Music Profile | The Posterz' Joey Sherret

Joey Sherret is one of three members of the Montreal based hip-hop group The Posterz, who’ve persistently released music in the past three years with EP’s in 2014 (Starships and Dark Tints), 2015 (Junga), and their brand new Bored in Canada released in 2016. Joey acts mainly as a producer for the group — a behind the scenes orchestrator of the record’s beats, occasionally throwing his own lyricism and vocals into the mix. Now that the group has made a foundation for themselves in Montreal each member has gone on to do a little bit on the side. Joey, with no new projects on The Posterz horizon, has started to work on a so far untitled solo project.

Though only recently making an impact on the Montreal scene he is ambitious and ready to leave not only a mark on Montreal but on the music world in general. An unbridled industry workhorse that eats, sleeps, and breathes music, he dedicates (approximately) 12 hours of his day to his passion. Between food and the bathroom, he is either at his throne of production— a tight and humble 1 ½ apartment in the Plateau— or at his studio in Papineau working alone or with artists for commercial, Posterz, or solo business.

Any work outside of music is simply a means to an end, to get a paycheck for rent and equipment to help realize the musical rhythms that permeate his mind. Sherret’s ambitions were provoked by a disenchantment over North American production methods, which to him resemble more of an assembly line than a true means of individual artistic expression. He sees something lacking in the music world, a shortfall but also a beckoning, a call to inject his work into a void in the contemporary hip-hop world.

Where is music compared to other obligations?

Music is pretty much at the top of the list of everything. It goes music, family, friends, everything else.

What is your new genre/solo artist genre compared to Posterz?

It’s alternative, it’s hard to describe.

More idiosyncratic?

Yeah, it’s just me and music form, hard to pinpoint an exact genre I’d say. For example, if you listened to Love Below by Outkast, that’s the album with "Hey Yeah." If you listen to that album it’s like hip hop but also not. It’s his own thing, purely Andre 3000. That’s what my stuff is. It’s just me. Nobody can copy that; in the same way nobody can copy a trap beat.

If you had to describe it?

I’d say youthful, rebellious, optimistic, honest, don’t give a fuck. But also introspective…and fucking musical badass shit. All those adjectives. It’s hopeful but also youthful, not preachy, but there are values.

Is it more topical, like compared to Posterz. A bit more high-concept?

Not high-concept necessarily but there are themes. I can explain each song in one sentence. With Posterz I can’t necessarily do that. I can describe the energy but I can’t tell you what it's about or what it represents.

Why is structure important in managing a group, especially in hip-hop? 

Everything is unstructured. It’s 'cause of fucking rap, man. The culture of hip-hop is like a bunch of street dudes. It's like the nature of the people involved. It's kind of like dudes from the hood are more off the cusp. That’s really a generalization but there’s truth to that. That’s why you have guys that succeed who are more organized. That’s why G-Eazy’s big, 'cause they’re fucking organized and fucking focused. Even if they’re not necessarily more talented than the others, the other guys just aren’t focused and organized with their business. You’ll have a really talented black dude but he’s just too hood. So he doesn’t go to the meetings properly, he doesn’t organize his shit, doesn’t take proper calls with his manager, doesn’t organize the merchandise well so he doesn’t make money, so he doesn’t get big, but he’s more talented, you know?

What inspires you, in a broad sense?

Anything that nourishes the inner child and the idea that anything’s possible. Like, 'yeah, whoa, that’s cool ahh man whoa dude, did you see that?' I love that game. 'Ah, dude this movie's sick.' Like whatever brings you back to that, I love that shit, you know?

Don’t you think there’d be certain things you wouldn’t be able to do that kids wouldn’t be as drawn to? In that spirit.

Well, it brings you back to that but you still have your adult sensibilities. You still have all the experiences that you’ve accumulated. You don’t forget all the things you’ve learned. At the same time your ego is gone. Kids are like in the fucking moment, man. Kids aren’t thinking about rent, kids aren’t thinking about like, 'Oh, is he gonna think if I do this, is she gonna think and...' You just don’t care, you’re just free, you know?

So you’re thinking of a purer drive?

Yeah, just like the pure honest lens of the world. You’re seeing the world through a pure fucking lens. It’s not jaded, it's not tinted in any weird insecure protective way.

What individuals are you drawn to as inspirations (not necessarily musicians)? 

Elon Musk is fucking awesome. He’s a fucking beast. He’s a beast because he’s just a guy that has ideas and he’s had ideas since he was a kid and he’s just realizing them. That’s it. There’s no hierarchy in his mind, there’s no like 'I’m just a guy and I can’t do it because...' He’s just like, I have this idea and how do I practically do it. Okay, I gotta study some engineering, I have to go see my astrophysicist friend and ask him questions on how to build the ship. He just does it. So it’s fucking sick! He’s really practical about it. He’s like, I wanna make an electric car so I guess I have to go study cars now. Well, Kanye of course. 'Cause he’s like a giant fucking man-child but like really creative.

But also a very capable man-child.

Yeah. He pushes the boundary of people’s shit. A lot of negative stuff, all the paparazzi, all that aspect of it is pretty vapid, but there’s inspiring aspects. 

Those are some good ones. Those are definitely people who carve their own paths.

Yeah, people who carve their own paths. People that build. Anybody that I’d say has a vision and brings it to fruition. For good things. For the right reasons, for the betterment of man, or whatever, or just to express themselves.

What do you think you’re creating for? What’s driving you to create things? 

What’s missing I think. I think that’s what it is really. It’s always like, 'I wish that, I wish there was blablabla, or I wish there was blank or I wish I could blank or I wish I had blank or there was blank' and it just starts from there. In a way, my solo stuff it was like, fuck, I wish I could feel the same way, listen to more shit like there was when I was a kid. Like Outkast, or early Kanye and like fucking even Lupe Fiasco and Eminem. Just that era of fucking hip-hop shit but it was fucking musical timeless shit. It wasn’t just disposable turn up shit, you know what I mean? It was timeless, and a lot of it, there was a message in it. It wasn’t preachy but you learned from it. Eminem’s "Stan," the song about his obsessive fan Stan. That’s some amazing shit, you know what I mean? But it was like hip-hop and raw. He was nuts, he was just saying everything. That’s even more controversial. Like if someone came out like that now it would still be controversial as fuck.

It’s true, you don’t see that.

Tyler Creator did it a bit. He was like 'fucking faggots' and then he got criticized and was like 'oh okay,' and he reset and receded. Eminem was like, I don’t give a fuck. He did that song like, 'I am whatever you say I am, if I wasn’t then why would I say I am, and the paper and the news every day I am, I don’t know that’s just the way I am.' He had this song that was ranting about public perception: 'I don’t give a fuck you can call me an asshole, call me a liar, I’ll smile.' He’s like, 'I’ll smile in the courtroom I’ll buy you a wardrobe, I’m tired of all this. Go to the radio station and call me a cocky Caucasian.' He didn’t give a fuck; he was bold and the musicality was there. I’m just trying to bring that back. That’s my goal with this.

Don’t you think it’s kind of weird that at the same time that people have only become more aware of the things in society, all these things that have made more access, yet things are more saturated and everything’s more commercial and it’s larger, and more superficial?

But that’s more access to everything, including the bad shit. You know, including the shit that’s distracting, so yeah, it’s all access to everything, to all bad shit. So, yeah you have more amazing knowledge but now you’re more subjected to bullshit so it’s even harder to swim through what you know. For people that aren’t centered in their own way of thinking it’s harder to sift through all this shit, especially with social media. 'Cause social media is so centered on yourself. The majority of people aren’t even going out and trying to search for information on what’s happening 'cause they’re just too busy with Instagram, hashtags, my fucking thing. It’s all about them, they only care about their own little sphere. They don’t even care what’s happening. All access is good but it’s a gift and a curse man. I have an album idea called 'Sensation' and that’s really about that, and all that type of shit. It’s really easy to make music about superficial negative disposable shit. In the same way it’s easy to make a movie about guns and explosions -- it's really reactionary, surface level reaction shit. It's really easy shit to do. You can do meaningful shit, it just takes a bit more time. You have to really make it entertaining and digestible, as digestible as the easy shit. That’s the trick. You can make shit that can be conscious but the trick it to make it as catchy as bad shit. That’s why I used to like early Kanye. It’s some positive shit, and his lyrics are fucking real and it’s catchy and it’s epic. That’s why he’s so epic. Its like whoa, 'I wanna touch the sky.' All his songs are so motivational, but still hits.

Besides music, what else do you draw on for inspiration? Some people might paint or something.

Man, movies. I love film. I don’t know what’s technically going on, but I catch it. I feel like, I just have an intuition, because of my dad. We were all like super film fan boys, buffs. It’s like a universe, you’re invested in these people’s lives for an hour, and it’s like fucking deep. You know their deepest shit, like you meet somebody new in the street, and you don’t know anything. But this shit you dive right into the depths of their soul for an hour. It’s pretty intense.

In music, at least full albums have that same potential. Just a different way of perceiving it.

Yeah, well in a way music and books are very similar. Film is the ultimate experience because it’s visual and auditory and emotional. 'Cause you can have music and film. That’s why we do music videos, because we want to capture what film is able to do for music. Music videos are like short films and shit. Music is like books a lot because the listener creates the rest of the experience for themselves. When you start to listen to music you start imagining worlds, you start imagining visuals. You see the colours, you see the... maybe there’s a song of Frank Ocean that makes you see the beach, and you see the beach. You create the rest of the experience for yourself. Usually what you’re creating is really personal to yourself.

Have you ever watched a film that you think influenced a song?

Totally. Like Place Beyond the Pines. I picture some of Nate’s [aka Husser of The Posterz] music. I picture him in that character, as Ryan Gosling. In the way he’s semi-emotionless, kinda stoic. He still has feelings, but he’s cool. That’s kinda like Nate in a way. He does what he has to do.

Add comment