Grahmzilla Gets Serious, Leaves Thunderheist Behind

Posted on Dec 14th 2010 11:00AM by Melody Lau
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Grizzly Records

Last year was golden for Toronto electro-rap duo Thunderheist. With the release of their debut album and international smash hit 'Jerk It,' producer Grahmzilla and MC Isis Salam were at the forefront of the Canadian electronic scene. In early 2010, the pair split up in order to pursue other projects, but Grahmzilla (born Graham Bertie) has definitely been making the most of his time off.

Grahmzilla still DJs under his moniker, but has been devoting time to two other projects: a solo production under the name of Nautiluss and a collaboration with Brooklyn, NY's Jubilee called Bassanovva.

"Making serious music behind Grahmzilla is kind of tough because it's kind of a stupid name," Grahmzilla tells Spinner. "I wanted something that would have a deeper meaning for myself -- and Nautiluss is possibly the nerdiest thing of all time, but I wanted something that was a bit more obscure, and something that can't be categorized as easily."

Thunderheist's party spirit may have painted the duo in a certain light, but Grahmzilla doesn't believe that their fun-loving reputation has undermined his ability to be taken seriously. "From what I heard, we weren't totally written off as sellouts; there's still some indie cred in there," he says. "It's not like we did something like Chumbawamba that's so cheesy that it's hard to do anything remotely serious."

"But people expect that I'm just going to do some belligerent club music -- and the only way to prove them wrong is by doing [something totally different]. I came from a weird background, and maybe that's why we never went fully commercial, because it was always a bit too weird for the Top 40s. Too edgy or too dark."

Despite the success of Thunderheist, Grahmzilla wants to keep his new work completely separate from his previous project, and admits that "it's nice to be back in this position of not having the pressure to write a sequel to 'Jerk It.'" Instead, Grahmzilla will heed two directions with his music: one devoted more to house-inspired instrumentals catering to clubs and DJs, and the other focusing on collaborations with other vocalists.

Watch Thunderheist's 'Jerk It'

A recent collaboration of note for Nautiluss is with Simian's Simon Lord on a track called 'Ultraviolet.' "It probably won't be super popular," Grahmzilla says. "It's quite weird, but I just feel like it's a really emotive song, which I've always wanted to do, and only now do I have the chops to make it sound the way I wanted."

Grahmzilla hopes to get his music out at a quicker pace, opting for more EPs as opposed to full-length records. "I think smaller projects are a lot more relevant," Grahmzilla says. "It's cutting the fat out. And I think for a long time it was tough to find an album that was good from start to finish, it's a lot of filler then a couple of singles."

"And if we're lucky, we may even hear Grahmzilla take a swing at vocals soon. "I've never really been a big songwriter, vocal-wise, and it's only been lately that I've been trying and realizing how much of a foreign thing it is to me," he admits. "I don't know when it'll actually show up outside of my room, but I have been recording myself singing."

"I'll probably end up doing it sooner than later," he adds. "I'm not a bad singer; I'm not the best singer, but it's not about being the most perfect pitched, it's about personality."

Listen to Nautiluss' Remix of Edu K's 'Flutesnoot'