One man’s third hand

>> RJD2 talks about taking risks, Amy Winehouse and the elusive Hollywood hook-up

OF ALL THE NERVE: RJD2

by SCOTT C

Emerging from the cocoon of his home studio, Columbus, Ohio’s Ramble John Krohn, aka RJD2, has been transformed, taking his already stellar reputation for outerwordly instrumental hip hop soundscapes and production to yet another level. His new LP, The Third Hand, heralds the arrival of RJD2 the songsmith and multi-instrumentalist, and a momentary departure from the work that defined his sound for the last few years. The Mirror communicated with RJD2 by e-mail while he nursed his damaged vocal chords.

Mirror: I always chuckle when I see guys like Rod Stewart recording an album of jazz standards after reaching a certain point in their career. How much harder is it for you to do a record like your latest when people think they have you figured out musically?

RJD2: Doing the music is not hard. A lot of artists record shit that will never see the light of day that would probably freak their fans out. The hard part is deciding to release it. Yeah, it required some nerve, I guess you would say. It wasn’t easy. Hopefully nobody takes it as disrespect. I’m just having fun, really. I don’t think experimenting for its own sake is necessarily a noble path, but I do think that artists seem to make their best work when they are in an inspired environment, and if it takes some risk to get there, so be it.

M: You seem to be tripping on this one-man band thing, while talented enough to venture out in any direction. What’s next?

RJD2: Sure, maybe. I don’t know. I want to do an R&B album, y’know, with a singer. I want to write songs with someone. I don’t know what I’ll be doing next, but hopefully the Clipse won’t be able to afford the Neptunes and Anthony Hamilton will need a producer, and those will be my next two projects. Right...

M: Give me an example of a juggernaut of a pop song that you wish you had written, or would cover in one second.

RJD2: First one that comes to mind is “You Know I’m No Good” by Amy Winehouse, because when her record came out, I considered trying to cover it for the show, but of course that wouldn’t have been feasible, vocally. I wish I had written the synth line to Timberlake’s “My Love.” I wish I had written half the songs Jeff Lynne wrote from ’72 to ’76.

M: When are we going to see your cinematic side, RJD2 coupled with some real visuals? Any film work on the horizon? I think your ear was made for crafting soundtracks.

RJD2: Thanks. I did the in-game music to a video game last year [Marc Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure], that was fun, but no film work yet. People ask me this all the time, and yet... Hollywood hasn’t come knocking. How weird is that? Hello, Hollywood? I’m fucking sitting right here? Aren’t you listening to the people?

M: The Third Hand material must be a serious undertaking live. You must be having fun with that.

RJD2: I’ve got a band, and we are playing old songs and new songs, and I do part of the show by myself on the turntables and sampler, so the show has a wide variety of aspects. I think it’s entertaining, but what do I know?

With Busdriver and happy Chichester
at la Tulipe on Monday, April 16,
8 p.m., $22.50, all ages