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Our friends the Strobelight Heathens have recently released a pack of wild remixes on the public. These come from a range of different producers and we're reinterpreted in interesting ways. Also make sure to read the interview we did with them last year (re)posted below.

-THE BAAAAAG MESSSSSENGER 

Tucker & Bloom recently caught up with LA creative force, and street observers Strobelight Heathens. The group has been hitting the studio hard working on new material, and adding crust to old drum tracks. Read the interview to gain insight into how fashion, music, and taxidermy can be forged into raw funk.

THE BAG MESSENGER: What is Strobe Light Heathens and how did it come about? 

STROBELIGHT HEATHENS:: The group is a collaboration between vocalist Dono Dagger and producer Braxton Nations. The sound of Strobelight Heathens emerged from just living day to day in LA being involved in Fashion, Art, and creative circles. We wanted to create a big sound that fused together a progressive approach. Just straight up in your face music with that grittiness that we like. Drums, basslines, and emotion. 

THE BAG MESSENGER: I know you guys are involved with fashion, how did you see music and fashion working together? Do they co exist? 

STROBELIGHT HEATHENS:: We definitely feel that these worlds co-exist. Fashion is an interpretation of self...it's a documentation that people carry, that displays how they feel most comfortable within ones skin. Being out here in LA you have a broad culture. You have some cats who just follow whatever is the bigger trend, lookin like they are high school not knowing how to wipe themselves. But then you have people who get it, and they wear their clothes and their clothes don't wear them. Music has that same aesthetic. You got clowns who literally don't know up from down. The music that's made is transparent and only relevant to whats goin now. We are aiming to make something that is an extension of who we are as individuals and at the same time speak for the underdog. Our goal is to make memorable songs that will someday be played at Sports Arenas 28 years from now. Anthems.

THE BAG MESSENGER: Where do you find inspiration in life? 

DONNO: The grind, duke. Things are crazy. Riding my bike in LA I see everything from Homeless pirates and tranny hookers. I've helped Elton John buy a chandelier from the boutique I work at. Also thanks to Ronald Regan, the Father of American Homelessness in LA, a lot of these Joneses are walking around having conversations with themselves with booty shorts on, nah I mean. I also can't forget the lady vixens that flock to this city from all over the world, the roach coach taco joints, artists and colleagues that we have relationships with, random found objects on the street, and taxidermy. I feed off the city. 

THE BAG MESSENGER: What are the tools of the trade in your line of work? 

DONNO: The number one tools of the trade is an open mind. Once you got that, you can orchestrate what you feel, you feel me Presley? When we record our doodles we like to do things in the moment. We try to keep it as live as we can. 

BRAXTON: We don't like producing music that sounds like it just came from technology or from a specific formula. We really aim for creating a sound that's more so emotion so people can relate to and feel. Whether it be making our drums patterns on old tape machines or playing live patterns the sides of bicycles or pipes, we know its right when we achieve that mutual feeling. We approach the vocals just like any another instrument, customizing the sound to get that raw feel. Cadence and noise are all equally important...Its how you glue it all together. 

THE BAG MESSENGER: What is in the future for the group? 

BRAXTON: Definitely hitting the road doing shows. We are gonna be dropping a few songs each few months for the first part of the year with remixes of each song from other bands and groups. Its gonna be really out there, we have some really great colleagues we really dig and respect who will be working with us to make that happen. We are working on Fashion, design ideas, and art that will all tie in with Strobelight Heathens and the vision behind it. A lot of these items will be only available exclusively through live shows, special events, boutiques and pop up shops online. 

DONNO: Look for lots of internet exclusive downloads, collaborations, and girlfriends leaving the lefties. 

THE BAG MESSENGER: I know you have been really inspired and into taxidermy. Can you tell me how that all started?

DONNO: The first time I knew I was into taxidermy was in preschool. We would have story time in the library and there were animal heads all around the library. As a kid, just those natural forms really intrigued me. I would just stare at the different teeth, the different eyes, the fur, and emotions in the facial structure and I would just think about where it came from and the life it lived. I've always collected bugs, found abandoned wild animals and tried to raise them. Ya dig. I guess in a weird way I have that primitive connection to animals like I'm some type of lost indigenous person...Fast forward to now, I have started acquiring quite the slew of taxidermy. I have collected everything from grizzly bear claws, coyote teeth, bison teeth, different types of carnivore antlers, and bones. Whether it be animals, plants, or crustaceans, I draw inspiration from it on some level.

STROBELIGHT HEATHENS: Boomerangs

STROBELIGHT HEATHENS: Paradigm 

Continued.... 

THE BAG MESSENGER: Alright some quick ones..Favorite Cranny Food Spot in LA?

STROBELIGHT HEATHENS: Benitos 

THE BAG MESSENGER: Favorite Films? 

STROBELIGHT HEATHENS: Holy Mountain, The Elephant Man, Rosemaries Baby, Metropolis, Original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Raging Bull 

THE BAG MESSENGER: If you had to name 3 songs off the top of your head right now, that would give us a glimpse into the mind of Strobelight Heathens world what would they be? 

STROBELIGBHT HEATHENS: ESG - Dance - Come Away with ESG - 1983 Animal Collective -My Girls - Merriweather Post Pavillion - 2009 Ghostface Killah - Daytona 500 - IronMan - 1996