Con Job
Interview 4-29-08
By. S. Arredondo
CA: What is your background? (Who are you and your band members? Tell us your story.
CONJOB was originally formed by 4 college friends in our garage who dreamt of playing heavy metal in our other friend’s garages. Eventually our singer moved, we found Zhanine and decided to get serious. It’s been 7 years and I’m the last original member. Currently we’re in the middle of recording our follow up record to 2007’s “Everybody Be Cool”, working with producer Bob Burch and Backbone Records.
CA: Please introduce yourselves, who sings and who plays what intruments in Con Job?
Kevin – Drums
Zhanine – Vocals
Warbux – MC
Vickie – Keys
Carp – Bass
Hubie - Guitar
CA: Can you tell us about some of your recent musical accomplishments ?
We’ve had a real busy year since the release of “Everybody Be Cool”, where do I begin … we were signed by Bounce Media (The Grammy Awards) to play with Digital Underground, Tone Loc & Rob Base on the National Lampoon Spring Break tour, we’ve headlined festivals all over the US from the Amplify Music Festival in Vegas to the Millenium Music Conference in Pennsylvania to the Palo Alto Music Festival in Northern California. We we’re a Los Angeles Top 10 Finalists in the nationwide BODOG Battle of the Bands, where we played a sold out show at the Avalon in Hollywood, and have headlined all over LA, from the Key Club to the Viper Room to Roxy and many more.
Recently we were named to the “Hot 100 Unsigned Band” list by Music Connection Magazine, which was a great honor. In January 2008 we won the $10,000 Grand Prize in the Century City Run, Walk & Roll Festival which we’ve put towards the production of the album we are currently working on (scheduled for a late summer ’08 release). We’ve also licensed songs to All State Insurance for a nation wide commercial campaign and to ESPN for inclusion on their Winter X Games Official Compilation CD.
CA: Tell us about the “Sexy Hustle”? Its has an exotic rhythm, what inspired you to create this song?
Actually, the song is called Tangerine that was used in the video entitled “Sexy Hustle” (which can be seen on www.conjobmusic.com). This song is a crowd favorite and one our favorite songs to play live. The inspiration came from listening to a lot of tribal music and old Jane’s Addiction, where drummer Stephen Perkins is known for integrating pulsing tom-tom rhythms over driving rock patterns. We really wanted to do something sexy, rhythmic and hypnotic.
CA:What are your songs about? (What specific themes do they cover?)
Our songs have a lot of different themes. When we were touring with National Lampoon, we played 3 shows over a 6 days in South Padre Island, Texas. Our MC, Warbux, met a strange girl at a bar who was in some pretty serious trouble with some local drug dealers. Out of that came “Coast of Desperado”. “Sound Thee Alarm” is your basic So Cal party anthem while “Goodnight at Last” is about a woman on the prowl for a one night stand. Some of the material we’re working on now is more serious, but we’ll always keep the fun vibe in our music.
CA:Do you write your own songs?
You better believe it! We do play a cover song or two if people are in the mood.
CA:Who are your musical influences?
There are so many influences in the band between the 6 of us. Just to rattle off a few: Jimi Hendrix, Sublime, The Roots, Pharcyde, Zero 7, 311, most 70s soul, Chemical Bros, Bow Wow Wow, Pink Floyd, Bee Gees, the Scorpions, AC/DC and about a million more amazing bands.
CA:How do you best describe your music to people?
A lot of people have described our sound as a mix between The Roots, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Pink. We do have elements from funk, rock, soul, hip hop reggae and dancehall so it really is however you hear it.
CA:What are the biggest challenges you face as musicians?
The eternal struggle for LA bands – no matter how good you are – is battling with club owners over shows. There is a “pay to play” mentality in LA where owners expect you to give them money up front in order for you to play a show. Without getting too deep in to the argument, we do whatever we can to avoid it and do shows that are always a great time for us and, more importantly, for our fans.
CA: What image do you think your music conveys?
That’s an interesting question. I’m not sure if we convey an image, or at least not one that I’m aware of – perhaps our music conveys more of a message, one of positivity and acceptance. But if our music does translate into an image we can only hope it’s a very colorful one that Andy Warhol would be proud of.
CA: Who handles your daily business activities? (Bookings, promotions etc.) How can someone get a hold of them?
We are very lucky to have the greatest promoter/booker/manager in the whole world on our team, Jen Creed with H2 Entertainment. She handles the business side of the band so we can focus on the music and making this new album. She can be reached at jencreed@conjobmusic.com or by phone @ 702 250 5951.
CA: The name Con Job is a unique name, how did you come up with such a unique name?
When the band first started almost a decade ago we were admittedly terrible. So we thought it would be a massive con job if anyone actually came out to see us play. Years later our producer liked the name and we just decided to keep it.
CA: Many bands today don’t seem to stick it out very long. Whats your secret in keeping your band together?
There really are a couple of important factors to any band that stays together for a long period of time. First of all the personalities in the band have to be compatible. A band spends so much down time together that if you can’t get along on a personal level, you’re doomed. Second you have to share the same goals as one another. If one person is dying for success and willing to do anything to get it but others are just in for fun or as a hobby, it probably won’t work. But perhaps the most important thing is perseverance while keeping a level head. There are so many ups and downs in this business and you can’t rise and fall with each success or let down.
C.A: Which bands and musicians do you most admire?
Well, I know I personally admire bands that started from nothing and worked their butts off to get somewhere. Bands that strive to make great music and put on great shows. There are a lot of great bands that we play with including Shotgun Radio, Ghost, Natives of the Dawn and many more that you should check out!
C.A What kind of effect did your favorite bands have on Con Job?
As far as outside influences, we’re affected by bands every day. We’ll hear a new song and it’ll inspire us to write something of our own. We’ll see a great video and it’ll move us to want to create something visual. Or we’ll get a tip on how to better handle our business by hearing about how someone else accomplished something. We’re always open to improving and doing things better. That’s what potentially makes a good band a great one.
CONJOB was originally formed by 4 college friends in a garage who dreamt of playing heavy metal in other friend’s garages.
A lot of people have described their sound as a mix between The Roots, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Pink. Con Job have elements from funk, rock, soul, hip hop reggae and dancehall.
Con Job were named to the “Hot 100 Unsigned Band” list by Music Connection Magazine, which is a great honor. In January 2008 Con Job won the $10,000 Grand Prize in the Century City Run, Walk & Roll Festival.
The eternal struggle for LA bands – no matter how good you are – is battling with club owners over shows. There is a “pay to play” mentality in LA where owners expect you to give them money up front in order for you to play a show. Without getting too deep in to the argument, we do whatever we can to avoid it and do shows that are always a great time for us and, more importantly, for our fans.
"There are so many influences in the band between the 6 of us. Just to rattle off a few: Jimi Hendrix, Sublime, The Roots, Pharcyde, Zero 7, 311, most 70s soul, Chemical Bros, Bow Wow Wow, Pink Floyd, Bee Gees, the Scorpions, AC/DC and about a million more amazing bands."
jencreed@conjobmusic.com or by phone @ 702 250 5951.
