VITA E MORTE OPENING X CMHHTD PERFORMANCE AT SUBLIMINAL PROJECTS
Two weeks ago, SUBLIMINAL PROJECTS hosted the first-ever performance by multimedia art collective Cross My Heart Hope To Die (CMHHTD). The collective consists of Sean Bonner, Brevi, Andrew Kline (Strife), and DJ Muggs (Cypress Hill). The show titled Vita E Morte is up at SUBLIMINAL PROJECTS until August 23, go check it out!
I was lucky enough to ask Andrew a few questions about how CMHHTD all came together.
With everyone coming from different musical backgrounds with you doing Strife, DJ Muggs doing stuff with Cypress Hill how did a project like Cross My Heart Hope To Die come together?
I have known Muggs for a number of years, and we have worked together in the past in a much smaller capacity. I think the fact that we all come from different (not just musical) backgrounds is really what makes this project work. Muggs and I worked together to create the sound, and once Brevi added her vocals to the project, we knew that we had something special. Sean has a long history in the art and technology world, and we all to develop the aesthetic as well as the entire art side of the group.
What initially started as a music project quickly morphed into something bigger, something really different from what is currently going on in the current musical landscape.
We approach this project in a very DIY fashion, and everyone is very hands on in every aspect of the group. The important thing is that everyone brings something different to the project. We all share common interests, but everyone has a different skill set and expertise which allows us to all contribute something that everyone can stand behind.
While most bands just play a first show your first show was not only a first show, but an art show with pieces that accompany your music. How did the idea to do that come about and was there a lot of pressure putting together an art show as well as getting ready for your first performance?
We started this project almost three years ago. We had a goal to present our music and our art in a very different way. In this digital age, we are constantly bombarded with new music, so much in fact that the thrill of discovery is gone. We wanted to bring back that feeling that we got as a kid when we would mail order records from our favorite labels and wait months for the to show up at our house, that feeling we got when we put the needle on the record and played it over and over while we studied every photo and every lyric on the layout.
We came up with the idea of our street installations, which were basically audio based street art. These installation were hung in major cities all over the world over the last three years… Someone passing by might just look at is as another piece of street art, but if it was examined closely you would notice a headphone jack… Once you plugged in your headphones it would play a number of different songs… For a lot of people, this was their first exposure to our music. We actually had music out on the streets, playing on these boxes, long before any song was available anywhere online.
This concept slowly grew into what you saw at the Vita E Morte show at Subliminal Projects.
There was definitely a lot of pressure, because we had to create all of the artwork, create all of the visuals, as well as rehearse for our first ever live show. We did have plenty of time to prepare, as we booked the show almost 8 months beforehand.
With everyone in the band working on other projects will CMHHTD always be a side project or do you think there’s room to become a full time band who is touring consistently?
This project is definitely a priority for everyone involved. We will all continue to work on other projects outside of CMHHTD, but we have already been setting up the next steps to take this concept further.
We are halfway through recording our debut full length album, and we are working on some tour dates as we speak. We are looking into touring the art side of Vita E Morte as well and have been speaking to a few different galleries in a few cities around the world.
I’ve noticed on YouTube there’s been a few fans that have made their own music videos to some of your songs. Is it pretty flattering seeing how other people interpret your songs and create their own videos for it?
We definitely encourage all of our fans to get involved and create videos or remixes of our songs. We love the fact the people can be so inspired by a song that they want to take the time to make their own version of a video.
We actually release all of our music under a Creative Commons License, which is a standardized way to grant copyright permissions to creative work. This essentially lets anyone use our music in a non commercial way.
Any last words?
Be sure to check out or website (www.cmhhtd.com) to see what we are up to next! Thanks for the interview, and we hope to be playing in a city near you soon!
For more info on the show click here!
Photos Courtesy: Harsh Truth Of The Camera Eye