Odario and I continue our chat just before Grand Analog takes to the stage opening up for Shad at Call the Office in London, Ontario. If you’ve missed Part 1, Part 2, or Part 3, you can go back and read them or you can go and download the whole show to listen to it now.
Without further ado, here is the conclusion of the interview.
Chase: “How does the music side of Grand Analog come together?”
Odario: “We all contribute in different ways. I basically start with an idea. I go in with DJ Catalyst and we work with drum patterns and samples. Warren, the bass player, he’ll come in and lend his ear. Damon, a guitar player, he’ll come in and lend his ear if we feel the track needs a guitar. My brother, DJ Ofield, he also makes his own beats as well. If something fits with the idea of the album, we’ll use that as well. It’s very open concept and I like it that way because we all have different things to throw into the pot.”
Chase: “Excellent. I want to talk about another one of your songs ‘Not Enough Mondays.’ That song made me laugh. There’s a nice lyric there talking about how you can’t put off to tomorrow what you should do today, right? Because if you wait till Monday, ya know, Monday comes and goes and then you wait till next Monday. So, it’s a nice kind of humour out into that song. Once again, though, it’s kind of serious too about addictions and things like that.”
Odario: “Yeah, sometimes I play that at frosh parties. They rap along but at the same time they’re like, ‘Ah, man. I really don’t want to talk about this right now.’”
Chase: “Yeah, I’ll stop drinking on Monday, how many frosh, college kids will say that? ‘Maybe I’ll stop drinking on Monday but I’ll pick it up again on Friday or maybe Wednesday after class goes bad.’ But, yeah, it’s a funny song and it’s got a nice message to it, if you take that in. So why don’t we drop that track right now and come back and talk a little bit more.”
Odario: “Not Enough Mondays”
Chase: “By Grand Analog. This is Chase March, we’ll be right back.”
Chase: “Nice, nice track right there. ‘Not Enough Mondays.’ There’s some good lyrics in there if you dissect them, and once again, I’m a lyrical dude, so let’s do that. Not really a rhyme but you say ‘being healthy’s much too pricey.’ It is, isn’t it?”
Odario: “Dude, say you want a fruit smoothie, frozen yogurt, non-fat, those things are like six bucks out there. Ya know, you want to have some sushi or something, you’re looking at spending $30 on a meal just to fill yourself up. Or you can go to McDonalds and drop like $3 and get full on that. And you know, the organic things in the supermarket, if you get the regular one on the stand it’s one price but the organic one is a lot more expensive. Being healthy can be pricey if you don’t be careful.”
Chase: “Yeah, I think it’s a problem in society as a whole. It’s interesting that we can address that but I don’t know what we can really do about it other than just saying, ‘Yeah, go buy an apple.’”
Odario: “But the organic apple will be way more expensive than the regular apple. Guaranteed. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.”
Chase: “Yeah, but I guess, any apple is better than a chocolate bar.”
Odario: “But there you go, chocolate bar is damn cheap.”
Chase: “Crazy, eh? This is too deep. Good thing it’s an overnight show. We can get deep, put ya to sleep. But I guess there’s never enough Monday’s. So if you’ve got ‘those evils vices and sacrifice, got me running for my life, go quit.’ Wise words from Grand Analog.
Well, this has been a pleasure. I’m glad we finally got to hook up and do this. So, I think we’ll play one more track to get out of here. I never asked you, what’s your favourite song that you’ve done.”
Odario: “In the words of Q-tip, ‘I haven’t wrote it yet.’”
Chase: “Beautiful! Very beautiful!”
Odario: “That’s always his way of getting out of that question. And I’d love to know what Q-tip’s favourite is, but I think he’s being sincere. I’ve seen him say that in many interviews. The first thing in the interview when they ask what’s your favourite songs and he says it like it’s rehearsed, ‘I haven’t wrote it yet. I haven’t wrote it yet.’ I’m glad you asked me that ‘cause I’ve always wanted to try that, ‘I haven’t wrote it yet.’”
Chase: “That’s awesome. Ya know, two years ago I would’ve said that was totally false for Q-tip because, I hate to say it because I’m a Tribe fan, but I really thought he was done. But The Renaissance blew my mind. His first solo album I wasn’t feeling much, like, ‘What’d you do Tip?’ but The Renaissance is wicked. That just goes to show you that you can have some mis-steps in the game and still come out with a classic album. That was a shame that he didn’t get the Grammy.”
Odario: “Oh, I know.”
Chase: “Like all the ones in there, I was like, ‘That’s gotta be his.’”
Odario: “Eminem won that. Eminem’s got a collection of Grammies now. I think Q-tip could’ve got his first Grammy.”
Chase: “Yeah, he should’ve got that one. We’re in agreement there. Gamma Krush is too, he’s in the back, right? He’s a big Tirbe fan. So, let’s play another song. This is ‘Magnifico’ by Grand Analog. Chase March on the interview tip. Daddy J is gonna spin that track for us and we’ll be right back on DOPEfm.”
Chase: “All right that was ‘Magnifico’ by Grand Analog. ‘It’s just discipline assemble a plan, release your heart, release your hand from twisted situations.’ I like that. You can actually release yourself from twisted situations.”
Odario: “People don’t necessarily realize that. It can be such a mental block. Like you get yourself in a bit of a twist and you think, ‘Life’s over now.” Not necessarily. Sometimes you need a mental push, let alone a physical push. That song was pretty much written for a few friends of mine who always catch themselves in a rut. You know, they’re always kind of slouched in front of the TV and pretty down on themselves about some things that happen in their lives. They don’t realize that things can happen in everyone’s life. So ‘get out your head, Jump up, get out your bed, and get out there and live your life and release yourself from those twisted situations out there.’”
Chase: “People can feel stuck sometimes but they have to remember that they have a lot of power. Like you said in one of your lyrics a little bit earlier that we touched on, ‘be the author not the actor.’ So you can actually change and you can get out of those situations. That is awesome!
Well, I’m really looking forward to the show tonight. I’m looking forward to everything. You guys, I know, are gonna rock it. I’ve been wanting to see Shad for a while now. So this is going to be a good night. And even better that I got to talk to you both. I’ve got two interviews done and hopefully everyone is listening to DOPEfm and subscribing to the podcast.
Odario: “Hey man, it’s called DOPEfm, that should be enough to be listening to it, that’s for sure. If you’re interested and you’re liking what you’re hearing, just go to GrandAnalog.com or myspace/grandanalog or even follow us on Twitter.”
Chase: “Yes, I following you on Twitter. I love Twitter. Twitter’s awesome. I’m on Twitter too peoples.”
Odario: “Yup you better chase Chase on Twitter. Don’t follow him, chase him on Twitter people.”
Chase: “Yeah! All right, thanks a lot. This has been a great interview. Thanks a lot for your time and for stopping by.”
Odario: “Thanks to those DOPEfm cats. Out!”
Well, that’s it. I hope you enjoyed this interview as much as we both did. Don’t forget to go download the podcast so you can hear all the songs we played here on the blog and a few more as well. Enjoy