The Witzard

First and foremost, I have to readily admit, what you see below is a previously unpublished 2017 interview with Jay "J-Zone" Mumford & Pablo Martin of The Du-Rites conducted right around the release of their second collaborative album, Greasy Listening, or "2 albums - 1 CD Mo' Funk, Less $$." After conducting the initial emailed interview with both Jay & Pablo, my fiance and I purchased our first home together, the holidays came and went, and amidst constant preparations for our Fall 2018 wedding, I quite simply, and unfortunately, forgot to publish my second comprehensive Q&A with The Du-Rites. It actually, makes complete and total sense, in its own weird way, to publish this interview now, as Greasy Listening and almost all the separate projects from J-Zone & Pablo Martin mentioned within—aside from The Du-Rites' full "The Odyssey" (The Fizzy Wo-Magnificent Remix)—have been effectively released to the masses: THE ZONE IDENTITY...

"Bite It" b/w "Bocho's Groove" 7" Single by The Du-Rites "The inspiration was mostly the good reception that the first album [The Du-Rites] had and sonically, the reference plan for have something consistent with our sound, but further enough from it to not sound repetitive [compared to the first album]. As for the single for Greasy Listening , as a whole, the main inspiration was the four months we had to wait to get the single back from the [pressing] plant," The Du-Rites' guitar/bass guitar/synthesizer/ Fender Rhodes player Pablo Martin wrote within a recent emailed statement. "Sonically, it's dirtier and in general, it sounds like a smaller ensemble. Philosophically, it has to do with the transition of Jay moving on from the crap you have to deal [with being] an emcee and a Hip-Hop producer with the crap you have to deal with being a gigging drummer/musician and me having a good laugh, while witnessing that. The single is...

"Just some nasty instrumental Funk! It’s a niche market, but that’s always been where my heart is. I just never had the resources or the right mind and skill sets til now. When I first started playing drums, Pablo called me to sit in with his band, PABLO, because the drummer wasn’t showing up. They were patient with me as I learned my instrument and how to play with other musicians, instead of just jamming in my basement. I eventually became the drummer in that band, but for a moment, the rest of the band was busy with stuff and both Pablo and I had other side projects that were kind of dragging. The PABLO band is more like Rock, so Pablo and I decided to make a pure Funk project on our own. That became The Du-Rites and it’s ironic that it’s coming out before all the other projects and is actually getting really good feedback. It was initially inspired by restlessness and a desire to "Funk out,'" Jay "J-Zone" Mumford replied during our previous August 2016...

"$24 spent on what exactly?" I somewhat feverishly quipped, to which Lulu Lewis guitarist and co-founder Pablo Martin readily replied, "two skull masks and a party gun with a flag that says BANG!!!... the rest, Dylan [Hundley] did on an iPhone ... and iMovie , some public domain footage, and the rest, we did [with] the band at Bill Harvey 's place. We put a sheet and lights on the back and did shadows... pretty simple" via text. Let me back up and provide a little added context here: I've recently been in touch with J-Zone 's resident studio engineer and The Du-Rites bandmate Pablo Martin , who graciously agreed to let me premier his band, Lulu Lewis' latest video-single, "All Just Pretending" here at The Witzard . He attests, and I wholeheartedly believe him, but it's still a little hard to believe, that their self-shot black-and-white "All Just Pretending" video only cost a measly $24 to fund and produce! "I t...