1) Please introduce yourself
Oh, Hello. We’re Aabaraki — an Alt-Soul band out of Brooklyn, NY. Our sound is described as a sort of Gnarls Barkley meets The Black Keys kind of sound. and that really only scratches the surface. Akie Bermiss on keys and vocals; Brian Forbes on guitar; Ari Folman-Cohen on bass; and Aaron ‘Juse’ Steele on drums.
2) How did you come up with your stage name?
We actually all first met at an impromptu jam session at Brian Forbes’ recording studio in Williamsburg in Brooklyn and back then we sort of new each other by reputation around Brooklyn, but had only sort of worked with each other or seen each other on gigs. That first session — which Brian recorded — was pretty awesome, so we decided it would be a good idea to keep getting together and making music. At the time, though, Brian was hosting quite a few such jam sessions at the studio (many of them with overlapping personell) and so he came up with a weird naming convention where he took the first couple letters of everyone who was on the session and call it: that. Hence, Aabaraki.
3) What sets you apart from other aspiring artists?
What sets us apart? Not much. We identify with aspiring artists: we’re super D.I.Y. and control all of our content. Almost anything we’ve done has been funded either by our own funds or from kind donations from fans. If there is any one thing that makes us different from other aspiring artist, it’s probably how we go about aspiring. Our goal is bring our music to as many people as possible who can enjoy it and, at the same time, to create a community from those folks who can all come together and get-down at a show. Or online. Or out in the street. Similarly, we like to think of Aabaraki as not simply a solitary band in all the wilderness, but as part of a group of like-minded, serious musicians around New York City. And so, even on the creative side of things, we try to foster that sense of community around the music. You can see that from the musicians we have sit in on our recordings — they are always local artists that we think are making great music on their own already. We’re trying to build something.
4) What single or project are you currently promoting?
Our new EP, The Emancipation Part I. Its a collection of songs we recorded a few months back when the Converse RubberTracks Recording Studio invited us in to their brand-new facility to track for a day. We tracked there that day and then spent the ensuing months cleaning everything up and adding overdubs and special guests and the whole nine. We’re hoping this will be the first installment of a three EP story arc dealing with the insane outward spiral that comes from a dude recently cut-loose from a relationship and kind of flinging himself through a nihilistic, slightly-romantic, slightly self-destructive cycle. So… good clean family fun.
5) What is the philosophy by which you live by?
We just want to be as creative and soulful as possible. Not sure that that’s a philosophy, per se. but its our approach in how we exist as a band. we’re all working musicians and we do gigs that we love and gigs… that we don’t love… and its great to make a real choice, within our own project, to decide that even as we try to make it big, we want to maintain that sense of fun creativity and real soulfulness.
6) Which artists have inspired you to pursue music?
There are a ton of influences. A band with four people in it is going to have some pretty disparate influences. To name a few? Otis Redding, Parliament, Steely Dan, Tears For Fears, Bill Withers, James Brown, Jay Dilla… a whole lot of rock and roll and hip hop. Its hard to say. I think, in terms of pursuing music, we get more inspiration from our peers — who are also working hard to pursue music as a career — than anywhere else. The great artists we grew up listening to feed our sense of what we can be, but its all the musicians around us that keep us in the fight.
7) What concert did you last go to?
Our own when we performed at Rockwood Music Hall.
(8) What is your opinion of the current state of the music industry?
Honestly, its simultaneously terrifying and exciting all at the same time. It feels like just a decade or so ago, there were all these big record companies who where the gatekeepers between an artists and his or her fans. In those days, you put a band together, you played a bit, you auditioned for a label and you hoped they picked you up! Otherwise, you were doomed to extreme provinciality. Now, its like the music industry has become more like the Wild West back in the day. The centralized control is long gone and now its all about guts and sweat and honor. At least that’s how we like to think of it. We’re out here pioneering in what will eventually become the *new* record industry and where it goes depends on all of us out here. And this completely ties back into our desire to cultivate a community and culture around music and art. We, the people, decide what comes next. That’s terrifying, yes. But also, incredibly exciting.
9) If you could change one thing about the music industry what would it be and why?
Probably there’s no one thing anyone could pinpoint to change right now, but I think if we had been able to say something like 10 or 15 years ago and force the industry to really pay attention to the advent of MP3 and such it would have probably been in much better position today. Right now, I think its key for record labels and production houses to think less like the huge mega-companies of the past and to start thinking of themselves as real business. Pay the over-head, seek out new talent, invest in reasonable goals, etc. Same thing for musicians as well.
10) Are there any singers/bands that you would like to collaborate with in the future?
Of course! There’s a dream list that has absurd folks on it like Jay-Z or something. But there are musicians in the New York Area who are really high up on the list too. We regularly try to get things going with a rap group called the Brown Bag All Stars, but its never been logistically possible. Our lead singer, Akie Bermiss, works with a rapper named Soul Khan from the same group and we have some plans to collaborate there too. Also, inspiring local geniuses like Emily King (NYC) who is making beautiful music every day. There are others too, I’m blanking. But we’re always looking to collaborate — its all part of that idea of community.
11) What producer would you like to collaborate with in the future?
As a band, that’s a tricky question. There’s quite a few people we’d want to go into the studio with. But we don’t usually work with “producers” as you might call them today. The Brown Bag All Stars have a couple of insanely talented producers in J57 and The Audible Doctor. That’s definitely something we’re looking into.
12) What Is your favorite movie and favorite book?
As a band — cliched as this is — its probably Star Wars. There’s no way we could agree on a favorite book! We can’t even agree on which Star Trek series is the best.
13) What is your favorite part of your live show? How has It evolved?
We’re actually proud of how the live show has evolved over all since we first starting playing out. Right now there are a couple of parts that we really love all out but I think the most incredible part of the show might be how we play the song “Terrified” which has been our closer for almost a year now. It just starts incredibly slow and then builds to this ecstatic fever-pitch by the end and everyone is rocking out and screaming and the crowd is leaping in the air — that’s simply the best feeling.
14) What is your Lp going to be like?
We’re keeping things pretty much as they are soundwise — soulful, intense (sometimes manic), and rocking. But we are looking to experiment with bringing in more outside players. The current EP has horns and percussion and organ on it and its amazing. We’d like to do more of that… have more collaboration on the record. So we’ll see.
Right now we’re working on the follow up to our current EP. There’s no immediate plans for a full record right now. We think its a good idea to keep making small batches of material that we put our a couple of times a year. The Emancipation, Part 1 is mean to set us up to make two or three more short records. I guess if you put them all together, you’ll get a pretty sizable album.
15) Any final words for the people.
Be sure to check us out on Facebook, Twitter, and the web. Our name is so weird, you can basically just go to Google and type in “Aabaraki” and everything that comes us: its us! What else is there to say? Thanks for the interview. And support live music!
