With deep jazz roots and a passion for pushing boundaries, Grammy-nominated drummer Blaque Dynamite and DJ/producer Ben Hixon have forged a creative powerhouse in Dolfin Records. During their recent residency at Black Cat, Marcus Rosario caught up with them to discuss their journey, influences, and what audiences can expect from their high-energy, no-holds-barred performances.
For more information about Blaque Dynamite, Ben Hixon and Dolfin Records, check out their Bandcamp and Instagram.
TRANSCRIPT
MARCUS: You're listening to KALW 91.7 FM and KALW.org and I'm joined by two illustrious musicians, artists, melody makers — Blaque Dynamite, the prolific drummer and Ben Hixon, DJ, producer representing all things Dolfin Records. Thanks for coming through, y'all.
BLAQUE DYNAMITE: Of course, so excited!
MARCUS: How did you both meet? What's the origin story?
BEN HIXON: First day of high school science class.
BLAQUE DYNAMITE: We were in the 9th grade. Yeah, yeah. We met in the 9th grade. We've been playing and being friends since that first day of high school. Everything started. Everything.
BEN HIXON: It was a performing arts high school. Any three seconds you had, you skip class to go play some more.
MARCUS: And then Dolfin Records, what's the story behind that?
BEN HIXON: It's more like a collective I guess than a traditional label, but we all grew up together, same thing. Most of us have known each other since freshman year or something like that and we had already been putting out music and stuff before then, but around 2015, we just had a name to it.
We lived on Dolphin Road and spelled with that -ph though. And then there was this famous con or not super famous, but really obscure comic. From Dallas called Dolfin Man, but it's spelled with an F, but from Dallas. And so, um, we found that one day and we lived on Dolphin Road, you know, whatever. It's like, we can just call it that. It makes sense. It's easy. Felt natural.
MARCUS: Who are some of your influences, Blaque Dynamite, I know you've worked with a number of artists — Chick Corea, Erykah Badu, Herbie Hancock, Kamasi Washington, Stanley Clark. Who are some of your inspirations, as a drummer and just musician yourself?
BLAQUE DYNAMITE: I mean, obvious, you know, obvious ones, you know, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, you know, Pharoah Sanders. But as far as like, relatively new influences, mostly, like the people that I work with. Like, you know, my friends are the ones that I admire the most that could affect me, you know, mentally. You know, in a thing, you know, in a way that makes me want to think in a, in a certain lane. So a lot of the stuff that all my friends put up, all my friends are really good. So like, it makes it kind of easy to get inspired.
BEN HIXON: I just listen to everything that we make all the time.
MARCUS: Any particular influences for you, Ben?
BEN HIXON: Um, we were jazz kids growing up. So yeah, just, I mean, we were really, really, really, really deep in jazz. So, yeah, tons of artists. I'd miss a bunch if I started naming some but as far as now I mean, you know, we had a trajectory of like we loved the beat scene stuff, you know, we love dance music, a lot of older stuff, kind of all over the place.
MARCUS: Anything particular right now that you're into?
BLAQUE DYNAMITE: Slipknot I'm on Slipknot. Eloy Casagrande is one of my favorite drummers walking the Earth, he's… I love you Eloy, just so you know.
MARCUS: Going back to Dolfin, what's the process like and what's the approach for, you know, finding new music or putting new music out?
BEN HIXON: We don't sign anyone or anything like that. It's about 15 of us and if anyone wants to put an album out, it's okay.
MARCUS: Anything on the horizon in terms of projects? For either Dolfin, Blaque Dynamite or you?
BEN HIXON: His new album. It's like a lot more electronic, half produced by me, half produced by Stefan Ringer. It's super good and it's all more downtempo. stuff. It's really, really sick.
MARCUS: Are there any artists for either of you that you'd love to work with in the future or you collaborate with at all?
BLAQUE DYNAMITE: Yeah. Yeah. There's one in particular, but he's probably too famous.
MARCUS: Who would that be?
BLAQUE DYNAMITE: Jesus. You know, but he's the, he, you know, he always pulls up to the shows, but I just want him on the track. That's it, but anyone else is like, it would be nice. Of course, I want the experience with, I'm more interested in getting rid of these annoying thoughts in my head and recording 'em.
It's kind of difficult, like, working with multiple artists for, like, a song, because depending on what kind of chemistry you have with anybody, it could be really easy, or it could be a nightmare, you know? And that's a whole nightmare for me, to be afraid that, like, this person that I really really admire, just because of our personality, we don't make music well together.
BEN HIXON: Right? Like the idea sounds good, but…
BLAQUE DYNAMITE: Yeah, that's why it takes so long for certain songs to come out because like you've got these two artists That it's so dope to say that they're working together. It's maybe difficult for them personally so it's a longer process versus just working with your friends.
MARCUS: Interesting. What can folks expect seeing you live, when they come to a Blaque Dynamite show?
BLAQUE DYNAMITE: It's a circus. It's a really well put together circus. You know, it's pure chaos with a lot of technique and taste and it's a comedy show on the side.
BEN HIXON: We're going for it the whole time. Yeah. Three hours of going for it.
BLAQUE DYNAMITE: Yeah. Just like you can, you can expect to see, you can expect to watch a band just like fully play their hearts out. You know, it's not like max out everything. Yeah. Yeah. It's not, it's not like we're playing like just a pastime. It's like, we're playing at like every second counts.
MARCUS: Who's in your band right now?
BLAQUE DYNAMITE: Max Gerl is on the bass. He's also like our childhood friend, went to school with us at Booker T. He has an album out on Dolfin too.
BEN HIXON: Stanley Clark wrote the liner notes.
BLAQUE DYNAMITE: He has two.
BEN HIXON: Uh, no, album and a single. He has another album that's not on Dolfin.
BLAQUE DYNAMITE: So album point one. Yeah. And then Kwinton Gray. He's also from Dallas, and he's so good. He's killing.
BEN HIXON: Singer and keyboard player, piano player. His whole family's musicians, and they have a band together and put out records together. He produces and mixes, produces for a bunch of people and plays for a bunch of people. He's great.
BLAQUE DYNAMITE: Janet Jackson and Lalah Hathaway and Funky Knuckles, you know, like he's done a lot of stuff.
BEN HIXON: But his technique is crazy.
MARCUS: Wow, wow, okay.
BEN HIXON: It’s so good, you know.
BLAQUE DYNAMITE: So basically it's three comedians with hella chops that you're going to see. That's what people are going to expect.
BEN HIXON: Kwinton sings background vocals too. His voice is nice, sings most of the time.
MARCUS: Where can people find your music and just online? What are your socials, your website?
BEN HIXON: Bandcamp and everywhere else. Yeah, Bandcamp. Bandcamp, we get the most money, so that's cool. Find us on Bandcamp. Oh, we sell a bunch of merch at every show, so if you come to the show, we sell USBs, we sell records, CDs, got a bunch of stuff.
MARCUS: Any final thoughts you want to share with the Bay Area?
BLAQUE DYNAMITE: I love you guys.
BEN HIXON: Yeah, same.
BLAQUE DYNAMITE: Don't ever let me not come back, please, because I love coming here.
