EastScene

It was bright and early (well 11 am but in the touring world it’s like 6 am) on an overcast day in Montreal when the 2009 edition and 15 anniversary of the Vans Warped Tour rolled into town. EastScene had the chance to catch up with some of your favourite artists. First up on the docket is a brief one-on-one with Mikl from Albuquerque, New Mexico’s brokeNCYDE, where topics range from their single “Booty Call” hitting 1 million plays on MySpace to the feeling he gets when listening to ‘Lil Jon.

EastScene: I’m not a fan.. but the kids like it is your new album and it enjoyed a successful debut at number 87 on Billboard’s Top 200. A lot of your success can be attributed to the digital age. With this, do you think physically pressed albums are still necessary?

Mikl: I think so! For people who aren’t really into the internet world, and there are a lot of them, they’ve always known about hard copies. I still buy CDs just to see the artwork and all the cool stuff that comes along with it. I think they’re definitely still relevant.

EastScene: “Booty Call” was streamed over a million times on MySpace. Can you tell me about that million mark, and what that’s like for you?

Mikl: A million hits is a dream! I think we do what we do for our fans. We love them and its all because of them.

EastScene: Do you think that MySpace has made it easier or harder to get your name out there?  In your opinion, does it create competition between bands trying to catch people’s attention and draw them in?

Mikl: It’s all up to the band. We started off hustling and working hard. You’ve got to promote yourself and put yourself out there, but the hard work does pay off.

EastScene: Can you tell me a bit about Crunk Kids Clothing?

Mikl: It was just kinda a side project that took off. We started it for all the kids who come out to our shows and love our music and it took off from there.

EastScene: You also sponsor bands through it. What exactly do you look for when sponsoring a band?

Mikl: I think just cool bands in general, people that love their fans. It’s the most important thing for us as far as what we look for.

EastScene: Your music is pretty varied as far as style goes. You switch from rap to pop to screamo and electro. I was wondering where your influences came from when you guys created the brokeNCYDE sound. Was it a conscious step?

Mikl: We just wanted to be different. We hadn’t heard anything like what we’d done. A lot of the guys are really party-oriented, but they’re really into hardcore music. So we just kind of incorporated what we listened to and what we were like and it’s what came out.

EastScene: Warped Tour has been around for 15 years now. As this is your first experience on the tour or even attending it, what are your first impressions?

Mikl: I think it’s like anything else really. It’s what you want to put into it. We put everything into it everyday. It’s a blessing just to be here because there are so many bands out there who work hard and are just trying to get here, you know? That we have the opportunity to be here we just want to give back to our fans. They come out to see us and that’s pretty much all we care about.

EastScene: What do you want people to walk away with from your set? People who maybe have never heard of you and are checking you out on the tour for the first time?

Mikl: Life sucks some times but when you hear fun party music, you just get a smile on your face you cant help it and you’re able to forget about that all and have fun.

EastScene: So what’s that band or artist for you?

Mikl: ‘Lil Jon. When you hear that you can’t help it. You just get into it right away and are like “yeeeeah”.