Additional Q & A with Slug from the desk of JG Everest:
Our show with Sean Daley aka Slug on Nov 29 was really special. He had done so much to prepare for the show, and it really showed. Like bringing in 30 photos from his childhood, including some excellent early breakdancing shots of Sean and his brothers Nathan and Jordon with the neighborhood kids. He also brought in a stack of vinyl records that spanned his formidable years - the major influences from growing up - and played tracks from most of them. Another thing that made this show particularly special was that his mom was in the front row, and Sean regularly turned to her for clarification or to make a comment. She was obviously very happy to be there, proud of her son.
There were two things that he said that really stuck with me, that I found particularly interesting. The first was that as a kid, what first grabbed him was the power of music, rather than the music itself. In particular, he could remember seeing how his two aunts were affected by the music they loved, the artists they listened to - particularly Prince. How it got them so excited, so moved. This relationship with the power to move people through music first jelled for Sean himself when he started to make mix tapes for all his friends - specific custom mixes for each person he made a tape for. I found this very interesting in light of how he goes about making music now - always hyper aware of how the music will affect his listener, the power it has.
The second thing that stuck with me was when he explained the impact that collaborating with Anthony Davis, aka ANT has had on his creative process. He explained that it was when he started working with Ant that his songwriting went to a whole new level. He attributed this largely to Ant's work ethic - his relentless beatmaking down in the basement, and the total freedom to just record scores of his song ideas without having to wait for beats and production. Since Ant was churning out all these beats, Slug could record everything he was inclined to, and this in turn gave him a new perspective to be able to see what was good and what wasn't. The sheer volume of Ant's productivity gave Slug the context in which to exercise some quality control - picking the best song out of 20 new ideas and working with it. It was great to have Ant in the audience, because part of Sean's explanation was more of a comment directed to his partner, turning into a nice moment of genuine heartfelt gratitude. Awesome.
the following are five bonus questions that I asked Mr. Daley after the show, along with his answers. Some questions are mine, some are from our live audience.
1) What is the biggest piece of advice you would give to aspiring independent musicians/ artists?
- do not lie. to anyone. fans, artists, yourself, anyone. there is nothing that you want to gain by not being yourself. if people can not accept you for being yourself, then you don't need them.
2) What's the most important thing you have to remember/ tell yourself when you're performing? When you're recording?
- i think i can, i think i can, i think i can.
3) what's your favorite current non-RSE album in any genre?
- sign o' the times, by prince.
4) as of right now, what are your 3 favorite atmosphere songs and why?
- i honestly do not have any favorite atmosphere songs. i do my best to not hear my own songs once they have been released. i will get up and leave the cc club if one of my songs come on the jukebox.
5) Is there anyone new you aspire to collaborate with?
- my son. but he doesn't rap, yet.