Hip hop-alternative rock band afterschoolspecial have got a new EP out tittled Not One For Words. Performing live all over Southern California, this San Diego group has been doing what it takes to go big. Lead MC Dan aka Dan connected with us about the past, present and future of afterschoolspecial.

Who’s who in the afterschoolspecial lineup?
The afterschoolspecial line up is Emcee Dan aka Dan, Vocalist Jaimie, Key Board- Brian, Guitar- Keane, Drums Josh, and Bass Todd. We’ve all got very different musical styles and backgrounds which I think is what helps us come up with our eclectic rock/hip hop sound. For instance, Todd has a punk/ska background, Brian has a classical background, and Jaimie has a Soul/Funk Background. Everyone has such different tastes that it helps us each think out side of the box.

How did you all wind up in afterschoolspecial? Or San Diego for that matter?
We all wound up in San Diego via San Diego State University. The short story is that we all came together through mutual friends. Brian and I were friends prior to the band, and i knew how talented he was at the Keys. We were jamming one day, came up with some great melodies and hooks and needed a drummer. We got the drummer, needed a guitarist, then came the vocalist, and finally the bassist. We’ve been together for about a year and a half now. We’re from different parts of California. I’m from Ventura County, Jaimie and Todd are from Northern California, and Keane is from Hawaii. It’s only been a little bit of time, but i feel like we’re on the right path to accomplishing something great. Everyone in the group has devoted so much time to this project that we all have a sense of devotion and debt to what we’ve done.

Where did the name “afterschoolspecial” come from?
afterschoolspecial come’s from a few different places. For what ever reason I was watching some of those old after school special videos on youtube one day and the name after school special hit me. The Videos evoke some pretty dark emotions…because they’re from back in the day, they have a weird, grainy feeling that i get when I watch them. I dare you to watch a few. They freak me out..but in a good way. Also, on another level, the videos were about some pretty social topics like racism, sexism, death…etc. It was done in a hokey kind of way, but there was some important lessons being taught. I felt that this matched the message of the band, not the hokey part, but the lessons and stories that the songs we write are about.

The video for “Not One For Words” was shot in 2 days for about $40? How did that go down?
“Not One For Words” was the video that never should have happened. Our director Charlie Yi (Rock-Step productions www.rock-step.com) pulled it through some how. He was very professional, had all the scenes mapped out and generally pulled together a hell of a video with very little prep time. Our band is a pretty small operation, especially with half of the group still in school, and the other half working full time, so putting in the time to create a music video wasn’t really on our to do list. However, I trusted Charlie 100% in creating this video, and if he thought we could do it, then I wanted to push for it. We had the right contacts in town between the both of us, i pulled together all of my friends and favors. He had the right equipment, and what he didn’t have, we borrowed. He knew the owners of Le Stat’s (the coffee shop that we shot the video at), so we got a real hook up by being able to film at the shop. When I look back, that shop really made the video. It’s got a lot of personality and atmosphere and creates the type of vibe that really pulls off the entire video. I look back and i don’t think we’d be as happy with the final results if we didn’t use that location.

It was $40 because that money all went towards food. I bought breakfast for all the extras, and I may have used the other part of the money for DVD’s to print the video on. Otherwise everything was either donated or provided. We were very lucky.

The night we shot the first part of the music video was done from like 2am to 7am at the coffee shop. It’s open 24 hours, and has all types of people that are chillin at all hours of the night. We had to wait for the majority of people to leave the shop before we could really get any good shots. It was quite the experience, and we actually used a few people that just happened to be ordering coffee as extras in the video.

Speaking of “Not One For Words”, it’s not on the EP. That means you guys must have more music in the works… When will the full album be released?
Not one for words is not on the CD…we actually didn’t know whether or not to put this song on the EP for several reasons. It was acoustic and didn’t match the vibe of the rest of the songs, so we felt like it wouldn’t be a good fit. However, i’ve gotten a lot of compliments on that particular song ever since we shot the music video, so I think that the next time we order another round of EP’s, i’m going to add it as a bonus track. I’d also like to maybe re record it at some point.

We do have an LP in the works, but we won’t start working on that until sometime next year. We’re focusing on writing music and getting our name out there with the music we do have. And I think we’ve got a pretty good first impression of a CD that we can hand out and start the Buzz.

Dan adds…
Being Asian American is really important to our group as a whole. Although not everyone in the band is Asian American, we still all recognize the importance of how culture and our backgrounds play in our music. I don’t think we’d ever write songs directly about being Asian, rather, it’s just one of those things that we make some really great kick ass songs, but just happen to have 1/2 of our group (especially our emcee) be Asian. We get the opportunity to play some huge cultural shows, and Asian or not Asian, it’s great exposure and a chance to represent for the community. I think it’s important to many artists now a days not to be pigeon holed or stereotyped as just an Asian American group because then it’s more difficult to make that cross the boards appeal. I bet you hear that a bunch from other artists you interview. However, I also don’t think it’s as big of a deal as it was in previous years to be known as an Asian American artist. With so many mainstream cross over successes of other acts, it’s opening the door for groups like afterschoolspecial.

Keep up with afterschoolspecial on their website.
Support afterschoolspecial over on iTunes.

Photos by Shinobi Studios.