Originating in Jacksonville, Florida, simply put, Grammar Tree is an open window into an odd mind. The duo, made up of rapper/spectacle adj. (pronounced adjective), and producer/renaissance man Brian Squillace (of Sea Cycles), are questioning the boundaries of hip-hop.
Coming off of recent festival performances at A3C and Secret Stages, they are known for their rapper-versus-drummer live shows. Touring around the Southeast U.S. Grammar Tree has shared stages with acts like Sage Francis, Blueprint, Soliloquists of Sound, Astronautalis, and more.
In this interview feature, we chat with Grammar Tree about their new project, influences, surviving in the digital era and more.
Q&A along with links and the video for Bigfoot can be found below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
Grammar Tree is from Jacksonville, Florida, and we make our brand of hip hop. Now when you take your first bite, it is going to be obvious that the recipe started with the classic soul of hip hop, but when you keep chewing you will taste strong tones of experimental indie rock, and definite traces of insanity. It pairs well with whiskey.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to stay the course?
I watched my dad sing around my small town my whole life. I always said that he was “Macclenny famous” and even though now he is “Macclenny infamous”, the seeds of performing were sewn too early and often to ever dig out. I performed my first original rap in the 4th grade talent show, acapella. Now Brian has a whole damn drum kit next to me. It’s like a drug.
Who or what are your biggest influences when it comes to your creativity?
Stand up comedy is my religion, and that has taught me that the more specific and dark a truth is, the more closely someone will relate to it. The prophet Chris Rock said something pretty fucking close to- “If you tell someone the truth in a way that they are not prepared to hear it, they will laugh at you.” I take my punchlines seriously.
How is your new release different than previous ones? Did you set out to accomplish anything specific?
The Last War is what we consider our first proper album. We had our self titled e.p. before that I am still proud of, but we wanted this record to feel necessary, if that makes sense, because it was. Every word and every note.
Do you face any challenges as an indie musician in a digital age? On the flip side, how has technology helped you (if it has)?
I generally see technology as a great thing. We’ve always been a DIY group, so recording ourselves, designing our own flyers/merch could’ve never happened so easily a couple of decades ago. Being able to share your music globally is still kind of surreal to me. While the only real drawback I see from the digital age of music is the pure saturation of new, unispired music, the flipside is that there is more great new music than you could ever hear. Now finding something that resonates with you, or on the flipside, resonates with unique listeners who would’ve otherwise never heard us, is made much easier.
How do you feel about streaming services? Any romantic attachments to the physical formats: vinyl, 8-track, cassettes, CDs?
Nearly all of my personal music consumption comes from my phone, whether I’m either listening to beats Brian has made in my library, or streaming music from Spotify, Bandcamp, Soundcloud, etc. When it comes to an album that you just need to have and hold, I want a record.
Where can we follow you online and hear more music?
grammartree.net is our home online. It has videos, tour dates, social media links, recipes, baby name suggestions, horoscopes, job openings, top 10 lists, current events, and music.
Anything else before we sign off?
Hell is fake
