Embrace the Flux

Interview: Purple Monkey Sircus

// January 24th, 2010 // No Comments » // Music

Purple Monkey Sircus is a talented young rap trio hailing from Cleveland Heights, Ohio.  They’ve worked with the likes of DJ Mick Boogie and Wiz Khalifa, their fanbase is growing at a steady rate; to be sure, their unmistakable personality is just getting warmed up.  Catchy, tender, mellow and genuine – PMS educates the listener with passion and flare. To our great fortune, Quinton and Johnny of Purple Monkey Sircus are here with us today to entertain a few of our questions. Their only condition, strangely enough, was a box of jelly doughnuts.

First and foremost, how in the world did you guys come up with the name Purple Monkey Sircus? Doesn’t circus start with the letter C?

On our first tape we made a song called “Purple Monkey Circus.” It tells a story about this dude trapped inside of his own head. The depression from his childhood leads him to think in this crazy way. He lives in an alternate reality but he doesn’t realize it. It’s a real deep story. We changed it from a “C” in the song to an “S” because — it was a song, let’s just say. We named the group Purple Monkey Sircus and just rolled with it.

Longtime friends? Stroke of musical luck? Tell us about the epic birth of Purple Monkey Sircus.

Me and Johnny are brothers. We’re blood brothers. A lot of people don’t know that we’re related. We all went to high school together, Cleveland Heights High School. Mitchell was always makin’ beats and I hit him up one day. He wanted to drop an EP and that’s when we all got together. It was all just complete randomness and chaos. We made the first tape in three days and people thought it was crazy. We made it in somebody’s basement. We did our first concert in June, it sold out and it was ridiculous.

A lot of your songs highlight retro samples with a distinct mellow twist. Where’s the influence here? Can you name any particular artists for us?

I listen to a lot of rap and alternative stuff. Johnny’s more into R&B, rock, Eminem. We like a lot of classic rock. Prince is the shit. Kiss, The Scorpions, The Beatles, The Killers, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Flaming Lips, Michael Jackson is cool to me but I’m more of a Prince fan. I’m such a Prince fan. Michael Jackson is a genius, though.

Non-musical hobbies? Don’t be shy.

Smokin’ weed. We like watchin’ UFC, mixed martial arts. We have sex with a lot of girls. We like to draw.

What kind of drawing?

Sketching, watercolors, we do a lot of graphic design, we write songs, photography. We are huge on photography. Portraits, shit like that. We take a lot of pictures. We make people look good.

Your lyrics are, simply put, real. “Demons in My Head” and “Splendiferous Persona Non Grata” immediately come to mind. A refreshing change from the monotonous onslaught of ego trips, diamond necklaces and the like. Words we can all relate to. What’s the PMS motif? Five word limit.

We’re the shit, ‘nuff said.

We really like your song “FuckMyLife.” True story?

Johnny’s story is true. Mine is just some beers I was having. Yea that song, I hope it’s not true. Johnny told Mitch to sample a porno a long time ago and, well, he actually sampled a porno. That’s what you hear in the background. She was moanin’ on beat! But our influence for that was “My Mind is Playing Tricks on Me” by Geto Boys.

Quinton, Mitchell and Johnny. Each of you, no doubt, bring something unique to the table. Who’s who in the group?

I just like smokin’ weed and rapping. But I guess I was the first one to rap before bringing everyone else on. He can rap, you can rap, we can rap — let’s rap! On our latest mixtape we started singing more hooks. For the most part Johnny and I are the rappers and Mitch is our main producer.

You just released a new mixtape, Candyland. This one definitely shows off your flexibility. What was the primary inspiration behind Candyland?

Shit on everybody? [Laughter] Well, one night this past summer we were lying in our beds and talking about genre names. If you take what you already have associated with words used for genre names they start to sound like completely stupid ideas. Rock? Hip hop? Pop? Country?

Do you like ‘nation’ music?

[Laughter] So we were like: “Alright, we’re gonna name this candyland.” We just dropped a bunch of shit out of order.

What’s next for PMS? Any top secret information you can share with our readers here at Embrace the Flux? Well, in that case, I guess it wouldn’t be very top secret.

We’re moving to Atlanta in a week. We have this fan base in Atlanta and we noticed that if you push anything down there it’s going to be so much better than it would be up here. There’s no market for rap in Cleveland. I mean there is, but it’s really hard to make it in Cleveland. Wait, I forgot what the question was…

Top-secret stuff.

Oh, you know those big-ass football players on the walls…

Fatheads?

Yea, fatheads. We’re making fatheads of ourselves. Snapbacks, tee-shirts – we’re doing a lot of merchandising.

Along with music we at Embrace the Flux headquarters are very much into technology, fashion and movies. PC or Mac? Clothing brand of the day? And your favorite films?

Mac.

The Boosters Brand.

I love Quentin Tarantino movies. Pulp Fiction. Reservoir Dogs. Kill Bill: Vol. 2. Inglorious Basterds.

Is that a Quinton/Quentin thing?

You know, I started watching the movies because of that. But I think, even though he had a black wife, I think he’s a little bit racist. He says the “N” word a lot in his movies.

Female Body Inspection. Who’s in the lead? Our readers are curious.

We’re all ladies’ men but Johnny’s probably winning.

Quinton and Johnny, we appreciate you guys taking time out of your busy schedule to talk with us today. We wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors and look forward to hearing more from PMS.

Thanks for having us. It’s been fun.

Today marks the release of a new mixtape from Purple Monkey Sircus titled Kush Pack: Vol. 1. Along with Candyland, the inviting new album is available over on our Downloads page. Keep your eyes peeled for these exuberant monkeys. In addition to nonstop music all year, the trio promises a follow-up mixtape in the not-so-distant future. For news, information, downloads and the like, be sure to give their website a visit. PMS might be young but they definitely have big dreams. Who knows? One day they might even be smoking weed on MTV.




For a quick puff of the Sircus, click here. “Blue Moo Cookie Dough” can be found in the Kush Pack.

Inglourious Basterds: Back with a Vengeance

// August 23rd, 2009 // 3 Comments » // Movies

Storybook form, flashbacks abound, and certainly not lacking in your supernatural gore, Inglourious Basterds screams quintessential Tarantino. But aside from a return to the quirkiness that is Quentin, we think Basterds might indeed be Tarantino’s “masterpiece,”—as echoed by Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) to precariously conclude the film.

Not too surprising, Basterds proved less action-packed than the trailers led us to believe. When there was action, it was Tarantino action. But as a whole, the film was oriented further towards its overarching story.  And unlike the Kill Bill series (some might disagree here), story is what propelled Basterds to potential “masterpiece” status.

The story’s characters, in classic Tarantino fashion, do purvey a hint of parody. But contrary to some of his other films, Tarantino models his characters this way not to poke fun at the peculiarity of mankind, but to force a mental reaction upon his audience. He takes our historical perception of “the other” – German perception of the WWII American, American perception of the WWII German, the Frenchman, the Englishman, the Italian,  etc. – and models such perception in a way that directly reexamines the global lack of humanity during the war. Ultimately, he spells out the irrationality of WWII through exaggerated character conduct. In so doing, Tarantino defies all odds by attaching humor to a point in history that couldn’t be further from the fact.

Inglourious Basterds might be fiction, but the fiction portrayed is ingenious allegory. Quentin’s message is clear: the Nazis have only themselves to blame for their undoing.  And this message couldn’t have struck with such force if it weren’t for the incredible performances of Brad Pitt, Mélanie Laurent (Shoshanna Dreyfus) and Cristopher Waltz (Col. Hans Landa). Intelligent art direction, witty humor, a loaded story and first-rate acting (all with a Tarantino cherry on top)—Inglourious Basterds passes with flying colors. Get to your local cinema quick! This one’s definitely worth the $10.50.