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22 December 2023
Vinnie: Man, I gotta tell you, She’s in Control is amazing.
Pee Thug: Thank you, man. Thank you. I saw the review you did. It was cool, man. Thanks a lot.
V: If you don’t mind, I gotta go back to the very beginning. I read that you’re from Lebanon.
P: Yeah.
V: When did you come over to Canada?
P: I was born in Lebanon in '77, and came to Canada in '85, so I was eight years old.
V: Was it a family move?
P: Well, you know, the Civil War was happening there.
V: Oh, shit. Right. Sorry.
P: It was pretty tough to live there. The Civil War started in '75. Seven or eight years into the war, my parents were like, “Let’s get out of here.”
Both: (laugh)
V: And when you got to Canada, you wound up hanging with kids who got you into hip-hop?
P: Yeah. I came to Canada and was a little lost, you know? I’d never even listened to music, really. I mean, I’d listened to Arabic music, because I was a Lebanese kid; but when I came here and learned more about music, I was like, “Wow! That’s crazy!”
Both: (laugh)
P: The first albums that I bought were Bad from Michael Jackson, and “I’m Bad” (Bigger and Deffer) from L.L. Cool J. Those were my two first music albums ever. I went to school and was really into hip-hop, and didn’t really know who else to hang around with, so I just hung with the hip-hop crowd. I started listening to all those old school artists-- EPMD, Kwame, Father MC, Big Daddy Kane-- all those cats.
V: Do you still listen to hip-hop?
P: Naw,.. I stopped listening to hip-hop in ‘92.
V: Really?
P: Yeah. When I grew up, hip-hop was about dancing and funky shit. In ‘92, it was about peace and non-violence, smoking weed and shit like that. In ‘92, it changed. It was all about gangsta lyrics and nodding your head and not dancing, so I didn’t like it anymore. Then I got into funk. I was starting to realize what hip-hop was, you know? All those sampled beats? I discovered funk through a friend in high school, the drummer of my first band. He turned me on to Parliament and Funkadelic, and I just got hooked.
V: And that’s how you met Dave-1, right?
P: Yeah, I met Dave through that band. That drummer guy in our high school wanted to form a band with me. I was playing guitar at first, but then Dave joined the band. He was playing guitar, and he was better than me. (laughs) So, I started playing bass. It became my main instrument. And that’s how me and Dave met. From that point on, we always played together. The musicians around us was always changing, but we never stopped playing together.
V: How many different instruments can you play?
P: I play guitar, bass, and talkbox, which is my main instrument, actually. Talkbox is my thing. Roger (Troutman) is my idol, man. I started playing talkbox way back when. I was 15 when I started listening to early-'80s funk. I heard Roger’s “More Bounce” for the first time, and said, “Yo! I gotta play that shit!” But it was hard in Canada, because there aren’t many talkboxes available. I didn’t have the Internet back then. I had to ask questions around town, to find out what a talkbox is. Then I finally got it, and it took me three or four years to master it, really.
V: What is a talkbox? I mean, I know what you’re talking about, but what is it exactly?
P: You know what it sounds like, right?
V: Yeah.
P: Well, a talkbox takes the sound of your synthesizer and puts it through a speaker. There’s a tube attached to the speaker, and the sound travels through it to your mouth. You shape the sound with your mouth. You’re not speaking, you’re shaping.
V: Holy shit!
P: Yeah. It takes time to master. It takes time to find the sound, to learn how to use it. It rattles your teeth. It gives you headaches. You can get electrocuted doing it.
V: Oh my God.
P: (laughs) It’s a big stress, but I like to do it.
V: It sounds so tight on the album, too. So precise.
P: Thank you.
V: Have you gotten to a point where you don’t get the headaches anymore?
P: Yeah. I know how to work around them. I know what volume to put it on. I know how to-- wait, I gotta figure out how to say this. My first language is French-- I know how to close my mouth around it, and have my teeth really tight.
V: Have you guys been doing live shows since the release of the album?
P: We’ve been doing a couple of live shows, Dave and I, with a drum machine backing us up. We’re gonna have a full band soon, though. They’re rehearsing with Dave in New York right now.
V: So, you’ll be doing the talkbox stuff live?
P: Yeah. I’ve been doing it with the basic setup-- just Dave and I.
V: When people see you doing it, do they totally freak out?
P: If they don’t know what a talkbox is, they freak out. They’re like, “What the fuck is this?”
Both: (laugh)
P: And if they know what a talkbox is,.. you know, we went to Europe. There are tons of Roger Troutman fans there, and they were like, “Yo, man. We never even dreamed of seeing this live! You’re like Roger’s ghost, you know? Talkbox live, 20 years after Roger!”
V: How’d that make you feel, to be compared to him?
P: It made me feel good, you know? Roger is the reason why I started playing the talkbox. It definitely felt good. I wish he could see me.
V: Are you guys touring through the United States?
P: Yeah, yeah. We’re gonna be doing shows in Europe, Canada, and the United States.
V: Do you worry at all that American audiences aren’t ready to dance like you want them to?
P: Yeah. But, you know, the only experience I have with America right now is Miami and New York. Miami is dope. We played there last year. But New York,.. the shows we did were dope. People were into it.
V: How do you guys promote yourselves, as a funk band? Or as an “electro-funk” band?
P: Well, me and Dave see things really differently. I tell people, “We’re a funk band. A mid-'80s funk band.” But Dave’s more of a rock head, so he wants his piece, too, you know? He’s like, “We’re a mix. We do everything. A mix of what we listen to.” But, we don’t really do the promoting. The label takes care of that.
V: So, it’s been almost a month since the record came out here. Have you heard any of the reactions to it?
P: Oh, yeah. Since the record came out, we’ve had such positive press.
V: That’s really good, man.
P: Yeah. All of a sudden, it’s like-- poof! Explosion. We’re sitting there together, like, “Wow. What the hell is happening?”
V: Have you gotten any calls from Rick James or the people you’ve always looked up to?
P: (laughs) Naw, man. I wish I did. Yo, straight up? I wish Paul Simon would call me up and say he wants to do a joint with me.
V: That’s awesome.
P: My dream is to have a joint with Paul Simon and DJ Quick.
V: Yeah?
P: Yeah. A crazy joint. I’m a big-time Paul Simon fan. Big Phil Collins fan. I’m a big Jodeci fan, too. The Show, The After Party, The Hotel album?
V: Yeah?
P: I’m a big fan. And I’m a big fan of DJ Quick.
V: When did you get into Paul Simon? Was it, like, a secret guilty pleasure back in high school?
P: No, no. Not really. To tell you the truth, it was Dave’s father that got me into Paul Simon. There’s this one song I liked, “Graceland”.
V: Yeah, yeah!
P: Dave’s parents are into Paul Simon. I was just hanging around, and I heard that song. Then, Dave’s father bought me the greatest hits album for my birthday. And I listened to it, and was just like, “Wow! I love this!” And Phil Collins, man, everybody loves Phil Collins. I’d definitely love to do a joint with those two, and Rick James. Roger Troutman, DJ Quick. You know, I still listen to West Coast hip-hop because of him.
V: I could totally hear the West Coast scene sampling some Chromeo. It’s perfect for it.
P: Yeah. (laughs)
V: So, with all the attention you guys have been getting, have you thought at all about any particular next steps you want to take with it?
P: We want to do shows, for sure. And we’re still waiting for the album to come out in Europe. That will happen on May 10th. We’re mostly just rushing to do all the interviews, and see what the album is gonna do. It’s only been out for a few weeks. We’re getting the band together right now for touring, but there’s so many things to do!
Both: (laugh)
V: Do you ever wish you could go back to Lebanon and do a show?
P: (laughs) Yeah. Actually, my cousins called me yesterday from Lebanon. They saw an article about us in The New York Times, and were like, “When are you coming to do a show here?”
Both: (laugh)
V: You could bring some peace and love over there!
P: Yeah. I mean, I don’t think Dave can even get into Lebanon, because he’s Jewish. It kind of sucks. I can’t go to Israel, and he can’t go to Lebanon. (laughs) We’ll have to find some middle ground somewhere.
V: I’m totally backtracking now, but when you guys sat down to make the record, were you like, “Let’s make an '80s-sounding record?”
P: No. Really, we were just messing around. There were no predetermined ideas when it came to the songs. That’s just what came out. We’re even trying not to be too funk, or too '80s. We’re trying to mix everything. From what people tell me, they say it’s still up to date. There are hints of the past, but we come from old school hip-hop, so we like to bump the drums up and shit. We like to put some bounce on it, to give it a different feel.
V: Yeah.
P: What we usually do is, I’ll start a song at home, then send it to Dave. He’ll listen to it, and if he likes it, he’ll add some lyrics to it. He’ll sing the lyrics over the phone to me, I’ll write ‘em down, and add some synth or something. We don’t sit down and concept songs. That’s not what we do. Sometimes, Dave calls me up and gives me a riff over the phone, and I’ll go over and pound it out on my keyboards.
V: Is it hard working with that physical distance between you guys?
P: To tell you the truth, it might be a little easier. I mean, it’s hard for shows, but as far as writing songs together goes, it’s not really difficult. It’s kind of better, because, I don’t know,.. I don’t know how to explain it. I’m in my home studio, and I can do my part of the stuff. Dave can do his part of the stuff, and it all works.
V: So, between making Chromeo songs and promoting this new record, are you doing any outside production work?
P: Right now we’re doing some remixes for some guys in Europe. We’re always busy, man. We already started on the second album, too. We got, like, four or five songs done for it. (laughs)
V: No shit!
P: We never stop working!
V: Well, with the momentum building on this first album, do you feel obligated to wait a few years before releasing the new one, or are you ready to drop it as soon as you finish it?
P: We’ll leave that up to the label to decide. But, regardless, we never stop working. I don’t like to listen to the new album. I mean, it’s new to everyone else, but to me, it’s old. It’s done, so let’s keep working on new stuff, always and always, you know?
V: Have you thought at all about grabbing the old MCs you used to listen to growing up, and having them rhyme over Chromeo tracks?
P: No. I don’t think rap would fit in well. We thought about having Dave rapping some silly shit, you know? Like, an old-school New Edition-style rap.
Both: (laugh)
P: Maybe later.
V: Are you nervous about going out and playing in front of different world audiences?
P: Oh, no. I love the stage, man. I love playing. Dave doesn’t like the stage. He’s a studio guy. He’s the neurotic one, and I’m the “I don’t really give a fuck” one.
Both: (laugh)
P: I want to do shows. Let’s get it on!
V: Are you doing everything yourselves?
P: Yeah. We’re still interviewing managers. But we’ve been doing stuff ourselves since the beginning.
V: Does it at all seem different now? Even though you guys have been playing together for a long time, this project has a lot of attention on it.
P: You know, we really don’t have time to think about it. (laughs) Whatever’s going on is going on, but we’re like machines, you know? We’re just gonna keep going.
Both: (laugh)
P: We’ve always been like that. Dave started his hip-hop label back in ‘97, and we’ve pretty much been going at it nonstop since then. This is just another project to us. Nothing’s changed really, other than Dave moving.
V: Since you guys are on the road to making millions--
P: (laughs)
V: --is there one ultimate goal you’re working toward, or do you just want to play music until the day you die?
P: Oh, shit. (laughs) That’s a good question. (laughs) I wanna play music, man. I’m a musician. I would like to end up with the Grammys and shit, you know? I want to make music. But afterward? I don’t know. (laughs) Maybe I’ll do some L.L. Cool J stuff.
Both: (laugh)
V: You’ll start showing up in movies?
P: Yeah. I’ll be a bad actor. (laughs) You know, Dave’s thing is to be in the studio. He’s a producer. He’s dreaming of doing huge remixes for, like, Madonna and shit. I want to be on the road, though. That’s where I want to be. But, who knows. We’ll see how it turns out.
Pee Thug: Thank you, man. Thank you. I saw the review you did. It was cool, man. Thanks a lot.
V: If you don’t mind, I gotta go back to the very beginning. I read that you’re from Lebanon.
P: Yeah.
V: When did you come over to Canada?
P: I was born in Lebanon in '77, and came to Canada in '85, so I was eight years old.
V: Was it a family move?
P: Well, you know, the Civil War was happening there.
V: Oh, shit. Right. Sorry.
P: It was pretty tough to live there. The Civil War started in '75. Seven or eight years into the war, my parents were like, “Let’s get out of here.”
Both: (laugh)
V: And when you got to Canada, you wound up hanging with kids who got you into hip-hop?
P: Yeah. I came to Canada and was a little lost, you know? I’d never even listened to music, really. I mean, I’d listened to Arabic music, because I was a Lebanese kid; but when I came here and learned more about music, I was like, “Wow! That’s crazy!”
Both: (laugh)
P: The first albums that I bought were Bad from Michael Jackson, and “I’m Bad” (Bigger and Deffer) from L.L. Cool J. Those were my two first music albums ever. I went to school and was really into hip-hop, and didn’t really know who else to hang around with, so I just hung with the hip-hop crowd. I started listening to all those old school artists-- EPMD, Kwame, Father MC, Big Daddy Kane-- all those cats.
V: Do you still listen to hip-hop?
P: Naw,.. I stopped listening to hip-hop in ‘92.
V: Really?
P: Yeah. When I grew up, hip-hop was about dancing and funky shit. In ‘92, it was about peace and non-violence, smoking weed and shit like that. In ‘92, it changed. It was all about gangsta lyrics and nodding your head and not dancing, so I didn’t like it anymore. Then I got into funk. I was starting to realize what hip-hop was, you know? All those sampled beats? I discovered funk through a friend in high school, the drummer of my first band. He turned me on to Parliament and Funkadelic, and I just got hooked.
V: And that’s how you met Dave-1, right?
P: Yeah, I met Dave through that band. That drummer guy in our high school wanted to form a band with me. I was playing guitar at first, but then Dave joined the band. He was playing guitar, and he was better than me. (laughs) So, I started playing bass. It became my main instrument. And that’s how me and Dave met. From that point on, we always played together. The musicians around us was always changing, but we never stopped playing together.
V: How many different instruments can you play?
P: I play guitar, bass, and talkbox, which is my main instrument, actually. Talkbox is my thing. Roger (Troutman) is my idol, man. I started playing talkbox way back when. I was 15 when I started listening to early-'80s funk. I heard Roger’s “More Bounce” for the first time, and said, “Yo! I gotta play that shit!” But it was hard in Canada, because there aren’t many talkboxes available. I didn’t have the Internet back then. I had to ask questions around town, to find out what a talkbox is. Then I finally got it, and it took me three or four years to master it, really.
V: What is a talkbox? I mean, I know what you’re talking about, but what is it exactly?
P: You know what it sounds like, right?
V: Yeah.
P: Well, a talkbox takes the sound of your synthesizer and puts it through a speaker. There’s a tube attached to the speaker, and the sound travels through it to your mouth. You shape the sound with your mouth. You’re not speaking, you’re shaping.
V: Holy shit!
P: Yeah. It takes time to master. It takes time to find the sound, to learn how to use it. It rattles your teeth. It gives you headaches. You can get electrocuted doing it.
V: Oh my God.
P: (laughs) It’s a big stress, but I like to do it.
V: It sounds so tight on the album, too. So precise.
P: Thank you.
V: Have you gotten to a point where you don’t get the headaches anymore?
P: Yeah. I know how to work around them. I know what volume to put it on. I know how to-- wait, I gotta figure out how to say this. My first language is French-- I know how to close my mouth around it, and have my teeth really tight.
V: Have you guys been doing live shows since the release of the album?
P: We’ve been doing a couple of live shows, Dave and I, with a drum machine backing us up. We’re gonna have a full band soon, though. They’re rehearsing with Dave in New York right now.
V: So, you’ll be doing the talkbox stuff live?
P: Yeah. I’ve been doing it with the basic setup-- just Dave and I.
V: When people see you doing it, do they totally freak out?
P: If they don’t know what a talkbox is, they freak out. They’re like, “What the fuck is this?”
Both: (laugh)
P: And if they know what a talkbox is,.. you know, we went to Europe. There are tons of Roger Troutman fans there, and they were like, “Yo, man. We never even dreamed of seeing this live! You’re like Roger’s ghost, you know? Talkbox live, 20 years after Roger!”
V: How’d that make you feel, to be compared to him?
P: It made me feel good, you know? Roger is the reason why I started playing the talkbox. It definitely felt good. I wish he could see me.
V: Are you guys touring through the United States?
P: Yeah, yeah. We’re gonna be doing shows in Europe, Canada, and the United States.
V: Do you worry at all that American audiences aren’t ready to dance like you want them to?
P: Yeah. But, you know, the only experience I have with America right now is Miami and New York. Miami is dope. We played there last year. But New York,.. the shows we did were dope. People were into it.
V: How do you guys promote yourselves, as a funk band? Or as an “electro-funk” band?
P: Well, me and Dave see things really differently. I tell people, “We’re a funk band. A mid-'80s funk band.” But Dave’s more of a rock head, so he wants his piece, too, you know? He’s like, “We’re a mix. We do everything. A mix of what we listen to.” But, we don’t really do the promoting. The label takes care of that.
V: So, it’s been almost a month since the record came out here. Have you heard any of the reactions to it?
P: Oh, yeah. Since the record came out, we’ve had such positive press.
V: That’s really good, man.
P: Yeah. All of a sudden, it’s like-- poof! Explosion. We’re sitting there together, like, “Wow. What the hell is happening?”
V: Have you gotten any calls from Rick James or the people you’ve always looked up to?
P: (laughs) Naw, man. I wish I did. Yo, straight up? I wish Paul Simon would call me up and say he wants to do a joint with me.
V: That’s awesome.
P: My dream is to have a joint with Paul Simon and DJ Quick.
V: Yeah?
P: Yeah. A crazy joint. I’m a big-time Paul Simon fan. Big Phil Collins fan. I’m a big Jodeci fan, too. The Show, The After Party, The Hotel album?
V: Yeah?
P: I’m a big fan. And I’m a big fan of DJ Quick.
V: When did you get into Paul Simon? Was it, like, a secret guilty pleasure back in high school?
P: No, no. Not really. To tell you the truth, it was Dave’s father that got me into Paul Simon. There’s this one song I liked, “Graceland”.
V: Yeah, yeah!
P: Dave’s parents are into Paul Simon. I was just hanging around, and I heard that song. Then, Dave’s father bought me the greatest hits album for my birthday. And I listened to it, and was just like, “Wow! I love this!” And Phil Collins, man, everybody loves Phil Collins. I’d definitely love to do a joint with those two, and Rick James. Roger Troutman, DJ Quick. You know, I still listen to West Coast hip-hop because of him.
V: I could totally hear the West Coast scene sampling some Chromeo. It’s perfect for it.
P: Yeah. (laughs)
V: So, with all the attention you guys have been getting, have you thought at all about any particular next steps you want to take with it?
P: We want to do shows, for sure. And we’re still waiting for the album to come out in Europe. That will happen on May 10th. We’re mostly just rushing to do all the interviews, and see what the album is gonna do. It’s only been out for a few weeks. We’re getting the band together right now for touring, but there’s so many things to do!
Both: (laugh)
V: Do you ever wish you could go back to Lebanon and do a show?
P: (laughs) Yeah. Actually, my cousins called me yesterday from Lebanon. They saw an article about us in The New York Times, and were like, “When are you coming to do a show here?”
Both: (laugh)
V: You could bring some peace and love over there!
P: Yeah. I mean, I don’t think Dave can even get into Lebanon, because he’s Jewish. It kind of sucks. I can’t go to Israel, and he can’t go to Lebanon. (laughs) We’ll have to find some middle ground somewhere.
V: I’m totally backtracking now, but when you guys sat down to make the record, were you like, “Let’s make an '80s-sounding record?”
P: No. Really, we were just messing around. There were no predetermined ideas when it came to the songs. That’s just what came out. We’re even trying not to be too funk, or too '80s. We’re trying to mix everything. From what people tell me, they say it’s still up to date. There are hints of the past, but we come from old school hip-hop, so we like to bump the drums up and shit. We like to put some bounce on it, to give it a different feel.
V: Yeah.
P: What we usually do is, I’ll start a song at home, then send it to Dave. He’ll listen to it, and if he likes it, he’ll add some lyrics to it. He’ll sing the lyrics over the phone to me, I’ll write ‘em down, and add some synth or something. We don’t sit down and concept songs. That’s not what we do. Sometimes, Dave calls me up and gives me a riff over the phone, and I’ll go over and pound it out on my keyboards.
V: Is it hard working with that physical distance between you guys?
P: To tell you the truth, it might be a little easier. I mean, it’s hard for shows, but as far as writing songs together goes, it’s not really difficult. It’s kind of better, because, I don’t know,.. I don’t know how to explain it. I’m in my home studio, and I can do my part of the stuff. Dave can do his part of the stuff, and it all works.
V: So, between making Chromeo songs and promoting this new record, are you doing any outside production work?
P: Right now we’re doing some remixes for some guys in Europe. We’re always busy, man. We already started on the second album, too. We got, like, four or five songs done for it. (laughs)
V: No shit!
P: We never stop working!
V: Well, with the momentum building on this first album, do you feel obligated to wait a few years before releasing the new one, or are you ready to drop it as soon as you finish it?
P: We’ll leave that up to the label to decide. But, regardless, we never stop working. I don’t like to listen to the new album. I mean, it’s new to everyone else, but to me, it’s old. It’s done, so let’s keep working on new stuff, always and always, you know?
V: Have you thought at all about grabbing the old MCs you used to listen to growing up, and having them rhyme over Chromeo tracks?
P: No. I don’t think rap would fit in well. We thought about having Dave rapping some silly shit, you know? Like, an old-school New Edition-style rap.
Both: (laugh)
P: Maybe later.
V: Are you nervous about going out and playing in front of different world audiences?
P: Oh, no. I love the stage, man. I love playing. Dave doesn’t like the stage. He’s a studio guy. He’s the neurotic one, and I’m the “I don’t really give a fuck” one.
Both: (laugh)
P: I want to do shows. Let’s get it on!
V: Are you doing everything yourselves?
P: Yeah. We’re still interviewing managers. But we’ve been doing stuff ourselves since the beginning.
V: Does it at all seem different now? Even though you guys have been playing together for a long time, this project has a lot of attention on it.
P: You know, we really don’t have time to think about it. (laughs) Whatever’s going on is going on, but we’re like machines, you know? We’re just gonna keep going.
Both: (laugh)
P: We’ve always been like that. Dave started his hip-hop label back in ‘97, and we’ve pretty much been going at it nonstop since then. This is just another project to us. Nothing’s changed really, other than Dave moving.
V: Since you guys are on the road to making millions--
P: (laughs)
V: --is there one ultimate goal you’re working toward, or do you just want to play music until the day you die?
P: Oh, shit. (laughs) That’s a good question. (laughs) I wanna play music, man. I’m a musician. I would like to end up with the Grammys and shit, you know? I want to make music. But afterward? I don’t know. (laughs) Maybe I’ll do some L.L. Cool J stuff.
Both: (laugh)
V: You’ll start showing up in movies?
P: Yeah. I’ll be a bad actor. (laughs) You know, Dave’s thing is to be in the studio. He’s a producer. He’s dreaming of doing huge remixes for, like, Madonna and shit. I want to be on the road, though. That’s where I want to be. But, who knows. We’ll see how it turns out.
artid
2128
Old Image
6_7_chromeo.jpg
issue
vol 6 - issue 07 (mar 2004)
section
untapped