ArtOfficial Music

Keys, drums, bass, saxophone, vocals.. put it all together and it becomes ArtOfficial. A mix of Jazz, Hip-Hop, Funk, and they’re own personal sounds, describes this band’s unique and amazing sound. They give new meaning to live performances, and are great representation of Miami’s diversity. Go to one of their shows and you’ll be hooked.. we promise.

Meet the band: Ralf  Valencia (bass), Keith Cooper (saxophone),  Danny Perez (keys),  Newsense (vocals), Juan, a.k.a Logics (vocals).

So tell us…

How did you first come together?
Newsense: Almost four years ago, Juan and I, were rappers in another group for a couple of years. Somehow we linked up with Ralf, who was in another band with Keith and Danny. We were trying to get a live feel, so we wanted to use live instruments. We played together a couple of times and both bands broke up at the same time, so we just got together in one. Later on we got a drummer.

You have many different instruments in your band, how exactly would you describe your sound?
We usually tell people we’re a live Hip-Hop band, with Jazz and Funk influence. That’s what people feel when they first hear our music, but it’s just us as musicians hearing each other’s music and putting our own parts together.

Who writes the songs?
We write all the songs together, usually Newsense and Logics write the lyrics and then we all build on it. We get together and start adding the instruments or the lyrics as we go along. We would usually just start playing something and if we like it we just add it, so everyone puts their part into every song. All of our smooth songs are Danny’s, he loves the R&B.

Where can we see you live?
We have played at pretty much every place that has live music in Miami. The shows are a little bit slow right now because we stopped for the end of the year to record some stuff, but they’re picking up now. You can check out our website, www.artofficialmusic.net, and see our schedule with the time and places where we will be playing.

Who would you like to collaborate with?
Definitely Mos Def, Danger Mouse, John Brian.. so many people, that’s a hard question.

How did you come up with the name ArtOfficial?
Newsense: This really cool artist that I’m into said that art is the way he communicates with people, so that’s how I was inspired to start coming up with the name. I threw some Hip Hop in there and it became ArtOfficial. 

Do you have an album? If so, where can we find it?
We have an EP (extended play) called “Strangers” that’s on ITunes. It’s the first project that we put out, a five song EP. We also put out an album in Japan called “Fist Fights and Foot Races”. We’ve just been playing all over the place, working on our music, and we have a mixtape coming out in March called “The Payback”. The cool thing about “The Payback” is that you can download it absolutely free.

What’s your plan for the future? Where would you like to go with your music?
Well the idea is to have our music really take off and be able to go to places like Europe and Asia, there seems to be a bigger market for what we’re doing over there. We also want to go all over the United States, and just like anybody else who loves what they do, we want to live from this. In the short term we’re working on the mixtape, and in July or August, we want to release our first U.S debut album.

And finally, what’s your IN place in Miami?
We love the beach, we’re there every day. “Islas Canarias Restaurant” because they have the best croquetas. Transit Lounge is pretty cool too because they have a great sound, good crowd, good environment, live music and it’s a good Miami vibe with regular, down to earth people.

Check them out
www.artofficialmusic.net
www.myspace.com/weareartofficial

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