Q+A: David Dallas

David Dallas recently headed over to Austin, Texas for the annual SxSW showcase, which also included other New Zealand acts such as Young Sid, Mr. Sicc, Surf City, Gin Wigmore, Bachelorette and The Ruby Suns. Anyway, we’re doing our part to end professional journalism as we know it so we got together for a virtual sit-down and I hit him up with a load of instant messages a la Something Awesome: The People. Dallas fills us in on the downsides to SxSW, his collaboration with Buff1, moving overseas, and why we never got a video for the P-Money’s Love Alone Remix. (Which should most definitely still happen.)

me:  Alright man. How did your show at SxSW go?

David: It was cool

that’s probly not enuff for you to go off right there ay

me:  Ha ha!

David: lol

nah yeah, it was all good

it’s a shame that they marginalised us and chucked all the “international hip hop” on one showcase tho

me:  What do you mean? How does it work?

David: well you apply for SXSW along with however many other thousand acts

then you get told you’ve been accepted rah rah… and then maybe a month out from SXSW you get allocated your showcase slot

and that shit is just up to them

so in our case we all got put on the bill for this international hip hop showcase

and me, sicc and sid were all playing 1 after the other

it’s cool in the sense that you’re with your countrymates and shit

but at the same time it’s like fuck, i could play on the same bill with these guys at home

and it just chucks all this international stuff together in a box.. when musically and stylistically all those acts coulda played with acts that were much more in the same vein

me:  That’s disappointing. Do you think its worth it as a New Zealand artist to go over there and play it?

David: yeah totally, just because being there can afford you meetings and opportunities are never going to arise here

like i was at a Killer Mike show and I met Diplo

and Diplo introduced me to this dude Stunnaman from that group The Pack who did the Vans song

that dude gave me all his details to hit him up to work on stuff

i was like oh yeah.. might just be lip service or whatever

so i just emailed him to see if he’d respond

dude hit me back straight away, had checked out my vids and stuff – dug them. was keen as

that’s just an example of the total randomness of that event

you never know who you’re gonna come across… and everyone is there

me:  That’s pretty incredible. How would you compare it to CMJ last year? Was it a similar experience?

David: I prefer SXSW to CMJ, any day

SXSW is more of an experience to me, its like Big Day Out in an entire downtown area for a week

it literally owns the town

CMJ bein that it’s in New York… you can’t take over NY ya know

and SXSW everything is close, and organised way better

so you can literally check out all these acts, and you know when they’re on etc

i found with CMJ i couldn’t even find any showcases that i wanted to go to

let alone actually getting along to them

me:  Have you played SxSW in the past?

David: yeah last year was my first time

me:  That Kid Daytona story on your website is pretty funny. I can’t believe dude said that stuff about the Bushwackers.

David: yeah see THAT’S crazy

like that’s one of the emerging rappers I’ve been a fan of over the last 12 months

we bumped into him on the street while we were drunk

my boy Che hit him up like Yo, are you Daytona.. then gave him the spiel bout who we were

next day we’re out havin BBQ

it’s fucken weird, you’d never consider doing that sorta thing here at home

but that’s just how it goes down over there

me:  Yeah, that’s crazy. I’ve been listening to his ‘Come Fly With Me’ mixtape ever since Leilani mentioned that track ‘Lately’

David: yeah he’s ill. hardcase dude too

we got picked up by this taxi, with this like 50 yr old dude

and his taxi had like subs and shit

and he was just crankin southern rap.. LOUD as fuck

me:  Classic. I wish that would happen over here.

David: and like while we’re at lights and shit, he’d have one hand off the wheel and kinda be doin hand gestures like he was rapping the song

and i’m in the front passenger seat with this 50 yr old dude doing rap hands right next to me to Young Dro songs like ….. ?

too bizarre

me:  What about the show? What songs seem to get the best response from an audience that doesn’t really know your material?

David: it was weird cause most of the people there actually knew some of my stuff

cause i was the first act at this show, so for the most part the people there had actually had come out early to catch me

by the time i was gettin to the end, i hear some U.S jock looking dude yell out “do Indulge Me!”

crazy

me:  That’s pretty cool. Maybe it had something to do with the Kanye thing.

David: yeah just the blog stuff and Serato White label

this southern DJ dude had come out, dude looked just like David Banner

and he hit me up and was like yo … when i heard your stuff I thought you were Black!

he was just trippin out

me:  ha ha ha.

How did the collaboration with Buff1 on the ‘Front To Back’ remix come about?

David: it came through our boy Sam Dutch, he’s got a hip hop label in Oz. He’s put out some of our stuff and he puts out a lot of other releases from the US and UK.

he’d done stuff for Buff and had brought him out to Oz, so he put us in touch

me:  Nice. And Buff joined you on stage for it as well, right?

David: yeah

we linked up with Buff and his manager Josh when we went over for CMJ last year. we get along real well with those dudes so it was a no brainer being that Buff and them were in town too

me:  What were you doing in NYC afterwards? Did you play anymore shows?

David: nah, just meeting with people. so much of the industry is there

went out to the rap radar 1st anniversary.. that was crazy

met big boi from outkast at that, so that was tight

me:  Man, his solo album better be coming out.

David: hard

it’s real buzzy seein some of these people

comin from here ya know

me:  Yeah, I could imagine.

David: like even people like Elliot Wilson, it’s like oh.. no shit

me:  Do you have any more plans to go overseas?

David: yeah no doubt

i might like to base myself somewhere else for a minute

me:  Oh yeah? Where abouts?

David: N.Y or L.A i guess

me:  I really like your work on the new P-Money album and the Love Alone remix is really good. How come you never made a video for it?

David:  ha, you’d have to ask Money bro

but i think we kinda just missed the boat on makin a vid for it

bein that the song had been out last year, i think P wanted to come with somethin entirely fresh for the new year

me:  Fair enough. What about yourself? Are you planning on releasing any new singles from ‘Something Awesome’ or are you going to start working on new material?

David: I’ve been workin on new stuff for a minute

There’ll definitely be another single off Something Awesome tho, I’m just tossing up which one it is at the mo

send me your suggestions if you like

me:  In The Mood is pretty great. Or Ain’t None Left.

David: i’ll note those down

me:  What have you been listening to lately? I think the latest Yelawolf and Fabolous mixtapes and both of Freddie Gibbs mixtapes have been getting the most play on my iPod.

David: umm.. i bought a bunch of stuff off iTunes before i left and so i’ve just listened to this handful of songs cause that was all i had on my phone

all old shit

Eternal – Stay

New Edition – Still In Love

Whitney Houston – You Give Good Love

Portrait – Here We Go

Brandy – I Wanna Be Down

Silk – Hooked On You

that’s the playlist

me:  Nice. This new album could sound pretty different.

David: hahaha, nah that’s my shit

Something Awesome i let my r&b leanings shine thru way more

at the core, that’s what all my shit is. my ideas of like melody and stuff all comes from r&b singles they used to play on the radio in the 90s

me:  I’m not sure if this is correct or not but I think I read somewhere that you wrote all the hooks on Something Awesome.

David: yup

so theres like terrible guide vocal versions of me singin all that shit

me:  LOL

David: nikos stuff on I get the feelin, radz stuff on turn it round.. LOL

there’s a guide vocal version of me doin radz parts on ‘Say Yeah’

how gay is that.