Zine 28: Bow Down to Bombsnaxx
Bombsnaxx is more than just a midnight craving. Dey are simultaneously a sherbet pallets cleanser and the spiciest curry. For dem, the top priority is protecting peoples right to be vulnerable. Whatever aspect of making and releasing music dey can find, dey’re making sure not just to conquer for demselves, but for everyone living a non-conventional lifestyle out there (and society considers very little okay, so dey’re tryna look out for basically all of us). Bombsnaxx wants to create uninhibited collectives where marginalized artists can feel not just safe, but hyped up. Bombsnaxx is a ride or die type. But not unconditionally. Deir loyalty to artists known, and the ones dey don’t know lies in deir commitment to experiencing so dey can share. Don’t get me wrong, just because dey uplift their community so vibrantly doesn’t mean dey’re just a curator. Dey have managed to provide a trail of crumbs to the path to holding onto your individual art while fighting for others. But that’s deir sweet spot and dey’re doubling back so dey can turn that crumb trail into a cobblestone path with signage and a welcoming gate.
Follow Bombsnaxx on instagram
below is the text exchange in the graphics
Baby Ballou: If you had a showcase, where you got to display any talent or skill you have that you consider creative, what would be on the line up?
Bombsnaxx: Opening act is mos deflee some circus shit. I grew up going to UniverSoul circus and it was always a highlight. Top 2 was the aerialists and the death cage dirt bikes. So boom I fly in in a trapeze lol...then I would improvise the rest and create all new music on the spot. I consider channeling music my most creative skill. I’ll make all new music inspired by that specific place and people like how my ancestors did. Improvisation is freedom and bein free in this world is a skill.
Baby Ballou: I love that looseness in your show, it takes a sense of self to be able to build someone else. What kind of characters do you create?
Bombsnaxx: I just want to experience as much freedom as possible in performing. I’ve judged and held myself down for way too long. I get it now that anything I embody is an extension of myself. Not new, just revealed. My last live performance I was this sultry, mysterious character looking to feel and express. I didn’t name it in the moment but looking back at it I fully see. I mixed and altered my songs live for the first time and it brought out this bad bitch control freak that could also say fuck this and flip the script at any moment. It was for a showcase of experimental black artists and that really helped me be un afraid of whatever I did or how it came out. I got to really just feel it. I make so many genres of music I can be and say anything in hella ways.
Baby Ballou: That’s beautiful. I think we’ve become so adamant about reliability in our celebs in a way, that it throws us off when an artist switches up their style. it’s kind of like all labels, we choose one we think we’ll navigate best and forget we can challenge ourselves by starting over with another, not just honing the one. Within all the genres and types of music you make, is there a common aesthetic or signature bit?
Bombsnaxx: AGREED. Well said. We do so much for protection and navigation, it’s easy to forget to play with yourself, ahem. We so full of contradictions, I don’t trust us. People mad if u switch up and mad if u stay the same. We barely listen to wat we Rees ally want for ourselves. That’s why spice girls was my queens. They just really wanted to ziga ziga aaahh and I can relate. I love that I am the common aesthetic. One minute I’m playing a drum, then I’m singing a slow wine lullaby, then I’m cussin you out rappin in Spanish. No costume changes. In the live show the signature is deflee my energy. Whether I’m playing to 5 people or 50, I KTSE. And I’m still creating that common thread with recordings but a bombsnax track will always be dynamic and varied. Whether it’s my own music or I’m producing for someone else.
Baby Ballou: YES! Not everything has to be in Bon Iver style poetics. Sometimes we all just wanna zigga zig ahh. Because you being so much and love to build from what you have, do you like collabing or prefer working solo?
Bombsnaxx: Right?!? U feel me. Collabs and solos are both so essential to my process. My ultimate goal is to primarily be known as a producer because black femme talents and imagery is often exploited in front of the cameras or behind writing pens, but hardly ever exposed to the creativity of the control room. I started teaching myself to use production software in 2016 because of the realization. I realized I want to be the person that stretches the canvas for artists to paint on, an art form in itself. This year I have the opportunity to work with several artists I love and I get to focus on producing. Collabs are usually the answers to all my creative conundrums and my tangible tether to community. That said I also neeed my solo time. I have this series on YouTube called MIDNIGHT SNAXX where I’m vibin in my studio and I record whatever comes out. No glam no ham just me in my pjs and chanclas improvising and working out ideas. Its a personal healing ritual I been doin and some of my fave vocal moments and mixes come out of it.
Baby Ballou: Here’s to seeing you on the top ten lists replacing some random white cis male producer some day soon!! How do your improvisations in the studio on that series typically begin?
Bombsnaxx: Puuuuuurrrrr. Oh yes I’m adding that to my affirmations! I’m usually rehearsing my songs and playing with mixing them live and then I press a wrong button and make a cool sound. Or I sing different lyrics or melodies and I start improvising. I’m learning that “mistakes” or “wrong notes” are sometimes just intuition getting aggressive.
Baby Ballou: Something we all need to learn. What’s a mistake in life you’ve learned a lot from?
Bombsnaxx: I learned a lot from last year. I made the mistake of trusting a man with my music. And I knew I never wanted to but it was quarantine and my first choice had to deal with Rona and I trusted this dude i knew to record my vocals and mix my shit. In typical fashion he tried to take over and claim that he was my producer when all he recorded was my vocals. I created every, lyric, and sound and arranged everything and he still felt the right to tell people he produced my shit. The mistake was trusting someone who I suspected was not actually listening to me. The recording process already sucks the life out of music and it’s sole purpose is exploitation. It’s the classic lesson of trust your instincts and go with your first mind. What I learned is that it’s important for indie musicians to deeply understand the recording process.
Baby Ballou: The recording process is also so variable, I feel like it fluctuates person to person to person. And how you can respond to issues in the process can end up just being a matter of whether you have a legal team and money from a label or not. Indie artists are extremely vulnerable. That surface knowledge level from celebrity interviews or trade Mag articles aren’t in depth enough. But on a brighter note, what’s your favorite thing about the recording process?
Bombsnaxx: I hella agree about indie artists being vulnerable. It seems important to hold your own standards close and clear cuz there’s so many possibilities. I’m really discovering the recording process for myself by doing demos at home. I literally just set up my mic. I record all my samples and write at home but it’s different recording vocal takes. I like getting to play around and not feel stressed about time constraints which is the hardest part of being on paid studio time. I’m about to record this month so I’m practicing a lot. So I don’t go in blind like I have before.
Baby Ballou: What would be your number one piece of advice to indie artists when recording, especially Black women/non-binary artists?
Bombsnaxx: If I could advise myself and artists like myself I’d say approach recording as a separate art form take care and intention in learning each step of the process. Don’t let anybody just step in and call themselves your producer. Know the various roles; producer(beat maker), studio musicians, recording engineer, mixing engineer, mastering engineer, producer (overseeing the project). And you get to decide how if any of these roles overlap. If you are indie and doing everything yourself anyway, you should really enjoy and experience creative control as much as possible. I’m recording my solo music in a legit studio for the first time ever this month and my experience in other bands and recording projects has taught me this: 1.)Rehearse recording demos as much as possible so u go in confident of how You’d like to sound. 2.) Have a recording plan. Priority tracks, more challenging songs vocally, how long u want to spend on each song. Get ya money’s worth! 3.) If ur a black enby or femme presenting artist make sure you work with someone u trust 100%. Try to link with femme or enby engineers if you can so we can grow this community. The recording process is super vulnerable and a lot of men, and ppl in general, are hella predatory on creative feminine or gender non-conforming or queer energy. 4.) once you know what roles you are utilizing, get VERY clear with the folx your working with on theses titles and roles and what they involve. For example if your recording engineer is gonna help you choose takes and you trust them maybe you want to credit them as a vocal producer. But this is based on agreements you should discuss before hand and get in writing if necessary.
Baby Ballou: Wow that’s some great ass advice. I feel like a lot of indie artists should hear not only that advice but the conviction with which you say it. Indie artists who know this stuff need to be reminded ghat it’s okay to stand by it and feel confident about their decisions around them. You’re here for independent artists so purely and with love, how can we be here for you? How can we support/celebrate you?
Bombsnaxx: If I could advise myself and artists like myself I’d say approach recording as a separate art form take care and intention in learning each step of the process. Don’t let anybody just step in and call themselves your producer. Know the various roles; producer(beat maker), studio musicians, recording engineer, mixing engineer, mastering engineer, producer (overseeing the project). And you get to decide how if any of these roles overlap. If you are indie and doing everything yourself anyway, you should really enjoy and experience creative control as much as possible. I’m recording my solo music in a legit studio for the first time ever this month and my experience in other bands and recording projects has taught me this: 1.)Rehearse recording demos as much as possible so u go in confident of how You’d like to sound. 2.) Have a recording plan. Priority tracks, more challenging songs vocally, how long u want to spend on each song. Get ya money’s worth! 3.) If ur a black enby or femme presenting artist make sure you work with someone u trust 100%. Try to link with femme or enby engineers if you can so we can grow this community. The recording process is super vulnerable and a lot of men, and ppl in general, are hella predatory on creative feminine or gender non-conforming or queer energy. 4.) once you know what roles you are utilizing, get VERY clear with the folx your working with on theses titles and roles and what they involve. For example if your recording engineer is gonna help you choose takes and you trust them maybe you want to credit them as a vocal producer. But this is based on agreements you should discuss before hand and get in writing if necessary.