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WKNC DJ Whippopatomus interviewed local artist Saint Michael. They discussed the local music scene, pay to play schemes, & the journey they took to get to where they are today.
Off the Record features interviews with local and national musicians as aired on WKNC 88.1 FM HD-1/HD-2.
00:00
DJ Whippopatomus
What is good, everyone? I am DJ Whippopatomus and you are listening to WKNC 88.1 FM HD-1 Raleigh. We are a student media run nonprofit radio station based at a North Carolina State University. Here with me today is local artist Saint Michael of Durham. What's good with you, man? How you doing?
00:21
Saint Michael
I'm doing pretty good.
00:22
DJ Whippopatomus
Oh, yeah. Why don't you go ahead and introduce yourself to the listeners out there.
00:27
Saint Michael
My name's Saint Michael. Could also call me Sean if you want.
00:31
DJ Whippopatomus
All right.
00:32
Saint Michael
That's what my friends call me. But yeah, I live in Durham and been living there for over 10 years now and was born in Houston, Texas. Okay. Been living in the area most of my life. And yeah, I guess I do kind of a niche form of hip hop, kind of like an alternative hip hop. And also like to call like alternative pop kind of stuff, you know, like dark pop, kind of a blend of that.
01:01
DJ Whippopatomus
Facts. Facts. Yeah.
01:05
Saint Michael
Yeah.
01:05
DJ Whippopatomus
You have a really unique sound. I really enjoy listening to your music. It just comes off as very raw. You know, I appreciate the vulnerability. That's really like an element I've been looking for in my music lately is the vulnerability parts. It just hits different.
01:22
Saint Michael
Totally.
01:22
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah.
01:23
Saint Michael
Yeah. And I think, you know, One thing that Saint Michael really highlights is the lyrics. And it's something that I like to talk about is I've been writing lyrics since I was a kid. You know, I'm 34 now, so I'm getting up there.
01:38
DJ Whippopatomus
That's tough.
01:40
Saint Michael
But, yeah, I was about to ask.
01:41
DJ Whippopatomus
You, how long have you been making music?
01:43
Saint Michael
Yeah, most of my life. You know, as long as I can remember. You know, my. I remember growing up. Listen. Or finding some old letters that my mom had actually sent to some country music labels like back in the 70s.
01:58
DJ Whippopatomus
Oh, man. What?
01:59
Saint Michael
Yeah. Where she was like, writing songs and stuff. And I found those at a really young age.
02:04
DJ Whippopatomus
Oh, wow.
02:05
Saint Michael
Along with.
02:06
DJ Whippopatomus
That's dope.
02:06
Saint Michael
Yeah. So she was in the songwriting when she was growing up, and that kind of inspired me. You know, it's one of those things you don't realize until later in life. You look back and you're like, wow, that was actually.
02:17
DJ Whippopatomus
Right.
02:17
Saint Michael
Big moment. Yeah. But, yeah, that kind of started the. The drive for that. And my dad was, you know, in choir. Okay. In the church choir. It's kind of where like Saint Michael comes from too.
02:30
DJ Whippopatomus
Right, right.
02:31
Saint Michael
Definitely had a pretty strict religious upbringing that.
02:34
DJ Whippopatomus
Sure.
02:35
Saint Michael
Once I got into middle school and high school, I started rebelling against pretty hardcore.
02:41
DJ Whippopatomus
No, I feel that.
02:42
Saint Michael
But yeah, that kind of Gave me a lot of, you know, super into spiritual and religious imagery. Yeah, I love that. And just like religion in general and. Yeah, that's kind of a big thing with the project as well. Super inspired by all that stuff and then, you know, back to writing lyrics, which is one of my favorite things to do. It's. It's how I relax, you know. Yeah, get. Get tensions out that way.
03:16
DJ Whippopatomus
Kind of like a release.
03:17
Saint Michael
Yeah, it's definitely a release for sure. And I've got, you know, five tracks out there right now and. Yeah, just been writing a lot lately. Got almost 30 tracks right now.
03:29
DJ Whippopatomus
Oh, man. Okay.
03:31
Saint Michael
Yeah, yeah, I got a whole album, like a 14 track album with one of my buddies, Monsters Are Myth, Shout Out, Griffin for sure. He's also one of my producers and main collaborators. But yeah, so we got an album coming out later this year and then I got two eps and a handful of singles.
03:51
DJ Whippopatomus
Okay, okay, that's. That's coming out within the next year.
03:54
Saint Michael
Yeah, that'll all be out at some point this year.
03:56
DJ Whippopatomus
Do you have a name for any of those yet?
03:59
Saint Michael
The working title for the album is Sacrilegious.
04:03
DJ Whippopatomus
Okay.
04:04
Saint Michael
And then One of the EPs is called the Grand Illusion Word and the other one is called Here Comes the Sun.
04:11
DJ Whippopatomus
Okay, so you got three projects you're working on right now, so you've been busy.
04:15
Saint Michael
Yeah, totally. Three. Three. Multiple producers too.
04:18
DJ Whippopatomus
Right, right. Yeah, I can't wait. Yeah. Cause like you said, you only have five songs out right now, but they're bangers.
04:24
Saint Michael
Thanks, man.
04:24
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah, I really love the production and the quality is there, like, can tell you really know what you're doing.
04:28
Saint Michael
Thanks, man.
04:29
DJ Whippopatomus
You've been doing it for a while.
04:30
Saint Michael
Yeah, for sure, for sure. It's been a minute, so I think it's just kind of like.
04:34
DJ Whippopatomus
Right, right.
04:35
Saint Michael
The last couple years actually once our lovely pandemic hit went into quarantine and I had just been like working, you know, 60 hour weeks.
04:46
DJ Whippopatomus
Okay.
04:46
Saint Michael
Doing. Working in the live concert industry and wow. In production and just grinding out.
04:52
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah, it must been crazy working in the industry during the lockdowns for sure.
04:56
Saint Michael
And then, you know, everything went. And we had that break, you know.
05:01
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah.
05:02
Saint Michael
So I had been, you know, I just have these notes on my phone where I write my lyrics and I just have tons and tons of lyrics. Yeah, I just, I had. Hanging out waiting for something, you know, and I had already kind of started a couple of the tracks. Like Riot had been started and Long Way.
05:20
DJ Whippopatomus
Okay.
05:20
Saint Michael
Long Way Home had been started.
05:21
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah.
05:22
Saint Michael
And that was. Sorry, I keep moving away from the mic.
05:26
DJ Whippopatomus
Oh, you good.
05:26
Saint Michael
But that was basically where that kind of started. So then I got the break and I was like, well, what am I going to do? And then we got through that first little bit of quarantine, and then people were like, okay. And I actually started a lot of projects. Then I started.
05:42
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah, that's kind of the beautiful thing about the lockdowns is that a lot of artists had more time to work on stuff.
05:47
Saint Michael
For sure. Yeah. And that was actually when I started working with my buddy Adam the Faces Blur, who's okay. One of my good buddies that I did the Elemental EP with.
05:59
DJ Whippopatomus
Okay.
06:00
Saint Michael
That came out last April. So that's my other project, Seance, which is.
06:04
DJ Whippopatomus
Right, right.
06:05
Saint Michael
Yeah, my house techno project.
06:07
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah. So. So what came first? Hip hop or your house techno?
06:12
Saint Michael
Hip hop definitely came first. I mean, when I was a kid, I listened to all sorts of stuff.
06:17
DJ Whippopatomus
Right. Yeah. What'd you listen to?
06:18
Saint Michael
Oh, man, I. I guess just to take it way far back, my first concert was Amy Grant.
06:25
DJ Whippopatomus
Oh, boy. I don't know about that.
06:27
Saint Michael
No, no. Oh, man, you got to listen.
06:29
DJ Whippopatomus
I'm sorry. Sometimes. Okay.
06:30
Saint Michael
Baby, baby Best. She's give you some insight. Yeah, she's a 90s contemporary Christian pop artist.
06:40
DJ Whippopatomus
Oh, okay. My mom might be into her for sure.
06:44
Saint Michael
Yeah, your mom would probably know who she is. But yeah, so like that, you know, contemporary Christian pop artists were like what I kind of got into. Luckily, you know, I grew up in the 90s. So once. Once Napster hit, I was like. I was like fifth grade, sixth grade, and I started figuring out how to get on the computer and then it was all holds. It was like, take the chains off. You know, Once I found Napster, then I was downloading all sorts of stuff. Like, I got really into Limp Bizkit and like that whole wave of new metal, rap rock type stuff was related to that. I got hip hop influences, definitely. Like all the. All the people that I think the guys in my. My genre would shout out. Like Three Six Mafia. Of course. Like, big into Lord Infamous.
07:33
Saint Michael
Love him. Word.
07:34
DJ Whippopatomus
Look into him.
07:35
Saint Michael
The whole. Yeah, they. He was part of Three Six Mafia.
07:38
DJ Whippopatomus
Oh, for real?
07:39
Saint Michael
Help start that wave.
07:42
DJ Whippopatomus
Have you heard of Duke Deuce?
07:43
Saint Michael
No, I haven't.
07:44
DJ Whippopatomus
So he's. He kind of takes on a similar sound as 36 and he's from Memphis too, I believe.
07:50
Saint Michael
I'll have to check it out.
07:51
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah, it's pretty tough.
07:52
Saint Michael
Yeah. Yeah. Super into Bone Thugs and Harmony.
07:55
DJ Whippopatomus
Okay.
07:55
Saint Michael
Of course.
07:55
DJ Whippopatomus
Hell yeah.
07:56
Saint Michael
I love The. The triplet flow and the harmonies, like, that's kind of like just the whole point of my project now is just to like, of course, have dope beats. And that's why. Yeah, I. I love working with. Even though I can produce beats. Like.
08:12
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah.
08:12
Saint Michael
I feel like I'm. I'm just so busy doing all sorts of other things. Not only living life, big facts, but like, you know, writing lyrics and trying to get a lot of songs, like a repertoire, you know, discography going and then, you know, all the things that come along with planning a project and planning a release, you know.
08:34
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah. So much behind just. Than just the music itself.
08:37
Saint Michael
Yeah, it's wild. So I've just kind of been slowly building a team right now.
08:42
DJ Whippopatomus
Okay. Yeah, I need that.
08:43
Saint Michael
So I got a few producers that help me out.
08:46
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah.
08:46
Saint Michael
And I love producing hip hop. I've just kind of like.
08:49
DJ Whippopatomus
Okay.
08:50
Saint Michael
I fell in once I started producing in Ableton years ago, you know, I. I was trying to figure out what I could do, what came easy. And then eventually, I mean, I tried everything. I was in like a. A dubstep duo for a little while. I was in, like, I did all sorts of stuff. Yeah. And when I started DJing, like 10, 12 years ago, I actually started out DJing. Dubstep.
09:14
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah.
09:15
Saint Michael
Yeah. And slowly, as I think Most bass music DJs do, they. They fall into house eventually.
09:21
DJ Whippopatomus
Okay. I didn't realize that.
09:23
Saint Michael
And with house, like, that's interesting. I kind of. And I was telling you earlier, I was in a country band for a while. I mean, I've been in punk bands, been in metal bands throughout my 20s. I was in a bunch of different bands. But yeah, so that's getting. I. I fell back into DJing. Fell back in love with like, hip hop. That came with that. Because I think house music and hip hop have a right natural relationship with each other. No, honestly, talking about G House before the interview. Yeah, it's awesome. Like hearing. Hearing hip hop vocals over house beats.
09:56
DJ Whippopatomus
Right.
09:56
Saint Michael
There's something that makes sense.
09:59
DJ Whippopatomus
That's what I'm. I've been trying to do with my mixing lately. And it's really cool hearing you say that. Like, now I feel a little less crazy trying to do that.
10:05
Saint Michael
No, man, I think you're right. I think you should continue to try that.
10:09
DJ Whippopatomus
No doubt.
10:10
Saint Michael
Yeah.
10:10
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah.
10:10
Saint Michael
You're onto something.
10:11
DJ Whippopatomus
I appreciate that. Yeah. I really loved your song. You Don't Love Me. Like I said, just. There's a whole lot of emotion in there and just.
10:20
Saint Michael
Thanks.
10:20
DJ Whippopatomus
It hits, you know, like it just hits your emotions. It hits the listeners emotions, and that's something that I can really appreciate.
10:30
Saint Michael
Nice.
10:32
DJ Whippopatomus
How would you describe your music, like, for people that have never heard it before?
10:39
Saint Michael
Yeah, I think like you said before, like vulnerability. I think when I started this project, I really wanted to highlight that and highlight the lyricism and.
10:51
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah.
10:52
Saint Michael
And make that like, you know, and kind of behind the name Saint Michael is, you know, I'm not a Saint
10:59
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah.
10:59
Saint Michael
I make mistakes. Yeah. So it's ironic.
11:06
DJ Whippopatomus
Paradox.
11:06
Saint Michael
But yeah, for sure.
11:08
DJ Whippopatomus
Like, you still have a history with. With Christianity.
11:10
Saint Michael
True.
11:11
DJ Whippopatomus
And so that's. That's pretty cool too, how it just kind of all ties together in different ways.
11:15
Saint Michael
For sure. Yeah. And I definitely wouldn't call myself Christian by any means at all. I am definitely agnostic.
11:23
DJ Whippopatomus
Okay. Yeah. Yeah.
11:24
Saint Michael
I feel that, you know, spirituality is. Is a big thing. You know, I think it's cool. You know, I'm right there with you. Definitely something going on out there.
11:33
DJ Whippopatomus
Right, That's.
11:35
Saint Michael
But, you know, I think. And you know, we're getting off topic here, but.
11:40
DJ Whippopatomus
No, that's cool.
11:41
Saint Michael
Religion is definitely something that's been, you know, messed with and used to control people. And that's what's not cool about it.
11:50
DJ Whippopatomus
You know, I've been saying the same thing. You know, I've been really trying to, like, piece stuff together. I've been studying different religions just to gain a better understanding of everything.
11:58
Saint Michael
And yeah, it helps with perspective. You know, I think that's like a big problem nowadays is that people don't have perspective. Yeah, they. They lack perspective and they lack empathy. And that's. Yeah, that's something that I work on every day. Having both of those things.
12:13
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah. Honestly.
12:15
Saint Michael
But. And you know, as far as my music goes, like, I basically kind of fell into a collaboration relationship with. You could definitely call it that. With two local producers. One is. His name's Griffin. He goes by Monsters or Myth. I also. He also does a lot of vocals on my stuff as well.
12:41
DJ Whippopatomus
Okay.
12:41
Saint Michael
And then I work with another guy named Austin. He goes by Crystals. Yeah, he's really dope. Music producers. Yeah. Oh, you got to. You gotta keep those around.
12:51
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah.
12:52
Saint Michael
But yeah, he's dope. Really, really talented guys that I just lucked up. Lucked out, you know.
12:59
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah.
13:00
Saint Michael
Becoming friends with, you know, basically both of them actually, through DJing.
13:04
DJ Whippopatomus
Right.
13:05
Saint Michael
And, you know, fell into making music with them. And both of them have backgrounds making bass music and dubstep and. And hip hop too. Yeah. So with them I was able to, you know, get their. I think, let's see. You Don't Love Me was produced by Austin Crystals. You know, let's see. I think three of the ones that are out now are by Austin and two were by Griffin. And then basically now we're all kind of working as a collective.
13:37
DJ Whippopatomus
I love to shout out the producers and everyone behind the scenes too.
13:40
Saint Michael
Absolutely. Yeah.
13:41
DJ Whippopatomus
A whole lot of different hands that go into music.
13:43
Saint Michael
Yeah, totally. And to that point, you know, the elemental EP that I did with the Faces Blur, he actually is a really awesome visual artist.
13:52
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah.
13:53
Saint Michael
And does a lot of 3D visuals.
13:55
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah, I love that.
13:56
Saint Michael
Yeah, he has some dope NFTs out right now that you can definitely check out. But, yeah, he's. He's great. And he does all, like, the COVID art and stuff as a collaboration between me and him. And then, yeah, I got my. My homie Nate Mescher, who does all my visuals. Nate visuals. Or all my media. So he does all my, like, photo and video content. So, yeah, there's always quite a few people, which is cool, you know, that, you know, they're the homies. So, yeah.
14:30
DJ Whippopatomus
Big community.
14:31
Saint Michael
Absolutely. And the whole point is to, you know, be a team and succeed as a team, you know, And I think that's kind of what you got to do in this business, for real, if you want to make it stronger together.
14:45
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah, yeah. My motto, I'll say it at the end, like, we're stronger together, so show each other some love.
14:50
Saint Michael
For sure. And, you know, with that being said, like, the beats, it's something that at first, I wasn't, like, super concerned with, like, the vibe other than, like, I knew I trusted Austin and Griffin, so I was like, you know, this is kind of like, you know, obviously I'm influenced by all the, like, wild alternative, super hype hip hop that's out there right now. Like, the whole emo rap genre is definitely a big influence on me.
15:26
DJ Whippopatomus
I've been playing a lot of that lately. I actually just had a Valentine set, and, yeah, I played, like, pretty much like, emo hip hop.
15:32
Saint Michael
Nice.
15:32
DJ Whippopatomus
Is like, hell, yeah. Kind of like a Valentine's playlist.
15:35
Saint Michael
Nice. That's awesome. But, yeah, so as far as the beats, you know, I like. I'm. I'm influenced by a lot of what's out today. Like, Ghost Mane. Suicide Boys, bro.
15:46
DJ Whippopatomus
Ghost Mane.
15:47
Saint Michael
Oh, yes.
15:48
DJ Whippopatomus
I just played him yesterday.
15:49
Saint Michael
He's so good.
15:50
DJ Whippopatomus
I played. Oh, no, I got mixed up. I was thinking Lil Ugly Mane, but.
15:56
Saint Michael
Oh, also awesome.
15:57
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah, I played underwater Tank yesterday.
15:59
Saint Michael
Oh, sorry. I Keep. I keep cussing.
16:01
DJ Whippopatomus
No, you can say hell, actually. You can say hell. Ass, bitch. Ho.
16:06
Saint Michael
Hell. Ass, ho. Sweet.
16:10
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah.
16:11
Saint Michael
Okay. Cool, cool. Sorry, Mom. No, my. My parents know that this project is wild.
16:18
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah, that's what's up. They listen to music.
16:21
Saint Michael
Yeah, yeah. They're. They're super supportive, actually. They probably don't like how much I talk about the devil.
16:29
DJ Whippopatomus
Sure.
16:30
Saint Michael
But, you know, it's. It's art, it's expression, you know?
16:34
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah. No big facts. And the fact that they come from Christian roots and they're still open to listen to your music and support you. That's pretty beautiful.
16:42
Saint Michael
Totally. Yeah. For sure.
16:46
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah. Actually, I want to ask you, do you look for a beat first and then write your lyrics or put lyrics to it? Or do you write the lyrics first, then find the beat? Kind of like chicken.
16:57
Saint Michael
Good question. Yeah. And the easy answer is both. Yeah, that's the short answer.
17:03
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah, we're both.
17:04
Saint Michael
Which is fun. You know, that's like, the two eps that I'm working on right now are examples of finding the beat first, because those are actually two separate producers. One eps, which is cool. I actually linked up with a couple of really dope producers. One is from, I think, Quebec, Canada.
17:26
DJ Whippopatomus
Okay.
17:27
Saint Michael
If I got that wrong, shout out V Beats. V Beats.
17:30
DJ Whippopatomus
That's what's.
17:31
Saint Michael
But yeah, I linked up with them through. And this is all through Instagram, which has been.
17:36
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah.
17:36
Saint Michael
And then finding me on Spotify.
17:38
DJ Whippopatomus
Oh, hell yeah.
17:39
Saint Michael
Which is also really cool.
17:40
DJ Whippopatomus
Do you know how they found you?
17:42
Saint Michael
Playlists, man.
17:43
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah. Okay.
17:44
Saint Michael
Which is wild. Like, another thing, like, I've, you know, struggled with. Because, you know, there's so much pay to play stuff out there, and you really got to be careful. I mean, I've gotten hit with, like, where I've paid someone to get on a few playlists, and then you, obviously, it's, like, obvious that it's bs. Yeah. Right.
18:04
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah.
18:04
Saint Michael
Yeah. And I've, like, legit, like, emailed people who've been like, give me your cell. I need to call you. Like, I've called people before and be like, stop what you're doing, because it'll ruin your algorithm.
18:14
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah.
18:14
Saint Michael
You know, and you don't want to get caught doing that because you can get a nice little red flag with Spotify. And for real, in the future, they might not put your stuff on.
18:24
DJ Whippopatomus
So if the artist pays someone to put the song on a playlist, that's the red flag for the artists?
18:30
Saint Michael
No, so there's. There's a. There's a lot, like, One way right now is paying to get on playlists. And people still do, like, where you will pay, and they still go through, like a review process. Like, they're not just going to like, oh, yeah, you can't just like, pay. And most of them are pay to get on a playlist. And that's totally fine. There's nothing wrong with that. I do that.
18:54
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah.
18:55
Saint Michael
But there's still like a review process. The problem is when you can tell it's fake because you don't want fake ones and there are fake ones out there. And that's what you got to be careful because. Because if you pay a fake one and say, like, it's pretty easy to see it, like, yeah, your plays will start going through the roof. Like thousands, like, you know, real quick. Word or hundreds, whatever.
19:20
DJ Whippopatomus
Real quick. Yeah.
19:21
Saint Michael
And that can happen, don't get me wrong. But you got to get on the right playlist. Like, it's not just going to be some, like, you know, there's. There's some. I could talk about this all day. I get real nerdy about it. But, you know, most of them are. And even the ones I might be selling Spotify out right now, but we all know Spotify is in the news for all sorts of fun stuff.
19:45
DJ Whippopatomus
Oh, yeah.
19:46
Saint Michael
But, you know, I've. I've even heard that, like, their editorial ones can be like, even spotted. Like, even they will make you pay for it. Oh, yeah, totally. Totally.
19:57
DJ Whippopatomus
I had no idea.
19:58
Saint Michael
So, I mean, that's kind of. Yeah, that's getting deeper and deeper into the music industry. You kind of find out, like, it's pretty wild. Yeah, it's. It's lots. It can cost a whole lot of money real quick. You could just be throwing your money into the fire. Careful. But that's. Yeah, the thing about playlists is, like, you'll see like, random towns that you're like, wait, some random island. Just listen to my song 2,000 times. Like, I don't think that happened. You know what I mean? Because they'll have like this, like the. I don't know, they call them like phone farms or something. It's wild, man. But so I've. I've definitely, like, come across some stuff. So you just got to be careful when you're doing that kind of stuff. Like.
20:43
DJ Whippopatomus
Sure.
20:44
Saint Michael
I definitely don't pro tip. Yeah, for sure. Facts, you know, Appreciate you putting that.
20:51
DJ Whippopatomus
Knowledge out there for the people.
20:52
Saint Michael
Definitely.
20:54
DJ Whippopatomus
Do you have any music videos at a hard time finding your YouTube channel, if you have one, or do you have any.
20:59
Saint Michael
Yeah. YouTube is something that I've been definitely, like, focusing a lot more on Spotify and Instagram. Kind of like my main goal lately is just to be. To get one of those nice, big Spotify editorial playlists.
21:13
DJ Whippopatomus
Right. You got the sound for it.
21:16
Saint Michael
Thanks, man.
21:16
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah, thanks.
21:17
Saint Michael
So that's kind of what I've been gunning for right now. And then that and just like growing my Instagram and trying to do that organically is tough.
21:27
DJ Whippopatomus
Crazy how essential Instagram is to like business.
21:31
Saint Michael
For sure. For sure. And if you have them, you know, set up the right way, that and your Spotify can help. It can help each other, you know? Yeah, yeah. So that's kind of why I haven't really been focusing quite on YouTube yet. I've got a couple of. I think we actually. Did we just do one. I think we just did one. We have a little video me and Griffin did for Giving up, and that was with Monsters or Myth.
21:58
DJ Whippopatomus
Okay.
21:59
Saint Michael
And we recorded that in the basement of the Fruit, which is great. Love the fruit. Yeah. Shout out the fruit.
22:04
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah.
22:07
Saint Michael
So, yeah. And you know, we just like kind of messed around and we're trying it out. So it. It is what it is. Yeah. Yeah. But I think if you just search Saint Michael of Durham. Yeah. You can find the YouTube channel. There's definitely a YouTube channel.
22:20
DJ Whippopatomus
Okay.
22:21
Saint Michael
I just haven't really. I think I've got like three followers on there, so.
22:24
Saint Michael
Yeah.
22:24
Saint Michael
Because I haven't really messed with it at all. Yeah.
22:26
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah. I feel that YouTube's tough.
22:28
Saint Michael
Yeah. Yeah, for sure. And music videos are another beast too. You know, I wanna. I wanna do more. And the plan is definitely to do some more music videos.
22:40
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah, that's one of those things that you really need a good team for too.
22:43
Saint Michael
Yeah, for sure.
22:43
DJ Whippopatomus
Production.
22:44
Saint Michael
For sure. Yeah. I want to be able to get a director and, you know, pay someone. Yeah, that's tough to do it the right way. And it can. And actually have like a. Not just me, like standing there in a field or something.
22:58
DJ Whippopatomus
That plays into that local arts economy too. You know, we're just. We're putting money into each other's pockets at the. The day. Keeping the dollar within the community.
23:05
Saint Michael
Absolutely. And there's a whole lot of really cool video directors out there that are in the area. Yeah, a lot of cool people.
23:14
DJ Whippopatomus
So we're going to take a break real quick and I'm going to play one of my favorites by Saint Michael. You don't Love Me. We'll be right back.
23:39
Music
[Saint Michael – Love Me]
26:36
DJ Whippopatomus
And we are back again. I am DJ Whippopatomus and I'm still with Saint Michael. Yes, sir. So I want to talk about performances. Do you perform and when was your last show?
26:51
Saint Michael
So, yes, I do perform and I plan on having some performances, hopefully this spring and summer. Nothing's booked yet. Yeah.
27:01
DJ Whippopatomus
But yeah, I'd love to see that.
27:03
Saint Michael
Yeah, I actually haven't. I have not done a Saint Michael show yet.
27:07
DJ Whippopatomus
For real?
27:07
Saint Michael
Yeah.
27:08
DJ Whippopatomus
That's exciting.
27:10
Saint Michael
For.
27:10
DJ Whippopatomus
Show is going to be like, crazy.
27:12
Saint Michael
I hope so. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah, there's. There's some stuff in the works. I've got. I've got some plans that. It's all. It's all just brainstorming right now, though. Hopefully. You know, probably do something at the Fruit, obviously.
27:28
DJ Whippopatomus
Right. Yeah, that's the spot.
27:30
Saint Michael
Right. Yeah. Those are my stomping grounds, for sure.
27:32
DJ Whippopatomus
Oh, yeah.
27:33
Saint Michael
And then. Or the Pinhook. Pinhook's also one of my old stomping grounds. So, yeah, love both of those places.
27:39
DJ Whippopatomus
I love the support they show to the local community. Local artists, definitely.
27:43
Saint Michael
Yeah, they're a big part of it.
27:44
DJ Whippopatomus
How long has the fruit been around emoji? Right? You know.
27:49
Saint Michael
Yeah, at least a few years. Yeah.
27:51
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah, okay.
27:51
Saint Michael
A few years. Yeah. It was actually what's cool about that space is that it used to. I mean the address is 305 South Dillard. And years ago, back in ancient times when I was in high school in Houston. No, actually I went to high school here in the Triangle. And yeah, it was called 305 south and it was actually a music venue. I not gonna get the years right. But yeah, shout out James Lee because he was awesome back in the day. Don't know where you are dude, but he killed it back in the day. He like had a studio in there. He recorded some high school bands of mine, you know, was like super about the community. Did all sorts of stuff for nothing, you know.
28:40
DJ Whippopatomus
Right, right.
28:41
Saint Michael
Just for the love of it. Which was cool. But one side of it, you know, do you know the side that's the black box, like theater side not.
28:49
DJ Whippopatomus
So there's like in there, but I don't really know.
28:51
Saint Michael
Three main rooms. There's like the basement and then there's the main room where like the big bar is. And then there's a side room upstairs that they call the black box. But the black box there is where the venue side of 305 south was. And then where they have the main room upstairs. Yeah. Was his wife's vintage clothing store.
29:13
DJ Whippopatomus
Oh man.
29:14
Saint Michael
And it was dope. It was do. Unfortunately it didn't last that long. But like I said like I had high school bands that played there recorded there with his stuff.
29:25
DJ Whippopatomus
That's a deep take or deep cut.
29:27
Saint Michael
Yeah, for sure. So like now like you know, 10ish years later, 10, 15 years later, you know, so I'm facility playing and throwing shows there and it's. And it's back to being, you know, the fruit. And I want to say it was like 2015, 2016 when they we're getting started. Okay. And of course like it's gotten much better over the years and.
29:48
DJ Whippopatomus
Right.
29:48
Saint Michael
Every year it gets better. But yeah, it's been cool. I've been throwing parties there for a couple years now with. I helped run an events company called Morning Choir.
30:00
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah, I was just about to ask you about that. Yeah. What's up with Morning Choir?
30:04
Saint Michael
Yeah, so we're just a small Durham based events company that has been focused in like the house techno EDM world. You know, we Mainly throw shows of the Fruit. But we are partners and shows all throughout the triangle. Do stuff in Raleigh. Mainly Raleigh and Durham. Mainly Durham.
30:30
DJ Whippopatomus
Where do you go in Raleigh with them?
30:32
Saint Michael
We partner in shows with Alchemy. We've done shows at Lincoln Theater. Nice. Yeah. So kind of like we do some co promotion there and then we do our own shows at the Fruit.
30:45
DJ Whippopatomus
Okay.
30:46
Saint Michael
But yeah, we have.
30:48
DJ Whippopatomus
Is it kind of like a electronic collective?
30:51
Saint Michael
Yeah, I mean I would call it definitely like an events company first and foremost. But. But yeah, I mean we kind of specialize in that and we definitely are about the community and you know, we've been living here all. Everybody that's involved with the company has been living in the area or in Durham for years.
31:10
DJ Whippopatomus
And I appreciate you the opportunity to work with y’all too.
31:13
Saint Michael
Oh, for sure.
31:14
DJ Whippopatomus
Would have loved to like that.
31:15
Saint Michael
Yeah, yeah, that would have been perfect.
31:17
DJ Whippopatomus
But yeah, I'm moving back home to Virginia Beach.
31:19
Saint Michael
Oh, I hear you, man.
31:20
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah.
31:20
Saint Michael
Yeah.
31:20
DJ Whippopatomus
I graduated this year.
31:22
Saint Michael
Nice.
31:22
Saint Michael
Yeah.
31:22
Saint Michael
Oh yeah. Congratulations. That's awesome.
31:24
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah, trying. Trying to get through it, you know.
31:27
Saint Michael
Yeah, yeah, that's great. That's really cool.
31:29
DJ Whippopatomus
I've been hella busy lately.
31:32
Saint Michael
I feel that. I feel that. But yeah. So you know, hopefully we'll be getting into doing different genres.
31:39
DJ Whippopatomus
Okay.
31:40
Saint Michael
Here. Coming up soon.
31:42
DJ Whippopatomus
Love to hear it.
31:43
Saint Michael
Got some. Got some stuff in the works I can't really talk about, but some stuff that I think.
31:48
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah.
31:49
Saint Michael
One show in particular I think you'll enjoy.
31:51
DJ Whippopatomus
Okay.
31:52
Saint Michael
Maybe I'll. We'll talk about it after the. After the mics are off.
31:57
DJ Whippopatomus
No, I appreciate that.
31:58
Saint Michael
That.
31:59
DJ Whippopatomus
Definitely be keeping an eye out for that.
32:00
Saint Michael
Yeah. But you know, and shout out if anybody, you know, come find me on Instagram if you want to get into it because you know that's. I'm looking. Always looking for like minded people that want to get more involved. I love that in the music community and really, you know, like I said, it's that company in particular has been pretty EDM focused. But you know, obviously with the kind of music I'm into and. Right. I definitely want to bring more house and I'm. I'm really into just any. Excuse me. More hip hop. More hip hop. More house. Yeah. But you know what I mean. I want to start bringing hip hop artists and into Durham specifically. Yeah.
32:43
DJ Whippopatomus
There's so many artists out here, like it's insane. Like learning about what you're doing and like every time I interview someone like it's almost like they have their own group that's doing Their own thing. It's just there's so many moving parts right now.
32:55
Saint Michael
For sure. There's so many good people. A lot of people. That it, like, you know, it's kind of wild. You never know, like, who's thinking about working with you because. Yeah, I mean, I got my lists, right. I got my list of homies.
33:07
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah.
33:07
Saint Michael
We all see in the area, you know, and. And my list of, like, people that I kind of know.
33:12
DJ Whippopatomus
I mean, like, a lot of people go through the fruit too.
33:14
Saint Michael
For sure, for sure. Yeah. I mean, a couple years ago, I actually met a lot of people working at different places. Like, I used to work at Pinhook. I worked nice. I worked at Quarter Horse for a while. I bartended all over. All over Durham for most of my twenties.
33:31
DJ Whippopatomus
How was that? What's it like being a bartender?
33:34
Saint Michael
Oh, man. Well, luckily I got out of it before the pandemic started because I wouldn't have wanted to be in that right now at all. Shout out all the service workers. Yeah.
33:43
DJ Whippopatomus
Facts.
33:44
Saint Michael
Service industry, man.
33:45
DJ Whippopatomus
Wow.
33:47
Saint Michael
Getting rocked hard right now. But I love bartending. When I did it, man. Yeah. Was it fun? Yeah. But once I found my exit, I. I ran.
33:57
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah, yeah. I understand that. You ever had to break up any bar fights?
34:01
Saint Michael
Oh, yeah.
34:02
DJ Whippopatomus
Oh, yeah.
34:02
Saint Michael
Oh, yeah. For sure, for sure. Yeah. I have been. You name it's happened.
34:08
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah. So could we talk about your work with Live Nation?
34:15
Saint Michael
Yeah, a little bit. Yeah. I'm done with that.
34:17
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah. Yeah.
34:17
Saint Michael
What do you.
34:17
Saint Michael
What do you do with them right now? I'm a production manager.
34:20
DJ Whippopatomus
Okay.
34:21
Saint Michael
I'm over at the Ritz. I'm one of the production managers over there.
34:24
DJ Whippopatomus
What does that entail?
34:26
Saint Michael
Oh, man. Anything and everything to do with what's on stage.
34:31
DJ Whippopatomus
Right, Right.
34:31
Saint Michael
So we advance the show, which is just like, you know.
34:38
DJ Whippopatomus
That'S mad.
34:38
Saint Michael
A lot of emailing. A lot of emailing, Yeah.
34:41
DJ Whippopatomus
A lot of coordination.
34:42
Saint Michael
Yeah, for sure.
34:43
DJ Whippopatomus
Like working with artists, managers and.
34:46
Saint Michael
Yeah, yeah, Specifically working with like tour managers. Okay. Touring, production.
34:50
DJ Whippopatomus
Right. I love that.
34:52
Saint Michael
Which is cool. It's definitely taught me a lot. Working at the Ritz has been awesome. Yeah, I love it there.
34:57
DJ Whippopatomus
What brought you to that career path? How did you get there?
35:01
Saint Michael
Yeah, I mean, honestly, starting off with. I've been with Morning Choir for a little while. I help. I'm one of the co founders of that company.
35:10
DJ Whippopatomus
Right.
35:10
Saint Michael
And anyways, yeah, sorry. Lost my training.
35:16
DJ Whippopatomus
Thought now I feel good.
35:18
Saint Michael
Maybe shouldn't have eaten that gummy. Just kidding. Anyways. But yeah, so it's been great. And getting to this path, it's kind of wild. Looking back and, you know, a lot of just, like, grunt work, man. Yeah, a lot of grunt work. I have done every grunt job that you could possibly think of. You know, whether it be, you know, starting in the restaurant industry, doing shows. You know, it's kind of funny. I. I joke about it, but, I mean, I. I was, like, in. In second, third grade doing, like, little productions in my living room for my family, so, like, at Thanksgiving and stuff. You know what I mean? Like, so, like, it goes way back. My love for music goes way back to childhood, you know, whether. I think. Regardless of whether I know I had an artist story. Yeah.
36:20
Saint Michael
And, you know, I think even without my parents actually being musical people, they. Their love for music definitely got passed down.
36:29
DJ Whippopatomus
Right.
36:30
Saint Michael
I think my whole family had a. Even extended family, had a love for music in some way. I had an uncle that was a dj, okay, for a little while when he was in college, and he used to. He lived with us for a little while when I was a kid, and that rubbed off a little bit when I was a kid. And, you know, that's dope. So, yeah, it's been a long time coming.
36:50
DJ Whippopatomus
So, as you mentioned, you were born in Houston. How long did you live there? Houston's got mad culture.
36:55
Saint Michael
Oh, for sure. And, you know, and I'd love to go back there and hang out sometime because it's been a minute. Not in Houston specifically, but, like, my. I have a lot of extended family that's just, like, scattered throughout Texas. Right. Right in and around Austin. I got a bunch of folks in Corpus Christi on the coast.
37:14
DJ Whippopatomus
Oh, yeah.
37:15
Saint Michael
People in San Antonio.
37:17
DJ Whippopatomus
One of my favorite Houston rappers is Mexo Cream.
37:20
Saint Michael
Oh, love him.
37:22
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah.
37:22
Saint Michael
Yeah. He's dope.
37:23
DJ Whippopatomus
Banging his last album for a minute now.
37:25
Saint Michael
I think he's coming through Charlotte soon, actually. Oh, I think he's coming through Charlotte this spring.
37:30
DJ Whippopatomus
Interesting.
37:30
Saint Michael
Yeah. Which is pretty cool. I think they just announced that tour.
37:33
DJ Whippopatomus
Okay.
37:34
Saint Michael
Yeah. Yeah. Have to go out to Charlotte for that one. For real.
37:38
DJ Whippopatomus
He's, like, one of my favorites right now.
37:39
Saint Michael
Yeah.
37:40
DJ Whippopatomus
But let's get into that. Actually. Actually, I didn't let you finish your question. Yeah. How long did you live in Houston?
37:47
Saint Michael
Yeah, I'll touch on that. And I wanted to go back and touch on the other thing, too, because I feel like I keep going off on tangents and not completely answering what you're saying.
37:54
DJ Whippopatomus
It's all good.
37:56
Saint Michael
Yeah. I was not in Houston for too long when I was a kid. We moved around Texas, like I said. Oh, Big family in Texas. So I lived in San Marcos, which is near Austin, lived near Houston. So I'm. I actually moved away from there when I was like, eight, nine years old.
38:15
DJ Whippopatomus
Okay.
38:15
Saint Michael
I've been living in the Triangle since then, so.
38:18
DJ Whippopatomus
Okay.
38:18
Saint Michael
Yeah. So you pretty much 24 years. Yeah, most of my life. Yeah. All my form. Formative years. But, yeah, getting. Getting to that career has been a long path and.
38:29
DJ Whippopatomus
Oh, right.
38:30
Saint Michael
I got into getting, you know, the Ritz by basically doing. Promoting. Yeah. EDM shows.
38:39
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah.
38:39
Saint Michael
Okay. So I was promoting a show there in, like, I think late 2015, early 2016.
38:45
DJ Whippopatomus
What does it mean to promote a show?
38:48
Saint Michael
Yeah, so I mean, it could be all types of things, but a lot of times you have national promoters. Like, it could be anyone from a Live Nation to Disco Donnie to. Gosh, there's all types of them.
39:05
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah.
39:06
Saint Michael
Steez promos. One of them up north. But you partner with local people, and those are your local promoters. And that was like. I did.
39:17
DJ Whippopatomus
Okay, I see.
39:19
Saint Michael
So I had, like, my local street team of people, so we would do stuff on the ground, like flyer shows, you know, after the show. You know, were the people that were out in the parking lot passing out flyers, you know, to the next show. Like, being the annoying people. Yeah, a lot of. A lot of guerrilla marketing. Not so much of that anymore. A lot of it's digital now, you know. Yeah, Doing. You know, we do digital ads. We do. You know, we have Facebook and Instagram, all the socials pages. Promote on all of those. And then what my company also does is we run the events as well. So we get the production all set.
39:56
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah, yeah.
39:58
Saint Michael
Y’all coordinate with artists, everything. Yeah, so it's kind of everything rolled into one. It started off with just doing the promotion side of it, which is really make marketing, you know, and then it got more into actually running the events. But that's how I got my foot in the door at the Ritz. And then.
40:14
DJ Whippopatomus
Oh, yeah.
40:15
Saint Michael
You know, fast forward two years, a job opening came up, and I happened to get it.
40:20
DJ Whippopatomus
That's dope. So, yeah, that's.
40:23
Saint Michael
It even took. You know, I was. I was bugging the people there.
40:26
Saint Michael
Yeah.
40:27
Saint Michael
Seeing.
40:27
DJ Whippopatomus
Gotta grind.
40:28
Saint Michael
Yeah. I mean, you know, people. People don't get it. You know, if you really want something, you gotta. You gotta continue to work at it and bug them until you get the chance.
40:36
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah, I feel you.
40:37
Saint Michael
That's.
40:38
DJ Whippopatomus
That's kind of what I'm going through right now with my internship, trying to. Trying to find the right spot for me to learn a lot and. Yeah. Trying to get my foot in the door. I feel you.
40:45
Saint Michael
Yeah, for sure.
40:47
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah. So you were raised in Durham. What's high school like or what was high school like for you?
40:53
Saint Michael
Oh, man. School was definitely like. Like I said, I got really rebellious.
40:57
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah, I feel you.
40:59
Saint Michael
I didn't finish.
41:00
DJ Whippopatomus
Okay.
41:01
Saint Michael
I got my ged.
41:03
DJ Whippopatomus
Look where you're at now.
41:05
Saint Michael
I know, right? You know, school wasn't for me at the time. You know, I look back and, you know, of course, you always look back and you think, oh, man, I could have done that differently. Oh, man, maybe I should have stuck it out. But at the time, it was the decision that I wanted to make and I still stand by it because, you know, I actually went. I won't say the name of it, but I went to high school in Hillsborough and.
41:29
DJ Whippopatomus
Okay.
41:29
Saint Michael
I had an awful experience.
41:31
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah.
41:33
Saint Michael
I don't think any of the teachers got me, you know, and you know, of course my favorite class was creative writing, and that was the class I got an A in.
41:45
DJ Whippopatomus
Okay.
41:45
Saint Michael
Every other class I probably slept through.
41:47
DJ Whippopatomus
Your teacher like your writing? No, but she still gave you an A.
41:51
Saint Michael
Or here. They would still give me an A, though.
41:53
DJ Whippopatomus
That's dope.
41:54
Saint Michael
Yeah.
41:55
DJ Whippopatomus
So it was that good? They didn't like it when they still gave.
41:57
Saint Michael
Yeah, I mean, it was. I think it would be really hard to. To get a bad grade, Especially that creative writing class. I mean, I guess I'm not giving myself that much credit there, am I? But no. Yeah. At school I got out there as soon as I can. I started working and I think a couple weeks after I left the band I was in at the time went on like a two week tour and I thought I was going to be a rock star. And then, you know, life happens. Yeah.
42:28
DJ Whippopatomus
Facts.
42:29
Saint Michael
Obviously not a rock star, but yeah.
42:33
DJ Whippopatomus
You know, once you get on that stage, we'll see.
42:36
Saint Michael
Right, Right. We'll see. We'll see. But, yeah, it's been a long road, but it's good to be where I am now. And I've. I've worked. Worked my ass off to get here.
42:45
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah. Yeah.
42:46
Saint Michael
But I think it's finally kind of. Everything's getting to where it needs to be. Yeah.
42:51
DJ Whippopatomus
Falling in place.
42:52
Saint Michael
Yeah, it feels good. It feels good.
42:54
DJ Whippopatomus
I feel that. So I like to ask a few questions just to help get to know the person that's behind the art. And there's just different kind of goofy questions. But how would you describe your sense of fashion? I really love fashion.
43:09
Saint Michael
Yeah. Same I think, you know, I think being a hip hop artist or an artist at all.
43:16
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah, it's big.
43:18
Saint Michael
To at least have some kind of sense of fashion is good. Yeah, you know, I. I enjoy fashion, you know, I. I'm not someone that I definitely know more than the average person, you know? Yeah, obviously I. I'm into, like, Adidas. Love Adidas. Okay, Shout out Adidas. They don't need me to shout them out. Maybe, maybe one day I'll get a check. Would love that.
43:44
DJ Whippopatomus
Hashtag nuts spawn.
43:46
Saint Michael
But who knows, right? Right. You never know, right? Yeah, I'm definitely brand loyal to Adidas, for sure.
43:52
DJ Whippopatomus
Okay.
43:53
Saint Michael
Love Adidas shoes. Love Adidas bags. Crossbody bags. Yeah. I mean, fashion's dope. I mean, it's the way you can. It's a way to express yourself. It's something to put on your body that you chose. Yeah, absolutely. I love, like, being comfortable.
44:14
DJ Whippopatomus
Like, okay.
44:15
Saint Michael
Mad comfortable. I think if you could see me now, listeners. I mean, I'm in slides and really comfy socks and I have. And I'm in, like, really comfortable leggings with. With really comfortable shorts and I'm in a hoodie and I have a beanie. I'm just mad comfortable.
44:33
DJ Whippopatomus
What's Happy Machine?
44:35
Saint Michael
Happy Machine. I got this last night, actually. I worked or Dylan Francis and Young Gravy last night.
44:41
DJ Whippopatomus
Oh.
44:42
Saint Michael
Which is dope. Yeah, yeah. And they were yesterday.
44:46
DJ Whippopatomus
That's great.
44:47
Saint Michael
Yeah, they played the Ritz last night. Yeah, yeah. That was a show. Yeah. Everybody like some of these shows that it got rescheduled.
44:54
Saint Michael
Oh.
44:54
Saint Michael
You know what I mean? Like, people are just like.
44:56
DJ Whippopatomus
Well, they've been waiting for a while, for sure. Oh, man.
44:58
Saint Michael
And it was pretty much sold out. It was packed in there. Yeah, it was cool, though. It was cool. Oh, yeah. Shout out. Those guys, they're really super nice, which you don't always get, which is, you know.
45:10
DJ Whippopatomus
Right, right.
45:11
Saint Michael
Yeah.
45:11
DJ Whippopatomus
That is interesting. Interesting dynamic between artists and.
45:15
Saint Michael
Yeah, totally. Totally. For sure. For sure.
45:19
DJ Whippopatomus
Another question I'd like to ask, and a lot of people go crazy for this one, but what's your favorite place to eat around here? Just in the triangle. Local. It can be a local chain, but, you know, not a national chain or anything like that.
45:30
Saint Michael
Yeah, totally. Well, I'm gonna go fancy.
45:35
DJ Whippopatomus
Okay.
45:36
Saint Michael
Because I was just there this past weekend because they reopened. But Saint James and Durham is my spot.
45:42
DJ Whippopatomus
Saint Michael at Saint James.
45:44
Saint Michael
Right, right. It's not just because of that, I promise. No, yeah, that's a great local chain of a bunch of different Restaurants like Mateo and Venruze.
45:54
DJ Whippopatomus
Okay.
45:55
Saint Michael
Yeah.
45:55
Saint Michael
What type of OG Durham spots? Seafood.
45:58
DJ Whippopatomus
Oh, okay.
45:59
Saint Michael
Real dope seafood. Yeah, they do this.
46:01
DJ Whippopatomus
Check that out. Always looking for new places.
46:03
Saint Michael
Crab dip. Ridiculous. Yeah. You want to take your lady out on a good day?
46:10
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah, no doubt.
46:11
Saint Michael
Absolutely.
46:12
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah. I stay in Durham too.
46:13
Saint Michael
Hell yeah.
46:13
Saint Michael
Yeah. Cool.
46:15
Saint Michael
Yeah, Great cocktails too. That's probably my favorite restaurant. Like. Okay, sure. Right now.
46:21
DJ Whippopatomus
Tough. Yeah, I'd love to hear it. Are you a cat person, dog person, or do you prefer another pet entirely?
46:30
Saint Michael
I love animals. So right now I do not have a cat. Me and my wife have two dogs.
46:37
DJ Whippopatomus
Okay.
46:38
Saint Michael
Tilly and Winnie. Oh, yeah, they're super tough. Yeah, Winnie. Winnie is a 10 pound mini dachshund.
46:46
DJ Whippopatomus
Okay.
46:46
Saint Michael
Yeah. Super cute and very, you know.
46:52
DJ Whippopatomus
Just my dog loves dachshunds.
46:54
Saint Michael
Yeah.
46:55
DJ Whippopatomus
And she's a bigger dog, but she likes smaller dogs.
46:58
Saint Michael
Nice, nice. Winnie might beat her ass.
47:01
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah, yeah.
47:02
Saint Michael
I feel like not really. Her bark is louder than her bite.
47:06
DJ Whippopatomus
Right, right. She tends to get her ass beat, especially by smaller dogs. She feels like.
47:11
Saint Michael
That's so funny.
47:12
DJ Whippopatomus
She's just so goofy and excited to walk up to any dog and so she will. And sometimes they'll snap at her and she gets her feelings hurt.
47:17
Saint Michael
Yeah, no, Winnie is the queen of the house, for sure. Yeah, Yeah, I feel that. But yeah, I mean, I'm just animal person. I mean, I not super big on like reptiles, which is kind of funny because that's not like a. I don't know, I feel like sometimes I can come across as this like super tough Persona. But yeah, really, that way, once you get to know me, definitely like a teddy bear. Definitely. Super soft on the inside, hard on the outside. Soft on the inside.
47:49
DJ Whippopatomus
Right.
47:49
Saint Michael
But I'd love to get a cat. I grew up with cats and dogs and I actually had like at one point we had man, before I moved from Texas, we had like a pony, a couple rabbits, like a bunch of cats. We had quite a few. And then we decided we wanted to move up to North Carolina and got rid of most of them. But for a moment there had a lot of animals. But I'd like to get that way again. Yeah, I feel that I like cats and dogs, but right now, yeah, dogs, I had to choose a side.
48:25
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah, okay. Yeah, I, I side on the cat side. I have a cat and a dog, but yeah, just I feel like cats are a little bit more mysterious, a little bit more misunderstood. I appreciate that. And their personalities are just like different than dogs, like completely.
48:44
Saint Michael
Oh, for sure.
48:44
DJ Whippopatomus
Like, dogs do have distinct, different personalities, but, like, I don't know. Cats are almost like people sometimes.
48:50
Saint Michael
Definitely. And they're way more independent.
48:52
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah, exactly.
48:53
Saint Michael
I mean, I love my dogs, but they couldn't survive more than a day.
48:55
DJ Whippopatomus
No, for real. You know what I mean?
48:58
Saint Michael
I remember we had a sister and a brother set of cats when I was a kid in Texas, and they moved with us.
49:06
DJ Whippopatomus
Nice.
49:07
Saint Michael
But anyways, they would go off for days because we lived out in the country. At one point, they would just be gone for like a whole weekend, and then we'd come back.
49:16
DJ Whippopatomus
Oh, yeah, chill.
49:18
Saint Michael
Yeah. Okay, cool. Yeah.
49:19
DJ Whippopatomus
Now I've left my cat for up to a week before leaving. Food, water. We have a camera that we can shoot treats to.
49:27
Saint Michael
Nice. That's awesome. One of my bosses has one of the. Oh, yeah, the laser. You just said that. Yeah, one of my bosses has that. It's hilarious.
49:35
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah, it's.
49:36
Saint Michael
It's great. Nice.
49:40
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah. So to my next question, I like to ask this because every artist has a different answer, and just I feel like it provides more insight into how y’all operate. How many hours of sleep do you usually get?
49:54
Saint Michael
Yeah, sleep is sometimes my friend, but mostly my enemy.
50:00
DJ Whippopatomus
Right, right.
50:01
Saint Michael
Yeah. I mean, there's never enough hours in the day to do what you want to do. Yeah, for real.
50:05
DJ Whippopatomus
For real.
50:06
Saint Michael
Especially when you're, you know, a starving artist that has to keep a day job.
50:11
DJ Whippopatomus
No, for real.
50:12
Saint Michael
So, yeah, I mean, a lot of late nights, I think a lot of times my creativity is very sporadic, so, like, I can. That's why I keep notes in my phone.
50:25
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah, yeah.
50:25
Saint Michael
Like, I can get. And that's why I answered your question earlier about, like, what comes first, the beat of the lyrics. It's like. Yeah, it could be either or. Because, you know, I could be taking a break at work or, like, you know, doing a load in or whatever, and something pops in my head because that happens from time to time, and just a hook or something will pop in my head or a bar. And then other times, I'll get a beat pack from a homie.
50:49
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah, yeah.
50:49
Saint Michael
You know, and I'll listen to it, and usually if I like the beat, something will come up pretty quickly.
50:57
DJ Whippopatomus
Word. That's tough. Oh, yeah. So wait, how many. How many hours sleep do you usually get? Did you see.
51:04
Saint Michael
Sorry, there's a mic on that one. You see how I went away from that question? I've been doing that all day.
51:09
DJ Whippopatomus
It's all good.
51:11
Saint Michael
Yeah, you know, I try to get six to eight at Least. Yes. Yeah. If I can. But, you know, I've. I've gone. Gone on two, three hours before, you know, but, yeah, I try to get six, you know, if I can.
51:26
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah, I feel you.
51:27
Saint Michael
It's usually six or eight, but. Yeah, doesn't always happen.
51:31
DJ Whippopatomus
I've been getting eight lately. I actually got, like, less sleep today and feel, like, a lot better, so.
51:37
Saint Michael
It's interesting how that works, right?
51:38
DJ Whippopatomus
I know.
51:39
Saint Michael
You hit that, like, perfect point.
51:41
DJ Whippopatomus
It's so I'm trying to figure it out still. Like, sometimes I try to, like, get less sleep, and sometimes it'll work. It's just. It's. It always happens when I'm not trying to.
51:50
Saint Michael
Absolutely.
51:51
DJ Whippopatomus
And usually, like, after I'm, like, drinking, like, a night after drinking, like, I feel refreshed. Like, I don't have a lot of hangovers.
51:56
Saint Michael
Nice. You're lucky. Hold on to that.
51:59
Saint Michael
Try to.
52:04
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah. So is there anything else you want to let the listeners know?
52:08
Saint Michael
Yeah, I mean, I guess. Wow. I did want to shout out some. Some people.
52:15
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah. Yeah.
52:16
Saint Michael
You know, obvious. Obvious Juice. Lord. Shout out. Love Juice.
52:21
DJ Whippopatomus
I interviewed Juice last year. It was a great.
52:22
Saint Michael
Yeah, he's so much fun. Not only a ridiculous, awesome artist, but an awesome person. No, for real, my homie, Tennis Rodman got a shout out. Tennis.
52:33
DJ Whippopatomus
Okay.
52:33
Saint Michael
Yeah.
52:34
Saint Michael
It's also the homie. Hopefully about to get some features from them pretty soon.
52:38
DJ Whippopatomus
Oh, word. Okay.
52:40
Saint Michael
Calling y’all out on the radio. No, they're the homies. They're the homies. But, yeah, I mean. And yeah, speaking of people that are just, like, carving out their own lanes, those two are wild right now, putting out some wild stuff.
52:55
DJ Whippopatomus
No, for real.
52:56
Saint Michael
And then, you know Austin Crystals, you can find him on Spotify. Definitely. Crystals. X, T, A, L, S. I hope he's embarrassed by me shouting him out like this. And then monsters are myth. Griffin. The faces blur. Yeah, those are all the homies. And then my new homies, VAY Beats out of Canada, and then Anvil out of la. Anvil's dope. He's actually with the GBC Boys. Goth boy clique. Oh, yeah. Which is cool.
53:33
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah, Sounds cool.
53:35
Saint Michael
Yeah.
53:36
Saint Michael
So anyways, those are all the homies that I've been working with or getting into working with that I wanted to shout out before we left.
53:45
DJ Whippopatomus
That's exciting.
53:46
Saint Michael
And, yeah, lots of music coming out. I'll have a new one. I just put out one called Fake Friends this past Monday.
53:57
DJ Whippopatomus
Valentine's Day. Right?
53:58
Saint Michael
Yeah. It's a nice one. Nice little. Nice little hint. Anyways, anyways, yeah. Yeah. That one could be about pretty much anyone. I'll let y’all figure that out. Yeah. That was fun, right? I was like, oh, man. Yeah, this is. I like this. Yes. Yeah. Anyways, I dropped that one. That was a single I was sitting on for like, a year or two. Honestly, it's been ready for.
54:30
DJ Whippopatomus
So nice.
54:32
Saint Michael
The next one's called why Ask why? That one will be out in April.
54:36
DJ Whippopatomus
Word. Okay. You heard it here.
54:38
Saint Michael
Thanks. And hopefully I'm gonna have a cool music video for that one.
54:43
DJ Whippopatomus
Okay.
54:45
Saint Michael
But, yeah, that's pretty much it. Yeah. So you can find me at Saint Michael of Durham across every social you can think of. Haven't gotten into TikTok yet, but just give me a moment. It's gonna happen, right? Yeah. Saint Michael, Adiram on all socials. Hit me up.
55:07
DJ Whippopatomus
You got Saint Michael. What about seance?
55:10
Saint Michael
Oh, yeah. And then seance. That's seance music. 666 also across every social that you can think of. And the choir and morning choir. Yeah, yeah.
55:22
DJ Whippopatomus
Where can I find that? On Instagram?
55:24
Saint Michael
Yeah, that's going to be at morning choir. That one's easy.
55:26
DJ Whippopatomus
Oh, yeah.
55:29
Saint Michael
But, yeah, you'll. You'll find us at the Fruit the first two weekends in March.
55:33
DJ Whippopatomus
Word. Okay. Yeah, I definitely have to check that out.
55:35
Saint Michael
Yeah, we got some dope shows coming up.
55:37
DJ Whippopatomus
Oh, yeah. All right, well, it's been a pleasure. I really appreciate you sharing your story with us.
55:41
Saint Michael
Yeah. Thank you so much. I appreciate the opportunity, man.
55:44
DJ Whippopatomus
Yeah, you already know, and I want to thank everyone that's listening right now. You can check out the interview I did with Jooselord and other local artists at wknc.org/podcast and click on Off the Record. I am DJ Whippopatomus and I was here with Saint Michael on WKNC 88.1 FM HD-1 Raleigh. I'm gonna send y'all off with another single by Saint Michael called Riot Pt. 1. Don't forget we are stronger together. So show each other some love, y’all. Be easy.
56:22
Music
[Saint Michael – Riot Pt. 1]