Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?
Eso Tre: I’m from Los Angeles and a member of the group Substance Abuse, along with my homeboy Subz. I grew up listening to lyric intensive hip hop and wanted to help carry on that legacy.
Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?
Eso Tre: Substance Abuse is a somewhat incendiary title, and it’s unfortunate that it keeps some people from seeing that we’re a socially conscious group. Abuse is a word that correlates with excess, and we’re excessively concerned with putting Substance in the music we present.
Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?
Eso Tre: I think you have to play the game, and part of the game now is giving people freebies. But record labels gave away free stuff back in the day too, it’s just a different format now. If you plan on keeping your project super top secret, it’s probably not going anywhere.
Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?
Eso Tre: It’s all about saturation bombing. You have to reach out to as many people as you can. Some people will respond, some will not. But if you’re easily discouraged or daunted by rejection, your opportunities will be limited.
Exposed Vocals: Do you ever make mistakes during performances? How do you handle that?
Eso Tre: Everyone makes mistakes. It’s all about picking yourself up and continuing. If you dwell on a mistake that people may have not even noticed, you ruined your show for no reason.
Exposed Vocals: Do you tour? Anything interesting happen on tour that you think our readers would enjoy hearing about?
Eso Tre: We’ve had some interesting tour experiences. The main lesson for us was learning how to leverage the show into a benefit for us, hustling and getting people to buy merch when they had never heard of us before.
Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?
Eso Tre: Subz and I don’t actively collaborate. It’s more of a telepathic thing. We both are writing verses about the same thing, and we don’t even tell each other about it until we decide to do a song. Sounds strange, but it’s true.
Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?
Eso Tre: www.substanceabusehiphop.com It links to all of our social media sites.
Exposed Vocals: What are some really embarrassing songs that we might find on your mp3 player?
Eso Tre: Nothing embarrassing. If I like something, I like it. Even if it’s The Goo Goo Dolls.
Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?
Eso Tre: Work on music, of course.
Exposed Vocals: Any planned studio upgrades? What are you working with now?
Eso Tre: Lately been doing stuff at our homie Lesk One’s crib. He has top of the line stuff. Stuff that ain’t been invented yet. He’s a dope emcee too.
Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?
Eso Tre: Word of mouth. Emailing peeps. Relentlessly networking. It’s the only way.
Exposed Vocals: If you could perform anywhere and with any artists (Dead or Alive) where and who would it be with? Why?
Eso Tre: Organized Konfusion and De La Soul. They’re two of our biggest influences.
Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?
Eso Tre: We’re about to drop a remix EP called “Background Music Part 2”. And we’re also working on a new album. And yes, both will be super fresh.
Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?
Eso Tre: Yodeling. Or brushing up on my pottery making skills. Or training cats to be ninjas.
Exposed Vocals: Do you remember buying your first album? Who was it? What was going through your head?
Eso Tre: Public Enemy, Fear of A Black Planet. 911 is a Joke was and maybe still is the greatest joint ever.
Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?
Eso Tre: Stress from our professional lives feed our art. So everything works out at the end of the day.
Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2015?
Eso Tre: the Background Music Part 2 EP. Also, a side project from me and my homie Nebz Supreme called “Off Da Wagon”.
