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"Keepin' It Eel" Producer, San Francisco www.unagi442.com Page 1 | 2 | 3 Lee: Where are you originally from and where did you grow up? Also how did your surrounding area influence the sound behind your production? Unagi: I grew up in Western Massachusetts. It was cool because it was a pretty small/mellow place, but it was also a college town so there was more stuff going on, I got to see a lots of good shows when I was a kid, there was all kinds of music poppin everywhere. Everybody from Yusef Latif to Sonic Youth to Naughty By Nature played out there so it was a pretty versatile scene. L: On your site it says you take your name from a Japanese delicacy. What’s the story behind you identifying yourself as Unagi? U: I’m part Japanese, and I always liked Unagi sushi. When I used to rhyme I took it as my emcee name, I don’t get on the mic too much these days but I kept the name going. L: What other aspects of Japanese culture are you inspired by? If you were to stand in front of a class of students, what about the Japanese culture would you like people to know? U: As far as Japanese culture I’m not really an expert on it, but I’m into it. They got a really hardcore work ethic but they’re down with some pretty freaky stuff as well. I’ve never been over there although I definitely would like to. Don’t think I’m really qualified to be teaching kids about it yet. L: Take us back to the first time you ever created an instrumental. What equipment were you using? U: Well I used to record all kinds of stuff when I was a kid, playing instruments and messing with different records and tapes. When I started doing the beats I didn’t really have much gear so I would make pause loop tapes just resetting the needle to wherever and taping it like that. I had an old Tascam 4-track and would add drums either from my drum set or eventually the Dr Rhythm 660 (which I still rock today). L: In the area of producing who were you feeling back then and who else do you listen to today? Also, who was the first person you showed your own work to? U: As far as producers who influenced me, all the greats – Beatminerz, Dre, Premier, everybody from D.I.T.C., Pete Rock, RZA, Hiero, Beatnuts, Daz, Warren G, Phil Specter, Brian Wilson, the usual suspects. Newer guys, I’m feeling Madlib, X-Ray, Count Bass D, Mannie Fresh, the Neptunes, PUTS, a lot of cats. I don’t remember the first person I played my beats for, probably the guys I was making music with at the time. L: When was the first time you purchased an instrumental album? What was it? If you could own any album on instrumental that is not currently in instrumental format, what would it be? U: I don’t really remember, I used to buy a ton of instrumental jazz records so it’s hard to recall. As far as something I wish I had the instrumentals for? Enta Da Stage comes to mind, I liked the beats on Regulate…G Funk Era, Runaway Slave, there’s a lot. L: I noticed on your site that you’re discography work includes Film and TV soundtracks. In what ways do you feel your music is able to capture the sound behind an act or a mood on screen? U: Well a lot of my beats are kind of “moody” or whatever, and tend to work well as background scene music. L: Do you have any favorite scores from back when? Also, tell us about you’re work on Hotel Room and A Little Aloha, how did you get involved with San Porncisco? U: In terms of favorite scores I like a lot of the old Quincy Jones stuff, Willie Hutch, Gabor Szabo’s work on Repulsion, Lalo Schifrin, and a lot of 70s TV show music. The San Porncisco thing came about from a friend of mine who was making some low-budge porn DVDs in the city, I gave him some beats and it was on. L: To what capacity do you feel you have studied the history of music and instrumentation? U: I learned a lot of stuff in terms of music history from my stepdad, and from just listening to all kinds of music. As much as I dig hip-hop I’ve always listened to other genres as well. I can pretty much dig anything except for techno and house. L: Other than the portable sampler, cassette 4-track, and live drum machine are there any other instruments of production that you are familiar with? Which instruments would you like to learn? U: For instruments I also can play guitar, bass, drums, piano, and trumpet, to varying degrees. I did the last album on a digital 8 track and am learning the MPC now. I also got a new computer recently so I’ll probably start using some recording software eventually, though in general I’m not really into making music on a computer. I would love to learn the vibraphone, get better on the drums, learn the trombone, and mess with some classical guitar. L: Among other projects, you were also involved with documentary film (24 Hours On Craigslist), Skate Maps, import Car DVD’s and other independent films. Other than the films you were also involved with Hip Hop Slam’s Amoeba Music Vol. 4 and Female Fun Presents... Sssence (Handcuts)… How did these opportunities come about and in what way does working with a variety of projects like this help you in the creative sense of touching different grounds and getting you’re work channeled through different outlets? U: The Craigslist movie came from a craigslist ad that somebody sent me, I gave em some beats, they picked 2 and put them in the movie. I went to a screening here in SF and it was cool to hear my songs coming out of the screen at a sold out theater. I don’t know when it’s gonna get a real release but hopefully sometime soon. The Skate Maps theme song was dope cuz it was on TV but it was some really obscure channel so I only saw it on tape. The Amoeba comp was through this cat Billy Jam who’s pretty much a Bay Area legend, he’s been writing and putting out records and doing radio and working with artists for a long time. I think he’s doing a book project with Q-Bert now. Peter who runs Female Fun and Culturama is the homie and he hooked the Sssence thing up, which is a great record but I think you can only get it in Japan. I like doing as many kinds of things as possible, one just to get Unagi out there to more people but two because I’m a massive movie and TV nerd and have always been into it. L: In terms of putting in work, what other mediums would you like to see your sounds incorporated into? U: I’d like to do more commercial projects but I gotta tweak the style a bit and use less samples to really make that happen. I would also like to do an entire score, where I custom make the music to fit it instead of just having people pick beats. Ideally I’d like to do more live performing, get a few people together and have a real stage show instead of just playing records, although that’s fun too.
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