Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Now you know: Girlboy
Local duo trip-hops their way out of the singer-songwriter sound
Took these late bloomers “a minute to find each other... We quickly formed the band, became roommates, set up a studio...”
“I was raised on bluegrass and gospel in the Bible Belt of Asheville, North Carolina, and I always fancied myself a folk songwriter,” says Matthew Blake, who — with rapper Haley Hill — is one half of Americana hip-hop duo Girlboy. “My hallmarks were nauseatingly introspective, inward-facing ballads and acoustic pickers. Meeting Haley, who’s been rapping since she was a ’tween and whose biggest influences are Common and Macklemore, has brought out my fun side.”
Video:
"28 Years"
...off of Girlboy's new record, Late Bloomers
Blake met Hill after both had failed to launch solo projects. “She convinced me to sing ‘Drunk in Love’ with her at karaoke night at Redwing bar in North Park. Even though I was a little inebriated and it was a dive bar full of fellow drunk singers, it felt like a little bit of magic, putting on my best Beyoncé and singing ‘I been drinking’ through a lip curl while Haley channeled Jay Z. From there, we quickly formed the band, became roommates, set up a studio, and started writing.”
He says it took a while to gain a foothold in clubs. “We’ll just say that we learned some valuable lessons about the need to come prepared with our own equipment. That’s mostly on us, though. Most bars aren’t set up to do a plug-and-play performance.”
The duo’s debut full-length, Late Bloomers, is being released this week. “We’re late bloomers in that it took a minute to find each other,” says Blake. The title also refers to coming to terms with sexual preferences. “Both members of Girlboy happen to be gay,” he says. “Haley and I both feel it’s taken us a little longer than many to come to terms with who we are, and to live authentically. We both grew up with a lot of conservative Christian cultural influence, and that environment tends to unnecessarily impede the coming-out process....
“For me, I spent most of my 20s slowly evolving from closeted condemner of all things LGBT, to out-but-not-proud gay Christian, to responsibly single and celibate gay man, to full-blown rainbow-emblazoned LGBT activist. It wasn’t until I was 28 years old I let myself fall in love for the first time.”
That particular tale is told in their song “28 Years,” a staple of their live set. They’re also still known to whip out “Drunk in Love.” After all, says Blake, “Beyoncé always brings people together.”
Here's something you might be interested in.
Now you know: Girlboy
Local duo trip-hops their way out of the singer-songwriter sound
Now you know: Girlboy
Local duo trip-hops their way out of the singer-songwriter sound
Took these late bloomers “a minute to find each other... We quickly formed the band, became roommates, set up a studio...”
“I was raised on bluegrass and gospel in the Bible Belt of Asheville, North Carolina, and I always fancied myself a folk songwriter,” says Matthew Blake, who — with rapper Haley Hill — is one half of Americana hip-hop duo Girlboy. “My hallmarks were nauseatingly introspective, inward-facing ballads and acoustic pickers. Meeting Haley, who’s been rapping since she was a ’tween and whose biggest influences are Common and Macklemore, has brought out my fun side.”
Video:
"28 Years"
...off of Girlboy's new record, Late Bloomers
Blake met Hill after both had failed to launch solo projects. “She convinced me to sing ‘Drunk in Love’ with her at karaoke night at Redwing bar in North Park. Even though I was a little inebriated and it was a dive bar full of fellow drunk singers, it felt like a little bit of magic, putting on my best Beyoncé and singing ‘I been drinking’ through a lip curl while Haley channeled Jay Z. From there, we quickly formed the band, became roommates, set up a studio, and started writing.”
He says it took a while to gain a foothold in clubs. “We’ll just say that we learned some valuable lessons about the need to come prepared with our own equipment. That’s mostly on us, though. Most bars aren’t set up to do a plug-and-play performance.”
The duo’s debut full-length, Late Bloomers, is being released this week. “We’re late bloomers in that it took a minute to find each other,” says Blake. The title also refers to coming to terms with sexual preferences. “Both members of Girlboy happen to be gay,” he says. “Haley and I both feel it’s taken us a little longer than many to come to terms with who we are, and to live authentically. We both grew up with a lot of conservative Christian cultural influence, and that environment tends to unnecessarily impede the coming-out process....
“For me, I spent most of my 20s slowly evolving from closeted condemner of all things LGBT, to out-but-not-proud gay Christian, to responsibly single and celibate gay man, to full-blown rainbow-emblazoned LGBT activist. It wasn’t until I was 28 years old I let myself fall in love for the first time.”
That particular tale is told in their song “28 Years,” a staple of their live set. They’re also still known to whip out “Drunk in Love.” After all, says Blake, “Beyoncé always brings people together.”
Comments