The duo Black Violin mixes strings with hip hop beats and challenges stereotypes; Could Apple get into the film and TV game?; Diane Coffee (aka Shaun Fleming) is the drummer for Foxygen, but finds his own voice via Diane Coffee, his side project and true creative calling.
With Diane Coffee, Foxygen drummer Shaun Fleming steps out in front of the kit
Former child actor Shaun Fleming fell in love with music after his high school music teacher not-so-subtly encouraged him to join the choir his freshman year.
I got blackmailed by my music teacher [John Mosely] to join choir and every other music class. He was my math teacher my freshman year...I had my shell, I hadn't broken out yet. He needed male singers and he knew I could sing, and he told me he would fail me in math if I didn't join choir next year. He was the most intense and brilliant man I ever met. When I did join that choir class, the first day, it was that a-ha moment. This is what I want to do with the rest of my life, I never knew voice could do that. That really turned me on to music.
He finally got his first taste of the industry by playing drums for the indie rock band Foxygen — Fleming grew up in Southern California and went to Agoura Hills High with the group’s two principal members, Jonathan Rado and Sam French.
But he wasn’t satisfied with just sitting behind a drum kit.
In 2013, he released his first solo album titled “My Friend Fish” under the moniker Diane Coffee. The name is a mash-up of singer Diana Ross and a song called “Mr. Coffee" by obscure singer/songwriter Nathan Pekley. Now Fleming is releasing his second album, “Everybody’s A Good Dog.”
Fleming has moved around since his California days, first to New York and now to Bloomington, Indiana. He joined the Frame to talk about how he became the drummer for Foxygen, how he writes songs for Diane Coffee and how a sense of place affects his songwriting.
Interview Highlights:
How does the city you're living in affect your music? I noticed this new album is a bit cheerier than your previous one:
I think New York is a relatively dark place, especially Manhattan when you're living there, I mean, a broke musician in a closet, essentially. Eating ramen with Sriracha. Fish in a can is fantastic, tuna, lived off that and hard-boiled eggs. But with "Everybody's A Good Dog," I'm living in Bloomington, Indiana, and the sunshine definitely came through there. I say still lyrically it may be a little sadder than "My Friend Fish," but it's in a nice cheery package.
The first song of a record sets the tone for the entire album, why did you choose "Spring Breeze" and what was its genesis?
This whole first half of the song came to me in a dream, I remember waking up my partner and taking out my cellphone and doing those little voice memos that you have on the iPhone. I listened to it the next day and after I got through the sleepiness of it, it sounded awesome. And I didn't remember doing it the night before. It seemed like as one of the first songs I wrote for this record it should come first. And with a song like that, it's kinda hard to put it anywhere else on the record.
So if New York influenced what you were writing about in "My Friend Fish," how did Indiana influence "Everybody's A Good Dog," and why did you move there?
Well I moved to Indiana because I really didn't like New York. It's everything that New York isn't. I met my partner out there and we moved in together and had a little house. With "Everybody's A Good Dog," I was able to actually spend some time really working on these songs whereas the "My Friend Fish" one was done so quickly. I wasn't even thinking I was writing an album. I think this one is a little bit more realized than the last one.
How do you split your time between Foxygen and Diane Coffee?
Foxygen is done, they're going to be writing their next record, so that's the perfect time to start touring. The last tour for "My Friend Fish" happened in the same way. Diane Coffee is my project, it's where I can actually be truly creative, whereas in Foxygen I am just a session musician. Everyone says this is a Foxygen side project, but I don't write with them. This is something that I have been working towards my whole life. This is my baby.
Tell us about your songwriting process:
I always do the instrumentation first. I'll maybe have a melody in mind, but lyrically everything comes last. That's always last, and I think it's because I'm not as secure about writing. I don't feel as comfortable with my lyrics quite yet.
Were there drummers that you liked who were singers or did you gravitate toward singers then figured out drums later?
Drums was actually a really new instrument for me. When I signed on to play with Foxygen, I had never played drums. They were trying to start a band and they said, 'Hey Shaun, you know how to play, like, a beat. We know you. So, just play our show.' Then one show lead to another and then, yeah, it's a small tour, and 'hey can you figure out how to play this song? Yeah, just be the drummer,' and I just had to learn by playing shows how to play. My dad played drums, so I had rhythm watching him, I guess. That's where I get it from. I mean, I'm doing everything completely wrong, I know that. I have calluses on my elbows that aren't supposed to be there. But it works and I'm feeling good about it now. It's actually my favorite instrument to play. I can get out amazing aggression. Whenever I'm feeling down I can go smack something.
More Diane Coffee for your ear holes:
Black Violin mashes hip-hop and classical to break stereotypes on major label debut
Classical music and hip-hop aren’t two music genres that usually go together, but violinist Kev Marcus and viola player Wil Baptiste have found the sweet spot.
The two met at their Florida high school during orchestra class and a few years later started Black Violin. Since then, the band has opened for Aerosmith, Tom Petty and Kanye West. Along the way, they’ve played the famed Apollo Theater in Harlem and one of President Obama’s inaugural parties.
The Frame's John Horn talks with Kevin Marcus and Wil Baptiste about their major label debut album "Stereotypes," how they fell in love with playing the violin and viola and how the Apollo Theater changed their lives:
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS:
Do you guys remember when you recognized that your instruments could be used to play a different kind of music than you were trained to play?
WB: I think the moment of genius is when we were in high school and there's one particular song -- very popular song on the radio -- had a very distinctive violin and Kev came to school and he learned it and started playing with it. He taught everybody in the class how to play it. I just remember going to competitions and we were always playing that song and every kid in that competition was just like, Oh my goodness. Look what they're playing.' And actually, we were just having fun.
Do you remember the song?
WB: Busta Rhymes' 'Gimme Some More'.
Busta Rhymes - Gimme Some More
[Laughs] I mean, it was a very, very popular song back in the day, ten years ago.
KM: Yeah, it was in the 90's and playing that song and walking to competition with it, all of the other orchestra students around would be blown away by it. I think that was kind of the moment of genius. We didn't realize it then, but now that we look back, that was the first time where we was like, Man, doing this hip-hop stuff with violins gets a reaction from people.
Musically, classical music and hip-hop are a lot more similar than they are different?
WB: Exactly, we tell people that all the time. If you think about classical music and its origin, some rich guy was like, Listen Mozart. Whip me up some tune and I got this party coming up. So, in a lot of ways it's very, very similar. Now, we're bridging the gap so to speak. We're putting these two worlds together and we're conveying a message that is very clear -- that anyone can understand and comprehend -- particularly for the kids cause a lot of kids think it's boring or lame. When we perform, we they hear the music and we're introducing it in a different way, it allows them to open their minds and see what else this instrument can do.
But I gotta ask, when you guys were first given, or assigned or told you had to play the violin or viola, did you think they were boring as well?
KM: Oh yeah, I did not want to play that instrument. I didn't want to walk home with that violin on my back. It ended up being a really good thing and what kept me playing is when I realized it had power. I tell this story where my first girlfriend, I go and meet her parents for the first time and they say, What do you do? And I'm like, Yeah, I just got a full scholarship to college. I'm studying violin.'And they were like, Really?!
You can spend the night with our daughter.
KM: [Laughs] You know, not in those words, but sort of like, Oh! You picked the good one. Just me saying that I play violin when I look like I should be a linebacker for my high school team, people's perceptions change and it changes immediately. That's when I realized the power in it.
Let's talk about the perceptions and the title track on this record, 'Stereotypes'. At the end of the song, there's a montage mashup of some people talking about stereotypes. What was the inspiration behind that song and who do we hear talking and singing in that piece?
KM: We came up for the idea of the song through a video concept. In the middle of the song, you hear the voices of many different people saying various definitions of stereotypes. In those definitions are my three daughters, my wife and my mother. It's really special to be able to have a lot of my family members actually on the album and every time they hear the track they smile and my daughters point out when it's their voice on there.
At the very end, we're in the studio and we're having a conversation about stereotypes. We went around the room with everyone in the studio and said, Well, what's your number one stereotype? And my number one stereotype is the one that actually got on the album.
Black Violin - Stereotypes
You know, in a black man growing up in America, that's how I feel. I feel like people's perceptions of me is different than who I really am and when I tell them that I'm a violinist, they're like, 'Wow, I would have never guessed that.'
So before this album came out, you were touring the country doing a couple hundred shows in a year. You played at President Obama's second inauguration in 2013. You performed with Alicia Keys at the Billboard Music Awards. Do you recall if there was one big break?
WB: I think it was Apollo. This was, like, 2004. Everyone should know what Apollo is. I mean it's Michael Jackson, James Brown, the legends have performed on the stage. We went there and didn't know what to except and we prepared ourselves. It's funny thinking about it then because, back then, seeing all these people booed right before we get on stage -- which is very nerve-racking -- and we went on there and won everything.
Black Violin Apollo
I think at that moment, when we won the whole season, 2005 Apollo Legends, that's when we realized this is something special. I forget where I was working, but I put in my two week notice and I was like, Listen, this is it for me. I'm going all in with this one. So I think at that moment we truly realized we had something special because Apollo, that's the toughest audience in the world. They enjoy booing people. They have a blast just booing you off stage. So to be able to perform on that stage and captivate them in the way that we did, that was it for us.
I always imagine that on the road, backstage classical musicians are sipping mineral water and reading Dostoyevsky while hip hop musicians are downing champagne and dancing with strippers. What's the reality of life backstage for a classical musician and a hip hop band?
WB: You would be surprised how reversed it is.
[Laughs]
KM: I'll say that with us, maybe we split the difference. [Laughs]
Black Violin's new album, "Stereotypes" is out on September 18 on Universal Music Classic