Oct 2021
Vol. 12
Interviews from Trinidad Cardona, eee gee & more
Machine Gun Kelly Meghan Thee Stallion Jack Harlow & More From Music Midtown
VINTAGE
Volume 12 October 2021 Vintage Editorial
HAZZE MEDIA www.hazzemedia.com hazzemediainfo@gmail.com
Founder/Editor-in-Chief Ezzah Rafique
Design Director Mohja Filfil
Communications Director Iman Tanzeem
Social Media Director Tequila Helland
Website Director Camila Camacho Featured Trinidad Cardona eee gee Mom Rock
Music Midtown coverage by Orchee Sorker Maria Chernyavskaya, Emmanuel Porquin, Anastasiia Mudraia, Cassie Cruise, Mikayla Storms, Rebecca Gannon, Nea Dune, Julia Yatel, Prokhina Ekaterina, Aliah Anderson, Lena Story, Maria Wondermary, Alexander Konozov, VOLODINA, & @Annabelle.Agency
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A Letter From the Editor The term 'Vintage" is so versatile, being able to be applied to clothing, beauty, setting, jewelry, items, etc. The creatives who submitted to this month's issue did a fantastic job portraying their version of what's vintage. From cars to clothing to the setting of the editorial, I hope you enjoy them as much as we did! I do want to quickly apologize for the delay in the release of this issue, we had some technical difficulties when publically uploading the file.
Ezzah Rafique Founder/Editor-in-Chief
@hazzemedia
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A 70's Get Down Wardrobe Stylist Liyah Amiri @justamiri Photographer Emmanuel Porquin @emmanuel_porquin Model Aileen Maza @pretty.lean Model Nicole Bloomgarden @nicolebloomgarden Model Styles Bond @stylesbond
Epoque of the 70s
Photographer Vyacheslav Zavorotnyi @zavorotnyi_photos Wardrobe Stylist/Model/Creative Director Anastasiia Mudraia @anastasia.mudraia Model Margarita Zhilitskaya @FP Models @mzhilitskaya MUA Ekaterina Trapsh @ katya_trapsh Car @retroauto_spb Clothes & Accessories: Stradivarius, Zara, Mango, Love Republic, Intimissimi
EVENING LAUNDRY
Photographer Maria Chernyavskaya @photo_de_marry Model Елена Алымова @alymova_lenochka
LETS GET FUNKY
Lets Get Funky Photographer Mikayla Storms @miks._.photography Event Planner Creative Crew @creativecrewmt Model Tayler Gillespie @jeanhenriette Model Destiny Hatfield @flow_with_destiny_
Dresses by New Yorker, Zara shoes, Asos
SISTERS
Photographer Prokhina Ekaterina @prokhina_artphoto Model/Makeup Artist Ekaterina Dmitrieva @katherine_mrs_d Model Anna Devyatkina @_999anna999_
BACK TO BIRMINGHAM
Fashion Designer/Photographer/Creative Director Maria Wondermary @wondermary.ru Model Alexander Doroshkevich @al88d Model Marina Petromaeva @petromaeva Wardrobe @wondermary.ru @jackmenn.suits
Suit: LIME @Lime_official Top: H&M @Hm Belt: MONKI @Monki
Simple Colours
Photographer Lena Story @lena.story Model Tamuna Khasia @tamuna_khasia_ Makeup Artist Irina Milk @irinamilk
Zhanna Couture
Fashion Designer Zhanna_couture @zhanna_couture Accessory Designer Rent_angelstar_dress @rent_angelstar_dress Photographer Angelina_startseva_photo @_angelina_startseva_photo Model @Rizhulya_dashulya @rizhulya_dashulya Agency @Annabelle.Agency
70s Groove
Set Designer/Photographer/Retoucher Rebecca Gannon @rega_photography Wardrobe Stylist/Female Model Annie Wade Smith @anniewadesmith Makeup Artist/Hair Stylist Bjorn Daniel @isabella_daniel_mua
Retro Chic Photographer Marta Tatarczuch @the.tomato.leaf Female Model/Makeup Artist VOLODINA @volodina.model
Blast From the Past Blast from the Past Photographer Alexander Konozov @alexander_konozov Makeup Artist Helga Skavronskaya @helgamakeupart Wardrobe Stylist/Model Evgeniya Konozova @evzheneka
LOST AT SEA Photographer Aliah Anderson @leecreative__ Model Bigtreesteve @bigtreesteve
FEMME CLASSIQUE Photographer/Retoucher Jeffrey Miller @jeffreymillerphotog Wardrobe Stylist/Female Model/Makeup Artist/Hair Stylist Nea Dune @neadune
SALOON SEDUCTION Photographer David Allen Photography @dave_allen_photography Wardrobe Stylist/Female Model/Makeup Artist/Hair Stylist Cassie Cruise @hourglass_model
WHITE CLASSIC
Makeup Artist/Photographer Julia Yatel @makeup_yatel Female Model Lena Tishchenko @tishchenkolena Clothing Brand: Roses And Lace @roseslaceshop
eee gee 'Killing It,' Making New York Her Home, & Creating Unpretintious Music for Introverts Photo by: Joacim Fougner
Q: "Hi! How have you been so far into the year? Tell us about yourself! What inspired you to pursue music? E: Hi! I’ve had an amazing year, thank you, despite a crazy scary pandemic, it’s probably been my favourite year ever! When I slowly found out that I had a great ability to convert feelings into melodies and words, I was like ‘Oh, damn, I guess I’m pretty good at this, AND it’s fun, maybe I should try it out!’ Q: "You've said before that your music is for those who have been pushed in an 'uncomfortable extrovert way to view the world.' Has there ever been a time where you were put into one of those situations?" E: The music industry expects you to do so much more than just being good at singing and writing songs, and all this extra fluff has always terrified me; ‘Am I interesting enough to interview? Do I look interesting enough to take photos of? etc.’ But then I realized that it’s about the songs! If people are gonna be interested in me, it’s because my songs are great! That’s reassuring and gives me a lot of courage. If my songs are small great novels, I'm just the author, and I have to promote these books and put them in people's hands so they can read them. Q: "What is the backstory to your most recent single, 'Killing It'?" E: I moved from Copenhagen to New York, which is sooo exciting and fun, but I’ve also been dealing with anxiety, insecurities, and loneliness. And I felt it clashed with all the courage I had gathered for my adventures ahead. Not knowing where you’re going is the epitome of being an artist. In ‘Killing It’ I’m just trying to put some of my worries aside. I’m ‘faking it till I’m killing it’. Q: "For 'Killing It,' what was the process like for you when it came to creating the music video?" E: I wanted to emphasize the part of me that still feels like a tourist in this city that I’m trying to make my home. I talked to the amazing directors Sam Guest and Julia Baylis about wanting to ridicule myself a bit by wearing the iconic N.Y. touristy souvenirs, and we thought it would be perfect to use the chaotic busy New York as a setting for zooming in and out of my loneliness in this people crowded city. Q: "What would you want fans to take away from the 'Killing It' music video?" E: That it’s okay and normal to feel lonely no matter what you’re doing and where you are in the world! And sometimes it can be uplifting to look at your sadness, restlessness or loneliness from a humoristic perspective.
Q: "You have two other singles which released earlier this year as well, 'Favourite Lover' and 'All or Nothing'. How was the experience like for you as these are some of your first few songs you released?" E: It’s been nerve-wracking and exciting to get started! But I also feel like I’ve felt very confident in sharing these songs. I don’t take it personal[ly] if people don’t like my music, I don’t expect everyone to like me either! My most important job as a songwriter is just to write songs that hopefully some people can mirror themselves in. Q: "Between all three songs that you released this year, do you have one that resonates with you the most or one you enjoyed creating more?" E: I am really proud of how simply written and produced ‘Killing It’ is, just a few elements that all work perfectly together, to me it’s just oldschool good songwriting with nothing to hide, haha! <3 Q: "To someone who hasn't heard your music before, what do you hope they take away from it? What atmosphere are you trying to create with your music?" E: I want my music to feel like a therapy session, where we can talk about heavy subjects in a lighthearted way. I want my songs to be unpretentious and inviting, and I want people to feel less weird, introverted and alone when they don’t have the energy to be social. Q: "Every artist has a different method of making music, how do you tackle a project? What's your creative process like or how would you describe it as?" E: I write different songs when I’m alone than when I write with other people, so I enjoy doing both! It’s always fun, frustrating, and interesting to switch between guitar and piano and see what mood shapes the song of the day. Some of my favourite songs have started with one simple good melody, then I circle around it for weeks. I start loving that bit so much that I fear I will never find parts to match its superiority, but then I force myself to pair it with some other melodies and finally finish the song. Haha. It’s so weird when I come up with a good melody, I sometimes hit the break, maybe it’s because I know that if I finish the song and release it, it won’t be my precious secret anymore! That first meeting with a good melody is a drug. Q: "Lastly, what can fans expect from you in regards to new music?" E: Expect a whole lot! This is gonna be a great decade for eee gee lovers!
MOM ROCK Formed in 2018 and based in the city of Boston, Mom Rock’s hard-hitting Alt-Rock music has reached over 53,000 Spotify monthly listeners and 2,500,000 streams. The five diverse members of the band include Curtis John Heimburger, Joshua Michael Polack, Tara Maggiulli, Wilson Reardon, and Carrick McCullough. Curtis is on guitar/vocals. Josh is on the guitar/vocals. Wilson is on the drums. Tara is on bass/vocals. Carrick is on the synthesizer. In September 2021, Mom Rock performed at Music Midtown in Atlanta, Georgia.
Who inspired you to make music?
Josh: I have to shout out to George again, who was my first guitar teacher. He was a very smooth jazz player--which I was not very into as a kid. I joined the School of Rock where I met Tara. There, I played Zeppelin, Aerosmith, and Pink Floyd. When I got to college, I was into Weezer--who influenced Mom Rock a little bit. Right now, Jack Antonoff is my hero. Currently, it's all about Jack Antonoff, Phoebe Bridgers, and a lot of people like that. I want to shout out a couple of teachers and professors from school, my choir and theater directors, and my Berkeley professors (Pat Pattison, Bonnie Hayes, Paula Gaetano, Abby Aronson, Scott Tarulli, and Ronnie Alejandro). There are so many of them I could go on forever. Sorry, if I forgot your names at the moment, but I appreciate all of you! Tara: My dad. I want to do what he does. Like Josh mentioned, I went to a different school of rock. We eventually met through this tour program, but I had a teacher, Dave Johnson. He was an incredible guy, and he guided me to be cool, be chill, have fun, you know, keep it simple. My musical influences would be John Deacon from Queen. John Entwhistle from Who was just impactful. Carrick: My principal instrument is the piano. My influences are largely keyboard players. I play a lot of contemporary, jazzfusion stuff. I played a lot of guitar in high school. When I was much younger, Eddie van Halen was my absolute hero. He's just the coolest guy ever. Then, I got really into post-rock for a while. Then, I found jazz and started playing keys more than guitar. My biggest influence is Corey Henry. Wilson: Growing up, it was like a lot of the instructors I had. I've always been into Weezer. Curtis: I owe it to my family for why I got into music. My sister, mom, and dad have their own distinct kind of music tastes. If you're ever in the car with one of them, you get what they're listening to. My dad was a big Bruce Springsteen fan. It's insane how big of a fan he is! My mom loves Rockabilly or Naked Ladies. My sister loved death metal. They all just kind of influenced me to take up guitar. I've been obsessed with Talking Heads, David Byrne. I know everyone else has heard me just not shut up about it, so I'll leave it at that. Wilson: Growing up, I was one of those kids who was too cool for country music. In the past five years, I gained this appreciation for music coming from the gut. I've come to really appreciate Country and Rockabilly.Who inspired you to make music? Josh: I have to shout out to George again, who was my first guitar teacher. He was a very smooth jazz player--which I was not very into as a kid. I joined the School of Rock where I met Tara. There, I played Zeppelin, Aerosmith, and Pink Floyd. When I got to college, I was into Weezer--who influenced Mom Rock a little bit. Right now, Jack Antonoff is my hero. Currently, it's all about Jack Antonoff, Phoebe Bridgers, and a lot of people like that. I want to shout out a couple of teachers and professors from school, my choir and theater directors, and my Berkeley professors (Pat Pattison, Bonnie Hayes, Paula Gaetano, Abby Aronson, Scott Tarulli, and Ronnie Alejandro). There are so many of them I could go on forever. Sorry, if I forgot your names at the moment, but I appreciate all of you! Tara: My dad. I want to do what he does. Like Josh mentioned, I went to a different school of rock. We eventually met through this tour program, but I had a teacher, Dave Johnson. He was an incredible guy, and he guided me to be cool, be chill, have fun, you know, keep it simple. My musical influences would be John Deacon from Queen. John Entwhistle from Who was just impactful. Carrick: My principal instrument is the piano. My influences are largely keyboard players. I play a lot of contemporary, jazzfusion stuff. I played a lot of guitar in high school. When I was much younger, Eddie van Halen was my absolute hero. He's just the coolest guy ever. Then, I got really into post-rock for a while. Then, I found jazz and started playing keys more than guitar. My biggest influence is Corey Henry. Wilson: Growing up, it was like a lot of the instructors I had. I've always been into Weezer. Curtis: I owe it to my family for why I got into music. My sister, mom, and dad have their own distinct kind of music tastes. If you're ever in the car with one of them, you get what they're listening to. My dad was a big Bruce Springsteen fan. It's insane how big of a fan he is! My mom loves Rockabilly or Naked Ladies. My sister loved death metal. They all just kind of influenced me to take up guitar. I've been obsessed with Talking Heads, David Byrne. I know everyone else has heard me just not shut up about it, so I'll leave it at that. Wilson: Growing up, I was one of those kids who was too cool for country music. In the past five years, I gained this appreciation for music coming from the gut. I've come to really appreciate Country and Rockabilly.
What first got you into music?
Curtis: I wanted to play guitar ever since I started playing Guitar Hero. I started playing and I was like, man, I can do this easily. It's just like the game. My parents were just very encouraging also. Josh: So, I'm astronomically bad at Guitar Hero, which is kind of embarrassing, but I drew guitars when I was a kid like in preschool. One year for Hanukkah, my parents bought me one of the toy guitars. I made enough noise on it that after a while they were just getting annoyed. So, they figured they better get me lessons, or it will only keep sounding bad. They got me lessons with George Walker who graduated from Berkeley ages ago. Shout out to George. He died this year. He was a massive influence, and I took lessons with them for like 10 years. Tara: My dad plays guitar. He has all my life. He's like my musical hero. I come from a long line of bassists. It's my dad and his two brothers. It’s how I bond with each other. We just nerd out about classic rock, like Steely Dan. He grew up on Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. I always grew up listening to that stuff. Carrick: I'm from a pretty musical family. None of my parents or close family members are professional musicians or anything. They were always playing music, curious and very educated...you know, always knowing random facts about bands and the history of that. I started taking lessons on the piano when I was five. I have picked up a bunch of other instruments since then. A lot of my parents' close friends were musicians. So, I studied with a lot of different people over the years in different instruments. I came up kind of through Berkeley, like in a more serious way. I've been doing summer programs there for a long time. Then, I ended up studying there for college, and that's how I met all these guys. Wilson: It was a pretty similar situation to Tara. I was never in a school band or anything. My dad played the Blues Harmonica. I was super into it, and I grew up in Austin, Texas which particularly has a big Blues scene. I grew up doing a lot of Blues jam with dudes that were 60 years older than me. I started doing the drums cause I got them for Christmas one year and that was the thing I was best at.
How would you describe the music that you typically create?
Curtis: Me and Josh are the main songwriters for the group. We're pretty reclusive about it. We write our songs on our own time. Josh: I'm a polar opposite here. I ended up writing a lot by myself, but I do a ton of co-writes because of the songwriting program at Berkeley. Mom Rock is a very unique writing situation for me where I write them by myself or I'll take them to Curtis. Once the songs are written, me and Curtis usually meet up and play them for each other and we'll be like, oh yeah, the drums here. Then, we'll take it to a band rehearsal, and we'll play it for everyone. Then, we'll hammer out the arrangement and I'd argue about every little detail. Usually, we play songs live before they're recorded.
How did you all come up with your name, Mom Rock, and the style?
Curtis: As a budding band, we wanted a name that would catch people's attention. Josh: We were on winter break. Me and Curtis were texting each other random names. Curtis had said Mom Rock, and I thought it was a joke. I kind of hated it. Then, we brought it to Wilson and they were like, “That’s what it is.” We started using it at shows. It would really catch on. People would come to see our site after they were there for other bands and would ask what's the deal with Mom Rock? Curtis: Now, they do take us kinda seriously and now we're playing at Music Midtown. Josh: On the outfits and makeup...we came up playing in a house show scene, a DIY scene in Boston, Massachusetts. It is not our music itself that will get somebody to come to our show and come back again. When we started wearing makeup, people solely were like, oh, the jumpsuit band...the makeup band. People would start coming to shows dressed like us. I went to a seminar with this guy, Benjamin Groff--who is like a Who would you most like to collaborate publishing dude in LA. He was like, “If you, as an artist can be dressed up as for Halloween, you're doing branding perfectly.” We enjoy this. We with? Josh: Jack Antonoff from the Bleachers; We're doing have eras now. Somebody would be like last time I saw Mom Rock, you this cruise gig in a few months where there's a bunch of were in your silver suit arrows. Now, you’re on the baseball one. We try other bands on it. Part of the deal with this gig is that to tie it into our merchandise. bands collaborate. If Bowling for Soup is looking at this Wilson: Also, this came up supernaturally. I just had like a black jumpsuit that I started wearing and then like they had for coats. Curtis got interview right now, we want to play the Phineas and Ferb theme song with you on this boat, because they'll this weird, reflective pink and purple spacesuit. Josh found a jumpsuit. also be there. But also like Weezer, 1975, or like Beach Tara had a tracksuit. Then, there was an outfit there. Originally, there was no planning to specifically wear weird outfits. We just did it for fun. You Bunny...yes. know, it's more fun if you don't take yourself so seriously that you have to Tara: Burgeoning bands coming out of TikTok. Just be cool where you have to act a certain way. It's more fun to just have a because a little bit of social media can turn into stupid name. something big. Curtis: Parquet Courts, Squid, OMNI, or literally anyone. Carrick: I also love TikTok. It begins to break down What is one message you would give to your fans? the barrier between celebrity and person. So many great Mom Rock: Thank you! We would not be able to do this as a feasible songwriters have done challenges like “Hey, if you had career without any of you listening. It's still crazy to all of us that we put a song out, and somebody voluntarily goes to listen to it. Nuts, just stupid a verse on my song, what would that sound like?” Several people have written something so good that the that somebody wants to follow another band on their page and change their follower and following ratio for us. We appreciate all of you! If you ever artist was like, “We need to do a song together.” see us. we want to interact with you. We want to say hi, take pics...like do not be shy about it. Just burden us. Harass us. Harass my day off. More the better. I mean, depending on. People like screaming the words to our songs at the festival makes me want to cry. If any of our fans are aspiring musicians, just try to put yourself out there. You might look like the weird kid sometimes. Playing with other musicians and just going to as many shows as you can give you a lot of opportunities. Life goes better when you don't care what people think. We don’t care, so neither should you.
Trinidad Cardona
From living the regular life delivering food in his 1993 Nissan Sentra to having his song storm the charts going viral on one of the biggest social media platforms, Trinidad Cardona has had one of the biggest summers of his life. His song 'Dinero,' initially released in 2017, skyrocketed onto charts this year after going viral on TikTok. But let's rewind back three years. Cardona initially dove into the music industry by seeing the people around him create music. “I really just saw the people around me make music and figured why not do it too then. I started when I was 16 or so and I fell in love with it,” he explains. When creating 'Dinero,' “the process [itself] was really easy," he reminiscents. "I was just writing what I felt when I was 17 or 18. Recording it took a bit longer because I wasn’t a fullblown singer yet, just dabbling.” With a platform like TikTok, where trends evolve daily, artists like Cardona have become easily discoverable. "Social media is very important in music today," Cardona shares. "With everything in our daily lives being tied to the media, it’s the logical place to go and look for new music.” When discovering that 'Dinero' had not only soared on charts but was being used in almost every TikTok, Cardona was undeniably surprised. "The reaction was kind of me [being] in disbelief, [but] I went on about my day because I still have the stuff to do. It was exciting though of course," he says. “The biggest lesson I've learned is to never give up hope,” Cardona concludes. While intermixing Spanish and English, 'Dinero' is a song that is able to get fans of all ages on their feet- a true song for the summer.
Music Midtown Covered by Orchee Sorker
EGATNIV
VOL. 12
HAZZE MAGAZINE
VOLUME #12 OCTOBER 11th 2021
FRONTEmmanuel & BACK COVER: Photo by Porquin
www.hazzemedia.com hazzemediainfo@gmail.com