5 questions with Jota from Radioboxer
Jota
When the owners of Wemerge magazine, Dawn and John, proposed that I write an article on Radio Boxer for them, I gladly accepted. I've been following the band for a while and appreciate what they do.
I contacted Jota on the phone and we rapped while I had my tape running. By the end of our conversation I'd gatherd so much great stuff I decided to publish it for Rev. Look out for the piece in Wemerge around mid October. By request I am handing off the introduction to Jota :
"Its a great day for bass players all over the world. As one of us gets the interview instead of the charismatic singers, skilled attention seeking guitar players, lunatic drummers and introvert enigmatic keyboard players. Some people call the bass player "the loser of the band" but RevMiami knows better. We are truly the hidden treasures of rock and roll. Except Flea from the RHCP, that motherfucker is every fucking where." (having said that, all members of Radioboxer are integral parts of the band and I love them.)
Steve: I understand you guys have a show in November at Cinema Paradiso, is that a show you will be playing indoors?
Jota: Yeah, that’s correct. We played there around May of this year for the Auteur Explosion and we played outside. But there was another band that was playing inside and it was really cool. Since then we always wanted to play inside cause we’re always looking for cool places like that to play.
S: It is a really neat venue. I know you guys typically have gimmicks for your shows; do you have anything special planned for this show?
J: Yeah we definitely are, I want to see if we can use the projector. We have some other things in mind, we usually don’t ask for permission but we have to check it all out with the people in charge because it is such an elegant venue. We will check about the confetti or the balloons and go ahead and use it.
S: I was looking at your Youtube station and found all of these cool promotional videos you did for the show at the Annex. Who came up with the idea to make those vids?
Jota and Radio Boxer
J: I usually come up with the ideas for advertising stuff; since I studied production I have a good idea how to make them. I actually don’t work in production and exercise my degree but I know how to do it and I like to put the videos together and stuff like that. We always try to come up with different stuff to promote, and the other members of the band roll with the punches and come up with some cool stuff too. Somebody will come up with an idea and if we like it we go for it, and we do get a lot of help from our friends which is nice.
S: I really enjoy them; they are all so different but tie in together nicely.
J: Initially they were for the album release. We’re actually going to make some more but expand the concept for our mini tour. We are playing in St. Petersburg on Halloween, Hard Rock in Las Vegas November 19, and Los Angeles on November 21. So we have these couple of shows in these other cities, we want to organize it as a mini tour and come up with more videos to promote in those cities. We want to post those videos in a blog and try to get the local press to notice them, to create a buzz. The Halloween party in St. Petersburg is going to be amazing because we have some people there that are helping us out so we’re really looking forward to taking our act outside of Miami.
S: What other plans do you guys have going on locally?
J: We’re playing Saturday September 26th at PS14 with Huma Rojo, they are a really amazing band. On October 9th we’re going to be on the local morning show on NBC. November 14th we’re at Churchill’s. Later in the year we’re doing a radio show called Sound Theory, it’s a live program where bands play live. We’re going to do a theatrical drama, like a soap opera on the radio. We’re going to have a story and put our songs there, but we want to do something different, which is what we always try to do. We try to find a balance between playing a good sound and doing something different, because you get bored of playing the same songs. People get bored too, last year we played once every weekend. So we try to give people a little extra so they pay more attention and we have fun in the process of doing it too.
S: It sounds like a good plan. Thank you for taking the time to talk to me.
J: My pleasure, thank you too.
Radioboxer
LINKS
Sound Theory Live- Radio station website
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- ¡MAYDAY! Brings the Party
NOTE FOR COMMENTS: Do not flame or leave obnoxious comments, THEY WILL NOT BE APPROVED. Constructive criticism should always be welcomed by any artist, but don't be a d-bag, show some class. Thanks. - REVMiami Staff
