In for better or worse, the metal infused Hip-Hop group Architects Demolition Men is going through changes. In the last year they've altered their sound, switched their line up, and most interestingly, have gotten political. Their trumpeter, Jamal, tells me, "Things are moving so fast, and we're growing so quickly, that if we don't release this next album it might turn into something totally different."
For the last two years ADM has been Matt Vorizmer (drums), Tony Cortes and D Prophit (emcees), Surya Botofasina (keys), Justin Haffner (bass), Mike Gamble (guitar), and Jamal Monteilh (trumpet). The musical influences of individual members range from KRS-One to Miles Davis to Pink Floyd, but with their variety of differences ADM comes together remarkably well. The stereotypical clashing of egos in a large band is absent from their music, as well as from their live performances, which can be described as an impressive display of energy, skill, and an intense love for what they do. At least that was the sense I got from seeing them perform a few months ago in downtown Brooklyn's Southpaw.
Architects Demolition Men started as the brainchild of Tony Cortes and original drummer/contributing producer Mike Foulk. Rhyming since high school Tony put together the name and created the original band members from people he and Mike knew, including D Prophit, who had been Tony’s friend since '95. Jamal laughs about his introduction to the band, saying, “I met Tony playing an Afro-Cuban gig where he was working in BK. The cat kept saying ‘I got a band I’m trying to put together.’ You hear that a lot as a musician, but finally he got me to come to rehearsal... It was so far out of my box that I had to get down.”
ADM became an attempt by Tony and the others to see if they could create good music that drew from their different points of view. It’s taken three years to develop the band’s current line up, but in that time they’ve managed to finally create the blend they first sought out, as well as refine the creative process that it takes to make it.
Rather than a sloppy mishmash of genres, the band members of ADM have created music that actually sounds like KRS-One meets Miles Davis, while at the same time maintaining something unique of their own. During their live performance D shouted his lyrics of resistance to the war on the politically charged Say No: “This is the Election Day and it seems like a mother fucking masquerade/while bombs getting dropped and they blast away arms and legs on little kids half your age.”
The song was featured on their 2006 debut LP Volume 1. But again, a lot has changed since then. Their drummer of three years, Matt, describes their first album as a maturing process. “When we recorded Volume 1 it was a transient project. Nothing was really grounded. It was like we recorded one track… a song that comes from five years ago… and then there was another [new] song called Changes. So there’s a huge leap. There’s all sorts of ideas, and all sorts of maturating sounds that are on that album.” Jokingly, Toni adds, “On that album we learned what not to do.” The point is that they were learning how to come together as a unit. Volume 1, released indepedently in 2006, reflects that search for their own unique voice.."
