Like any good story, this one starts in Paris. The Geek x Vrv took the old school sounds of hip hop and meshed them seamlessly with electronic influences.
This caught the attention of some of America’s biggest stars, Griz and Gramatik, which led to them joining Griz on his 2016 tour. As the duo’s career started to take off, their sound evolved as well. However, in their most recent release BTOS Vol. 4 they bring it back the old school hip hop sounds that have that nostalgic feeling to them.
The duo answered a few questions for Four Over Four before heading out onto their first US tour.
Who are The Geek x Vrv?
Initially we were two separate projects “The Geek” and on the other side “VRV”. We both live in Paris and started talking a few years ago. We quickly decided to make music together and since that day we’ve never stopped.
What was the inspiration behind your most recent beat tape BTOS Vol.4?
There are a lot of old school producers who have inspired this beat tape like DJ Premier, Pete Rock, and J Dilla just to name a few. Also soul music and maybe some of the trips we did this year. I remember we did some of these beats before our tour in Italy and some before a tour of northern Europe. I guess all these crazy things that we live and experience inspire us.
Back in France, there were two big hip hop bands NTM from Paris and IAM from Marseille. These two bands were for me the most important. NTM doesn’t exist anymore, but a collaboration with IAM would be a dream. We did have the honor of playing with them and it was crazy.
If you had to choose, what’s one thing France does better than the US and vise versa?
I’m not sure that we know the US well enough, but in terms of music, we can say the festivals are absolutely crazy (also some venues like Red Rocks). Electric Forest was the most beautiful festival we’ve ever seen.
And on the other side, maybe some parties end too early in the US. A lot of events happen between 11 PM and 6 AM in Paris and that’s pretty cool.
In 2016, you joined Griz on his Good Will Prevail tour. What were some important things you learned while on tour?
It was such an awesome opportunity for us to play on this tour. We have learned a lot from Grant from his shows. We also spoke a lot about music production. This tour was the longest we have done and I think we learned a lot about touring.
What can the fans expect on you first US headline tour? Will there be a new production you will be sharing for the first time?
We are really motivated to show the best of us (like 110%) on this tour. We are bringing Basile on saxophone and keyboard, so they can expect some crazy sax lead and groovy keyboard riffs. Tons and tons of music!
And of course, new music. We always play some unreleased tracks. Some of them are made just for live performances. I think it’s cool to try to bring something totally new to the people who are there just for us!
We couldn’t be more excited about April. We can’t wait to travel and see new things. And, if on top of that, we see people that come to our shows and smile and be happy, I think we couldn’t be more lucky!
The Geek x Vrv – “Back to Basics US Tour”
April 21, 2017 – Rickshaw Stop – San Francisco, CA – contest / tickets
April 24, 2017 – Bardot Hollywood – Los Angeles, CA – contest / tickets
April 26, 2017 – Cervantes’ Other Side – Denver, CO – contest / tickets
April 27, 2017 – 1st Ward/Chop Shop – Chicago, IL – contest / tickets
April 28, 2017 – Rough Trade – Brooklyn, NY – contest / tickets
April 29, 2017 – A.I. – Washington, DC – contest / tickets
