GUEST BLOG: Janine & The Mixtape in New York City

One of the most exciting new artist to grace New Zealand at the moment is Janine & The Mixtape. Her soulful mix of synth-pop is infectious and insanely catchy. Janine recently spent a month in New York recording and playing shows and has kindly writen us a blog about her travels.

A little history…
I started this year feeling a bit average. I was working soulless jobs trying to get enough money to survive and keep making music. I got let down real bad by some people in the industry too. You can roll over and feel sorry for yourself or you can make lemonade. I decided to take those bitter lemons with a pinch of salt and make margaritas!

It was a good time to book a trip to New York to play some shows, be inspired and basically just live the dream. I sent out a lot of emails and managed to book some shows before I left and even sorted a recording day at Bunker Studios. The hard part was funding it by myself.  For me this meant getting a full time J.O.B in an office. Consider my dues paid in full for having the best time of my life in New York.


For 4 months leading up to going away my day would start at 6.30am and end between 2 - 6am. I would get up, skate to work (badly), work, get home then work on my demos and beats for the shows until I couldn’t keep my eyes open...then do it all over again. Things started getting better in New Zealand before I left too. We got the NZ on Air New Artist Grant (a few years of applying paid off), the band was playing some cool shows and I met heaps of people in the music industry who weren’t diddles. Up and up.


Onto New York City Yo…

My trip started at 4am in Auckland Airport with a cancelled flight and a last minute over priced ticket to Sydney “just” in time to catch my connecting flights. At least Stan Walker was on that flight so I saw it as a good musical omen. I won’t go in to detail but it was 40 hours of stress with nearly missed connecting flights and my wisdom teeth feeling like they were trying to escape through my cheeks. 'I guess if you want the rainbow you gotta put up with some big fat hail rocks.

 But I made it! It was the best feeling ever getting to New York just in time to watch the sunset over Brooklyn.

The first thing my sister did was take me out for all you can drink sangria and the biggest bowl of spaghetti bolognaise I have ever seen. Then to the venue Pianos for a couple more drinks and to see where I was to going to play the next day.

I spent the next day searching for a synth stand, dope kicks and something to numb my teeth. I found walls of hi-top sneakers and walked around with goofy-as smile. I tried to tone it down and play it cool when I found my first street ball game but I’d never felt so at home before and it felt good. 

I had my first show of the month’s residency at Pianos that day. It was only 400m from where I was staying at my sister’s place in Chinatown so I decided to walk.

Turns out it’s more like 3km when you get lost and walk in the wrong direction. Sweaty-ville. I missed having the band with me but I was all set with my beats, synth, loop pedal, voice and sweet kicks. The show went amazing, the place was packed and I was mobbed with friendly people after. New York is good for bigging you up, if they like it they say so. It’s a nice feeling.



I spent about 8 hours a day jumping off trains at random places and getting lost but I was lucky to met some cool people who took me on some adventures. For me it’s all about the simple things. I had the best time rolling around Brooklyn cranking Notorious BIG and The Weeknd with friends. I felt invincible but was probably just like one of those guys who drive up and down Queen St looking like they need a pat on the back.




A week into my trip I woke up with Laryngitis. I was severely sick and panicking out about the show the next day. I went to the Nose and Throat doctor who shoved a giant tube up my nose and down my throat. I don’t know if I have a smaller nose than normal people but it was so painful. She gave me a ton of drugs that didn’t work so I ended up stocking up on a big pile of concoctions.



I couldn't make a sound so I had to cancel my second show at Pianos on Wednesday, The Living Room on Saturday and recording at Bunker Studios on Sunday. I was devastated but managed to organize an extra show at Pianos and change recording to another week. I didn’t like being silent though and iPhone notes was a bad translator. Auto correct can get you into trouble.



By the third week I started to get my voice back but still sounded a little bit like an 80 year old man. I did the best I could at the Pianos show on the Wednesday and it went good. I was really happy to have more shows left to sing my little larynx out though.

 In the mean time I saw so many amazing things. One of my friends was a street artist so I got to help set up for his show and hang with some dope artists. It ended up with a few scrapes and bruises from exploring (fence jumping) but I got to see some awesome spots. 



On my third weekend I had recording at Bunker studios in Williamsburg. It was raining real bad so I got a taxi. The driver was an interesting character, he asked me if I liked Indian men and then asked if I would marry him so I could stay there. I was awkward and a little upset that my first marriage proposal was in a taxi.
 
Bunker Studio has a real cool vibe with lots of old and new trinkets. Basically the recording day was amazing, we layered up heaps of cool sounds and had a great time doing it. I even got to see the new Bunker Studio building, which is the ultimate dream studio. About five times the size of York Street with random chambers that sound and look rad.

The guys I worked with are awesome and hilarious and the track 'Bullets' is sounding cool too. 

The next day I had a photo shoot with my sister in Brooklyn. We decided to go D.I.Y, take everything on our bikes and cycle over the Manhattan Bridge to find some sweet spots. I had my synth poking out of a plastic bag on my back, kind of like a dolled up turtle. It was all pretty hilarious with some extreme street costume changes.

At the end of it we went down to the water for wine and pizza before cycling back over the Manhattan Bridge. The ride home was very interesting, funny and a little terrifying.
 
 
I was real nervous for my last show at Pianos because everyone I had met came out to watch but it was heaps of fun. After the show I got asked to play on the Saturday (two days before home time) at a place called The Red Door. I am so glad I said yes.



A little research showed that The Red Door is an underground venue where Jeff Buckley, New York Dolls and some very cool others used to play and hang out. The owner is also best friends with the Rolling Stones, which is insane. You can read the history online if you want to know more ‘cause it’s pretty cool.



I went out to Chelsea to The Red Door for my last show. I started to set up and found my synth charger was broken so I ran round the corner to an electrical store. It was closed but after 10 mins of pleading they let me in. They didn’t have the right charger but managed to get some heavy-duty batteries to get through the show. I started playing and it was awesome. There was a sweet stage, great lights, a good sound guy, everyone was friendly and it felt like there was an amazing vibe in the building.

One of the guys told me there was some “sweet music spirits in there and they like good music” I felt like he was right and I hadn’t even drunk anything. 

Two songs in and the show got shut down by the NYPD and Fire department but after about half an hour we managed to kick them out and I got to finish my set. By this time the place was packed and it went off.

That show made my trip. I met some important people and it was all good! Check out some of the footage from the show below.

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The next day was my last so finished up all the things I wanted to see. I even waited in line with a bunch of toddlers to play on the giant piano like on the movie BIG. That night was a big one, I hung out with some friends and didn’t want to say goodbye. I ended up staying up all night and got less than 3 hours sleep before getting up to pack and head out to the airport for my 40hour trip home again.




That was the best time of my life. Now I’m working on getting back there as soon as possible. I got the bug. I got it real bad.



By Janine Foster

Check out more of Janine & The Mixtape here.