YRB Magazine

Sometimes the best things come together without trying. Such was the case for a group of seven childhood friends from Toronto, Canada who had nothing in common but a love for music. What started as a music class project between two friends (the rest of the members met through afterschool extracurricular activities and around the neighborhood) ended up getting them more than just an “A” in the class – they also won the Rogers Mobile/Universal Music best unsigned artist in Canada award. Down With Webster (the name comes from being “down” with the pint-size character from the popular 1980s sitcom) has been on the road since then with no official release, picking up that that tour money.

YRB: The group is so diverse with so many different musical influences. How does that play into your style?

Cam: Between the seven of us, we run the complete spectrum. We listen to rap, old school, punk and even old Chicago records, so we never decided on the kind of music we wanted to make. We never decided to start a hip-hop band or a rock band, we never focused on a genre. Everyone's influences are there and it's pretty obvious.

YRB: How hard is it to get everyone to agree?

Marty: We have a good ear for knowing “Is this a Down With Webstar track?” It may be a great beat but is that us? We're not teenagers anymore so we have a better ear for what we do together. When we record, the process changes track to track. Sometimes it's one guy's brainchild and sometimes it's a group of us. We usually start off with one person's idea and then everyone else adds what they do so it all gets thrown into the melting pot.

YRB: Did getting attention from one of the biggest hip-hop producers and a legendary rock star add any pressure?

Cam: We recorded with Timbaland last year in Miami and there were talks of us going to his Mosley label, but we were already with Motown and they were holding us down. His partner is our executive producer so we're still in talks about recording with him.

Tyler: The fact that both of them are into our music is a cool example of how diverse our sound is. This was more of an encouragement and we actually found it pretty hilarious. It was like, “Wow, this shit is real.”

Marty: Actually, Simmons wanted to change our names to The Webstars…

Kap: He also wanted to fire any member of the band just to shake things up. We weren't having that.

YRB: Is there any competition within the group?

Pat: Yeah, some members more than others but it's absolutely there. There's definitely competition between who's beat are we going to use, who's going to make it on that first verse. It's nothing negative but it's a big thing in a good way.

Bucky: For me, as a rapper, I feel more competitive against outside sources. I'll hear stuff and be like, “Damn this guy killed it so hard.” That makes me want to go back home and hit it harder.

YRB: Seems like you have everything you need in-house. Is there anyone you want to work with?

Tyler: We are open to the idea of collaborating with producers and writers because it makes you better at your craft but everything we need is right here. We get to play by our own rules, spend as much time as we want. We can play Nintendo for three hours if we don't feel like writing that day and we don't have to worry about wasting anyone's time…

Diggy: Or money.

YRB: How did the concept for “Rich Girl” come about?

Diggy: The sample is from a Hall and Oates song that we used to listen to all the time. We were playing around with it and it was a hot song so we tried to take it from there and make it something more relatable to today talking about the rich girls and all that stuff.

Kap: We remade it completely. Except for a little tribute sounds like when the dial is changing radio stations.

YRB: Did you have to pay Hall and Oates just for those couple of seconds you sampled in the beginning of the song?

Kap: We were going to pay regardless if we left it or not. If we took out the sample off the top, we might get away with it but fuck that, why not leave it? It's kind of like Jim Jones' “Ballin',” when you hear that sample and that little chunk of music in the beginning and you're like, “Yes, the song is about to come on.”

Pat: Jim Jones' “Ballin'” was definitely used in that argument a lot.

YRB: How is the tour life?

Kap: Warped Tour was awesome, it was like a summer camp for bands. You had to wake up early in the morning and party late night with all the bands and wake up in a new city every day. They don't tell you what time you are performing. They pull your names out of a hat.

YRB: You're still a young band even though you've been touring for a while. Are you past the honeymoon stage yet?

Bucky: Every night is a Friday night, every morning is a Monday morning. I got a message this morning saying, “Enjoy the fruits of the road.” So that's what we are trying to do.

Kap: it's still exciting because we're expanding and seeing all these other places. Give us a couple years before we're done. We're still loving it and having fun. We shot the video for “Rich Girl” where we got to throw a big house party in a mansion and totally trashed it! The owner was there the whole time… He was not happy.