Interview: Dua Boakye, Bad Rabbits

http://passthepunk.com/interviews/86/interview-dua-boakye-bad-rabbits/

Posted on October 26, 2011 in interviews

Pass the Punk recently got an exclusive interview with Dua Boakye of Bad Rabbits, an R&B/Soul/Pop group from Boston, Massachusetts who are currently on the ‘Sgt. Schlepper’s  Who Needs Hearts Club Band Tour’ with Travie McCoy, the Black Cards, Donnis and XV.

Pass the Punk: So, I don’t think our followers have heard of your band yet, so if you could describe your sound in a few words, what would they be?
Dua Boakye: I can describe it in a couple words. Insane, funk, dance music, with a twist of R&B, indie, and punk.
PTP: I can definitely attest to that. I wanna say that you guys have one of the most energetic shows that I’ve seen. It doesn’t compare to many people at all. So, if you could say what you try to do with your music?
DB: We try to, I mean, the whole point is to get people from standing and to get them moving like us. ‘cause the more they move, the more we move. I can not stand to see one person just staring, just looking, I want to have them moving or dancing, and it feels like I’m doing my job right then. I think that’s the same way with the band, we want to make sure that everybody is having fun. The main objective is to have fun, and dance our ass off, and maybe get laid afterwards.
PTP: [laughs] Okay, and, two more questions.
DB: Alright. No more questions. [joking] Okay, go ahead.
PTP: If you could cite one band our song that just always gets you, in any way, it gets you dancing, it gets you up, it gets you emotional.
DB: Right now I’ve been listening to Pharoahe Monch, he’s a hip-hop artist, his brand new album ‘We Are Renegades’ just came out. I was listening to Lupe Fiasco before that because I wanted that type of album that kind of like, you know, motivates you. It kind of was a disappointment, then Pharoahe Monch came out. I love Lupe, don’t get it twisted. I know what he went through to make that album. I love that album. But Pharoahe Monch right now is what I’ve been playing, and that gets me up and it keeps me moving. ‘We Are Renegades’ is a dope album, it just makes me feel good, so that’s what I listen to now.
PTP: Okay. So, final question, do you have a charity that means something to you that we can promote on our site?
Graham Masser (guitarist): I don’t know exactly what the name is, but if you look up ‘David Leighton Marzetti’ you’ll find it.
DB: He’s a good friend of ours who passed away. He knew us from the beginning of when we started as a band, and he saw our success, and now he’s watching it from paradise.
GM: The foundation gives money to underprivileged children, gives them an opportunity to get instruments, take lessons. So it’s just like spreading the music.
DB: Because, I mean, right now music and art is not valued in this society, so we’re trying to get that more prevalent. If it wasn’t for music and art in the society that I grew up in, I would probably not be around right now.
PTP: Well, we’ll definitely link to that. And, thank you for your time. Have a good day!
Bad Rabbits were great to give us a little bit of their time, so please follow them @badrabbitsband on twitter. The charity they spoke of is a fantastic one, and Pass the Punk has found the link, so just go here: https://www.davidmarzettimusictrust.com/ to learn more about the charity, see what they’ve been doing in the community, and to make a donation yourself.

 

Raleigh program gives $1 lessons

BY LORI D.R. WIGGINS – Correspondent

When Myriah Luke’s middle school orchestra teacher suggested her students hire a private tutor outside class, the pre-teen knew her family couldn’t afford the extra cost and mustered courage to quietly say so.

Her teacher’s answer: Raleigh’s Community Music School, which loans instruments for 30 weeks of 30-minute, one-on-one music lessons to students who qualify for Wake County’s free-and reduced-lunch program and would otherwise be unable to afford to buy instruments or pay for private lessons. The cost at CMS: $1 per lesson.

Myriah, now a high school sophomore at Broughton, still plays cello.  On Saturday, she and about two-dozen other young musicians showcased their talents on piano, guitar, violin, snare drums and the alto saxophone during the CMS Intermediate Recital Series. Myriah played “Gigue” from “Sonata in D Minor” alongside her CMS teacher, Jake Wenger.

“A lot of successful musicians have actually had tutors up through high school and into college,” said Myriah, 16. “I definitely will continue at Community Music School for as long as possible.

“It’s been so enjoyable. I’m so glad I did that.”

This year, CMS, founded in 1994, opened its recital series in the old sanctuary of its first-ever permanent space at St. Savior’s Center at 618 Tucker St., off Glenwood Avenue.
For the past 16 years, CMS has borrowed classroom and performance space from churches like the Church of the Good Shepherd and St. Augustine’s College, CMS executive director Carol Walborn said.

“We didn’t have our own presence,” she said. “It’s been a tremendous boon to have our own location.”

Since it began, CMS has taught more than 1,600 children. Currently, 166 children are enrolled in classes that also include vocal, flute, clarinet, tenor saxophone and other musical programs, including opportunities to attend concerts and learn under the tutelage of artists in residency.

For the past two months, for instance, some CMS students have stepped out of the box of classical music to learn a new repertoire and new instruments from the Magic of African Rhythms cultural arts group. The groups will perform Sunday at the N.C. Museum of History’s Music of the Carolinas Series, sponsored by PineCone.

Such partnerships make it possible for CMS to both pay its teachers and expand its offerings to students beyond its music classes, as does funding from the Raleigh Arts Commission, the United Arts Council of Wake County, and support from the N.C. Arts Council, individuals and corporations, Walborn said.

In January, CMS was approved as an affiliate member of the Berkley College of Music’s City of Music program and will create a digital music lab to offer students free online music curriculum, Walborn said. Students who complete the course will be eligible to attend Berkley’s Summer Music Camp in Boston next summer and to compete for eight, four-year college scholarships to Berkley, she said.

In addition to teaching voice and piano, Waltye Rasulala, a former WRAL television personality who holds a bachelor’s degree in music and a master’s in conducting, teaches a CMS class that helps students understand the basics of music – how to listen to it, how to hear it, how to understand rhythms, recognize intervals and read notes.

She also sits on the CMS board of directors.

“I firmly believe every child should have the opportunity to have private lessons in instruments they might be interested in,” said Rasulala, whose introduction came during a benefit concert she performed at St. Augustine’s.

“Music should be as much a part of total education of a child as anything else,” she added. “Music can go hand in hand with academics, supporting academics. Understanding rhythm and theory is a very mathematical game.

“It’s another level of learning for them.”

It also acts as therapy for kids, replacing insecurities with a can-do spirit, Rasulala said.

That’s why Anjanee Molock continues to teach flute at CMS eight years after she completed a college internship.

“I truly enjoy the students,” said Molock, 30, a Washington, D.C., native. “I was around 8 when I started playing the flute.

“Children need an outlet,” she said. “When I was younger, music was my outlet. It’s nice to give children that outlet for self-expression.”

Aside from getting a letter from Julliard, expressing the music and notes he hears in his head and learning to put in black and white, is what young pianist Ari Moore revels about CMS – and sharing his original composition, “Morning Light,” during the recital last weekend.

“It’s made me a better person,” said Ari, a seventh-grader at Carnage Middle School. “It makes me feel good, by the way it shows on the outside of me when I play, the way I express the music when I play, the feeling of it.

“It’s something I want to always do.”

http://www.midtownraleighnews.com/2011/02/08/5987/raleigh-music-school-offers-low.html

DAVID MARZETTI OF RALEIGH-BASED BAND SLEEP CONTROL DIES AT AGE 27

David L Marzetti

RALEIGH, N.C. – David Leighton Marzetti, drummer of Raleigh-based rock band Sleep Control, passed away suddenly on Tuesday, October 19. Marzetti was 27 years old. Marzetti, a Northeastern University graduate, earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Business and dedicated his life to music. In 2006 Marzetti signed on with Sleep Control front-man James Forgey as the band’s drummer. From that point, the duo began experimenting with a broad spectrum of sounds and styles before adding bassist Sam Branstetter in 2009. Marzetti developed his own distinct sound on the drums by drawing influence from a variety of genres. He was known for constantly pushing the limits of playing the drums.

Sleep Control had made great strides as a local band having showcased last year in Nashville for label and industry reps. Plans were in the works to record the band’s new songs with critically acclaimed producer Mike Garrigan (Athenaeum/Collapsis). Marzetti’s contributions to music, as well as his deep-rooted compassion for helping others, will not soon be forgotten. As a beloved friend, drummer, brother and son, Marzetti will be greatly missed by all who had the opportunity to know him. In lieu of flowers,  memorial donations can be made to the David L. Marzetti Music Trust Fund, which will provide music lessons and instruments to underprivileged youth.

Donations can be sent to:

David L. Marzetti Memoral Music Trust Fund

609 Sea Oats Court

Corolla, NC 27927

Or via Paypal







Donations are allocated to tax-exempt programs that provide music instruction for children who would not otherwise be able to obtain music instruction, such as The Community Music School in Raleigh, NC and The Water’s Edge Village School in Corolla, NC. Grants are made with a particular focus on percussion instruction. The Trust is a tax-exempt 501(3)(c) organization and donations are tax deductible.