Nestled less than an hour east of the Rocky Mountains, the city of Denver has been playing a crucial role in the evolution and championing of both distinctly American and profoundly global bass music. In the heart of the city proper, The Black Box operates as the flagship events space for both the Sub.mission team and for the wider community of beat-freaks and creators. Performing at The Black Box has become a sort of rite of passage, giving creators the chance and the power to rinse out their best material and blends for an often jubilant crowd of appreciators and revelers. Soon to be joining the growing list of illustrious headliners is local Denverite Joe Rich, whose Thought Process alias has risen to the forefront of his sonic arena at breakneck pace. The sold out event features a hand-picked supporting cast including Easyjack, Base2, Aptic, and fellow all:Lo label head parkbreezy, alongside visual support from OZWLD, Spectrumone & Waveform.exp.
It is no small feat standing apart musically in a city like Denver, where there is a seemingly endless influx of prodigious talent and gumption. Consequently, Rich’s success is in large part due to the careful lines straddled by the Thought Process project; the distance between conventional hip-hop and broken-beat electronic music has always been relatively short, and yet Rich finds ingenious and pragmatic ways to explore and prop up newfound commonalities and juxtaposed compositional standards. The other major ingredient to his success is his sparing approach to his public catalog. His offerings of new studio productions come in the form of a yearly mix series, as well as an EP or two’s worth of material on an annual basis. This approach of holding your studio catalog close to the chest is not uncommon in the scene; it’s a masterful way of forcing the fans to come out to experience the sound the way it’s meant to be heard. For a creator like Rich, however, sound is just one half of the experience.
Accompanying Thought Process at The Black Box is his long-time friend, collaborator, and all-around visual wizard Andre Tamagachi, better known as OZWLD. The pair met when Joe purchased an OZWLD designed Pretty Lights New Years Eve poster in Las Vegas of 2015. Several years later, the two would again cross paths at a Tsuruda event where Joe was handing out tickets for an upcoming show of his. Andre got his hands on a ticket and after watching Joe’s set, the two linked up and cemented their vision over a beer. Fast forward to the present, and the two have created a fully-immersive sonic and visual environment that pushes the Thought Process project closer and closer to a narrative-driven experience.
As this upcoming show is a clear milestone in Rich’s career, The Rust thought felt it proper to sit down and pick the brain of the man himself on this show, his production methods, his expansive influences, and what the future holds for Thought Process.
The Rust: You've played all over the country as Thought Process; how does it feel to be headlining for your first time in Denver at a place that has played such a large role in your development as an artist?
Joe Rich: It's wild, man, honestly. I definitely didn't think it would happen so soon, and this is a show the team and I have been planning for over a year.The Black Box actually reached out to us last May about headlinging and I thought, “I don’t really know about this.” I kind of wanted to put it on the back burner. As it was happening the whole thing felt dreamlike. I’ve been working at the venue in some sort of capacity since it opened and learned a lot under the wing of my current agent Corey Pffaf. He’s been a mentor to me since the very beginning when I joined the Black Box street team. Working with him and Nicole Cacciavillano (owner of The Black Box) over the years and watching their vision come to life has been insane and one of my biggest sources of inspiration in my musical journey. To be able to bring it home, to curate the lineup and do it the way I’m doing it, it still doesn’t feel real. I feel like I’m just floating by and working on this “thing”, you know? I’ve been grinding and focusing on this one event for almost a year, and it’s kind of hard to imagine what the night is actually going to be like. It’s epic and I couldn’t be any more grateful for the opportunity; these people have been supporting me from before day one. It feels like a big full-circle moment and a momentous thing to do with this crew.
The Rust: The lineup for this event feels like it’s going to gel extremely well; how did you decide who to add on the bill?
Joe: Aptic and I had been internet friends for a while, but when I announced my Atlanta show last year he instantly reached out and was like “Yo, come stay and crash and we can hang out and connect in the city,” and I thought this was going to be perfect. He’s got banging music, he’s a super cool dude and when I asked him about playing my show he was super about it. Parker (parkbreezy) is the number-one-fucking homie. I definitely wanted to have one of the All:Lo cats on the bill, and I’m extremely stoked on the direction he’s taking his stuff and I wanted to showcase that.
For Base2 and Easyjack, I was basically just shooting my shot. I didn’t think they would have been so instantly down. They’ve both been such huge inspirations for me for a while. Easyjack and I have played a few shows together but not as much with Base2; but I’ve admired his work for so long. I asked Base2 to do more of a journey set so it could bridge Parker’s immaculate vibes by having him come into more of a downtempo start and then shift into his uptempo stuff, and then take it home with Easyjack who always just brings a dance party. It’s something I’ve sat with for awhile where I really was trying to picture the flow of the entire night, while also making sure I’m surrounded by people that I am inspired by.
The Rust: What kind of impact do your influences have on your musical output? Can you elaborate on how much or how little of an imprint they infuse?
Joe: That is a tough one; it’s kind of changing all the time. The musical output is something I definitely find myself struggling with. I see a lot of people around me constantly cranking out new music, especially in the last two or three years where you see more of the Bandcamp-subscription style coming about. People like Kursa, Lone Drum, Supertask, VCTRE, and Danny Groove all have Bandcamp subscriptions, and they’re all putting new music out that’s top tier so often that it’s almost intimidating. Then you have some of my other major influences like Pretty Lights where they just take their time while they master their craft. I’m trying to hit somewhere in the middle of that. A lot of my fanbase and my homies know that I rely on a lot of unreleased mixes to test ideas and see what people like or don’t like and what sticks out the most. In terms of actual musical output, I’m always working on new stuff, always writing and trying to stay motivated. I’m never really sitting in one pocket, and I don’t know how to put it out all the time. I definitely lean on more of the Detox Unit-style of putting out some mixes where I test out the “Recent Works” and seeing what people jive with, and then finishing those tunes.
The Rust: Your last EP, Collapse in Real Time, showcased a beautiful marriage between high-fidelity sound design and Hip-hop while still maintaining your Thought Process foundations. How has your style and how you approach making music changed since the start of your project?
Joe: I guess I take my influence from a lot of different places, a lot of different pockets of music, but the biggest would probably be hip-hop, as that’s always been home. It’s really sample-based music; that’s kind of what I’ve leaned on the most. I think for my more recent works, it’s less sample-based and more of me writing the melodies and working on the sound design on my own. I’m not separating myself from the sample stuff at all, but I think what people might see from me is much more original elements. I’m trying to learn to get across my ideas. A lot of the stuff I’m working on now is stuff that I’m going to premiere at The Black Box and a mix following shortly after that -wink wink - that’s kind of the next play. There’s going to be a lot of more originally melodic tunes, that aren’t as hardcore on the samples, that I’m writing from scratch.
My approach is different in the sense that everything prior to half of the 2021 mix was written when I was still living with Parkbreezy and pheel. I shared a studio with Parker that was in the back of this kitchen area in the house we lived in for 4 years. Now I’ve moved and have my own personal studio and it’s much more private where I’ve had the chance to really dial in the space. I’m getting more connected to my art in that way, I’m not making beats with people around or in a shared space as much anymore, and that’s really elevated my ability to connect with what I’m making I think.
The Rust: Your Thought Process catalog and your work with Groovsauce fits hand in glove; how do you approach each performance? Are there stark differences, or do they play off of one another?
Joe: There’s massive differences. With Groovsauce every single performance has to be so dialed in because there are so many live and improv elements to it. I do most of the set coordination, I plan the flow of it with Parker and Phil, adding more of the jam elements via the keys, sampling, scratching and things like that. Each Groovsauce set takes hours of work and practice where we all meet up and get to writing in the garage and seeing what we can play off of in Ableton. We also love to have special guests which is something that keeps those sets unique. We had Vide from the Lost Dogz music crew sit it for one of our shows on guitar. That was super different and out of left field for him since he’s used to throwing down mostly banger sets. Not many people know that he plays the guitar that well. At Cheesman Park, we got Brother Nature who freestyles and plays trumpet on top of it.
My Thought Process sets on the other hand, I’ve been doing only all original sets for the last year or so. I’ll try to write a piece or do something visually related to the space I’m in. When OZWLD and I are playing together he and I will go and get shots of the city we’re playing in that morning and he’ll use them for the opening shots and I’ll play music where I might use samples from artists from that city.
The Rust: The contemporary trip-hop focus of your all:Lo label is clear as day; what drew you so solidly into your lane?
Joe: all:Lo originated mostly as Phil and Parker’s brain child. I got the blessing to be a part of it and help them run it directionally throughout living with them. The beginning of the story involves them doing the Morning Coffee mixes which are so unique and something entirely of their own where they created their own style and they wanted to extend into that space of low-frequency, low-fidelity, which is kind of what all:Lo is at the end of the day. The direction I provide is all rooted based on where they started and where they see the project going, so definitely a big kudos to them. I don’t even think they realize how conscious their vision is and how easily it bleeds into the rest of us who are helping. It started with them but now it’s expanding, TF Marz is involved, Scarien is involved, and we all work with each other, but I don’t think they understand how that original all:lo vision is rooted in sounds and styles they’ve been pushing for years.
The Rust: What are some of your favorite events you've attended/performed at and what made them so special to you? Is there any aspect of those shows you want to emulate at your show?
Joe: My number one favorite event I’ve ever performed at was at Resonance Music Festival on The Rust’s stage this past summer. My favorite music event I’ve ever attended as a fan is probably gonna be Pretty Lights at The Gorge and the run into Red Rocks right after back in 2017. I think I enjoyed performing at Resonance so much because The Rust organized the stage and they were the first people to ever release a song of mine. Malakai is one of my best friends in this world who has always believed in me and trusted in me, and has helped support me for so many years. Seeing that whole crew grow to the point where they can organize an entire festival stage for three days straight and to be a part of that with my set where I played with Zone Drums for the first and only time was absolutely monumentally special to me.
Pretty Lights has always been my biggest inspiration and seeing him do what he did to push those events and his new live band in such a different space is what inspires me and reflects the direction I want to take my project in the future. Growing and collaborating with other musicians who inspire you, working with new people who inspire you and looping it all together is something I want to do more of. Playing events with Zone Drums, playing with Groovsauce, playing events hosted by friends, playing festival stages with people I’m close with, that’s what motivates me. A quote that I heard recently from one of my friends was “all ships rise with the rising tide”, and that’s something I'm trying to emulate, it’s all for the whole. The more people you work with, the more music you can make; the more friends you make, the more events you can play. Everyone is homies and everyone brings everyone up.
The Rust: Where do you see the Thought Process project going from here? What do you want to see come true for yourself?
Joe: Honestly, [I want to see] if I can keep doing what we’re doing with this Black Box show on a bigger scale and more often - if I can keep putting together lineups and bringing crews of people together, keep bringing the community that is forming around this music higher and higher. To have bigger and better gatherings with people who are just down for the cause and about it. That’s all I can really hope for. It’s wanting to create a comfortable and safe space for people to talk and listen and open up to each other. If I can keep doing that, that’s really all I could ask for.
The Rust: Is there anything else about you or the Thought Process project the people should know about?
Joe: Other than just a massive thank you, that’s pretty much it. I can’t even believe I’m in this position right now. It’s homies like you, having these kind of conversations, believing in it and putting me on and to everyone out there listening, supporting my music and coming out to my shows at cities I’ve never been to and meeting so many new people, I just can’t express my gratitude and my appreciation enough, just thanks. Let’s fucking keep rocking this shit.
With a future clearly defined by sheer determination and communal success, Joe Rich is well on the way to cementing his own enduring legacy within our shared musical community. For those lucky enough to be attending the festivities at the Black Box this weekend, there’s no doubt it will be a sonically and visually elucidating experience, and for those sticking it out at home instead, keep your ears peeled for an upcoming serving of Thought Process’ latest laboratory experiments, and your eyes peeled on this stalwart artist’s expansive horizons.
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