We recently caught up with DJ Kid Kameleon, who’ll be spinning an eclectic mix for us at the SVR after-party—from breakcore to b-more, dubstep to dancehall, club, pop, and maybe even a little rock.
SVR: What’s your history? How long have you been DJing?
Kid Kameleon: I’ve been into electronic music ever since I heard Axel F in the mid-80s. I picked up DJing in the late 90s. I was involved with the Soundlab collective in New York in the early ’00s, a group that was interested in boundary-pushing music and art in alternative spaces throughout New York City. For the last 2 years I’ve been involved with a crew in San Francisco called Surya Dub that does a monthly party at Club 6 focused on the wide variety of bass music.
SVR: What’s your day job?
Kid Kameleon: Representing a currently important Silicon Valley constituency: the unemployed!
SVR: Why is music education for kids important to you?
Kid Kameleon: Exploring music as a kid, either solo or in groups, is the vital spark of curiosity on which much future learning is based.
Kid Kameleon has been mixing, mashing, and maximizing bass genres for over 10 years. As a staff writer for XLR8R magazine, both his interviews and monthly column “Basic Needs” take readers to the furthest extremes electronic dance music, as do the numerous mixes he’s made for Shockout, Mashit, and dozens of other sites. As a blogger and scholar, his work ranges from measuring the social interactions of online networks to the implications of file-sharing on music business models.
SVR: Tell us about your band. How did you get started? How long have you been playing?
The Open Source Band: Most are in other bands or have played in bands over the years. Jonah Matranga is a singer, songwriter, and producer and has been on tour with his prior band, Far - now called Hot Little Pony. Larry is playing in the Corinne Marcus band, progressive rock band Wayward Monks and alongside jazz singer Megan Keely and honky-tonk singer Tom Brigham. He also used to play with the Flying Other Brothers.Tim was with a band called Blackporch, and also played with the Chris Marsol Band. Andrew plays with Ian Hopkinson in Los Angeles and used to play with the former SF band Buddhakowski. Terence was music director for a band when he was a student and won a band jam competition. He now guests with jazz bands in Singapore, where he recently moved from. Alison just messes with vocals, bass guitar, and keyboard at Ladies Rock Camp and sometimes Blue Bear.
We formed this band just for Silicon Valley Rocks! and will have played together for a couple of sessions before the show.
SVR: Who are your major influences?
The Open Source Band: Among all of us, there are likely many. But for Silicon Valley Rocks!, we were inspired by some of the great bands that rose to fame in the 80s such as The Police, REM, U2, and The Pretenders.
SVR: What’s your ultimate direction for your band? Are you seeking fame and fortune—at least in the music business?
The Open Source Band: In the immediate future, play a great show at Silicon Valley Rocks! After that, who knows?
SVR: What’s your day job?
The Open Source Band: In our band, we have a mix—two VCs (Larry and Tim), two CEOs (Andrew and Terence) of tech companies, and singer/songwriter (Jonah) who embraces using technology to sell his music directly to his fans. And the SVR event producer, Alison.
SVR: How does your music influence your work or vice versa?
The Open Source Band: For most of us, music is an outlet and escape from the daily concerns of our day jobs. Also, music has the ability to bring people together, those who might only collaborate professionally. The VCs in our group focus on digital media and are lucky enough to be able to tie their personal passions into their day jobs!
Terence particularly uses his music knowledge and engineering background in the company he co-founded. muvee’s software automatically cuts video to the beat of the music, and Terence wrote the code that analyzes the music track chosen, determining its beat location, feel, and emotional index of that music.
SVR: Why is music education important?
The Open Source Band: There are so many ways music can enhance a child’s education. It can actually boost test scores, improve reading and listening ability, and improve fine motor skills. Learning music requires discipline (practicing!). And many kids become more self-confident through playing or singing in groups.
SVR: What was your own experience learning music as a kid? Who flipped that switch in your brain?
The Open Source Band: Alison’s grandmother said she started singing at 6 weeks old. As a 3-year-old she could sing no less than 20 songs by heart—which her mother insisted she do to impress the neighbors. She went to a grade school in Dallas, TX that had a strong emphasis on performing arts—in fact two of the Dixie Chicks were among her contemporaries.
Andrew got Abbey Road as his first album and from then on wanted to play music. He has composed music for radio, film, and television and played bass for 30 years. Andrew holds a bachelor of music in film composing from Berklee College of Music.
Tim, like the offspring of many Asian immigrants, dutifully grew up on classical piano and violin before rebelling in favor of rock guitar in high school (inspired by Marty McFly’s antics in Back to the Future). All the classical training made it much easier to do the self-taught guitar thing.
Band Members: Lal Singh Bhatti, Jon Cook, Satish Pillai, Mandeep Sethi, Vijay Chattha
Special Guest: Tim Chang
Tech Industry Affiliations: Vijay Chattha is Chief Talker of VSC Consulting, a PR boutique focused on mobile and Web 2.0 clients ranging from start-ups to blue-chip players. Tim Chang is a partner at Norwest Venture Partners, where he concentrates on digital media and mobile investments.
SVR: Tell us about your band. How did you get started? How long have you been playing?
blacKMahal: Actually blacKMahal had two manifestations. Vijay met Lal Singh at an Indian wedding and was blown away by Lal’s amazing dhol drumming and Punjabi vocals. Vijay, at that time a DJ, decided to join forces with Lal Singh and create a new modern take on traditional Punjabi folklore.
That’s when blacKMahal was born. Over the years the band has continued to acquire members met during jam sessions, freestyles, and events hosted at Craigslist Foundation’s Darian Heyman’s house. blacKMahal has now been playing together for five years and has performed all around the Bay Area and Toronto. The band is finishing their debut album.
SVR: What’s the ultimate direction for your band? Are you seeking fame and fortune—at least in the music business?
blacKMahal: Our ultimate direction is to bring people together through music, find universal truths that unite us all, and bring happiness to people through music. Our spiritual leader and lead singer Lal Singh Bhatti has built his storied music career around these tenets, which has earned him the distinction of playing for every U.S. president since Jimmy Carter and touring around the world.
SVR: What’s your day job?
blacKMahal: Lots of day jobs, from PR to music teacher to HIV research to venture capital.
SVR: How does your music influence your work or vice versa?
blacKMahal: Vijay: For me at least, music is an extension of the creativity we exhibit every day in helping our clients “out-innovate” their competitors. Marketing and music both take a seventh sense of dynamic thinking and creativity, so the music makes me more effective in my day job.
Tim Chang is a VC and digital media connector by day whose job often deals with working with artists such as Will.i.am. It should be noted that Tim has been a musician for three times longer than he’s been in the VC game. Tim and Vijay not only jam together but also work together in their day jobs, as VSC PR handles PR and strategy for some of Tim’s investments. They’ve also both invested in start-ups and connected each other with business contacts over the years. Music was a common thread and thus it all comes together for the Great American Music Hall show.
SVR: Why is music education important?
blacKMahal: First of all, it brings people together from every background, age, and race. Secondly, it’s a creative outlet that exercises a different part of the brain than what most of us use in our day jobs. Lastly, it’s fun to engage with an audience and other band members to create something on the fly.
SVR: What was your own experience learning music as a kid? Who flipped that switch in your brain?
blacKMahal: Vijay: My parents loved Indian Bollywood music, but I never could sit down and learn the piano or violin. When I hit adolescence, I started listening to the Oldies Channel and then hip-hop. I knew every lyric to every song in those days. Then I decided to take my first entrepreneurial leap and become a DJ. I funded my music tastes by DJing at weddings, bar/bat mitzvahs and graduation parties. We had an old brown van that stored our equipment and over time we started to record our own stuff. And those were our humble beginnings.
SVR: Tell us about your band. How did you get started? How long have you been playing?
The Minks: Marie started the band after taking up drums and getting hooked. She recruited Jen from a Blue Bear School of Music band workshop they were in together; Jen kidnapped Linda away from her peaceful band-less life; and Cherie and Kristina had no idea what they were in for when they answered our ad for fresh Minks.
SVR: When did you form your band? What inspired you to make music together?
The Minks: The band started in Marie’s basement and might have been a Who cover band, except that Keith Moon was a bit out of her range.
SVR: What’s your ultimate direction for your band? Are you seeking fame and fortune—at least in the music business?
The Minks: We are seeking a cruise-ship gig, a prom gig, a Google holiday party gig, and a national Ikea tour (we’ve heard they do barbecues in the summer). And we want to open for Ray Davies next time he comes here. We love you, Ray!
SVR: What’s your day job?
The Minks: The Minks include a PR maven, a web wizard(ess), a writing professor, a biologist (and possible evil genius, we’re not sure but we have our suspicions), and a hotel biz executive.
SVR: How does your music influence your work or vice versa?
The Minks: Cherie: Musicians, like other artists, can contribute to teams in the workplace by keeping a keen eye on innovation and creativity and we can knock out a little Hotel California at office parties.
SVR: Why is music education important?
The Minks: So children today can rock the world tomorrow. Kids participating in music benefit from better self-discipline and higher learning. Music can help with language, math skills, creativity, problem solving, and general intellectual development.
SVR: What was your own experience learning music as a kid? Who flipped that switch your brain?
The Minks: Linda: Piano lessons were a required part of my upbringing, and I always loved everything about music.
Band Members: Matthew “Ted” Edwards, Ping Chu, Kate Weeks, Jon Brooder, Bryan Cain
Tech Industry Affiliation: Drummer Ping Chu is the Software Developer for Flixster.com.
Bobbie Gentry
Saturday
SVR: Tell us about your band. How did you get started? How long have you been playing?
The Music Lovers: Ted started the group in 2003 and we signed with Detroit indie label Le Grand Magistery in 2004. We’ve released 2 albums and an EP on LGM, and our third record “Masculine Feminine” is out in January in the U.S. (though already released in Italy and Japan). We’ve played extensively here and on the east coast (and Italy and the U.K.) and our records have garnered great praise in magazines such as The Word, Mojo, Rolling Stone.com, Exclaim, All Music Guide, etc.
SVR: Who are your major influences?
The Music Lovers: Jacques Brel, The Go-Betweens, Dusty Springfield, John Cassavetes, Memphis soul, Smiths B-sides.
SVR: What inspired you to make music together?
The Music Lovers: Ted: I can do nothing but make music. I have been singing since I was a child and writing songs almost as long. “Together”? A strange magnetic pull.
SVR: What’s your ultimate direction for your band? Are you seeking fame and fortune—at least in the music business?
The Music Lovers: Ted: I want to make the most beautiful and romantic music that we are capable of, and in doing so, I want to continue to move people, more people all the time. Being in The Music Lovers is a volition, a calling. I just want people to “get it,” and many do. I’m unsure that there is a “music industry” anymore, and frankly I don’t particularly care.
SVR: What’s your day job?
The Music Lovers: Ted: I am an occupational therapist who works with people with autism. Ping is the tech chap.
SVR: How does your music influence your work or vice versa?
The Music Lovers: Ted: Ping is very rational… I think this comes from his tech work. I, on the other hand, am not particularly rational, though I am patient—ha!
SVR: Why is music education important?
The Music Lovers: It opens portals that nothing else can… it is the “great release.” All children should have the opportunity to live in this world.
SVR: What was your own experience learning music as a kid? Who flipped that switch your brain?
The Music Lovers: Ted: My parents—a house full of show-tunes, Glen Campbell, hymns, Sinatra, big bands, country, Irish songs, etc. I bought a 2-pound guitar from a boot-repair shop and taught myself to play. Having parents who were both fine singers helped. No formal education whatsoever, just a will…
Band Members: Kevin Maney, John Given, Bill Coats, Andy Stack
Tech Industry Affiliations: Kevin writes about tech for Conde Nast Portfolio magazine; John is legal counsel for Digidesign; Bill is managing partner at White & Case in Palo Alto; Andy co-founded Oortle and other tech start-ups.
Privacy
Found It On Google
Wouldn’t Want to Be (Bill Gates)
SVR: Tell us about your band. How did you get started? How long have you been playing?
Kevin Maney & His Briefs: We first met through email introductions in the fall of 2007, and formed the house band for a jam party Kevin hosted in October 2007. After playing together for the night, we all liked each other enough to want to do it again. We next met up in April 2008 to record our first EP, titled “Privacy.”
SVR: Who are your major influences?
Kevin Maney & His Briefs: Everybody’s interests seem to run the spectrum of rock music. Kevin’s songwriting is heavily influenced by The Clash, The Beatles, Warren Zevon, and creative roots-rock bands like The Blasters.
SVR: What’s your ultimate direction for your band? Are you seeking fame and fortune—at least in the music business?
Kevin Maney & His Briefs: We want a top 10 hit, an appearance on Letterman, and license to quit our day jobs and strike it rich playing music. Short of that, we’d like to play a gig at Google and get the free gourmet lunch.
SVR: Why is music education important?
Kevin Maney & His Briefs: Getting music skills into kids’ brains early makes all the difference later on. Back in grade school, I learned the trumpet and got pretty good at it. By my teens, I gave up the trumpet, but just knowing the basics of how music works helped me pick up guitar and songwriting later on.
SVR: What was your own experience learning music as a kid? Who flipped that switch in your brain?
Kevin Maney & His Briefs: I actually have a weird story. After the trumpet, I did learn guitar, but thought I was terrible at it and mostly only played for myself through all of my adult years. Didn’t think I could sing or write songs. And then a couple decades later, my friend Mark Holmes, a singer-songwriter, started getting me to play with him—just the two of us in a basement or on a back porch. He showed me that I did have something to offer, and once I felt like it was OK to let music come out of me, the fire got lit.
Band Members: Don Clark, Paul Bergevin, Tom Waldrop, George Alfs
Tech Industry Affiliations: Don works for the Wall Street Journal. Paul, George, and Tom work for Intel.
Friend of the Devil
SVR: Tell us about your band. How did you get started? How long have you been playing?
Spin Control: All of us have been in various bands since the last century. We’ve played together at various events, but this benefit, and the cause that it supports, is of interest to all of us, so we decided to join forces formally for this.
SVR: Who are your major influences?
Spin Control: We are all over 29+, so we tend to like a range of groups that have been around for a while, anything from John Coltrane to Grateful Dead to Beatles.
SVR: When did you form your band? What inspired you to make music together?
Spin Control: A few of us have played together off and on, casually, for some years, and played similar benefit gigs in the past involving journalists and PR types—such as Kevin Maney’s yearly benefit. In the current form, we played together this summer for the first time, and when this benefit came up we jumped at it.
SVR: What’s your ultimate direction for your band? Are you seeking fame and fortune—at least in the music business?
Spin Control: To successfully get enough songs together to do this gig
SVR: What’s your day job?
Spin Control: Don is a tech reporter for the Wall Street Journal. The rest of us work for Intel PR. Paul runs the PR group.
SVR: How does your music influence your work or vice versa?
Spin Control: For the Intel PR guys, having music in common is wonderful; it gives us a chance to talk about something beyond microprocessors. For Don, it gives him something to think about besides what these guys tell him.
SVR: Why is music education important?
Spin Control: George: I have a son and daughter who attended public school. The music programs have been wonderful; we contribute extra on our property taxes to ensure a continued arts program. We think anyone interested should have access to a great music program. Don: The PTA at my kids’ public school helped add music programs that otherwise would not have been available; not all kids are so lucky. Paul: My middle son Charlie is a tenor in the classical choir in his high school, an internationally recognized choral group. This program in his public high school aims for genuine excellence, and is supported by the community. Tom: I’ve been around long enough to remember when Prop. 13 gutted the music programs in public schools, lots of friends lost their jobs as school music teachers, and kids often had to go 100% private instruction for music—which many couldn’t afford. I believe music should be a critical part of education.
SVR: What was your own experience learning music as a kid? Who flipped that switch your brain?
Spin Control: Rock and Roll! George: I didn’t have access to a great music program as a kid, but my parents bought me guitar lessons and I loved it. Don: I had a pretty inspirational choral teacher in junior high school, and loved hearing the high school band play. But great 60s rock, aided by private guitar teachers, was my biggest spark. Tom: My mother took me to the symphony when I was in grade school, and we had a piano and good recordings at home. It was 60s rock that set the course, though.
Band Members: Chuck Fishman, Neal Landauer, Jason Fifield—and too many others to mention. fONKSQUISh features members of P-Funk, and jazz legends like Byard Lancaster, Prince Lasha, as well as new school producers like G Koop and DJ Zeph.
Tech Industry Affiliation: Chuck is Manager of Media and Entertainment at Cisco.
Calling Me Back (with DJ Zeph and Michael Hampton [P-Funk])
Dippin’ Chicken (Team Facelift cover)
It’s Okay to Love (Germantown Dub, featuring Byard Lancaster)
SVR: Tell us about your band. How did you get started? How long have you been playing?
Chuck: I toured with George Clinton & Parliament / Funkadelic (P-Funk All Stars) for a few years in the late nineties. During this period, I teamed up with P-Funk’s Billy Bass and a motley cast of musicians to create the first solo album for “Chuck Da Fonk Fishman.” I realized that my musical vision revolved around a larger cast of musicians than just my own songs and material. I moved to Denver in 1997 and founded fONKSQUISh. So the unit has been around for more than 10 years now, and has been based out of Denver, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. Really the key members of the band are spread about the country. When we play live we typically feature 6-8 members, and our recorded sound is lush with a diversity of instruments.
SVR: Who are your major influences?
Chuck: I would say anything with a dance component to it. I was raised on new wave, which eventually led me to listening to funk music full time. For example, I was listening to Thomas Dolby in 1986, who was collaborating with George Clinton at the time. That was my first exposure to George Clinton and P-Funk, via new wave. And I am a huge Duran Duran fan. What does this all mean for the music we make? I am not sure—I look at my Last.fm top plays and it’s all jumbled with indie hip-hop artists, jazz legends, new wave, IDM, chillout, electro, R&B funk—I listen to all kinds of music and I hope it’s reflecting in the music of fONKSQUISh. A lot of the members of fONKSQUISh bring their own perspective as well—I mean we were just working with Prince Lasha, a member of the legendary John Coltrane Quartet; he is of course going to bring a different jazz sound to fONKSQUISh.
SVR: When did you form your band? What inspired you to make music together?
Chuck: 1997. I just wanted to have a funk band and somehow I’ve kept it going all these years.
SVR: What’s your ultimate direction for your band? Are you seeking fame and fortune—at least in the music business?
Chuck: We want to keep making music, especially with the funk and jazz legends who keep contributing to the collective that is fONKSQUISh. We also want to find the freshest producers and remixers / DJs to work with, and the most current talents out there to join the effort. All of that vision takes money&mcash;cash to pay out talented musicians, and funds for studio time and completion of the tracks. At the end of the day, we want to keep making records way into the future. We are already now three years into our next collection of songs titled “Useless Education”—recording began in 2005. Really it all comes down to having the funds to match the production schedule we have mapped out for the record. That’s why our work dribbles out via EPs, digital singles, and through social networks just bit by bit in the meantime before we can assemble the full collection. All I want for fONKSQUISh is to have a small boutique label with a roster of similar artists to help our marketing efforts and to feel like we have a home.
Live fONKSQUISh shows happen all over the place—Denver, Philadelphia, San Francisco, London and Paris. We want to also have the ability to continue to expose our music to live audiences around the world.
SVR: What’s your day job?
Chuck: I currently examine the digital media industry for Cisco and manage company relationships with media and entertainment partners. For the past 12 years, I’ve been creating and producing new radio ventures for Clear Channel, Bloomberg, CNET Networks, and Dow Jones. At CNET, with Brian Cooley, I helped build CNET Radio, the first all technology news radio network. From 2002 to 2006, I headed up the Wall Street Journal’s long form radio programming ventures. I created two shows, The Wall Street Journal This Morning and The Wall Street Journal This Weekend, and in four years time I grew distribution of the programs from only two terrestrial radio stations to 220 plus stations, airtimes on XM and Sirius Satellite Radio, and 100,000 monthly podcast downloads without marketing support. As a radio producer, my love of the intersection of entertainment, technology, and business was reflected in my programs.
I’ve been a member of the digital music networking group Pho since 1999, and I continue to remain engaged and excited by everything that is going on with digital music and media. I participate as a member of the IAB Digital Video Committee, the IAB UGC and Social Networking Committee, and at the Entertainment Technology Center at USC.
SVR: How does your music influence your work or vice versa?
Chuck: Since day one with fONKSQUISh, I’ve utilized online platforms to promote our music and connect with fans. Over the years, the time I’ve spent on mp3.com, MySpace, Facebook, and a myriad of other online communities and forums promoting the music—well, it has informed and expanded my knowledge of the digital media marketplace—the industry I work directly in. I can relate my knowledge of digital media and music business models, social media marketing tools, and the user experience on such platforms directly to the online creative efforts I’ve put toward fONKSQUISh.
SVR: Why is music education important?
Chuck: Learning how to play an instrument well offers a student the ability to practice discipline. That’s what I think of first off. But there is the enjoyment of playing—and I want every child to have the ability to enjoy that. I hope that music education also includes exposure to the business elements of the music industry as well. I’m still learning myself—I spend many hours with these older talented musicians. I call it “people digging.” We are currently losing our greatest generation of R&B and jazz musicians—just this year: Levi Stubbs, Isaac Hayes, Buddy Miles, Pervis Jackson, Jerry Wexler, Norman Whitfield—just to name a few. It’s time for the younger generation of musicians to go out and “people dig” the great musicians in their neighborhoods and get the knowledge before these musicians pass on.
SVR: What was your own experience learning music as a kid? Who flipped that switch your brain?
Chuck: I’m not sure. I certainly could say that it was a healthy dose of MTV, and UK music magazines like NME and The Face, that got me engaged. I also lived in downtown Philadelphia, so there were plenty of record stores to stop by on the way home from school. So I would say I spent almost a half-hour in a record store every day after school.
If you are in San Francisco this Thursday, November 6, check out Project Ahimsa’s West Coast Sessions. The event is a benefit for global music education. Vijay Chatta - of Silicon Valley Rocks! band blacK Mahal - is the co-founder and board chairman.
Project Ahimsa is a global effort to empower youth through music, with offices in San Francisco, California and Tampa, Florida. Since its inception in 2001, the organization has reached nearly 10,000 children around the globe through music education grants and musical instrument donations. Inspired by the teachings of non-violence and cross-cultural understanding of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., Project Ahimsa creates and supports music education programs for children around the world.
Event details:
Tickets are $30 - and the first 200 get a the “Global Lingo” CD
Thursday, November 6
10:00pm-2:00am
@ SupperClub 657 Harrison St.
(between 3rd & Hawthorne St.)
San Francisco, CA 94107
Girls in boots. Playing songs by The Kinks. Everbody’s gonna be happy! Catch one of Silicon Valley Rocks!’ own—The Minks at El Rio in San Francisco. The ladies go on around 10 p.m. We’ll be there passing out postcards and channeling Ray Davies.
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Polls (sponsored by Strands)
What's your favorite "pickup" band name (a band of individual contributors... or is it)?
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