Barra Brown and Alex Meltzer of Korgy & Bass playing the Skype Live Studio in May—click to see more photos by Bennett DewanLast Halloween as gusty winds chilled bones and the lights flickered, some spooky inspiration came over Joshua “Fiji” Rehanek, better known as J. Fiji Azzam—the vocalist for the hip-hop live band ADDverse Effects.
“The origins of the track are a year old,” tells Korgy & Bass drummer Barra Brown of “All Hallows.”
“Fiji had told me that he was writing Halloween-inspired verses,” explains Alex Meltzer, who provides the programming in Korgy & Bass. “Coincidentally, I had just started working on a Halloween-inspired beat using samples from A Nightmare on Elm Street. Seemed fitting to join the ideas together.”
Featuring “the ‘Wolfman Verse’” and “the ‘Boogieman Verse,’” the lyrics came together quickly for Rehanek. “Halloween is my favorite holiday, that beat is far too nasty, and werewolves are boss af,” he says.
Meltzer created the haunted soundscape by using samples of “an old radio teleplay, a wolf howl, an audio recording of an exorcism, and a Joker laugh,” he says. “Everything on the track was sampled except for the live bass line.”
When the three got into the studio on October 30 of last year, “Fiji came in and crushed the session,” Brown says. “No notes, completely memorized, knew what he was doing with the delivery and the characters in the track.”
And everything came together very smoothly thanks to Korgy & Bass’ experience. “Their musicianship and understanding of composition far surpasses most producers,” Rehanek says.
