Connect with us

Entertainment

What’s Good With The Bad Tenants

Published

on

16089267801_386b3dde88_k

Photos by Dyllyn Greenwood

Seattle hip-hop is having a moment. But what about Bellingham hip-hop? The Northern college town is known for its killer bud, and is not the most likely candidate for fresh hip-hop exports, but the Bad Tenants may be the exception. Casey Gainor, Matt Goodwin and Gabe Ghirardini, form the hip-hop trio. Though they all live in Seattle now, the group originally formed in Bellingham and their unique hip-hop shows it.

Effortlessly blending horns, live vinyl, beats and rapping, The Bad Tenants create original hip-hop so unique, it’s bordering on weird. Their brand of weird is the best kind. Just imagine the coolest music nerds in jazz band and orchestra grew up, teamed up and started rapping. Now you have an idea of The Bad Tenants.

June is a busy month for the group, with performances all over the state. The Bad Tenants will be at the Inlander Music Festival in Spokane on June 3, on June 10 at Copper Glance in Winthrop, and June 23 at Barboza in Seattle—opening for Spekulation. CULTURE caught up with Gabe from The Bad Tenants in the midst of this chaos, and got some insight into what makes this unique group shine.

15905434507_cb88fb8652_kWhen and how did The Bad Tenants get started?

Gabe Ghirardini: The Bad Tenants got started toward the end of 2010 in Bellingham. Matt and Casey went to high school together, and Matt had put together a project called the Dish Pit Dons. Then Casey started getting involved. There was one drunken, stoned night, where Matt and myself went to my apartment and freestyled into the wee hours of the night. He told me about this group that they had gotten together. At that point I was kind of in between projects and not really DJing very much. And that was the genesis of The Bad Tenants. Deep Bellingham roots, if you will.

What is the group’s musical background before becoming The Bad Tenants?

Everyone has their own unique musical background, Matt has always been really into the blues, played guitar, is an accomplished singer and has been playing music since he was a kid. Casey has a solid jazz background, he was a lead trombone player in his high school days. I have my own brief background in playing viola in high school orchestra. But quickly realized I didn’t like it, and got my first set of turntables.

Where are you all from?

I am from Bellingham—born there; the other two fellas grew up in Southern California, independently of each other. Matt had lived in Bellingham in middle school, so I actually knew him since way back when. Casey moved to Bellingham as a teenager, and ended up in the same high school as Matt, in Bellingham, which is how they met.

Do you think the permissive, cannabis-infused culture of the Northwest has influenced your artistic process or your art itself?

I’m sure that it has in some ways that may be less measurable. But I think the overall demeanor and attitude we have towards life is influenced by being ourselves and letting everybody kind of do their own thing. Being friendly with the herb, and just being from the part of the world that we live in has allowed for a lot of individuality and expression.

What’s your favorite music to listen to when you’re consuming cannabis?

It depends on the mood I’m in, or what I’m doing. If I’m chilling around the house, I really like some down tempo electronic, hip-hop-esque type stuff—like Wax Tailor, Blockhead, Grammatik, that kind of thing—if I’m just laying around and hitting the bong. But, I also love getting into some lyrical hip-hop, like Open Mike Eagle, Kendrick Lamar or Chance the Rapper, something more stimulating. Can’t go wrong with some classic reggae either. So yeah, it all depends on the mood, maybe the weather or even the strain!

www.thebadtenants.com

15905107399_24d5602011_k

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *