THE BREDRIN DADDYS INTERVIEW
There is just no containing MC Tom "Cracka T" Gramms's excitement. Why? The Bredrin Daddys are about to drop its first album (Bag O Tricks) in years and have started gearing up for a summer of high energy shows. It certainly is refreshing to talk with someone who has been in the music industry for so long and yet still has a fiery passion for their craft. Let’s hear what the Daddy’s are willing to let out of the bag...
The Pier: You have been in this band with some of your friends for over 10 years now. Did you think you would still be here so many years later rocking the mic?
Cracka T: There are three of us that have been friends for close to 20 years now: 1DaBred, Geno and me. We have also had a lot of drama, but we still love it and we are still doing it. It is the music that comes out that makes it all worth it. It is a lot of stress on friendships and we have lost a few friends over the years I will give you that. We started out with an original seven and a couple of those guys we don’t even talk to anymore. It weighs heavily on your emotions, but you find out who your real friends really are.
Not many bands can for over 12 years and for us to do that you really know who your friends are and in the long run you end up closer. We never thought we would be here over 10 years later, but here we are putting out the best album we think we have ever done.
The Pier: So how would you describe the Bredrin Daddys in 2008?
Cracka T: I would say we are dynamic, we have advanced and now we are taking our diversified style and are pushing it a little further then what you have heard so far. I think we are still universal and versatile and that is our defined style!
I’ll be honest, I think there a lot of bands out there that stuck with one style, just did that, then burned out and went away. Our niche has always been to be diverse and blend all styles together to make one style. In the industry that is a rough thing, but I like that we stick to it.
The Pier: That must have been a challenge over the years, I am sure folks in the industry would have liked to have seen you conform to one style to make it easier to market you?
Cracka T: That has absolutely been our biggest challenge over the years. We have had a lot of dealings with record labels and management companies and most of them have always said we love your stuff but you are all over the place and we need to find a category for you. The way we look at though is if got you a little something for everybody then why not give them that.
The Pier: Your new album was originally going to be called Lyrical Weapons but was changed to Bag O Tricks. What was the reason for the change?
Cracka T: Lyrical Weapons is a song we have, which has a cool name and has some meaning to it and we basically decided that song wasn’t ready to put on this album. We put out an EP a couple of years ago that was called Whatyougotinthebag. So we decided to stick with that theme and we re-recorded a few of the songs off that EP and now we got a Bag O Tricks. We also have a song called that too, so that works for us (haha).
The Pier: Are there any songs on Bag O Tricks that you think may surprise your long-time fans?
Cracka T: There is definitely one or two that is a little out of the box for us. One is the first song on the album, Hello Hello, and the other is a song called About You, the very last song on the album. Hello Hello is a comical hip hop song along the lines of Jurassic 5 and Ugly Duckling. It has a good feel and you could put it on any radio station, except for maybe a hardcore station! It is really a light-hearted and a fun introduction to 2008 Bredrin Daddys.
We take you in with something different and then take you out with something different with About You. I got a couple of friends that call it our power ballad - it’s like our Every Rose has its Thorns. We have had a few lovey song in the past but nothing like this. All the girls that have heard it so far love it, all the young girls, moms and even grandmothers love this song.
The Pier: So overall how do you compare it to the last full-length (Monkey Business) you put out?
Cracka T: It is such a different time five or six years later, however to me and I know we say this every time we put out something new, but "it’s our best stuff yet." What can you say? The last one was better (haha). Comparatively though it is a little more progressed and you can tell our style has hit our niche. On Monkey Business we found our niche and what we are about and now we have taken that formula and pushed it. We really feel on this new one we have hit on something really good. For us as a band I don’t know if we can do any better on creating the sound that we are going for. I also have to say the quality of this album is so good. As a vocalist I am very judgmental of my own stuff and I am hearing myself as good as I can get.
The Pier: Tell us about the origins of some of your favorite songs on this album?
Cracka T: Coming from 1DaBred and I, the reggae influences on these songs stem from our love of dancehall reggae and roots reggae, it is kind of a seed we have planted in our hearts and souls. Every song is coming deep from us.
Like with the song About You, it came from a show a few months ago we played with UK reggae legend Pato Banton. We have been listening to him for years. 1DaBred calls me after a show we did with Pato and is saying, “I got this song and we need to do a love song about what we are really feeling.” So he is singing me this chorus which is kind of cheesy but it is cool. The next thing I know the band has the new tune down solid and so it started growing on me. This all stems from a feeling 1DaBred got from watching Pato Banton play.
That’s where a lot of our inspiration comes from, is playing these shows with these legends and getting a vibe from them. I am a Grateful Dead fan and while none of our music sounds like theirs when I listen to it I get this feeling and it inspires me. That’s where all of our songs come from - a moment in time where you get some wonderful inspiration, whether it is listening to other music or having a great first date with a girl.
The song React/Respond has three different meanings cause we have three different vocalists. From my perspective it is kind of a political thing. I am talking about how no matter what I say or do somebody else out there is going to have a different reaction or response. I have a line in that song “React respond to this powerful dilemma, the situation has gone crazy in this nation led by liars.” I mean to me there is chaos going in the world and you have to stand up and react and respond in some way. 1DaBred in his verse is talking about the music industry and the radio and how they are pushing stuff in your head to make you like something. He is telling everyone to react to that and that you don’t have to like what the media is pushing you can like what you want. Our influences overall are from all over the place, mainly our heart and soul. Damn I am all worked up now (haha). I really want this album to get out there so people can hear it and react/respond!
The Pier: You seem to have a bit of a following in Japan and this new album is also about to be released there. That must be pretty cool?
Cracka T: Surfrock International took Monkey Business which had already been out over here and they released it over there. It’s awesome, they put all our lyrics in Japanese and my girlfriend is Japanese and so that was cool for her and her family. I would love to get over there and tour. Monkey Business did decent over there and they were down to release Bag O Tricks. Through them is how we basically paid for the recording of it and printing up our copies of it here in America. Hopefully it will take off and we will never have to work again (haha). Let’s tour Japan, let’s tour Europe and yeah let’s do some David Hasslehoff stuff in Germany. I don’t care, I am ready.
The Pier: Besides hanging with the Hoff what else have you got coming up in the next few months?
Cracka T: Other than the album dropping our plans are to play the hell out of every show we can. We don’t have any tour plans, but summer is coming so we will be playing a lot more shows soon. We may also may get back in the studio and do an EP cause this album went so well. Gotta to keep the ball rolling. I want to make more albums, play this damn music and have fun while we are doing it (haha).
A big thanks to Cracka T, 1DaBred and The Bredrin Daddys for this interview and for being solid supporters of The Pier since day one.
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