Posted on 02/17/2010
For a guy that says he's 1000 years old, Awol One still sounds as youthful, rough, rugged, and raw as some of the best MC's out there today. His teammate for this project is the 26 year-old Ecid out of Minneapolis, and together they create hip-hop for either a post-apocalyptic world, hip-hop finally accepting Lesson 6, or just daring hip-hop that refuses to be constrained by its conservative boundaries.

Awol One and Ecid Are...? is the exact question they want you to ask, as if to say "wait a minute, why is this a big deal to me?" Drop your expectations and be open to simply finding, discovering, and absorbing damn good hip-hop. Their rap styles are very different from each other, which sadly is an oddity in these days of automaton rhyming, but here they dig deep into their notebooks and find every way to talk about frauds, schemes, dopeness, fears, hopes, anxiety attacks, and with "Selling Out For The Sport," pointing the fingers are other artists who compromise even though it's sometimes more fun not to. "Moving On" could be something from the N*E*R*D vaults, complete with minimalistic sing-song melody and a videogame-y bassline.

These two are confident in their rhymes. Ecid is playing some really cool audio games with the samples he uses, and some of the production techniques help pull the listener in and keep them there. It's not only a rapper's album, but it's for the production heads too, who will be smiling at the known sounds and scratching their heads at the unknown ones for days, if not months or years. The genius is in how good Awol One and Ecid Are...? is, how clever their sarcasm and smart-ass ways are, and how it simply fits in with other hip-hop that doesn't fit within the mainstream. Yet by being that, they also know what fans of rap music are hungry for, and they will be well fed (and them some) with this.

-John Book

Interview with Ecid
Submitted by Jon Behm on June 26, 2009 – 12:00 pmNo Comment


Junkies, psycho killers, deadbeat parents; Minneapolis MC Ecid’s themes are anything but sunny and whimsical. The Minneapolis-based up and comer has a fascination with the seedier side of life, which he has documented in his recent concept album Red Beretta. Prior to leaving for a whirlwind West Coast tour Ecid discussed the new album with Culture Bully’s Jon Behm, describing the formulation of the album’s themes, the closing of Minneapolis’ Dinkytowner and the question of hip hop as a counterculture.

Jon Behm: So, did you grow up around here and how long have you been rapping/producing on the local scene?

Ecid: Yeah, I grew up in the Northeast suburb area. New Brighton and then Blaine. Oh man I hated living in Blaine. I was so bored; it made me pretty creative though. I started becoming a pretty active member in the “scene” around 2002.

JB: Your record this year, Red Beretta, is a concept album that documents “the bizarre events that turn a modern day hero into a monster.” What made you choose that theme?

E: It’s kind of a funny story. I started making a lot of beats that almost weren’t intended to have rapping on them, they were very cinematic with tons of layers and switch ups that sounded like bad ass ‘70’s film scores. I knew that was the direction I wanted to go musically. But I didn’t figure out what to do content-wise until I was designing some t-shirts that had a little red gun on them and the light bulb just came to me. I just knew exactly what I wanted to make: an album that played like a movie about an anti-hero sort of character, “Red Beretta”

JB: Throughout your new record you create characters like child molestation victims, unloving mothers, washed up old people, and other sad cases. Where did you find the inspiration for such bleak perspectives?

E: Aside from the fact that my life was an absolute mess when I started writing the record, I’ve always been fascinated with the fucked up parts of life. I just find beauty in it. No matter how much you might not want hear it, these things really happen. All of these characters are the people that helped make “Red Beretta” who he is: a psychopath. I couldn’t write a record about someone who goes crazy without showing all the pieces that contributed to it, because then it would lack compassion. At the end of the day “Red Beretta” is a story of revenge and liberation. Someone who had enough and just said fuck it I’m not going to take it anymore. There’s a million layers to this thing. I could talk about forever.

JB: Can you analyze further what you mean in the line “The revolution sold its own fist”?

E: Well, you see people wearing Che Guevara t-shirts that don’t know dick about his cause. Every movement gets commercialized. They turn into the latest fashion. All the people that were marching in the ’60s are in suits now or retired. To me when people talk about “Revolution” it’s a joke. Don’t talk about it, do it. The song as a whole relates to the character realizing this. Realizing his movement is just the fad of the week. A news story or entertainment…

JB: What are your short term plans for your music career in the Cities? What comes next?

E: This year we’re (Fill In The Breaks) releasing a few more projects. The David Mars solo record, another Sector 7G project and then I have an album with LA underground legend Awol One coming out in October too. So it’s gonna be busy. We’re working on some top-secret big events for the end of there and beginning of next year. So I’d say I’ve got big plans.

ecid on the decks
(uncredited photo via MySpace)

JB: Minneapolis’s Dinkytowner was considered a consistent place to showcase upcoming local hip hop talent. Any thoughts about its recent closing? How do you think it will affect things?

E: I loved the Dinky, it was really sad to see it go. It was a great place for hip-hop, absolutely one of the better underground venues in-town. But as for myself and my career it’s a good thing, I was sick of playing there and I know my fans were sick of seeing me there. I definitely think it hurts the up and coming groups because it was a place every body could get a chance at, but I also think it will help weed out the people just doing for a hobby.

JB: Michelle Obama recently said in an interview that she wants her daughters to be “aware of all kinds of music other than hip-hop.” Do you think that there is still a prevailing fear of hip hop in America, much like there used to be of rock n’ roll?

E: First in defense of Ms. Obama, I think she’s right, no one should listen to just one genre of any kind. It’s boring and dense. Now as far as America being afraid of hip hop. Shit I think America is still afraid of rock n’ roll! Even though it might seem pretty accepted these days. I think America will always be afraid of any kind of counter culture. I think the one funny thing about hip hop though is that we always seem to victimize our culture and make it seem like everyone always points the finger at us. Fuck it give ‘em the middle finger back and be a rebel. Isn’t that what hip hop and even rock n’ roll are about?

JB: On the same note, do you think that hip hop’s relative notoriety gives it more power to influence than other musical forms of expression, simply because it has that edge?

E: I think to a point it does, mainly because the lyrics and the way it’s sold to kids. I think videos probably influence people more than the music. That’s where you see all the stuff you don’t have but aspire to, because MC so and so had it.

JB: Do you listen to music besides hip hop at all?

E: Yes sir, well I dig a lot of jazz/rock/funk from the late ’60s early ’70s but lately I’ve been into all types of newer bands/groups. I’ve been into Kings of Leon, the Kills, the Black Keys, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, Why?, the Menahan Street Band, the Budos Band, Antibalas, Mogwai, Ratatat, Nomo, Shawn Lee, and a bunch more. As far as hip hop lately, I am really digging the new Myka 9 record and the new DJ Signify.

July 31, 2006
Biograffiti
by Brady O'Rourke

Music scene, meet Ecid. 'Ya see here's the thing; he's been recording and doing the music thing for awhile, but at age twenty three and on the release of his third solo album, this New Brighton native feels he has finally put together a complete, thorough, and more importantly personal album.

Ecid, who currently runs Fill in the Breaks, uses the label as a benchmark from which to measure the personal and musical changes that he has gone through. "While I was making the new record, I did a lot of contemplating. I came up with Substance Abuse when I was like 19," said Ecid. The label, a collection from the former Substance Abuse crew composed of, according to Ecid, "…pretty much the same people [as before]; we just kind of grew up." Ecid, who grew up in New Brighton and attended Spring Lake Park High School, later graduated from IPR in 2003, around the same time that he started making beats for the Substance Abuse Crew. "I'm a sample-based producer; I dig for the weirdest shit I can find, the stuff I haven't heard. I'm real finicky about it, and I get pissed if I ever sample something that someone else has," he later continued, saying "I go for organic and abrasive, and I do it all."

While he got his start in production in 2003, the rapper/producer has been writing and recording since freshman year in high school, when two of his friends bought a cheap microphone and started recording. "Being as ambitious as I am, I took the mic[rophone] from them and just started recording shit at my house," said Ecid. After meeting up with Impulse and reconnecting with childhood friend David Mars at Fifth Element open mic sessions several years back, Ecid got his start with managing a collective of artists, which later transitioned into the current Fill in the Breaks roster. When coming up with the name, Ecid thought "…it [the name Fill in the Breaks] was too hip-hop at first. I wanted a name that kind of left it open so that in five years if I'm like 'electronic Goth-hop,' that's the shit, then we can do other things, not just hip-hop."

Musically, Ecid combined his rapping and production skills to produce his first two solo albums, a Sector 7-G album, and the N-E-S album "The Anarchy Smiles," though he doesn't feel that his talent and grind paid off until recently. "I always like to say to people that I've been writing and rapping for damn near ten years, but, I didn't really take it serious until like three years ago, and didn't really get good, in my mind, until like two years ago," Ecid. "We met Eyedea at the same time. And he helped me and Impulse grow a lot. We recorded Living Stereo at his house, so we just learned an insane amount from him." Though armed with musical talent and desire, Ecid still wasn't satisfied.

Enter "Biograffitti." It's a complex blend of several things; personal tales, darkness and art. Music's somewhere in there too, if not only to work as a vehicle to carry Ecid's emotional brand of hip-hop. "It's artistic and it's hip-hop, so that's where the graffiti comes into it. I like what graffiti stands for. It's like they call 'this' graffiti and this is bad, but then other things are considered art. Whatever," said Ecid. "Right after 'Living Stereo' I just went full fledged into it," said Ecid. But what caused the personal transformation of Ecid? The answer to that can be found somewhere in between the blurry realms of deep personal realization and finding a way to voice those realizations. "When I was a teenager," Ecid remembers, "and I was still trying to find myself as a rapper, and I was like fifteen, I started selling weed because I thought that it would give me street cred[ibility]. It's bullshit."

Part of that transition also came from changing what resided in the CD player, from gangster rap to underground backpacker rap. "I found Company Flow and El-P's 'Funcrusher Plus,' and that changed my life. You just hear it and you're like 'what the fuck is this?' And it made me go, 'oh, I can be myself now.' There was all this other shit, and I thought I had to be a gangster rapper for someone to like me."

As for the gangster, cash, hoes lifestyle, you won't find a trace of it at Ecid's New Brighton apartment, nor in his approach to music. "You shouldn't be ashamed of living off of your talent, I'll go sell CD's outside of a mall if I have to," said Ecid. Ecid also hopes to put together a tour for the album, hopefully a week-long run with Hecatomb's Capaciti at the end of August. This will be the first row of shows for the Fill in the Breaks front man, though he has done one show trips as far away as Arizona. "This last round, I made money. I sold enough merch[andise] and everything where I made money, then the car that we took down shit out on us and we had to fly back, so my profit was gone," said Ecid. On the horizon for Fill in the Breaks lies the difficult task of branding the label, as well as putting out releases from Jordan Miche and Saturday Morning Soundtrack.

Musically "Biograffitti" accomplishes many things, and will be properly christened at the release party on August 29th at the Dinkytowner. You might even find the man behind the record lurking around while he's not on stage. "I like after shows after doing my set trying to sell CDs to people. Sometimes it's a challenge, but I like the whole grind of it. I like it all. It's frustrating, it pisses you off, it takes a lot of time, it drags you down, but it's worth it, to me at least. Because I have that ultimate goal."

"I make songs to express what I'm thinking at the time," said Ecid. And while the Ecid of 2006 will no doubt continue to change personally in the future, but the tracks on his new album show no sign of him hiding behind a façade or prepackaged image. "It's the first time where I felt that I was truly myself. And I think it comes through," said Ecid.

February 2, 2007

I'm a sucker for Minnesotan/Minneapolis Hip-Hop. Filled with incredibly talented rappers, writers, DJ's.. Artists such as Atmosphere, P.O.S, Dessa, Sims.. there seems to be no end to the music spilling out of the Twin Cities. Jordan Miche is no exception. I usually pass up on random myspace friend-requests, but this was the most worthwhile page I've visited for a long time.

At first listen I sat in a bar with my headphones on. I didn't leave my table until this debut album was over, then I found myself playing it all over again as I walked home. His rhymes flow effortlessly. Ecid's beats make this album. Alone they are incredible, but topped with Miche's lyrics this album has become something I want everyone to hear. 'RED' is the first outstanding song on this album. This album has hidden extras, a little beat-box tucked in between verses. These are the kind of tracks that leave you smiling, impressed by these clever lyrics, listening intently to every word.

There isn't a weak track on this album. From the opening 'Snake Charmers' this album picks up, rolls along, gets louder, gets calmer, then picks up again. 'TigerSharks' is my personal favourite. Every album needs a song as intense as this. Its perfect, one of those songs with an ability to pull your lungs in a little bit. You know what I mean, thats all there is to it. The next track, 'Control' absolutely smashes it, basically.

The album seems to chill down after this, the lyrics slowing & the beat going at a similar pace. On the last few tracks, especially 'Fear And Loathing on Mars', the comfortable lyrics flow generously along to beautiful sounds. Making me certain this album will be played to anyone I know with the same appreciation I have of Underground Hip-Hop.

Review by:Jen Saul.

September 5, 2007
Capaciti & A-Scratch: The Blind Cinema Sessions
by Nate Patrin
Capaciti & A-Scratch
The Blind Cinema Sessions
Fill in the Breaks

First, a warning: Capaciti is mad nasal. He's got this angry-hornet buzz of a voice that makes Cypress Hill's B-Real sound as smooth as Ice T, and he rhymes in a way that seems to demand that you just deal with it. Occasionally he dials it down a bit and you can hear something resembling a more familiar, conversational rap voice peek through, and that makes his flow even more bewildering. But at least you can't say that he sounds apathetic or complacent, and if you get accustomed to that voice, The Blind Cinema Sessions will eventually grow on you.

But then again, getting accustomed to it might dull the effect: Capaciti's voice is harrowing for a reason, and The Blind Cinema Sessions runs on a certain type of anxiety that wouldn't be quite as effective with a casual, collected flow. A concept album that centers on mental distress and the ways people react to and deal with it-tripping off medication ("Substance Control"), wandering aimlessly in a mental and physical sense ("As I Unravel"), quoting Nas while mulling over sleeplessness ("Cousin of Death")-the album benefits from Capaciti's and A-Scratch's mutual interest in gloomy intensity. The MC pulls it off with his relentless, nagging-subconscious delivery, while the producer augments it with crackly, minor-key, borderline goth-break eeriness; the result is a solid exhibit of what two dudes with some bad nerves and a breathless focus can do to make you feel comfortably uneasy. -Nate Patrin

October 23, 2007
Economy Size goDD Costume
ECID

By Nate Patrin

ECID
Economy Size goDD Costume
Fill in the Breaks

Ecid's MySpace page is the first thing that comes up when you Google his name, but the third entry might as well be about his music, too-it's a site devoted to an engineering research project titled "Embracing Complexity in Design." In a local rap scene largely attuned to everyman personae, battle-rap refinement, and indie-punk crossover, Ecid's one of the few Twin Cities MCs to go as far as the almost confrontationally abrasive coastal underground rap mainstays on Anticon and Definitive Jux.

But Ecid's design isn't too complex to obscure the meaning of his lyrics, the frustration and disillusionment of which cut closer than a more complacent listener might be comfortable with. "If hip hop was really dead there'd be nobody complaining about it," he cracks derisively in "Crook Cologne." That combination of halfway-idealism and pragmatic cynicism carries over into his disappointment with an unattainable Hollywood-style future in "Re-Seeding Skyline" ("I think I can speak for every single one of us/When I say we've waited long enough for hovering BMWs"), the pitfalls of theology, science, and identity politics in "What Are You Gonna Be for Halloween?" (the chorus: "Okay, I get it/Let's pretend to be somebody else"), and his own shaky psyche in "Moodswing Posterchild".

Production-wise, Economy Size goDD Costume is all minor-key bass, claustrophobic drums, and zombie-film atmospherics, with Ecid's breathlessly manic voice-ranging from a low, seething snarl to an Eminem harangue minus the clownishness-providing the narrative. It's an album worth listening to mostly during those times when you're fucked-up and anxious, and wondering if there's anyone else on that same wavelength.

February 15, 2008
For those that weren't at the show Friday, February 1st, at the Triple Rock, you better get off your ass next time and come out. Here's a brief summation of what you missed...

The line-up was comprised of both relative newbies and time-tested local talent, all of them part of (or associated with) Fill in the Breaks, one of the Twin Cities' freshest local labels.

The night began with Enemy Entropist, comprised of MCs Cadaver and Optix, and DJ Asei MT. These guys are rising stars in the local scene, and with catchy lyrics and driving beats, they are sure to shine brightly on Minneapolis (and MinneRAPolis) in the near future.

Jordan Miché was an unexpected assault on the senses, particularly after talking to him before the performance and judging him as a friendly and somewhat quiet guy. All of that melted like wax once he hit the stage, quietness replaced by pit-bullesque freestyles, friendliness replaced with the ice-cold demeanor of a scarred and hardened rapper. He performed with the MC-producer David Mars, whose energy on stage posed a unique contrast to Jordan's style while complimenting it just the same. Together, they are Prom King Stigmata -- definitely catch one of their shows if you get the chance.

This show marked the second date of a tour with Ecid and Miché, one that will take them from Nebraska to California, Colorado to Missouri, and most places in between before they return to home base. Big-ups to the people in those cities who make it out to the show, it's sure to be sick.

Rhymesayers' veteran rapper Eyedea was in the house to do a song with Sector 7-G from their new album, Scrap Metal. The album pits rapper Impulse and DJ Pseudonym up against Ecid's style-defining beats in a raw, aggressive battle royale that defies classification.

Kristoff Krane (of Abzorbr and Face Candy) played some of his solo repertoire. It's always interesting to see this guy play without the Abzorbr band, as many of his songs are performed to the accompaniment of loops he creates on stage using a combination of percussion instruments and vocals. Definitely not something you see at every hip-hop show, yet something you'll find yourself wanting to see again.

The most exciting part of the night -- ironically, since it was the last portion of the night and the crowd had begun to wane -- was when Ecid, Impulse, Kristoff Krane, and Capaciti (collectively known as Saturday Morning Soundtrack) shared the stage. The first few songs exemplified the synergy between these artists, the passion they have for their own and each other's music, and the raw energy that comes from recognizing the vibe of a group mentality. From there out, they dropped their own freestyles, feeding off each other's innovations with a grinning fervor that lasted right up until the last beat dropped.

All the artists were pumped. The energy, the collective, and the assortment of musical textures and styles made it a whirlwind of sound and consciousness. If nothing else, Fill in the Breaks further established themselves as a serious force in the Twin Cities underground, and one that is going to get a lot of recognition in the near future.

National CD Reviews

April 2008 - Issue 232

Jordan Miche
Phantom of the Operation
Fill In The Breaks
Street: 07.01
Jordan Miche = Prom King Stigmata + Cadaver
Full of sporadic cadence and irreverence for rhyme, Jordan Miche's songs challenge the casual listener's short attention span. While some may shy away from his intimidating style, I'm willing to bet Jordan doesn't care about his music's inaccessibility-for that matter, neither do I. The listener who does make the effort to understand his carefully crafted verbal tapestries will be justly rewarded. If the artist is an individual especially sensitive to the unique feeling of the times-able to reflect that feeling through unique personal terms-then Jordan fits the definition perfectly. "My family once ran a plantation / I'm ashamed of these veins kid." Jordan abandons these kinds of caustic rap invectives only once on "Phantom of the Operation (in form, if not content)"-to sing a Sinatra-styled refrain of "I hate you." -Makena Walsh

Ecid
Economy Size goDD Costume
Fill In The Breaks
Street: 10.16.07
Ecid = Kristoff Krane + Impulse
Minnesota is home to a plethora of talented hip-hop artists thriving among the region's hydrogen-rich lake landscape. Particularly conspicuous in this fertile field is Ecid, an emcee who has taken the do-it-yourself lesson of the area's numerous success stories to heart. With a penchant for crafting sinister imagery and flipping American clichés into semiotic finger traps, Ecid shows a complex understanding of contemporary American identity. "You could have it all / and it still wouldn't be good enough." Economy Size goDD Costume is full of such Marxist critiques, not to mention experiments of the unconscious, American mythology and self-deception. Did I mention he makes his own beats: dirty, dusty, drum loops and weirdly appropriate esoteric samples? Ecid is a self-sustaining, dynamic artist who has something to say-whether or not the music industry's stagnant paradigm wants to hear it. -Makena Walsh

www.slugmag.com

April 16, 2008

I sat down with the Bargain Junkie Himself at his Economy Sized Recording Studio on the Northern edge of Minneapolis during the early afternoon. Armed with only my Olymous_4100 Digital Voice Recorder a can of Green Tea and an objective I was unable to recall. Since he did not send me a press release I decided to do an interview and just have him explain it.

Chief: Your name is ECID?

ECID:No

Chief: What is the name of your Group, Crew, and Label?

ECID: We are officially called "Fill In The Breaks" we are a Family, Crew, a label above everything else but someday I would like to see maybe a little more, who knows.

Chief: So whom does that consist of?

ECID: Myself, ECID, Jordan Miche´, Capaciti, David Mars, Sector 7G (Impulse and D.J. Pseudonym) and Arsenic, and then a few other sub Groups within that, which are Prom King Stigmata (Jordan Miche´ and David Mars), Saturday Morning Soundtrack (ECID, Kristoff Krane, Impulse, and Capaciti).

Chief: So that's a lot of projects. Who handles all of that work?

ECID: I do, I mean some of the guys do what they can here and there but I pretty much handle all of the business myself. When you have a vision then no one else can do things the way you would.

Chief: So you do Hip Hop full time then?

ECID: Yup, you have to sell the Merchandise and book the shows and keep things going.

Chief: How many show is Fill In The Breaks doing a month?

ECID: It depends. We always are doing Something.

Chief: Always?

ECID: Always.

Chief: So you have been doing a lot of short tours lately, how has that been working out for you?

ECID: Well it's cool cause if you don't make any money you don't have to be out there that long. Cause every time you go out there will be new people and if they dig you then they will tell their friends and they will come to the next show or whatever but either way if you do that constantly then it has to be effective. I am not about to sit around here talking about how only the bigger groups get the shine.

Chief: So you have got your shows here and all over the country just by booking your own shows or networking with people here or out of town?

ECID: I don't get offered a lot of shows around here I pretty much have to book the shows myself. So I have been doing that for a long time and I always put other people on so I have definitely built some relationships off of that.

Chief: So what is coming out now or what should I be looking out for right now from
Fill In The Breaks?

ECID: Well at our Two Year Anniversary we are Releasing the Prom King Stigmata Album
And after that we are going to release David Mars's solo project that I produced entirely, Me and Arsenic just made a EP when I was in AZ for Panoply's birthday.
It's called scorpion Killers, it's all themed out, were like Outlaw Bikers and we are going to make a Sampler to take with us to Scribble Jam. After that me and Jordan have a project together called Robots Can't Grow Wings, I am also going to put out an EP. There is also going to be a secret project coming up involving eight rappers but I cannot tell you whom it is.

Chief: So how long have you been Fill In The Breaks?

ECID: I have been ECID since about 2002, like that's when I was going to school and I wasn't making beats and I just was doing my own shit, I wasn't doing anything with anybody I hadn't even really got into the scene yet I was just going to a local studio,
Buying beats from some other producer and that's why I went to school cause I knew I had an ear for it. Cause I would by a beat from somebody or co-produce one with them and then I would get to the point where I would do it on my own, so I did that, and a friend of mine gave me equipment Like my speakers my first keyboard and really encouraged me to go into it. So I went to I.P.R (you know that place across from the Vu) while I was going there I really figured out how to rap better. Cause till that point I really didn't pay a lot of attention to like timing and delivery, I mean I was really into lyrics but I didn't like have a music background, like no one in my family made music It was more Blue Collar, work your way up at the Grocery store kind of mentality.
So I had to basically sweat blood night and day for years to figure it out.

Chief: So what made you think you should be an Emcee or a producer?

ECID: Fuck I don't know man, I wanted to write I was angry I had a lot of shit to say I remember when I was like eight years old or in Middle School? When I was learning about writing poems, like the Haiku's n shit I loved writing them it was just one of the things that stuck with me. And at the same time if someone gets it or what ever that's really cool and I was really into rap. So when I was at IPR I really started learning how to rap better. Like I was always good at song structure, but then I learned sound engineering and how to mix and how things should sound. But even that didn't do it for me, I started going to open mic sessions at the Fifth Element (Everyone our age knows about the open mic nights at the Fifth Element.) That's where I met impulse in like 2003 and David Mars who I have known since I was a little kid, we where always friends but we didn't talk for ever, I coincidentally ran into him at the Fifth Element. We both where into rapping I encouraged him, and it's funny cause we all met up there and then there was another friend from High School named Nomad I had that I met up with there and he was doing stuff with us for a while. Back then we went by Substance abuse, you know we where like eighteen and nineteen so it was cool to have a name like that and think it's cool. And we did that for a couple of years, played a lot of shows, I was doing all the booking then, but then we still where outsiders to the scene. You know just cause we where young and didn't know anyone. But we kind of made a record. While we where substance abuse I made like two three solo records And then Living Stereo which is a album I made with Impulse, I made an album with Nomad where I made all the beats and we both rapped, I mean there was like seven records before we where Fill In The Breaks. And that was like from 2003 to 2005 So like two or three years being real under the radar, the shit we made then was even weirder than the shit we make now. We just kept together, I mean a lot of people came and wanted to do stuff and just never came through or the project never panned out we tried things that made sense at the time but we shouldn't have done them. We tried being part of Artist Collectives and help the movement shit, and that kind of stuff is just bullshit cause you just take away from what your doing, we did that and wasted like a year. It just didn't make sense and what was like a turning point was when we met Eyedea, he saw us perform and wanted to record the album and he really thought us a lot personally and musically, he has always been a really good mentor. So by like 2005 we pretty much knew everyone but it just wasn't really clicking.
I did some solo stuff and it just wasn't there yet and then I had my awakening or whatever and it was that Substance Abuse just doesn't fit anymore it was immature and our music was not a fuckin novelty act, I wanted my music to be taken seriously I was beginning to be an adult and we all agreed to change the name so like the end of 2005 we had a meeting and threw a bunch of names out there and Fill In The Breaks worked so the first show we did after that was in like April so that's why I decided to have the show at the end of April.

Chief: What about Jordan Miche´?

ECID: Well he had gotten a hold of D.J. Pseudonym who was also part of the substance abuse crew, um Jordan wanted beats from him and stuff, and got through to me and we just clicked he was a crazy bastard back then I kind of took him under my wing cause he didn't know anything about anything when it came to the hip hop shit, and everyone was a little reluctant because other people had come through and wanted to do stuff and sort of fell off but the first time I heard him I knew he was perfect for what we do he is like a great compliment to what we are doing and just had to work with him, and so after everybody warmed up to him he just became part of the crew.
So for the last two years we have just been recording mad albums and promoting shows and when myspace was dope we actually used that little window to use myspace to further develop our fan base

Chief: So the last two years, what has it looked like to you?

ECID: A fuckin blur man, seven records that I have had to project manage, like see them almost all the way through, I mean the Saturday Morning Soundtrack recording sessions where crazy, like with four people in this little room it's pretty intense. So lately its been like ok you got this one written lets record it press it up promote it and go on tour, and every time trying to put together a better tour.

Chief: So does traveling around the country influence your sound?

ECID: Absolutely, I pick things up from everywhere I go, like when i'm in Arizona, I would never make an outlaw biker album but that's like sort of the culture out there.