SXSW Interview with Blue ScholarsMarch 15, 2008Interviewer: Ansel Herz Blue scholars rock SXSW at club Prague on March 15, 2008.

Seems like other folks have covered pretty well how y'all started as a group. I guess I was wondering what role community radio played...

Geologic:

Community radio is essential, to not just us, just the independent music biz in general.Especially where corporate radio is at right now - the stranglehold that they have on programming,what can and can't get played. I mean, just frankly, almost all corporate radio is the same five songs,every hour on the hour. And it's crap! It's complete crap. The only place you can find alternate stuff iscollege radio and community radio. And when we first got started the first folks who embraced us werecollege radio. KEXP, which is a pretty big independent station. But even each school in the region -Western Washington universities, KUGS, KBCS at Bellevue Community College up north - oh yesKAOS, who've been supportive from day one, day zero. When we had no business getting radio playthey actually played us and interviewed us. Yeah, it's essential and I respect all the people that put in allthe hard work, which I know it is.

Sabzi:

My thoughts on community radio? I have a few thoughts. I actually think all radio is communityradio, just that some of those communities have access to money. Whereas the other ones don't. Somecommunities have a certain agenda they like to push. But obviously the community radio we're talkingabout is the independent end of things, the grassroots parts of things. What is unfortunate to me is thatthere's only a small section of community radio programming I like. A lot of it I'm not a big fan of andit's sometimes actually not very good. However, the community of people behind community radio isalways like my type of folks. So I don't know if that means anything but I definitely think that if wecontinue to strive for excellence then community radio can be really crackin'. As long as peoplemaintain those ideals too. Yeah how's that?

How do you. . .with SXSW there's some criticism here in Austin of it being this huge festival withthousands of people coming from out of town who are very wealthy and don't invest much in Austin. ..Y'all are performing at this mainstream festival, so how do you balance being down with grassrootsactivism and struggle with trying to appeal to the mainstream in festivals like this?

Sabzi:

I actually don't know that much about SXSW. I never even knew about it before a couple of years ago, which is interesting. I don't know how it slipped past me. This is our first time here. But theorganizers are not from Austin either?

It started out organized by Austin folks, but since then it's become - I read in the newspaper that it'sbetween 10 and 30,000 people who come here and spend money at hotels and the clubs and stuff. And it doesn't really reach into Austin - that's been a criticism. And there are not many local bands. That kind of thing. . .

Sabzi:

A lot of the people who are attending are definitely going to be from out of town, because it'snow an international conference of sorts. The only the other thing that I've been to that resembles thishave all been in Vegas, and Vegas is a city that's been built around this kind of activity, so maybe that'swhy to have it in a place like Austin, people are experiencing a lot more resistance from folks causethere's actually people who live here. It's actually like a legitimate city with something like this. But itsounds like the question you're asking as more to do with in principle, how to you balance maintainingyour roots and at the same time engaging in gross commercialized activity. I'm going to actually, sinceI'm talking so much, pass the mic to Geo, so. . .

Geologic:

No no, you're going to pass it right before you get to the answer.

Sabzi:

Okay fine. I think the answer right now, particularly because - I grew up in the punk rock era of the early '90s, early to mid '90s, which is actually late for a lot of people who were into punk in the'80s. But as a kid I definitely, through music, learned what it meant to be underground and what itmeant to be mainstream, and all of the political and economic implications from a teenager's perspective of what that means. I think these days, those lines are very blurry. It's almost impossible for anybody to make any kind of a living without engaging in the "system" as it were, mainly as an artist.So I think that as long as we try to maintain our integrity as people and try to maintain some kind of connection with the folks back home who we're basically doing this for - be it our family, our friends,youth that we've worked with - that we no longer can because we're too busy making the music. Thenthat's like the best we can do and as long as we maintain the integrity of our music, that's all that reallymatters. And the other idea too is to get the message to as many ears as possible, which I'm more thanwilling to do, within certain limitations. Like I'm not going to go play at a strip club, for example, because I don't believe in that. Or, I'd turn down a St. Ides sponsorship if they were still around.

Have y'all had to turn down. . .

Sabzi:

Yes! Yes. Especially when it comes to endorsing particular political parties or candidates, whichwe're trying to avoid. What's funny is that the public in general, and youth too, especially duringelection season, they're so sold on voting as how we're going to change things, or getting behind acertain candidate like it's the new Jesus. . .when we reject that people think of us a hypocrites. Like,"Oh, I thought you were about change and you're not going to play at this Obama rally? Like what'syour problem?"

Geologic:

Yeah. Yes. Okay I mean, sorry what's the question again?

I guess maybe what I was trying to get at earlier is what y'all's goal is coming to Austin, whether thereare particular folks you're trying to reach through your playing tonight? And just in general, trying tobalance the commercialization of the music industry with staying true to your roots.

Sabzi:

It's the first time at SXSW, so I have no expectations, I'm actually here to learn.

Geologic:

Yeah same here. I'm here kind of observing. I mean thank you, for all the information aboutthe festival and how it affects Austin, which is something I'll keep in mind and do more research about.But yeah it's my first time here, just kinda feeling it out. I mean today is a big day. It's the 15th of March, 2008, which means it's the fifth-year anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Iraq. LikeSaba said, we're trying to get a message out through the music - and the music is the message. So everytime we get the chance to perform in front of a crowd these people are going to get exposed to thesecritical questions and issues that are still very present and relevant. I think that's one way to balancethings. But at the same time, yeah, there's contradictions everywhere and we just gotta stay sharp. Alsolike Saba said we stay rooted in the community that we come from. Like for me, on a local and anational level, to organize for genuine democracy in the Philippines as part of Bayan-USA. Actuallygoing on a tour this April and May, a college and grassroots tour to raise funds for the victims of humanrights violations in the Philippines - these are all sharp people too so they will, you know, check me if need be. And they do, and I appreciate it. It's that type of criticism that I try to keep being open to.

Having the heritage that y'all both do, has that helped inform your resistance through your music and actions to imperialism, and I guess I'm wondering at what point did y'all's political consciousness get to the point where it is today? And I'm curious, do y'all identify as Marxists? Is there a particular classification that you identify with? You mentioned that you don't believe fundamental change comesthrough voting, and I wholeheartedly agree with that. . .Obama's definitely been casting himself as thenext big grassroots movement and he's done that here in Austin when he's come and it's kinda annoying (laughs). So yeah, just your political identification and how and when did that come about?

Geologic:

For me, it started off real early, coming from a working-class immigrant family. Being ayoung kid of color in America. Going from Hawaii, where I was surrounded by a lot of people wholooked like me, to Bremerton, Washington at the age of 11 and being one of just a few people wholooked like me there. That's when I started forming my ideas and identification of what my politics arenow. . .they weren't articulated as well back then but it was just a feeling that I think by the time I firststarted reading, just doing research, exposed to issues through hip-hop music. All those things, in mymid- to late-teens - I started just being your typical rebellious teenager, whatever. But around the time Igot to college, it heightened to the point where I started meeting organizers, political organizers, andfolks who are actually putting the theory into practice.

Like what kind of organizers?

Geologic:

Like campus organizers, like MeCHA, the Chicano student organization. They're one of themore politicized groups on campus that I was exposed to. They actually headed the protests against theWTO when it was in Seattle in 1999 and that was a pivotal moment. That was actually my first protestever and I learned a lot through that. I learned that it's not just walking into the streets and makingnoise, but there's a whole lot of educational components that go into that - there's teach-ins, there's pamphleting, there's using the media and press to get the message out. I learned that there's a difference between an activist and an organizer, basically. You can just be rah-rah-rah all the time and have your actions be limited to just vocalizing, and then you're an activist. Or you can take a step further and