“Be ready for the motherfucking pain.”
That’s theOGM’s message for St. Petersburg as his band — L.A. hip-hop/punk duo Ho99o9 — prepares to return to the Local 662. He and bandmate Eaddy were already buzzing when Ho99o9 (pronounced "horror") played the room last October, but now the boys — who are touring with drummer Brandon Petzborn (Doyle, Black Flag) — have a new album in tow.
Photos: Ho99o9 get creepy at Local 662 in St. Petersburg — 10.12.16
The United States of Ho9909 is full of exactly the kind of high-energy, fuck-anyone-telling-me-what-to-do, material you'd expect the boys to cultivate during their time in the public housing system of Newark, New Jersey where theOGM’s mom probably tried to force her steadfastness about religion onto her son. Mom hasn’t seen the cover of the LP (a photo-shopped Jesus crucified into a dagger) and she would “be really distraught” if she did, according to him.
The boys (mostly theOGM, unless otherwise noted) called in from Brooklyn to talk to CL about how they broke the rules at Afropunk (guerilla set in a vendor tent they rented) and then broke through in a bigger way (thanks in part to manager Mike Feinberg) after moving to Los Angeles.
Read our full Q&A with Ho99o9 below, and get more information on the show via local.cltampa.com.
So you guys are on tour right now. Where are you calling from?
Yes we are. we’re in Brooklyn right now, playing tonight here. Driving to Massachusetts tomorrow.
Are you guys driving yourselves?
Yeah. We got a couple homies on the road with us but yeah, we’re driving. We’re everywhere.
It’s been about a month since the record dropped. Obviously you guys really care about putting on a good show so what’s the reaction been to the live show, and have you noticed more fans than the last tour and what’s the reaction been to the record live?
Eaddy: The live shows have been great. We’re currently on, technically, our first U.S. tour apart from the scattered shows we’ve done across the U.S. in the past year and they have been really good, opposed to the last one. So it’s been going strong and the reaction from the record has been really good. Core fans, people just finding out about it. It’s getting around.
One of your moms is big into church. What was her reaction to the album cover?
My mom is super churchy and religious. I don’t even think she’s seen the album cover yet. If she actually saw the album cover she would probably be really distraught. She wouldn’t like it at all.
So you don’t think that she’s seen it?
Nah, I don’t think she’s seen it. She wouldn’t like it if she saw it. She’s actually one of the reasons the why that cover is that way.
Yo, my kid’s like fucking weird. I don’t know why he’s into the things he’s into. But he’s doing something cool. He’s touring. He’s independent. He’s making some money. He’s not out there selling drugs or gang banging.”
So what does she think about your career then? Is it one of those things where she’s like, “My kid is a little weird, but here he is on a magazine cover.”
She looks at me like, “Yo, my kid’s like fucking weird. I don’t know why he’s into the things he’s into. But he’s doing something cool. He’s touring. He’s independent. He’s making some money. He’s not out there selling drugs or gang banging.” [She’s] cool with that. She’s just cool with the fact that I’m doing something with music and I’m touring and doing cool shit. As far as what it is, the content, she’s definitely not into that.
She doesn’t try to make you not do it right? There are stories of some artists with parents who discourage them or try to put a curse on their efforts to make art.
I think if my mom could she probably would, but that wouldn’t stop me. We’re fucking rebels at heart and that’s why I make the kinda music I make now because I rebelled at one point. My parents were very forceful. Religion is a very forceful thing. It’s like the government. When you’re young they push onto you and you kinda don’t have a choice.
Did your family go out with you to L.A?
Nah, we just moved out. Just me and Eaddy, we just moved out ourselves. As soon as we got the opportunity, I was like, “Fuck that. I’m leaving friends, family behind. Not on some ‘I’m better than y’all now,’” shit but like, “Oh, I want change.” In order for me to affect change in our family and our community, we have to leave and we have to create a platform for everyone. I’m literally the first person in my family to do anything like this. Everybody in my family has a regular 9-to-5, just got family and kids, and just a regular life. Not saying there is anything wrong with that, but like no one is out the box, no one tried anything different — and that’s my goal.
So it’s almost like all the hard work that they did is paying off, because they did want to give you a life where you could have opportunities like that and allow your mind to be a little bit more free and to think you don’t have to get stuck in that 9-to-5. What’s been the biggest difference for you guys since you moved out to L.A. I know it was pretty dangerous back in Newark. What’s the transition been like and how has it affected your life?
Eaddy: I would say for us both living in a metropolitan area, big buildings, lot of people around, inner city, seasons, hot weather in the summer, then cold, brutal winters. Just moving to L.A was a good transition to free our minds and soul and let loose our creative decisions and be more free with moving to Los Angeles. When we were back at home, we were doing a lot and trying to make a lot happen with our hands. So, with that being said, moving to L.A. seemed like the right thing to do. So far it’s been good. The work never stops. We keep on pushing like we still in Jersey, like nobody ever heard of us or seen us play live. That’s always the mentality, whether it’s nice, bright, sunny outside with palm trees or winter and cold as fuck, you always got to have the same mindset.
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Can you talk about how you guys started to break? You guys used to have to book your own venues because the stuff you did was weird and you couldn’t get shows. How were you able to get past all of that and do you remember at what point things started to change for you?
I think just having the right team, the proper team. Once we got a manager, because before it was just us trying to book everything. Literally, we were working our own 9-to-5s, booking shows, playing shows, trying to rehearse and we could only do those on the weekend because we worked during the week. So on the weekend when we actually had time off, it would be Saturday and Sunday trying to fit all that in.
Having a manager literally changed everything. The moment we got someone that believed in us, the brand, the music, the whole thing, it made things a little bit simpler, because he had connections that we didn’t. He could get us in places we couldn’t. That turning point happened simply because we wanted to play wanted to play Afropunk festival in Brooklyn. When we first started we wanted to play that festival so bad because we were nobody. Nobody knew who we were and we didn’t have a way in. So what we did was book a merch tent. We did an unofficial show in the march tent, and we basically brought all of our equipment into the march tent and didn’t tell anybody. We fucking thrashed. We did an unofficial show in the merch tent. A friend of mine from L.A. happened to be in town at the time and he saw that shit and he was like, “Woah, this is the most radical shit I’ve ever seen. He said, “I have a friend in L.A. who might be interested in working with you guys.” That friend became our manager. That turning point happened because we were just rebellious. We just started working, it’s been a year and half. Things started happening, we moved to L.A.
What’s that manager’s name?
Mike Fineberg. That dude is the man. Florida, Orlando OG.
You talk about those 9-to-5 jobs that you did before this. Urban Outfitters, YMCA, security guard, mall employee. Any other weird day jobs that I missed there?
Eaddy: I cleaned pools for a summer at my girlfriend’s house in the Hamptons, and I cleaned the pool of the chick from Sex and City. [Presumably Sarah Jessica Parker]
I want to ask you real quick about Brandon Pertzborn playing drums for you guys. Did you take him from Doyle or did you guys just pick him up on a break?
We found Brandon on craigslist, to be perfectly honest with you. We were touring about a year ago with Ian Longwell. He used to drum for Santigold, and he was playing for us for awhile. He had to go back and tour with her. That left us pretty much fucked and we had a bunch of shit on our schedule. We auditioned a couple drummers, and we were looking around and then my manager put up this ad on Craigslist and we found Brandon. So we found him there and had him come in, audition some songs, play him some songs and we’re like “this kid is tight.” At this point, he’s already played for Black Flag, Doyle and he’s 21-years-old. We played our first couple shows with him and he’s just been amazing since then. We’ve been playing with him for about a year and a half now.
It’s crazy because we had this talk about this tour, because Doyle is on tour right now, it was like a big thing with him playing with us and also playing with Doyle. It was like a tug of war for a second, but we made it work. No love lost with Doyle, I’m just glad that Brandon got to play with us. We’re just very grateful for it.
You’re young guys. Sometimes an older generation can get salty about people our age speaking out against some of the things you guys want to call out. You lived it, being a person of color in the U.S. Obviously you’re not a political band, but have you thought about what you want older critics to understand about you and why you have a particular view?
Eaddy: All the critics need to understand that they were once our age, too. We speak on current events and what’s going on. If they can’t relate to it, what we’re talking about, our music and our lyrics and our message, then they are on another planet. If they are salty about how we do our music, it’s not 1981 anymore. Plus, we are ourselves, we make what we want to make it and we really do not care how somebody that was raving in the 80s feel about us. That’s just the attitude. We aren’t taking pity over that shit — we don’t care.
Our live show, if you come see us it’s a three-man band. There’s a lot of sound coming at you. Sometimes, there are some critics that are so old school about how bands should be perceived. They should have a guitarist, they should have a bassist, they should have somebody on the keys. My whole thing about it — it’s music. No one makes rules on how you make music, or how you play it, how you present it. If it’s good, it’s good. Some people get caught up in that old school style of rock and roll. I just want people to understand that music, it’s music.
TheOGM mentioned the energy of that stage show. There’s a lot of crudeness, abrasiveness and i feel like it all comes from within you guys wanting to put on a good show for one, but also because you watched a lot of Kill Bill and The Purge. How much of that energy is some of the fucked up stuff you saw in New Jersey? You grew up in a rough part of New Jersey. Did you guys ever get picked up by police, have to spend time in prison? You guys sound super positive and that’s despite the neighborhood you guys grew up in.
Just getting over the border (from Canada), we got pulled over and it took like an hour. It’s like, it’s a bunch of black dudes in this van, lets pull them over. That shit happens on the regular. Literally yesterday, we got pulled over. They didn’t find anything on us. It’s the life, you just gotta roll. We could be angry in our music. We express that through lyrics, through the sound. But on a regular daily basis, I could walk around angry but that wouldn’t really do nothing. It wouldn’t make the world a better place. I like to be happy, like to smoke weed, I’m chill. When I get on stage, I want to be able to express that.
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Musically, I’m thinking about “City Rejects,” “Face Tatt.” I want to ask you about Dave from TV on the Radio, who’s a big fan of you guys. What do you think that Ho99o9 could not do without Dave? How did he affect those songs? What did he do for those songs that there is no way you guys could have done on your own?
theOGM: Dave’s a fucking OG. He’s so smart with sound. Obviously people know him from TV On The Radio, and then when you hear the records he made with us, it’ll fuck you up. Woah, how this dude from TV On The Radio making these abrasive records. That’s because he was from that, he comes from punk rock, when shit was harder. He just wants evolution, he wants progression. Those records we made with him were genuine moments where we just went to his house, kicking it, telling stories and working on tunes. To be honest, everyone we work with as far as producers, you wouldn’t be able to get that vibe from anyone else. Every vibe is personal, every vibe is magical. So like, not just the music he’s made with us, but just him telling us stories about his past or telling us stories about artists like Fishbone. Just moments of hanging out with him make it special.
Are you guys sitting on unreleased music? I get the feeling that there is a lot of music being made. How much unreleased music are you still sitting on?
Both: A lot.
theOGM: We got old shit, new shit. We are constantly working on music, just figuring things out. Just experimenting. So yeah, there’s a lot of content.
So you don’t have to go back to a day job in between tours, you can work on music now?
For sure, we’re full time art.
TheOGM has mentioned wanting people to watch their diets. Im guessing it doesn’t come from a religious thing. Is that just you trying to be conscious about people being controlled by the state and being fed sub-human things?
If you think about it all rappers talk about is getting fucked up. Mopped up, xan-ed up, getting high, drinking. They basically always need to get fucked up and TV promotes it, radio promotes it, government promotes it. Who promotes being healthy? Who promotes drinking water, staying healthy, eating healthy. We don’t even get fucked up like that on tour. We getting a little bit older and starting to see things. When you drink every fucking night, and your body exerts that much energy, if we were drinking that much every night we’d be fucked. I wouldn’t even be able to perform at my best. For me to perform at my best, for me to be the best me [I can’t do that.] I want to live to be like 70-years-old. Grace Jones is like 69-years-old and she’s still doing shows. I wanna be like 75-years-old and still turning up on motherfuckers.
All rappers talk about is getting fucked up. Mopped up, xan-ed up, getting high, drinking. They basically always need to get fucked up and TV promotes it, radio promotes it, government promotes it. Who promotes being healthy? Who promotes drinking water, staying healthy, eating healthy. We don’t even get fucked up like that on tour.
You guys played here in 2016 (at the Local 662.) You had to borrow an amp from one of our local bands and the amp got busted. The band that opened for you was Samurai Shotgun. I wasn’t at the show, but they were like, “Hey man, ask them about my amp?” Are you guys touring with an amp or is that stuff you have to borrow when you get to the place?
(Laughs) Yo, I didn’t even know we blew that dude’s amp. Tell him we are sincerely sorry.
Does theOGM still puke before shows?
Yes. Every single show. To this day. Before i go onstage, it’s mandatory. If I don’t puke before the show, sometimes acting wild on stage I can’t escape that feeling, I just have to do it. It’s like this really weird, nervous, exciting. I can’t really explain but it happens every single show. I’ve probably played over 200-300 shows and it has literally happened before every single one.
Is there anything you’d like to let the Tampa Bay area know before you get here?
Be ready for the motherfucking pain.
Stream The United States of Ho99o9 below, and get more information on the show via local.cltampa.com.
This article appears in Jun 8-15, 2017.