June 16, 2006
SMGFAN.com's Exclusive interview
with Greasy and Breeze of Nasty Breeze
SOUTHLAND TALES Music contributors
© 2006 SMGFan.com
 - © Cherry Road Films
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JPM: How did you get started in the business? Did you always know/feel that music was going to play an important role in your life?
Gerard Bauer (GREASY): My first real deal job was scoring a direct to video feature called "Three Guys, a Girl, and a Gun". My brother (and #1 supporter, Sam Bauer) was the Editor (as he is on Southland Tales) and hooked me up with the Director. The movie was a comedy about 3 country boys trying to pull off a heist, only the heist was robbing the Seniors Bingo Tournament. Musically I went for Shaft meets Deliverance. I ended up writing a lot of character theme music for that movie and wrote a great song for Natasha Henstridge's character. It would be my first experience writing music for a beautiful, strong and sexy woman, but not my last. Interestingly enough, Jack Johnson contributed a bunch of songs to the film, and this was before we were big or even signed to a record deal. By the time the film was finished and sold to a distributor, he had went platinum. But, the most memorable part of working on the movie was the receptionist who worked at the distributor's office. Her name was Marina, and one of my biggest regrets was not asking her out.
My parents were musical people and I have a lot of memories of listening to Motown, Bob Dylan, and the Rolling Stones on long ass family road trips. But what really got me was Herbie Hancock's "Rock It". I remember hearing it when I must have been all of 5 or 6, coming out of a boombox at Church camp. It was the first time I ever felt like "Oh man, I want to hear that again!" Then I did a lot of jumping around my room, listening to breakdancing mix tapes when I was a kid. So when I was 12 my parents bought me a guitar. I didn't take lessons and I was really frustrated with it, but one day, BOOM it all came together and I could make music. After that I told my girlfriend that I was going to make it in the music biz. She didn't believe me...
BREEZE: I started out as front man of hip-hop/funk band “The Rise” in San Luis Obispo, then moved to L.A. where I met Greasy and formed Nasty Breeze. I always knew music would play an important part in my life. I started writing songs in elementary school and got voted most likely to be a rap star by my 8th grade class.
JPM: You're a songwriter and producer. What's more exciting/satisfying, writing, producing or performing?
GREASY: I love performing, because it gives you a chance to look into the listener's eyes and make them feel your music. You get to add that visual energy that helps communicate what you're trying to say. Rappers are like Italians, you speak a lot with your hands and body language. That's missing when you listen to a CD. There's also a huge adrenaline rush that starts when you arrive at the venue. I'm a perfectionist so I spend the hour or so before showtime obsessing and visualizing what's going to happen. Then before the act, you go to work setting up equipment, and everyone is scrambling like mad, and something always goes wrong, so you got to fix it quickly. Then the curtain goes up and you let it all out and it's over before you know it. Kind of like losing your virginity.
For me, I find producing and songwriting to be a much more fufilling process. Performing is a fickle thing, if the audience isn't feeling it, it can be depressing. And performing is not really creating, you're doing songs you've been rehearsing for a long time. And when it's over, even if it's videotaped or recorded, the essence of the performance is gone, and to get it back you have to start over at the next show. But the rush you get from creating music is endless. When you're just messing around with something and all of the sudden it clicks. You're just playing some music, the words come out, and you put the drums down and you have a song. Then it's like I'm a kid again, jumping around the studio, but now I'm feeling my own music. Then there's the craftsmanship that goes into arranging, finishing and polishing the song. I'm someone who spends most of my time in the studio, actually finishing that last 10% of the song that's going to make it stand out. I have a little bit of OCD when it comes to that. Then of course the finished product is the best part. It's an idea, emotions, and stories that you can carry in your hand and share with people. It can go all over the world, and most importantly can make you lots of dough!!! I guess (to keep with a sex analogy) performing is like Sex (Satisfaction is based on the Audience) and producing is like Love (The more you give it, the more you get back).
BREEZE: I enjoy writing and performing. Writing something strong is the most satisfying, performing in front of a hype crowd is the most exciting, gives the biggest rush. Just learning the producing thing…
JPM: Do you have a dream project - an artist/group you'd like to work with, write and produce a song for?
GREASY: When it comes to dream projects, that's a deep question. The fan in me would love to work with Dr. Dre, Kayne West (my Mom knows his Godmother, Holla at me Ye), Scarface, M.O.P., or Jay-Z, but that would be more of a learning experience, and those guys are already so successful so there's not much of a challenge. The Producer in me definitely would love to work with a number of good MCs who are out there but haven't found the commercial success they deserve. Guys who have a ton of talent but most people outside of Hip Hop haven't heard, like Canibus, Devin the Dude, or Young Z. I would love to be that producer who brings them to the masses.
What I do now, developing artists, is actually pretty close to my dream project. We start from scratch and create a sound, a vibe that then drives their image. The challenge of making a nobody into a somebody is something that gets me motivated everyday. It would be nice to have the resources of a big record company to do this, but I enjoy the freedom and control that I have because I do everything in house. Whether it's the music or putting a website together or getting music into films and TV. I have enough skills and people on my team to get those things done without having to sell out to a record company.
JPM: How did you get involved with Southland Tales?
BREEZE: I met Rich about six years ago through Sean McKittrick, who I’ve known since I was a kid. Rich has been a fan of Nasty Breeze since the beginning, and he originally wrote one of our songs, “Get on this Bus” into an early version of Southland Tales.
GREASY: I met Rich in 1998 after he graduated from USC. Actually, I ended up meeting Breeze through Rich. Rich and my brother were gophers at a post house in Hollywood. He had shot a film called Visceral Matter and my brother was learning to use the Avid (Film editing software) and offered to edit the film for him. I came on board to do some Visual Effects work and we've worked together ever since. I did some horrible music for Donnie Darko, and am ashamed that its been some of my most profitable work. I worked as a Music Editor on the Directors Cut of Donnie Darko (and later did the same duties on Southland Tales). After Darko, I gave Rich "Get on This Bus". Rich fell in love with that song. Unfortunately the scene was later cut from the script so the song didn't make it into the movie. But Krysta Now does give it a shout out in her reality show.
JPM: Greasy, you co-wrote and produced Teen Horniness Is Not a Crime (THINAC). I'm very curious about the song's title - who came up with it? In terms of the lyrics, was Richard very specific in what he wanted? I mean did he already have some lines written/in mind when he met with you?
GREASY: Long before shooting began, Rich and I were having a drink one night when he brought up the idea of having Krysta Now actually record a song to use in the movie. He had already had Krysta Now leaving her porn star past to become a pop star, but he wanted to actually create the music that her character would sing, in a very realistic way. In other words, he took me, an up and coming producer, and said "It's 2008, you're a frustrated Hip-Hop producer who has local street cred in Venice. This porn star approaches you with a lot of money and wants you to produce her album. She knows you can lend her the credibility so people will take her seriously. You aren't sure of her talent and worry about looking like a sellout. Then she sleeps with you and you agree to produce her first single and team her up with a rapper." So Rich gave me this entire character that I was to embody, before we even thought specifically about the song. Rich then toyed with the idea of having her be like the female Eminem or maybe like a Britney Spears. Things started to take form when Rich wrote the poem "Teen Horniness is Not a Crime". The majority of the lyrics and the title came from that poem and it also gave a better direction of her artistic vision. She was going to be like a Britney Spears, but with a heavy political edge. Then I went over a bunch of female-driven pop songs with Rich to help us lock in the style. We both thought that Christina Aguilera's song "Dirrty" was a good blueprint to work from. The beat (done by Rockwilder) has a futuristic feel to it and Christina's strong and sexy attitude was what we wanted Krysta to emulate. So I sat down, got into character, and began writing the beat, basically attempting to find the right combination of Hip-Hop and Pop as it would be in 2008.
This is where some people overlook Rich's genius. In the past, movie tie-ins were crappy toys and collector's mugs. Rich is now developing movie tie-ins that are pieces of art on their own, and have their own entire story. Even though I was never on camera, he created a character for me in the movie. Rich is also developing graphic novels that tie in to the story of Southland Tales, and I know the DVD will be so full of extra content that show all the dark corners in the world of Southland Tales. It's a very interactive way to market movies, which appeals to the younger generation of moviegoers. It's very revolutionary. It's like when the Wachowski Brothers made the video game "Enter the Matrix", the video game was actually tied in to the plot of "The Matrix: Reloaded".
JPM: There are three writers credited for the song. How did that work? How much did each of you contribute (music, lyrics)?
GREASY: Rich wrote most of Krysta's lyrics in his poem "Teen Horniness is Not a Crime." But his musical talent leaves a little to be desired so we had to massage them and write some extra lines, and get them to work in a sing song way. His poem was definitely the spark though. As I toyed with the music, I started to hone in on the vocal melody for Krysta's part. It was tough because I wanted to keep a very simple melody so singing it would be easy for Sarah and because Krysta Now probably would be a very simple songwriter. The simplicity also gave her a more hip hop feel. I finished the beat, and gave it to Breeze.
BREEZE: My biggest contribution in the song-writing process was the 12-bar rap in the middle. The original version of that verse was more of dis rap against Krysta. Like, who is this porn star trying to rap? But Rich explained he wanted it to be more like Krysta and I were teaming up to support Teen Horniness. So I re-wrote it and Rich liked what I came up with. I also re-wrote a couple of the lines Rich wrote, only so they would flow a little better when I spit them, and I wrote that “Midwest kid wit the twisted sound” line towards the end. That’s actually the first thing I wrote for this track when Rich first told me the idea, just playing with the Krysta Now rhyme scheme. Ended up using that line in the final version and four more bars with that same rhyme scheme. Then, I used the script, Rich’s original lyrics, and of course, my own days as a horny teenager as inspiration. Rich also did a really good job of describing Krysta’s character and all of the intricacies of her back story. That helped a lot.
Greasy had to record Krysta’s lines first so that Sarah could learn it for the video shoot. I’ll never forget Grease in the booth trying to figure out how he was gonna sing Teen Horniness is Not a Crime like a 2008 female porn-star turned pop-star. At around 3 in the morning, he finally got it.
GREASY: Yeah, I had to get into character, but this time become Krysta Now. It was a very, very disturbing transformation. The thing was that I needed to put a vocal track down so Sarah would hear how it's supposed to sound and could sing along and learn the song. They were also scheduling a video shoot for the song in the next couple of days. But I had no female vocalist on hand and time was short. So I sang Krysta's part, pretty much word for word as what you'll hear in the finished version. So I was a female porn star turned pop star for an hour or two, it helps to expand your horizons. Nevertheless I was a little embarassed by it and sent the song to Rich, asking him to please keep it under wraps until we could get Sarah or another female vocalist to sing the part and to please not play it for anyone except those who needed to hear it. Long story short, Rich was playing it all the time on set between takes, and during the video shoot for the song Sarah was lip-synching to my voice. My voice was on the song in the first cut temp mix, and on the screener that was submitted for consideration in Cannes. Thanks Rich, if I wanted to be a female porn star turned pop star...well I live in LA, I have a lot of options.
JPM: Who/what served as your inspiration in writing THINAC? Do you really believe that teen horniness is not a crime? *wink*
GREASY: When we were trying to figure out the tone of the song, like I said, we took a lot from Christina Aguilera. She has that overt, powerful sensuality that captured the spirit of Krysta. Although a lot of Krysta's character is kind of over the top in her beliefs, the song makes a good point. America has a bad case of sexual repression, and it really does make sex a confusing issue when you're a teenager. We parade teen pop princesses like hookers, but promote abstinence only sex education programs. Our society needs to be more open about it, so kids can get the information they need to REALLY understand whata Cleveland Steamer is all about.
BREEZE: Teen Horniess is NOT a crime. Nasty Breeze is a big supporter of teen horniness. 2008 is the horny teenage.
JPM: GREASY, you're credited as Music Consultant on ST. What did that job entail? Did you work with Moby?
GREASY: As the Music Consultant I take the songs that Rich has decided on and actually line them up in the movie. With Rich's direction, I figure out where to start the song and end it within a scene or across a few scenes. Hopefully we get dramatic moments in the song to line up with dramatic moments in the film. This film was very unique in that there was no score written for it. In other words, none of the music (with the exception of THINAC) was written to the picture or specifically for the film. Moby contributed some original music, and although I never worked with him directly, I worked very closely with his stuff. He gave me the pieces and building blocks of each song and I did a lot of arranging and rearranging of those pieces to get the flow of his music to flow with what you see on screen. So it sounds like Moby actually wrote his music for the movie. A lot of reviews have praised how well Moby's score works well and that's thanks to me. That's actually a couple of job titles on a traditional film, so we decided to lump them together under Music Consultant.
JPM: What was it like working with Sarah Michelle Gellar?
GREASY: I had a lot of fun in the studio working with Sarah, although I don't think she did. She's a very talented actress, and along with Dwayne (The Rock), forms the cornerstone of Southland Tales. When I watched the movie, I had a very hard time taking my eyes off her and was always waiting to see what she was going to say next. She's also a pretty good singer, although she was very hard on herself when recording. It's obvious she's a perfectionist, but most successful people are. When she stopped picking on herself she gave a great performance.
BREEZE: Working with Sarah was short and sweet. I mean, it was “hi, nice to meet you,” then two minutes later we were dancing with each other and lip-synching to Teen Horniness is Not a Crime in front of a bunch of cameras. She let loose and had a lot of fun with the shoot, so the rest of us in the video followed along. Even the crew seemed to be having fun during the video takes. Sarah was really well-prepared too; we had just finished recording the original version of the song, I think she got a copy of it a day before the video shoot, and she had the lyrics down.
JPM: Was it always the plan to have Sarah (and Abbey McBride) sing the song with Nasty Breeze? Is the song presented in the movie in the form of a music video?
GREASY: As we approached the final mix, my voice was still on the song and we were unsure of Sarah's availability. I've known Abbey for a few years, and actually introduced Rich and Sean McKittrick (producer of Southland Tales) to her and her comedy group, The Mechanicals, way back in the day. (Rich ended up casting all of The Mechanicals throughout Southland Tales). In one sketch she did in a Mechanicals show, she did a spoof of Britney Spears, so I knew she could sing. I had her record the song as a precaution and she killed it. We almost ran out of time and used her voice, but we were able to get Sarah in at the last minute. We still use Abbey as a background vocalist so Sarah wouldn't have to spend a lot of extra time in the studio doing overdubs. It kind of fits that Abbey, who plays Sheena G, one of Krysta's posse in the movie, would also be her back up singer. Actually, an all porn-star girl pop group should be my next project.
A portion of the music video appears in the movie, so we do get see Krysta sing, and do some ass shakin. It's part of her talk show that also appears in a few places in the movie. I'm sure the whole video will be on the DVD.
JPM: Can you share any stories from the recording session(s)? Do you think Krysta Now has a future as a hip hop artist?
GREASY: She did one really good take and I told her "That was great, I could feel alot of the character (Krysta) in that one." She responded, "A lot of character??? That's what you'd say to an ugly girl!" So she really knows how to take a compliment. She was a really good sport and stuck around until she got it right. Ironically, her vocal coach actually worked with Traci Lords (the porn star) when she tried to make a pop album. So he understood what was going on.
Porn-Stars and Hip-Hop definitely go well together, so she could probably make something of herself. But then again Porn-Stars go well with a lot of things. Except for church and all-you-can-eat-buffets.
BREEZE: I think Krysta’s done as a hip-hop artist. She should focus her lube line and the energy drink.
JPM: Were you involved in the filming of the music video and any stories from there that you can share? Can we expect to see it on MTV sometime in the future?
BREEZE: The music video was shot up at Westward Beach in Malibu at the end of one of the first days of production. We did three takes; one with just Sarah lying on the couch, one with Sarah, Abbey, Gianna and Jill doing choreographed dance moves, and the last one with me rapping to the camera with the girls around me. The last two takes got a little crazy at the end because the girls were having so much fun with each other, dancing and rolling around in the sand. Plus Abbey and Gianna have been good friends of mine for a while so they really got into it with me and Sarah and Jill followed along. At one point Abbey jumped up on me, wrapped her legs around me and leaned back. I held her up for a minute, then my verse was coming up, so I dropped her in the sand walked up the camera and started rapping. The funniest thing about the video shoot, though, was Greasy’s voice still on the track. So you had this beautiful actress lying on a couch on the beach at sunset lip-synching to Greasy’s voice. Creepy but hilarious at the same time. I had to walk away from the set a couple times cause I was laughing so hard.
GREASY: Luckily I was not at the video shoot to witness this and I feel for everyone who had to.
BREEZE: I’ve heard that the song—and maybe the video—will be used to create buzz for the movie closer to the release. I hope the full version runs on MTV—call TRL and request it!!!
JPM: Breeze, how was Richard as a director - did he give a lot of instructions or did he just tell you to do your thing? Plus, it must've been really hard on you being surrounded by four beautiful women, eh? ;)
BREEZE: Rich was great as a video director. The sun was going down, so we had to get it done quickly. But Rich kept cool, came up with ideas on the fly and made the shoot fun. He let us do our thing and encouraged everyone to get crazy. Gotta give a shot out to the dance choreographers who taught Sarah and the Now Girls a full routine out on the beach in about two minutes, too. That was key.
Actually, Rich initially wanted just me and Sarah in the take. But I suggested having all five of us in it and he went for it. I’m all about being surrounded by beautiful women.
JPM: Have you seen the full version of the music video?
BREEZE: No, not yet.
JPM: Greasy, you mentioned Cannes earlier. I'm sure you've read or heard some of the reviews from the critics screening. What can you say about all that? Have you talked to Richard since he came back from Cannes?
GREASY: I was suprised by the harshness of some of the critiques coming from Cannes, although I had a feeling the movie would be loved or hated. But most movie critics are failed writers and directors and that becomes obvious when they start to get nasty. Some of them really seemed to want to hurt Rich personally. I think a majority of them are jealous not only of Rich's talent but also at the fact that he got a chance to fulfill his vision with such creative freedom. That's every Directors (and failed Directors) dream, to get Carte Blanch to do what you want. Some critics had the balls to compare Rich's movies to a student film. Are you f**kin kidding me? Say what you want about his creative direction, but his skills as a director and filmmaker are unparalleled, that fact is not open to debate.
Whether or not he intended to, Rich made a very non-traditional film. It's not a film where you sit back and the story comes to you and everything is tied up in a neat little package at the end. The film is a puzzle, and Rich is trying to engage the viewer into solving his riddle. Its interactive and a new direction of filmmaking. That's what people loved about Donnie Darko, and Rich has really upped the ante in Southland Tales. Darko was really ambitious, and this blows away Darko in terms of ambition. The film is very, very dense and it would take a very sharp person to dechipher it in one viewing, so obviously a critic doesn't stand a chance in figuring it out.
I haven't spoken to Rich, but I'm sure he's disappointed with the reaction and defiant at the same time. I know he would like his films to be embraced, but I don't think he's going to stop making movies the way he wants to, and he shouldn't. I'm pretty interested to see what he does next.
JPM: Did you see the Cannes cut of the movie or a different version?
GREASY: I was on the mixing stage during the final mix so I've seen the cut that went to Cannes. During the mix, you watch the movie over and over, so I can say, for the record, the movie does make perfect sense. It just takes a little time.
JPM: Any projects you'd like to promote?
GREASY: You can check out what me and Breeze are doing at nastybreeze.com.
You can hear my latest project, Sir Juette at http://www.sirjuette.com.
I have a variety of artists, plus remixes and some solo work at www.madefresh.net. (site under construction)
And I'm developing a sitcom with Abbey McBride and The Mechanicals, so watch it when it comes out..
And join me on MySpace...http://www.myspace.com/greasygc.
BREEZE: Nasty Breeze and Songs in the Key of G.
JPM: Do you have any advice for aspiring musicians?
GREASY: Quit. Unless you NEED to make music. If your need to make music overshadows food and sex, then you should consider making a living out of it. You have to do something everyday to push your music forward, so anything short of obsession won't be enough to make it. If you can go a week or two without making music, then it's just a hobby to you. So step aside and quit crowding up the game.
BREEZE: Stay on the grind!!!
JPM: If there's one thing that you'd want people to remember about your music, what would that be?
GREASY: As long as they remember it, I don't care why. Even if people hated it and spit on me on the streets. Being forgotten is the worst criticism of art.
BREEZE: Teen horniness is not a crime.
SMGFAN.com would like to thank GREASY and BREEZE for taking the time to answer our questions. We wish them all the best in their future endeavors.
SOUTHLAND TALES is coming soon to a theater near you!
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