By Raeshelle Middleton (RaeROQ)

Photography by George Evan

 

On December 6^th Natasha Sanchez and Just C combined their love for music and events by giving bands a night to showcase their music at a bi-monthly event opened to the public entitled “When Worlds Collide”.  Just C says “The whole concept is When Worlds Collide, so the whole point is to mix and match all genres of music to show that there really is no difference as long as there is good music”. There is no comparison to such an event, as listeners bounce between two stages after each act, vibrating from one experience to the next. The entertainment you receive from this event is extremely unique. Some of the genres that were showcased include club music, black metal/ hip-hop, rock and roll hardcore and electro/pop. There were even some bands claimed no specific genre.

via KingTexas

This event is held at Lit Lounge, a fun and relaxed setting which holds the prestigious Fuse Gallery art studio inside. MTV Voices conducted video interviews for all of the performing acts in this location. “Lit lounge has been opened for 10 years,” says lounge general manager David Blackshire. Owned by artist, Lit Lounge is a platform for both musical and visual talent to showcase their work. The lounge is also associated with Ultima Parties, a British festival thrown in New York. Mr.Blackshire says, “We showcase a lot of New York artist, anything to do with group shows that consist of very famous street graffiti artist like Dr. Revolt, many painters and photographers and many established photographers. From that to shooting a video for air, or giving a young band the platform to be discovered in New York City or just to incubate a musical idea.”

When it comes to art there are never any rules or boundaries. It seems that many different worlds have collided for this event if the name of creativity. The next showcase is expected to take place February 29^th. ROQ Magazine was given the opportunity to cover written interviews where each band dishes their own personal musical love stories experiences with music.

Interviews from this event will be released once weekly. The first up is Streight Angular

 

Rae: Straight Angular! What inspired your bands name?

Al Polk: I was walking to work at my regular 9 to 5 job, and I realized that a lot of things were Straight and Angular in the world. Not necessarily in shapes but also in emotions, feelings, and the way that people act. Some people are very straight in their lives, they don’t take any risks or anything like that and some people get a little bit more angular. I felt like I wanted to be a little bit of both, go a little crazy, and do whatever. Just trying to find some meaning of what’s going on in this time and place right now.

Rae: What is your main genre?

Al Polk: Its kind of Rock and Roll but I’d like to say that we take as much from American music as we can. It’s basically like the Blues and Jazz and it spins this thing inside of people that they just can’t contain. It could only happen in America because all of the right elements are here and it couldn’t have happened at any other time, or any other place or maybe it could have.

Rae: How did you guys all meet and please introduce your names and positions in the band.

Al Polk: Well I’m Al, I started the band with Theresa and we met at a party.

Theresa: I’m Theresa and I play drums. Al is a guitar player, songwriter, and singer. I sing back up vocal as well, but we started the band together.

Andrew Mellow: My name is Andrew Mellow and I currently play guitar and sing harmony. How I met these cats, I played my soul music and Theresa actually got me in the band to play bass at first then time passed and now I play guitar.

Noel: My name is Noel and I play bass and sing back up vocals and I came into the band pretty much in a similar way as Andrew. I played solo music and have been friends with Alan, Theresa, and Andrew for a few years now.  We’ve just all been playing together and having fun.

Rae: What are some projects that you’ve recently released?

Al: We’ve just finished mixing our next EP called Everyone is Syncopated. We actually have two singles out right now, one with a music video. Everything is Syncopated is on YouTube. It was shot is Cambridge, Massachusetts. It’s pretty awesome.

Rae: How significant is stage performance to you guys?

Al: I think that when you perform in front of people it’s a very difficult thing. Some people relate it to giving a speech. Some people would rather jump out of a plane than give a speech. I think that when you perform, no matter how bad you are and even if people don’t people understand your music your putting your self out there.On a record you can work really hard and create exactly what you want, but with live shows everything is unpredictable. Anything can happen, your amps can stop working, your guitar strings break, people fight. You can literally have a break down on stage, and I have, it’s emotional. But you’re doing it because you want to entertain people you want to communicate with them. I think that artist just really want other people to say “ Hey I relate” or “I understand”

Rae: Take us through your groups typical creative process. How do you guys combine all of your different elements to create a single track?

Andrew: Al usually writes the songs and from that it’s kind of like a skeleton. It’s our job to put the meat on the skeleton. It will be a core progression and a melody but Knoll on bass would re-harmonize it and do fills with Theresa and I’ll make up a guitar line that fits.

Al: So it’s like everyone’s voice.  If you hear our songs no matter what they are it’s everyone’s voice and we work together and usually I tell them what I like and I don’t like.

www.streightangular.com