Once again, the only criteria was geographic location and a MySpace page. You decide who makes the cut and who doesn't. To offer feedback on any of the musicians, e-mail Josh Fernandez: .
"I suffer from anxiety; I had ADD as a kid; I was on Ritalin. If I'm sitting still, I always feel like I gotta be doing something, you know? And my mom likes the name because I was born a month early.
(She said I was) anxious to get out." If the name fits..
. Anxious was a hyper-active child growing
So the question is: Where do we put a specimen such as this? On a stage, with a microphone in his hands, of course. With musical tastes that bend toward underground artists such as Atmosphere, Aesop Rock and Sage Francis, Anxious tries to keep it rugged and raw, like rap music is supposed to be.
"Basically, I put my life and everything I go through and what I feel onto paper," he says. And he claims his music can be enjoyed by all. "I like having a big variety of fans - I have fans that are parents and fans that are kids," Anxious says.
"(Freestyle) plays a big part because that's how it all started, just freestyling with your friends in the back yard, freestyling when we were ditching classes, freestyling at high school talent
" "At the same time you have to have an album - people want to see you putting in work," Anxious says. "You can say you rap and just freestyle with everyone, but you have to have some work to show people - a CD, or a MySpace with some songs on it." As it turns out, there's another side to Anxious besides the hardcore underground rapper.
"I'll find myself swinging to a little R B here and there, but we're not going to worry about that," he said, in full confidence that the more sensitive side of him would not get out to the public. Don't worry, Anxious. Your secret is safe with me.
"Pop music for depressed people." That's how UC Davis film student Alice Choe describes her songs. She seems happy enough, but between her and Anxious, let's just say that the two of them could keep pharmaceutical companies in business for quite some time.
Choe, influenced heavily by the likes of legendary singer/songwriter Bruce Springsteen, is not all about woe and the blues. "I try to keep it lighthearted and not take it too seriously, cuz it's not like I'm gonna be famous or anything," Choe says, half-joking. "I'm not that talented.
" Through a thin veil of shyness, Choe explains her first brush with the world of music - Ben E. King's "Stand By Me." "I used to sing ("Stand By Me") going home from school when nobody was around," she said, singing, "Boo boo boo, Boom.
Boo boo boo, Boom." Maybe Choe didn't realize that we were sitting at a crowded restaurant and she was singing kind of loud, or maybe she's not shy after all. Her approach to song writing is confusing, even to her.
"Sometimes I'll write a poem first - maybe put some music to it or try to figure out a riff that I like, then the chords that go along with that riff," she explains. "Or sometimes I'll make a beat, then make a chord progression and then add words." Then she retracts above statements: "Eh, whatever.
There really is no order." Throughout the conversation, Choe is full of philosophy, dropping gems such as this, for the disgruntled musician: "No matter how much you suck, there will always be at least one person in the world who likes your music." Or maybe this one, for the tortured artist: "Art is supposed to have a good flaw.
" Or this one, on how to keep yourself original: "Well, I always try to say to myself: (Expletive) everyone else." Picture a country and western party - cowboy hats, Budweiser, toothpicks, boots, mustaches and all. Now imagine a hip hop DJ walking into the room with his hat to the side, some rugged looking friends carrying record crates and a couple of turntables.
It was one of DJ Adrian G's more memorable gigs, to say the least. "They're looking at me like, 'What are you doing here?' but I spun country all night," he said, boasting, "And I had 'em all dancing.
" In fact, Adrian G has had a lot of memorable gigs: he's done birthday parties for all ages, weddings, Quinceaneras, house parties, reunions, anniversaries, retirement parties and everything in between. "I read a long time ago: Don't turn down any gig," he says. "So I've kind of always stuck to (that).
" A soft-spoken man who seems to choose his words as carefully as the records he spins, "eclectic" is a word that comes up a lot in conversation with Adrian G. "I don't just listen to one type of music," he says. "I'll go to rock and get tired of that, I'll go to hip hop for a while and get tired of that, then go to underground.
" And the list goes on: "I listen to a lot of Latin music too, so I'll listen to Rock en Espanol, salsa/meringue, some banda. ..
." Whatever kind of music he spins, DJ Adrian G says his main goal is to get the dance floor jumping. "You gotta know your audience - what kind of crowd it is," he says.
And of course, the art of being a DJ goes beyond electronics. "I judge what kind of people what they are. Their age group, their demographic, I kind of see if they like (the music I'm playing), or I switch it up if they don't.
" "I don't want to be just a mixing DJ," he says. "I want to be able to do it all." He adds, "I want to enter some battles.
" Battling is a skill that not all DJs can do. Usually called turntablists, scratch DJs have a world of fierce competitions where they demonstrate their technical talent in combining mixing, scratching and beat juggling. And why, of the millions of people who call themselves DJs, should you listen to DJ Adrian G?
"Probably the music selection. I spin everything. I have always been able to make people dance and I've never had people not dance.
I know how to mix clean," he says. "You go to some clubs and they mix songs that don't go together." Soft-spoken Alex Reyes (drums), along with the wildly-excited Daniel Villegas (vocals and guitar) sit at Morrison's, obviously thirsty, while a couple members from the group The Con of Man sit in chairs nearby.
"Ruben, go order two gin-and-tonics," Villegas says to his aloof friend. Ruben, through dark shades, stares straight ahead, pretending not to hear. "Seriously," Villegas warns, "get some gin-and-tonics.
" Ruben, who seems like he has been through this before, ignores him. "They're our younger brothers," Villegas says of The Con of Man members Ruben Garcia and Coki Villegas (Daniel's actual biological brother). The two bands, despite their family ties, are worlds apart.
"(The Con of Man) have their own distinctive sound. Our sound, musically, it has more feeling, it's a lot more emotional," Villegas says, quickly correcting himself, "I shouldn't say that." Diciembre Gris doesn't want to be lumped in with the "emo" crowd.
After all, they're more "sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll" than tight pants and colorful scarves. "(We used to have) a happier sound," Villegas explains. "Then our songs started getting .
.. not dark, but we started experimenting more.
" Villegas attributes the dark sound to a healthy, or unhealthy, rock 'n' roll lifestyle - depending on how you look at it. "We just party too much," he says. "And I'm in the middle of a divorce right now.
" On top of marital problems, Villegas' brother, Erick, who played bass for the band passed away in January. "It has been very hard," he said - Erick Alexandro Villegas, a Woodland High grad, was an extremely talented and well-respected musician. The pain of life, while not unbearable, is making for a newer, heavier sound for the band.
"The lyrics are getting more deep," Villegas says. "Before, I didn't really care too much about the lyrics. It was more about the music.
" For better and for worse, the band is catching up with life, and vice-versa. In regards to their sound, Diciembre Gris lists 50 bands as influences on their MySpace page, including Depeche Mode and David Bowie, if that gives you any idea. Though they draw influences from British post-punk groups, the band's Latin heritage and international fanbase have let them enjoy international success, with tours of Mexico in both Baja California and Guadalajara, putting Northern California on the map for audiences across the border.
"It's funny, because here in the states, more of the white people get into (the music)," Villegas explains. "To an all white crowd, I'll purposely play everything in Spanish." "It gets you to talk with the ladies, you know?
And then when we play in Mexico, we play in English on purpose even though our name's in Spanish. Same deal." Alex Reyes has been surprisingly quiet for the interview, but he nods his head when Villegas explains his romantic strategy - it's easy to get ladies when you're the exotic dudes.
"Hey, that's the name or our side project," Reyes says, "The Exotic Dudes!" After 10 years of being a band, they're still making music about pain, partying and life - and they're not even close to being done. By the way, it's already 3: 45 and Ruben Garcia, ignoring everybody in his shades and stoic face, still hasn't ordered the gin-and-tonics yet.
Her style is hard to pin, but she does have a sweet voice - that's for sure. Could it be a bit of Tori Amos and Fiona Apple? "I listen to pretty much everything.
Growing up I listened to a lot of classic rock. I played the flute in the high and middle school bands," Katie Jane says. A list of influences in her case will be helpful: America, The Band, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, Cat Stevens, The Cranberries, Dredg, The Doors, Enya, The Innocence Mission, Led Zeppelin, Mazzy Star, Neil Young, Nirvana, Patti Rothberg, Pink Floyd, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sarah McLachlan, Simon Garfunkel, Tchaikovsky, Tori Amos and Weezer.
Oddly enough, Katie Jane's music almost sounds like an equal mix of each of the above musicians. Yes, even Tchaikovsky. Talented musicians usually grow up in musical families - dad on guitar, sister on the tambourine, etc.
, but in Katie Jane's case, she's an original - nobody in her family is in a band. She adds: "And my mom wears a hearing aid." When it comes to song writing, Katie Jane uses a broad stroke.
"I try to keep my lyrics as vague as possible so anyone can listen and decide what the lyrics mean to them," she says. "It reaches a broader (audience) - everyone can take from it." For example, a song for the destructive significant other is probably as universal as you can get.
"I always write what I want to hear," she says - a good motto for any musician to live by. With a mish-mash of musical taste, mixed with her universal style of writing, Katie Jane manages to create original music, each song with its own distinct sound. "It's the creative process that I love," she says.
And just recently, Katie Jane has made a smooth transition from a solo artist to being part of a band. Along with Joe Menegus (producer/guitarist), Owen Myers (organ), Abe Smith (bass) and Rudy Flores (drums), Katie Jane is working in the studio on a full-length album, which is due by the end of spring. "I love it because I don't feel so alone," she says.
"The focus is not all on me." Next for the band, a stop in July at West Hollywood's Whisky a Go Go - a club that was pivotal in the shaping of many rock 'n' roll careers, including, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Mothers of Invention, The Misfits and Oasis. "It's such a historical place," she says.
"It's a very sentimental gig.
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