PHOTO CREDIT: ADRIAN CVITKOVIC
1. Thanks for this interview! Would you please introduce yourself, say where you’re from, and tell the readers a little about your musical background and formative influences?
Hey! My name is Jay Anderson and I am one half of Lammping with Mikhail Galkin. We hail from Toronto. We have been figuring out music together for over 10 years but finally figured it out in 2020 with our first album. I have been around the Toronto music scene trying to fit in since I was 16. Mikhail is a celebrated hip hop producer. Just 2 fellas who love making music.
2. How did this project form and what was the impetus/common vision at the start?
Mikhail saw me play drums randomly at a show. We started talking after and asked if I liked rap music. I said I was a life long fan and said he could tell by my playing. I thought this guy must be really intuitive cause the band I was playing with had no markers of that. I was intrigued to work with him. It did take a bit to see what we were gonna be, but a “produced” sound was always a part of the vision. It’s such a fun project because it is always evolving. Only rule is Mikhail and I have to like it. That’s really it.
3. What was the composition process like for your November 6th LP So What, What? How did it start to come together? Tell us about the influences you’re channeling on this record and the themes and sounds you explore.
I think the process was how do we make the best album representing ourselves to this point in our career? When it’s heavy, it’s heavy. When it’s mellow, it’s mellow. More interludes. More samples. The idea was to make a dense and stacked record. Like bringing back the idea of filling up a 74 minute CD. I don’t think we knew where it would land when we finished but to me it’s sounds like an album I would have read about in Mojo Magazine that I would have to spend $30 on in 1998 at the HMV on Yonge Street in downtown Toronto. That’s a win in my books.
4. Nas declared hip hop dead twenty years ago. Rumors of its demise may have been greatly exaggerated, but today—much as I’ve discussed in a similar vein with metalcore—it does feel like the genre is at a crossroads. What are your high-level thoughts on the state of hip-hop, and does it depend on if we’re talking more mainstream or underground?
Hip hop like any genre needs to keep evolving or it dies, which at this point it never will. Now what someone my age vs someone in their early twenties considers what hip hop is will definitely differ. I grew up on early 90s boom bap and g funk rap music. That’s what I heard. Over time I gained a massive appreciation for southern rap. Old heads don’t understand what kids are doing so they immediately dismiss it. They say “that’s not music, in my day that’s music.” To me that sounds like a parent to their hippie kid “that Hendrix is just noise, now Glen Miller, that’s music.” If you don’t dig it, cool, it’s not for you. It’s like when I heard early rap that sounded like a nursery rhyme vs where it was in 91-92 and I was like “how did anyone think this was hard?”
Most people cement their youth as the only time things were interesting and that’s such a lame way to think. It’s selfish. Kids are supposed to hate what was before them. And then kids get older and think about things a bit differently.
5. Amen! Speaking of hip-hop and metalcore, as a genre-blending/bending/defying(?) act, what are your thoughts on the utility of genre labels?
Labels are just a way to file records. I’m happy we’ve evolved into just being into music regardless of genre. It’s one the few positives from playlist culture. Skate vids, college radio and early FM radio did it as well but not sure they get the credit.
6. How does the composition of Lammping change when you move from the studio to the live setting? Will there be any shows around the release of the record or in support of it?
I think we just make the music for the record. We’ve never worried about if we could translate it live. It makes it more fun and challenging to see if you can.
Yeah, we have an album release at Sonic Boom Records in Toronto on November 5th. It’s at 6PM and all ages.
7. Thanks so much for your time! Any shout-outs or last words for the readers?
Thanks for asking me questions about this project I really care about. Music really is the greatest.