The season of giving ain’t over peoples. Readers of Killahbeez know that we’ve given love to Mimobot projects in the past, so when we were contacted by Mimobot to do a giveaway for all our readers we were stoked. They’ve provided us with three Mimobot USB flash drives, each VDC Mimobot Series of designer USB flash drives come preloaded with the following exclusive conent: mimoDesk personalization suite of wallpapers, icons and avatars. In addition to these items it’s also loaded with a digital copy of mimoZine, their digital magazine. Winners will have a choice of 1 of 3 USB sticks pictured below.

Prize Details:

• Vimobot Design Contest Series
• USB 2.0 Flash Memory Drives
• 2 gigabyte memory stick
• Pre-loaded with exclusive content

How To Enter:

• All you have to do to enter is comment in this thread. That’s it!
• Each comment counts as an entry, ***Rule change, three entries per person max.
• Contest Closing Date: Monday February 2nd at Noon PST, that’s 3pm EST

In conjunction with Commonwealth DC, Stussy DC will be celebrating the 44th Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama on January 19th.

A limited edition commemorative t-shirt to honor Barack’s historical campaign will be released during the event.  Artists Bun B and DC native Wale, will be giving special performances as well. The events at DC’s premier boutiques have always packed the crowd in the neighborhood of Adams Morgan — early arrival is strongly recommended!

Source: Evil Monito

The fascination of American pop culture has been a huge influence in Japanese youth and street culture for many decades.  In the 1990s, the concept of cool t-shirts with Western designs attracted three Japanese graphic designers.  This phenomenon of Western influence lead to the formation of Graniph in 2001, a clothing design company specializing in limited edition graphic t-shirts.

Graniph’s unique branding strategy uses 30% of designs by Graniph employed artists and 70% of external designs to release specialized t-shirts.  The external designs come from local Japanese artist, international artists and a few designs selected during special events and competitions.  Each month, Graniph releases 7o to 100 designs a month (and 130 designs during the summer) in a limited quantity of t-shirts positioned at $20 USD (2500 Yen).

The concept of Western like designs and prices was not common in Japan.  The youth of Japan quickly became interested in Graniph due to it’s unique branding and concept of American prices and designs similar to a t-shirt worn by a kid in Brooklyn.  Below are images of various Graniph t-shirt designs:

In 2007, Graniph launched the first international t-shirt design competition with the intention of attracting talented young artist around the globe.  During the first year of the competition, the company received 15,000 designs.

From February 1-29th, Graniph will accept submissions for their their competition. Photographs, graphics, pictures and illustrations are all accepted.  The grand prized design will win one million yen, that’s the equivalent of $9,000 USD!

For information regarding contest rules, please click here.

Source: Graniph

The season of giving ain’t over peoples. We have two copies of Lady GaGa’s debut album The Fame to giveaway, what makes these special is that they’re autographed. Yep, signed by Lady GaGa. This will be a week long contest so be sure to enter, details below. Also if you haven’t already checked out Killahbeez’s interview wtih Lady GaGa then have a read here.

Prize Details:

• Autographed copy of Lady GaGa’s album, The Fame
• 2 copies, 1 copy per winner

How To Enter:

• All you have to do to enter is comment in this thread. That’s it!
• Each comment counts as an entry, enter as many times as you want.
• Contest Closing Date: Monday January 12

Shepard Fairey unveiled a huge Obama piece for the Manifest Hope Gallery during the Democratic National Convention in August.  After a successful show in Denver, the art show will be making a stop in the nation’s capital during Barack Obama’s inauguration.

From January 17-19th, the gallery will be open to the public at a location along the main strip of Georgetown.  For more news and updates regarding the art show, please visit Manifest Hope’s website.

This is going to be great way to kick off inauguration week!  You do not want to miss out on this event!

The pictures below were taken in Denver:

I hope Fairey releases a new Obama piece in DC.

Art plays a pivotal role in creating cultural momentum. The MANIFEST HOPE: DC Gallery celebrates that role and shines a spotlight on artists who use their voices to amplify and motivate the grassroots movement that carried President-Elect Barack Obama to victory.

MANIFEST HOPE: DC gathers together a diverse array of the nation’s most talented visual artists under one roof to mark this monumental achievement in our nation’s history and encourages artists and activists to maintain the momentum to bring about true change in the United States.

Along with its partners, MoveOn.org Political Action, the Service Employees International Union and Obey Giant, MANIFEST HOPE: DC, will issue an inspiring visual call-to-action, encouraging a redirection of public energy toward true reform in three key areas:

Health Care Reform
Workers’ Rights
The Green Economy

The MANIFEST HOPE: DC Gallery will be open to the public in Washington, DC for the days preceding the Presidential Inauguration, Saturday, January 17th, 2009 through Monday, January 19th, 2009 between the hours of 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM.

MANIFESTHOPE: DC
January 17th-19th, 2009
10:00am – 6:00pm
3333 M Street NW, Washington DC 20007

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS: (partial list)
Aaron Foster, Aaron Axelrod, Amy Martin, Andy Cruz, Andy Howell, Bask, Billy Colbert, BOOKSIIII, Brian McCarty, Chris Stain, Chris Pastras, Cody Hudson, Damon Locks, Dan Monic, Dan Woehrle, David Choe, Deroy Peraza, Eddie, El Mac, Felix Jackson Jr., Frederic Terral, Gary Baseman, George Vlosich, Ginger Che, Guillermo Bert, Herb Williams, James Widener, Jovi Chanell,  Julie Adler, Justin Kleiner, Justin Hampton, Katherine Kendall, Kelly Towles, Kelly Ording, Kenji Hirata, Kwaku Alston, Lisa Anne Auerbach, Lukas Ketner, Margaret Coble, Mark Jenkins, Matt Kleiner, Maya Hayuk, Mel Kadel, Mike Murphy, Mike Jacob, Nick Dewar, Phillip Clark, Rafael Lopez, Ray Noland, Regan Rosburg, Ron English, Sage Vaughn, Sam Flores, Sarah Hoskins, Scot LeFavor, Shel Starkman, Sol Sender, Tanya M Rodrigo, Tatyanna Fazlalizadeh, Tes One, Tim Conlon, Tina Rodas, Tom Slaughter, Travis Millard, Tristan Eaton, Tugboat Printshop,  Tyler Gibney, Van Taylor Monroe, Will Barras, Yvonne Boogaerts

Source: Manifest Hope, a35mmlife

Sorry folks have to re-run this contest as our server didn’t back up this contest before it went down. My apologies for those that already entered.

==========

Spectrum Events and Killahbeez.com are proud to bring you another CD giveaway contest. This giveaway is a special Chi-town giveaway as it consists of Chicago natives Kanye West and Common. This is a double CD giveaway as we’re giving away 808s & Heartbreaks as well as Universal Mind Control.

In order to be eligible for the contest, all you have to do is comment here in this thread. That’s it. Just leave a comment and you’re automatically entered. Can you enter more then once, you betcha. At the drawing date a few Killahbeez members will select a number, if that number corresponds to your comment below then you will be contacted.

So again to enter, just comment below. Contesting ends on Friday December 19th

Dear Killahbeez Fam (as I like to refer to all the readers),

As you may have noticed our site went down sometime during Wednesday and was down for all of Thursday and slowly coming back online again on Friday. What happened you might be wondering? Well, because of all you great people and the growth of the site we had to switch servers and were migrating, well that took a lot longer then expected and there was some heavy finger pointing at the end of the day between our hosting company and registrar. I can honestly say our registrar, ISQ Solutions, sucks, so first off don’t use them as their customer service is by far one of the worst I’ve ever dealt with. Our hosting company as so many of you have grown accustom to seeing the “HostIcan Warning”, was awesome all through the time and helped make the process a lot smoother and took the time to help us out where they could, so I would definitely recommend them as a solid hosting company.

Now I’ve heard horror stories about other sites migrating to new servers and never thought that they would really affect us and boy was I wrong. But let’s move beyond that, as we’re back up and running. As you may have notice our postings are a week behind right now as the database didn’t back up everything, all good, cus we’re better off in this situation then the one we were just in. So there’s one thing for sure that will have to be re-run and that’s the Common / Kanye contest as all that info was deleted.

We want to apologize to all of you for not being around, but we also want to thank you for being patient, while we were getting things straightened out on the backend and continue to do so.

One.

DT

PS. We did pay our bills, it was seriously the migration of hosting. hahaha.

Spectrum Events and Killahbeez.com are proud to bring you another CD giveaway contest. This giveaway involves the looooooong awaited Guns N’ Roses album Chinese Democracy, which was officially released Sunday, November 23rd.

In order to be eligible for the contest, all you have to do is comment here in this thread. That’s it. Just leave a comment and you’re automatically entered. Can you enter more then once, you betcha. At the drawing date a few Killahbeez members will select a number, if that number corresponds to your comment below then you will be contacted.

So again to enter, just comment below. Contesting ends on Sunday December 7th.

The prize package will include: CD, Stickers and T-shirt.

Enter Now!!!

After attending the Diplo event at Commonwealth DC a few weeks ago, Van and I decided to head out to Florida Avenue early last night for the Clipse in store appearance for the drop of Play Cloths and their new mixtape.  Per usual, parking was challenging in Adams Morgan.  However, we were able to find a decent spot, one block away from the shops.

We arrived a little after eight and already, there was a line forming outside of Commonwealth.  The Commonwealth crew were posted at the door to control the crowd.  It was 40 degrees outside, yet everyone remained calm and cool.

It was a huge turn out.  The Washington Post featured an article about Commonwealth, Stussy and For the Greater Good in the Arts & Living Section on Monday.  Word on the streets must’ve traveled fast because it was crowded.  The fashionistas, sneaker heads, skaters, music fanatics and everyone else in between were in attendance.

As the night continued, Pusha-T (one half of the Clipse) appeared.  He was bombarded with photos and autographs.  I spotted Wale at the end of the night as well.  The crowd was jamming to Road To Till The Casket Drops and some of the Clipse’s older tracks. The music was bumpin and grindin, the drinks were flowing and the vibe was good last night.

Big ups to the homies at Commonwealth for throwing another great event!

Peep the pictures below (the full set is located here):

Drinks + Good Vibes = Good Times

It was dude infested but there were some ladies at the event as well.

We grabbed sushi at Saki after the event and rolled out to Fly with Roland, Larry and Omar.  I’m exhausted from last night.

Whoever said DC was boring, needs to re-evaluate that statement.  There’s clearly something going on in the nation’s capital and it’s an exciting time to be here.

Lady GaGa aka Stefania Gabriella Germanotta has dazzled the dance music scene with her new album ‘The Fame’ with its booty shaking hits like “Just Dance” and “Poker Face.”  Hustling the streets of NYC her whole life, it’s no surprise this blonde bombshell has brought major grit and glamour to her dance floor friendly songs.  If you haven’t heard of her yet, check her out now as I predict she is here to stay alongside the best.  And apparently I’m not alone:  The New York Post called her the “Future of Pop” and Us Weekly called her “Pop’s New Dance Diva” while comparing her to Madonna.  Throughout all this hype, Lady GaGa remained refreshingly grateful and honest during our candid interview.  I hope you enjoy her answers as much as I did conducting the interview.

Killahbeez: Tell me a little bit about yourself.
Lady GaGa: I’ve been working on this album for over two years now and am grateful that it has finally gotten to this point.

KB: What got you into singing and song writing at such an early age?
LG: Well I started piano at the age of 4 and started writing at the age of 13.  At 16 my mom would help me so I could get into certain clubs to play and I just hustled you know.  I dropped out of college early and started sending out my demos that I made out of my room.  From there I started go-go dancing and really working the club scene to get out there.

KB: You have a keen fashion sense.  Do you feel that fashion is an integral aspect of your music or music in general?
LG: For sure.  The fashion, the technology and just being innovative with what people are hearing and seeing are a big aspect of my music.  I want people to go to my show going “What the fuck was that!?”  In other words it’s like a pop show fit for a museum.  Everything we do is completely spur of the moment.  I don’t usually know what I’m wearing until it gets delivered an hour before the show and it’s usually stuff you can’t just get anywhere.

KB: What are your top 3 clothing and shoe designers?
LG: For clothing I would say Chanel,  Maison Martin Margiela and Thierry Mugler. For shoes I would pick Christian Louboutin, Marni and I have to say again, Chanel.

KB: Where do you get your inspiration for your music?
LG: For music pretty much New York, parties, pop culture. I’m really inspired by all the energy they give.

KB: How did the NYC scene influence your music growing up?
LG: Oh it totally did.  Everything about my music is attitude and lifestyle.  I would be a completely different artist if I didn’t have New York.

KB: It’s been rumored that you have collaborated on Britney Spears’s track “Quicksand” from her upcoming album Circus, can you confirm that?
LG: Wow, how did you find that out already (laughter)?  I can confirm that I worked on a track but not which one.

KB: What was it like working with Britney Spears for you?
LG: I never got to work with her directly in the studio because I was in Europe.  I would have loved to produced the vocals for her but I wasn’t in the studio.  I’m excited to work with her more closely in the future though.

KB: Your upcoming tour is with New Kids on The Block.  Were you a big fan like most of us in the Nineties? How does it feel to be touring with them at this point in your life going almost full circle in a way?
LG: Oh my god, I was HUGE fan!  I mean I had the “I love Johnny” t-shirt and everything.  It feels amazing.  It really, really was hard not to be star struck even though I know them as friends now, to see them on stage still gets me super excited.

KB: Who would you like to collaborate with in the future?
LG: I would love to work with Marilyn Manson.  He is such a visionary and his work is really artistic in the same vain as what I do.  I would love to work with someone who has the same philosophy as I do.

KB: What would you advise to your fans who are interested in singing and song writing?  Any words of wisdom?
LG: Two pieces of advice: 1)  Go buy the book “Letter to a Young Poet”.  Read it 100 times and in the deepest hour of the night, ask yourself if you would die if you were forbidden to write.  2)  Live your life within quote that book unquote, since it has strong philosophies I agree with about art.  Everything in there is true, you will find your dreams.

KB: Do you find it any different getting into the music scene as a female?
LG: Well when you are female and you are blonde and pretty, people assume you don’t know shit.  It takes a minute to earn your intellectual space as an artist, especially when you’re a woman like me who likes to do it in her underwear.

KB: What’s the worst trend in music these days?  Favorite trend?
LG: Least favorite is the “I don’t care trend.”  Like “I don’t care how I dress at award shows and I don’t do interviews” type attitude.  I’m enjoying seeing artists that work really hard and are doing something really serious in their arena.

KB: Can you name a few of those artists that you enjoy right now?
LG: I really like M.I.A. and Britney.  In some ways, she (Britney) has to fight harder right now to get people to take her seriously but I have a feeling she will be making a comeback in the next year with some serious pop music.

KB: Any last words to your fans?
LG: Thank you to my fans and I love you!  You are so loyal to me and I will stay loyal to you.  Keep your eyes and ears open because I will be making a lot of things happen soon!!!

So last night I was chillin’, minding my own business and talking to my cousin via MSN about an upcoming project for Killahbeez, when a link to the above photo appeared in the chat box. Here is the intelligent conversation that followed:

Van: Link
Van: What the fuck kind of fish is this
Me: fuck that!
Me: photoshop son, has to be.
Me: fuck that fam
Me: nah man. I refuse to believe.

Yeah that was pretty much the extent of the conversation, until I decided to follow the National Geographic link to see if it was actually real. To my surprise, it’s very real. This catfish is known as the Mekong Giant Catfish and lives in areas around Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. They can grow up to 10 feet in length and weigh in at a whopping 650lbs. Now the sad part, these fishes are becoming nearly extinct due to overfishing and the disruption of dams being built.

What do these fishes eat you may ask, I honestly assumed poop and other waste matters that get dumped into the river, but it’s really a mixture of plants and algae, so actually poop definitely plays a part in the growth of this fish. Have a look at the video below.

Image: Zeb Hogan
Source: National Geographic
Video: YouTube

A Peace Treaty just released new scarves from the 2008 holiday collection.  All scarves are hand made in the Middle East, Asia, Europe and Africa.  All proceeds are donated to Counterpart International to provide supplies to Darfur.

The scarves start at $89.00 and goes up from there.  I bought a scarf from A Peace Treaty last year.  It’s a pricey tag but worth every dollar due to the attention to detail and craftsmanship, not to mention the charitable giving to Darfur.

I just noticed that Dave 1 from Chromeo modeling some of the scarves from their website.

Source: A Peace Treaty

The day started off gloomy as a few of us were unsure if we wanted to hit the M83 show as it was the last day at the office for…ohhhh about 124 of us had our last day. But to be quite honest I’ve never seen a happier group of peeps leave a place before, myself included.

So with a day like that a few of us were in a chill mood, but I was convinced to check out M83. The first act, School of Seven Bells, came on the stage at roughly 9:30pm and WOW! The group, from Williamsburg Brooklyn (figures), came on and played a seriously solid set. I hadn’t heard of them before but I was definitely down with what I was hearing and the next day bought their record, Alpinisms. The band features twin sisters, Alejandra and Claudia Deheza and Benjamin Curtis formerly from Secret Machines. They very much had the crowd warmed up and going crazy. A solid act to look out for down the road most definitely.

After School of Seven Bells 5 – 6 song set, the stage crew came on quickly to re-configure the equipment and shortly after M83 came out to a host of screams and cheers. The group played songs off of the Saturdays=Youth album, but at one point a fan requested something older, to which Anthony Gonzalez replied with a “eeeeh, I don’t know about that one”. The crowd went crazy when “Kim & Jessie” came on and M83 could feel the love as they played with a warm smile on their faces. Actually they pretty much had this look on their face the whole night and the chemistry between Anthony and Morgan Kibby (from The Romanovs) was incredible. They had a certain connection and would send playful signals via quick glances.

Morgan Kibby’s voice is incredible I have to say. She had 90% of the guys swooning over her and I received a barrage of Blackberry messages from my friend Martinez, who was stuck in the back, to get as many pictures as I could of Morgan. Stunning and talented and held her own on stage with Anthony. One of the songs that would really capture me this evening was “Skin Of The Night”, the song is just so ominous with mad ‘80s flavor and Morgan’s voice just melts your face, pretty fuckin’ epic. When the fairly upbeat “Graveyard Girl” came the crowd immediately went into another dancing frenzy. Another song I quite enjoyed was “Up!” its definitely reminiscent of something quite familiar, but with an M83 twist all over it.

For the groups encore they played “Couleurs”, this track is so friggin’ next level. The layering on it alone is bananas, seriously! This was definitely a perfect way to end a night of solid performances from both School of Seven Bells and M83.

I want to thank Timbre Productions for allowing us to come in the house and take photos and write this review for you all. They put on a great production and bring in stellar acts. Check out their site www.timbreproductionsconcerts.com for upcoming shows in your city.

School of Seven Bells photos here
M83 photos here

DT
www.killahbeez.com

Here are the rest of the tour date stops.

It’s been a minute since we’ve been on both web portals, but seriously our MySpace page looked wack, so that took a bit of time to clean up and update. So if you haven’t already come and join the family and show us some love and receive updated info through messages and bulletins.Click on the links below or click on the images above and below to go directly to those pages.

For our Facebook page click here.

For our MySpace page click here.

The dudes over at CollegeDJ.net were nice enough to do a quick interview and article for their site. Go on over and check them out and see what’s good.

College DJs here it is. New, Hot, Now. Get Music is a service that brings all the hot jams to you (thanks to our gracious record label affiliates). Bump new, hot, even unreleased rap, alternative and rock music. This service is for college djs, producers and labels. College DJ tracks all the hits in the club and party for you to use on your college shows. Grade each song and become a member to rock it at the next party, and get it right now for FREE right here at CollegeDJ.net.

Pretty dope site and how can you hate on getting some free music. So head on over and support these dudes, www.collegedj.net.

One.

A long time indie favorite, dance floor rockers The Faint have brought us the undeniable truth about American politics and the daily life of the American middle class with a quirky, tongue-in-cheek approach making use of unforgettable lyrics and striking melodies that no one can shake off.  I had the opportunity to speak with Todd Fink, the lead singer of The Faint and am truly pleased to share this conversation with our readers.

As kids, what did you all want to be when you “grew up”?

Todd:  Hmmmm… well not sure if I wanted to be anything or even had certain aspirations.  Kinda sad, I know [laughter].  But I guess as I grew up I wanted to be a professional skater.

How far did you get with skating?

Todd: Right up to being a pro but then I realized that I wanted to take my time with getting better at skating so that I would have a better chance at becoming a pro with a reputable skateboarding company.  I did really well in national youth competitions and stuff.

How did the transition from skateboarding to music happen?

Todd: I had surgery for my knee from arthritis, and found out I couldn’t really skate anymore.  But from the experience of doing something that I loved, I gained the passion that transferred into music and if I kept doing it just like with skateboarding, I knew that anything was possible.

How did the members of The Faint all meet?

Todd: Well Joel is a skateboard friend and my bro Clark, I had him around all the time to go skating.  The three off us were from the skating scene and started the band.  The other guys we just met in Omaha and it just so happened that we all went to the same high school.

Did you think that you would be this successful when you all first started out?

Todd: No. I mean, we didn’t really think about it.  The only goal that I remember having was a dream to be able to go out and tour different places and know that however amount of people there would be whether big or small, that they knew our music and it happened bigger than we ever expected.  At the same time you are convinced by your own humility and it’s hard to really know which one to believe, the numbers of fans responding to the success is almost a mind fuck.

You boys are from Omaha.  How has that influenced your music and your individual creativity?

Tood: I’m sure it has, I mean we’ve all been here our whole lives and I’m sure our opinions in which things we have experienced have affected us.  There have been good record stores here and venues that are conducive to small bands performing and it’s not like we lose people to Kansas City or anywhere.  The closest place is 8 hours to Chicago.  So we are just a bunch of people for whatever reason ending up and staying here, so Omaha has a thriving music scene.

I’ve noticed you have evolved as a band since the days of Danse Macabre, Wet From Birth to your current album Fasciinatiion.  Was this planned or something more along the lines of a natural progression?

Todd: Well we sort of base it on our opinions about what sounds good and what makes sense.  To do changes over time, based on what music we hear, it’s a natural progression for better or for worse.  It’s definitely natural.

People in the past have labeled you as the “new new wave” or “dance/punk.” How do you feel about these labels?

Todd: Labels.  People love them, but in general we try not to associate with them since they are fads and catch phrases and no matter how cool they are at the time, people invest too much in the actual label and get tired of them over time.  We feel like, “listen and decide for yourself.”

If you were to describe The Faint and your music to an outsider, what words would you choose?

Todd: I’ve had to do this on the plane a few times sitting with strangers [laughter].  I guess I’ve said we play electronic rock music before.  It’s pretty general.  Or I will say we play songs with keyboards – I try to keep it literal.

Who have been your major influences in the music world and are there any current bands/acts that have caught your attention?

Todd: Fugazi has influenced us.  But you take different things from different bands, you know.  Sonic Youth, The Clash and David Bowie – bands that have good songs that are unmistakably their songs.  The band Late of The Pier, they are pretty awesome and from the UK; they have something there that I relate to for sure.  We like that French electronic scene.  There is a huge explosion of artistic expression there.  We were in France and met with Busy P, Sebastian, Kavinsky, Kasper from Justice, etc..

So any prospects of remixes with them?

Todd: Definitely.  But we’ll see,  we do have some good remixes that are being worked on including with Boys Noize  – Alex,  he and DIM did a mix together.

Where did you come up with The Faint as your band name?

Todd: It just presented itself.  There was no decision; it just was.  We didn’t have a name for a while and it was just kinda assigned to us when we did our first show.  On the flyer was a Roman Bailer reference, so we kinda considered ourselves as a band without a name until 1997.   We knew it was just going to come to us and it did.

Last but not least, what do you guys spend your time doing when not touring or making music?

Todd: Well, I like to make visual art collages and other artistic things.  Also I love playing pool, I love learning science, astronomy etc.  We are kinda the NPR and stoned cartoon watching kinda of guys – we can’t help it.  When we’re not doing band stuff we still hang out.

Thanks so much guys and I’m looking forward to seeing you guys live at your next show!!!  When is the next U.S. tour?

Todd: Our next tour in the States is in two weeks and after that in the Spring.

It’s been five or so years since the band has been formed, with an array of singles, a huge following and two studio albums under their belt, today marks the release of the third album, Intimacy. With a busy touring schedule ahead of them, it was a great surprise and pleasure that we were able to hook up with Bloc Party drummer Matt Tong for an interview. What ensued is a hilarious Q & A between us.

Killahbeez: First off thanks guys for taking the time to answer a few questions for our readers / fans of yours.

KB: I took a look at your touring schedule and I have to say it’s insane! Pretty much from July of this year to April of next year and I was lucky enough to catch you guys at the Virgin Music Festival in Toronto. How has the tour been going? Any tales of madness from fans or from yourselves?

Matt Tong: Been fairly good so far. We were a bit worried it might be too much to turn the new songs into a crazy live show, but we seemed to have pulled it off.

Mad tales? Not really. We stole one of the festival buggies in Baltimore and spent an hour going round and round the horseracing track. I wanted to take one back to the hotel but was advised it might lead to my arrest.

KB: The new album, Intimacy, is coming out on October 28th, what can fans expect from this album? How is it different from the other projects?

MT: It’s a bit more stripped down than the last record. We’ve sort of learned what to leave out. I’m not entirely sure if I’m ready to explain to others what to expect because we didn’t really know what to expect when we started making the damn thing. I’m still not sure I’m meant to expect now. It’s good though. Go listen.

KB: Do you guys have a favorite track from the album?

MT: We don’t really sit around discussing our favourite album tracks. It’s not like I walk into the office one day Kele’s all like, Great fill on “Halo”.

Love your work Matt’, and I’m saying, “Those lyrics on “Ares”. Splendid. A ferosh call to arms.” Even though we obviously feel that. It doesn’t need to be said. Or does it? I just don’t know.

[Laughter]

KB: The first single and video, “Talons”, tell me the story / concept behind the video? It feels very manic and intense, a reflection of the lyrics.

MT: It is deeply manic. We went deep on the mania. We were just really into this idea of Kele running round with his top off. He¹s trying to break into bit parts in body moisturizer adverts.

[Laughter]

KB: This is your third studio album, how does the collaboration process work now with the group?  Do you all work together in the studio or is more each person recording in a studio and sending the layers and tracks to the other.

MT: Normally Kele is in the studio laying down ideas and things and then he literally mails us spools and spools of tape to listen to on our multi-track tape players at home. And then we record our comments on to the spare tracks of the tape and give them back to a courier to return to him.

KB: From start to ending, can you tell us what inspires the song writing and building process?

MT: Start: A homeless man sits by a deserted train station in Gloucester. He whimpers softly to no-one in particular.

Middle: Detective Broder of the Northern District receives a facsimile containing a photofit and detailing the crimes of the homeless man, which are known to no-one.

End: We write a song about it.

[Laughter]

KB: So whom is the band listening to nowadays? Any artists that wow you guys?

MT: We all listen a lot to the Stone Temple Pilots. Those elegant bachelors. Wow factor: Wet Paint.

KB: Are there any producers or artists out there that you guys would want to work with down the road for either albums or remixes or videos?

MT: Album: Stock, Aitken and Waterman.
Remix: Armand Van Helden
Video: Michael Winner

KB: The state of the music industry, how do you guys feel it has changed from when you first started? Or has it?

MT: It hasn’t changed. London’s industry is still full of twits called Danthanthiel mincing about in Diesel and idling tapping away on Blackberrys, throwing good money after bad.

[Laughter]

KB: Anything else you boys want to say to the fans of Bloc Party?

MT: We owe and continue to owe you so much. Thanks for sticking with us.

The third studio album, Intimacy, is available in stores and iTunes now. Visit Bloc Party’s website for more information: www.blocparty.com. Also hit up www.killahbeez.com for more interviews.

What’s happening loyal and new readers. It’s been a moment since we brought you all a contest of some sort and well that drought is over. Thanks to Spectrum Events, www.spectrum-events.com, we have three Kardinal Offishall prizes to give out. Grand prize is a CD as well as a “Not 4 Sale” t-shirt which he wore on the Jay Leno show, 2nd and 3nd prizes is the CD. Pretty good win either way.

So how do you enter you ask. Sign-up for Spectrum Event’s newsletter, found here (right at the top), and then sign-up for the Killahbeez newsletter here. If you have already signed up for both then you’re automatically entered.

Stay tuned for more giveaways. Deadline for entries: Oct 27th.

Wow, I can’t believe that it’s been a year since we first launched. My cousin said that I should say a few words and talk about the struggles of our first year, so here goes. We launched the site last year at this time. Van and I were the only writers, and to be honest, we were still trying to figure out the approach and how we wanted to come up in the game. Van had recruited some peeps to write, but we still had no structure and I was still trying to figure out that path for us. It wasn’t until a trip out to NYC that it all became fuckin’ clear as day: A site that specializes in music, fashion and art. Seriously, how many cats were killin’ it on that level? Not very many – don’t get me wrong, there are lots of peeps in the game that do work such as Format magazine. From there, we had our gameplan on, but unfortunately, we lost some soldiers along the way, only to regain them again recently. But the team grew quickly to an additional four more writers, pushing our numbers to six writers. Now, we’re sitting at eight writers, and we’re all bringing heaters for all y’all, whom I consider the Killahbeez Fam.

The constant uphill battle that I personally face is that, and this is soooo cliché but it’s true: There aren’t enough hours in the day for me to grind and work on Killahbeez.com. From writing, to coding, to selling advertising space, to contacting PR agencies to setting up interviews, I’m basically that first point of contact. The pressure of doing it all can be overwhelming, no doubt. That’s real talk. I ain’t gonna sugar coat nothin’. This shit is straight up hard, but hell is it fun.

So with that said, we want thank all you Killahbeez Fams for supporting and spreading the word. We at Killahbeez look forward to continuing to bring y’all some more hot shit for years to come.

Peace and one love.

DT aka Lex Diamonds.

And now a few words from the other guy…

If I recall correctly, Dave had approached me about starting a lifestyle blog that featured music, street wear, gadgets, etc. But we didn’t want to just be another information hub. That would be boring right? And although we didn’t have a “system” in place, the one common denominator was whatever we posted, we genuinely liked. And thats how it all began.

Along the way, we definitely had some struggles because no guidelines were set. Who would’ve thought blog posting required just as much left brain thinking as right? Dave with his marketing management background was all about deadlines, brand marketing, the whole “Do it right, do it tight.” attitude. The end result speaks for itself. From our bangin’ logo (thanks Calvin), snazzy business cards (another thanks to Calvin), a few version changes and of course our stickers. And here we are a year later with some new friends made along the way spanning locally in DC, NY or Vancouver all the way to the rest of the globe.

Thanks for reading.
Van

Final week of this 6 week contest. So this is your last chance to enter.

This one is a partnership between 9 Grand Clothing and Killah Beez, we’re giving away a t-shirt every week for the next 6 weeks. This one is mad easy to enter, just sign-up for the Killah Beez emailer, which can be found at the top of this page or visit this link and sign-up. Confirm your subscription and bam you’re done. For those that are already subscribed you’re automatically entered. We’ll draw a name every week and contact you by email and let you know that you’ve won. You have 2 different shirts to choose from, click on the jump below to see all the designs.

Big shout out to Mark Hattan at 9 Grand Clothing for hooking up all these shirts. Be sure to check out their site and support them.

Images: www.9grandclothing.com

Blue in Medium

Green in XL
White in Medium