the hum / By Bob Doran

The Hustle Gets Harder

Doseone of Themselves on the music biz, Strix Vega Round 2, Gypsies and Celts

(March 5, 2009)  Music maverick Adam Drucker, aka Doseone, or simply Dose, is an artist who straddles traditional boundaries and wears many hats. He started out in Cincinnati as a literate, high-speed, rhythmic rapper, a Scribble Jam champion MC who teamed up with DJ Jeff “Jel” Logan and headed west to Oakland. There he joined forces with like-minded alt. hip hoppers to found the indie label Anticon Records. After shifting gears to make music along more-or-less alt. rock lines with a band called Subtle, and teaming with German indie band The Notwist in 13 & God, Dose and Jel have returned to their roots resurrecting a rap duo called Themselves.

When I called Dose at his Oakland home Sunday he was working on tracks for an upcoming Themselves release, to be preceded by a free digital release, theFREEhoudini mixtape (already teased with an except on Pitchfork). This weekend Themselves are coming north to Humboldt to try out a live act they’re taking on the road in March and April with stops at SxSW and Coachella.

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A question about how he describes what he does for a living (“artist” or “I make music”) soon turned to discussion of the state of the music business. “It’s always been a hustle,” Dose began. “It was a little scary when everyone started share-stealing, steal-sharing, whatever that nonsense is. CD sales just … well you know, it was terrible. Everybody was already ripping shit, that wasn’t anything new, but the shit hit the fan with consumptive tendencies.

“People are boosting our art. That’s not cool, man. I would never steal somebody’s painting. In any other form, no one would boost art. People might steal lipstick, cheese, baseball cards; you know those are things to thief. But stealing art is kind of crazy.

“I’m a product of the ‘90s indie revolution, where we held ourselves accountable for our music, invested in our own stuff, in labels we owned where we got 50 percent of the profit splits. We put in a lot of work to have that. Now, when it shifts to ‘all-free,’ it’s like, ‘This boat can’t work like that.’ It’s like a corner store giving away the beer.

“I have a lot, but I don’t have a tomb full of riches I can be buried with. All that I have is that I am what I am. It’s some Popeye shit. And I can’t flash it on everyone, because it doesn’t exist in all environments. If I go to a children’s health clinic, I can’t be like ‘I’m Dose! Can I help?’ My mass holds no weight there, but in my environment as a rapper, as an honest songwriter, as a creative small business owner, I can say what I mean and have my effect.”

You can see Themselves in action Sunday at Hunter Plaid Gallery with Female Fun Records founder Peter “Thanksgiving Brown” Agoston and some configuration of the Starving Weirdos. Saturday at the Pearl Lounge, Doseone and Jel join Thanksgiving Brown and DJ Zanapod to spin some sort of wild shit.

If you’ve read our review section, you already know that this weekend brings the long-awaited second release by the truly fine alt. something band Strix Vega. I’ll leave discussion of Estranged Meadow to our Savage reviewer for now, aside from disagreeing about the worthiness of the opening and closing instrumental tracks. I dig both. (And the droney, ethereal “UFO Above the Pines” is not “prog-rock” as I understand the term.) As Jen notes, the obligatory CD Release Party is Saturday at the Alibi with Side Iron, but Strix is also playing an all ages show Friday evening at Mosgo’s with Chris Parreira and Sarahfae, who sings on E.M. (on my favorite song, “Decay”). She’ll also join S.V. at the Alibi. The show also marks the beginning of a tour that takes S.V. through nine states on the way to SxSW.

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