Feb. 10, 2026
From Punk to Production: Steve Sxaks' Journey of Music, Mentorship, and Authenticity
Send a text In this electrifying episode of Living the Dream with Curveball, we chat with Steve Sxaks, a punk rocker turned audio engineer, award-winning educator, and published author. Steve shares his incredible journey from the Philadelphia punk rock scene to founding Marston House Recording, a studio that has become a cornerstone for artists across genres. With over 16 years of experience producing music, Steve reveals the unique connection he found between punk rock and hip hop, and how ...
In this electrifying episode of Living the Dream with Curveball, we chat with Steve Sxaks, a punk rocker turned audio engineer, award-winning educator, and published author. Steve shares his incredible journey from the Philadelphia punk rock scene to founding Marston House Recording, a studio that has become a cornerstone for artists across genres. With over 16 years of experience producing music, Steve reveals the unique connection he found between punk rock and hip hop, and how this fusion has influenced his work. He discusses the importance of artist trust, the creative process behind the Marston House Ciphers, and the valuable lessons he learned from his time in the military that shaped his approach to music education and leadership. Steve also dives into his new book, *Invasion of the Punk Rockers Who Drink Blood*, offering insights into its relatable themes and the lived experiences that inspired it. Tune in for an inspiring conversation that celebrates creativity, authenticity, and the power of community in the music industry. Don't miss out on Steve's upcoming projects and collaborations that are sure to make waves in the underground scene!
mosaic is Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County's news magazine show, exploring Jewish...
Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
25:28 - [Ad] mosaic: Exploring Jewish Issues
26:05 - (Cont.) From Punk to Production: Steve Sxaks' Journey of Music, Mentorship, and Authenticity
WEBVTT
00:00:01.520 --> 00:00:46.780
> Curtis Jackson>Welcome to the Living the Dream podcast with Curveball. if you believe you can achieve. Welcome to the Living the Dream with Curveball podcast, a show where I interview guests that teach, motivate and inspire. Today I am joined by punk rocker, touring punk rocker turned audio engineer, Steve Skacks. Steve is also award winning educator and now published author and he is the founder of a co founder of Marston M House Recording, one of Philadelphia's most respected recording studios.
00:00:46.780 --> 00:01:08.650
> Curtis Jackson>And he has produced for artists across all genres for the past 16 years. Steve is an amazing individual. I'm hoping to be able to do some work with him as I'm a hip hop artist but he is a veteran so Steve, thank you for your service. And he has a platform for underground hip hop artists.
00:01:08.650 --> 00:01:20.319
> Curtis Jackson>We were just talking in the green room about people that he has worked with and when he hear those names, when you hear those names you're going to know who they are if you are a hip hop fan. So can't wait to have this conversation.
00:01:20.319 --> 00:01:24.049
> Curtis Jackson>Steve, thank you for joining me. Thank you very much for having me.
00:01:24.049 --> 00:01:25.730
> Steve Skaggs>I'm really looking forward to this.
00:01:26.049 --> 00:01:28.849
> Curtis Jackson>Why don't you start off by telling everybody a little bit about yourself.
00:01:29.569 --> 00:01:44.250
> Steve Skaggs>Well yeah, you know they call me Steve Skaggs. The man, the myth, the legend. Some call me the most beautiful man in the world, the Philly Reed Richards. I got plenty of names that people know me as. I am like you said, you did a great job on the intro. You kind of hit all the little basis.
00:01:44.250 --> 00:01:59.319
> Steve Skaggs>But you know I've been a touring musician for about 20 years. started in the Philadelphia punk rock scene and I found this connection between punk rock and hip hop. So Since I've been 15 years old, I've been deep into both of those scenes.
00:01:59.700 --> 00:02:27.280
> Steve Skaggs>started the Marston House recording studio with my good friend and bandmate Ethan Mintz. And yeah we started some really cool platforms for hip hop artists. And since then I'm you know I put, put out a ton of my own music. I produce for a ton of other artists recorded thousands of people from all genres and all over the world. I've toured the world several times and I teach audio engineering.
00:02:27.280 --> 00:02:53.379
> Steve Skaggs>I've taught it at the high school collegiate levels. I've been at Workshop, ah, Houston, which is a great non profit school in Houston, Texas, ran by bass heavy of no limit fame. and I've taught at several different colleges, community colleges. I've spoke at different colleges and universities around the country. And yeah man, I'm. Now I'm pushing the my book, Invasion of the Punk Rockers who Drink Blood. And yeah, I mean.
00:02:53.379 --> 00:03:07.080
> Steve Skaggs>Oh, well, I guess I did leave out the military thing. You touched on that. I appreciate you for mentioning it. I spent a few years in the army and then in the Guard as well. So that's the quickest version of me without eating up the whole clock.
00:03:08.520 --> 00:03:21.449
> Curtis Jackson>Well, I mean, you know, you went from punk rocker to being a co founder of one of the most respected studios in Philadelphia. So what, at what point did you realize hey, music could be more than just performance for me?
00:03:22.009 --> 00:03:55.199
> Steve Skaggs>Well, you know, ah, touring, you know, I found a lot of success touring. Right. And this was in the days of, early days of social media. We, we did a demo tape and we threw that thing up on MySpace and got signed to a major like right away. And I know that kind of stuff doesn't really happen these days, but it was, it was such an eye opening experience. You know, they're, they're paying for vans and drivers to drive us around and we're, all we gotta do is bring our bodies because they're, they're renting equipment for us and everything.
00:03:55.199 --> 00:04:30.980
> Steve Skaggs>And you know, I, I came quick to realize like punk rock is not a main music at that time. this is, you know, the earlier early to mid 2000s. And you know, unless you were a band like Green Day, who's had a lot of radio success, it probably wasn't sustainable. So I started saving all the tour money and I, I just, I knew I wanted to be in music. I, I didn't want to have a boss. You know, every job I had worked up until that point I, I hated. And so yeah, I just, I started stacking money to the side and, and started hustling outside of doing that just to get some money up.
00:04:30.980 --> 00:04:35.660
> Steve Skaggs>And me and Ethan started the studio and I've never looked back since then.
00:04:36.939 --> 00:04:51.779
> Curtis Jackson>Well, I know you guys work with artists across every genre, so talk about how difficult it is to gain the artist trust when their sound is different than yours or maybe their genre is different than yours.
00:04:52.100 --> 00:05:10.540
> Steve Skaggs>Well, you know, I think being a musician first was such a leg up as making that transition to full time engineer because you know, if you, you have such a respect for the art, right? And, and me growing up I was always very deep into music. It was my first love. It saved my life so many times.
00:05:10.779 --> 00:06:39.050
> Steve Skaggs>And you know I've, I, I had a huge, I still have it now, framed up in my house, at. But at the bottom of my stairs was a Nina Simone poster. I love Nina. I loved, you know, everything from Nina Simone. Then I had a big Sean Price, Jesus Price, poster. And then I had punk rock bands. And I, I just loved music so much. And so it wasn't too hard for me to jump around and mix different genres of music. I. I think the challenge for me was stepping back from being the artist and, and taking that sidekick role on being the engineer and kind of like a. A whist, relationship, if you will. You know, I mean, so I was like, I'm guiding these people through to get the best product that they can. Now, there was plenty of times where I've recorded instruments that I had never even heard of. Like, I remember we. We did a, Harry Krishna Band, and they had a Shirudi box, and I had no idea what it was. And it's really just a drone box. But, you know, we're experimenting on microphones, trying to get it. We've recorded bagpipes and steel drums. Full Jamaican steel drum, reggae band, which was awesome. but learning these things on the fly. And, that. That was always more fun than the challenge. But, yeah, if you can. If you can set your ego to the side and, and really just help people get the best product that they can get, they'll trust you. You know, it's.
00:06:39.370 --> 00:06:39.730
> Curtis Jackson>It.
00:06:39.730 --> 00:06:47.610
> Steve Skaggs>Once you lose the trust of somebody, it's really hard to get it back. But if they see how much you're invested in their product, that they definitely will trust you.
00:06:48.920 --> 00:06:57.449
> Curtis Jackson>Well, talk to the listeners about the Marston House Ciphers. You know, kind of tell us what it is, how it works and why you decide to create it.
00:06:58.009 --> 00:06:58.569
> Steve Skaggs>Yeah, yeah.
00:06:58.569 --> 00:07:00.009
> Curtis Jackson>So the names you work with.
00:07:00.490 --> 00:07:42.509
> Steve Skaggs>Yeah, yeah. So, I mean, the Ciphers, man, that was like, we. If you're not familiar with what a cipher is, you know, it's. It's when you get a group of MCs together and everybody's spitting and just kind of showing. Showing their best bars, right? And, they. They really started in the streets. That was like, you know, you'd go up on a street corner and there'd be a cipher, and if you were dope, you could get up and spit. But if you were corny, then people were going to start rapping over you. And there's still a group that's been going on for a long time called Legendary Ciphers. And they're in New York, and we've collaborated with them before. and they still keep that essence of the original cipher alive. Like that is. That's one of the big reasons we wanted to start doing it is something for the culture.
00:07:42.509 --> 00:07:51.310
> Steve Skaggs>We've never charged an emcee or an artist or a producer or a DJ to be a part of our ciphers. And I know there's a lot of them that do, but this is.
00:07:51.310 --> 00:07:53.750
> Steve Skaggs>Was always our thing to give back to the culture.
00:07:54.509 --> 00:08:36.110
> Steve Skaggs>and the other reason we started it was because we were watching all these ciphers, like the BET Ciphers and the Freshman Ciphers. And while they'd have dope people on, it just felt so staged and rehearsed, and you could tell they did a thousand takes. And just to make sure everybody was in the best light. And I just felt like that wasn't what a cipher was. You know, it was like a manufactured cipher. So we wanted to do something that was kind of in between those two things. And we did a, studio cipher. You know, the setting was the studio, but it was one take. We had night. You know, we had four camera angles. We had a nice mic. We would mix them down like a song, but it was one take. You'd step up to the microphone and.
00:08:36.340 --> 00:08:55.250
> Steve Skaggs>And. And whatever happened, happened. I would always freestyle the intros. I said some crazy stuff on some of those. people would get up there and they would either kill it or they would fumble the ball. And you'd either be able to, like, catch yourself and get back to it, or you do the walk of shame and then try to redeem yourself next time.
00:08:55.250 --> 00:08:58.889
> Steve Skaggs>And I think that gave us, like, you know, such a.
00:09:00.090 --> 00:09:24.789
> Steve Skaggs>Not an advantage, but just a different thing than a lot of the other ciphers that were going on. I mean, we definitely developed like a cult following. And, we started getting some bigger artists to come do it. You know, we had Malik B from the Roots, did. Did a couple of them, which was, you know, that super dope. One of. One of my favorite moments. Rest in peace, Malik B. Ah, then we had diabolic and, Whitney Payton terminology.
00:09:24.950 --> 00:09:31.340
> Steve Skaggs>And it led us to getting to work with Kendrick Lamar. In the early days, it was a. We got to m.
00:09:31.970 --> 00:10:19.460
> Steve Skaggs>mix and master a song for Kendrick Lamar. J Rock and microphone tone with DJ no frills on it all because of the. The Ciphers. It was a hip hop DX exclusive. Mike Trampy got it for us. And, you know, DJ no frills was like. He did. He djed our second Cipher or our first Cipher. Can't even remember. And, so we just. Because of these ciphers, we started building these relationships, you know, and there was an emcee from Jersey called Rich. Quick, rest in peace to Rich too. But Rich, coming down and getting on our very first cipher. It gave us the validity that all these artists wanted to get on it because of Rich. I'm talking, you know, so many people stepped into the studio because of Rich. Reap the Lost cause.
00:10:19.539 --> 00:10:26.769
> Steve Skaggs>Vinnie Paz, Slain. Just all these artists, you know, I'm slain. Had just did that movie the Town.
00:10:27.509 --> 00:11:05.799
> Steve Skaggs>And, he. We. We recorded one of his projects. And, you know, ad lib and a lot of the Jedi mind tricks. And, Pharaoh army, of the Pharaoh's Crew was coming in, and the list just could go on forever with the people. People started flying in from Australia, from London, from coming over from Canada, coming from Jamaica, coming from Puerto Rico. Just taking these long journeys to come be a part of what we were doing. And it was. It was an amazing feeling. You know, I'd be walking down the street or on tour. I. I can't go to a city still without somebody screaming, let's go, guy. Which is my. My slogan that I would say on the Ciphers.
00:11:05.799 --> 00:11:25.429
> Steve Skaggs>But I'll. I'll be at, a comic book convention in, you know, California, and somebody screaming, let's go, guy. At me because of these videos. So it. It became such a, you know, a phenomenon. and like I said, like, I have a culture cult following that, I'll always, forever be grateful for that.
00:11:25.429 --> 00:11:31.789
> Steve Skaggs>And while we still are doing it, this is our 15th year. This is going to be our. Our last year of doing the Ciphers.
00:11:33.389 --> 00:11:42.830
> Curtis Jackson>All right, what talk about how your time in the military shaped the way that you now approach music education and leadership.
00:11:43.870 --> 00:12:48.070
> Steve Skaggs>Well, definitely leadership. I think I learned a lot of that, and I always felt like I was naturally a leader. I always led every band or group that I was in. So I. I did have some. But I don't think I had the structure to do it productively. You know, when you're in the military, you. You experience some bad leadership, and it can really, you know, bad leadership can get people killed in those settings. So taking from those lessons and bringing it back to music and just understanding how to really motivate people and in. In, like, constructive ways has been, I. I think one of the most helpful things and the discipline that you learn, you know, because in the military, you. You got to balance a lot of things. And, when you're just a musician, you kind of have the m. More freedom to create.
00:12:48.470 --> 00:14:43.430
> Steve Skaggs>But once you start taking on these other roles like being your being a manager, being a studio engineer and you, you start having to deal with a little more of the business. It's hard to balance the creativity with the business business. and I do think the military can help you like balance some of these different roles and get a little bit of discipline to actually complete the task. So I'm thankful for my experience in the military in a lot of ways because you know, being in a punk rock band, if anybody followed me in my early band days of like Fruit Punch or ah, Extra Tongue or Build Us Rebuild Us, any of those hardcore punk rock bands, very, very political. you know even that's what I was listening to. Political punk rock, political hip hop like Dead Prez and just all, all that, that was what was in my head. And I had a very different picture of what the military in my head of what I thought the military was than what it actually was. You know, I thought everybody was going to be some meathead jock who just wanted to go murder people. And I was, I wasn't like some super patriotic dude. So I joined because my best, my childhood best friend was joining me and I just said I'm a go to because why not? You know, I like to do a lot of things by the seat of my pants. And when I got there I realized nobody was like that. I met kids from China, Nigeria, from all over the world that are just trying to get their citizenship. I met kids who just needed health insurance. I met kids trying to go to school, better their life. I met, I met a lot of kids that were similar to me that looked nothing like me. And I learned about cultures from all over the world just and, and really it's, it made me realize more than ever that we're all people and we may be separated by a border or an ocean, but we genuinely are like the same. You know what I mean? Like if I like to play video games, chances are the kid in Nigeria loves to play video games too. Like we have that in common.
00:14:43.430 --> 00:15:05.759
> Steve Skaggs>And I think people get so distracted by nationalism and all these other artificial like separations and lose track that we're all just people and we all want to take care of our family and have a good life. And yeah man, it was a great experience. I think it makes you a more well rounded person and I think if you're more well rounded, you're a better creator.
00:15:07.280 --> 00:15:18.000
> Curtis Jackson>Well, as an educator, speaking of a creator, as an educator. What do you feel like young artists most misunderstand about the music industry when they first start out?
00:15:19.200 --> 00:16:42.180
> Steve Skaggs>Well, I preach about this. I've said it a million times. But I'm gonna say it because I do think it's the most important lesson. I think a lot of younger artists have a skewed definition of what success is, you know, so, I'll just talk about Workshop Houston first, and then I could talk about pretty much the same conversation, whether it's at El Centro or Vox or any of these schools that I've been at. you get. I get there on my first day, and when I meet the kids for the first time, you know, I. I'm covered in tattoos, neck, head, hands all over. Like, there's. So automatically the kids are looking at me a little differently than they look at most teachers coming in. so we, We. They're a little more curious, and we start talking, and then I'm like, all right. I tell them about, like, some of the people I've worked with. You know, I'm like, yeah, you know, I've recorded Beanie Siegel or I've recorded all these people. You know, I'll start listing people that we've worked with. And now I got their attention for real. And I'm like, all right, well, what's your definition of success? And without fail, every kid says, you know, making millions of dollars or, being the richest rapper of all time or the most famous rapper and all this. And I'm like, okay, that's cool, that's cool. But, but would you think Success is making $120,000 a year and being able to buy a nice house and a nice car and provide for your family and just making that money off music, Is that not successful? Is. Is.
00:16:42.180 --> 00:16:47.660
> Steve Skaggs>You know, and then we start talking about what the average median income in America is. It's $36,000.
00:16:47.820 --> 00:16:56.710
> Steve Skaggs>I'm like, so would you. Would you think making$80,000 a year off of music is successful? What about $60,000 year dollars a year? You know, if.
00:16:57.030 --> 00:18:38.109
> Steve Skaggs>If you're making enough money to provide your. For yourself and your family and have all the things that you want and need, is that not what success is? And. And they start thinking about it, and I try to, like, get them to, And. And with success so far, because now I've had a couple students that have graduated. I'm a shout, a big shout out to my girl, Danielle Smith, because now she's teach. She's teaching at Camden County Community College. I just talked to the head of the department about her today. She doesn't know that, but, you know, I have. I have buddies. She. After she graduated our program and was working with our studio, she went to CCP Community College of Philadelphia. And I. I got my master's degree with the head of their audio department. So I was talking to him about her, and he's giving me progress reports. And now she's teaching at Camden, County. And I'm talking to the guy there because he. He used to record me when I was a young kid in bands. So I got connections everywhere, and I'm keeping track on all my students and knowing, like, she's doing an amazing job. She still works at the studio for us, but she's now taking this gift and teaching other kids. So it's like, I really am, very invested in these, in these kids when I meet them. And, I genuinely have a lot of love for them and I do want them to just do well. So when I get them to think, like, yeah, you know what, if I can make money doing what I love to do and not have to go work a labor job or an office job or, you know, any kind of thing, I'm on my feet all day. If I can make enough money to survive making music, then that is successful. I think that's the biggest lesson and the biggest thing I could hand down to anybody.
00:18:39.470 --> 00:18:52.889
> Curtis Jackson>Well, you are now a published author, so congratulations on that. So tell the listeners about your new book. You know, what we can expect when we read it, the takeaways and where to get it and how much of it was, actual lived experience.
00:18:54.089 --> 00:19:02.119
> Steve Skaggs>Well, so the book is called Invasion of the Punk Rockers who Drink Blood. and. And I was thinking about this book for 20 years.
00:19:04.039 --> 00:19:04.059
> Curtis Jackson>Originally.
00:19:04.720 --> 00:21:05.990
> Steve Skaggs>when I. I first started working on it, it was a whole different project. And I didn't know anything about writing a book. And I still really, honestly didn't up until the. Till I started trying to put this one out. and over the years, I just loved the title of it and I kept revisiting it and I, would sit down and about maybe two years ago, I really got serious with it. And I was like, you know what? Like, if this is how I kind of been with a lot of music lately and a lot of projects, it's like, if I were to die tomorrow, would I be okay with not having this piece of art out in the world? You know? So that was. That was a big thing for me. and a Lot. A lot of it is lived experience. Everybody in this book is based off of somebody that I've encountered through my journey in music. And including myself. You know, I'm not, gonna pretend I didn't kind of write myself into it a little bit. but yeah, it's a. So basically the plot is. It's a found family story about these kids who are kind of. They don't fit in with society. you know, they're a little bit different and they have to face the real world monsters like racism, sexism, homophobia and all these different things that every kid in the world has to go through. So it's relatable in that sense. But on top of that they're going through, you know, facing metaphysical monsters as well. So, it's. I think it's a book that any kid. It's not, it's, it's, it's a young adult. But I've had a few kids who read it and now they're like super into punk rock and stuff. My, my buddy, he's a, he's another rapper. Scotty must rhyme. That's my guy. Shout out Scotty must rhyme if he's listening. But his daughter, she was 11 and he got a copy of it for her and it changed her life. She didn't even like music and now she's robbing all his CD, collection for Ramon CDs and poison the well and the Clash.
00:21:05.990 --> 00:21:54.079
> Steve Skaggs>And you know, it's. It like got her into that and she got a bass guitar for Christmas and wants to be like one of the characters in the book. And I just thought that was so cool that that alone made me want to write the sequel. So I'm, I am working on it. But you know, I, I do have a little bit of ADD here, so. But yeah, it's, it's a, I think it's a really unique take on a monster story. it's a lot different than, Not. Not to like, try to sound like I'm tooting my own horn too much here. But I think it's a lot different than anything I've read in the lore. And it's some very cool world building that. That feels realistic. And I'm pretty proud of this piece. It's a 400 page novel, so it's not a, it's not a little, you know, short story. It's. You gotta have a couple hours on your hands to make it through it.
00:21:55.359 --> 00:21:56.119
> Curtis Jackson>Absolutely.
00:21:56.119 --> 00:22:05.599
> Curtis Jackson>Well, punk has always been about pushing Back. So talk about how you see that rebellion that's showing up in today's music culture.
00:22:06.959 --> 00:22:35.990
> Steve Skaggs>Man, I think we're in a. In a lot of ways, I think we're in a good place. I really love stuff like, you know, Tyler, the creator who, I like what he's done with, like, for the last. I don't. He's been out for maybe 20 years now, but in that time he's let kids know it's okay to be different. It's okay to be weird. And I've. I've seen a ton of, music spawn from. From that. From just. From Tyler.
00:22:35.990 --> 00:23:31.789
> Steve Skaggs>There's that band Horror. I think it's HO9909. and they're. They're really dope live. They're kind of like a hip hop, punk, ah, noise band. and then I, you know, Tyler was signing punk rock bands and skaters and going on tour with all these. All these bands and skaters and stuff because he was into that stuff. And it's opened a lot of doors for people who, like, might have thought it was weird to listen to, you know, heavier music and might have got made fun of for listening to that stuff. So now it's a lot more mainstream now to be into punk rock, which is now letting a lot of the ideologies, you know, come out into the mainstream. I'm seeing a lot of rappers talking about, Free Palestine and coming against Ice and doing all this political stuff. And it doesn't really matter what you think of any of these topics. It just is. It's very refreshing to.
00:23:31.789 --> 00:23:58.039
> Steve Skaggs>Seeing younger people being politically conscious and putting that into their artwork and using their platforms to speak on whatever. Whatever you feel. You know, I personally, it's like if it's your politics and whatever, but if you use your platform and your artwork to speak on how you feel about it, that I think that's dope. And, I love that. I love that it's becoming more acceptable.
00:23:59.129 --> 00:24:17.279
> Steve Skaggs>and again, we're in a weird. I think in my personal opinion, I want to, like, take, you know, say anything that you wouldn't agree with for your audience, but in my personal opinion, I think we're in a crazy times worldwide. And, it's really, really refreshing to see all these younger people, you know, voicing their opinion through their artwork.
00:24:18.399 --> 00:24:28.099
> Curtis Jackson>Well, talk about what role authenticity plays in your work and how do you protect it in industries where, polish is rewarded over truth.
00:24:30.659 --> 00:26:18.369
> Steve Skaggs>Thankfully, I'm at a position where I can kind of do Whatever I want at this point. And I don't have to answer to anybody, about what I do or say with my art anymore. But, there's been times, you know, where we'd be on labels and have clashes with labels over the direction of certain things, and it led us to being off of labels. authenticity is huge for me because I'll never sell a product that I don't feel represents me. You know, I. I'm not a guy who will get behind something or take some money just to take the money. I, think. I don't know. To me, being authentic to. To yourself is such a. It's. It's the true freedom and of expression that it's really. Honestly, the only true freedom that we have left is just being authentic to yourself. And I think people are really quick to dilute themselves, to take a quick payday. that's just never been. It's never been something I was interested in. And, And I've had some friction with, like I said, labels and artists and different things over that. I don't. I don't want to ever put an artist through that either. I don't want to be working with an artist.
00:26:18.369 --> 00:26:44.919
> Steve Skaggs>You know, I manage several artists. and I shout out to my. My boy Ewan, you know, we're. We're booking a tour right now for him in Europe. And, there was a couple venues and a couple different, requirements that some venues and promoters wanted from him. And we kind of came to the conclusion, like, let's just skip this one because we don't want to do anything that is not authentically him.
00:26:45.399 --> 00:26:50.359
> Steve Skaggs>And, I will always respect an artist that's like, you know what? I'm not comfortable with this.
00:26:50.359 --> 00:26:50.679
> Curtis Jackson>Let's.
00:26:50.679 --> 00:27:10.879
> Steve Skaggs>Let's move on. So that. That's. It's very important if you're an artist, it doesn't really matter what you feel makes it authentic to you, but just be. Be you. And don't. Don't compromise that. Even if it causes you to lose a deal or causes, some friction. Just keep being you because it's going to resonate with somebody.
00:27:12.079 --> 00:27:13.759
> Curtis Jackson>It's called selling your soul.
00:27:14.159 --> 00:27:24.480
> Curtis Jackson>And speaking of that, what advice would you give listeners out there who want to build their life around their creativity, but they feel like an outsider or the traditional mold doesn't work for them?
00:27:25.519 --> 00:28:11.579
> Steve Skaggs>Man, I don't think there is a such thing to being an outsider anymore. You know, we're in a time now where you, you can honestly, like, I'm just Going to tell on myself here. You can do, we got$200,000 worth of gear in our studio and you can take $1,000 and get some decent home recording stuff and make a really good sounding record right there. now you don't have, may not have the experience that I have to coach you through and get the mix sounding right, but the home studio stuff has come a long, long way. So if you feel like an outsider, you can get your, you can get your stuff and do it yourself. You can even hit me up because I do give online, tutoring and lessons and learning how to do audio recording and mixing.
00:28:11.659 --> 00:28:48.589
> Steve Skaggs>But there's, I mean there's a million people who do. There's. And if you don't want to pay for it, you can go on YouTube university and look up some people and you know, find out how to do it yourself. But point being, in this day and age, some like I said a little bit ago, something resonates with everybody you could think you're doing. There's literally bands out here that like dresses clowns and play jazz music in a van and put out videos and they get millions and millions of views. And it's weird and very avant garde, like just noise. But it resonates with people.
00:28:48.589 --> 00:29:12.079
> Steve Skaggs>Millions of people watch it. So I mean there's ah, a Run the Jewels if you're familiar. Run the Jewels, they did Meow the Jewels where they put out a record that the whole album is just cat noises and people bought the crap out of it. So there's literally something for everybody. So I would not be, I would not be scared to be an outsider. I would just go to town, start putting stuff out.
00:29:12.509 --> 00:29:41.859
> Steve Skaggs>and now again to distribution. While we do put out music with who Mag and Sony Orchard, there is so many options to distribute your music both physically and digitally and it's cheaper than ever to get CDs made and cards and T shirts and all this stuff is so much cheaper now than it was when I first started doing this stuff. So I think the barrier to entry has been lowered by a lot.
00:29:42.259 --> 00:29:46.259
> Steve Skaggs>And if you want to create something, this is the time to do it.
00:29:47.839 --> 00:30:04.819
> Curtis Jackson>Yeah, I do my stuff for my home studio and what I do is I send it over to my producer, J Mai M and I pay him and he does my mixing, mastering and does my beats and you know, I release through Distrokid. But yeah, all the stuff that I'm doing, I'm doing it through the home studio.
00:30:05.460 --> 00:30:12.949
> Steve Skaggs>Exactly. And it's. And I'm sure when you first started you were telling me you've been into it for you know, a couple decades now. 30 years you said.
00:30:13.470 --> 00:30:19.210
> Curtis Jackson>And it was $300 per, per hour for studio time. And you had to go through a record label to release.
00:30:19.210 --> 00:30:21.689
> Curtis Jackson>And it was, you know, records, tape.
00:30:21.689 --> 00:31:30.529
> Steve Skaggs>CDs way different now. Right. And the home equipment, you know, we opened the studio in 2009 and during that time they had home equipment that existed. It was kind of the end of tape. Like tape was coming to an end and digital was getting really big. And there was a lot of people not sure what to do at this time. So all these companies, Presonus made the Blue Box. M M Audio came out and started making those M M boxes. And then there was digidesign, made the 002 and all these things that existed and they sounded like garbage. Everything was terrible. And then they had microphones that were cheap but they were unusable. Like a lot of the early MXL stuff. Now you can literally buy for$100 a U87 clone microp that sounds indistinguishable from a real U87. And you know, that's a couple thousand dollars microphone. So you could buy stuff, you know, blue, blue microphones, which I'm very partial to, like the Kiwi and the bottle. You know the Kiwi used to cost $3,000 and the bottle used to cost $10,000.
00:31:30.769 --> 00:32:06.659
> Steve Skaggs>And they keep blue microphones themselves have made clones. And there's another company called Neat Microphones that makes blue microphone clones. And you can get a King B for $250. That sounds a hundred. You could never tell the difference between the King Bee and the Kiwi. It's insane. so the, the, like I said, the barrier to entry is very low and I think it's dope. I think it's super cool. I do a lot of remote mixing stuff for people now just like your producer does. So I love it man. I think we're in a great place for, for people to get into music.
00:32:07.759 --> 00:32:08.879
> Curtis Jackson>We absolutely are.
00:32:09.119 --> 00:32:13.599
> Curtis Jackson>So tell us about any upcoming projects that you're working on that listeners need to be aware of.
00:32:14.159 --> 00:34:02.828
> Steve Skaggs>For sure, for sure. Well, I just had a new project with a producer. this is one of the few projects I've done with a producer. Me not producing the music. Skinny Bones, the Godfather from the Netherlands. This is my guy. He's produced a bunch of our, Marcel Cipher beads. And we, we've done a few things together outside of the Ciphers and finally decided it was time for us to do a project together. it's called Goblin Town and it's got some, some of the best. Like some of the best MCs out are on there. 310, you might recognize 310 from law and Order. He's been in a bunch of stuff as, as well as just being one of the dopest freestyle MCs I've ever met in my life. it's got Spaz Black, Trey Digga, another incredible freestyler. Trey Son Roman is on it. AKA Black Kicky. it's got Matthew Raheem Ohm Spaz Black Street, Costello Main the Medicine. You win. It's, it's stacked project with lots of dope MCs. so that just released and then coming up this month me and Trey have our follow up project to our free. The EP series called Shark Fu. And it's just me and him going bar to bar. lot of fun songs on that one. We've got some reggae stuff and some different, more experimental, less like hardcore hip hop. and then we're, we're going to south by Southwest and performing at the Nerd Core Day showcase. So come out and see us there if you're in Texas at the time. and I actually have a release slated for every month this year. So if you follow me on anything, you'll, you know, you'll, it'll pop up.
00:34:04.188 --> 00:34:06.989
> Curtis Jackson>Amazing. He need to let me put a verse on something.
00:34:07.308 --> 00:34:11.068
> Steve Skaggs>I got you bro. I'm gonna send you some stuff. I got, I got beats for you.
00:34:11.628 --> 00:34:16.188
> Curtis Jackson>So throw out your contact info so people can keep up with everything that you're up to.
00:34:17.478 --> 00:35:36.750
> Steve Skaggs>You can, I mean I'm the most googleable person so if you just search Steve Skacks SX aks I pop up on everything. Get my Wikipedia, you can get all my website, but my website is just letsgoguy.com or you can go to stevescax.com they go to the same place. I'm Steve Skacks on all social media. you can reach out to me on literally any of those things and I will get with you. I love collaborating with different people and meeting new people. So please, please feel free to reach out and see how we can work together or you know, I also am big on I, I've never charged anybody for advice or anything like that. So if, if you just want to link up and ask me some questions, I'm more than happy to answer them because I, my thought is if our community is strong, if the musicians community is strong, you know, as a group, we will all be strong individually, you know, and I've, I really try to take that mentality with me everywhere. I'm part of the recording academy and I could, you know, help people get into that if you want to be in the Grammy Society. And, you know, it's just, I just think that there's too many crabs in the barrel who don't want to work with you and don't want to, like, help each other get above. And that's never been me.
00:35:38.190 --> 00:35:52.610
> Curtis Jackson>Absolutely, ladies and gentlemen. So all you musicians and artists out there, please get in touch with Steve. Get that new book. Follow Rate Review Share this episode to as many people as possible. Keep up with everything that he's up to.
00:35:52.849 --> 00:36:14.799
> Curtis Jackson>Sign up for the Living the Dream newsletter. Leave us a review Follow the show Share the show to everybody you know and the website www.craveball337.com. Thank you for listening and supporting the show. And Steve, thank you for all that you do for us artists and, you know, everything that you do in the world. And thank you for joining me.
00:36:15.360 --> 00:36:17.199
> Steve Skaggs>Thank you for having me. I had a great time.
00:36:17.759 --> 00:36:39.460
> Curtis Jackson>For more information on the Living the Dream with Curveball podcasts, visit www.craveball337.com until next time, keep living the dream. Sam.
00:00:01.520 --> 00:00:46.780
00:00:46.780 --> 00:01:08.650
00:01:08.650 --> 00:01:20.319
00:01:20.319 --> 00:01:24.049
00:01:24.049 --> 00:01:25.730
00:01:26.049 --> 00:01:28.849
00:01:29.569 --> 00:01:44.250
00:01:44.250 --> 00:01:59.319
00:01:59.700 --> 00:02:27.280
00:02:27.280 --> 00:02:53.379
00:02:53.379 --> 00:03:07.080
00:03:08.520 --> 00:03:21.449
00:03:22.009 --> 00:03:55.199
00:03:55.199 --> 00:04:30.980
00:04:30.980 --> 00:04:35.660
00:04:36.939 --> 00:04:51.779
00:04:52.100 --> 00:05:10.540
00:05:10.779 --> 00:06:39.050
00:06:39.370 --> 00:06:39.730
00:06:39.730 --> 00:06:47.610
00:06:48.920 --> 00:06:57.449
00:06:58.009 --> 00:06:58.569
00:06:58.569 --> 00:07:00.009
00:07:00.490 --> 00:07:42.509
00:07:42.509 --> 00:07:51.310
00:07:51.310 --> 00:07:53.750
00:07:54.509 --> 00:08:36.110
00:08:36.340 --> 00:08:55.250
00:08:55.250 --> 00:08:58.889
00:09:00.090 --> 00:09:24.789
00:09:24.950 --> 00:09:31.340
00:09:31.970 --> 00:10:19.460
00:10:19.539 --> 00:10:26.769
00:10:27.509 --> 00:11:05.799
00:11:05.799 --> 00:11:25.429
00:11:25.429 --> 00:11:31.789
00:11:33.389 --> 00:11:42.830
00:11:43.870 --> 00:12:48.070
00:12:48.470 --> 00:14:43.430
00:14:43.430 --> 00:15:05.759
00:15:07.280 --> 00:15:18.000
00:15:19.200 --> 00:16:42.180
00:16:42.180 --> 00:16:47.660
00:16:47.820 --> 00:16:56.710
00:16:57.030 --> 00:18:38.109
00:18:39.470 --> 00:18:52.889
00:18:54.089 --> 00:19:02.119
00:19:04.039 --> 00:19:04.059
00:19:04.720 --> 00:21:05.990
00:21:05.990 --> 00:21:54.079
00:21:55.359 --> 00:21:56.119
00:21:56.119 --> 00:22:05.599
00:22:06.959 --> 00:22:35.990
00:22:35.990 --> 00:23:31.789
00:23:31.789 --> 00:23:58.039
00:23:59.129 --> 00:24:17.279
00:24:18.399 --> 00:24:28.099
00:24:30.659 --> 00:26:18.369
00:26:18.369 --> 00:26:44.919
00:26:45.399 --> 00:26:50.359
00:26:50.359 --> 00:26:50.679
00:26:50.679 --> 00:27:10.879
00:27:12.079 --> 00:27:13.759
00:27:14.159 --> 00:27:24.480
00:27:25.519 --> 00:28:11.579
00:28:11.659 --> 00:28:48.589
00:28:48.589 --> 00:29:12.079
00:29:12.509 --> 00:29:41.859
00:29:42.259 --> 00:29:46.259
00:29:47.839 --> 00:30:04.819
00:30:05.460 --> 00:30:12.949
00:30:13.470 --> 00:30:19.210
00:30:19.210 --> 00:30:21.689
00:30:21.689 --> 00:31:30.529
00:31:30.769 --> 00:32:06.659
00:32:07.759 --> 00:32:08.879
00:32:09.119 --> 00:32:13.599
00:32:14.159 --> 00:34:02.828
00:34:04.188 --> 00:34:06.989
00:34:07.308 --> 00:34:11.068
00:34:11.628 --> 00:34:16.188
00:34:17.478 --> 00:35:36.750
00:35:38.190 --> 00:35:52.610
00:35:52.849 --> 00:36:14.799
00:36:15.360 --> 00:36:17.199
00:36:17.759 --> 00:36:39.460