Ed Balloon And Witch Prophet on Balloons new concert series with Avalanche Blockchain, Web3 and share their art

Tomorrow night (February 23rd), Ed Balloon is joined by JPEGMAFIA, Jeleel, Witch Prophet and CLIPPING at LA’s Belasco Theater for a free show kicking off the new quarterly Avalanche Park X Ed Balloon LA series.

The series was conceived by Balloon to showcase artists who aren’t represented enough or given enough credit in the Web3 space he explained when I spoke with him and Prophet together on a recent Zoom chat.

Parts of the event are very 2023, with each attendee receiving, according to a press release, “A free ‘Avalanche Park’ NFT upon arrival, which will unlock unique experiences at the concert including a raffle via MynaSwap for a pair of rare shoes from Cool Kicks.”

Despite the presence of the Avalanche blockchain and the NFT component, at its core, the goal of the show remains the same as a jazz show a hundred years earlier according to Balloon. The point of the show is to share your art and get it out to as many people as possible.

Steve Baltin: People think it’s such a trivial thing to talk about the weather, but it definitely affects the music as well. I’m a big believer in the environment influencing your writing. I have talked about this with the band HIM, outside of Finland. They came to LA to record and suddenly you’re writing Beach Boy songs, after writing dark goth metal songs about Apocalypse.

Ed Balloon: I think that’s actually true. I think there’s something about being on the West Side, for some reason. LAs are their own world. I totally see what you’re saying because it’s actually really true. People move to LA, then they start making much happier music. It doesn’t always have to be, but it tends to be sometimes.

Baltin: So for you then, when you came from Boston to LA, you suddenly started writing surf songs?

Balloon: Actually, now that I think about it, probably. I don’t think any of those songs came out. But I think I experimented with different things that we haven’t done before. But, yeah, I got out of that kind of thought process really quickly because there were other things I was going through in LA that really didn’t make me focus on the sunshine and stuff. The sun wasn’t shining for me when I first came to LA. It was very difficult and dark and very like, “Oh my God, this is how the business is, oh my God, this is how this world is.” And I think for me, being so honest and truthful in my music, it was kind of where I was like, “Okay, I have to be, I have to talk about these things.”

Baltin: Witch Prophet, when you come out this week, do you expect to come to LA from Toronto and play sunny songs?

The Witch Prophet: Yeah, I tend to write in any scenario I’m in, and sunlight makes me write. I usually go to Jamaica once or twice a year with my wife, who is also my producer. And we tend to make music there all the time, we wrote most of my last album there. So I plan on coming to LA and I’ll probably write a couple of hooks to use for my next upcoming project.

Baltin: Take me through the show on Thursday and what you guys want to do with it.

Balloon: So my whole goal with this is a way for me to be able to separate the two kinds of worlds [Web 2 and Web 3] and how I came to create this or make this event happen. And really, I think just being in the space like NFTs or Digital Collectibles, an artist when it comes to this space, this ecosystem, we’re legit to do things. It’s almost like we’re rebelling against the industry in a way. We rebel against things that we weren’t able to do or have ownership of, or we’re told, “Hey, you can’t do this because it’s just not the norm.” And so when it came to creating this event, I didn’t just want to have talent that is like legit exposed to or currently in the space, that is, we call Web3 or this ecosystem that’s like creating digital collectibles, that is me and Witch Prophet. But I also wanted to get artists who are currently in the Web2 realm like JPEGMAFIA, Clipping and Jeleel to not only bring this event together. But I think at the end of the day, what we’re both after is culture, raw talent, artists who aren’t afraid to tell the truth and honestly go against industry norms. They say, “I’m not giving up. We’re going to do this anyway.” And that’s how this lineup came about. But I also wanted to marry the two who really wanted Web2 and Web3 to meet each other, because as artists our goal is to really just get our art out there. And as an artist, I have curated this bill. I thought, “Okay, I feel like this, this talent here is needed to showcase this ecosystem that we’re in. This is the culture that needs to be in this space.”

Baltin: Tell me about the NFT component.

Balloon: So with this event we not only showcase talent but we also have fans or supporters who want to attend this event to get an NFT. And I wanted it to be seamless because I didn’t want the technology to be something that would be too burdensome for people to really get what I want out of this. And it’s really more of a cultural value, people going to an event and feeling like, “Wow, this is something I’ve been missing, people just love music for the sake of it.” And I really wanted to challenge the typical white narrative of, “Oh, this is what has to be, or this is the standard, or this is it.” And that’s also why I intentionally made sure that I chose a series that was very diverse and mostly black, and to have it close out Black History Month. All these things I did with the intention of making sure that I gave a platform. Although half of these artists don’t really need platforms per say, but I really just wanted to highlight the work they do. And I feel they don’t get as much credit as they deserve. And that’s because they’re probably not doing what is or is considered “mainstream” but they’re doing things that are so true to themselves and they’re still pushing boundaries and pushing boundaries for the culture and specifically black artists. And so I really wanted to push like all these people. I really wanted to push it and say, “Hey, this is what’s being done. And I had this opportunity to do it with the Blockchain of Avalanche, I thought, “Okay, this is what I want to do.” And so I had this intention and I am very happy and excited to see it come to fruition.

Baltin: Whether it’s the Web3 stuff or whatever, it still comes down to the same thing, which is like you said, showcasing your art. But also more importantly, really showcase artists and give artists a chance that aren’t in the mainstream.

Balloon: Surprisingly, I found Web3 to be the place where I could spend more trying to find people that I want to support my work and my art. It is more intentional as opposed to doing this for the sake of an algorithm. And that’s where I think a lot of me and Witch Prophet and other artists that are out here in the Web3 space with this movement came about. And I think it’s very beautiful to see. I know there’s other noise and stuff when it comes to the Web3 space, and it’s unfortunate to have that noise. But it’s also really silly to see artists empowering themselves and encouraging themselves and being able to have a sustainable lifestyle doing that from their work. And I think also in Web3 I have seen artists who can help each other. And unfortunately when it comes to outside of this space, the industry is always like, “Okay, there’s competition.” And it doesn’t always have to be. And I think that’s also why this lineup came about. Because I’m like, these are people who do music. But it’s legitimately like, “I’m doing this because I feel this way, I’m doing this because, hey, I need to get this out. This needs to be put out there.”

Baltin: Witch Prophet, talk about what it means to have someone put together a show like this that allows you to showcase your music.

The Prophet: I think that’s what’s different about Web3 is that people can actually feel that authenticity through the social media platform, they can feel it through the music. It’s like people want real, we want the truth, we want reality and truth in everything, in your art, in music, in politics, in religion, anything, anything, we want the truth. Right? So I’m really excited to perform on Thursday. This will be my first show in LA, so I’m really excited. And being on the same stage with so many amazing artists is a bit intimidating, but also exciting because it means that what I’m doing is right and that even if I don’t necessarily follow the usual path, my music is still seen as something important and something that moves the needle in the culture even if it is just a little. So I am very grateful for that. I’m also very surprised that I got booked for this because I think I only met Ed in, at, in, where was it? In Austin, Texas when we did a show. Yes, we did a show together and it was really great and I didn’t know you even saw my performance.

Baltin: What’s the coolest thing you can hear after the show from someone who saw it?

Balloon: I think for me it’s going to be like, “Wow, that was a raw show.” I put absolutely everything into this series. So with Witch Prophet, I feel like they’re going to be able to shape it into like, “Okay, this is what’s going on.” And then I come on, and then you end with JPEG. Right? And so this whole thing for me was more like building this experience and not just saying, “Okay, cool, you have a show,” I think everybody tells the story and they fit right into it. So I think at the end of the day, I just want people to say, “Yeah, that was a dope experience. I don’t really know what it was, but it was something that was necessary, and I want to go and do something like that again .”

The Prophet: Yes. I also agree with what you said, and I would also hope that people say, “Wow, I really like all the new songs you’re performing,” since I plan to perform some new unreleased songs. Actually, one of the songs will be released on the same day as the event, but a new single. So hopefully people like it and reach out into the Web2 world and stream these tracks. It’s not necessary, but it would be cool. And then of course just people who enjoy my sound and everything that happened that way. And hopefully people will learn more about NFTs and walk away with a little more knowledge and curiosity towards it.

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