The Bag Messenger BlogBag Design and Urban Living

If you live in Philadelphia and follow the music scene; than chances are you ether know about the Ill Vibe Collective, or have been to one of their events. The crew has been doing work in the city for a solid ten years, no slow in pace, and with no end in site. They are a true asset to the city, and frankly more useful than that damn cracked bell everyone comes to see. An integral piece of this music machine is David Adams, AKA Lil Dave. I will say Lil Dave is a complex man, and that he is also a genuinely really nice guy. This could strike you as odd. Usually when you meet a "lil" they are either humongous, or a rapper with an airbrushed t-shirt and rhinestone encrusted teeth. Neither is the case with Lil Dave. Upon meeting him, you realize he got the name sincerely because of his lack of bigness, and that unlike most guys he shares a nickname with, he has impeccable taste and no visible tattoos. What makes the man tick? Why does he like robots so much?  Read on good reader...your answers lie ahead.

-THE BAG MESSENGER

 

 

The Bag Messenger: Name, Age, Where are you from? 

 

lil'dave: I go by Lil Dave. I'm Thirty one and from Philadelphia.

The Bag Messenger: What do you do?

 

lil'dave: I dj and promote various events around Philadelphia with my crew Illvibe Collective.  I make music (hiphop, future soul, house, broken beats, soul, etc) and I have a bunch of releases floating around. I've been been on the radio giving people cutting edge music since '96.   My current show is Eavesdrop Radio.  I also dabble in graphic design and technology.

 

 

 

The Bag Messenger: What exactly is ILL Vibe Collective? Who is involved?

 

lil'dave: Illvibe Collective is my musical family.  We are basically a group of five djs -  Phillee Blunt, Skipmode, Panek, Mr. Sonny James and myself.  Everybody has lots of different talents and resources that make us a force to be reckoned with.  We can produce, engineer, design, organize, film, edit, build and destroy.   Over the past ten years members of our crew have released countless mixtapes, toured the world, recorded with some legendary artists, dropped some great records, designed our own line of clothing, hosted a bunch of radio shows and podcast, etc etc etc.

 

 

The Bag Messenger: What is Eavesdrop Radio?

 

lil'dave: Eavesdrop Radio is a show that DJ Junior of Record Breakin Music and I have been doing for the past few years.  Musically we play all sorts of stuff from japanese jazz to future soul to wonky hiphop beats to latin house.  The common denominator between everything we play is that it all has soul.  We are broadcasting out of a small college station in West Philly, but thanks to the internet we have grown a giant international following that just keeps getting bigger.  You can catch us live every Friday 6pm-9pm EST on WKDU 91.7 FM in Philadelphia or http://www.wkdu.org worldwide.  We also have a podcast at http://eavesdropradio.podomatic.com.

 

The Bag Messenger: How did you first get into music and when did DJing come into the picture?

 

lil'dave: My parents were big music lovers.  My moms vinyl collection has some sick records in it.  They got me hip to all the soul, funk, and jazz stuff.  When I got older I was a radio fiend.  I got tapes of all the old mixes from Vibes & Vapors, Radioactive, and other shows.  I started buying lots of vinyl and I made a dj setup out of some old audio equipment around the house.  When I got to college, I immediately joined the radio station and started my first radio show, The B-Side (which eventually got changed to The Down Lo Mix Show).  That lead to a bunch of opportunities and experiences that lead me to being the DJ I am today.



The Bag Messenger: What brought you to design? We're you always into visual art?

 

lil'dave: Way before I was into music, I was into art.  I used to illustrate my own comic books and do all sorts of art projects as a kid.  The design I do these days comes out of necessity.  There is always a need for a flyer, web graphics, and artwork for a music project.  It's all worked out pretty organically because making art and making music are very similiar processes.

The Bag Messenger: Where do you find inspiration in your work (design wise, music wise, production wise)

 

lil'dave: Dope color schemes, ethnic foods, robots, percussion instruments, indie movies, video games, jazz, new technology, textures, old records, analog synthesizers, and my family.

 

The Bag Messenger: What are the tools of your trade? (whats in the bag; gig wise, design wise, work wise)

 

lil'dave: I pride myself on having some crazy records.  I use Serato to dj most gigs, but if you see me pull some vinyl out of my bag, hold your head.  I have a full arsenal of rare and timeless dancefloor rockers in all sorts of genres.  On the production end, I mainly use Reason to make beats, but I'll make use of anything I can get my hands on.  Design wise, I'm with the industry standard... Photoshop.


The Bag Messenger: Any projects we should be on the look out for from you? What's Ill Vibe up to in 2010? 

 

lil'dave: We are currently putting the finishing touches on our first Illvibe Collective album.  It's a producer album with lots of different singers, MCs, and musicians performing over our tracks.  The musical styles are really all over the place.  Hopefully it will be in stores by the summer.

 

 

 

 

 

Check out this mix done by Mr. Sonny James of Ill Vibe. It's all crew exclusives, free, and blazing hot. 

 

 

 

 

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