This interview was co-conducted and written with WRR writer, Sebastian Aguirre
If you’re at all familiar with the tri-state area’s underground bass scene, you’ve probably heard of Space Jesus. Maybe you caught him opening for Feed Me at Terminal 5 this weekend, Farm Fest the weekend before, or your buddy blasted “Nice Ass Yeans” in the car during a late night Taco Bell run. Everybody remembers their first Space Jesus encounter.
This past weekend we had the pleasure of speaking with the man behind it all, Jasha Tull. We picked his brain on everything from musical inspirations to chicken & waffles all in an effort to shed some light on the man who’s taking NYC by storm. Follow along as we blast off into Space and get to know the man behind the hair.
Not much information is readily available to fans like ourselves, so we decided to start off with some burning questions I’ve had for a while. What’s the meaning behind the Space Jesus name? Is there a deeper meaning to it? And what in the world is going on in his SoundCloud photo?
“There’s no real meaning to it, I just kind of thought it was funny. I’m not very religious personally and the name is just more for fun. In my SoundCloud photo I’m basically just holding a switchblade in my hand and blood is dripping from my mouth…I was just wearing comfortable clothing. Its really just a casual photo, I was caught in a casual moment by a photographer.”
With our most pressing questions out of the way, we were then able to delve into what has shaped Jasha musically throughout the years. We touched on his origins in making music, his inspirations, and how he got involved with all things electronic. He detailed how he first got his toes wet in music and how it morphed into the present day sound we know as Space Jesus.
“I played some saxophone, clarinet, piano, and guitar growing up through high school. When I was 14 I started making beats on Fruity Loops and this program called Music Maker. I began programming beats and using MPC’s in early high school. I listened to a lot of dub, reggae, and hip hop pretty much mainly growing up.
Musical inspirations?
“Definitely Shpongle. Theres so much depth in his production, so much engineering. He’s the total master. Infected Mushroom, Bassnectar too. Everything I hear has an influence on my sound.”
Anyone who’s aware of Space Jesus knows of the hardcore following his sound brings along. At Farm Fest when his music got cut off and he got moved to a side tent, the entire crowd followed. Having a dedicated fan base is something not many artists can boast about, and it’s one he’s very grateful for.
“It’s always humbling. It’s cool because I feel like I’m doing something different. When people see something different, they can feel like they’re part of something different. I’ve done everything very organically, just working with friends. Anything that’s come has always just been putting in work and organic. It’s a lot slower but it feels much better to be doing it the right way.”
Even with the added time resulting from an organic approach like this, the scene is exploding right now. Where can we see expect to see Space Jesus in 5 years? Does he see himself at a big time festival like the EDC’s of the world or does he see himself at the Farm Fest’s? The mainstages or the grimy side stages?
“My only real dream is just making music and supporting myself through it. So wherever that goes is where I see myself in the future. The dream is just to continue making music.”
Hot off his release of the amazingly weird music video to “The Weed”, we had to ask what’s going on with the chicken and waffles making appearances throughout. Not mincing words and straight to the point, he explained,
“I enjoy chicken and waffles. Theres something that reminds me of weed and hip-hop with a chicken and waffle breakfast. “
Being a man of many side projects can get a little confusing on the fans. With Schlang, #$, and Snare Jordan it’s tough to keep tabs on the differences in each and what makes them unique from each other.
“Outside of Space Jesus, I’m mainly focusing on Schlang and #$ (Hash Money). It’s a longer term project just because of the depth of the song production. Snare Jordan is kind of just for fun. Just making quick footwork songs, but I’m not really going to focus on that too much. Most of my time will be spent on #$, Schlang, and Space Jesus.”
Also going on to clarify where Planet Cognac and Smoker’s Cough fall into the fray, he had this to add,
“Planet Cognac is the crew, we all work together and get down together. Technicolor Lenses, Essex, all of us. Smoker’s Cough is the hip-hop label that GDP is working with to make up #$.”
With everything wrapping up we felt we needed to ask where to go for rising stars and underground talent,
“One of my favorite bands is lespecial, you should definitely check them out, I’ve done some remixes of their stuff. We did a tour with them a while back. B. Riddimmz, the drummer for Technicolor Lenses. They got an album coming out that’s awesome. Yhetti is one of my favorite producers and we did some stuff when he was in town. Hopefully well do some more stuff soon. Oh and I cant forget my boy Mint!”
Before we let him go we had to ask the questions everyone’s been waiting on..Can we be expecting any new music in the future? Any collaborations? Any shows?
“We have a full length Schlang album on the way, it’s basically three songs but they’re all very long and it’s almost done. I have my own full length Space Jesus album that I’m working on…I’m trying to make it more of a cohesive piece. In the meantime I’m probably going to be dropping more singles in the summer. I have a music video on the way that’s very, very weird. Very strange. It has something to do with Instagram.”
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