How Far East Movement took success into their own hands
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How Far East Movement took success into their own hands
Back in the early 2000s, Kevin “Kev Nish” Nishimura of Far East Movement was a high school dropout in Los Angeles who desperately wanted to intern at a major record label. He wanted to learn about how artists got signed and how their albums were developed.
The only internship he could get, though, was in the publicity department of Interscope Records.
“Back in the day, you had to fit a certain description and be a certain ‘cool’ to be in the A&R [artists and repertoire] department,” remembers Nishimura. “So they were throwing all the Asians in the publicity department. They must have thought we seemed studious.”
He laughs. “I’m dead serious though!”
Nishimura, a musician himself, later helped his bandmate James “Prohgress” Roh get the same publicity internship at Interscope. They worked there together for over a year.
“It ended up being way more valuable though,” he says, thinking about how his band has evolved in the last 15 years. “The biggest part of independent music, besides making records, is how to get it out to people on your own terms, so it’s definitely a tool we’re grateful we learned.”
It’s been six years since Far East Movement — currently comprised of Nishimura, Roh and Virman “DJ Virman” Coquia — broke into the mainstream with their global hits “Like a G6” and “Rocketeer,” and four years since their last studio album, “Dirty Bass.”
http://wunc.org/post/how-far-east-movement-took-success-their-own-hands#stream/0
