Convenience Store consists of evs, rapping enigma Tommy V and Neila, one of the best female MC´s out of Los Angeles. A few weeks ago, they finally released their debut album Apt #227 which took seven years to complete. As evs says in our interview – a new album is definitely possible as long as it doesn´t take next seven years.
Please introduce yourself and Tommy V and Neila and tell us how you all met.
Um, well, yeah I’m evs, i’m from san diego, Tommy v and Neila you probably already know as residents of LA. Tommy is also a part of super-band TOCA with Anononymous Inc’s Ceschi and David Ramos as well as Xololanxinxo. But all three of us are also part of the collective LA2theBay. I met Tommy initially through Deeskee, he’s like the Kevin Bacon of LA. Mostly everyone I know is connected to him somehow. He would send me tapes every now and then of songs he had produced for Tommy, Neila, Awol, Dutchmassiveand others. I ended up meeting Tommy in the bay sometime shortly after along with Joe Dub, back then known as Young Joseph. Neila, I had heard of through her cassette releases, but never actually met until one summer when Tommy, her, and myself had been invited to perform at some show the Secluded Journalists had put together. I wanted to either fly or drive, but I can never make that trip to the bay alone to this day; it’s just too much driving for me, so I ended up posting a message on LA2theBay and asking if anyone was down to carpool. Both of them chimed in (and Neila) she was like „I have a license and I can bring snacks and drinks for the road“. About a week later, I drove up to her house for the first time and we all left for the bay the very next morning. That was the beginning of everything.
Who came up with the name Convenience Store?
It was a name Neila and I came up with while driving up the 5-north in Los Angeles while I was visiting one evening. We saw an actual convenience store somewhere near the Citadel and thought: Hey, that would be a cool group name. It just sounds odd and also just explains the different sort of variation brought to the table with this release. Three unlikely individuals brought together for this particular project.
What´s your favourite track on Apt #227 and why?
It’s hard to choose because though the entire process of recording and getting this music together, I’ve lost some of the songs a few times and some we had to re-record for the album. It’s sort of this off and on again project we’ve worked on for the past 7 years. But if I had to pick one it’d have to be Smile, the final track on the album. It’s just really one of my favorite beats I’ve ever made and its really like a time stamp at a moment in our personal and musical lives. Tommy tapped some keys off a toy casio keyboard and also played a few notes on the trumpet. Both of those instruments were sort of an afterthought but ultimately made the song complete. There’s no chorus, we sort of just let the track breathe on its own. It’s almost like a three point duet between us and the music. Tommy was barely beginning to learn instruments when we met, and now he’s really become a self-contained musician in his own right. So when I listen to this specific song it really does make me smile, because it´s really a reflection of our beginnings.
How many songs are brand new?
The only song that is even remotely brand new is Handicap Signs with Ceschi. He recorded his parts for that song the same day he dropped his vocals for Cowboy Song later that day, actually right after recording, he wrote lyrics and laid down parts for this one. It was pretty amazing, and his delivery was totally unexpected. It has this almost glam-rock quality to it. I sat on the song for about two years before I finally wrote and recorded the final parts during the weekend that Deeskee was mixing the rest of the album.
Is Convenience Store more of a one-time project or are you going to work together more often?
I liken it to a sort of rotating cast of people that revolve around the aforementioned trio. I am open to making more convenience store records, just as long as it doesn’t take another 7 years to get all three of us together. I see Neila about every couple of months. I’ve known her for almost 7-8 years now, and she’s really my best friend. I’ll always want to record songs. Neila and I joke about recording an album together and calling it Mini-mart. The first album would be called Downsizing.
When did you start producing and what equipment do you use?
I started making beats back in 1997 with my first group Sub-division. we released a few tapes via online and mail order spots like ATAK and then after a few years the other two rappers in the group went on to pursue other things. Thus my venture into solo affairs. I started with a Roland W-30 sampling keyboard and then moved onto the ASR-10 in 1999. I haven’t looked back since.
What is Tommy V up to? He hasn´t released anything in years.
S**t, I wish I knew. I email or space him every now and then, but haven’t kept in touch as much as I should. Outside of Toca’s album, which came out earlier this year, I’m sure he’s just been saving up his recordings for something special. He’s sort of an enigma.
What´s next for evs?
I am working on two seperate albums to come out sometime next year. Weak-nds For Week Friends is the first, which will be more of a lo-fi affair, and then the official follow up to my debut EP, Shades of Grey, which will be titled No Time For Local Binds. Also a few other things which are just in the beginning stages. Atay tuned, it’ll be worth the wait I think.
