If you saw BLACK MARKET then you should be familiar with Pigeon John. Recently PJ was on tour with Blackalicious and Fat Lip, and ONE had the chance to crash an otherwise ordinary sound check and get the scoop with a side of Red Stripes. If you want to know more about Pigeon John check out his page at Quannum Records website, and be sure to read this excerpt from his interview in ONE #3…

ONE: A minute ago we talked about the two markets you were working in, and how you did your own distribution for a long time. What has the process been like of having more exposure and tour support?

Pigeon John: It’s been really cool. It’s been really gradual from the first record, doing it myself and that leading to Basement and then the Quannum project. It’s been a slow, gradual climb, so slow where you don’t really recognize the change, so it’s like growing up almost and before you know it you’re 45. Look at yourself in the mirror like, “Oh, shoot.” I was driving down the street the other night near Amoeba Records, and they have my billboard over the shop next to Sting. I had to stop and, like, smell the roses, you know, because it’s been so gradual that sometime I’m used to the changes, so it’s like the changes never happened.

Are you finding it all satisfying?

Being able to live off of music is a huge blessing. I never had a record out overseas, you know, properly distributed, and getting to do shows with the dudes (referring to Blackalicious).

OK then, so what’s your favorite tune? Do you have a jam that is just the pinnacle, where you want to say, “I wish I made that?”

Yes. “Electric Relaxation” by A Tribe Called Quest. It’s a girl song, a dark girl song that totally puts you in the mood. That song is dope, and De La Soul’s “Millie Pulled A Pistol On Santa,” that is really, really clean; “Trying to Find a Balance” by Atmosphere, too. That’s their best song, by me. The bomb song. Plenty more.

Well, that’s cool; some people don’t want to talk about other people’s music.

Oh, definitely, I’m a fan…

…Well, like I said earlier, we’re from ONE, which is about rollerblading. And rollerblading has undergone a lot of criticism …

Yeah, of course. I mean growing up as a skater, or growing up doing anything, whatever your scene is, every other scene is supposed to be inferior. Like even with surfing, which skating came from, that was regarded as a hippie scene, they are connected…

But skateboarding took a more punk turn to rebel against the Spicoli image. (Actor Sean Penn played a stoner/surfer named Jeff Spicoli in the 1982 movie “Fast Times at Ridgemont High.”)

Right, and then BMX with the tricks, and when they started riding the walls we were like, “Ah, come on, you got that from us.” But everyone gets influenced by everything, and everything is connected. When rollerblading started becoming bigger and bigger I didn’t know where it came from. Oh wait, ice skating?

Technically, yes, it was an off-season training tool for hockey players.

Boom. So, we didn’t understand it, but when I got a DVD and met a bunch of dudes in that scene, pretty much most of the time I was down; same way with snowboarding. I hung out with some pros who taught me how to ride. I was there when they do what they do for a living. They saw a big cement truck lifted up outside the place we were staying at. These guys filled their truck up with snow, spent two hours getting everything ready, and when I saw that in real life, I was like, “Wow, man, this is freakin’ hard as hell.” I kind of saw them love it and it made me understand it…

Read the rest of Pigeon John’s interview in ONE #3.

Photo courtesy Quannum Records.