Electric Love: What’s your favourite part of the summer season?
Evil Ebenezer: I’m up at this gorgeous cabin on the Sunshine Coast right
now, and I’ve been out on the boat the last few nights: pulling up crab
and prawn traps. We went for a beautiful swim at the lake yesterday.
You know, just enjoying the outdoors. You don’t get a lot of
opportunities to do that the rest of the year in Vancouver. So just
enjoying outside, spending time with friends and people you love and
care about.
Electric Love: Where did the inspiration come for your new single,
“Tina Turner”?
Evil Ebenezer: My inspiration usually comes from the beat. So the
producer, Stroker (Deluca), laid down the beat, he just played the
sample, and I was like, “Ok I dig this,” and then you know, your brain
starts moving. I think I wrote a couple lines and did the hook last.
Sometimes I do the hook first, but I think on this one, the verses started
coming together first cause we did the sample and then the drums came
in, so I just kind of started writing. The inspiration, I mean, I never know
where songs are gonna go or how they’re gonna start or whatever, so I
just kind of start and then things begin to snowball and they have a new
life of their own, you know what I mean? I go off on a limb and then just
kind of see what happens. I would almost call it “freestyle” because it’s
off the cuff, it’s in the moment.
Electric Love: If you could do a collab with anyone in the rap game
right now, who would it be?
Evil Ebenezer: I would probably say someone crazy like Kanye West. A
producer—more than a rapper—like Pharrell. Someone crazy who could
make me get outside of my comfort zone and make me do something
nuts. So like Pharrell or Timbaland. People like real producers, not just
beatmakers, but someone who would be have me making music for the
world, not just rap, but more on a grander scale.
Electric Love: We’re excited to have you at Electric Love Music Fest
this year. As far as festivals go, which ones have you performed at
in the past and which one stands out as your favourite?
Evil Ebenezer: I’ve done a couple in the last couple years. I did Midem,
which is one in Cannes, France which I did last winter, and I did
Rifflandia in Victoria last year I believe. What can I say, they were all
good in their own kind of way. They were all kind of big things with lots
of people which is cool, and not to downgrade big festivals, but I’ve had
just as much fun playing in a 100-person venue, do you know what I
mean? Where it’s like intimate… It’s all about the experience and the
people you meet and that kind of leaves you with whatever that
memory is.
Electric Love: What are you looking most forward to at the Electric
Love Music Festival and are you familiar with some of the other
rappers who are going to be sharing the stage with you?
Evil Ebenezer: Yeah I know a lot of them. Chelsie, who’s the promoter
who booked me, has been a big part of the underground hip-hop
community for a long time now. My homie Prada West is playing, and I’ve
known Swollen Members for years and they’re on there. There’s a
bunch of dudes like J-Dohe and Stroker and other homies there. If you
look at the flyer I know a good majority of them. I think the answer goes
back to what I said: reuniting with people and seeing old friends from
the past, checking out some new peoples’ music, just kind of the
camaraderie that’s there with the people in the community.
Electric Love: What would your advice be to new up-and-coming
rappers who look up to you and your career?
Evil Ebenezer: Be original. Try as hard as you can to not follow any
trends and work on your craft, work on your voice, work on your delivery,
work on your live show. Be nice to people. Don’t be a dick. Shake
peoples’ hands, look them in the eye. Don’t burn bridges, or try not to.
The one guy you piss off tomorrow because you think you’re all that, and
you know you sold a couple mixtapes at your high school and you’re
running hot, and a year later that guy’s a promoter at a club downtown
or he’s a rep for a label, and he’s not gonna give you the time of
day. People’s memories don’t fade so quick. If anything, try to be a good
person and treat people with respect, or at least treat people the way
you want to be treated. I know that’s an old proverb, but I really do
believe in that.
Electric Love: What’s next for you? Any big releases or other big
shows coming up this year?
Evil Ebenezer: I’m playing a show at the London Pub on July 21st. This
fall I’ll be putting out my new solo album called, “All That’s Left,” and it’s
produced entirely by Factor Chandelier, my friend and a producer from
Saskatoon. So in September I’ll be releasing that, and I’ll be doing
more dates touring Western Canada and might go out East and maybe
some States to promote the new album. I’ll probably drop a new single off of it in July or August.
YouTube Video for “Tina Turner”:
