Sexual Healing

Welcome to the newest feature on the site: weekly feature interviews with this year's most asked about Whalie Award nominees!! We've recruited one of NL's most talented writers, Tracey Hollins, to dig down deep into the minds of the nominees, in hopes that we can familiarize ourselves with some of the more unfamiliar bands and musicians nominated this year. We'll be doing this right up until the Whalie's, and probably afterwards too! Enjoy!
- Meghan Killimade, editor/site admin


Interview by Tracey Hollins


WC: I contacted you for your best Hip Hop/ Rap Nomination, but don’t we see you on the mic else where?
EL: Imposters. I'm not MF Doom. I'm everywhere I want to be. Next time say what up!

WC: Which came first the solo or the band(s)?
EL: Sexual Healing - Skobie Won & Erik Lamb on the vocals, DJ Deafsmith & Kid Disco on the Midi-Digi-Torq-Laptop-Whatevers. You came first, then we got bored and made a sandwich. I'm joking! We're bloody amazing right now, and we're not planning on dying anytime soon. I remember the first time I rapped though. It was in Ruby Tuesday's in Lisbon, CT. I was roasting my friend Matt Burns for checking out a waitress or something. I remember clearly having their turkey and avacado burger. It was pretty okay for what it was, although to this day I prefer cooking myself. So...the egg came first.

WC: Which do you prefer and why?
EL: I love the group dynamic. We're a pack of hyenas.

WC: Can you put into words for our readers what they can expect when they buy your CD, click a link, or attend a live show?
EL: Our albums are free, we rob you at our shows! We're planning on selling some custom flash drives of our music though, which may change the dynamic. Our live shows are really live, for lack of a better word. I love confrontation and emotion. I love when people either really like or really hate us. I'm good at balancing on stuff. We're all good dancers, but with no formal training. Musically I like synthesizers. I like making my own synth sounds, and I don't really like conventional rap song structure (16's everywhere). I like writing about everything, and although I don't sound like it at all I am very influenced lyrically by golden-era rap. Skobie has been doing a large portion of the producing for me lately, with us collaborating with ideas. I've been making him a bunch of different synths with Reason for him to use, and we bounce ideas back and forth a lot regarding everything. By the by, he's also working on a solo album, and from what I've heard it's going to be muy fuego.

WC: What do you find most challenging about breaking into the scene here in South Eastern Connecticut?
EL: Probably working with some of the venues. We can make you guys money without you treating us like call girls. Not to take from any profession, but apples and oranges. Really though I don't wanna use this space to complain, but that's been the biggest obstacle. Please don't think for a second that we're ever scared.

WC: Can you tell me some of the venues that you played in the past year?
EL: I'd rather with my mouth. Legitimate venues, townie bars, house parties, battles, converted barns, it's a lot. The live show is our meat and potatoes, and we often have a few shows each week. Naturally sometimes we also crash really hard and take a month off, a la Sherlock with the 7% solution. My top three were 1) New Years Show at URI, because it was for a ton of people who had never heard of us, 2) the most recent Dance Party at PJ O'Connors because there was a lot of dancing, and the energy was bananas, and 3) the Basement Party at the Strange Famous Records spot because it was for an audience that listened to every rhyme we said. Also, while I'm not the hugest Sage Francis fan, I respect him a ton for what he's accomplished and for what he does on the regular, and having him in the front of the crowd while we performed was pretty flattering.

WC: If you could walk the red carpet as any artist, who would that be?
EL: You misspelled "with", and my answer is Winona Ryder.

WC: What about any New London artist?
EL: I'd love to strut squad up with the people from Wings and Pies. Eff the haters, you guys hold it down. 860-442-4700 and place an order. Their white pizza is superb, and the spinach they use is never all dried out and gross. Also, I think they remember every single customer they have, which is awesome.

WC: What are your plans Post Whalies?
EL: I am finishing up a follow up album to Shoot Everything. It's called Blow Up Dolls, and it is way better. I, Skobie, and Tom Maclean of The Hushed Yips fame are all producing it. Recording is more or less finished and it'll be out during the spring-to-summer transition. If you'd like to hear any of what I'm working on, check out www.soundcloud.com/eriklamb. Sexual Healing is planning a tour for this summer with NME, Artie Bro, and a bunch of surprise acts. To stay updated on that check out www.facebook.com/erik.lamb, I try to keep the Info section of my profile updated with our show dates. I want to try piracy in the Strait of Malacca sometime, or maybe WWOOF-ing it somewhere. College maybe. Blah blah blah...I'd like to use this space to show love to the homies. Skobie, NME, DeafDisco, Artie Bro, CFP, TST, Isaac/David/everyone at the Ocean State Battle League, all the heads in Jersey, Wiggins and his crew, Chum, Dan and Tom from the Hushed Yips, Jim from PJ's, Sean, Meghan, Kurt & Tricia Hall, Stryfe, Anon, Kamoflauge, BWB, EAS, BlastForMe, Roz Raskin & The Ricecakes, Kanye West, Bill O'Reily, and you Ms. Hollins for this interview. And everyone I forgot. All the fans, for real. - Wailing City

CD Review by Adam Wujtewicz

I always wondered why there weren’t more hip-hop artists that embraced beats with more of a techno/electronica sound. I may have been looking in the wrong place all this time but Erik Lamb is doing it and he’s making it sound like a viable option.

Shoot Everything is as professional sounding an album as you’ll hear. All the sounds are crisp, the vocals are all duplicated in the right places and the beats all bounce at the right tempo. None of this makes Shoot Everything sound cookie cutter… it means it’s easy on the ears, it means that there is more than likely going to be some fist pumping going on at his shows. Actually I think the thing that takes the longest to get used to is Erik’s voice. It’s got an Aesop Rock sort of nasal quality that gives it character. I personally love Aesop Rock and think his voice is his best attribute and similarly with Erik Lamb. He’s got an incredibly laid back sound to his voice no matter how fast his rapping or what he’s rapping about. It’s a sort of quiet confidence that is incredibly refreshing when compared to the soulless mainstream hip-hop chest-beating and materialism.



Speaking of mainstream hip-hop, stealing a page from Jay Z and twisting it into a clever turn of phrase Erik says "99 problems, the past is done, I’ve got 99 bananas let me pass you some” in “Peapod”. Things like that make me laugh and that’s what makes hip-hop fun, and isn’t that why we’re listening? The song after “Peapod” is “7:30” and that’s my vote for best beat on the record. Just about every tone in the song has the skipping CD sound to it and when you line them all up it sounds amazing.

Shoot Everything is equal parts indie rap intelligence and mass appeal madness. This may be one of the only records that fist pumping goons, uber stoned cheeba monkeys and everyone in between can agree on the merits of.

Visit Erik Lamb's Band Camp Page to download this album, as well as check out his previous recordings posted. - Wailing City

www.wailingcity.com - Wailing City

URB's Next 1000

Legal Name: John Skobrak
Location: Norwich, Connecticut
File Under: Rap

URB: How did you get into music and where does your name come from?
SKOBIE WON: I first got into music from my brother being in the hardcore/punk scene. I started by recording his band. I was making beats on the side and always had the ambition and wanted to make rap music. The name is just a nickname that stuck. Easy play on words from my last name–Skobrak.

URB: What’s the inspiration behind the record?
SKOBIE: The record is inspired by having to work a crappy job and wanting to make music for a living, teaching myself everything from how to record, how to rap, and how to make beats, all the way down to teaching my self math to pass my collage classes. I feel like to me that’s what Autodidact is about but it can be interpreted any way you want–that’s what music to me is.

URB: What are some of the advantages and challenges of recording and producing your debut on your own?
SKOBIE: Funding my projects seems to be the most difficult challenge to overcome, finding the money and making the time is the hardest part. The advantages are that I can do what I want with out having to answer to anyone.

URB: Who do you dream of performing or working with?
SKOBIE: If I could work with any of the people that inspired me El-P, Aesop Rock, P.O.S. and Sage Francis are at the top of the list. I also have a slight obsession with Norah Jones.

URB: Connecticut isn’t known for a rap scene. Do you often run into people expecting your act to sound a certain way because of where you’re from?
SKOBIE: I don’t really fit in a box I’m sure there is some kind of expected attitude for a kid from Connecticut, but I don’t really try to appeal to that. I try to keep doing my own thing and hope people catch on.

URB: So, what are your live gigs like?
SKOBIE: My gigs are usually high energy and all over the place I like to keep the crowd involved, whether it be a room full of metal/hardcore kids or a room full of hip hop heads I think everyone has fun and that’s all it’s about.

URB: What’s the most valuable part of using Sonicbids?
SKOBIE: Being given the opportunity to get exposure outside the sticks is an awesome thing, and the company is full of opportunities. - URB Magazine

Skobie Won - Autodidact

I'm not usually one to talk about hip-hop, but I somehow stumbled across Skobie Won and liked it.
Sure, he's got kind of nerdy rhymes but he's got a DIY spirit that I really agree with, and the beats are good. The guy is offering the album as a free download so listen to it, who knows, you might like it. - CT Indie