Interview #14 - Ceschi & David Ramos

Songs of Honesty

You know these guys so there is no need for me to babble on. I give you Ceschi and David Ramos. 

For those who don’t know you, could you both sum yourself up in one sentence, please?

Ceschi: My name is Ceschi, I write songs, play string instruments, rap and own the record label Fake Four Inc.

David: My name is David (Da-veed) and I play the drums, rap, and make some songs with a Casiotone keyboard.

What, initially, inspired you to get into making music and have you both been doing it for the same length of time? Do you help each other out on solo projects?

C: We always messed around with music since we were very small children. I think my mother inspired us to sing a lot and listen to music as much as we do. We used to record ourselves on a Fisher Price tape deck. When we were around 13 (myself) and 11 (David) we started our band Anonymous Inc. We’ve recorded on all of our projects together since then.

D: I do think that our mother played a major role in influencing our general appreciation for music. When she was a child she played the clarinet, but the noise from the clarinet was so distracting to my uncle that she was forced to play outside. When the Connecticut winter rolled around, she couldn't very well practice in the cold, so she stopped. Or so the story goes. I'm not sure I believe that though, but as a first generation American my Grandparents likely placed a heavier emphasis on studies. However, as we were growing up my Grandparents really encouraged our musical ambitions, they even helped buy Ceschi a violin from Italy when he was 14. I had a makeshift drum set at my Grandparents' house, and my grandmother would often sit and play the drums with me. So really I think our family always nurtured our musical aspirations. As far as whether or not we help one another with solo projects...yes, but Ceschi helps me way more than I ever help him. With my self-produced songs I start with a skeletal version of what the music eventually becomes.  Ceschi is, without question, critical to my songs. Where as Ceschi's music can often be more self-sufficient. In the end though, our music started together with our band Anonymous Inc. Therefore, everything that comes out as solo projects feels like an extension of Anonymous Inc. 

You two are not scared of mixing and getting in to other genres than hip-hop, which type of music did you start off with and do have different purposes with the varied styles?

C: We started playing grunge rock music. I’m personally interested in any music that makes me feel something. It could be instrumental or rap or folk or whatever. It can transcend through sound or lyrics or both. But you just know when a song hits you. I think we both try to make music that’s honest and hopefully makes us and other people feel a connection to it. 

D: Yeah, well I think Ceschi pretty much sums this one up. I certainly don't think that different genres have different purposes. The process of expression stays organic throughout the genres, yet sometimes a certain platform, or musical backdrop allows one to detail thoughts and feelings differently. In many cases "hip-hop" (loosely used) feels liberating because of the amount of content that can be placed in a single song. There is not other music where you can so thoroughly express an idea. However in other genres, the expression can be equally potent and sometimes more powerful with fewer words. Anyways, really it is not some heavily calculated decision. We don't hold ourselves, or our ideas, hostage to any one genre.

Could you briefly tell us how you make your music? What´s the procedure like? 

C: Different songs and projects have different methods behind them. Sometimes I’ll write a song on acoustic guitar and bring it to David and Max Heath (our collaborator and keyboard player), sometimes I’ll just write to a beat, sometimes I’ll write lyrics first and mold them into a song, sometimes make the beat from scratch. There’s no exact procedure I’d say….

D: Different projects and songs truly have different methods. I often write songs on a Casio keyboard, and Max and Ceschi bring them to life. On my most recent project it has been a bit different because I worked heavily with oskar ohlson from Germany. This is the first time since JTT that I had more than a few songs produced by one person. Oskar is great, and I was lucky to be able to work with such an accommodating and hard working producer. Occasionally I would copy and paste the beats to make them longer. Of course he hated this, but would rework the beats entirely so that we would both be happy with the outcome. Anyhow, we are involved in such a variety of projects and each project has a great variety within it, so there really is no single process.

You two have people all over this globe listening to your stuff. You´ve also been travelling a lot and have worked with musicians with various backgrounds and nationalities. What have you learned from this experience and what differs from what you are used to in your own music making process?  

C: Well, yes, a good example of this would be the fact that I worked with DJ Scientist from Germany.  Working with him has definitely not been the easiest process. Sometimes we can’t properly communicate our feelings about a song or edit because of our distance. Sometimes we just have very different taste – possibly because of the language or cultural barrier. Either way, I think it’s worked out quite well even though it hasn’t been easy – we both bring unique styles to what we do.

D: Well, I have not really traversed the globe so much as my brother has, but vicariously I have made my own connections. Indeed, oskar ohlson is the most significant example of this. Initially a few of the oskar songs were sent to Ceschi. I had a lot of things written and I sort of stole the beats. Luckily, oskar was ok with that, and more music came from it. Oskar and my preferences are sometimes slightly different, but I think we both have tried to accommodate one another. There have been times where he has asked me to re-record something because it was recorded poorly and there have been times where he has modified the music to fit my vocals. All and all, the main difference is probably my lack of emphasis on clean recording. The low quality of my recordings has really been the only noteworthy issue. Email collaborations can be tough because you don't get the immediate satisfaction of a response. Also, it can be hard to explain certain things...but generally oskar speaks English perfectly. Sometimes I forget he is German, but I think the distance has its advantages in that we are able to pull from different places, and we approach the songs differently.  

Combined, the two of you have done a lot of music in different groups and projects. Would you mind to start off by telling us a bit about that? Where did it all begin?

C: I feel like recording and performing has been a part of our lives since we were small children. It all began with Anonymous Inc. when we were kids. We always liked to make fake bands also – we have like 5 or 6 joke bands and would just record entire albums for fun with our friends. We’ve always been fans of a lot of different kinds of music as well so we’ve got a history of dabbling in many genres. 

D:  Basically it all started with Anonymous Inc., and in the end that is where our focus will ultimately shift.  After releasing Sento La Tua Mancanza I will start working on pulling together a new Anonymous Inc. album. We have over 10 years of recorded material to pull from, and I want to put my energy into that. 

Many of your hip-hop fans might not be too familiar with Dead by Wednesday. How did that band come together? Do you put just as much focus and energy into DBW as you do into the rest of your music?

C:  Dead by Wednesday is a band we started with our cousin Christian back around 2004. We all have roots in heavy music and at that moment in time I know I was personally craving the energy of live performances in this genre. In a matter of years we started touring a ton with Dead By Wednesday and did some of the biggest shows of our lives. At certain points DBW was pretty much the focus of our musical careers but this has changed a lot now. David stopped performing and recording with the band around 2007 when he started taking care of our grandmother full time. I still work with DBW and recorded on the latest album The Last Parade but I no longer perform with them live aside from some of the local New Haven shows. 

D: Really, Christian and I recorded a song on a four track after some show he had played with his former band.  For me, it was a mostly enjoyable experience, and there is definitely an emotional element to the genre that cannot be found elsewhere. Screaming and performing such heavy music is really different and often enjoyable for that very reason. There where definitely some moments where I felt out of place, but that was not because the music was heavy, so much as I felt like I had certain roots in hardcore music (Bad Brains is possibly my favorite band), and the metal scene was just not the same. As a matter of fact, neither was the Hardcore scene. At any rate, I think Ceschi accurately answered the question. We definitely put a lot of energy into performing and touring. In fact my most extensive touring has been with Dead By Wednesday. But in a genre where touring is so imperative, I simply could not continue to do it. In my opinion, DBW is better now than it was with me in it.  The songs are more developed, and they are generally a much heavier band. Recently at a show in New Haven I jumped on for a song, and I must say it is refreshing.

You know I have to ask about Knuck Feast, the crazy sexcore crunk group, that you had together with, amongst others, iCON the Mic King. What can you tell us about that project, and is there any possibility of a follow up?

C: The Knuck Feast project actually has a lot to do with Dead By Wednesday, believe it or not. In 2007 Dead By Wednesday was asked to tour with Insane Clown Posse for 30 dates all around the US. We found out shortly before we ended up leaving – probably 3 weeks before actually leaving for the Midwest to start the tour. We had been dabbling with vile crunk music and just down south rap sounds for fun for many years, but when we were called to go on this ICP tour we decided to go all out and make a whole record of this kind of music. We didn’t know much about Insane Clown Posse but we knew that ICP were “shock rappers” who talked about killing people and doing awful things to women etc, we also knew that their fan base was interested in Tech N9ne (who we also really respect and like). So, in one week we recorded the entire Knuck Feast album with major help from a producer named YOsef UnA & Ape Nine from Colorado as well as our keyboard player Max Heath, DJ Creative and iCON The Mic King. The next week we got help from the homies behind Grimm Image Records to press copies of the cd rush delivery so we would have it for our tour. Needless to say, the Knuck Feast album was successful with the Juggalos and there’s now a funny underground following for that project – people constantly ask us to play those songs live in our hometown for instance. A lot of people also don’t “get the joke” so it’s brought us some dramatic criticism as well. Oh well. Yes we are considering a follow up – we have some ideas that are going to focus more on the “Swag” direction of mainstream rap right now. It’s going to devastate mufuckas. 

D: I don't know anything about Knuck Feast but....

First let me say that Ceschi regrettably forgot to mention Jay Scaf (aka Rusty Finger Cuffs) and his contributions/appearances on the Knuck Feast album. Knuck Feast actually started long before the cd was recorded. Jay and I did what can be considered the first Knuck Feast song for my first solo album JTT. The song was called Cash Yo Checks, and although the name Knuck Feast did not exist yet, this song was clearly the foundation for the future Knuck Feast brand. A couple of years later, on The Most record, we did a second crunk song. That was the next step towards officially becoming the super group that is Knuck Feast.  

Knuck Feast is a crowd-pleasing interlude in New Haven. Unfortunately, when we perform Knuck Feast elsewhere the response is often mixed. In Portland Oregon Ceschi and I were playing a typical mixed set. We often play songs from all of our different projects when we perform under the Anonymous Inc. banner, but in this case when we got to Knuck Feast there were a few women that were genuinely offended. They made a quick exit in total disgust. My reaction was to get further into character, and thus be even more offensive. I'm fine with weeding out the folks that get offended. I understand that there are some revoltingly offensive lyrics, but the shit is so over the top that it seems like anyone should get it. On the other hand, when we do it, we really do it. We have had full Knuck Feast sets with powder getting thrown out on the crowd, and very mean things being said to people in the crowd. When we get in character it is not broken, and I could see how that would be confusing. Either way, I think Knuck Feast is some of the most enjoyable shit to perform. It does feel a little similar to the energy in performing with DBW. Shit is a joke, but not really. As far as the swag phenomena, I think we shall dabble, but as the lead member in Knuck Feast I won't ever let the crunk fade.......... mostly because my character probably would sound stupid doing swag. It's just not Christikal's style..........

Also, I don't know anything about Knuck Feast...although I hear they are really vulgar. 

Ceschi, I’ve heard rumors of a vinyl release through Cooler than Cucumbers Records. What can we expect from that and any information regarding a release date?

C: Yes! This is going to be called Forgotten Forever. It’s going to be limited to 100 vinyl copies with 100 different covers by 10 different visual artists who will manipulate old vinyl sleeves however they feel. The material is a collection of songs I’ve done over the years that have never been released in full capacity. I’m really happy with the album actually. It reminds me more of my older music like Fake Flowers – probably since I produced a lot of it. You’d probably only recognize one or two songs maybe.

David, you recently released the limited cassette La Tua Mancanza, a project that I know was very important to you. Please tell us the story behind it and about the response that you have received so far?

D: It is a bit challenging for me to jump from the Knuck Feast question to this one...... 

Basically, recording the songs for La Tua Mancanza was my only productive option at a time when I felt utterly powerless. When my Nonna passed away, it was the quintessence of a life shattering experience. There will never be anyone in my life for whom I feel such reverence. When the most important person in your life is suddenly absent, it becomes nearly impossible to cope with that bitter reality. Some people search out answers in different ways, I personally rummaged for solutions in many different places. I am not religious, but I went to church. I am hyper cynical, but I went to New Age breathing workshops where there were people that I might have normally made fun of. In the course of time I found that nothing worked. Everything seemed aimed at self-improvement. Therapists constantly address "the problem" in a way that seems totally self-involved, and purposefully circumventing of the fact that life can be utterly brutal. You can better yourself all you want, but so long as you have real insight into how devastating life can be, it will never be easy to be content. The "problem" in this case has no solution.The fact is that there is no proper way of grieving, and the puzzle is made of pieces that don't attach. Loss is not something that exercising or eating bananas (2 suggestions I came across) is going to reverse. The permanent nature of death is something that I have found to be almost impossible to accept. La Tua Mancanza was in some ways a tribute to my Grandmother and in other ways a chronicle of how I experienced her loss. At times it was the only rational thing I could do. The idea of moving on and accepting it was never a valid possibility. I had to do something. I recorded songs, just like I went to churches, and holistic breathing workshops. It was part of the greater process of coping. However, just like meditating, praying and seeing hack psychiatrists didn't bring me any sense of closure, neither did this tape. I guess that in the case of the tape, healing was never the intended purpose anyways. In fact, when I started recording these songs I wasn't confident that they would be released. I recorded over 50 songs and eventually we (my brother, my dear friend Nick Kenna, and I) decided that I should release some of it. 

The tape serves as a preservation of memory in some ways. The thing I fear most is forgetting, and by cataloging these songs I will have something to look back on. In addition, I am very proud of some aspects of the tape. Mostly I am proud that I was able to incorporate audio of my Grandmother playing the drums. She inspired me more than any one person or thing, and I am proud to see her name on the credits of my album. So in some ways the tape serves as a tribute to her, and in other ways it is a bitter reminder of how painful it has been to exist without her.

Initially I released this tape in a limited non-digital format for a variety of reasons. The cassette tape evokes a nostalgic response for me, which felt appropriate for the material. Both the sound and the actual feeling of cassette have a quality that is lost in a digital format. Furthermore, by making it a tape the album as a whole is preserved. In this case, it was important for me to not allow snippets of the album to misrepresent the project in its entirety. I am happy that I chose to make it a cassette, but I did receive a good deal of emails asking for digital files and whatnot. The tape is indeed not going to be digitally available, but I am "officially" releasing a lot of the material on a cd in May titled Sento La Tua Mancanza. The cd has most of the songs from the tape on it, as well as some new ones, but it is different. Besides having new songs, every song that appeared on the tape is remixed, and oskar even made completely new beats for a couple of the songs. I am not going to deny that it is sort of like backing out on the initial "tape only" concept, but it was a concession that was made only after having felt a significant amount of pressure to release some of the material on a wider format. I am okay with releasing the cd and the digital album because it feels so different from the tape even though some of the songs are shared. It feels like a completed version of the cassette, but the limited tape has its own quality (and songs) that will always remain unique to the cassette.  

Basically, I have had a response to the tape that I was not expecting. The tape seems to have had an impact on others that goes beyond my personal experiences. Certain things and emotions are universal, but I really was unsure how people would react. These songs were not recorded with an audience in mind, but some of the emails that I received were quite powerful. It doesn't take much to bring me to tears, so some of the very personal and open emails that I received were truly overwhelming.

Being brothers, has it always been natural to work together? Any sibling rivalry lurking in the past?

C: It is very natural for us to work together – I think it’s funny because we both suffer from lack of inspiration at different times so we each have to push each other to make music at different times…right now it’s safe to say that David has been highly motivated and inspired to make music while I’ve been very slow and lazy! There is no sibling rivalry at all – we support each other very much.

D: It has always been natural to work together, and I am extremely gratified by my brother's success. Without sounding too corny, I have to say that I objectively think my brother is one of the best musical entities out there right now. He is, without question, hugely influential to my music. Sibling rivalry...not at all. After all, only one of us looks like he could be in Oasis.

What does the future look like for you and for Fake Four Inc.?

C: Right now Fake Four is stronger than ever. We have been building a great group of followers  and artists and we’re honestly a large group of friends. I’m friends with all of the artists on the label really – mainly from touring or just being in the same circles for so long – a lot of us have honestly grown really close. Fake Four has some exciting albums coming out in 2012 and 2013. We’re just trying to keep putting out interesting music and hopefully become relevant to a group of people outside of our small community of supporters.

D: For me, after Sento La Tua Mancanza is released (as well as a 7" with oskar ohlson which will have an exclusive track on it) I doubt very much that I will have a follow up for a good while. I really want to work on Anonymous Inc., and that will be my future focus. 

What are your hopes with your music? What is your personal goal that you want to share with the rest of us? Any hidden messages maybe?

C: My only hope is that I make music people can listen to over and over again and still feel something from it. I think a lot of our lyrics aren’t easy to instantly understand so it takes many listens to truly grasp the details of songs. No hidden messages – just a lot of honesty.

D: I have no lofty goals in music. We all want to be well received of course, but besides that I can't say that I have a specific goal other than making honest music (as well as fun fake stuff).

And finally, where’s the best place on the web for people to find you, look your stuff up, stalk you and get in touch with you? And of course, any shout outs to end with?  

C: I’m working on setting up a new website right now but at the moment www.facebook.com/ceschimusic is the best way to check out my music, tour dates, videos, buy my albums and talk to me

D: Ceschi started a music facebook for me, and even though I really have not kept up with it, or done anything for it... at some point soon I will. www.facebook.com/davidramosmusic. Also check out my Bandcamp, davidramos.bandcamp.com. A massive shout out goes to oskar ohlson and Christoph Lofi for being so patient with me. Also, Max Heath is doing some great things that I have been lucky enough to hear.... so keep an eye out for that.