Getting Ready for Counterpoint; JBO Interview Interviews Curt Heiny and Justin Aubuchon of Arch Nemesis and Rostislav “Steve” Vaynshtok of ABDECAF | JamBandsOnline.com

Getting Ready for Counterpoint; JBO Interview Interviews Curt Heiny and Justin Aubuchon of Arch Nemesis and Rostislav “Steve” Vaynshtok of ABDECAF

September 12, 2012
By

Article by Bryan Walden

Counterpoint is coming up September 27th through the 29th! It will be located on an 8,000 acre, private and scenic riverfront of the Chattahoochee near Atlanta, Georgia. They will be hosting some of the hottest names in electronic music including Bassnectar, Skrillex, Pretty Lights and Beats Antique. We were able to speak to some of the artists performing at Counterpoint, Curt Heiny and Justin Aubuchon of Arch Nemesis and Rostislav “Steve” Vaynshtok of ABDECAF.

Curt Heiny and Justin Aubuchon of Archnemesis:

JBO: Do you listen to any jam bands?

I listen to Phish. Phish is awesome.

JBO: Do you feel they have influenced your music?

It has to, I was influenced by them since day one. There is no way it couldn’t. I can’t tell you specifically how, it’s just Phish has been a huge part of my life when I got into that whole “jam thing”. I played in jam bands then played in electronic bands and then started DJing so, they were a catalyst I guess.

JBO: Your bio says that you use samples ranging from the early 20’s to modern hip hop. what is your creative process that goes into choosing your samples?

We’ll pull from everywhere, listen to old records, stuff from old movies. We just look for something that sparks an idea.

JBO: Which track of yours do you feel our readers would appreciate hearing the most?

I think “Every man for himself”, the title track of our new album sums up where the sound is at now and how its’ progressed from the first EP “diamonds in glass” to “people’s radio” and then to this third one, “Every Man for Himself”. We released the single as a teaser track for free download. I think that the title track kind of speaks volumes as far as the direction our music is going.

JBO: You have a new album releasing soon, “Every Man for Himself” – what sort of themes and vibes can we expect from this one?

It’s a little harder than the other songs that we have been doing. It’s a little dirtier. It’s not dubstep. We still stick to that more hip hop influence but it’s definitely got more of a grimy sound. We’re gonna put soul in there too man. We use a lot of the elements from (dubstep), a lot of the wobbles and wobs and stuff to try to incorporate that into the more hip hop sounding stuff.

JBO: Your music sounds a lot more soulful and funky than most electronic music. How do you think this will play to your advantage entertaining the Atlanta crowd?

You know, we don’t sound like Skrillex, we’re not dubstep or whatever… You know, He’ll be there as well. I think it differentiates us a little bit from the rest of the sound just because of that, with the hip hop and the soul and the use of the samples and things like that they kind of keep it away from the harder electro dubstep kind of stuff. I think people welcome just not having it just be drilled in their face all day long and all night long. We’ve done well in Atlanta with the shows that we have done there. We have always done pretty well so hopefully we will have the same kind of response that we have had since we have been going to Atlanta.

JBO: Are there any tracks that you are excited about playing at Counterpoint?

Mostly of the new stuff! The album will come out like 3 weeks before Counterpoint so we are excited to play lots of new stuff.

JBO: If you could have any Atlanta artist perform with you, who would it be?

JBO: It would be awesome to have Big Boi or Ludacris. I think Big Boi is actually playing at Counterpoint. T.I. would be cool.

JBO: Is there anything you want to add about counterpoint or your upcoming releases?

We have a new album, it will be free download. All our music is free to download. It really gives a sensation of where the music is now and the direction we are going with it. We have a huge tour of 42 cities this fall. I cant wait to see everybody out there on tour. We are looking forward to Counterpoint obviously. It is going to be incredible, I think. Were gonna keep pushing the music and the free downloads and just get people talking about it and tell their friends about it and come see us at Counterpoint!

Be sure to check out their free music at http://www.archnemesismusic.com/ and come hear them Friday, September 28th at the Counterpoint festival. www.counterpointfestival.com

Rostislav “Steve” Vaynshtok of ABDECAF:

JBO: The majority of our followers are fans of jam bands, what do you feel you can bring to the table for them?

I would say, just something new that they maybe haven’t entirely seen yet and you know, stuff that they definitely haven’t heard because I like to think that the stuff that I’m making is unique to me.

JBO: What bands do you like?

I like Old jazz (and blues) like B.B. King, Cole Train, Miles Davis, Al Caiola.

JBO: I’ve read that you are a really big fan of explosion’s in the sky:

I am, they are freaking amazing!

JBO: What is your favorite track by them?

It’s gotta be glittering blackness. That song, something about it is awesome. Between the drop and the buildup, it’s just better somehow.

JBO: You started playing festivals this year, what have you learned from them?

I’ve only played one so far and then next week I have the two biggest ones that I lined up so far. It just blew my mind to just to see how many people were really looking forward to the festival and really excited and like their whole month, their whole week or you know x amount of time that they’ve just been looking forward to the festival was centered around the festival and it was just like damn, you know like im happy to be here for these people like this is what they’ve been dreaming about and thinking about it like every waking moment. It was good that people cared that much about the music.

JBO: What do you think is the cause of the seemingly constant mud-slinging in the edm genre?

I wouldn’t say there was mudslinging like I didn’t see anyone talking about anyone else. The way that a promoter put it to me was “you remember that you are only here because i am friends with your agent” or whatever and I was just like, whoah whoah whoah unnecessary… and it’s funny cause’ you know like say I do well the next year, that same promoter is gonna’ be coming to me like “abbsie baby” and I’ll just be like “nah dude” you know? Stuff like that… It just gets to me that there is politics but im sure they mean well underneath it somewhere.

JBO: Are there any tracks that you are excited about playing at counterpoint?

(I) definitely am looking forward to dropping a bunch of new stuff. By then, the album will be done and it will have been released because my set is on the 27th and my album is coming out the 25th, So it should be fun. Definitely going to play stuff that I am not going to play at electric zoo and at north coast, I am saving a bunch of special stuff for counterpoint.

JBO: Will you be playing solo or will you have a guest singer?

I’ll have a guest. I kind of want to keep it a secret but its pretty obvious to people who keep up with what I am doing who it’s going to be. Nobody too big or too special. Hopefully, if I can get my collabs that I have planned with two other artists that are playing counterpoint then maybe if they are in town that day or maybe if they are around me they’ll come and join me for my set but I don’t want to say anything because none of that is for sure.

JBO: If you could have any Atlanta musician perform with you, who would it be?
Gucci man… hahaha… it would definitely be Gucci man because it would just be hillarious.

JBO: Is there anything you want to add about counterpoint or your upcoming releases?

(I) definitely want to mention my upcoming release. I have a lot of hours and a lot of effort and I really went in on this one. The first one also had a lot of effort and a lot of time and a lot of careful planning and arrangement that went into it but this one particularly. I just went even harder with it. It is definitely going to be a really good one and so is the third one and I just feel like it is going to progress. The first one is good the next one will be better and the one after that will be even better than it is all building towards my first full length which I want to just be timeless.

For more on ABDECAF, visit his facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/AbdeCaf and his soundcloud http://soundcloud.com/abdecaf. ABDECAF will be performing Thursday, September 27th at Counterpoint www.counterpointfestival.com

 

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

AWSOM Powered