Musclecars’ Street Dreams
Enjoy a ride with Brooklyn duo Musclecars, a.k.a. Brandon Weems and Craig Handfield. The two native New Yorkers just released an impressive second record ‘Street Dreams’ and are ready to launch their record label in October under their ‘Coloring Lessons’ umbrella. What does it take to be one of the most exciting House name in the city? We took them for a walk on a sunny day in Green-Wood to find out.
Podcast version here.
BRANDON: This is maybe 2000-2001, I remember my mom playing a lot of Jill Scott, Lauren Hill, Erykah Badu. The whole Neo Soul movement was pretty popular. She loved to play every single of the Christmas album, by Boyz II Men. So growing up, I definitely had a lot of R&B, like early 2000’s late nineties R&B. But I was really really big on hip hop, being from New York. I was a huge 50 Cent fan, Eminem, Nas. I didn't really get into dancing music until maybe 2006. Funny enough, I actually was a huge Kanye West fan! And it was when I discovered the Daft Punk sample that he used for “Stronger”, that I went to check out Daft Punk music and I just went down a rabbit hole from there. I discovered the whole Ed Banger crew, I was really big on all of the French DJs, Justice, DJ Mehdi, DJ Falcon and a lot of the earlier guys. It just kind of went from there.
I also have a personality where if I am really into something, I want to dig deep into it, discover the history, spend hours on it. I used to do the same with sneakers. I was a sneaker collector. So then, yeah, when I discovered dance music, it was kind of the same thing. I just fell down this rabbit hole and just literally went through every single artist and who are they inspired by? And then I just did my history from there.
CRAIG: For me, growing up, it's a very, very similar background. My mom was very into all the soul and R&B: Sade, Jill Scott, but also 112, Jaheim stuff like that. And all of the greats soul singers: Patty LaBelle, Chaka Khan, Dionne Warwick, a lot of soul, a lot of disco. My dad on the other hand, he was doing ghost writing for a lot of country contemporary artists. And he had a studio in the apartment, so the whole time I was growing up, there would always be people coming in and out. I think that might be where I got an indie and alternative influence. Growing up for me, I would hear that stuff, but I'd also be more into hip hop, a huge like G Unit fan, The Lox, Dipset, lots of New York hip hop. And then, just like anybody in New York, you went through an NWA phase and Tupac a lot of West Coast stuff.
It wasn't until the early 2000’s, when Daft Punk’s “One More Time” came out… But I still didn't really get into them until like around 2005-2006. And I was still listening to the newer hip hop, but mostly Daft Punk, all the Ed Banger stuff, Mstrkrft, The Bloody Beetroots, what we call now the ‘blog house’, but before it was just ‘electronic or electro music’. It was that, and then on the other side, it was a lot of ‘blog indie’ like The Klaxons, MGMT, Late of the Pier, a lot of indie bands like that. From there, I think there's this track on “Homework” by Daft Punk called “Teachers” and they list all of their influences. It's funny, I feel like it's the same thing for Brandon, we were listening to the electronic stuff, and I guess starting to listen to Masters at Work, Lil’ Louis, lots of artists like these. Yeah, that's the upbringing for me.
“Being from New York, you find ways to sneak into stuff.”
NOUVEAU YORK: When did you start going out?
BRANDON: For me, it started in Williamsburg, that whole warehouse scene that was happening in 2009-2010. There was this period where there were a lot of parties on Kent Avenue, in abandoned warehouses. We were so young at the time, maybe 16. Also going to a lot of free concerts that they would do by the pier in Williamsburg or in Central Park, Summer Stage and stuff. For a while it was a lot of just these underground things because I wasn't of age to go and check out the DJs and go to the shows I wanted to because they were all like 19+ or 21+. But then, you know, I've definitely found ways. I think being from New York, you find ways to sneak into stuff. Most young kids do.
But also a lot of things were, weirdly enough, online too. Like I would go check out Glen Jamn, the YouTuber and check out like some of the stuff he was filming. So I got a sense and felt a part of these parties and shows just through YouTube videos in a weird way. And it's funny because when I finally turned 21, I just kind of felt exhausted and felt like I've seen a lot and I started going out less.
Our first DJ gig was at this place called National Underground in the lower East side. We would sometimes pop in there every now and again to just check it out. And I remember that was also where I started to have more of an appreciation for underground dance music. Because I would go to Webster hall and it'd be like crazy kids, super drunk, their shirts off. And the music, which is like really loud and aggressive. And then I would go to a place like National Underground and it was a completely different atmosphere that I fell in love with. Like people were more engaged with the music. Most people were sober and just having a good time and dancing. I felt like the music was more eclectic and nuanced and more entertaining.
CRAIG: It’s definitely just the same for me. We met at that very formative part of going out and club life, so we have definitely similar upbringings. I started doing a lot of the free concerts around the same time. I remember a lot of the Williamsburg waterfront, I saw Simian Mobile Disco there, Major Lazer did a block party. And at this time, nobody really knew about it, that blog house scene. Diplo was a DJ, but he wasn't Major Lazer Jack U yet. So it wasn't crazy like it is now. Lots of the Central Park Summer Stage shows, I remember Boys Noize, I think Drop the Lime as Curses was doing live concerts there too.
And from there, I think there was a point where we had a lot of older friends, like Stephen Vasquez who was doing a lot of documentaries like The Electro Wars and film works for artists like Skrillex. If he was playing, we'd sneak into a warehouse in Williamsburg or Webster hall. I remember we'd have to sneak into Webster Hall because we weren't even 19 yet. It’s a really funny thing considering our sound now, it was a big room electro and a lot of dubstep. I remember seeing Brodinski and Gesaffelstein there playing back-to-back. They were the people who we'd look up to … We have a lot of stories where we snuck into cool places, but we have probably twice as many stories where we got rejected or got kicked out for being too young or something like that [laughs].
And yes, YouTube and Instagram were a way for us to see what was going on behind the scenes and what was going on in the DJ booth. I remember trying to copy the style of Xavier from Justice, his deejaying and looping. Because those guys were also super creative at the time. From then, I think we were both18 or 19 when we played our first gig at National Underground. After that, I was like, maybe we'll start trying to sneak into places like Le Bain instead of Webster hall, just because our tastes changed at that point.
“It was not a cool thing to listen to dance music when we were in high school.”
NOUVEAU YORK: You’ve just been featured in DJ Magazine and they wrote that with your party Coloring Lessons you are “educating the new generation on the classic sounds of NYC”. How did you transition from that electro, blog house background to a more classic, 90’s New York, soulful house?
CRAIG: I do want to interject that dance music was definitely a big thing among our generation in Paris and a lot of places in Europe, and also in LA, but not in New York, it was not a cool thing to listen to dance music when we were in high school. It was very, very niche. I feel like every high school had like two kids listening to it, me and one other kid who I see at Bossa. But everybody else would be like “I'm not listening to that shit”. Like the same people who are now trying to ask us, if we know somebody who could get them into EDC right now, they were like not fucking with it when we were growing up. So it's very interesting to see what it is now.
BRANDON: I wouldn't even say that our tastes completely change. Like Craig said earlier, at the time we were listening to Justice and going to see Skrillex play, I was downloading the Masters at Work discography and a lot of the earlier 1990's, New York stuff. I was discovering Kerri Chandler. My mom used to go to the Garage. I remember the first time I heard of it, I asked her about it, and through that just started going deeper into that too, and discovered Larry Levan, the records he played. So there's always this balance of, we'll go and see Skrillex play, go to these more electro shows, but also still loved and appreciated, you know, more soulful music. And I also find that I have more of a connection, an emotional reaction with the music that we play, not that I didn't like the electro stuff, but that just felt very trendy. I also feel the switch happen when we started deejaying. I remember our first DJ set, we didn't really play any electro at all. I remember playing Kerri Chandler and that sort of stuff. And I guess another way to look at it too, is that when we started going out to these kinds of shows, it was more just the excitement of it. It was an exciting thing. But I don't think it ever really defined our musical tastes completely. It's funny, we sometimes like listening to old dubstep records and laugh about it now.
CRAIG: I think that they were all happening simultaneously like us being into electro, but then also us like listening to the more soulful and like classic elements of New York house. And so, yeah, it's definitely hard to see those influences. But sometimes I'll go back and listen to music that I made when I was 14 and 15. And it sounds like Surkin or Sebastian, like a lot of those electro tracks, but it just wasn't something that I feel we wanted to make. Our first DJ sets, they were all similar to what we play now. I guess there was stuff that we like to go out and like to listen to, and then there's stuff that we maybe more resonated with us, which is what we're doing now or what is aligned with our mission.
“Well, I love this, is this house music?”
NOUVEAU YORK: So do you agree with that definition, that you’re educating the young generation to NY classic house?
CRAIG: I don't know, the definitions are so weird, but I think it’s definitely our goal. Specifically Coloring Lessons, and what we want to do with the party, the label, the radio show, educate the current generation and the current scene on the music that inspired us and the house music history our city is known for.
BRANDON: We both realized when we started deejaying, we would have friends that would come out and their perception of dance music, what they thought house music was, they would think, you know, big room Ibiza stuff. And then they will come out and hear us play and be like, well, I love this, is this house music? Just through that, I was like, wow, this is such a niche underground thing, but also it's a beautiful community and culture. And yeah I think that legacy just needs to live on. That's one of the main reasons why we started Coloring Lessons too, which is to continue that and have people like Carlos Sanchez play, who's is a huge pioneer in the New York city dance community or Anthony Nicholson and give those people a platform. These guys had such an imprint on the community, and maybe they don't get to DJ out as much because they don't have a huge Instagram following or they're just not as relevant. So yeah, trying to use our platform to allow them some room to shine.
CRAIG: And house and techno have these black roots, especially in New York City and another thing that we've seen, growing up and watching how mainstream dance music has become, is that a lot of people don't know. A lot of people in high school would be like, why are you listening to house music, if you're black or why do you listen to white people music? A lot of these artists, like Carlos Sanchez and Anthony Nicholson, a lot of young people don't know who they are. We were actually speaking about this recently: there's a Dua Lipa EP, where she did a bunch of remixes from dance music artists, like Moodymann did a remix, Masters at Work did, Larry Heard did and a lot of the comments on Twitter are like “Why did you pick all these DJs that nobody knows? Why don't you use someone like David Guetta or something to do a remix?” And so, I feel it's super important to bring back these black, very original, New York City roots to what's going on right now.
“For us, it's more about creating this experience as opposed to just us deejaying.”
NOUVEAU YORK: There are plenty of soulful house DJs in New York, they might be older than you are, but how would you describe the twist or the modernity you brought to the game?
CRAIG: Something that's cool is that we have people who come to our party who are older, who were around when this scene started. And then a lot of the people are like the cool kids that are our age and like going out, and could be at 1Oak, but chose to be at our party. I think part of it is nostalgia for the older crowd, but a part of it is just putting a lot of these young kids on to music that they wouldn't know about otherwise. That's one aspect. Another aspect is these younger kids find it to be more relatable to come to our party than to go to a [Danny Krivit’s party] 718 Sessions. And then, one more aspect about it, in terms of our production, we're making it our own. We were super influenced by everything that's been done, but we didn't want to do a carbon copy because it's not like nobody's making house music. People are still making house and techno and soulful house. And we're influenced by that, but also by soul and jazz and R&B and even electro. We have all these styles and genres and sounds that we have internalized and are now trying to put out with our first and second record and we have our third project coming out in a couple of weeks. And you can hear a lot of the influences that we've discussed that are coming out in our sound and that make it different from I guess everything else that's going on right now.
BRANDON: And in terms of the parties, in terms of that twist, a lot of it has to do with our upbringing, and the earlier shows we were going to, like these electro shows and just having this wider appreciation of these different sounds and sub genres of dance music. With Coloring Lessons, we try not to have it just be a soulful house party, we'll play techno if it calls for it or other other styles of dance music. And we also try to approach it with a bit of humility too, and not try to be too serious in our track selection sometimes. We just like to play fun records, for people to dance to, as opposed to it being this very serious thing for the heads, you know? And yeah it's probably more relatable to our peers and a younger audience to come to Coloring Lessons, as opposed to some of these parties that may seem kind of far removed from them.
NOUVEAU YORK: I think DJs who run their own party get a lot of empowerment. They don’t need to wait for a promoter to book them or to please anyone, they just do things their own way, build their own network and community. It’s two different jobs, being a DJ and running a party, but when you’re able to do both, it’s really worth it.
BRANDON: Yeah. I think that empowerment thing that you just said is pretty big, because it gives you control. We're also very obsessed with just the party itself. For us, it's more about creating this experience as opposed to just us deejaying. I think if it was just about us just deejaying and just being in front of people and looking cool behind the decks and all this stuff, then we would just, you know, have a two hour set at any venue or any club. But for us it's more about having control and really curating the entire night and the entire experience.
CRAIG: There's freedom there. Being able to invite people to this thing that we've built. The most important thing that our guests have realized, which is that it's not about us. When you think of Coloring Lessons, it's more about the party, the feeling, people resonate with the artwork, the T-shirts and the stuff that we do. We never really want to promote it as “this is only our thing”, it's not some gatekeeper shit. It’s just as much our friend's party as it is our party.
“Things are going to be done with more intention.”
NOUVEAU YORK: I need to tell you, sometimes when I see rising duos like you in dance music, I’m a bit worried, because a lot of them have some success and then they split… How do you guys plan to stick together?
BRANDON: It helps that we've just been friends even before we were deejaying. And also just having an understanding of things too.
CRAIG: It's true. I remember Aeroplane or The Bloody Beetroots. A lot of the duos that we really love have split up. But yeah, a big part of it is our friendship for like over 10 years and we know each other very well. When it comes to music, we understand each other and our tastes. And also, I find it's just more fun to do this with someone else than to do it solo.
BRANDON: Especially with deejaying, there are a few times where Craig has had to DJ by himself or I've had to DJ by myself and it’s definitely not as fun as having someone else there. Definitely a lot more pressure. We just work together really well in an organic way. It doesn't ever feel forced at all. We both play the music we love and even when we're deejaying too, and maybe I'm trying to take it into a direction, or he tries to take it in a certain direction, it works. Sometimes when DJs do back-to-backs, they try to go in two separate ways.
NOUVEAU YORK: No big egos?
BRANDON: No, no.
CRAIG: You have to keep a very open mind.
NOUVEAU YORK: I’ve been thinking about how the pandemic has been affecting us and I feel it’s a bit like a zombie movie. Of course it’s devastating but it’s also a catalyst of extreme things to happen… Good and bad. It brings us on the edge. What do you think it told us about the nightlife and dance music scene?
BRANDON: That it's very fragile and it's important just to support it. I thought a lot of places were making so much money and they'll be okay, but they are now closing down, you know? It's very fragile and I think community is more important now than ever.
CRAIG: Right now we're finding that we have to do a lot to support. There's like the Save Our Stages project where we just have to support our nightlife community. We both have been donating a lot and just trying to check on our homeys. We started the Coloring Lessons mix series to try and get donations out to different artists. Because a lot of people and clubs don't really have a backup plan. It's really hard when something crazy and unexpected like this happens. But I think we are a couple months out from the slow build of getting shit started again. So as the days go by, everybody gets more optimistic, which is really nice. People are getting hopeful again.
NOUVEAU YORK: What’s going to change when it’s happening again?
CRAIG: Things are going to be done with more intention. There were so many parties, thinking back to just last year. So now I think that people are going to be really thinking about it and thinking about what they're doing, thinking about what they're putting out into the world. Hopefully things will come out on the other side better and more as a unified and productive scene.
BRANDON: Also going back to the community, I think there hopefully will be this emphasis on more local DJ bookings and people realizing that like, you know it's also important to book people in the community locally as opposed to flying out a different DJ every week. So I feel like once we get back into things, we'll hopefully see a lot more local DJs being able to play.
NOUVEAU YORK: On a lighter note, what’s your favorite muscle car?
BRANDON: Yeah. Oh man. It's funny, because we're definitely not car people, but I do like the Dodge charger as it’s kind of simple. Even the name Musclecars, I remember just not deciding on a name for a while and it was like some weird inside joke my friend made and I just thought it was a funny name, but it also doesn't define us. People look at the name and they don't know that we play house music. They don't know that we play dance music. They don't know what we are. So I think that's why we went with the name, it was just something that was kind of funny and it didn't give people any first impressions at all.
CRAIG: I can't think of one muscle car right now. Maybe I remember my mom had a Thunderbird, so maybe that one, but I don't even know if that's a muscle. It's just an old ass car. I don't know, maybe the old, boxy BMWs? That's not a muscle car, but they're cute.
