metty: That is the song that set it off.
Marmalade: I would say it is the first one that we made and we really stoked on. It’s a great fuckin song so we decided ya this one could have a great video lets do it.
Conscience: That is probably the one hat inspired a certain direction for the record you know? So it was the go to for the video.
Metty: Soon as I heard it I was like “Holy Fuck, K this is the direction that we are going now, okay now I get it.” That song knocked my socks off man.
Tell me about South-by-South West.
Metty: I always knew that it was some crazy ass business shit, but I completely underestimated it. I knew going in it was gonna be on some next level shit. It was being like small fish in this huge sea of artists. I wrote down on the schedule who was playing and by the time I had tried to schedule who I wanted to see there was like forty shows on the list. We were doing our own shows, but there was so much happening. Everyone that is working toward some common goal floods this city, and it was like the biggest turn up that there had been to date. Something like 600 000 people flood the down town core of this city. There were fireworks for four nights with about ten shows goin off at the same time. We saw when our show was and it was going on at the same time. We were there to rep Canada and it was dope. Canada rented out this club kinda thing and it was the Canadian music embassy. We would all go there and there were fewer than ten Canadian artists there to represent and hold it down. There was Shad, and Classified and us, Ghetto Socks, and it was weird cause you are dealing with all of the rest of the world and America. It was crazy. I didn’t see two thirds of the shows that I would have liked to see cause there was just so much going on.
So you guys recommend it for up and comers?
Metty: Well it is hard to get on. And its hard to fight for attention. I was surprised at how many people were at our showcase, like we were on an international showcase with groups from England and Australia and Africa, it was just crazy shit.
Are you guys missing Kyprios being around all the time?
Marmalade: Ya. He is a good friend. He is a good party buddy.
Metty: Ya we miss touring with him.
Marmalade: Ya we miss him you know. But we all get to perform more of our own stuff, which we all enjoy too.
Metty: I mean he has been outta the mix for other time periods too, like when he did his Sony shit. He was outta the mix for like years or something. That doesn’t mean that he isn’t still part of the crew.
Conscience: Ya we still all talk of course. It’s not like we haven’t seen or heard from Kyp in a long time.
Metty: We miss everyone that gets outta the mix, you know at times Itchy Ron isn’t there, I’m not at times now that I am living in L.A. We are friends and it’s never the same when they are not there of course.
Conscience: It’s a good time to make fun of em when they aren’t around you know?
Your song “Bring Back the Music is all about how the Music channels on television have replaced our music videos with trash TV. Why do you think this is the case?
Conscience: It’s about the money. People aren’t buying records anymore, so the videos are not a commodity. If someone sees a video on TV. and they like the song they are gonna go and download it they aren’t gonna go buy the record so it is not a viable advertisement for a lucrative product.
Metty: it’s selling Pepsi to kids. It’s like a tax credit. Canada has to have something goin. Rap city is now on one half hour of the day every leap year or some shit. It used to be prime time TV. man. It blows me away though. When we first started getting into this shit there was like four opportunity spots to get your video in. There was M.O.D. and regular video flow, and what was that Master T shit? Da Mix. There isn’t any room for videos these days,
Conscience: People that buy advertising time these days don’t wanna pay for the video slots.
Metty: Out East though people tell me they see our videos all the time so it’s a little different. Much Vibe is cool. It’s the channel that you leave on for background music, but we don’t see it here in the West.
I know that you guys work alot with talented producers from around the world, tell me what you take away from that.
Mos Eisley: There are certain people that when you come around them they are like a faucet that fills your cup with great stuff. Chin (Injeti) and Moka (Only), to another degree, are people that you get around and you can’t leave without being inspired, like “wow I gotta be as productive.” I wish I was so creative all the time and they are like the fire that lights that creativity at times. Really it is inspiration to the enth degree in every way. As artists you wanna be around those people, we swarm em like bees cause they are just so inspirational.
What is next for Sweatshop?
Metty: Music. There will be another record.
Mos Eisley: World domination! (Chuckles)
Check out the Bill Murray album under our mixtapes and albums section.