Yo zzisco here! After my release with Artichokes Are Yellow (AAY), I had the pleasure of interviewing James Vadner and Anna Brinckmann. Who makeup the duo of Two Tails and the owners of AAY. During the interview, they highlighted their historical background, despite the length there’s some juicy details–enjoy!
The History of Two Tails
What is the historical past of Two Tails?
2009-2012
James: I started producing Dubstep in 09 under the name Oblivion, and then changed to Cloud. Around that time in late 2012, that’s when I met Ashley. So, we did a remix of Clarity by Zed, we basically re-did the song and she sang it. We did a few shows as a duo and toured a little. I then decided to retire from music after a while, which squashed our friendship a bit.
2017
James: In 2017, we all lived in Florida and talked about doing another project together. Ashley suggested doing house music over bass music. Ashley and her boyfriend introduced me to the house scene because they were going to Holy Ship and that’s how they found Dirtybird. I was new to the house music world at this point.
The name Two Tails came about because it was almost a play on words. It was supposed to be like the number 2 and tales like two musical paths. Because Ashley’s musical past was singing, and my musical path was more production. It would also be a play on words with focusing on two different genres of music (tech-house and bass music).
2018
James: The project launched in 2018 and after I went to Dirtybird east coast and I really wanted to be a part of it. Right after that, we wrote 3-4 new songs, of which 1 of those songs we turned into the Beats Remix. We initially did it as a bootleg but Dirtybird got a hold of it and hit us up saying they wanted to sign it, which was a month after campout.
2019
James: This is where things started getting different. This is where we wrote Fox Trot, Ash Potatoes, and Bath Time. In those tracks, Ashley really isn’t singing much, it’s more talk singing. So, we started running into issues where she couldn’t really show off her voice. Because I didn’t make that type of house music. Ashley did a track showing off her voice with another producer and she nailed it!
At that point, I recommended that she work with another producer that could make music to complement her singing. However, the main thing was relationships were involved between her and her ex-boyfriend because he was sort of managing us. There was just drama behind the scenes between them. It created some tension where it made more sense for us to split up.
Coming into Summer of 2019, I was spending a lot of time trying to get on Box of Cats. I was going back and forth with Wongo about writing a Box of Trax EP. Leading up to the Box of Cats release, it became this ultimatum for Ashley to leave now or for her to stay. Because if the Box of Cats release came out, I knew it would push our name out, so we needed to solidify Two Tails as a duo or solo project.
Ashley did end up leaving and the Box of Cats release came out. There was some confusion on if it was one or two people, so we pushed the narrative really hard that it’s just one person, we even have a statement on Instagram and Facebook about Ashley leaving.
2020
James: We go into 2020 with the pandemic, and as Twitch was blowing up and our name was getting out there, I met Anna in November 2020. This was after the Box of Cats release, and while working with Dirtybird. After we got to know each other more, I learned all of Anna’s talents and thought this could be perfect if we can make this work, so Two Tails can be a duo again and be a duo again in the exact way I originally envisioned it to be.
During this time, I was writing the Vicky Album. We were working on two songs together but the one that made the album was Make It Out Alive. This was the last piece of the puzzle to finish the Vicky Album. The goal was to put that out as the last solo project for Two Tails as well as a way to introduce Two Tails’ new sound for what we wanted to do in the future. There may have been some confusion, but Two Tails includes two people, James and Anna.
Dive Deeper into the tales of the tails
What’s the brand of Two Tails?
James: Before, we had images of foxes and deer, which are mine and Ashley’s favorite animals. That’s why the logo has those two tails. Every genre is saturated with so much stuff, so it’s about standing out and doing something unique. If you don’t stand out–you just get buried. We just want to make whatever we want and Popsicles in February was a kick in the face in that sort of way.
Anna: Maybe our next album will be Emo Tech-House.
What do you want people to know about Two Tails?
James: We want people to know that Two Tails is two people and Anna puts in the work while I sit back and watch (laughs). We also have a lot of things in the making, and in general we’re trying to balance the workload between the label and the artist project to avoid burnout.
Anna: That James hates all my ideas (laughs). When it comes to the music portion of Two Tails I don’t care about how big the song is, what label it’s on, how many people see it, etc. I just care if it makes one person’s day better. I’m just writing what I feel like writing when I feel like writing it and that just makes it more enjoyable instead of burning out.
Most interesting DJ experience as Two Tails?
James: One bad experience was when we got cut short at Monarch because people stopped buying drinks. I’ve been DJing for a very long time and in my experience, I’ve never had a situation where a set was cut short for any reason. But yeah we played at Monarch for about 30 minutes and because people weren’t buying drinks anymore, the manager came out and said he’s losing money, so he’s cutting it off. People had been there all night and at some point, I feel that at a show you want to be responsible and not continue to drink as the show’s ending, so you can get home safely. I’ve never had that situation happen before, so it was an interesting experience.
Anna: Another San Francisco show we played a show for was Gold Bloc and they brought out this Gold Bus called the Twerkulator. They had us playing while the bus was moving and I was holding onto the table to keep the deck from sliding off.
Let’s talk about the Music Industry
How would y’all describe the Tech-House music scene?
Anna: I feel there should be two different styles of tech-house because there’s styles like Dirtybird and Box of Cats but when I think of Tech-House I think of all the 90’s R&B remixes with the same basslines. It’s definitely getting more modernized. I’ve come to realize that a large majority of people listen to labels like Insomniac where the genres are the same title but different.
That’s why I was thinking–Tech House–what it’s considered for a wider audience versus the labels that we listen to is more basic and poppy sounding. But I’ve only been to two tech-house festivals and they were both Dirtybird, so I’m still new to the scene.
James: I think it’s really blowing up right now. There are some crews that are taking some chances on bringing some acts out that wouldn’t normally be able to come out to those cities because they wouldn’t be able to make their money back. I remember in 2018, a crew brought Walker & Royce to Minneapolis and only about 40 people were there. Someone else brought out Walker & Royce here recently and it looked like the event did really well, a completely different scenario this time.
Who would win in Celebrity Deathmatch between Claude Vonstroke & Wongo?
James: Probably Wongo because Australians are crazy. But then again, Claude’s a bigger guy compared to Wongo but Wongo was a breakdancer so he could have some crazy moves.
Anna: I’ve never met Wongo, but my gut instinct was going to say Wongo because with Claude, he’s so quiet, I don’t think he would want to fight Wongo. I feel that he would just let it happen. He’s like a peaceful teddy bear, he probably would just look at Wongo, shrug, and say “okay” and just let it happen.
Working with other Record Labels
Are there any DIY labels that people should be on the lookout for within the tech-house scene?
James: Ernesto’s Label, Broken-Traxx. Ernesto’s a God-like producer, so him doing his own thing is really cool. Cour-T’s label, Colapso.
Anna: Nala’s label, Mi Dominia Records.
How’s the relationship with House of Hustle? How was working with them on the album?
James: We did the Fox Trot EP in 2019, so HOH wanted to hold a spot for us to release with them again in 2020. So, we both agreed to do an album. It was during this time that we were working on starting AAY and HOH helped us to start the label in general. They helped with the logistics and with the invitation to work with our distributor. They shared email lists they had already. Ever since then, the only thing we discussed was doing a remix album for the Vicky Album.
Do y’all plan on releasing with other labels in the future?
James: It probably would be a while because our goal right now is to only release on our label. When I was in San Francisco doing the Penny Challenge, I was hanging out with Vonstroke for the day. He said that he viewed our label as good and that all we need now is money. He said if you get more money in promoting your releases and continuing on with what you’re doing as a label y’all are in a good stance.
He complimented the artwork and thought the tracks we’re putting out were good. The last thing was “you guys have a label, don’t try to release with other people, try to work with other people with remixes or events and just release on Artichokes Are Yellow, so you can keep all the rights to your music.”
You wouldn’t release with Dirtybird?
James: I don’t think we’re making things that Dirtybird would sign at this point anymore, as we continue on with the Two Tails project. Dirtybird tends to stay away from things that are more vocally focused. I know they are changing some of the things they are doing. Maybe our Dirtybird path is doing remixes.
Artichokes Are Yellow
What’s the driving force or motivation for starting the Record Label, Artichokes Are Yellow?
Anna: I just want to support all the artists that I like and push out their music as if it was our own. It’s exciting for me personally to grow artists from the bottom up. Some of our artists have a lot of releases and are well established but signing those artists helps us to have the ability to grow other artists who have not necessarily had the platform to grow yet. It makes working fun and I don’t want that to change anytime soon.
James: I’ve been wanting to start a label for quite some time, after I worked with Prime Audio. When you run your own label you have a lot more freedom to do whatever you want to do. I brought up this idea originally in 2019 but I wasn’t sure if we were ready. I felt we had a pretty strong internet backing (e.g., Twitch and Instagram) as an artist, so it just felt like the right time to do it. I feel that we’ve been lucky and blessed to be able to stick with our release schedule where we’re doing two releases per month. Plus we launched AAY with Dirtybird and put on this big online festival, which we had the backing from Future Fest to make that festival this online virtual experience. I felt we’re lucky to have that opportunity to make that happen.
How do y’all stand out from other labels?
Anna: Our artwork because a lot of stuff I’ve seen lately is empty, besides House of Hustle and Dirtybird. I think our artwork stands out among other track art and I think it’s aesthetically pleasing. There’s other stuff too but this is the first to come to my mind. You can thank Danny! He does all our art and he also runs Nightenjin.
James: How we do things is what makes us stand out. It’s almost like when we put a release out, the release does most of the talking. We also weren’t going to do any compilations besides the remix comps. Because the goal is that the release itself will always have its own spotlight. What some labels will do is have two remixes come out along with the original, so the original may not get its own time to shine. Also, with our remix compilations, we try to switch up the styles, where the remix style may be very different than what we would originally sign, but it allows the artists to have more freedom with their creation.
We maxed our compilations to four tracks because although we want to shine as a label, it’s more important that our artists shine. Which is why we didn’t take the approach of doing compilations all the time. Other labels may take 12 tracks and put them all into a compilation where maybe only a few will get their chance to shine. In that case, the compilation is structured to shine the label versus the songs or artists.
If you had $20,000 for the label, what types of things would you do?
Anna: Pay Kayla A LOT! Also, the most important thing that we should start putting money into is playlisting for all of our releases. I think if we put money into this, we‘ll a return for the artists. So, it makes the most sense logically because it would give us more song purchases, saves, and plays. Obviously we’re doing events and stuff too, so we probably would want to grow that.
James: My number 1 would definitely be doing events. I also agree with what Anna said, finding a public relations team that will rock your world!
Any valuable lessons you’ve learned from starting and managing a label this past year?
Anna: Don’t put anything out until the contract is signed. It’s a duh lesson but you still have to learn it. I think the lesson is to be diligent with the contract.
James: It’s more time consuming than I first thought. Even with delegating things out to our team and doing it in a timely manner. Also, trying to keep up with trends, social media, what’s working, what’s not, as the music industry is always changing.
Another lesson was to be more stern on what our vision is when we’re signing stuff for the label. When you have friends who send you demos, the last thing you want to say is no. That’s the hardest thing to do is to tell them that it’s not a good fit for us.
What is the vision of the label?
Anna: Musically, there’s a certain style that we shoot for but we like things that are unique and different. I don’t want to sign something that I’ve already heard before. It’s difficult to keep everything in the same genre and style that we like but also have it be original. We’ve definitely signed tracks that are a bit out of the box but it works because it’s weird in a way that fits into our brand. When I’m scrolling through the AAY catalog at a show, I don’t think there’s anything that I wouldn’t play.
James: We want to have our own trend versus signing what’s the big thing right now. If we like it and we’re playing it, then we’ll most likely sign it. I think that’s the trend that we’d like to go with versus fab following. We want to be looked at more than another record label, more like a brand. I mean Dirtybird is the pinnacle of that. They hold down a lot of different stuff like their brand, events, merch, just a great musical catalog.
At some point, we’ll start managing or become an agency. That’s something I’ve done in the past value, but it’s just not the right time because that would require another team to onboard. I think a label that can take an artist and say “oh they’re good–blow them up.” So, that’s something that we want to be able to do.
Quick Facts about James & Anna
What’s your favorite thing about Donald Trump?
Both: When he’s not around.
What’s your perspective with psychedelics?
James: A lot of people don’t know this but we haven’t done any drugs before. So, at first I’m thinking shrooms or something that can alter your mind.
Anna: It’s hard to have a perspective when you’ve never had an experience with something.
Do y’all believe in ghosts or spirits?
Anna: James doesn’t, but I do a little. What do I think..? I wish they would go away and leave me alone. They can find something else to do on their own time. My time is not theirs.
What are some values of a typical American?
Anna: I think we steal food from other cultures and Americanize it. I don’t even think we have our own category of food besides burgers.
James: I think we have a shit food system.
Who would you take on Jerry Springer to fight?
James: I’d take my dad.
Anna: I’d also take James dad.
What does it take to be successful in general?
Anna: Enjoy what you’re doing, so it doesn’t get boring and then you can do it forever.
James: It depends on how successful you want to be. Goal oriented and time are the biggest obstacles. Because no matter if you put in 100% effort and all of your time then the likelihood of being successful continues to grow but at the same time, you don’t want to overdo it or burn yourself out because of the amount of time that you’re putting into it, so it’s a balance.
Rapid Fire Questions(IT’S EITHER THIS OR THAT)
James:
- Noodles or Rice? Noodles
- Barbie or Ken? Barbie
- CDJs or Vinyl? CDJs
Anna:
- Kodak Black or Soulja Boy? Kodak Black
- Dragon Fruit or Passion Fruit? Dragon Fruit
- No or huh? Huh?
Thank you so much for reading! Be sure to check out all the stuff Two Tails is doing right here –> click me.
AAY just dropped a new single from Wolfstax, French Toast. Plus they have a Winter Sampler dropping on 12.23.22 featuring Hot Pot and the magnificent Rob Marion.
Much love to you from the two tails fam!
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