On 11/15/11 there will be a new album released by two very strong forces in hip-hop. Eligh of Living Legends crew, and Amp Live of Zion I, have teamed up together to make an album, Therapy At 3, which is going to be a really dope release! Not only are we happy to promote this because Eligh is our boy who has rapped on three Inspired Flight songs to date, but Inspired Flight is also fortunate enough to be a featured guest on one of the tracks, titled “Ego Killer.” This is the second time iF has now been involved with an Eligh release, and we are very excited for it! The album also features appearances by Zumbi, The Grouch, Basik, Grieves, Blake Hazard, Steve Knight, Busdriver, and more. From what I’ve heard of the album so far it is not only really good hip-hop all around, but the song iF is on, “Ego Killer,” just so happens to have one of the coolest beats I may have ever heard. The song actually has two parts, the first half of it being the main song including vocals by myself and Ashley Marie Mazanec, who sings on much of our We All Want To Fly album and has done many live shows with us. Then, when it seems the song ends, it turns into this whole new beat, which is very different and just instrumental. It feels like a new song, but it is actually the same track number. I just told Eligh how much I loved this beat, and asked for him to pass on props to Amp Live for making it, but what’s funny is that it turns out that this instrumental part is the only beat on the whole album that Eligh actually produced himself. I shouldn’t be surprised because Eligh is a REALLY good producer on his own. Amp Live’s production is way cool though throughout the album, and it’s an honor to be included again on a project Eligh is working on. Please check out Therapy At 3 and spread the word. Eligh is a very hard-working, passionate, dedicated artist who is extremely talented, and who is making music for all of the right reasons. He is an independent artist on the grind, so supporting him would mean a lot. And when you check him out, for those who aren’t already Eligh fans, really pay attention to what he is saying. His lyrics are more honest and intimate than most, and there is a lot of power and wisdom behind his words.
Also, if you aren’t already hip to Eligh’s last solo album, Grey Crow, you must check this out and buy it as well! The beats are sic and very creative, the lyrics are really well-written and powerful, the messages and themes are great, the guest appearances are awesome, and iF is fortunate enough to be featured on two of of the songs, which you can hear below. Psssst…pass it on!
The past two festivals we have played have been incredible validations for all of the hard work and aspirations we’ve put energy into for the past three to four years. Lightning In A Bottle (LIB) was the first big festival iF has played where there was actually a big and receptive audience to us. We feel very blessed to have gotten to play Sunfest in FL and Bella Music Fest in MN in 2011, but neither compared to the crowd size and energy we experienced at LIB. We met so many talented and cool, genuine people at LIB, one being a brilliant photographer and video guy named Syd Woodward of Grounded TV. He and his crew filmed our set and Syd interviewed us afterword to put together a really dope five-minute piece on Inspired Flight at LIB. This is by far the most professional product we have so far of iF live footage or interview, and Syd did a wonderful job of capturing the vibe and energy of LIB with how he edited the piece. Thanks Syd!
The most recent festival we played was Re:Generation in North Plains, OR, which is an epic electronic music festival put on by Madison House (our booking agency) and 1320 Records, which is the record label of Sound Tribe Sector 9 (STS9). The festival took place over four days at an incredible place in the woods called Horning’s Hideout, and unlike LIB and the other festivals we have played so far where we could only be there for the day we played, we got to hang at Horning’s Hideout for the last three days of Re:Gen. What an experience! I have never felt so much like we are “arriving” with our career. Having an artist’s pass to get access anywhere and endless free beer felt pretty damn cool, and the festival is so small and intimate that all of the artists there are super accessible and approachable. It was a real joy getting to watch and then kick it and either shoot the shit with or pick the brains of people like STS9, Tycho, LYNX, Paper Diamond, Elliot Lipp, Emancipator, Beats Antique, ESKMO, and more. I gained so much knowledge and inspiration from the other artists this past weekend, and I can’t wait to manifest it all into a badass evolution of Inspired Flight and anything else I do from now on. One of the greatest things about Re:Gen is that there are only two stages, they are very close together, and artists don’t have conflicting sets, in other words there will be a show on one stage, then the next act is on the other, and when they are done the next act is on the other, and so on, so you don’t have to choose who to see and miss out on anything. There were so many great performances, and although STS9 killed it so hard and are one of the best bands probably to ever be, I have to give it up for Bassnectar just owning the whole weekend and melting everybody’s faces off beyond explanation. The highlight of the whole festival though would have to be STS9 liking our set and sound enough to ask us to open for them on part of their fall tour. Not only will that be great exposure for iF, but Murphy and Zach of Sound Tribe, who are the rhythm section, are two super cool dudes. I’m sure the whole band is on that tip, but we only really met and kicked it with them so far. I can’t wait to see what beautiful things unfold next due to this past weekend at Re:Generation, but whatever comes from it can’t suck, so that’s cool. If you were there and watched our set then thank you so much, and if you are reading this right now and are one of the people who approached me to say you liked our set, or really like our album, it was a pleasure meeting you, and thank you so much. I hope to see you at the next festival, wherever that may be. Ciao for now!
- Chavez
The view from the Sawmill Stage where we performed.
Bassnectar killing it at Re:Generation on the Main Stage.
We made it to Arcata, chilling with my family now. One of the best parts about Arcata is the Redwood community forest and Redwood Park. We went out there for a great late-evening frisbee/excercise session, and it is definitely an epic frisbee spot. What’s up with that Aerobie sponsorship???
- Chavez
We are on our way up the coast of California, ultimately making our way to the Re:Generation festival outside of Portland, OR for a set there on 6/25. First stop: Big Sur, a very magical and special place, to play an epic house party. Yeah son!
Our music video for Pull, Push, Let Go is almost done! Here we discuss the video with some footage from our last day of filming, and we also explain my “facial hair.”
-Chavez
After many grueling hours, Chavez and I narrowed down all the dope remixes to the top 5:
It was one of the most difficult things we’ve ever had to do, but peep the video to find out who they are. Also, behold our brand new sound…it’s going to revolutionize how we all perceive music for years to come!
OpenOptics and I want to thank everyone who participated in our remix competition! If you haven’t checked out all of the remixes then please take the time to do so…..to at the very least browse through them. They are all good and some are really amazing. Now is the fun part for us to go through them and decide a winner, which won’t be easy to do. For everybody who took time to make a remix of our song, I can’t thank you enough. Inspired Flight puts so much time and love into the music we make, and to hear people take the stems from one of our favorite songs and turn them into something completely new, something we would have never created ourselves, is one of the most awesome feelings in the world. It’s hard to explain what it feels like to hear our music, and especially my own voice, twisted and remixed with love and passion by another artist. So thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for getting involved and remixing us. It’s times like these I can’t help but think of a timeless joke my great grandmother used to tell me in the swamps of Louisiana:
So a horse walks into a bar. The bartender says, “Why the long face?” And the horse replies, “Oh….i’m just going through some hard things.” The bartender stops what he’s doing and exclaims, “Oh my god! You can talk?!” And the horse says, “Hell yeah, I can talk. I just came in here to tell you I’ve been bumping Inspired Flight all day, everyday! That’s what’s up!” And the bartender says, “Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaah boiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!!”
So it’s the last day of 2009, and I’ve just got to write a post to kind of wrap up this year for Inspired Flight. We have put in a lot of hard work this year, gotten a lot more comfortable with what we do, and a lot better at it, did our first tour, are pretty fast now at setting up and tearing down our 20-billion-cable set-up, have a lot of new songs, have played some very cool shows, are nearly done with our debut album, have done some awesome networking, have a couple of animations and a music video lined up for songs off the new, upcoming album, are way better at fighting Mordor Orcs than we were a year ago, and we now are pretty good at ordering crazy cheeseburgers at Chili’s that nobody should ever eat……….ever. Thank you to everyone who has come out to our shows, listened to our EP, told other people about us, and just showed us love in any way during this year. It means a lot. And we are going to really need continued support and enthusiasm for this coming year. 2010 is going to be good. Very good. Very, very good. Did I mention it was going to be good?
