On a recent evening out exploring the nightlife on Broadway in formerly industrial South Williamsburg, Brooklyn, I was fortunate enough to wander into the right bar at the right moment and get an astounding sensorial introduction to the talent and energy of Poetic Thrust, a seven member Brooklyn based musical group featuring two MC’s and a full brass section. They describe themselves as a ‘7-piece self-care cult’ who ‘chisel down our ideas, sculpted from experience’ and ‘ create through improvisation and live performances that start late and stay later.’
Poetic Thrust dropped their second EP, ‘On Deck’ on November 13th, 2019, and we got to talk (and smoke) a bit both after the show and in a followup interview, about what inspires them, and where cannabis fits into their lives and work.
NUGL Magazine: Hey PT!! Please lay out a bit about what the band is about and what got you together?
Z
We formed starting from a trio of myself, Juno and Stu that had been about playing some of my electronic compositions live. We were then offered an opportunity to do a residency at a club in Brooklyn working with rappers. We called Nakama, eventually Yoh joined and Nat and Jaedon added in on the horns. Was all improvised until we decided we had to get it on wax. So we did, and 2 years and 2 EP’s later, here we are.
Yoh
To me the band is about energy convergence. The cultivation of 7 individual energies learning and growing from one another to give life to something fresh.
Natty
The band is about free expression, we are open to playing just about anything as long as it SLAPS.
NUGL Magazine: Please give some background and details on what goes into the live show?
Yoh
Love, trust and energy are what go into the live sets. The channeling of those 7 energies and the hard work each individual has put in, combined with the love for the craft and the trust in each other is what makes the live sets feel more alive and exciting.
Natty
When it comes to us performing as a band, I definitely feel that getting on stage with everyone is almost meditative. It feels like everyone is 100% in the moment together, and before all our shows we get a group huddle in and share that positive energy.
Z
Yea, it’s magic ~ we’re 7 people and when that shit is locked it’s like nothing else. It’s exponential.
NUGL Magazine: Tell us about your relationship with cannabis? How those of you that use it got into it, and how you incorporate it into your music or process?
Nakama
Cannabis is a powerful tool when used appropriately. For me, it’s like taking the filters off of my thoughts. Sometimes it’s a great pressure lifted off your shoulders, sometimes it can be uncomfortable or anxiety-inducing. But I think that the conscious choice to remove those filters is cathartic in a way, like surrendering myself to my own idiosyncrasies and letting my thoughts dance around each other instead of the single-file default I have in my day to day experience.
Juno
Cannabis doesn’t create anything new for my mind, rather it helps me access what is already there.
Z
Every time I go home I’m tryna smoke big weed and drive through the (Colorado Rocky) mountains and listen to records. It’s my favorite way to listen to music. I used to like to smoke and play, but I don’t like it anymore. I lose the forest for the trees so to speak. But was definitely fun and the fact is that the time I got serious about music coincided with the time that I started blazing … coincidence or not !!
Yoh
Being honest, I love incorporating cannabis more into the freestyle elements and recording process. Sometimes I feel like it lets me really cut loose and channel an energy or emotion I might have been thinking about too much, rather than feeling it out.
Natty
Cannabis was definitely a huge part of my music development, smoking a jay and diving deep into records, both with friends and alone. I have a lot of great college memories of lighting up and spending hours locked in a room practicing.
In the new EP, which they recorded on wax at Electric Garden studio in Brooklyn, the group builds on their debut release ‘All Water’, bringing their emerging collaborative sound and style full circle. They shout out their creative team, which includes mixer Jaclyn Sanchez, visual designer Maia Benaim, and writer/director Richie Ellis behind the lens of their videos. Along with the 7 band members working in unison to create a unified vision and sound, Poetic Thrust mean it when they say “Our peers and collaborators help us refine this vision. We keep this energy at all times, of growth and communication, of revery and insubordination.”
Check out and keep up with Poetic Thrust on Instagram and Spotify, buy their music on Bandcamp, and if you ever have the chance, do yourself a favor and check out the live show!
Keep an eye out for future (and past) artist profiles on NUGL!
