Its been a long time

[weege]

just doing my annual check in...haha How is everybody?

What's new/different in reggae rock these days?

- Weege

[Chevontez]

Hey man the real question is what's up with 880 South? I haven't heard any news from that department in a while

[weege]

Hey man the real question is what's up with 880 South? I haven't heard any news from that department in a while

hehe...man I can not seem to dodge this question.

Ok...I'll try and explain. 880 South was founded by me originally, I wrote a 4 song demo(remember the Sublime Archive?) and released it for free...because so many people wanted to hear more 880 South and see us live...I decided to make 880 South a band. So I grabbed my 3 former bandmates(see Floppy Rods) and decided to write/perform as 880 South.

Long story short. Touring got the best of us and we were all at each others' throats...inexperience and alcoholism created a lot of tensions but we were still friends and amicably found ways to work things out...eventually my drummer Aaron Liebelt quit, we pushed on for years making it work without him and hiring session drummers and then we had a falling out with our guitarist and long time friend Steve Shyshka. Those details are private...but when Steve Shyshka left 880 South, there was a 2 year period or so of us trying to replace him and we just couldn't find the right chemistry or the right musicians. We tried, for the sake of the fans, but it was gone...and so was 880 South. 880 South is resting nicely at the bottom of a golden well deep in my heart. I have great memories and experiences to live off my laurels. I have no regrets. I've recently rekindled my friendship with Steve but there is no sign of life for 880 South.

The only solution was creating a new band. I tried The Year but ran into very similar issues in chemistry. I grew tired of managing people and not enjoying the songwriting and creativity like I once did. Although it was fun to write with new musicians, it took way too long to create something groundbreaking.

The new solution is quite simple. Weege...yes it's my nickname, but it is also my newest music project. http://www.facebook.com/weegemusic
It's not really a solo project although I wrote all of the songs, I collaborated with my longtime friend and fellow writer Greg Medeiros. Why did we choose the name "Weege"? We contemplated calling it 880 South but after the harsh reviews of Talk To Me we decided...fuck 880 South, lets do this one for us and fortunately my nickname is pretty well known in circles so we went with it. So we're not like a Van Halen, Alan Parsons Project, Echo and the Bunnymen or Kool and the Gang...cause we're not technically a band...but ya, the band/artist is named after me.

Here is an interesting equasion. The Year was called The Year because for one year I was going to release a free song every month to the loyal fanbase we had with 880 South. Well ironicaly it took us a exactly a year to write 4 songs...so I've put that project on hold.

As "Weege" we have recorded 23 songs to date that only need to be mastered and approved by our record label Dub Rock and we're dropping an album in April, we pretty much finished all the heavy lifting and now that we're in post production, we're really close to unleashing something new and different...we did that in less than a month...and that was just myself and Greg Medeiros in a home studio in Campbell, CA bouncing ideas off each other and putting them down digitally through some recording software(Reason) and our collection of instruments at Emerson Studios.

So I hope 880 South fans aren't disappointed in what has become of 880 South. It's not gone forever, but it's resting peacefully for now and Weege...is here...the replacement, probably not, but definitely the same backbone of how 880 South got it started in the first place. On a good note, we'll probably cover a lot of 880 South material when we do play live shows. Oh and I'll be able to speak of myself in the 3rd person I'm so full of myself.

- Weege

[Chevontez]

Hey man thanks for the response and for all the detail. I've had somewhat of a similar situation go down with a band I was in before and am all too familiar with the bullshit that can occur. So, I certainly will miss 880 South, I really enjoyed that music. But I'm checkin out your Weege music on Facebook, and so far have heard most of "Excuses Are Useless" and am diggin it man. Good luck with your new shit! Making music is a business of course, gotta live somehow. But, it's most important to be having fun and actually enjoying yourself while making the music, so I hope that is the case for ya now.

[weege]

Hey man thanks for the response and for all the detail. I've had somewhat of a similar situation go down with a band I was in before and am all too familiar with the bullshit that can occur. So, I certainly will miss 880 South, I really enjoyed that music. But I'm checkin out your Weege music on Facebook, and so far have heard most of "Excuses Are Useless" and am diggin it man. Good luck with your new shit! Making music is a business of course, gotta live somehow. But, it's most important to be having fun and actually enjoying yourself while making the music, so I hope that is the case for ya now.

You're right, the business of music is a key factor to anyone's success, but I fight with myself over what's more important. The way I express myself or pleasing a few more fans. I figure, if I'm true to myself, then people will love it or hate it either way, but I'd rather subject myself to folks who listen to my music because I'm staying true to my ideas. I'm all good for a good pop song but it's gotta have it's own character, some soul, some truth behind it.

thanks again dude.

[Chevontez]

I'm all good for a good pop song but it's gotta have it's own character, some soul, some truth behind it.

Ain't that the truth. If you ever wanna check me out I'm at http://www.reverbnation.com/Chevontez and play all the instruments myself. If you ever wanna get down on somethin, hit me up!

[weege]

I'm all good for a good pop song but it's gotta have it's own character, some soul, some truth behind it.

Ain't that the truth. If you ever wanna check me out I'm at http://www.reverbnation.com/Chevontez and play all the instruments myself. If you ever wanna get down on somethin, hit me up!

thanks dude. ill peep it after i get home from work.