Text and Interview: Alec Coiro
Photo: Jeremiah Cannon
We don’t get out to the Bay Area nearly as much as we’d like to or we should, which is why the Molly House project is doubly fantastic: it’s a slamming collection of music and also a way of encapsulating the Swagger Like Us nightlife experience. Swagger Like Us is a local legend on the Bay Area queer party scene; the artists on Molly House Volume 1 come out of the scene and producer davOmakesbeats is the resident DJ who took us behind the scenes for this interview. So in addition to the Molly House artists, davOmakesbeats also gives breaks down a Swagger Like Us DJ set. When you put it all together, it’s clear that Molly House/Swagger Like Us is on the cutting edge of culture, living it and creating it at the same time.
The little slice of the experience we’re featuring today is entitled “Dark n Lovely” with a taste of the vocal stylings of Bbymutha. While the Bay Area scene is where all these sounds became synthesised, the artists originate from far and wide. davOmakesbeats transplanted from D.C. and Bbymutha brings a Tennessee inflection. Ultimately, though, Molly House has brought together something unique, and this is just volume 1; the featured artists have further releases of their own planned. If you can’t make it out to the party, Molly House brings the party, and we’re bringing davOmakesbeats to you with our interview below.
Molly House Records came out of Swagger Like Us, right? Can you tell us a little about Swagger Like Us and how the one led to the other.
Yup. My business partner Kelly Lovemonster and I started the party almost 5 years ago in San Francisco. I was currently a vocalist/producer in a queer hip-hop/club duo called Double Duchess. Both Kelly and I saw the void of queer POC and artists celebrated in parties and nightlife. As the party grew into an event company, we wanted to further represent and support the many artists we had been working with beyond a single show. As I naturally moved into producing for other artists more regularly, I just began producing content for the label to begin releasing in 2017 while we began to develop a game plan for all the other aspects that running a label consists of.
davOmakesbeats is the resident DJ and the producer of the tracks on this album. Who would be some artists in a davOmakesbeats set list for a 2017 party?
I tend to play edits/remixes from a lot of producers I like right now. Favorites such as Byrell the Great, Javascript, Orlando Volcano, Sliink, False Witness, Uniiqu3, Asmar, Lao, Leonce plus so many more. I’ll of course throw in some diva remixes from Ri Ri, Bae and Whitney, plus a few edits of my own.
How did you pull together the various artists for the album?
Saturn Rising, Sir JoQ, and AH-MER-AH-SU are all based in the Bay Area so I have worked with them outside of this project already in various capacities. I’m from the DC/Baltimore area originally, so I have a sweet spot for DDM and TT the Artist.I have always been fans of them. Mister Wallace and Kaycee Ortiz tag teamed the tag they are on since they had been writing a lot together recently, so that was a fun surprise. Also all of the artist have played at Swagger Like Us before as well.
Can you tell us a little something extra about Bbymutha, the artist we’re featuring with this article?
I mean I basically just fell in love with her as soon as I heard her voice, and more when we finally met, and probably will even more when I get to finally met her beautiful kids. She’s got a lot of talent, and a lot of heart, and that just goes a long way in my book
This is the first of many releases. What are some of the future releases you have planned?
Yes, this is. We are finishing up EPs for both Saturn Rising and Bbymutha right now, and the label hopes to release them shortly after Molly House Volume 1.
