Doomtree's P.O.S. Talks New DVD, the Group's Politics and Grinding on the Road

As 2012 winds down, Twin Cities rap collective Doomtree are looking back at their best year yet. Hitting the road behind their excellent No Kings album, the seven-member group toured North America and Europe, kicked ass at Lollapalooza and put out a few great solo releases. And this week, they'll celebrate with the release of "Team the Best Team," a DVD that documents the whole ride.

"We took the entire record-label staff on the road -- we are the label staff," P.O.S., one-seventh of the group, tells Spinner. "We haven't done that in a long time so getting to see how we act around each other might be fun, might be obnoxious. We try to shy away from things that are just self-indulgent, so if you're a fan of us and you're a fan of what we do, or even if you're interested in touring yourself, there might be some insights there."

The documentary also shows how the crew -- which also includes Dessa, Sims, Cecil Otter, Mike Mictlan, Lazerbeak and Paper Tiger -- can still muster a great performance when things don't go as planned. "There was a show on the last Doomtree tour where we drove five hours to get to this town and there were 12 people," P.O.S. says. "So, we set up the speakers in our two vans, daisy-chained the cables into the stereo of the vans and just played for the crowd outside. The thing you see is us trying to do the best shows we can and trying not to kill each other."

Closer to a family than a band, Doomtree's decade-long ride has given them enough time together to know how to keep the peace, even when politics get involved. One listen to P.O.S.'s anarchist-leaning We Don't Even Live Here (#11 on our Best Albums of 2012 list) would certainly tell you why that could be an issue.

"We don't try to be like each other. We try to say what we want in [our] tracks and hopefully that reflects us. I know me and Sims don't see eye-to-eye on politics quite often. I lean more toward the anarchist and he is definitely into government and services, which is cool. It leases for good conversation. All of us have totally different views of everything. When I say 'No Kings' and Dessa says 'No Kings,' we mean two different things. They can co-exist together, but if you get us into a longer conversation you're going got get two distinct answers."

And tens years on, they've also learned how to survive on the road, even when touring is a real grind. "We all pretty much know how to deal with each other so as not to get on each other's back. If one of us is tour manager, the's one of us who's stressed out while everybody else is having fun, so we avoided that this time. You've got to know how to navigate each other's feelings. I'm especially no good in the mornings, so they know not to say anything to me for a while. There are some people who want to go straight to the hotel after the show, so you let them before you figure out where the party is."

Check out a preview of "Team the Best Team" below.


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