The Rub – Interview mit Ayres, Cosmo und Eleven

Eigentlich war das Interview geplant im Zusammenhang mit einer kleinen Europa-Tour von Cosmo Baker, DJ Ayres and DJ Eleven aber leider ist den Jungs was dazwischen gekommen und Europa muss erstmal warten. Da so ein Interview aber mit der Zeit nicht unbedingt aktueller und besser wird hauen wir den Lesespaß jetzt einfach mal raus…

Can you describe the feeling you have when you look back on how it all started and now see what it has grown into?

Cosmo: It’s a tremendous feeling of accomplishment for sure, but I think a lot of the tenants of what we all started with we still hold on to. No matter how big the stage or the crowd is that we’re performing for, we still kind of hold on to that “basement party” mentality to a degree. I think that’s one of the things that keeps us sharp, and relevant. But all in all, we’re all really just very fortunate that we’re able to make a really good living doing what we love and, in a sense, doing what we’re compelled to.

When you first got started with your parties or even before that, did you have a bigger vision in mind or did you just roll with what ever came along?

Ayres:  We think about things in advance and keep goals in mind for the parties that we do, even if it’s just “we want this party to be profitable within two or three months” or “we want to do this party and play whatever we want and have it be fun and we don’t really care about the money.”   You have to accept that this is a super fickle business and scene and that if something fails, you keep on and do the next thing.  But as hard as we work, and with all humility that includes working on being good at DJing, I think if The Rub wasn’t succesful, we would have had something else that blew up.  Maybe we wouldn’t have a party at the level where The Rub is now, but I feel like we would still be throwing good parties and putting out our mixtapes and records and doing our online radio shows and touring and all that.  But yeah a big part of it is rolling with what comes along too, and jumping on opportunities when they present themselves.  The thing is, when you do a little party or a huge concert, there is no telling who is going to be in the crowd, and what they can do for you if they are impressed by your shit.  Especially in New York.

Can you remember any specific moment when you all realized that you might be on to something?

Eleven: There wasn’t one single “oh SHIT, we’re on to something” moment.  It was more of a growing sensation.  We were starting to get bigger & better press.  The party at Southpaw was getting busier & busier.  More people were trying to book us out of town.  About the closest thing to one of those moments was when we won awards for “Best Party” in the two biggest New York weeklies newspapers in one year.

What would you say is the best thing about being a part of the Rub?

Cosmo: The best thing is after working with these 2 guys, not having to speak to them for a few weeks. But really, the best part is that all three of us are creative folk, and also there’s a sense of friendly competition between the three of us, so we all push each other to stay on top of our game – in every aspect of the game.

You played in Europe before. Is there any place you really want to play in, that so far you have never played in?

Ayres:  Sonar in Barcelona!

When you play in Europe do you have to alter your selection according to different cities or does the same music you play in the US work here as well.

Eleven: Absolutely!  Every city is different.  New York is very different from Los Angeles, as is London, Shanghai, Melbourne, Oslo, and Vancouver.  A huge part of the fun of getting to travel & play all over the world is figuring out how each city & how each crowd is different, as well as were the commonalities are.

We recently had a chance to sit down with Busy P and ask him how he copes with the stress of travailing and playing for consecutive nights. If it was still fun or maybe feels like work at times. How do feel about that?

Cosmo:  It’s definitely rough at times. When this interview was first presented to me I was sitting in a hotel room in Hong Kong, stranded there and unable to make a show in Bangkok because the city had been hit by a typhoon! So yes, it can be really tough and you have to be a beast on the road. Weeks upon weeks of maybe 5 hours of sleep a night if you’re lucky. Sometimes eating like shit, never really getting down-time, being disconnected from reality in a sense. It usually ends up being that you’re running off of adrenaline like a motherfucker and then, when you finally get back home, you turn your phone off and crash out for 3 days straight. But it’s all part of the deal and it’s a trade-off for doing what you love to do and to be able to travel the globe to do it.

If you have any thoughts, that you might want to share but nobody ever asks for, then this is the chance…

Ayres: Nobody ever asks us what is on our reading list!  Jhumpa Lahiri “Unaccustomed Earth,” Khaled Hosseini “The Kite Runner” and Ann Patchett “Run.”

Eleven:  Talking about reading is for uppity dorks.  I stay watching “Fast Times At Ridgemont High”.  That’s how players do!

Cosmo: I love to cook every chance I get.

Kleiner Tipp von uns, wer sich gerne mal ein paar Mixe von the Rub oder auch anderen, empfehlenswerten DJ’s anhören möchte, der sollte mal bei brooklynradio.net vorbei klickern. Cosmo, Ayres und Eleven stellen dort beispielsweise mit beeindruckender Regelmäßigkeit Ihre Mixe online – für lau!

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