SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST MARTINEZ INTERVIEW

Josh Martinez is a Portland, Ore.-based MC, singer and songwriter who also serves as head of indie label Camobear Records. While Martinez resides in the United States, the SXSW veteran is also a Canadian national and will bring two ensemble acts to the 2010 festival in addition to his lengthy solo catalog. Martinez fronts the rock band Pissed Off Wild and forms underground pop tandem the Chicharones, with Sleep of Oldominion.

I watched the “Underground Pop” video with you and Moka Only. Your dad is a journalist. Is Hunter S. Thompson an inspiration for your work?

Absolutely. One of the best things about Hunter S. Thompson is the idea that he created a mythology of his own character, the Gonzo journalist. I think it’s inspiring to a lot of journalists in and of itself just because it’s such a fascinating read. It’s fascinating because it’s about myth building. It’s not really about the truth. I use him as a model for Josh Martinez. I’m not sure if you know that, but my name is Matthew Kimber. Josh Martinez is an invention, and it was a long time ago. It was designed to create a character of myself that was a part of me, but that was bigger than me and allowed me to separate the music and the myth from the human behind it.

Are you going to be mixing the Chicarones’ comedy with some of the straightforward stuff at SXSW?

Very much so. We use a lot of comedy, but it’s used in a very serious sense. We take songwriting very seriously and we take the idea of subversive messaging really seriously — the idea that underneath the humor, melodies, joking and back-and-forthness of it is a positive, serious message. I take it back to Hunter S. Thompson. I think that with my own solo stuff, and then into the Chicharones, it very much uses that same idea. I don’t want to preach to people. I think you can provide insight that’s palpable to people so that they’re like, “Oh. That’s something I thought, or would have thought if I has put those words together in that fashion.” It’s able to relate to people and not overwhelm them with a message. I’ve always used humor to engage in my regular life.

What are your musical influences?

I draw pretty heavily from theBEACH BOYS. Before the Beach Boys I was a huge doo-wop fan and late ’50s rock, surf rock, Dick Dale guitars. I was basically a fan of any group that started with “the,” like the El Dorados, the Cadillacs. I got really big into roots, rockers reggae stuff, even just the rocksteady stuff. Harmony groups like the Gladiators, the Mighty Diamonds and the Ethiopians. Anything basically that had melody in it attracted me more.

Comedy is a pretty strong influence. Stand-up comics are the best they’ve been in years as far as being edgy and interesting and relevant. I borrow from everything.

You mentioned growing up as a driving force in the current sound of your music. How is 2010 Josh Martinez different from 2002 Josh Martinez?

More than anything, there’s a refined nature to the struggle. In 2002, Josh Martinez was really excited about everything and was down to leap in wherever, get every opportunity and throw his energy in every direction. As you grow up, you get tired of… I could stop there. You get tired. You don’t have the energy to pursue every piece of interest so recklessly. You refine yourself. You refine your taste. You refine your boundaries as to what you are willing to do. As time goes by, if you say “no” to things, people come back with more reasons to for you to say “yes” later on. Once you establish yourself as a voice, as someone people want to listen to, you have this ability to make better decisions.

Why did you choose the independent route?

Some people will dispute this. I’m not by any means a control freak. In fact, I’m probably more trusting than most indie artists are. I didn’t start this as an ideological thing. But, Def Jam wasn’t knocking on my basement. You can do two things. You can sit and wait and believe the hype that comes into your head when you start to impact people in a small way. I never was delusional that my music was going to be accepted on a larger level. I became independent because I thought I didn’t really fit with anyone else.

How many times have you been to SXSW?

This is my 11th time. I’ve been going since 2000.

Do you think SXSW is a good venue for hip-hop?

It’s definitely changed. I know it’s a rock festival, but over the course of time, they’ve kind of slowly opened up to hip-hop. Definitely with the success of the Rhymesayers and Def Jux showcases they’ve seen that there’s a need for them to be more present with it. It’s still overwhelmingly a rock festival, and the venues overwhelmingly prefer rock to hip-hop, such that my good friend Matt Sonzala who runs the hip-hop booking for SXSW is constantly thwarted in venues he’s that trying to throw things at because the venues don’t want hip-hop. They don’t necessarily know why. They just don’t want it. There’s still that stigma to it.

Which Josh Martinez projects will be playing at SXSW?

All three manifestations of the young man formally known as Josh Martinez. The Thursday night showcase is gonna be with the Pissed Off Wild. The Friday night showcase will be The Chicharones. Sunday we do a boat cruise around Lake Travis. That will be Josh Martinez and The Chicharones. I’ve got all the bases covered as far as that goes.

How did The Chicharones and Pissed Off Wild bands form?

The Chicharones formed at SXSW the very first time we were there. We were both there for the first time in 2000. A guy named Sole from anticon had been interested in putting out both of our projects. He told us about each other. Sleep [of Oldominion] was in Portland at the time, I was living in Vancouver. It’s about a 6-hour drive from each other. We basically hit it off immediately. Sleep had booked me to play at his local club. I did the same.  We started working in the idea that Sleep and Josh Martinez Are the Chicharones, which created three acts for the price of one.

Pissed Off Wild started in Vancouver. I was living there and saw that people were getting bored of hip-hop karaoke. The idea of having a live band to me was the possibility of creating a more longer-term sound. The sounds we were getting out of it were definitely outside of my comfort zone. It’s definitely rock. It’s definitely punk. It’s definitely surf. There’s some real heavy music that goes to it. It’s some of the most accessible stuff for people outside of hip-hop. There are some raps in it, but it’s more singing than it is anything else.

How did you come up with the band names?

A long time ago I was doing some “modeling.” I had some long dreadlocks at the time. I had an “ethnic” look. The Josh Martinez was my Russian/Jewish model name. My girlfriend at the time thought it was the funniest thing in the world. Before that, my rap name was Maxwell, which was my granddad’s name. I hated rap names. I thought that was dumb too. When Maxwell was on the cover of Rolling Stone in 2001 I had to change my name.

Pissed Off Wild came from a girlfriend at the time her and her two sisters. When their father spent an hour and a half waiting for one of his three teenage girls to come out of the bathroom, he would say, “I’m getting pissed off wild!” Also, because “Pissed Off Wild” as an acronym is P.O.W. We also like the punching nature of it. Our logo is a fist punching a skull.

Chicharones is based on the delicious New Mexican snack of the same name, fried pork skins with chili. Since me and Sleep always considered ourselves greasy and straight-to-the-heart, we kinda felt like that was a good, solid name to work with.

What’s your biggest vice?

My biggest vice is probably an overcapacity for being awesome. It just drains me on a day to day basis, being able to keep up with awesome. I work through it though. I try to keep an even keel.

What’s in your SXSW festival survival kit as an 11-year veteran?

A toothbrush in your pocket because you never know where you’re gonna sleep. So you definitely want to make sure you’re going to have some clean teeth. And earplugs because you never know where you’re going to sleep. And condoms, because you never know where you’re going to sleep. [laughter]

Who was your first celebrity crush?

I’m a huge Alyssa Milano fan. That just goes back to “Who’s The Boss?”

What’s your musical guilty pleasure?

I really like Lady Gaga. I think that’s a terrible think to admit to yourself. I also like Il Divo, those four Italian guys who sing opera music. They look like greasy Italians, but they’ve got nice turtlenecks. I’ve got a think for European dance pop like Robbie Williams, Lady Gaga, even Kylie Minogue I can fuck with. You can have it in the background and do some serious involuntary fist-pumping.