If you haven’t caught on to Canada’s own Thunderheist, then you need to seriously step your music game up. This hip-hop / electro duo recently released their self-title debut, Thunderheist, just wrapped up their Canadian tour and are currently touring through Europe before coming back to North America and hitting the United States. Grahmzilla was kind enough to take a moment out of his time to this Q&A.
KB: So tell us how Thunderheist came together and what the name Thunderheist means and where it came from?
Grahmzilla: The name was my idea. I originally planned to only have another producer involved and we would just do remixes. The guy in question used to tell me I stole his thunder all the time. Given that every common word has been used for band names, I knew I had to come up with either an imaginary word, or combine multiple words together. Checked Google, saw 0 hits and knew it was a winner.
Thunderheist formed by accident when I sent Isis some of these Thunderheist songs while collaborating with her on her solo stuff and she really liked it and wanted to experiment with this other sound I was developing.
KB: I’ve seen you guys live a few times and the live show is BANANAS. Do you guys bring that kind energy to every show?
G: We try, but when the crowd is super receptive, like they were that night, it definitely makes it easier for us.
KB: How difficult was it to bring that stage show energy into the recording process for your self-title debut album, Thunderheist?
G: The songs were written before they were performed. of course, a bunch were later re-recorded for the album and so Isis’s delivery was definitely more comfortable having performed them so many times already. I also re-visited alot of songs after playing them out and seeing what worked/didn’t.
KB: How would you guys describe Thunderheists sound for someone that hasn’t heard it yet?
G: I wouldn’t. I’d probably just hand them some headphones and an iPod.
KB: If a two musicians got together and made a baby and that baby was Thunderheist, who would be the parents – slash – influence on the group?
G: (Giorgio) Moroder and (Miriam) Makeba
KB: Your video for the song “Jerk It” made it to Pitchforks’ top 40 of the year. How did that concept come about?
G: That Go basically ran with that idea without any sort of contribution from the band. it was a contest, we were not supposed to get involved.
KB: Is there another video in the works currently?
G: There is one being made for “Nothing 2 Step 2″, it will be entirely different from the “Jerk It” video. However, its being directed by George Vale, who made Fesits’ “1-2-3-4″ video, so that should tell you something.
KB: Your song “Jerk It” was in The Wrestler. How did that opportunity come about?
G: That was handled by our publisher, namely Julie Blake who sends out our catalog to music directors in TV and movies for licensing. I guess they liked what they heard!
KB: In the song “LBC (Little Booty Girl)”, you can definitely hear a bit of Dead Prez on there. Was that a bit of a tribute to Isis’s past working relationship with M-1?
G: To be honest, when I first wrote the beat to that, I did not have that Dead Prez song in mind in the slightest. when I realized what I had done, I wanted to switch up the chord progression, Isis wouldn’t let me change it up and so we just went with it and she even included a line referencing their song, I guess in some sort of tribute.
KB: So what lies ahead for Thunderheist? Is there any other collaborations or projects that you guys are working on that can be shared with readers?
G: Lots of traveling. Lots of partying. Expect an all singing EP from us and some collabos with some pretty awesome peoples.
KB: Thanks again guys for taking the time to show us some love. Any closing words of wisdom for the readers out there?
G: Stay in school, drink milk and eat your greens.
Myspace: www.myspace.com/thunderheist
Thunderheist “Jerk It”
Thunderheist “Nothing 2 Step 2″
