From Hollywood to the Hills, GPCTV keeps the party going. “Life ain't nothing but bitches and money.” So begins the aptly titled opener “Bitches and Money.” The line is repeated and interwoven with a four-on-the-floor beat that grows more complex with every measure. Pulsing bass and rapid-fire samples give way to staccato synths and an explosive chorus that is envy to a DJ's ears. This is where hedonism and sarcasm intersect. This is when the party starts. This is GPCTV.
GPCTV consists of Luke Walker and Christian Berishaj, who had been friends for some time before they discovered that making music together was a damn good time. “[The studio sessions] were kind of like parties that turned into songs,” says Christian. But GPCTV is only one of many music projects for the ever-prolific pair. As the sole member of Gods Paparazzi, Luke maintains a delicate balance between dance-your-ass-off and brooding introspective.
Sort of like a conversation between Daft Punk and Trent Reznor, while they're sipping martinis and picking up girls. Christian's main gig is Christian TV, and it's under this moniker that he has developed a refreshingly mature, futuristic pop sound. Take four minutes, watch the video for “Drop Dead Gorgeous Jamie,” and see if a modern-day “Billie Jean” doesn't spring to mind – minus the luminescent floor.
Gods Paparazzi + Christian TV = GPCTV. Get it?
Luke and Christian first met in 2007 in Austin, TX. According to Luke “Both of our bands were playing a show. His band was Love Arcade, my band was [The] Summer Obsession. I sold him some drugs, it was history.” That last part can't be confirmed, but the record will show that their precocious talent brought them estimable success very early on. At age 19, while living in Detroit, Christian wrote and recorded an entire album by himself, called it Love Arcade and scored a deal with Atlantic Records. Meanwhile, in sunnier Jacksonville, FL, Luke was catching the attention of MySpace co-founder Tom Anderson with The Summer Obsession. The band's fan base exploded after some invaluable promotion from the social media giant, and they went on to release an album on Virgin Records.
Letting the music speak for itself, one can easily discern that Luke is a prodigious songwriter with a knack that spans across genres. Not surprisingly, he's racked up some seriously impressive credits. Downtown Music Publishing calls upon him regularly to write and produce for artists like Sugar Ray, Filter and Elliot Yamin. He's working with Gossip Girl's Leighton Meester on her forthcoming debut album. Most recently, he's spent time in the studio with emerging Atlantic Records artist Matt Toka, a.k.a. Dig Bic, who Luke describes as a “hella cool dude” and a “total star.” Luke is a producer who means business, and having worked with more well-known artists than you can count on both hands, business is good.
I caught up with Luke and Christian in their Los Angeles studio for a face-to-face conversation, picture-in-picture rather, over Skype:
Wanted: Luke, you're originally from Florida, and Christian, I know you're from Michigan. Why did you choose to move out to L.A.?Christian: 'Cause this is where everything's happening. There's not really much going on where I'm from in Detroit. Like there's nothing going on. I'm sure it's the same way over in Jacksonville.
Luke: Yeah, it's weird 'cause I was talking to Rob Roy yesterday, we were talking about how you don't have to leave L.A. to do anything music-wise or entertainment-wise – it's all right here. You might have to go do shows and stuff, but as far as setting up music and doing music, it's all right here in the supposed throat chakra of the world.
W: So tell me a little bit about your songwriting process...do you come with ideas straight off the bat or do you just improvise on the spot?C: It varies...all kinds of ways.
L: We'll be hanging out, chasing girls...or just getting fucked up and then we'll think of a hook and be like “Ah write it down, let's go to the studio and record it! OK.” So we'll go and record it. And we work really well together because we both know Pro Tools really well. We're both at the same level of production skills. So we just work well together. We're on the same exact page, we know what to do.
C: Yeah, it's nice to take turns doing that...'cause when you do this stuff you get kinda burned out, and then that's when he'll do his thing for a little bit and then I'll come back and do my thing and we just switch off.
L: Kind of like tag-teaming a hooker.
W: That's a hook right there...tag-teaming a hooker.[All three laughing]
Summer Obsession, your own stuff. How do you keep from getting burned out?
L: I get burned out. Oh yeah.
W: What do you do to keep it fun? How do you keep it interesting?
L: It's just survival. I woke up today and I was like, “Fuck this, I don't want to do anything, I'm going to stay in bed all day. I'm going to disappear for a week straight. I'm just burned out.” But I know I can't do that, you know, I gotta get up and do my thing.
Nah it's cool man, I don't get burned out on music, I love music. You know it's just hard to see sometimes, when you're in something and doing it a lot, it's hard to see the outside perspective. Me and Christian, this project, has been a lot of work. We spend all this time in the studio. It's mentally exhausting and people don't really realize it. But it is a lot of work, it'll burn you out.
C: We say we're officially done with the record...but he came in here a second ago and I was still working on this song's part. I was like “Dude I gotta fucking fix this!” It's just like until it's out, you know, it's not done.
W: Luke, you've done a lot of work with various artists – the Deftones, Tyga, Leighton Meester – is it challenging for you to switch up [between] different genres like that?
L: Nope, that's the easiest thing. It's like when you eat sushi – you gotta eat ginger after each piece of sushi. You gotta cleanse the palette...it's kinda like that I think. Just go from genre to genre. 'Cause you get lost...if you do house music or electronic music for a long period of time you're like, “Oh, I don't even know what I'm doing anymore.” But for me it's like, if I go and do rock or something, or rap, I hear it with fresh ears.
W: Christian, how about your album. What's going on with that? Are you going to release it soon?
C: Yeah, as I was just saying, I'm still working on this song 'cause we're shooting a video for the first single called “When She Turns 18” the 12th [note: September], which I think is next Friday, if I'm not mistaken...or Saturday, one of the two. I was just trying to get that mix totally crispy clean, you know, to print to that. So I'm just working on that right now, and the rest of the record is pretty much done. I've just been going back and putting little intros and stuff between songs, and now we just gotta think of a song order – which is another challenge in itself.
W: When do you think we're going to see the album out and be able to buy it?
C: Hopefully a couple of months.
W: Cool, we'll keep an eye out for it.
L: It just depends on what happens with labels and stuff, 'cause we already got some people that are wanting to sign it. And I'm sure with the way it is out here, everybody will start flocking to it.
W: Speaking of labels, I know over the last few years artists have become a lot more empowered, and it seems like they rely on the labels a lot less. What are your thoughts on that whole change, and what other changes are you seeing in the music business right now?
C: I think that's kind of how we're approaching it right now. You know, you don't really need a label...we're gonna try to get as far as we can without it. When you get on a big enough scale to where you need one of those, then you can worry about it. But if you can get to where you're going without it, which most of the time you can, if you have the stuff behind you and the equipment and whatever else you need.
L: Yeah, if you got the relationships and the connections. You know L.A.'s great for that, just as probably New York is, 'cause you can just go out on any given night and just kind of manifest who you want to meet you. Like, “Hmm, I wanna meet a porn star tonight...bing!” Or, “Hmm, I wanna meet a graphic artist tonight...bing!” Seems like it's like that out here.
W: [Christian], you said you're doing a video shoot. I saw the “Drop Dead Gorgeous Jamie” video, it was fantastic. Tell me about shooting that video and making it.
C: That was more of like an unofficial kind of [thing]. We shot one day and, we actually shot two days and we were like, “Well, I guess we'll have enough to be done.” A month later goes by and the guy sent me the first edit, and I was like “Nah man, we gotta put more into this.” And so we went back and we shot another two days, and then after that he sent me another edit and I was like “Dude, we need still a little bit more.” So we ended up shooting another day after that, and then I and he edited it together. [to Luke] Ed-d-d-ded it. Ed-d-d-ded it together [laughing]. You know it came out to that in the end. It had to be moving the whole song for me. I don't like when videos are boring, you know. At some point it's like seizure-ish [laughing].
W: But it's cool, it works. Did you come up with the concept yourself?
C: Well, yeah. I mean it started out as one concept in the beginning, but then it kind of broke into a whole performance concept in the end, rather than an actual concept. I guess there are little bits of a concept, like with the drug use and the girls, partying. You know, it all just coincides, not on purpose.
W: It works.
C: Yeah, as long as it works.
W: Luke, you're working on a new Summer Obsession album, right?
L: Yeah.
W: Cool, how's that coming along?
L: We got ten songs...we're putting ten songs on the record. And we're about halfway through with vocals and guitar solos. That's the last layer, we're almost done. I'm mixing everything and then I gotta get it mastered. We're going to do the same thing [as last time]...maybe try to get another Japanese deal 'cause we did well over there. Or see what Capitol Records wants to do with it maybe. I don't know, there's a lot of options. That's coming along good though, we're excited.
W: Nice. I know you're doing vocals and you said you're mixing it. Are you doing any other stuff on the record as well?
L: Yeah, I play bass on it.
W: Luke, I read on Myspace that the most influential artists you've worked with are Rob Roy and Jeffree Star because they have a message for the future, which is balance. Can you elaborate on that some?
L: Yeah. Christian too, I forgot to put him in there.
W: Yeah, this was probably written a long time ago, so...
L: It was, maybe I did that like a month ago. Well, number one, Jeffree Star. When I first met him, I was interested. I was like, “What has this guy gone through to become like this?” And then number two, “How in the fuck does he have a career?” I checked out his music and I was like, “Wow, this is cool,” 'cause I love electronic music. So then I kind of got obsessed with him. I would read his MySpace, all of his blogs. Just out of curiosity, you know. Anyway, when I started reading on further, I was like, “Wow, this guy is actually kind of smart and I agree with a lot of his ideals.” Stripping yourself down and, in his case, he says that he packs on his layers to, uh...I just forgot what I was saying, sorry.
C: Packs on his layers to...
L: I guess you just have to go read it. It's all about what reality is and what are being real and labels and breaking molds and shit like that. I think that's a good message [of] balance, 'cause a lot of people are caught up in identity, and that's a human trait. I like that – shattering different things and doing shit different, it's cool.
And then, as far as Rob Roy...his message is basically like, “Bring it back home. Come back home.” For instance, “Fur in My Cap” is about – not many people know this – the old cave man days, when your symbols of status in your society or whatever were: you got your fur to keep warm; you got your food...your bird in the sack; and then you got your girl...your pussy in your lap. So that whole song is basically about taking it back to those three things that are the foundation of all this shit we have today. Material things or whatever. His whole record is themed like that. It's real profound shit to me.
And then I would say Christian too. Maybe it's not balance but partying and getting chicks naked and being on top of the world!
Christian I read somewhere on Wikipedia, which we know is infallible, that you're a singer, guitarist bass player, keyboardist, drummer, producer, engineer, mixer, videographer and graphic designer. Is that true?
C: [laughing] Wow! I guess, in some sense of the word.
L: And fluffer.
C: Yeah and fluffer.
W: [laughing] What do you like best, besides fluffing?
C: I actually edited uh, I actually ed-d-d-ded uh...I actually did the editing for the “Drop Dead Gorgeous Jamie” video [laughing]. Since I can't say ed-d-d-ded. But I don't really do much of the graphic design stuff anymore 'cause I was surpassed by all of the people that actually know how to do it...I just stopped and kept [doing] what I was good at, which was Pro Tools and all that good stuff. Music stuff.
W: Who are your big influences, especially in electronic music?
L: Crookers, Bloody Beetroots...
C: I like Hatiras...Hatiras is sick dude!
L: Soulwax, Fake Blood...
C: Boys Noize, whatever...
L: MSTRKRFT, Audio Bullys, Benny Benassi...we got to open up for him in Salt Lake City a couple of months ago. We go to these big raves called PsyTribe Raves. So it's like psytrance. Those are fucking awesome 'cause we eat acid and MDMA and all kinds of shit and just go crazy dude. They're badass.
C: Flower-tripping.
L: Yeah flower-tripping! And there are like 2,000 people out in the woods. The last one in Malibu was sick dude. You had to take a shuttle to get back in this big mansion, and the grounds were crazy with these wind-y ass roads. You finally get there 30 minutes later, and they got two huge spots...one for dub stuff. It's sick dude. So badass.
W: And you guys have played a couple of those now?
L: No, I wish we could play that. That's like psytrance though. We do more of like, house. We spun a couple of like, I guess they were celebrity parties.
C: Yeah we did a couple of, what are they called, wrap parties? Where they wrap up a show or something? Yeah we did a couple of those up in the hills.
W: Oh yeah? Who for?
L: [waving his hands in the air] I got to chill with Jason Priestley!
W: You did one for Jason Priestley?
L: It was for a show called The Lake. And then the founders of MySpace, we spun at one of their parties. Those are the funniest men 'cause everybody gets fucking wasted.
C: Hell yeah!
W: Are there any artists that really blow you guys away recently?
C: I'm really into the Bloody Beetroots. They just came out with their new record like a week ago. I just got to listen to it today, it’s pretty badass.
W: How about you Luke?
L: I'm going to have to say Hannah Montana. Party in the U.S.A.!
W: Hannah Montana? Well she's not new...
L: Well I guess you're right, let me see. I don't know, I like everything. I like everything that comes out.
C: It's all good.
L: [pointing to Christian] These are my favorite artists.
C: The ones that we're working with.
L: Yeah Rob, Jeffree and Christian, they're all kind of my favorite artists. That's why I work with them. Jeffree's album is coming out Sep. 22nd, I'm excited for that.
W: By most standards you guys have been pretty successful. You've had a pretty good long run so far in music and you continue to do it, so how do you define success for yourselves?
L: Success is...
C: Being able to keep doing this for me.
L: Yeah waking up everyday and this is what we have to do. That's success for me. Success to me is having my rent paid from music, you know. Having money in my pocket to eat with, from music. And then occasionally I have money to go down to Costa Rica and get hookers every night.
C: Definitely!
W: Cool...um...
C: [laughing] Funny thing is you think that we're joking!
Watch out for:
* Rob Roy's “Fur in My Cap” featured in the HBO series Entourage, Sep. 20th
* Jeffree Star's debut album “Beauty Killer,” available Sep. 22nd
Links:
www.myspace.com/gpctv
www.thisischristiantv.com
www.myspace.com/godspaparazzi
www.myspace.com/jeffreestar
www.iamrobroy.com
Written by Cory Gaddis
