Finals week may be upon us, but that didn’t stop the kids from dancing last Monday. Gramatik, Michal Menert and SuperVision put the Velvet Jones’ sound system to the test as they laid down a bombardment of glitch hop, funk and dubstep. Good vibes and good beats in the perfectly intimate venue, it was one of the best shows I’ve been to in a while. To top it all off, I had the pleasure to share a few words with some of the boys backstage. Check it out after the jump

Listen while you read!
Gramatik & Break Science – Boogie Down

Chronic Mncher: Gramatik, whats your real name?

Gramatik: Denis Jasarevic

CM: That’s like European?

Gramatik: Yea it’s Slavic

CM: Is this your first time in Santa Barbara?

Gramatik: Yes

CM: How long are you here for?

Gramatik: Just till tomorrow morning

CM: Oh ok, the ol’ in n out.

Gramatik: Yea, we’re going to san Francisco tomorrow morning

CM: San Francisco’s pretty fun, the people get down out there. Is at the mezzanine?

Gramatik: The independent

CM: Oh very nice, it’s bigger.

Gramatik: yea

CM: Speaking of big, what’s the largest venue you’ve played?

Gramatik: Red Rock

CM: Red rock in Colorado?

Gramatik: Yea, it was sold out. There was bout 10,000 people

CM: Wow, was that your favorite show?

Gramatik: Yea definitely. The magic of that venue is fucking awesome.

CM: I heard Deadmau5 played a pretty epic set there once… what do you think of Joel?

Gramatik: He’s a phenomenal producer, I enjoy his style very much. he knows exactly what he’s doing. The music’s on point creatively and technically. His sound is impeccable and its just awesome music.

CM: everything on mau5trap is pretty solid, what do you think of skrillex?

Gramatik: I think of skrillex as much as I do of deadmau5, maybe more. He’s a phenomenon. I’m friends with his agent, we’ve been talking about maybe doing a show together next year. I’m waiting for the chance to meet him, but we haven’t been able to cross paths yet. What happened to him happens once in a generation. You know, he blew up over night.

CM: Literally

Gramatik: Deservingly. He blew up over night and people starting hating him because of that

Random Slut: cuz his hair is shaved

Gramatik: I’m not even going to address that; it’s beneath my intelligence level. I will say skrillex realizes he’s doing something right. Nobody hates a nobody, everybody hates a somebody.

CM: I’m going to ask both you guys, Whose your favorite artist ?

Michal Menert: That’s so hard

CM: Let me rephrase, what artist influences you the most?

Michal Menert: At what point? Because It shifts.

Gramatik: In terms of hip hop I was the most influenced by DJ Premier, Pete Rock and Dr. Dre. Electronic music was Prodigy, Propeller Head, Daft Punk, Portis Head and Massive Attack

Michal Menert: Chemical Brothers!

CM: Ooooo

Michal Menert: I was hesitant to get into the techno stuff in the 90s, but chemical brothers is the kind of music I could put on at any time, especially when I was driving.

Gramatik: Chicago tech house is my shit

CM: Are there any prominent artists in the tech house scene these days?

Gramatik: Richie Hawtin has always been one of my favorites, his live acts are so fucking amazing.

Michal Menert: One influence for me that is in a different realm for production quality is Beck.

CM: Have you guys heard the new Radiohead album

Michal Menert: It’s so gloomy to me. Radiohead is one of the bands that can do anything and Ill still like them. It one of those bands you can trust.

CM: That’s what I thought about Justice, have you guys heard the new album?

Gramatik: Oh my god. I cant even begin to explain how in love I am with new album. Its awesome how they managed to fuse the psycahdelic rock sound from the 70s with their Frenchness. It sounds fucking awesome.

CM: It’s not what I expected

Gramatik: That’s exactly right. Everyone starting jacking their style after cross. Then they changed there whole style because they have that fucking attitude. They don’t give a fuck if the people like it or not.

Michal Menert: Its crazy because M83s album came out at the same. They were both kind of French production.. they went different ways though. M83 went for more of a polished sound. Justice went more for that raw different sound.

CM: So what are you guys into right now?

Gramatik: Right now I’m really into funk and soul with electro step and glitch.

CM: I noticed you have that funky jazz and soul feel in your tracks.

Gramatik: That brings up another influence, James Brown. There’s not a single track form that dude that doesn’t make me want to jump around. *sparks a spliff

CM: Do you usually smoke before sets?

Gramatik: We smoke all the time.

CM: Whats your drink of choice?

Gramatik: Rum and Coke.

Michal Menert: Vodka Redbull gives me some pep in my step, but my drink of choice is vodka soda with a spike of cranberry.

CM: No egos and no tomatoes, what does that mean?

Gramatik: Mike and I decided to name the tour that because we both hate egos and tomatoes. We both have that idiosyncrasy. We can eat every derivative of tomato except tomato itself.

CM: Ketchup’s bomb.

Gramatik: Ketchup, salsa, marinara, pizza.. everything is good except the raw tomato itself. So we said fuck it and we named our tour no egos no tomatoes.

CM: I hear you like comedy central

Gramatik: John Stewart is one of my favorite human beings, ever. I’m serious. Hes one of the last free voices of the world. Colberts right there with him, I consider those two guys to be the frontier of the free generation. If we didn’t have them what would we have? All of us understand what kind of bullshit the mainstream media tries to do everyday, for example Fox News.

CM: You think Fox News brainwashes people?

Gramatik: Isn’t it obvious? Have you ever watched the show before? Anybody that has seen Fox News for a day knows exactly what I’m talking about. It’s a perpetual machine of misinformation.

CM: Mike what do you think of Fox News

Michal Menert: Its kind of funny and kind of sad.

Gramatik: I figured it out. I watch Fox News for comedy and Comedy Central for news.

Well there it is. Gramatik just dropped a new track last week with Break Science called ‘Boogie Down’. They took the classic Earth Wind and Fire track and glitched it up to a danceable feel. Keep your eyes peeled for Gramatik’s new album, he gave me a hint it’s gonna drop around April on Pretty Lights Music. In the mean time, I recommend picking up some good stuff from the PLM crew here for FREE.