Interview: musclecars
Native to New York, musclecars is a DJ / Producer duo consisting of Brandon Weems and Craig Handfield. As musicians, they equally share an admiration for the art form. Their desire to blend genres and express their appreciation for music is focused around their community- the end goal is to bring people together. Their highly anticipated debut album Sugar Honey Iced Tea! came out last week so we sat down with the duo and asked them some questions.
Hi musclecars, Can you tell us a bit more about who you are? Craig: We’re a modern day EDM boy band, but without any of the synchronized dancing. The dancing is the best part to be honest… Brandon: We’re musclecars! A DJ/Production duo from NYC. Are you a New York Native? Did you grow up in the city? What was it like? Craig: Yep! I was born in Manhattan & grew up between Brooklyn & Queens. Brandon: Yes, I was born and raised in Sunset Park, a neighborhood in South Brooklyn. How did you get into music? How did the two of you come together to form musclecars? What inspired the name? Craig: From an early age, a career in music (and specifically writing music) was always the goal. Can probably trace it back to my notebook of lyrics when I wanted to be a rapper around 8 years old. To be honest, the way I write still has a lot of hip-hop sensibilities. For example, our tune Every Party Must Come To An End… Brandon: It’s hard to pin point the moment I got into music, but I discovered dance music at around 14 years old. DJ’ing and sharing music with others felt natural to me when I started learning 13 years ago. I wish we had an exciting story for the name musclecars, but it’s just a name we landed on when we were teenagers (laughs).
New York has a rich history in music. How has the city influenced your sound and your career? Artists? Venues? People? Craig: The Richest! We come from the school of The Loft, The Paradise Garage, The Shelter, Body & Soul, 718 Sessions— NYC has a long and rich list of institutions that have created and innovated this sound, and we’re essentially just doing the same thing as they did. Taking the music, trying our best to innovate, and pushing it forward. Brandon: With my limited experience playing in other countries and cities, I’d have to say that NYC is in a class of its own. The diversity of culture and age at the parties has definitely influenced how and what we play. Did you listen to a lot of music growing up? Was there an album or song that your parents used to play? Craig: Of course! A majority of what we listened to growing up was hip-hop, but we were also simultaneously discovering dance music. Although I can’t specifically think of one song (there were so many), my mom would play a lot of R&B and Soul classics, while my dad would play a lot of Pop & Contemporary stuff. Brandon: I remember two albums in particular that my mom would always play when she was cleaning on Sundays. ‘The miseducation of Lauryn Hill’ by Lauryn Hill and ‘Who Is Jill Scott?’ by Jill Scott. She would also play the Boyz II Men Christmas album every Christmas. I’m sure that music had indirectly influenced me when I was growing up. Released on May 17th, "Sugar Honey Iced Tea!" will be your first album. Where did you get the name from? What was the inspiration for the album Craig: Sugar Honey Iced Tea is a bacronym used in Black households so to not curse in front of your kids. We’d hear it a lot growing up. The inspiration for the album lands around our lived experiences in our skin and and in our city— all the experiences that might have had us using the aforementioned bacronym. Brandon: SHIT!
What textures, themes or concepts are you exploring in this album? Craig: The album’s themes range from joy, to loss, intimacy, helplessness, perseverance, and all the facets that lie in between. How did it all come together? What was the process? Craig: Slowly but surely over the course of the past few years. We definitely like to take our time when it comes to composing & writing, especially with a full length project like this. Are there any featured artists or producers we can expect to hear? Craig: Absolutely! We’re blessed to have been able to collaborate with some of our dearest friends. Brandon: We were honored to have kamaal, Toribio, Natalie Greffel & aden, as well as their project New Past to round out the features. Craig: To that, we got to work with musicians such as Domenica Fossati, Jaylen Petinaud, and Bennett Paster, as well as dearest friends Lovie, Honey Bun, and a special tribute to our late friend Carlos Sanchez. Are there any particular venues or environments where you envision this music being experienced live? Venues you look up to? Bucket list venues to play your own productions at? Craig: My bucket list venue for a live performance of the album is The Apollo Theatre in Harlem, NY. Brandon: I really love the intimacy of Blue Note in the West Village, NY. If you could only bring one record, which one would that be? What’s your guilty pleasure? Brandon: Hmmm, probably ‘New Ancient Strings’ by Toumani Diabaté and Ballaké Sissoko. It’s an album that I listen to often and have never gotten tired of! Craig: Can I say our own record (laughs)? If I had to pick one would certainly be Groove Theory’s self-titled debut album from 1995. Is there an artist you dream of collaborating with? Craig: Would love to write something with Aja Monet, Duval Timothy, Arushi Jain, Roman Norfleet, Angel Bat Dawid. Would love to produce something for Solange, Teedra Moses, Cleo Reed, Mim Suleiman, Dwele, Chante Moore, Josh Milan, Amel Larrieux, D’angelo, Fatima. Brandon: Navasha Daya (Fertile Ground), Kuniyuki Takahashi, John Beltran, Inflo, Louie Vega, Scott Grooves, to name a few. Looking ahead, what can we expect from musclecars in the future? Craig: We just dropped our debut album! After that it’s anyone’s guess :) Brandon: :D ________ Sugar Honey Iced T on BandcampEditor: Levy Duym
