SIGT: Where did the name MASF come from and how is it pronounced?
MASF: It’s pronounced MASSIVE. It’s everybody’s first initial in our immediate family—M for Michael, A for Alex, and then our parents, S for Silvia and F for Felix.
SIGT: Marante, is that Spanish?
MASF: Yeah, we’re actually from Miami, but our parents are Cuban. Most of our family are in Cuba and we have a lot of family in Miami as well.
SIGT: Awesome. You guys grew up in Miami?
MASF: Yeah, specifically Hialeah, Florida. It’s a lively area; rich with culture.
SIGT: What brought you guys up to Orlando?
MASF: To go to school at UCF, be on our own, and to be individuals.
SIGT: What did you study?
MASF: (Michael) I did Visual Arts and Emerging Media Management and Alex did Integrated Business with an emphasis in Marketing.
SIGT: Damn. A deadly combo. That’s probably why you guys are doing so well. You guys have had quite an exciting ramp-up period.
MASF: It’s been a crazy ride ever since we kind of grew a life here in Orlando. It was kind of like that in Miami as well because we’re also in the club circuit over there growing up. We started DJing at 14 and our first gig ever, believe it or not, at 16 years old, was Club Space. It was one of those situations where you’re doing house parties to warehouses, to dance halls, to going into all-ages clubs. At the time, there were promoters who would rent out entire club venues and throw all-ages parties there. We were part of that. The first event we were supposed to do with the promoter was Pawn Shop and then the room closed down while we were about to start. So they told us, “we got here for Space,” and I was like, “no problem.” So our first club gig officially was on record is Club Space.
SIGT: That is so dope. So you guys started performing as DJs officially at 16, but you started learning at 14. But really, I read that you guys were getting into music at nine years old?
MASF: Yeah. So one of our older brothers was really into dance music, and he got both of us into it. He showed us this radio station at the time [in Miami] called Party 93.1. So we started to learn the landscape a little bit. Our brothers were really into freestyle growing up in the ’80s. So that’s where our influence came in. And that’s how we kind of found our way to the music that we make now. We like trance a lot, techno, freestyle, breaks, house, everything. Being in Miami, you’re going to be around the Latin scene, too. And hip-hop was also really a huge influence. We try to translate that into our music. And we’re also Cuban so … salsa!
SIGT: My mother was born and raised in Peru, so I’m a first generation American, as I’m sure you two are?
MASF: Yeah, we are, actually. We were born way later in my parents’ life—in their 40s! They came to America in their early 20s from Cuba, and did not expect twins at 40. Here’s the scenario: You’re in Cancun on your second honeymoon with your wife. You’re at the resort, having a good time, and Hey! Guess what? There’s a Hurricane coming! Oh, snap. Everybody needs to stay in the room. Add a bottle of Tequila… and that’s the formula for twins, apparently!
SIGT: You guys have both been to Okeechobee, and you performed once?
MASF: Yeah, we did! The last one, in 2020. If you were there, you already knew what the vibes were. You were free. You felt like you left planet Earth and you’re in a whole different world. And that’s how Sunshine Grove makes you feel. It’s such a large piece of land, and it’s a magical place, literally. The more I think about it, the more excited I am to go back into the portal. It feels like homecoming.
SIGT: Why do you think it is so important to have a space like Okeechobee to connect with each other?
MASF: Because you’re being put in a situation where you’re removing yourself from the world you normally are in. With camping festivals, there’s always this vibe that people just are freeing themselves of their everyday life. But with Okeechobee, it feels like a whole different scenario; a different atmosphere. I love that the grounds are so open. It gives you a freeing feeling. And you don’t feel like you’re in Florida. People from all over the state, all over the country, sometimes all over the world, come to this festival and it’s connecting people from all over the place. It’s a really cool vibe and everybody feels like we’re all doing this together. No one else is experiencing this except unless you’re here. That’s a community.
SIGT: Which artists on this lineup this year are you super stoked to see?
MASF: Oh, man. Where do I start? STRFKR. Jungle. Elderbrook. Soul Clap. Washed Out. Jai Wolf, Troyboi, GRiZ. Flying Lotus. MYD. You want to know something that I found out today? McLovin [from the movie Superbad] is coming to Okee with his band Colorvision!
SIGT: Do you have any advice for young artists starting out?
MASF: Two words: Study music. What I mean by that is study sets, study the intricacies of mixing and making a vibe. Don’t worry about what everybody else is doing. Be patient with yourself and make sure that when you do this, you’re doing it because you love it. Make sure you’re always helpful and you’re always offering. Give more than you take.
This Interview is linked from the Okeechobee Official Portal Guide. Interview with Jessie Le Couteur aka KHIVA From: Vancouver, Canada Signed to: Deep, Dark & Dangerous (DDD) >>> LISTEN HERE <<< SIGT: ‘Butterfly Effect’ starts out with this old-timey piano playing sample and then it drops. What was your
This Interview is linked from the Okeechobee Official Portal Guide. Interview with Heidi Lawden DJ, Producer, Manager, Label Owner, Event Promoter, Festival Promoter, & Mother. >>> LISTEN HERE <<< SIGT: How’s it going today? I hear some birds chirping in the background. Heidi Lawden: Yeah, I came and sat in the
This Interview is linked from the Okeechobee Official Portal Guide. Interview with Freddy Todd >>> listen to our crazy talk about space, aliens, and altered dimensions <<< SIGT: What was like the first show that you went to when you were growing up? Freddy Todd: It’s funny because the first concert, officially
This Interview is linked from the Okeechobee Official Portal Guide. INTERVIEW with DONZII >>> LISTEN HERE <<< DONZII is: Jenna Balfe • Vocals Dennis Fuller • Bass SIGT: Donzii started in 2015 in New York City? Jenna Balfe: We did, but we didn’t really start taking it seriously until we moved back to Miami in
Deyo Braun • Vocals/Guitar Chris Mintz-Plasse • Bass Nicholas Chamian • Guitar Ryan Dean • Drums
SIGT: This is going to be your first show under the new name?
Nicholas Chamian: Yeah, myself, Chris, and Ryan, played in a band called Main Man for three years. When we lost our singer, we tried a bunch of different singers out. We sent him one song to Deyo, who we’ve known forever as a killer musician and songwriter. Deyo took it and turned it into just a completely elevated piece of music that just blew our mind.
SIGT: Cool. He’s got his own project (called Deyo), and he’s been working for a while.
Deyo: Yeah, it’s funny because Okeechobee actually plays a little role in the story here. Main Man was nearly going to play Okee 2020, and the lead singer had dropped out of the band completely. So Chris (Mintz-Plasse) asked my brother to sing the Main Man songs, and it didn’t end up working out. And last summer, when Chris was in New York and we had a couple of cocktails, I told him, “Hey, you asked the wrong brother.” Right after that, Chris started sending me the songs, and that’s when the project was born. So Okeechobee was a part of our lore; our story.
SIGT: Dude. First show at Okeechobee. Same day as Tame Impala. This is going to be amazing. And this isn’t the first time that part of this band has performed the same day as Tame Impala?
Chris Mintz-Plasse: Yeah. The old iteration of Main Man placed Floatfest mainstage on the same day as Tame Impala
SIGT: Chris, you actually started out playing drums?
CMP: Yeah, after I filmed the movie Superbad [see McLovin’] I bought a drum kit with my first paycheck and started just learning drums. With Nick learning guitar, we started a White Stripes cover band, and then that led into, like, inviting friends over, and it started our first band, The Young Rapscallions. And then when that bass player quit, I picked up the bass and started learning the bass.
SIGT: Cool. You play left handed—a Paul McCartney-style bass. Is that an influence of yours?
CMP: I mean, he’s one of the greatest bass players of all time. But I bought the Hofner because I play left-handed, but I play a right-handed bass upside down. The only base that I could figure out at the time where I could slide my hand up high enough to play the high notes was a Hofner without the stock getting in the way.
SIGT: Damn, that’s awesome. Drums and bass just go hand-in-hand. How did you find that transition going from drums to bass?
CMP: I was learning a little bit of bass when I was playing drums, because when I lived in my parents house, I played in the garage, but I couldn’t make noise in the garage past 05:00 p.m. I wanted to keep playing music so I just bought a Hofner to just kind of diddle with inside the house. When that band broke up, we started a band with, like, six musicians, which was the best way to learn bass because I didn’t have to play anything crazy. There was so much noise going on in the band that I could just kind of hold down the root note or octave and then kind of teach myself while we were writing. So it’s a good process.
SIGT: I’ve noticed some of the Main Man stuff, like the Jam In The Van session, you’re kind of all over the place, like you’re playing chords, so I think you’ve made quite the progress as a bassist.
CMP: Thanks, man. I appreciate it. Yeah. You know, the Hofner calls for a lot of bass chords. It’s such a warm sound. And I think the kind of music I was writing by myself in my room was very sad-boy, chord music.
SIGT: Oh, man, that’s awesome. Nick, you’re the guitarist here in Color Vision, but I see that your IG actually mentioned that you are a bassist/music educator for Fender play. Fender is changing the game in music education. How did you first get involved with Fender?
NC: Before I ever played guitar, I was a bass player. I was like twelve years old and got a Fender Precision Bass. I started playing bass in punk bands and that was just kind of my world for a while. And then Chris and I started jamming together. I grabbed a Telecaster, so my brain was always Fender. Four years ago, my friend Scott Goldbaum, who is like a super talented singer-songwriter and acoustic guitar player, was working for Fender, and he got me a job. He got me an audition. It was funny, I was actually auditioning as the guitar player, and I did just a terrible audition. I don’t audition for anything. I had to learn all these solos and read all this sheet music, like sight reading it. When I walked out, I was like, “that was awful.” And then my friend Scott called me an hour later. He was like, “I talked to the guys, they said, you did great.” So apparently they liked me enough. As I was leaving the audition, I said, “you know, I played bass, too,” and I didn’t even know if they heard me. But ever since then, they’ve always called me in as a bass player. So, yeah, it’s been very cool to work with Fender, a company I love. They’re killing it. People are loving learning online, and it’s been great to do that and play with these boys.
SIGT: Let’s talk some Deyo. How long has Deyo been a thing? And how are you tying it into Colorvision?
Deyo: I was playing in a sort of rock-jam band in San Francisco for almost a decade. It felt like sort of living a double life because I was getting more and more into playing and making electronic music and listening to more electronic style alternative-pop music and then go into shows and we’re playing, like, a four-hour set at some bar in the middle of Northern California, jamming out, and then I get off stage and want to just listen to straight beat-style production stuff. So it was a cool thing that kept building. Then I found a co-producer to work with on that project, and he really opened my eyes to a lot of amazing ways to look at production and ways to look at recording, and it was a really influential collaboration. I think I’ve taken that with me into pretty much everything I’ve done since. I was born with the name Deyo on my birth certificate, so it’s a family name. It was spelled a little bit more French, but I think they shortened it up on Ellis Island or something. It was spelled D-E-J-E-A-U-X just like too many vowels.
SIGT: Are you planning on releasing some music soon?
CMP: The first song we’re releasing, “Reckless,” our first single that’s coming out in a couple of weeks, was the first instrumental we sent Deyo, and he chopped it up and diced it up. And you said that the lyrics came out of you in, like, minutes. You said the melody and everything flew out of you, and it was a true story about you ruining a relationship with a girl that she, like, flew across the country to see you, right? Do you want to tell them what it’s about?
Deyo: Yeah, it’s kind of a wild thing because it was one of those memories from my early 20s where you’re just kind of an asshole and you’re not really knowing about people’s feelings and you’re not really taking things into account. You don’t have that kind of emotional intelligence yet. I had buried this sad moment for a long time. And then listening to this sort of wistful and beautiful chord progression that they sent me, instantly I was brought back into that scene. It really just came out quickly. It felt like trapping lightning in a bottle. It was one of those magic moments that we all spend hundreds of hours looking for and trudging through the mud. Then once in a while you get one of those times where you’re like, wow, that just came right out. And it was very cathartic. It felt like a little therapy session.
CMP: It was crazy because the story of the single happened when you came to see The Young Rapscallions in San Francisco, like eleven or twelve years ago. And that’s the night. There’s another little lore to the band. The night you came to see Nick and I play at a small bar when we were 19 years old was when the event happened with the chick. And then twelve years later… ya know.
Deyo: It’s pretty wild of all the things, and it was completely unintentional. But when I then dissected it, I remembered, wait a minute, that was earlier in the day. And then later that night I went and saw them. It really comes full circle. A lot of these things basically like Main Man, The Young Rapscallions, and Okeechobee have written our whole story.
SIGT: Can you give me a preview of what the lyrics are for the chorus of “Reckless”?
Deyo: “I should have never been so cavalier and reckless. I should have never been so insincere and reckless.” That’s the macro, and the micro is really telling the story. I often think that the chorus should be a macro, relatable sort of thing, and the verses can tell the more micro, like why you come to that realization.
SIGT: Well, Ryan, I didn’t forget about you, Ryan. You got your hair up. Is that because you cut it or is it in a bun?
Ryan Dean: It’s up in a bun because I don’t want to take away from the beautiful scenic view behind me. The hair is going to be down at Okeechobee for sure. I’m going to let it all out.
SIGT: How long have you been playing drums?
RD: I’ve been playing drums most of my life, say 25 years now. I’m just really passionate about working on my craft and working on music and sound. And I was brought to this project via Mainman. I played with Main Man for a few years and I was introduced to Chris and Nick through a friend, but I kind of knew both of them already because we all grew up in the San Fernando Valley. It’s like a big Valley, but it’s also kind of a small world here in some ways. And we had a lot of mutual friends. I played in some hardcore punk bands growing up and played shows with Nick Chamien and he was in some hardcore punk bands. I played a lot of punk and reggae bands growing up, but it made me into the player I am now. I like to study the full spectrum of music and sounds. A close friend of mine worked with Chris on a movie and him and I were in a band. We were in a punk band called The Hammerheads and flash forward a few years. We’re all jamming at Chris’s Jammy World and writing songs for Main Man and playing shows and doing little tours. Now here we are, and we’re just really thrilled to get to go to Florida and play Okeechobee and kick-off Color Vision.
SIGT: It’s going to be beautiful down here. I must ask, what is Chris’s Jammy World?
CMP: Good question. It’s very much an inside comment. I built a soundproof studio in my backyard. That’s like our rehearsal space. We bought a bunch of recording gear. We actually recorded a lot of the drums and bass stuff for our new single back there. So it’s just like a great central location where we can play till two in the morning and not disturb my neighbors and stuff. And, it’s called Jammy World.
SIGT: Well, let’s talk a little bit more about Okeechobee. We’re celebrating five years in this place called Sunshine Grove. There’s such incredible magic to being in the woods with 30,000 people and some of your favorite bands. Why do you guys think it’s so important to have a space like that, to be able to connect with each other?
Deyo: I actually went to the inaugural Okeechobee festival. I only went there on Sunday to see Ween and White Denim. It was because I was on a family vacation celebrating one of my family members birthdays. The cleaning lady came on Sunday morning and was like, “I went to this music festival because I wanted to see Mumford And Sons, but it was all kids your age. So if you want to go, here’s my wristband.” And she just gave it to me. And so I borrowed the family’s old Cadillac and drove down. It was a magical hang in the Sunshine Grove. I think it’s a really conducive environment for music, especially new music like ours, where it really does feel as if we are tailoring our set in our original songs. We’re building it out so that it will be transmitted well to the Okeechobee audience and I’m glad to at least know the vibe of Okeechobee so I have a little bit more to work from. We’re adding all this really cool stuff, kind of a combination of electronic music and live sounds and just making it something that’s really special. It hits all the elements. It feels good to be kicking it off there.
“I borrowed the family’s old Cadillac and drove down. It was a magical hang in the Sunshine Grove.”
This Interview is linked from the Okeechobee Official Portal Guide. Interview with Lesego “Lee” Mlangeni aka CHEE. >>> LISTEN HERE <<< SIGT: What was it like growing up in South Africa? CHEE: Growing up in South Africa, it was interesting, culturally speaking. I was born and raised in Pretoria. My mom is Portuguese and
This Interview is linked from the Okeechobee Official Portal Guide. Interview with Michelle Joy of Cannons: >>> LISTEN HERE <<< SIGT: You’re coming back to your home state of Florida to experience some Okeechobee. When did you move out to LA? Michelle Joy: I moved out to LA in 2012, and I’ve been out here
“Tell me, are you a bad fish too?” Celebrating their 20 years together tributing the great Sublime, Badfish is coming to Orlando to play the House of Blues in what promises to be an evening of escapism and nostalgia, with great vibes and just a lot of fantastic music (GET TICKETS HERE!). Wow, 20 years! [&hellip
This tour rules. Thursday and Cursive have teamed up to a nation-wide tour and they’re bringing The Appleseed Cast with them to Central Florida for a Friday night (March 04, 2022) at House Of Blues in Orlando (GET TICKETS HERE!) Thursday was the first band I ever saw at a Warped Tour. My first Warped [&hellip
Reverend Horton Heat is coming to Tampa Bay on Friday, March 4, 2022 at the beautiful outdoor venue, Jannus Live in St. Pete (TICKETS HERE)! It is believed the genre “psychobilly” was created with the band, the Cramps. Formed in 1976, they had a dazzling 30 year career, changing the way punk rock and rock [&hellip
Founded in 1987, punk-rock band AVAIL landed on the scene following the release of their first album Reaching Out in 1990. Comprised of 11 songs, it was recorded and released without a record label. Two years later AVAIL released their second and most notable album Satiate, with melodic vocals and hard hitting guitar riffs. Over [&hellip
If you’re ready to be both devastated and elated, The Wonder Years are coming through playing both albums The Upsides and Suburbia, I’ve Given You All and Now I‘m Nothing at House of Blues Orlando! Joining the Wonder Years on this tour are Spanish Love Songs, one of my favorite new bands Origami Angel, and [&hellip
We’re happy to announce our 2022 partnership with Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival. To celebrate 5 years in Sunshine Grove, we’ve teamed up to present the Official Okeechobee Portal Guide! This vibey interactive publication is filled with exclusive interviews, Okee history, artist info, set times, a free sticker sheet, and a centerfold pull-out schedule you can fold up and put in your pocket [bonus!]. Customize your guide with your free Okee sticker sheet!
• 66-PAGES • LIMITED EDITION • PRINT + DIGITAL ZINE • INTERACTIVE ELEMENTS • OKEECHOBEE STICKER SHEET • EXCLUSIVE ARTIST INTERVIEWS • IRIDESCENT HOLOGRAPHIC COVER • CENTERFOLD PULL-OUT SCHEDULE
This Limited Edition guide is only available at okeefest.co/portalguide or at the festival, while supplies last.
All orders includes free PDF download & interactive access.
We’ll see you at #OMF2022 March 3-6 in Sunshine Grove! Enter The Portal HERE!
