Monthly newspaper and online publication targeting 18 to 35 year olds. The ultimate guide to the hottest parties, going out and having fun. Music, fashion, film, travel, festivals, technology, comedy, and parties! London, Barcelona, Miami and Ibiza.
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/655461
ISSUE 85 / 20016 39 HIP HOP & RNB Can you tell us where the name, Sin for Calais came from? Basically, we go way back, we went to the same secondary school which shall not be named. We went on a school trip to Calais, and we saw a magical unicorn and he just whispered, "Hey guys, guys, you guys should start a group, call it Sin for Calais." And we were like, "Aw shit, yeah, that's kind of wavy." and then he gave us powers, but we can't tell you what the powers are yet. Soon come. Aight, so the official one, is our first fashion collection was about sin, the seven deadly sins, it was basically based one the seven deadly sins, and we had sin from way back then and as a collective we called ourselves The Calais Boys, which was kind of funny. There's a proper deep, meaningful answer behind it. Obviously going to Paris which is the main attraction, you have to go through Calais, so it's like we're the underdogs, so that's the kind of way we saw it. It's like everyone kind of knows about you, but you're not in the limelight, yet, and obviously from our reputation from wild parties and stuff the slang, "Sin for Calais" kind of became a nice title to the brand. How long have you guys been together, since the unicorn first spoke? Technically, the "unicorn" first spoke in 2009. Yeah, 2009, but Cas, Corrie, Jay and myself met each other in 2007 so then we were doing music and clothes kind of before that, from 2007, but then took it more seriously from 2009. It's like we developed the brand and had an idea but we had to get the right people and the right places and organise ourselves as a group, and we did, we got Tokyo, I've known Lash from way back then, and Lash is perfect, he's the perfect last edition to the group, and he's like a very good rapper. He's like the best rapper I know, ya know what I mean? Yeah, when I met Tokyo, I instantly sparked with Tokyo because he's very good at what he does, and always has been. What do you think of the current UK music scene? I think the UK music scene is really heading into a good place, especially with a lot of young brands putting their own different styles, especially after watching Straight Outta Compton, and when there were so many young groups coming out and everyone's going for it, for the spotlight and it just reminds me of that era and that I'm actually a part of the culture and I've got some influence and it's growing every day, so brands like ours, yours and Badside, House Affair, Serotonin all putting their own twists on things and it's all in a really good place. What makes Sin for Calais different from the rest? I think we're all mentally unstable, every night before I go to sleep I feel like I'm being attacked by giant spiritual spiders, it's mad It's mad because it's like we've found the right balance between being mature and organised and being very, very wild, we go out every single day. What helps us as well is that, rather than being sonically aware, we're very visually aware, and because the five of us are actually designers of some sort, I always found that growing up, my music was influenced by art and how looking at art can make you feel, and that's what makes us different. I think another thing that kind of sets us apart, well, not sets us apart entirely, but it kind of shows with our work is the fact that we love what we're doing. This is what we want to do and we want push this as far as it can go, so when you have that passion for things, it's not really work, it's your hobby so then it just builds on and builds on and you get your 10,000 hours in and then you become a master at it and then all the hoes'll come round. Also, what I didn't realised, we always have a lot of girls around us and I didn't think that was not normal until a bunch of guys said, "Fam, why do you always have a bunch of girls around you?" But, it's not even like that, I just grew up with a lot of women, so I have a lot of female friends, so everyone'll think, "Tokyo's out there just finessing everyone" but that's not actually the case. What has been your most interesting experience at a show? Best experience was when one girl put one foot on stage and started twerking, let's not talk about after parties. The most interesting thing that's happened to me is, I don't care, when these man are performing I want to get jump on stage and get on some wild shit. I think it was our first show, actually, I know it was our first show, I was like, "You know what, I don't know when these man are next going to perform, so I might as well just go ham now" and I managed to sneak bottles into the club and I started pouring it into people's mouths. The same show at Elephant & Castle, we played matrimony and when it dropped, I remember having a microphone at the beginning, and the song dropped and I don't know how, but I ended up at the back of the stage, and there's a video of it and I don't understand what happened, but it was very funny there was like a thousand motherfuckers on stage and a thousand motherfuckers off stage and the producer was like, "if you're not in the group, can you get off the stage." If you guys weren't making music, what would you be doing? If I wasn't in Sin for Calais, or part of the music scene, doing music, I would probably be art, or probably cutting hair. There are a few roots I could take, I'd be a designer, or I'd aim to be one of those well-known photographers cause other than music, photography is one of my things, I love photography, or, I'd probably go and work for my mum's company and just patting my watch and chilling. Mine is kind of less luxurious than that, but if I wasn't in Calais, music or design based, I'd probably go to University and study Psychology, get some stupid 2:1, then come up with no job, link up with my cousin (I don't wanna bait him out) and then I'll be like a 41-9er to the limit fam. There's been a lot of change and development in London, do you think there are more opportunities for the kids? Definitely, I would say in a way, when we were growing up stuff like studio time, it was hard, you'd have to book it and then go a week later and pay your money there and get like one song done at a time, for example if you're doing music, whereas now, it's so easy to record, microphones and iPhones are good enough to put in songs now, ya get me? Like 5, 7 years ago the attitudes towards music and fashion have changed since then, it's more creative, more accepting. The mind-set to creativity has change and parents are more comfortable. Up and coming Hip Hop group Sin for Calais headed down to Guestlist for a chat and to bless us with an interview, and tell us a bit about their group, what they stand for and give us an insight into their relationship with each other. " There's a proper deep, meaningful answer behind it. Obviously going to Paris which is the main attraction, you have to go through Calais, so it's like we're the underdogs, so that's the kind of way we saw it. " Max | Guestlist follow @SinForCalais