NeW bEAt FUNd and the Fundamentals of Cali G-Punk

Chicago - One foggy afternoon, I found myself standing in the rain, wishing I’d worn a thicker jacket, patiently waiting for the California rockers NeW bEAt FUNd. This was no big thing; pretty much everyone runs late in Chicago either because traffic is jammed or public trans is a mess. (There’s no better welcome to Chicago than gridlock, right?) When their tour bus finally pulled up, the boyz of NeW bEAt FUNd, Snapz, Button, Burnie, and Michael Johnson, ran out and swiftly hurried their gear in, out of the rain, and we quickly chatted (sans MJ, as he was setting up his drums) about their music, growing up in Cali, and tour shenanigans. (They’re on currently on the Word Of Mouth Tour.) These guys are not only talented musicians, but they’re also extremely funny, which made my wait in the cold worth every minute.

Sarah Hess: I read that you guys started by funding yourselves. More and more bands are starting to do the same, sort of giving resurgence to the roots of punk. Do you have any advice for bands that are starting out, funding themselves?

Burnie: Yeah, sure. First, pick up your instruments and have a lot of fun with them, with your friends, and make music you think no one else will care about but yourself. Then from there…

Snapz: Then figure out a good way to get it out to people’s ears, you know. You have to play shows, but also maybe get a recorded version. Usually you can do it yourself. That’s what we did; we did it in our bedrooms and garages. That’s step two. Then step three, you make a CD.

Button: You hustle that shit, that’s what you do. But really if you’re in it for the money, I would say, put your money toward lottery tickets! You got a better chance with that.

(laughter ensued)

Burnie: And then just do you, be you. Put it out there. Put yourself out there. Let people take it for what it is. That’s pretty much all you do, you know.

SH: You recently signed to Red Bull Records and released your EP Coinz. I assume you guys are working on a full-length? What can we expect to hear and see from you in the next few months?

Burnie: Yeah, we recently went to Topanga Canyon in California, making lovely new music. We’re excited to put it out. Then after this tour, that ends about, I think the last day in March, we go into the studio to record that. I’m very, very excited about it. I’m thinking it’ll probably come out around September of this year. Probably like a back to school release.

Button: Brown bags. Brown lunch bags and rotten peanut butter and jelly sandwiches come with it.

Burnie: Yeah, yeah, it’ll come in a brown bag.

SH: Your sound is pretty unique, mixing hip-hop with punk, rock, occasional reggae beats. You describe it as G-Punk and Beach Funk. Can you elaborate more on that and what bands influence you musically?

Button: You can tag on ghost rock to the end of that. Ghost rock, yeah. So G-Punk, beach funk, and ghost rock.

Burnie: Umm, I would say, we grew up Southern California kids. We grew up skateboarding, surfing, snowboarding, and all that, so in the early 90s we listened to punk rock music and all that comes with that. And, you know, that time period and living in the place where we live, it’s the culture, the whole vibe, you know. So, I would say G-Punk and beach funk kind of represent that most of all, a collection of West Coast, Southern California sounds and vibes and stuff. I mean, like right now, in Southern California it’s 85 degrees, in Santa Monica.

Button: Which here it is not!

Burnie: Which here it’s not, but as you can tell it influences our lifestyle. And that is what our lifestyle is.

SH: You touch on some interesting topics in your music, critiquing celebrity, the media, the music industry, and politics. How have fans been responding to what you have to say?

Snapz: Well, I think it’s not always a thing because we disguise it in like a pop song, so some people don’t really catch on to what we’re exactly saying. Like they’ll be singing along, but they don’t necessarily really understand or they don’t care to. But other fans that really do connect with it, I think that it opens up a broader perspective of what we do and where we come from. And I think that fans are like really more into the band when they realize that we actually have something to say, rather than just, you know, playing a pop song.

Button: Yeah, I’m glad that you noticed it. Thank you.

Burnie: Yeah, thank you. But yeah, we feel that they can read it as deep as they’d like to. Probably.

Button: Probably. We’re like onions. We have layers.

SH: The song Helena is a bit slower than the rest on the EP. Dare I call it a love song? Can you talk a bit about that song and your song-writing process?

Burnie: Well, it’s definitely not a love song. It’s a like song.

Button: It’s a big difference.

Burnie: But uh, yeah, it’s probably the one song one the EP that kind of touches on that area, which is an important area, I feel like, you know, the heart. Yeah, I mean, we all evolve and it’s all worked on in different ways, different hands, just to make one thing.

Button: You can say traditionally, we are a true band, which is uh, maybe kind of rare these days, maybe not. I don’t know, we don’t really know.

SH: How’s The Word of Mouth Tour been so far? You guys can be quite humorous, so have you pulled any crazy pranks on each other this tour?

Burnie: Uuuuh, a few! (laughs) The tour’s been good. The tour is actually, kind of really just starting out. Like we had a Boston show and then we had a week off, so we fucked around in Boston for a week. Then New York and we fucked around in New York for about a week. So now it’s like going consecutively, but umm, pranks, yeah we…

Snapz: I put powered creamer in a hair dryer, and coffee in a hair dryer, in Boston and I tried to blow it at him (points to Button) but it ended up, actually it all lit on fire. So I ended up blowing, like, fire out of a little mini blow dryer, which we have on video. We’re gonna post it on Instagram, maybe later today.

Button: It smelled like Pop-Tarts.

Snapz: It smelled really good. (laughs) Right now we’re into like lotion pranks. Where like, umm, I don’t know, you find some Lubriderm lotion in places you wouldn’t expect it.

Button: Like you put it in a hat and it’s full of Lubriderm.

Snapz: Yeah, all over your noggin.

Button: Other than that, I would say just the common, just, rag session, where usually one dude will just take it for like half an hour by everyone else. And it gets pretty gnarly.

Snapz: I’ve been taking it for the past two weeks. I don’t know why.

Button: Yeah, it’s hard. It’s a hard knock life.

Burnie: We’re gonna try to ease up, ease up on him.

SH: Well, that’s it. Thanks for talking with me!

NBF: Thank you!

Be sure to see NeW bEAt FUNd on tour! (They are currently opening for Aer on the Word of Mouth Tour.)

Photo: Keegan Gibbs

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Sarah Hess

At the age of six, Sarah Hess discovered True Blue by Madonna. This resulted in her spending hours in front of the bathroom mirror with a hairbrush microphone, belting out "La Isla Bonita" off key. Her love for music only intensified over the years thanks to her parents; her mother exposed Sarah to The Jackson Five and had her hustling to the Bee Gees, while her father would play her albums like 'Pet Sounds' and 'Some Girls' from start to finish, during which he'd lecture on and on about the history of rock & roll. Sarah would eventually stumble upon rap and hip-hop, then punk and alternative, and fall madly in love with Jeff Buckley and film photography.

After attending The School of the Art Institute in Chicago, Sarah went on to study education at Dominican University, earning a degree in history. When not teaching, writing, or taking in a show, she is most likely to be found with a camera to her eye or hanging out in a darkroom.

You can follow Sarah Hess on twitter at @Sarahhasanh and view her music photography on her website: smhimaging.com.