Accidental Tribe

Saturday, April 3, 2010

James: I got a chance to sit in on todays session and hear a lot of these songs for the first time. Is this going to be the material on the upcoming album?

Beat: Most of what we did today was material from the new album.

Moe: We haven’t had a chance to jam for about three weeks so we started with some older songs to loosen up. Bring out some old school.

D Boogey: Moe’s putting the album together and producing it. So after we’re finished recording it we took a few weeks off to give him time to work on it. So today we were just getting back into the swing of things.

James: Is this your first time producing?

Moe : Yes, after Under Pressure broke up I went to Five Towns College, The Institute for Audio Research for recording engineering. I got into engineering but I always felt an emptiness. I wanted to play and perform. So along with Graphic Design I engineer and produce.

James: How does it feel having been on both sides of the glass. Having recorded as a musician and working as both an engineer and producer?

Moe: As an engineer your strictly doing what the producer wants. There’s really not a whole lot of creativity involved in that aspect. Your just hitting the record button. Making sure the levels are fine. So far I’m enjoying it. I produced and engineered out last EP “The Draggin’ Flu”. Stoney also worked on that with us. He’s a good friend of the band and has been in the business for a long time. He’s done work with artists like Tito Puente and Oscar De Leon. He’s taught me a lot about engineering and producing.

James: One of the first things I noticed when watching you at the studio today was the band seems to have a strong bond that feels like family.

Moe: I would say so. I’ve known Beat since I was Eight years old.

Beat: We’ve known each other since we were kids. Just like brothers we have arguments and fights sometimes but deep down we’re like family. I like it like that. I think we all have something to offer.

D Boogey: We all have parts of ourselves that we bring to this band. That’s the vision. We all have something to offer and when we bring it to the band we create something greater than what we have individually.

James: When I first started listening to the bands older material I was hearing so many different elements and different styles of music coming together. I was hearing Funk, Jazz, Punk and a bit of a R&B. How do you bring all that together without the music becoming too fragmented?

D Boogey: With the new album ‘Resolution’ Pete wanted a different flow. He didn’t want this to be simply a hard rock album. He wanted to have a totally different flow to the music. throw in some Jazz and paint a story with his words. He also wanted to paint a story with the music. I think this was a really good vehicle for him.

James: Do you think that growth as musicians helps that element?

D Boogey: I think so. I joined the band two years ago and I’d say I’ve grown a lot. I come from a gospel background and my experience with Rock music was limited. I started playing a lot more punk and a lot more alternative. I’ve noticed a big change. Now here I am listening to Jesus Lizard.

Moe: But that’s where it’s at. We love everything. We love Run DMC, Aerosmith, The Jesus Lizard. We just love music and that’s the key. Whether it’s Sabbath, Led Zeppelin or Tito Puente. It’s just a love for music.

James: When speaking to older bands I find that music becomes less about genre and more about diversity and what just makes your ears happy. I was curious about Pete’s background and where he comes musically.

Beat: (Laughs) We’d like to know ourselves. Pete’s the mystery man.

Moe: Pete’s our secret weapon.

Beat: When we first put this together it was Me, Moe Cash and D Man (prior drummer). We played for about a year and did our thing. Adding Pete really made us gel together.

Pete: I’ve been playing Rock n’ Roll since I was a kid and got into the Blues. I was playing in bands around the city. Playing in Cabaret shows. I have a cousin who’s a professional Bass player. I hooked up with him and learned a lot about Rhythm and Blues, timing and being professional.

D Boogey: He’s the glue in my opinion. He just takes it all in and ties it together. He takes it to another level.

Beat: I formed the Tribe with Pete Mack and Dino Sex. Just the three of us. We also had a guy named Brian Hawaiian in the band for a while. But basically it was the three of us and we were a tight trio. Back in 1987 when we first formed Accidental Tribe. Then in 1993 there was another incarnation. When Moe came on board in 1991 I switched from bass to guitar. I thought we were tight back then. We tried to find the prototypical lead singer. We found this guy who had the voice and that lead singer look but it didn’t feel honest. My voice definitely has its limits. I have to sing a certain way in order for it to be effective. But when at look at where we are now I feel we’re in a good spot. I want to continue this path and keep feeling good about things.

James: You brought up the beginnings of the band and how you’ve evolved. For a band that’s been around for more than twenty years Accidental Tribe is relatively obscure. Do you think that because you had so many breaks in the bands activity.

Moe: Very obscure! (Laughs)

Beat: Yes, we had our personal issues. I had definite issues and I had to go through my shit. I went through a dark period in my life where I could not even hold onto a guitar. I went through a rough time and Moe Cash was one of the only people that was there for me. He would check up on me every once in a while “Hey kid, what’s going on?” The thing is I’m here and I’m alive. I made it through and I got something to say.

Moe: I’m a witness!!! Another thing that put the band on pause was our former drummer Dino Sex started drumming with G.G. Allin and the Murder Junkies. He went on tour and still plays with the band. It put us on hold. It took us a good two years to find the right drummer. We had put out ads and auditioned people but nothing clicked until Beat came along.

James: Did you actually extract him from the church and have him deprogrammed?

Moe: Hallelujah, we’ve got our drummer.

D Boogey: I was actually going through a rough patch in my own personal life. I was trying to figure everything out. The only way I know how to have fun and get away from everything else is music. I was jamming on my own and started trying out for bands. Because of the background I come from I didn’t want to play in a band that was too dark. After a few months I took a break. Then the band sent me some tracks that I really liked and we jammed together a week or so later

Beat: Satanic, Satanic!!!

Moe: It just felt good from the start. He was green but he was right.

Beat: I remember I was like that in the beginning too. But he was real. He just felt right and you could tell.

James: Did having the band and writing these songs help you to get out of those dark patches?

D Boogey: I look forward to Saturdays now. I look forward to practicing with the band. I can have a bad week but when Saturday comes along I get to let it all out.

Beat That’s what ‘Draggin’ Flu’ is all about. Your dragging yourself. Trying to get through. A lot of people don’t make it through. That’s why i consider myself lucky. I’m here. That’s why I’ve always writing. To get my feelings across. That’s why music means so much to us.

James: Watching you play today brought my understanding and appreciation of your music to a whole new level. I was wondering what you’ve done to bring that live energy you have to the new album.

Beat: We’ve taken a lot of steps to make “Resolution” feel that way. I think this is a big step in the bands journey. The goal was to capture the layers. My goal was to fuse all of us. I can write something but it’s these guys who bring it to another level. Our partnership and our friendship bring it all together. We put our heart and soul into this. I feel as if we’re doing something important.

James: The material on Resolution is a lot more focused than your older stuff.

D Boogey: I would say a lot of that focus comes from Moe. He’s producing this and he’s playing Bass. He gives us that direction and it works. He not only has his Bass cap on. He’s also got his Producers cap on. Having that Producers cap on gives us that focus. While we’re playing and he’s playing Bass he’s still got that Producers hat.

Moe: (Laughing) I couldn’t have said it much better. Like I said before... After Under Pressure and my experience with Hardcore music Producing was what i wanted to do and what I went to school for. With that I still wasn’t completely satisfied. I missed playing and performing. With this I get to do both. I feel that I bring the best out of them just as they do for me. I want the band to sound the best we can. I feel that when I make these changes it only adds to that.

D Boogey: We all have ideas that we put in the pot.

James: When can we expect the album?

Moe: It’s due to be released on Cockroach Media on June Fifth. I had started my own label “Draggin’ Flu” with Luis and Cash Sell Out Productions. I had been looking for a distributor for a long time before hooking up with them. They’ve really been good to us so we’re going to continue working with them.

James: How will you be supporting the album?

Beat: We’re gonna do whatever it takes.

D Boogey: We’ve got the Record Release Party coming up on May Fourteenth.

(Interview and images James Damion.) - Unite Webzine

It is sweet, sweet irony that while the name of my latest assignment may be Accidental Tribe; I’m not sure I’ve written about another band with more purpose than this fearsome foursome from New York. And while theirs is a story steeped in decades past, time has changed the hedonistic man-boys of the CBGB’s golden years and has made way for four men with that very same aforementioned purpose.

“We were basically just teenagers running around, drinking beer, having fun and playing music because that’s what we loved to do,” said front man, Beat ‘A. Tribe’ Arevalo. “Those years [were] a blur, young and dumb and full of excess. We slowly began to unravel.” However, those formative years brought together the four founding members and saw the release of their first 7” vinyl and a three EP compilation album. But in ‘95 the band played their final show at CBGB’s and the four disbanded the tribe. “Slowly but surely, we moved on to other projects (drummer Dino Sex left to play with the notorious GG Allin & The Murder Junkies) and Accidental Tribe got put on hold,” Arevalo said. “We just didn’t think it would be put on hold for so long.”

Arevalo left his friendly confines of New York and traveled extensively, always seeking out musicians and music scenes wherever he went, but something kept him looking back home to New York City. “I was moving, looking, searching, but everywhere I went… there I was.” Brooklyn, Minneapolis, Portland, Miami… other bands, different scenes but I never got much of anything done,” he said. “After a week, a month, a year, I always wound up back in NYC.” It was during one of those return trips home that he reconnected with bassist Moe Cash and the two began collaborating and eventually released the four-track EP Draggin’ Flu.

“Draggin’ Flu was unfinished material that sat around for much too long,” said Cash. “Even though we were apart for many years… it was always our intention to release these songs… we just never thought it would take so long. In early ’08 when we started jamming again, releasing Draggin’ Flu was the first thing on our agenda.”

In another fortuitous twist, a chance practice would find the four founding members back together sharing the same studio space and again, conjuring their old musical magic. “We were practicing at a rehearsal studio and ran into [guitarist] Pete Mac and Dino, who were jamming together at the same rehearsal studio,” said Cash. “So we invited Pete to a jam session. They were working out great with Pete and after just a few sessions, Pete Mac was officially back in the band. And since he had always continued to jam with Dino, when we found ourselves without a drummer again, Pete invited him to jam out with us. It only took one session with Dino to invite him back in the band.”

With all the pieces in place, the foursome got to work turning existing ideas into actual songs, with each man lending certain aspects to the songwriting process. The result would render Resolution, their first LP in almost 17 years. “Most of these songs were ideas I was messing with when we started back up again. Moe had songs like “Looking in From The Outside” and “Supremist” that kick your ass and rattle your teeth. Pete Mac returned to us halfway during the recording and his solos added a whole other dimension to things,” Arevalo said. “To me these are songs about searching in yourself, in somebody else, in something else… I feel it’s probably our greatest collaboration. That’s what we are evolving into, not particularly that type of sound, but the way we are working. Where our ideas mesh and build something new; where it’s not a song from one of us but from all of us. I believe that after all these years, we’re actually getting there.”

Now armed with his original lineup and an album in pocket, Accidental Tribe is riding their resurgent wave of purpose from “accident” to “providence.” “Like any band, we want to record our songs and play live shows. We are currently working on our next CD that we hope to release later this year,” Arevalo said in closing. “But one thing I’ve learned on this long and winding road is that you got to take care of yourself and your family and do what you love. Nothing else is going to make you happy. And to hell with anyone who says you can’t do it.”

Sure sounds like “purpose” to me. - Skope Magazine

Make no mistakes because Accidental Tribe has a Resolution for you; simply listen up and listen close. You will be attracted right away toward the infectious hooks & rhythms coming from this NYC band. Accidental Tribe has an alternative punk rock thing goin’ for them and it’s really working in their favor.

The group is composed of the following: Beat ‘A Tribe’ Arevalo on vocals & guitar, Moe Cash on bass, Peter Harrison McWhinney on guitar and D-Boogie Wondaland on drums. This entire band plays with such fury and a good example would be on track four “Looking In (From The Outside)” where the entire Tribe explodes! Energy galore and an overly catchy appeal that automatically draws a listener in can best describe Accidental Tribe.

This NYC-based band offers up a powerhouse rock sound to go along with some nasty guitar riffs. The bassist sets the pace while D-Boogie thinks “I don’t want to work; I just want to bang on the drum all day”. Beat ‘A Tribe’ supplied vocals & lyrics that went right along with the whole Accidental Tribe vibe.

I really loved the fact that this group has such a cool sound that demands attention. The mixing of punk, rock & alternative works perfectly here and so the Resolution is confirmed. I loved the fact that song five “Supremist” had that real authentic punk feel more than any other track on this record. I was also pleasantly surprised to hear Accidental Tribe end the show with the title track but done in a calm manner.

I really enjoyed hearing this entire 8-track set and how band chemistry was at an all-time high. I can’t say enough good things about AT and how their style of music seemed to fit together like cheese and crackers. Timing is right and it’s now time for Accidental Tribe to take the stage and blow everyone out of the water with a simple Resolution! - Skope Magazine