With the recession in full swing, unemployment rates soaring, and every day a seemingly endless battle with the doom-and-gloom realities of life, the timing really couldn’t be more perfect for a resurgence of feel-good party rap—the ass-shaking, raunchy music that keeps it real and makes you feel bigger than yourself. Enter Thunderheist. “We’re a free zone—an intergalactic free zone—and whatever you want to do in that 45 minutes to an hour that we’re sharing with you, you are King Kong. You can do whatever you want—enjoy it, embrace it,” says Isis, the voice behind Thunderheist, about the power of their live performances. The Nigerian-born, Montreal-raised emcee/singer is only one half of the equation, however; she’s joined by the more reserved, but equally sarcastic and tongue-in-cheek, Grahm Zilla (“I’m a close relative of Godzilla—a second cousin.”).
The duo teamed up in late 2006, after a fateful accident in which Grahm mistakenly sent Isis a track he’d produced over MySpace. Since then, the Canadian party-starters have been enjoying rising popularity thanks to their disco and funk-infused, bass-heavy mix of synth hip-pop. Already established in their own circles—Isis in rap, and Grahm as a part of Montreal’s Peer Pressure crew—they quickly gained due attention and acclaim in the blogosphere (and now, interestingly enough, from the ubiquitous Perez Hilton himself).
URB caught up with the duo after one of their shows in LA—a classic Thunderheist live experience, complete with the ever-naughty Isis taking it upon herself to make sure the audience’s cups were filled with whiskey. Holed up in a tiny room backstage for our interview, Grahm and Isis have an infectious energy that’s immediately inviting, as though you’ve been friends with them for years. Perhaps their brother-sister-type relationship, in which they complete each other’s sentences, has a little something to do with that. Here, the two discuss their performance philosophy, thoughts on struggling to keep the album format alive, and their self-titled debut album now out on Big Dada.
URB: How was Thunderheist born?
Isis: Well, I sent Grahm an e-mail saying that I was a Nigerian princess and that I needed him to wire me 5,000 dollars and in return I would give him a 100,000 dollars as payment. And then Grahm sent me the 5000 dollars, and later on realized I scammed him and chased me down.
Grahm Zilla: It was a Nigerian e-mail scam. Have you heard of them?
They’re quite common, aren’t they?
G: They are, and I fell for it…I full on fell for it.
I: Hey, it’s not my fault Nigerians are very, very cunning and smart.
G: Thunderheist basically started out as something I wanted to do with another producer, and the other producer in question used to tell me that I always stole his thunder.
He was jealous?
G: Yeah, in general I was always kind of usurping him. He was like, “Why are you stealing my thunder?” And then I was looking for a name that didn’t exist, and in this day and age you really have to just create new words. I was like “heist…thunder…Thunderheist!” and then I Googled it and there were zero results. So I knew, in this day and age, that that means you’ve invented a word. If Google doesn’t know what you’re talking about, you are the inventor.
You guys started out making music long-distance in Canada, so how does the creative process between you two usually work?
G: Well, it’s changing because originally it consisted of a lot of internet exchanges of files. It’s been like that for two years, but actually the last couple of weeks we’ve been having sessions where she’d come over.
Just for the last couple of weeks?
G: Yeah, I’m serious. I moved to Toronto a year and a half ago, but we we’ve still been doing long-distance, internet exchanges.
I: He moved down the street and I still refuse to go there [to work]. But now I’m trying to do it and [put in] the effort to make that three-minute trip.
You guys have often said that you guys “saved each other”—how did you save each other?
G: I think we were both doing stuff that was in its own little dimension, but together we do stuff that accesses a bigger spectrum of people, so we basically tapped into some sort of ether and we’re just riding the water slide.
It’s really amazing to see how much of a following you guys have gained in the last year or so, before even dropping an official album. How long did it take you guys to get to the point where you were garnering international attention?
G: The international stuff came about maybe four months after we started. The catalyst was having Mad Decent, which was Diplo and Paul Devro, talk about us on their blog. They posted up a couple of our songs, and then within a week we had our first play in Scandinavia, so that’s really what started it for us. You know, you get a little love from someone like Diplo and things start to happen.
I: Mad love for Diplo.
A little love from Diplo never did hurt anyone. You guys have also had some recent love from the mainstream thanks to the film world—your single “Jerk It” was in The Wrestler. How did that come about?
I: Well, we realized that if you take a pillowcase and put a dollar sign on it, put money inside, and put it on Mickey Rourke’s doorstep, the odds are that you will get into his movie. And shoutout to Mickey Rourke—we’d really appreciate our pillowcase back. It’s the last one I have. If you want to send it back, that’d be cool.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbvKUEXNaDU&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
Did you meet him?
I: No, but I want to. I want to hold him.
G: Here’s the thing, the movie premiered in Toronto at the Toronto Film Festival—that’s where he got picked up by Fox. They had a private party and everyone was there; my friend deejayed there and he couldn’t get me in and my own song was in the movie! Mickey Rourke was there, and apparently Marilyn Manson got escorted out because he was trashing the place. They were all there and we didn’t get to go!
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