Kofy Brown

Interview 11 October 2004

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Hey Kofy, how you doing.

 Im good

 

Lets start with Love Warrior, tell me about the album, and what your expectations for it are.

 

Well. I love this album. It took awhile to make- I generally drop an album once every 2 years but this one took 3 years- I had a lot of personal drama going on during the recording of this record- so for me this was a very healing process (the recording and release of Love Warrior)- for me this record is about love, idleness, apathy, resolution and honesty. My expectations?¦.humm I think if this out sells Area 32 that would be a great progression and a good mark of success for our label, but I would also like this record to open up more opportunities in the realm of song placement on compilations and film- also more exposure to a bigger and broader audience would be great, especially for touring purposes.

 

What was the thought process in drawing this together, bit funky, bit laid back, bit of rock and blaxploitation.

 

The first track Love Warrior’s Theme came out of a number of sessions my band and I recorded for an MTV promo commercial- they wanted that seventies wah wah thing- after the record was pretty much done and I gave the album a title I figured it would be great to  have sort of my own theme music- The whole idea around Love Warrior is like this woman super-hero out to spread love and show the power of love and I needed my own theme music to go along with that adventure, but in general I’m just a lover of music and whatever mood I’m in is how I write and create-

 

I love Walkin out of time very Curtis-esque in style and content? All she could say is my favourite, the hidden track too

 

Thanks!

 

Any feedback yet from home and overseas.

 

 This record is receiving good responses- We sent out a few promos right after we got the whole CD mastered just for feedback really and it got picked up by Soul Brother Records in the UK- Here we did a limited release in May 2004 again to see how the market would respond to it and it has been excellent so far-  We did a 3 week tour in Switzerland in July and August to promote it out their and was received extremely well.  So it’s going great right now.

 

Your team around you a pretty solid crew, you’ve been together a while?

 

 My team is excellent but I have had some major changes in the last few years.  My label partner in Simba Music for the last 10 years finally got enough of the music business and has moved on to different but better things for herself so that’s a big change.  And after the finish of this Love Warrior CD I decided to change my band of 8 years.  I still love those guys but everyone needs change- So yeah my crew was together for a long time and now it’s a whole new ball game but as for Darnell well let’s just say she’s irreplaceable!!

 

You seem to retain a kind of live feel even on the albums?

 

That’s what it has been from the beginning and it’s translated very well on the recordings.

 

Tell me about your show -  seems everywhere I look everybody loves the show.  You communicate? 

 

The shows the shows - I think that has been my trademark, my live show - I just have a lot of energy and have always had great musicians- my philosophy around performing is to give it up 110% at every performance whether it’s for 20 people of 20,000 people you have to always give it up - and I think that has served me well- people seem to enjoy the show the sincerity around the performance- so far everywhere we’ve traveled people have responded favorable and I am grateful for that.

 

How difficult is it as an independent, or do you need the freedom that that gives you. Fiercely Independent I read!

 

 Huh! It’s tremendously exasperating! With that said I love it! I probably wouldn’t know how to act on a major label since I make music on my own label the way I feel and how I feel it and I don’t have to answer to anyone- But it’s that way cause it has to be! Labels don’t know what to do with m :~)

 

Let’s go back now.  Tell me about yourself, where your from, where you live, bit of background, that kind of thing. You’re from DC but now in the Bay? Free spirited and powerhouse? Is that you?

 

Free spirited definitely, Powerhouse?..maybe -  I think I have a pretty commanding stage personality, but I’m such a sunflower girl - you know - the whole Love Warrior thing for me is real. I believe in the power and mighty-ness of love!  Yes I’m from chocolate city Washington DC baby! I have always been in bands from a family band to high school bands and so own – I’ve also always wanted to own my own business since my days at Howard, so the whole independent label thing was a real business plan.  And living in Oakland, CA for the last 10 plus years has been a very creative yet laid back place- it’s a cool place for me right now- I’ve made it sort of my base and have a good thing going but I can see perhaps moving abroad just because of the love I’m getting  - We’ll just have to see.

 

Love Warrior is your 5th or is it 6th album, take me through each of the previous ones and tell me how you are progressing:

 

 Whew! Let’s see, Love Warrior is the 6th release but the 5th CD.  The very first release She’s Butta -  was a 3 song cassette we released in 1993.  We never put it out on CD but sold it during live performances.  Then came Live and Delicious which was also a cassette but then we re-released it on CD in 1995.  This was a very good release for us because it got written up in Billboard magazine and was so well received.  We were so inexperienced then.  We were contacted by so many labels at that time, Sony, MCA, Warner Brothers, Capital, and a host of other small labels but when they heard the music they were not ready for it- Live & Delicious was a live recording and a very murky one at that but regular people loved it.  The energy the rawness - but the labels were like what do I do with this??? Next came Hungry 1997, which landed us a spot at the North Sea Jazz Festival in 1998.  That’s when we started to travel abroad and got a good following.   –Skinny & Tight -  came out in 1999, Area 32 in 2001 and now Love Warrior.  It’s so funny I have more albums than a lot of major label artist out there.  To date each record has sold more than the previous one, so for me that’s success and a progression.  I also clearly hear my production getting tighter and songwriting getting more developed and better crafted.  I can definitely hear the growth.

 

 

Live and delicious, the first when was that? I’m not familiar with the first ones, so was this live?

 

She’s Butta was the first release in 1993- Live & Delicious was first released in 1994 on cassette then re-released in 1995 on CD with an entirely different packaging.  And yes it was a live recording, which we got because the club/studio we were performing at could not afford to pay the artists and they gave everyone a separately mixed recording of their performance. Our performance happened to be a very good one so we released it.

 

 

Then Hungry, Skinny and Tight  - what kind of feedback and sales were you getting with these.

 

Hungry got mixed feedback- I used to go by Kofy Brown MC and on this album I changed it to just Kofy Brown.  Some of the critique was that I wasn’t MCing enough and that it was more rock based, but for me I was growing as an artist and needed to do what I felt.  At the same time this is the CD that got the attention of Bertus Distribution in the Netherlands, which gave the CD to the promoters of the North Sea Jazz Festival and they loved it and offered us a spot at the prestigious Festival.

 

Skinny & Tight was a more spontaneous CD in the recording process at least. (Slave Child remains one of my favorite songs) We were getting really good buzz we got picked up for a P&D deal with a bigger indie label here in San Francisco, Nu Gruv Alliance who had just put out Jurassic 5 and Aceyalone.  They got us great exposure but it was hard to work in the confines of that deal.  We were so wild! We were not used to people telling us when they were going to release and how many CD’s we could have and so forth - that was sort of our introduction to the music business not according to us.  Our hands were tied a lot on that project so after that record I vowed to never do another P&D deal again unless it was for BIG $$

 

 

With Skinny and Tight and then Area 32 you were getting good attention from over here. Some deep stuff on there too  41 times 

 

Area 32 was a much more somber release.  I was getting grown and really feeling the affects of the economy of the Bay Area.  My living situation changed.  We had a huge 1500 sq ft. live work space that we ran Simba Music out of but in 2000 our landlord sold the building to this guy who just wanted to make a profit out of the real estate market here in the Bay and basically kicked everyone out!  It was crazy. The whole Amadu Dilallo shooting which 41 Times was about in New York had a profound effect on me. My younger cousin had been shot sitting on his door stoop in Washington DC back in the early 90’s so it just took me back you know - and it hit me hard that the police again was basically committing murder- whether out of fear? racial motivations? Or ineptness? It just really touched me.  Lost & Looking, A Day In The Life were also very introspective and questioning tracks on that record.  This was also around the same time that the other group Koffee Brown came out- it was crazy.....we had to get a lawyer and so much was going on...we eventually settled a deal with Arista who recognized that we owned the name and got through that whole ordeal...Area 32 came out in a very hectic and tough time for me.

 

What else have you done, seems I only know you in the unit you have built up over the span of these albums.

 

If your asking what else I have done outside of my own releases? Not much. Meaning my 6 releases have been material and songs written arranged and produced by me.  It’s been my outlet and my release as a musician and artist.  With those releases I have placed tracks on 5 independent films.  Scored an MTV ad campaign in 1999/2000.  And have toured a lot in Canada, the States and Europe.  Although now I am involved in a side project, a 3 piece all girl Rock & Roll band called Sistas In The Pit.  It’s great!  It allows me to explore and get in touch with the rocker in me you know. If you’ve seen the live show you know that I’m a Rocker in the traditional sense, We Rock! And so this is a great way for me to do Rock music.  I play bass and sing.  We’re pretty good.  I brought the other members with me when I toured Switzerland this year and we opened up some of my shows, it was great! Check out www.sistasinthepit.com

 

Tell me how the guys and how you have forged this unit.

 

It’s a new unit this time around so we’ll have to wait and see.

 

What do you know about the UK, you had those tracks on the Soul Brother comp.  Are you still with them in any capacity?   Actually I just realised that there is a UK release. Should’ve know that!  

 

I would really love to come out to the UK and do some shows!  The Soul Brother people are good folks. They have supported my music now and in the past and have opened up an audience in the UK for me who didn’t really know who I was so I have a lot of gratitude and appreciation for the Soul Brother camp.

 

Tell me about your songs and how you put them down.

 

 Hummm let me see - every song is different and has a different story and approach. I play Keys and Bass mainly and use those two instruments for the majority of my writing.  I typically start with the music the melody and mood.  I start playing chords and melodies based on my mood.  I don’t like to write anymore when I’m feeling really bad or sad.  The music can be terribly sorrowful if I’m in a fowl mood.  I like to write mostly when I’m inspired or my energy is ripe- not necessarily happy just motivated or intense you know when all of your senses are awake and stimulated... I also write poetry.  It’s so great when the words flow.  Sometimes for me its like a faucet I get these flows and just have to keep writing and I can’t stop until it’s done- Those are peak times great times when you know your on and you feel and are just writing on auto.  I adore moments and flows like that.

 

Who were your influences both growing up and now. 

 

Growing up I’d have to say Prince, the Isley Brothers, Philys Hyman, Salt & Peppa, the Spinners, Rufus & Chaka Kahn, Jungle Brothers, Grace Jones, Billy Joel, Bill Withers, Stevie Wonder, Hall & Oats - ..Now I don’t know as much who influences me, maybe Lenny Kravitz, I love his production work. Now I’ve been listening to a lot of Dina Washington, Nina Simone, Sam Cook.  I’m looking at the song writing styles and delivery of the artist.  Their intention behind the words have such impact, Chaka Kahns delivery with Rufus, like  - Better Days -  oh my goodness! but now I’ve been really absorbing Dina Washington and her inflection and delivery, it’s masterful, like on  - Cry Me A River.  I would like to do that better, have more intention behind my delivery as a singer.  I’m still developing my style but at least now I can see it you know recognize myself and how distinct my voice actually is and try to better develop it and build on it.

 

And whats happening next?

 

We are gearing up for a small club tour in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and France starting the last week of January 2005.  Also we are right now doing a re-mix of  - Walkin’ Out Of Time -  for a 12 inch release slated for April 2005- I think the mix is going to be great, it’s sort of a house mix.  The 12 inch is going to have Walkin’ as the A side and a track that didn’t make the CD  - Dancing In The Sun -  as the B side- so that should be fun- We're also working on a DVD entitled Soul Rebel/Surving On The Underground- I have a lot of performance footage from early shows up to now so it's going to basically show how I did what I did as an independent artist- It should be cool-

 

And whats the big plan?

 

Survival Baby!

 

Anything else you’d like to add.

 

 I just want to say thank you Mike for checking out my music and for the exposure to your base.  I appreciate the support from you and others out there.  Also if you haven’t heard the new record Love Warrior yet you can go to www.cdbaby.com/cd/kofybrown and hear a taste.

 

Good luck and thanks for your time. 

 

Peace, Love Warrior for ever!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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