iTCH @ Live4ever’s Media Lounge sponsored by Ei8htball
Never one to shy away from combining politics, punk and hip-hop iTCH, the former frontman of The King Blues, is currently supporting the campaign for his debut solo album ‘The Deep End’, released on March 24th this year through Red Bull Records.
As a street poet and suburban punk by both day and night, the LP predictably sees iTCH showing no reluctance or resistance to propagate his message of peace, love and anarchy amongst the people, the proletariat. At the 2014 South By Southwest Festival, we managed to catch up with the sharp-suited and equally sharp-tongued musician; starting our chat by looking at the nature of the music industry as it is now, in the 21st century. Get ready for iTCH to show just why he’s one of the most passionate and compelling artists around today.
“It’s something I struggle with, and I see it from both points of view,” he tells us on the subject of music being given away for free. “When I was younger you paid £15.00 for a CD and you’d play it and play it until you liked it. Sometimes the greatest albums are the ones that grow on you, the ones you don’t get straight away. Perhaps it takes a minute for people to digest it, to take it in. What we’re left with is music that has to be instantaneous, and get people straight away. It’s unadventurous and cheap. At the same time, you can’t fight technology and change. You can either sit around and get bitter about it, or you can be innovative about it. Those people I hope can make a career out of it.”
How do you write your music? Acoustic in your room at home?
No matter what it ends up becoming, they initially start with an acoustic guitar and a pen and paper. They need to start there to be a real song. I respect the craft of songwriting too much for it to be done in the sense of going to a producer and putting beats over my ideas. I write lyrics every day. It’s like being an athlete – your mind is a muscle. It’s no coincidence the more prolific the artist, the better they are, because they get used to it.
That must give you a lot of content with what you’re working with, your own thoughts. Does it seem like an ideas changes over time? Do you allow things to develop over time, maybe to perfect something?
I believe in redrafting. Some songs come out easily, others might take a little love and care to become something. It’s never really the same. I write quickly, getting a lot out there. It’s about turning off the critic in your head, which comes later.
Now, for the video section of our interview, watch as iTCH goes deeper into the cauldrons of the burning philosophy which engulfs his songwriting; how the worlds of hip-hop and punk are being brought together, always with an eye on political commentary and sharp social statement achieved with the grandest of influences – such as John Lennon, Public Enemy and The Clash – in mind.
Focus then turns to touring as, from the UK to Japan, Itch tells us how he’s finding a common ground amongst his audience, rallying against an oversized, bloated industry of ‘corporate and commercial music’ which is ripping the soul out of live performance. ” I just did an east coast tour, and I’m going over the west coast and touring there,” he says. ” I think my audiences are the ones that don’t fit into society. Those are the ones I make music for. Be it here, Europe, or Japan, it’s always those kids that gravitate toward my music.”
“I hear a lot of talk about how certain bands and labels allow scalpers, they’re holding back tickets for whatever reasons. To me, it’s indicative of how corporate and commercial music is, maybe losing its touch to what young folk want, which is to see a show. You have to swipe your badge or wristband, the idea of electronic sales, reselling the ticket admission to an event, a system that’s a lot more restrictive to aid the prevention of scalping.”
The message then, it’s quite clear, doesn’t always have to be narrowed to music. iTCH has a way with words, an enthusiasm, but also a charm and a cynicism that anybody outcast from the masses can relate to. A commanding voice to those who are just a haircut or piercing away from the common folk that find solace in his scripture of falling in love and fighting back. He’s a man with many talents, and you don’t need to see him with an acoustic guitar to prove it. Just sit him down and talk about something that might spark a flash of light in his mental bank of good lines.
It might end up in one of his next songs – he’s always ready and always real.
