Who : The Crewtones (DJs Praiz & Sagewondah)
Pique : Sagewondah, I see that you're based out of Montreal, while Praiz, you're a Sea to Sky guy. How did you guys end up making music together?
Praiz: We knew each other from the Montreal hip hop scene: Sage was producing events for graffiti, rap shows, and is part of a DJ group, "The French Connection DJs," and I was a part of the DJ battle scene, DJing for rappers (Loe Pesci & Pako, Side C) and producing for a DJ band "Microtone Kitchen." Sage and I both recorded at two different studios at the same location, but never DJed/recorded together till we met back up out West. I came out West in 2008, trying to make music and DJ out here in the Sea to Sky/Vancouver region, just looking for something new. In 2009, both of us started to make a name for ourselves individually in our own regions; I started to have residencies at Moe Joe's and Tommy Africa's in Whistler, and Sage was coming out with his music and doing residency gigs in Montreal. Sage's ex-girl got him invited to Shambhala '09 and he called me up out of the blue to join him. We met up, made a routine for the Shamb's, first time working together, did the road trip, did the gig, came back to Whis, did shows for Crankworx and saw that we connected on new ideas that we had to work together.
Pique : Tell me a bit about playing at Shambhala...
Praiz : Playing at Shambhala was amazing! It was our first time and we had no idea how it was going to be. A week prior to going I did a hike with Mat The Alien, Vinyl Ritchie, Ali B, Fort Knox 5 and friends, and they were just going off on Shambhala, hyping it up, saying its their favorite fest of all time. It was! We felt honored to DJ beside all those world famous DJ's, and ended up MCing for one of the nights, as well. It wasn't like DJing for a typical club crowd; people were there strictly for the music, for performers and DJ's who have original material and want to do their own thing, this was the place to do it. Amazing crowd.
Pique : Are you planning to go back this year?
Sagewondah : We definitely would go back if they have a spot for us, still not sure. We're gonna rock it if we do.
Pique : So, from that first set at Shambhala, it looks like you guys have decided to keep working together, remotely. What's the story and the vision behind The Crewtones?
Sagewondah : Basically, we're trying to reach out to party people from across the globe, bringing world music together as funky as possible. Help people discover new styles and mix songs that people would never think they would match together.
Pique : Your respective ethnic backgrounds - African and French, for Sagewonda h , and Filipino and East Indian, for Praiz - seem to be very influential to the whole Crewtones project. How do these world music styles influence your overall sound, on this project in particular?
Sagewondah : Our sets have really exotics drums, different languages and different music theories.
Pique : Is it hard to incorporate more modern hip hop elements into your music?
Praiz : No, we love hip hop; it's part of our style of how we perform. We try to keep "scratching" alive. Modern music these days is very digital. Anyone can just press play, so we try keep things as live and organic as possible.
Pique : How do you describe the overall sound and feeling you've been able to create?
Sagewondah : It's urban world party music.
Pique : The Crewtones premiered at Tommy's here in Whistler back in September, then had another show shortly after that at The Biltmore in Vancouver in early October. How has your sound been received by the club-going crowds, so far?
Praiz : Really good! Whistler is an international and very diverse crowd, basically what we look for. The night "Glory Days" we did at The Biltmore is a world party night, so that worked out awesome!
Pique : Since you're working remotely - Praiz, you're here in the Sea to Sky, and Sagewondah, you're in Montreal - how do you manage to create new music for Crewtones?
Praiz : Just keeping good contact, Skyping, individually working on music and sending each other work and projects to do.
Pique : What's next for you guys? Are you working on recording anything, or focusing more on the live show?
Sagewondah : We are working on a mixtape coming out soon, making some original productions and remixes. The main goal is to finish an EP. But we are working on live sets for festivals, too.
Pique : Praiz, you mentioned that a tour is in the works... Any details to share?
Praiz : Yes, we're planning to make a tour across Canada at the beginning of summer, collaborating with other local artist/DJs wherever we go.
You can catch Praiz in the booth at Moe Joe's each and every Friday night, and at Tommy's on Saturdays. If you happen to be in Montreal, check out Sagewondah in action on Friday nights at Miss Villeray. For more on their music, check Praiz and Sagewondah out on Facebook or their individual websites: www.djpraiz.com and www.sagewondah.com.
