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When I recently found out a co-worker was good friends with Josh Martinez, I had to ask if he could hook up an interview. Ten minutes and one phone call later I was informed it was a go when he rolled back through Vancouver on his (what seems like) forever-long tour. Not only that, I was told he was playing a show the same night with The Pissed Off Wild. I knew at this point I was going to have to make a night of it.

On most Tuesdays I’m at home in comfortable clothes with television whisking me slowly into an unconscious state. This past Tuesday I was surrounded by an abundance of intoxicating liquids and horny twenty-something’s; funked out bass lines and crashing drum kits supplied the backdrop to rhymes that showered the crowd. I’m not going to lie though, I wasn’t really too enveloped in the opening bands. They were pretty good at times, mediocre at others. All in all, my gin & tonic and the conversations I was involved in kept me somewhat distant from the vibe on stage.

After some drinks, running into old friends and a chance meeting with a former Degrassi Junior High actor, the night was progressing nicely. The Pissed Off Wild were set to commence. While sporting thick gold chains and a raccoon cap, Josh Martinez was just as eccentric as his outfit in his attempts to pump the crowd – a group effort consisting of frantic fist shaking and growing screams of “The Pissed Off Wild” over a building drum-roll was my first introduction to their live show. Tearing through song after song with a blend of funk, punk, 70’s rock and hip hop I became completely tuned into these new sounds that hit my ears. When most think of live hip hop, first thoughts turn to The Roots and biased opinions generally arise through comparison. There was zero comparison here. This is a sound unique enough to have even your parents shaking ass.

At times the set seemed a sort of impromptu jam session, with the likes of AC/DC and Skynyrd riffs being busted out, much to the crowd’s enjoyment. After six months of not playing together as a band it was somewhat present, but I guess me being in former bands and not having an elitist attitude towards music, I could appreciate the fun that was surrounding the live show. And what a live show it was. Josh Martinez has a true presence on stage, a gift of being able to draw the crowd in, making them a part of the entire experience. One song that completely grabbed me was a kind of straight ahead punked out hip hop version of an east coast drunken sea shanty. A chorus so addictive it echoed in my head as I made my way home. This certainly made my Tuesday night.

Before the show I was able to sit down for my interview, which seemed more like a simple conversation about a shared love of hip hop for what it really is, rather than the bullshit stature that surrounds it. Being able to talk with him just helped to secure my beliefs that we’re all just people trying to make it through our own struggles in life and although the scene can be a show of glitter and gold, the fact of it is humility and complete dedication is what really drives him to succeed. This only heightened my views of Josh Martinez.

First off.. ‘Sex Buffet’ hitting number one in Canada, that’s awesome. So congrats on that. It was what six – seven months running?
Ya, it went from the August (2008) when it first leaked and in September it went to number one until the end of February, which was incredible to me. Just thanks to a lot of support on the college level. It had been a long time since I released a proper record and I think there was a lot of expectation for it and it was two years late for me. I spent five years on it, which was two years more than I had intended. Just a lot of hardships; lost hard drives, broken hard drives with months and months of data that had to be re-done. A very trying process… Had management, fired management. A lot of changes, I left Vancouver entirely. So ya, when it came out and it got that kind of response, especially in Canada, it was really important to me. Even though, I’ve been touring in the States and other places over the last four or five years, it’s still more important to me to have success in Canada.

It’s like a hometown feel.
Ya, it’s a pride thing.These are my people, this is where I came from and this country is it’s own inspiration.Canada’s such a uniquely funny stereotype that nobody really knows what Canadians are, what Canada is, other than we’re really nice, hella hokey and funny. I mean the secret to my success is dual citizenship, so I’m extremely lucky. I was able to work in the States when nobody else from Canada really could. I was able to expand my fan base in the States, in towns that are much closer together, way more reasonable for touring and I followed it up. I mean, it’s not like I was an American and everything just started working itself out, I just had the opportunity to work in America without having to think about a work visa or having to lie. I was really fortunate. ‘The Sex Buffet’ has been a slow roller coaster. In Canada it caught on a lot quicker, people would pick it up and say “where did this come from” and well it’s been out for six months, but we haven’t had the greatest marketing campaign for it, we’re not like the big guys (laughs). You’re going to find out about Camobear stuff by accident or someone turned you on to it.

Well that’s exactly how I got turned on. It was 2002 I believe and someone just handing me a demo copy of ‘A Rap Song’ and then that was it.
Well we got really lucky with the timing. I would hate to be a new emcee right now, we’re just over saturated with people that already have names, who already have years and years of development and skills behind them. An up and coming trying to book a show, it’s like “who cares? Oh another rap show, ugh”. Nobody even wants it. It’s like the only thing that’s wanted is proven and luckily through the years of doing this I’ve established myself as a solid draw, whatever the case is. Every place is different, but they’re all solid and they maintain solidity because I come back and take time to connect with the local scene and really make sure I network with those people. But ya, I was just really lucky to be around when the type of music I was doing was buzzing in a particular way and able to hook up with some of the resources that wouldn’t be available to an up and coming. Hip hop has really been turned on it’s head, both in a commercial sense and in the underground. Everybody in the underground is trying to make anything but the kind of records they were doing in 2002-2003, when everyone was really digging what they did. It was very personal, very experiential. Now everybody’s like “well I make a bit of electro, some rock and roll”, people are trying to diversify themselves now because underground hip hop is seen as a ghost town.

Is that why you’ve branched off into things like The Chicharones and The Pissed Off Wild?
For me it’s always been about A.D.D. (laughs) It’s always been about having more looks. When I first started putting together The Chicharones and Pissed Off Wild (because it was about the same time), they were both for very different reasons, but they really rounded out what I could offer as an artist. A live band that wasn’t like a cheesy Roots knock-off, that had it’s own sound and really widened my ability to tour and gain more festivals or bigger venues and play with rock bands. I just wanted to be able to have more looks and I listen to a lot more music than underground hip hop and that’s what was inspiring me. Having a live band was important to me to show I was really musically inclined and not just a rapper, it was a personal thing to not be pigeon holed because I could see that the window was narrowing. It was preventative and to stay relevant and as an artist I had more than just me to go on. With The Chicharones it’s very uptempo and fun, where as Pissed Off Wild could play with anybody, on any bill and slay it. It’s diversity, making sure you planned before things went to shit.

Well, speaking of Chicharones I just noticed you have a new album out. Any plans on bringing the show to Vancouver?
Ya, we’re gonna bring them in June. We’re going to do a Canadian tour, go B.C, Alberta and probably as far as Ontario, without going into Ontario. If we can find a way to make it work out east then we will. I’m just so comfortable out west with basically going as far as the prairies, shooting down throughout the States. That’s me, that’s my places. That’s where we’re strong, where we’ve been building for years. I make a living what I do in places that are really happy to have me. I don’t really feel like being 18 again and going exploring a new place that is totally from scratch. If I go out east, I want to go as an opener with someone who has a much bigger draw, that will bring people in. I just don’t want Josh Martinez or The Chicharones to carry a show on the east coast, where I don’t feel we have a lot of support.

Ok, I’ve got to ask… Josh Martinez, where did that name come from? As you are neither a Josh nor a Martinez.
It was my ethnic modeling name. (laughs) When I was in Halifax I got head shots because my mom was in the movie business and she had a friend that did head shots. I got them because she wanted me to have a side job where I could model at fucking Sears runways, I mean it was really low brow. It was some quick money and I had stopped selling weed at that time, so it seemed like a reasonable thing. It came to a point where my friends thought how funny it was, because the lady at the modeling agency had told me that I had an ethnic look and they just thought that was the funniest thing. So, for numerous months I had different ethnic modeling names like Raoul McGreggor, the Spanish Scott and eventually Josh Martinez – the Puerto Rican Jew came to the forefront. I remember saying it the first time I got on stage and all my friends were just laughing and laughing. It was just a joke and then about a year later I put out a record and it just took off in a weird way. Getting all this attention from San Francisco, I got lumped in with the whole Anticon movement and at the time it helped catapult me to this weird indie prominence.

I just downloaded The Gigantics, completely ridiculous.
Oh, one of my favorites and totally under-heard.

Ya, what’s the deal? Is it a big super-group, are they all co-mingled?
It’s one producer, his name’s Onry Ozzborn and has released other releases on our label before. It’s his project and it’s entirely based around his vision of this sort of dysfunctional family that was from the future. The beats sound like really nothing I’ve ever heard, production wise, for hip hop. They’re so bizarre and the guest appearances… He just brought in everyone that he knew, there’s fifty emcees. I mean he brings in Murs, Mr. Lif, Pigeon John, CVE, 2mex, LMNO, Eligh, P.O.S, and that’s just off the top of my head. It’s an unbelievable arrangement of guest appearances but there’s a continuity to it that’s just brilliant. I begged Andre to let me put it out and again it’s a shame we don’t have the resources for distribution because that is one of the greatest records I’ve ever heard.

Well, I’ll definently be pumping it.
Please do, because it is so important to me that this album succeeds in the long term. I imagine it’ll do like ‘Sex Buffet’, where when people hear it they’ll be blown away. But we just need to get it to them.

Hopefully this helps in some small way…. Any plans for after the tour?
Fuck, come back here (Vancouver), live. Get back with my friends, hang out.

More albums in the works?
Ya, The Pissed Off Wild is getting ready to release an album in probably two months. The Chicharones have a full length coming out at the end of the summer.

Any last words?
Whatever you do, get ready for the moustache ride of your life.

Unfortunately I couldn’t post the entire interview as it was up around forty minutes in length, but again a big thanks to Josh Martinez for this. I can only stress that ‘The World Famous Sex Buffet’ held it’s number one spot for a reason so go buy it and as far as The Gigantics, you’ve never heard an album like this. If you don’t get it, you’re missing out on hip hop history.

Now for your listening pleasure:

Josh Martinez – Grown Folks Music
Josh Martinez – Responsibility
The Chicarones – You Gotta Move

P.S. Sorry for the shit picture, I’m by no means a photographer

Tags: concert, Interview