Hip-Hop Core: Please introduce yourself and tell us where and how you grew up.

Brad Hamers: Greetings…i am broke…my name is brad hamers…i write and make music…i was born in new jersey…grew up in new york….about an hour north of the city…moved away…moved back…and currently reside in new york…about an hour north of the city..

HHC: Who are the three sides of a circle? How did you meet the other members?

BH: Three sides of a circle began as three people…friends and mutual music lovers...it was slomoshun…big moses and myself…and at that time i was performing poetry live quite often…and we started 3SC as a production company to put on shows…this is in 2000 …soon thereafter we began making music..(slomoshun and i…moses is just down)…nobs began his music making career along side us…slomoshun produced his first album…we met nobs at our first show… …but nowadays ..its really just me…i don't have the proper funds to put any other artist's work out at the moment or anything…

HHC: We know you for your work with Slomoshun as phlegm, now you have this solo album.. Is there a difference in terms of soundscapes or topics between the two? Are you gonna do another phlegm album?

BH: well…phlegm was actually the name of a duo …it was producer: slomoshun ..and myself…phlegm was the title we shared …he made all of the music on the phlegm albums…my latest release was almost entirely self-produced...that's why i just used my name…and …i'm not so sure there will ever be another phlegm album…probably not…although there are a couple unreleased recorded unmixed down tracks somewhere..

HHC: Your texts are quite difficult to understand for a non-english speaking person, but as far is i understood, solitude seems to be one of the main topics, or the common link between most of the Cut Ups songs. Do you use your songs as an outlet, a way to feel better? Aren't you afraid of sounding self-indulgent ?

BH: Yes…songs are definitely therapeutic for me…and they absolutely are self-indulgent...but... as is anything else…everything's masturbatory in nature…especially art…but i'm not sayingthere's anything wrong with that…i apply no negative connotation to the word selfish…

.. solitude is a place of comfort for me on many levels…and it was definitely a theme throughout the cut-ups of a paper woman album…music on that side of the emotional spectrum has always seemed to affect me most…i'd like my music to be a draft..a breath of something coming through the window ..making people put more clothes on…and the room's tone of voice shift slightly… or drastically…

HHC: What's your usual process to write your lyrics? Do you have some kind of ritual, some favorite places, moments?

BH: I write often…not on a regimented schedule though…whenever it calls usually….mostly in my apartment…either on a computer...a typewriter…or with a pen and notebook......and i guess I write mostly in the evening and night…but of course that's due to membership obligations..having to paint and assemble circles on someone's assembly line for the early portion of most of my days…making rich white men richer…i say...a cardboard box ..ox cutter ..and trade appropriate fake handshake are no canvases ...no way to be throwing up....and i think i enjoy writing most early in the morning …and i do on days i call in sick……and there's no real ritual...just the ritual of writing in itself …i basically just let it all fall out of me…

HHC: It seems that politics are an inexhaustible source of topics and inspiration in rap... What are you thinking about that whole style? Could you write some "socially conscious" songs?

BH: I think its important…provocative…and potentially inflaming…which is absolutely wonderful…i also think that not all “socially conscious” music is good by any means…but some do it very well…i enjoy sole very much… …and as far as me …i do have some “socially conscious” songs…every release has something… and a lot of stuff appears within the meat of a song which may be about something else entirely…it always comes up…we bathe in it…its always there….and i think its much more pervasive in my upcoming material…or in more distinct shape …..my writing seems to drift that direction quite often nowadays…or persist in that jet stream…. ..but check out pickpocketed memory clip on cut-ups of a paper woman…and phlegm material…

HHC: It looks like you have a very eclectic and selective taste in music... What are the albums that had a real impact on you?

BH: I'd say these are albums and artists that i'd consider inspiring… not in any specific order…and not all of them…just what comes to mind…

Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
Dose One - tout ce dans quoi il est impliqué
Subtle - A New White
Radiohead - Kid A... En fait Radiohead en général
Fog
Xiu Xiu
Frog Eyes - The Folded Palm
Bob Dylan
Why? - Oaklandazulasylum
Joanna Newsom – The Milk-eyed Mender
Set Fire To Flames - Sings Reign Rebuilder
Godspeed You Black Emperor
Animal Collective
Fiona Apple
Leonard Cohen
Björk
Sole
Aphex Twin - Come To Daddy
The Books

HHC: Have your heard the works Soso, Alias, Cavemen Speak? If so, do you like what they do?

BH: I've actually worked with caveman speak several times…i believe i've done 3 or 4 songs with them…and i enjoy their music…i also enjoy alias's work very much…i'm a big anticon listener…..but unfortunately i'm not familiar enough with soso to comment…i've heard of him..but don't think i've ever heard his music…

HHC: Who are Just Like Us and how did you meet them?

BH: Just like us is a band from australia…who create wonderful music…and i've never actually physically met them…our sole mode of communication is the internet…i was first introduced to them when they emailed me and asked if i would do a collaboration with the band and their vocalists…they sent me some music…i liked it…said yes..and that collaboration still has yet occur…but instead they created the music for the song: cliff notes off of my cut-ups album…which i think is excellent…and now we are actually doing an EP together…the project is still in its prenatal stages…just starting it…but i am excited about this project…

HHC: Let's talk about this never ending pro/anti internet/free download thing... It seems to be a very helpful tool for confidential artists like you to be known worldwide... i gotta admit that i first downloaded The Cut Ups before buying it on your site... what do you think about it?

BH: I think file sharing is great…it is an effective devise for promoting otherwise local art that should be heard…and i'd give all my songs away for free without question if i wasn't forced to make money to maintain my livelihood…….. …file sharing does also harm independent artists like myself in that sense…very much so….i guess if all the people that downloaded my albums had purchased them instead…i may be able to pay my rent…or maybe no longer have to waste my energy working…and be able to focus solely on creative endeavors…

HHC: Now a vast topic. The things you love in hip hop and the things you hate.

BH: to be honest with you…i don't listen to much hip-hop at all anymore…it just doesn't do much of anything for me any longer …in most of its forms anyway…although it is the music that made me fall in love with music in the first place…so it will always remain with me…and rooted in my music somewhere… and much or some of the stuff i do listen to…does have some hip-hop qualities in it…. but as far as what's happening on a mainstream level…or even a lot of the stuff coming out on an underground level ….i'm just not feeling it…its okay though…because there's plenty of other good music out there…

HHC: What are your ambitions about making a living off music? Do you have a regular job? What do you do with your days?

BH: i would love to make a living solely off music…i hope to sooner than later…what it does do for me helps but doesn't pay all the bills…so unfortunately i have a job…which i visit more than i'd like to...and i don't desire to accumulate immense amounts of cash…just enough to get by is fine…i exclude myself from consumerism as much as possible...don't need or want all the shit… this bloated and pregnant economic way of carrying ourselves will one day give birth…all over the place…capitalism will fake its death and change its name…i look forward to the dead space and confusion in between.

HHC: Where do you see yourself at 50?

BH: I don't see myself at 50…

HHC: What about your upcoming and future projects? Some vinyl releases? A tour in europe maybe?

BH: I'm currently working on a bunch of projects...

1. ..the most complete out of all of them is an EP with producer/musician Panzah Zandahz
....which will be coming out on his record label: token recluse ....this project will also have some sort of visual accompaniment for each track (photos/film..etc) ...well..that's what's intended.....this will sound like nothing i've done ... i'm excited about this thus far....i look forward to the outcome very much ...i think we may be doing a few shows together in the near future as well….

2. the next is a book.....a collaborative work ...involving Jen Griffo (the artist from all my album covers and books) ..and myself .....this is coming along excellent …. no set release date for this ……but we are going to try and get it published or a grant or something …this endeavor ..fully realized ..requires money ..at least to look its best.. ..this is something to anticipate…

3. another collaborative EP ….this one is with ..the band from Australia: Just Like Us…who created the music for cliff notes ..off my latest album …the cut-ups of a paper woman . ….this project is still in its infancy stages …. ..and i feel beautiful things about this..

4. the last is my next solo LP….which is beginning to take form…

5. well….there's another project in the works as well … this will be more in the nature of a show or something of the sort.. .an interval occupied with space matter multitasking and … ..capitalism friendly.. a carn-i-val-but-not-at-all..

hopefully…and probably some vinyl soon…and i would love to tour europe…it was supposed to happen numerous times and never did…but we'll see.

HHC: Ok.. thanks for your answers.. any last words?

BH: WANTED!!: rich eccentric white man/woman to give me money.. to fund my artistic ejaculations.. i can't pay my rent.

love, brad hamers