Art & Life with Steebee Weebee

Today we’d like to introduce you to Steebee Weebee.

Steebee, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
I went to ASU in the mid 90’s. I started to go to the local underground hip hop shows in Tempe, Arizona-while I lived in the dorms. I met other rappers- and started recording on a four track recorder. I bought my first sampler off one of my friends in college and started learning how to make beats. After I finished college I moved to Los Angeles-and lived on my brother’s couch. I eventually got sober and started working at Amoeba Records. Through that, I started putting out albums locally specifically through their “homegrown” section. I formed a group called-“noblehops” -and we played local LA venues-like opening up for “Ugly Duckling” at the Knitting Factory.

The group ended up disbanding and I quit music. I started working at Fat Sal’s sandwich shop.

One day my brother picked me up to go get Korean BBQ. He had to make a u-turn because of a podcast he had to go to called DVDASA(which was David Choe’s and Asa Akira’s podcast). My brother ended up just taking me with him-and eventually was integrated into their podcast. Through that, I met Money Mark-from The Beastie Boys-cause he would play music for the podcast.

One day David Choe asked a couple of us if we would be interested in recording music in Big Bear, CA. We all agreed and ended up recording an album there. The group was called “Mangchi”-which means hammer in Korean. We ended up doing an east coast and west coast tour-as well as Canada. We recorded more albums, and we opened up for Deltron 3030 and Die Antwoord. I was the lead singer/rapper/screamer of the group and I’m grateful for the opportunities that came-so much love to my brother for introducing me to David Choe-and much love to David Choe for the opportunities.

The band is in a bit of a hiatus at the moment but I’m still doing solo shows with some of my bandmates. I also started my own podcast called: The Steebee Weebee Show. I have a bunch of solo material on steebeeweebee.bandcamp.com

Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I like to draw. I like to write. I like to make music. I have a piano in my studio apartment. I still like to make beats on my BOSS samplers. It’s like collaging to me. Obviously not visually but I use the same concepts, as far as taking 2 things that normally wouldn’t fit together-but finding a way to make the musical piece cohesive. Making beats, specifically, is like working on a puzzle to me. Most of the songs I’m most proud of are “accidents”. Especially with the sampling genre of “beat making”-cause you never know what will happen.

It could be a night of magic. It also could be a night of disappointment.haha. That’s life tho. I know my songs aren’t gonna be played on KROQ. I make music to work things out therapeutically-as well as giving myself a mental challenge. I actually like my recording quality to be bad-like the more “hissing”-the better it sounds to me. That’s why Daniel Johnston is the best-like of his old tape recordings. That’s the truth right there, ya’ know?!

What would you recommend to an artist new to the city, or to art, in terms of meeting and connecting with other artists and creatives?
In my opinion, the best art is made from loneliness. But you can’t be lonely-looking at your art feeling lonely. You gotta at least post it somewhere. Once you put it out there you can go back to being lonely. Or find other lonely people that will appreciate your art.

What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?

My podcast is at www.youtube.com/steebeeweebee

*Please go buy a shirt or something. If you can’t afford to buy a shirt, than get 1 of my EP’s off my bandcamp. If you can’t do that then subscribe to my YouTube. If you can’t subscribe to my YouTube-then I don’t know what to say to you man. Thanks for this opportunity-and a shout out to my brother “Eligh” for recommending me. Peace-love-balance-mindfulness-patience. One. Thank you, Steebee Weebee AKA: quangou

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.steebeeweebeeshow.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: Instagram.com/quangou
• Other: steebeeweebee.bandcamp.com

Image Credit:
Photos taken by: lulu
louhmendoza.com

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