The Darkside of the Moon Tour II feat. Buggin, Playytime, MoveBHC, and Zulu starts on Oct. 7th, and in my book, this is one of the most important tours to take place this year. I, for one, can’t wait to be in a room full of Black and POC Punx celebrating our creativity, our resistance, and our resilience!
Today we share with y’all an artist to artist interview featuring Anaiah of ZULU and Obi of Playytime .
A: If you had to describe Playytime’s music like you would describe a person and the qualities and characteristics that make them up, how would you describe them?
O: The most complex person you’ll probably ever meet, but you’ll only understand that if you really spend a lot of time with them. Says a whole lot without saying much at all, which allows vulnerability, but at an arm’s length.
A: With a new record on the way, walk us through a little bit on how you developed your sound, the process, and how it differs from previous recordings?
O: I think in certain places it’s a more realized version of what we were trying to achieve on the demo and The Fun Never Ends. Our influences are all over the place but I think despite that the songs are well focused. There’s definitely a lot of new stuff we’re toying with that I think people are gonna love. That’s all I really wanna say because we’re still right in the middle of recording it, so I’m not tryna have people expecting one thing just for us to change it up last minute. But I can’t wait for everyone to hear it. It’s the best I’ve felt about our music in a long time.
A: In a free-for-all wrestling match with everyone in your band, who’s taking home the championship?
O: Unbiasedly speaking, I really think it’d be me haha… just because I’ve been preparing my whole life for something like that. And even if not me, I’d for sure have the best spots of the night because I’m a highflyer at my core and I’m a big fan of contributing moments.
A: You guys are about to play the BET Awards, who’s the special guest you guys are bringing out on stage to perform one of your songs?
O: I’ve always had this wild dream of doing something with Solange, so that’d def be the one. And it doesn’t even gotta be our songs. I’d love to do “Down With The Clique” with us as the backing band. I honestly feel like this is a realistic scenario. I think she’d love our band.
A: Rock music (let alone hardcore music) is typically never thought to be “Black people music” because of the effects of white supremacy, which in turn has pushed away Black individuals from that space. My question is, what do you think as a people we can do to bring people back in and reclaim that space?
O: We’re doing that right now by just existing in it. If you’re in a community or scene that you feel underrepresented in, it’s up to you to make that space for yourself and by doing that, you allow others to feel like they can do the same thing. Wanna see more Black individuals in bands? Start those bands, book the shows, go tour and make yourself undeniable. Darkside Of The Moon and stuff like Break Free Fest are the best examples of that I can give. It’s up to us to make shit happen for ourselves because we can sit online and complain all day long about how bad the scene is for Black people but it’s not gonna do shit but get you a few likes and some I see you and I hear you’s in your DMs. Hardcore, punk, and DIY is beautiful because you can literally do all this shit yourself and I can’t stress that enough. If we’re doing it, then anyone can do it.
A: Is there anything other than music that the band draws inspiration from (Books, Movies, Art Movements etc)?
O: I can only speak for myself here, but I’m inspired a lot by nostalgia in most art that I make, so that always finds its way into Playytime. Certain memories from my childhood, whether it be a moment, place, tv show, book, or a song, and remembering how it felt back then and trying to understand how it makes me feel now. I think nostalgia can be a beautiful thing depending on your relationship with it and what you choose to do with it. I’m not someone that likes to dwell too much on the past, but it’s crazy how easy it is to forget something through the years and the moment you hear about it or see it again it instantly unlocks these hidden memories in your mind that you probably would’ve never even knew you had otherwise.
