13 QUESTIONS WITH GRIZ

GRIZ is not the kind of guy you would expect to be performing rap-rock in front of an audience. At first glance, he looks like a bouncer in a strip club, or at the very least a drummer in a hardcore band. When I received his debut disc, 'My Evolution', I was surprised at how gritty it was, and how much raw emotion was leaking out of this guy, who has experienced more pain in thirty years than some people can fit into a lifetime. Given how angry he is on his CD, I was hestitant to be a prick with the questions. However, that lasted all of four seconds, and then I fired off these...

Steve C: Generally, when labels are looking for artists to promote, especially to U.S. audiences, there's a lot of emphasis put on looks, and finding the next heartthrob they can stick on a dozen magazine covers. How much (if at all) of an impediment was your physical size and stature when it came to pitching yourself to record labels?

GRIZ: As far as my image I am 250 pounds of raw beast… I am the bad boy image that every girl wants to be with and every guy wants to be like… I have an I don’t give a fuck attitude and at the same time I have a great personality… I am the perfect image for my music… my music is HARDCORE and so am I…. you can put me on the cover of revolver in the middle of the pit, or you can put me in an Armani suit with the sleeves cut off on the cover of GQ… GRIZ is more than your average artist GRIZ is a movement… so hold on tight and get ready for a rough ride!! I hope that answers your question…

Steve C: After listening to each track on 'My Evolution', one can't help but notice you've gone through a great deal of emotional pain in your life. Now, it's no mystery that depressed people often take their own lives. How many times, would you estimate, have you contemplated throwing in the towel (suicide), and how were you going to do it?

GRIZ: Only the weak quit… I am not weak so the thought never crossed my mind

Steve C: Hypothetical Situation: You're at a nightclub having a drink with a few cronies, and you glance down the bar and you notice adult film starlet (and all around hot piece of ass) Tera Patrick sipping on a Martini. You saunter up, slick back your eyebrows, puff up your chest, and prepare your best pick-up lines. As you approach, BIOHAZARD frontman (and Tera's husband) Evan Seinfeld pounces out from behind the bar with his fists clenched, aimed at you. How is Griz going to handle himself in this situation?

GRIZ: First of all I love BIOHAZARD and I know Tera is Evan's wife so it wouldn’t happen... but hypothetically speaking Evan would have a hell of a fight on his hands…

Steve C: Of all the career paths you could have chosen, and considering the downturn the music business has taken recently, being a rapper seems like the most unstable vocation you could have picked. Let's say, for the sake of discussion, your CD sells 10,000 copies, and you have to go out and get the dreaded 'day job'... how is Griz going to pay the gas bill?

GRIZ: GRIZ has no problem payin the gas bills or any other bills… I am a hustler I will always be alright… I am not afraid of hard work… but that dosent matter because I WILL NOT LOSE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Steve C: Griz, you're an Italian guy from Brooklyn, so chances are you have acquired a taste for linguini, calamari, sausage and peppers, lasagna, and other Italian delicacies. What's your all-time favorite starch-filled Italian treat?

GRIZ: Well first of all I am not from Brooklyn…(whoops..thought that the bio said Brooklyn. My Bad) I am from Westchester and the Bronx… as far as my favorite Italian food… there is nothing out there as good as my Grandmothers gravy over her homemade pasta…

Steve C: OK, now which italian dish has you farting up nuclear death for days after you eat it?

GRIZ: I guess I would have to say pastafagoli… that has beans in it… (I know it well... eating it right now, actually)

Steve C: In the middle of the angst-ridden My Evolution, you threw in a fairly generic cover of STEPPENWOLF's 'Born To Be Wild'.... Why, in the middle of all of this gut-wrenching hardcore rap, would you insert a 30 year-old biker anthem that's been beaten to a pulp by every other rock band on the planet? (for lack of a more eloquent phrase)

GRIZ: I had no interest in doing Born To Be Wild it was all the label and Joe Smith my producer… Ragin’Grace gave me complete creative control of the album so when they asked me to do the song I had no problem with it… I liked the way the song came out so I used it… besides it has been a great song in the biker community for 30 years and I love the biker community… and you know what they say “history repeats itself”

Steve C:You've had fairly strained relations with both of your parents, but your father (who remarried and has a new family) essentially turned you away when you were a teenager. That's a bummer for anyone who has to go through that situation. Your bio mentions that your father and you have become closer, but have those past wounds healed or are they still spilling out all over the place?

GRIZ: First of all only GOD can judge man and I am not GOD… but to answer your question… My father and I are close now… but all I saw as I was growing up was that we were so poor and my father had a lot of money… he lived in the good part of town and we lived in my grandparents basement across the street from the projects… I tried to move in with my father but his new wife told him that if I moved in she was going to take his new baby daughter and go back to Italy so he had to choose… I guess he chose not to break up another family so I was left in the struggle… that made me and my father grow apart because as stated in I NEED SOME TIME “As a young boy all alone I couldn’t understand” why he would leave me for her… after all I was there first… but as time went by I learned to understand… and he is there for me now… those who dwell on yesterday will never appreciate today and that will be the demise of their tomorrow…

Steve C:You've got co-writing credits on some fairly significant projects (soundtracks to 'Romeo Must Die' and 'Bringing Down The House')... since publishing usually pays much better than performing, do you think you might be comfortable in a behind-the-scenes role permanently if the whole performance angle doesn't work out?

GRIZ: I didn’t get shit from either one of those soundtracks… my lawyer is on top of that as we speak... but as far as being behind the scenes I plan on being there later anyway… I have great writing ability and I know this business… if nothing else I have been doing this music shit for the last 15 years I have paid my dues... what doctor or lawyer or any other business man do you know that went to school for 15 years? I went to the school of hard knocks for 15 years and that is an education you can’t buy or get in any school… I will be alright one way or another…

Steve C: In your bio, you allude to the fact that you may have fractured an occasional law when you were growing up. Of all the really stupid things a problem child from a broken home can make, which would you say was the one you MOST regret?

GRIZ: What I regret most about my childhood has nothing to do with the law… as far as the law FUCK EM! I had to do what I had to do… what I regret is always blaming my mother for my father not being there and us being so fuckin poor… they say that you take your pain out on the ones you love well that wasn’t fair… I love my mother and now as I look back I see that she did the best she could for us... she worked three jobs and still couldn’t pay the bills… I still remember her crying herself to sleep every night... those sounds still haunt me… I wish I would have stayed home with her and helped her rather than run away… I was 15 all alone growing into a man and she was a 34 year old mother who lost her son to the streets… we both suffered in result of my actions… if I would have stayed with her we would have made it through together instead we walked through our struggles alone…. But the important thing is that we both made it and we are close now… I give my mother everything now… she is my #1 lady! Besides as I look back on my set of footprints in the sand I realize that my deepest struggles are actually my greatest riches… what I went through made me who I am today and I love who I am today…

Steve C: If I was to sneak into your room and ransack your private collection of adult films, what kind of movies would I find in your smut drawer?

GRIZ: You would find a set of my personal videos labeled “GRIZ GAWN WILD” , “DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR GIRL WAS DOING WHILE SHE WAS ON VACATION?” , and RATED XXX “BEAUTY AND THE BEAST… VOL. 1” (all types of beautiful woman playing beauty and GRIZ as the beast….) All due to be released on my website in the future….

Steve C: I'm thinking about about getting myself a sandwich. When I get to the Italian deli in my neighborhood (which, by the way makes suberb fresh mozzerella), I'm going to want to ask for something special. Reccommend a sandwich, if you would. Gracias.

GRIZ: There is nothing better than a good old fashion Italian combo… (Nothing, indeed...lunch time!)

Steve C: Hypothetical situation #2: Let's say you're walking down the street in your neighborhood...about to get yourself a slice...or even a sandwich... and some excited teenager wearing 150 dollar Nike sneakers runs up to you and says 'Griz! I just downloaded your entire album! You RULE!" How are you going to react to this kid, who judging from his footwear, can obviously afford to buy your CD?

GRIZ: I would tell him to buy the album if he appreciates it so much… GRIZ can only rule with the support of his fans and support comes from you going to the music store and buying the album… not only does it keep the money flowing so I will be able to continue to receive a budget from my label to record another album it also gives me soundscan numbers and I need those to get airplay and video play… TO ALL FANS IF YOU APPRECIATE OUR MUSIC PLEASE GIVE US THE LOVE WE GIVE YOU…. BUY THE ALBUM! IF YOU DOWNLOAD YOU NOT ONLY TAKE MONEY OUT OF OUR POCKETS YOU PUT OUR CAREER IN JEPORDY…

Steve C: After opening up so many veins on My Evolution, and going through an emotional purge to make this collection of songs, do you think you're going to be able to do it again for a second album?

GRIZ:I already started writing album two (still untitled) and it is going to be even better than MY EVOLUTION… MY EVOLUTION is going to go down in the books as a classic and it is going to give me a good foundation for album two but trust me album two will push me to the next level… MY EVOLUTION explains who I am… it allows my fans to get personal with me… it explains GRIZ to the world… once the world digests “MY EVOLUTION” and they begin to understand me I will begin to have fun with them… as a matter of fact my label and I are talking about releasing “MY EVOLUTION” then while I am recording my second album I might release an album titled MY PRE-EVOLUTION with all of my rap songs that I have recorded in the past… no matter what please believe that GRIZ is here to stay and I will be releasing good music for years to come… As I told you in the beginning of the interview GRIZ is more than your average new artist GRIZ is a movement… WELCOME TO THE NEW LAND OF REVOLUTIONARY MUSIC!”

Wow, this guy is hardcore...or he does an excellent job of faking it. I certainly wouldn't want to fight him, that's for DAMN sure.

Check out GRIZ's debut disc, My Evolution, out now via Raging Grace.

Visit his official website at GRIZROCK.com