Flatbush Zombies are currently tearing through the flesh of Australia. Juice, Meech and Erick have been fucking things up in Sydney for a few days, but now they’re about close out their two-part Australian tour in Melbourne. And we were able to catch up with them before we catch them live to discuss important things like breakfast cereals, GIFs and spirit animals. It wasn’t all completely serious, though. We got some info about an R&B album that might happen, what the guys think the next big hallucinogenic drug will be and we also talked about grandparents, which is always cool.
Words: Dwayne Yates.
Interview: Dwayne Yates and Jonathan Brent.
Flatbush Zombies play a sold-out show at The Toff in Town, Melbourne, Saturday June 1.
Where are you guys now?
Erick: Flatbush?
Juice: Hell.
Meech: Reporting live from hell.
Are you guys excited about Australia? What do you want to do while you’re here?
Meech: Trip. Sip.
Erick: I don’t know what to expect but I sure am excited… I want to see some marsupials!
Let’s say that there’s a zombie invasion. What do you pack in your survival kit?
Meech: Nothing. Imma zombie. I ain’t got no worries.
Erick: I would be part of the invasion so I wouldn’t pack shit.
How would you describe your music to your grandmother?
Juice: I tried. She kicked me out.
Meech: I Wouldn’t. I would just play it. My grandma knows the deal. She saw the videos.
Erick: My grandparents have all passed… But I would probably define it as “rappity rap” to appease them.
What’s favourite breakfast cereal?
Meech: Sour Diesel
Juice: Crusty Oats
Erick: Cinnamon Toast Crunch
What’s your spirit animal?
Meech: Chupacabra
Juice: Mediain
Erick: Lion.
Who inspires you musically?
Juice: Bunch of people. Eminem, Bob Marley Vybz Kartel
Erick: Brian Eno, Amy Winehouse, Notorious B.I.G.
What was it like growing up in Flatbush?
Meech: Wild… wouldn’t trade it for the world
Erick: Flatbush is the center for West Indian culture; I’m Jamaican so I fit right in.
You guys run an excellent Tumblr. Apart from Flatbush Zombies, who has the best Tumblr in the game?
Meech: I don’t remember the names now. Been too long. But we definitely were Tumblr masters. Rare and grotesque imagery.
How is work on Better Off Dead going?
Meech: I just wanna get this out the way so I can work on my solo R&B album, really.
Erick: Great.
How did you guys meet one another?
Juice: Big drug deal. Major kilos of coke.
Meech: I met Juice in a junior wrestling league when we were young lads. Erick, I met him yesterday.
Erick: Meech and I lived on the same block ever since we were children, Juice I met a little later on. He went to JHS with Meech.
Bath salts caused a big stir in the media. What do you think the next drug hysteria is going to be about?
Juice: LSD again.
Meech: I don’t know but hopefully it makes people tell the truth.
Erick: Devils Breath?
What’s your favourite animated GIF?
Meech: Prolly JFK getting sniped by that so-called Magical Bullet.
Juice: Super Nut. [We googled ‘super nut’, and this is what we found.]
Erick: NIGGA STOLE MY BIKE.
Thug Waffle was almost called Thug Pancake. What’s the story with that?
Erick: Waffles are just better than pancakes.
Beside Juice’s hair, whats changed in the last year?
Meech: The world.
Juice—judging by that interview you did with Nardwuar, you’ve got an impressive singing voice. Do you have any plans doing a singing side project?
Juice: I was just joking around but me and my women plan on putting out a project of twisted beautiful tales.
Have you been reading any good books lately?
Juice: Walking Dead.
Meech: I wish… I’ve been slacking.
Erick: World War Z and The Tao of Wu.
Tell us about your craziest fan.
Meech: She was a genius, and zombies love brain.
Erick: Some dude in Canada tried to talk to me while I was taking a piss. Crazy ass motherfucker.
Do you guys feel any pressure to have a New York sound?
Erick: No. I don’t think we’re trying to sound like we are from New York. We are from New York.
Meech: Nope. It’s our music. We do what we want with it. I’m from New York – Brooklyn to be exact. So my music is “New York sound.” Whatever that means. But just know. If you guys only want the “traditional” hip hop sound out of New York then you’re not really into seeing things evolve, I guess.
What’s next for Flatbush Zombies?
Juice: Heaven.
Meech: Retirement for me.
Erick: World domination.