FootWerk

OCTOBER 8, 2013 BY RASHEEDA SMITH LEAVE A COMMENT
Footwerk’s music does just what its band’s name implies; get’s your feet moving on the dance floor. The 6-piece band native from DC are a fun, energetic neo-soul/hip- hop band whose innovative and original sound make them stand out from the usual bands. The wide variety of instruments played by talented musicians, Josh (drums), Fern (bass), Teddi (keyboard) and Eric (percussion) along with the soulful voice of songstress Melissa and lyrically adept flow of hip-hop artist Kyle, create a versatile and unique style that sounds polished and nothing less than professional. Everyone on stage shines. The band also pulls from a variety of genres including rap, jazz, rock and R&B. With songs like the reggae-inspired “Table Party,” the jazzy ragtime keys found on “Pick Apart the Pieces,” or the electro-pop dance tune of “Ignorance,” Footwerk is hard to label (even the band has trouble labeling a genre for themselves) but they are by no means messy as they organize their music into complex styles and rhythms that will be sure to make the listener hit replay frequently.

Footwerk DC photo courtesy of Footwerk
Footwerk is currently touring around the DC area and OnTap had a chance to ask the band about their musical style and what’s next for them.
OnTap: How did you guys meet?
Kyle: I was working on a project with our old guitar player and our original singer and we got asked to do shows so we started to put a band together for this one show that actually never happened. But we had put an ad out on craigslist and it was weird because the first people that came were Josh and Teddi so it just happened to work out. Then I’ve known Eric for years and years. He showed up for the show and was like ‘yo can I play bongos?’ I didn’t even know he played music at all but he killed it so he joined. And then our old singer punched our guitar mother’s mom in the face so he was done after that and then Melissa came in.
OT: How do you get ideas for your songs?
K: A lot of times we’ll go to practice and [the musicians] will just be jamming out making noise and a melody or rhythm will get stuck in my head or Melissa’s head or Eric’s head then the words start coming. But generally it comes from Eric in the middle of the night sending me a message [with lyrics] or Fern, Teddi and Josh just jamming and they come up with something that’s golden.
OT: You guys have a lot of musical influences in your sound. Who are some artists/bands who influence you?
Josh: I feel like everybody just loves everything and just loves good music.
OT: Is it harder to come up with ideas for songs because of the many styles incorporated in your music?
Fern: I feel like it’s easier.
K: It’ harder to explain what kind of music it is to people.
F: Because there’s so many genres involved it’s almost becomes like one universal language. Like me speaking a metal or pop language or Eric speaking a radio language or latin language. So it’s all sort of universal. It all sort of comes together.
OT: Are there any places you’d love to play in the future.
K: Locally, 9:30 club I think is one place we haven’t played in DC that we want to play.
F: And Black Cat. I think generally speaking we kind of want to branch out to other cities. In Philly and New York and just try to establish a foothold in nearby cities.
J: We want to take over the world. [laughs]

Footwerk DC photo courtesy of Footwerk
OT: What are some of your favorite songs you’ve done creatively or performance-wise?
M: I think I’m a fan of a majority of our stuff. “Lie To Me.” It incorporates, I think, everything.
J: Yeah I feel like that one just crosses every genre we play. It goes from the hip-hop to kind to latin to smooth R&B.
OT: What can fans expect on your next album that will make it stand out from your first one?
K: The new stuff we have will probably be done in a couple of months and out there. We’re currently in the process of working on it. We’re not really doing any shows except the stuff we already committed to but the new stuff is very different. Very, very different from what’s out there. Mainly, because we don’t have a guitar player anymore. Some of the stuff has guitar on it but the old stuff has our old singer on it, too. So this will be the first time Footwerk’s going to have recordings as we stand right now. And since all that happened with other people leaving the band, we’ve all gotten super tight. So that sound’s changed a lot. It’s definitely going to be very different and we’re super excited about it. It’s the first time I’ve made anything having done tons of projects before this and I get excited to listen to it.
Footwerk’s debut album, Late shift, is available streaming online via their website www.footwerkband.com and can be purchased from iTunes, Rhapsody and Amazon.
- On Tap Magazine

OCTOBER 8, 2013 BY RASHEEDA SMITH LEAVE A COMMENT
Footwerk’s music does just what its band’s name implies; get’s your feet moving on the dance floor. The 6-piece band native from DC are a fun, energetic neo-soul/hip- hop band whose innovative and original sound make them stand out from the usual bands. The wide variety of instruments played by talented musicians, Josh (drums), Fern (bass), Teddi (keyboard) and Eric (percussion) along with the soulful voice of songstress Melissa and lyrically adept flow of hip-hop artist Kyle, create a versatile and unique style that sounds polished and nothing less than professional. Everyone on stage shines. The band also pulls from a variety of genres including rap, jazz, rock and R&B. With songs like the reggae-inspired “Table Party,” the jazzy ragtime keys found on “Pick Apart the Pieces,” or the electro-pop dance tune of “Ignorance,” Footwerk is hard to label (even the band has trouble labeling a genre for themselves) but they are by no means messy as they organize their music into complex styles and rhythms that will be sure to make the listener hit replay frequently.

Footwerk DC photo courtesy of Footwerk
Footwerk is currently touring around the DC area and OnTap had a chance to ask the band about their musical style and what’s next for them.
OnTap: How did you guys meet?
Kyle: I was working on a project with our old guitar player and our original singer and we got asked to do shows so we started to put a band together for this one show that actually never happened. But we had put an ad out on craigslist and it was weird because the first people that came were Josh and Teddi so it just happened to work out. Then I’ve known Eric for years and years. He showed up for the show and was like ‘yo can I play bongos?’ I didn’t even know he played music at all but he killed it so he joined. And then our old singer punched our guitar mother’s mom in the face so he was done after that and then Melissa came in.
OT: How do you get ideas for your songs?
K: A lot of times we’ll go to practice and [the musicians] will just be jamming out making noise and a melody or rhythm will get stuck in my head or Melissa’s head or Eric’s head then the words start coming. But generally it comes from Eric in the middle of the night sending me a message [with lyrics] or Fern, Teddi and Josh just jamming and they come up with something that’s golden.
OT: You guys have a lot of musical influences in your sound. Who are some artists/bands who influence you?
Josh: I feel like everybody just loves everything and just loves good music.
OT: Is it harder to come up with ideas for songs because of the many styles incorporated in your music?
Fern: I feel like it’s easier.
K: It’ harder to explain what kind of music it is to people.
F: Because there’s so many genres involved it’s almost becomes like one universal language. Like me speaking a metal or pop language or Eric speaking a radio language or latin language. So it’s all sort of universal. It all sort of comes together.
OT: Are there any places you’d love to play in the future.
K: Locally, 9:30 club I think is one place we haven’t played in DC that we want to play.
F: And Black Cat. I think generally speaking we kind of want to branch out to other cities. In Philly and New York and just try to establish a foothold in nearby cities.
J: We want to take over the world. [laughs]

Footwerk DC photo courtesy of Footwerk
OT: What are some of your favorite songs you’ve done creatively or performance-wise?
M: I think I’m a fan of a majority of our stuff. “Lie To Me.” It incorporates, I think, everything.
J: Yeah I feel like that one just crosses every genre we play. It goes from the hip-hop to kind to latin to smooth R&B.
OT: What can fans expect on your next album that will make it stand out from your first one?
K: The new stuff we have will probably be done in a couple of months and out there. We’re currently in the process of working on it. We’re not really doing any shows except the stuff we already committed to but the new stuff is very different. Very, very different from what’s out there. Mainly, because we don’t have a guitar player anymore. Some of the stuff has guitar on it but the old stuff has our old singer on it, too. So this will be the first time Footwerk’s going to have recordings as we stand right now. And since all that happened with other people leaving the band, we’ve all gotten super tight. So that sound’s changed a lot. It’s definitely going to be very different and we’re super excited about it. It’s the first time I’ve made anything having done tons of projects before this and I get excited to listen to it.
Footwerk’s debut album, Late shift, is available streaming online via their website www.footwerkband.com and can be purchased from iTunes, Rhapsody and Amazon.
- On Tap Magazine