H-Town Rock Interviews: The Hood Internet

Can we say awesome?!? We here at H-Town Rock are especially excited to bring you this rendition of "H-Town Rock Interviews," mostly because we're still quite enamored with the concept of the mash-up. More importantly, however, is that STV SLV and ABX of The Hood Internet, two primary contemporary progenitors of the mash-up concept, were able to find some time in their busy schedules to chat with us regarding their craft before they visit us here in Space City this weekend. Enjoy!

H-Town Rock (HTR): How do you go about selecting what tracks you're going to be combining? Is it a mutual decision or does one person enter in with his ideas for "his" songs & then work it out together?

STV SLV: For the stuff we post on the site, most of that is done on an individual basis. Once in a while we might email a track back and forth and work on it together, but usually we just cook up the tracks on our own -- when we assemble the mixtapes, we tend to collaborate more closely.

HTR: What does your studio/mixing lab/whatever look like when cooking up the tracks? Do you work primarily with computers and processors or do you pull out actual vinyl and turntables?

ABX: It's all on computers. There is really no studio/mixing lab type of setup. Everything we use to make mixes is really portable which makes it easy to work on stuff anywhere.

HTR: What about your live set-up? Again, are you mostly weaving tracks on your interconnected laptops or are you spinning vinyl?

STV SLV: We have one laptop running Ableton Live (augmented with a MIDI controller) which goes into two channels of a mixer. The other laptop runs video stuff, and by video, I mean PowerPoint. We trade off running both stations, and once in a while one of us will be in charge of going to get drinks.

HTR: In the past 18 or so months, you've blown up larger than the trendiest of "blog bands" and ever stayed around longer. How do you respond to the great response around the blogosphere and music community in general?

ABX: We're been really appreciative of it and a bit surprised. Blogs have been really important in getting the word out to people, and if that had never picked up from the early days, I don't think we would have gone nearly as far. We never planned to be doing this on a consistent or long-lasting basis, so it's cool that so many people have been enthusiastic about what we do.

HTR: How do you work around copyright issues with all of the songs you're combining?

STV SLV: There hasn't really been any issues, probably because we're not charging people for the downloads.

HTR: Out of #1, #2, Chicago, and this new one, which of your mixtapes has been downloaded the most? Which one has your personal favorite tracks? Which ones has received the best (and worst) reception from the original artists?

ABX: Mixtape #1 has been downloaded the most, but it has also been available for the longest, so that is probably a factor. I can't say I have a favorite mixtape, because each one is different for me. The Chicago mixtape was probably the biggest project we've worked on and it was cool watching that come together. The other three mixtapes each have a special place in my heart, so I can't pick favorites. I don't remember specific reactions from the original artists to the mixtapes, but artists have been pretty into it and I don't recall any haters.

HTR: How has the tour for the new mixtape been? Any highlights or lowlights yet to speak of? What upcoming shows are you most looking forward to playing?

STV SLV: It's not so much of a tour -- ABX and I both hold down day jobs so we mostly do shows on the weekends. We had a really fun set at the 205 Club in NY during CMJ weekend. We're definitely looking forward to Houston and Austin shows, and we're also going to LA for the first time in December to play the Bootie party at the Echoplex.

The Hood Internet will be playing at Boondocks on Friday, November 14th.

Photo credit: Clayton Hauck