Mega Voce

[December 5th, 2007]

Their music scenes may seem worlds apart, but Kevin Robinson (of husband-wife psych-pop duo Viva Voce) and Milton Campbell (a.k.a. MC, DJ and producer Ohmega Watts) have an awful lot in common. Both of these PDX imports—Robinson from Alabama and Watts from Brooklyn (by way of Florida)—have found success since relocating to the Rose City; both just came home after exhausting tours, and both share a love for discovering new music of all stripes.

After being introduced to one another in 2005, it wasn’t long before the indie rocker and hip-hop head made plans for collaboration. When that finally comes together (they say they’ll record this winter), it’ll be the highest-profile cross-genre collaboration in recent Portland memory. WW joined the dynamic duo for breakfast (at Cup and Saucer on Northeast Killingsworth Street, the breakfast spot where Watts and Robinson originally met up) this past Monday. Robinson shared his own introduction to hip-hop to start the conversation.

“I learned to play drums off hip-hop. Because with the beats, you can identify that this is the high hat, this is the kick and this is the snare,” he says. “In the town that I grew up in there wasn’t a whole hell of a lot of hip-hop on the radio, but there was like Grandmaster Flash and stuff like that.”

WW : What made you move to Portland?
Kevin Robinson: [My wife, Anita, and I] just loved the people and the city, and we sold everything we had and moved here. It’s funny, because there’s absolutely nothing we’re doing different that we were doing in the South. The difference is that people here will actually come to a local-run business instead of a Wal-Mart. In the South...if you’re not on Warner Brothers, then you’re obviously not a serious musician. Everything just didn’t seem to click until we got here.

Was that the same for you, or is the hip-hop scene different here?
Ohmega Watts: [long pause] Hip-hop’s weird [laughs]. Hip-hop is music that can really be anything. It takes inspiration from everywhere, and that’s what made it so new. But yeah, I came here to develop what I really wanted to do. My work started when I moved here—it was the first time I was 100-percent independent. With [Watts’ hip-hop group] Lightheaded—that’s when I first did shows, developed a stage presence, learned how to work crowds.

What keeps you inspired?
Watts: I listen to everything. And when you have an open mind, musically, which I do, and Kevin does as well, you can dig deeper and find a way to add more life and flavor to your own music. I mean, cooking food has been around as long as we have. As food has gotten better with time and learning how to plant things better, agriculture and whatever, chefs are constantly making things taste good or better or different. That’s the same way I look at myself. It’s like being a chef, taking these different ingredients to make something new. How many people make chicken and meatloaf, but it’s never the same, there’s always something to it.

Robinson: We can make some chicken loaf together!

Watts: Some meaty chicken tender loaf. That should be the name of the band!

I’m impressed that you guys get so creative and open-minded without any drugs.
Robinson: I think that your imagination is way more tripped out than any psychedelic drug. I have friends that smoke out all the time, but it’s funny because nine times out of 10 the musical tastes gets worse as the drug use gets prevalent. All of a sudden, they’re buying Phish records.

Do you think your existing audiences will be into your collaboration?
Robinson: I don’t really care. I think they would, because I think our fans are open-minded. [My music] has to be enjoyable for me for anyone to get anything out of it. Maybe there’s people that aren’t fans of either one of us that will be into it.

Watts: That could happen. Actually, I know it will happen. Because there are people who are going to say, “Whoa, what is this?”

Robinson: And at the same time, “What the hell is this?”