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Active Child Says 'F--- You' to Those Who Compare Him to James Blake

Active ChildCourtesy of Big Hassle

Active Child frontman Pat Grossi may have gotten a nice publicity bump when critics compared him to recent tourmate U.K. dubstep sensation James Blake, but the Los Angeles-based musician wants to be recognized for his own artistic merits.

"It's getting old for sure," Grossi tells Spinner. "I love his music and I respect him as an artist but when someone says that you sound like another artist, it's like, 'f--- you!'"

Grossi has since graduated to headlining his own tours which should help make a name for himself beyond the "sounds like so-and-so" tagline. Though playing Active Child's "pseudo-dubstep" live is something he's still getting used to. Grossi admits that shows were always an after-thought, something that took his attention away from his making masterpieces like his debut album, 'You Are All I See.'

"People started to respond to the music and then, all of a sudden, they were like, 'Oh, when are you playing a show?' And you're like, 'Oh, what? That's not part of the deal!'" says Grossi. "It's been an evolution to transfer everything I made into a live setting."

Grossi's main priority on the road is to keep his music as authentic as possible, and adding a drummer to his set-up has proved key to meeting this goal.

"When we were touring as a two-piece, I just didn't think we were enough, I wasn't satisfied," he says. "I'm still not satisfied; I finished the album and I wasn't satisfied. And even now I just want to write new songs but I need to tour and get better at playing live -- I don't want to feel like some sort of charade up there."

An integral part of Active Child's sound and live performance is the harp, an instrument Grossi picked up eight years ago.

"I just fell in love with it," he says. "I look back at it now and it's strange to me that I hadn't been playing it forever.

"You can make any instrument work in this realm because people are interested in hearing music in a different way. Obviously, we all love bass, drums and guitar -- the classic structure -- but people are also excited to see and hear something that doesn't revolve around that. So if you can incorporate something like a beautiful instrument into something else, I think people are excited to see how it works and it perks your ears up."

That said, Grossi hopes he won't get pigeonhole as, y'know, "the harp guy."

"I sometimes even hear gasps, like 'What the hell is he going to do with that thing?'" he says. "I think a lot of people, especially if you're a support act, write you off as some joke or a novelty for sure.

"But I feel so alive when I have that thing in my hand, and I hope that people can see that and not look at it as me just trying to get attention."

Watch Active Child's 'I'm in Your Church at Night' Video


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iheartmoosiq

uhhh who the heck would compare Active Child to James Blake???? ROFL!

October 23 2011 at 4:35 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Zeech

What the hell? Active Child is NOTHING like James Blake. Morons abound.

October 21 2011 at 3:00 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Zeech

What the hell? Active Child is NOTHING like James Blake. Morons abound.

October 21 2011 at 3:00 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Antt

Lazy columnists. They dont sound alike, not even remotely.

October 21 2011 at 2:53 PM Report abuse +1 rate up rate down Reply

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