 
Published: November 6, 2008 3:15 PM EST
By: Isaac Davis Jr., MBA
(Juniorscave.com)
New Music Spotlight
Opposite of Faith
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Opposite of Faith
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One of the amazing parts to this job is featuring unique and up and coming talents. This next project definitely constitutes as something that readers of this magazine should take a peek at after reading this spotlight. My conversation with J, who is the primary sonic architect of the group, the Opposite of Faith, outlines the origin of this project and what fans can expect from the group. Please take a moment to read this in-depth spotlight. Enjoy!
Isaac: Elaborate on who you are and your upbringing.
J: First, thank you for the interview. We are The Opposite of Faith-A San Francisco Music/artist collective featuring vocals by recording artist Latrice Barnett, Scratching and Turntablism by The Legendary DJ Quest, Drumming and electronic percussion by Joel Griffin and me, J, playing bass.
The name, in one sense, is a reference to the moment of choice people make in their lives when trying to determine what they believe. It's not a judgment; it's a question.
We are all fairly seasoned vets-Latrice has worked on a Grammy Winning House Music Project with an artist named Jay J, Quest is one of the founders of Turntablism, up there with DJ Q-Bert and Apollo, Joel Griffinhas be a pro drummer for years, and I've been work in various audio and
video medias for years. I just play bass-LOL!
Our goals are to create focused, innovated music. We fall loosely into the Trip Hop format, but our goal is to push the envelope. These first few songs are an amalgamation of all my years of playing, experiences, etc.
Isaac: Was there any one musician that spoke to your heart so profoundly, you were inspired to do your own thing?
J: There are so many! It would take up the whole interview to talk about all of them. I'm inspired by creativity in all mediums-my goal is to add as much to it all as I can.
Isaac: Which singer/group would you say you would most like to do a duet with?
J: I'd love to work with Massive Attack. I have to say this band is based so much on the idea of doing the music I want to hear that most of that want is covered.
Isaac: What singer/songwriter do you most connect with?
J: I have to half way answer that question-I love to read interviews with people like Chris Cornell and Sting to hear about how they write songs for inspiration and reaffirmation that anything can inspire you, but I can't honestly say that I feel that I outright "connect" with anyone because writing is such a person journey and feeling-there's nothing else quite like it in my life.
Isaac: Out of your entire song collection that you've written thus far, which song(s) would you say is/are the most personal/meaningful to you?
J: LOL! I have to give a short answer-- all the songs are personal, but the one that, on certain levels, means the most is "Phaseshift" the whole song kind of just "came to me" during its creation. A few months ago I was going over the lyrics again and realized that there was a hidden meaning/visual in the lyrics-the song is about emotional and spiritual ascension-on a personal level. It really had to due with me dealing with the death of a friend and the difficult situations that came from it-the recovery from that-but the chorus-the reference to "wings" and traveling to the next life-I realized that it was about becoming an angel. Not in a Catholic or Christian sense, but transcendence. It was very cool to come to that understanding several months after creating the song.
Isaac: Which singers/groups do you enjoy/like from some of today's music genres?
J: All kinds of things! Lately I've been a huge fan of Gnarls Barkley and Radiohead. I rediscovered the band Curve recently-love their work. I also like some of the producers' style artist-Audio void, End-user.
I'm really digging the new Chris Cornell stuff-particularly "Long Gone".
Isaac: What charities are you involved with or support?
J: I'm a huge Link TV fan. It is most of the TV I watch nowadays. Amy Goodman and Democracy Now, Color of Change.org, those are some. After going through so many musical instruments, I started to make big donations to the Green Belt Movement to save some of the trees. I try to get a few hundred trees planted for the few I destroy getting basses made.
Isaac: Have you (or would you ever consider) writing a song about any of today's particular world issues/problems? If so, what world issue would speak to you the most to write about?
J: Yes, but rarely in an overt sense. The track "Condemned?" is about hypocrisy of many in the religious right-not everyone of course, but the Ted Haggard types. Mostly though, I write about personal politics. My views on many of these issues are pretty complex and I don't feel I can
cover it in a song accurately.
Isaac: Why should people listen to your music?
J: What we actually are is a media production team that focuses on creative and experimental media. If you like thoughtless, throw-away pop music you probably won't like us. If you want to hear creative people try to push various mediums forward, check us out!
Isaac: Your music is relaxing and chill. What inspired you to toss out these awesome
lyrics and cords?
J: LOL! First--thank you! Just to warn you, it's not all chill and relaxing. Honestly, I have a need to put it out there and create something. I could give you a more technical answer, but not a better one!
Isaac: How far into the creation of a song do you share any of it with anyone? Who would
you play it for? Would it be a chorus, a verse and chorus, or a complete song?
J: At the moment, I write the songs and lyrics but as time goes on, it's opening up. Everyone contributes though. Latrice created the vocal melodies on "Phaseshift" off the top of her head in the studio. As far as I'm concerned, that made the song. Joel Griffin, the drummer, is working
on sounds for one of the next singles-"When Forgiven". Typically, though, I present the songs in a pretty finished format.
Isaac: How much do you let others "mess around with" one of your new songs?
J: If you mean like a remix-honestly, I'm not big on that idea right now. I wouldn't bother trying to stop anyone, but it doesn't thrill me. I would want the songs to become a little more established so if they were remixed there would be a reference point. Right now it's such a formation of ideas, I want to establish what it is before I have a bunch of people who might
not understand it involved.
Isaac: Do you have to be a tortured soul to be a singer-songwriter?
J: HELL NO! I seriously have very little patience for that perspective. If you want to be creative, then do it-you don't have to make your life harder than it is.
Isaac: Are your songs strictly autobiographical or are they embroidered autobiography?
J: At the moment, I've pretty much been dumb enough to make them autobiographical (LOL!), but they are more about my thoughts and understanding of things then particular events. I do find that you start stepping back and seeing greater meaning in things though. The songs stop
being just your personal feelings.
Isaac: How long does it take you to process your emotions and turn them into songs?
J: There's no real time frame-I just start thinking about things and go from there.
Isaac: The best piece of advice you actually followed?
J: "Understanding that this is all a business and that I need to treat it like that". I've had so many people help me-Domino from the Hieroglyphics Crew is an old friend and he advises me all the time. I think the important thing to recognize is that you're in business and that there are
a huge amount of resources available if you take it seriously. I've read a ton of books-The E-Myth, The Tipping Point, The Future of Music; you really can get what you want out of the business if you're willing to do it right and not BS.
Isaac: Give Shoat outs to your family and friends.
J: Isaac, thanks again for the interview! Domino from Hiero-thanks for all your help and advice! To Quest, Latrice and J Grif-thanks for all the great work and for believing in my vision!
Isaac: Last but certainly not least, what are you working on, now?
J: The next two singles, "When Forgiven" and "Achromatic" are being recorded
now and they will be out soon!
Our goal is to really create something special-for us and the audience. In today's climate, it's becoming harder and harder to create a real relationship with your audience and make it worth everybody's time.
We have come to the decision to really push two sites:
A site that allows us to effectively push out music and allow you guys to
join us on our mission:
http://www.reverbnation.com/oppositeoffaith
And Sellaband is one of the best sites I've seen so far-if you believe in what we do you can vote for the site to support us and blow the project up!
http://www.sellaband.com/oppositeoffaith
Check them out and pick up the singles on Amazon and iTunes!
Opposite of Faith
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