A fresh album release from Boonie Mayfield brings on an array of style mashing fun that all come together in celebration like a love letter to the artists that influenced it all.
The Black Floyd album is packed to the brim with outside the box bangers that have experimental and ridiculously addictive flows that are all performed with a fire and passion for the craft.
And that's the thing. This whole album has heart. It's about making music to make the music. This lets the record really shine and showcase more character than you can handle.
The songs are honest, and the music is intense with deep grooves and riddled with fuzztone instrumentation, melodic synths, and pads that add an ambience.
There are no two songs that are really a like, yet they all seem to flow together almost like a concept alum would.
Once you get through have the record, you expect the unexpected.
Songs have a rock distortion, they can engulf, make you think, wash you away and bring you back all in one session.
This album is one of the most intuitive, envelope pushing, genre crossing records you've heard in a while. A long while.
It's done with love and swagger, honesty and with all scars showing for the world to hear.
This kind of music takes people that are in love with doing it.
And they do. They do it right too.
Cinematic, powerful, deepening, brutal, lighthearted, massive, and vast.
So, with such a killer drop, we wanted to have a talk with the Boonie Mayfield to find out where this all came from.
Here's what happened.
BuzzSlayers: Okay so let's start with Black Floyd album. This record has a huge cross over sound and came through with tons of fire and swagger! Where did this album come from? It basically came out of inspiration from 1 one of my drum loops and living life throughout 2019, 2020 and 2021. I had a 3-year hiatus from music prior to 2019 due to burnout and depression, so once I started making music again, my whole approach changed. There was no pressure. There was no plan for an album. I just wrote each song one at a time as it came to me. The order of the songs on the album is literally the order they were made, all months apart from each other. I was also very protective and cautious about sharing the songs I was working on, so I only showed a handful of people. Because the new sound and style was so unique, I didn’t want it getting tainted by unwarranted creative feedback. It was all about uninhibited creative freedom for me. I think the cross over sound is there because I’m influenced by so many different artists, genres and eras of music. The fire comes from my passion, and I guess the swagger comes from the music being 100% purely what I want to make and hear without compromises and second-guessing my instincts. BuzzSlayers: I'm hearing several styles on this release. Who are some of your biggest musical influences? I have tons overall. But for the past 10 years, I’d say my biggest influences have been Marvin Gaye, Pink Floyd, Funkadelic, The Beatles, Prince & The Revolution, Andre 3000, Q-Tip, D’Angelo and Bootsy Collins. BuzzSlayers: So how did this all begin for you really? When did you fall in love with making music? Damn, now I’m about to feel old. It started back in 1999 after I joined an online rap crew from a hip-hop message board community on America Online when I was in high school. Most of the emcees in the forum were just posting typed-out verses, or “keystyles” as we used to call them. But the dudes from my crew were posting actual recorded tracks over underground hip-hop instrumentals somehow. One of the members eventually taught me how to do it. I had to download a program called Cool Edit ’96 and a converter for RealPlayer. It was like a whole procedure to record these ghetto-ass songs on my grandparents’ computer with a desktop microphone. So, after I recorded about 7 tracks, I made my first demo.
My dream at the time was to work with a local underground hip-hop group of older emcees called, The Battlecats, based in my hometown, Colorado Springs. I was so amazed by the production and professional quality of their recordings I heard. Luckily, I managed to get acquainted with some of the founding members while working at an after-school telemarketing job and showed them my demo. I was later initiated into the group by having to freestyle battle against them. Shortly after that, one of the lead members named Complex took me to the studio he and The Battlecats had been recording at.
The studio was owned and ran by this local producer named, Base Jase. It was my first time ever seeing a recording studio. I had no idea how hip-hop music was even produced until I watched him chop up a sample and make 3 beats from scratch right in front of me. And then I recorded 2 verses in the booth, hearing my own polished vocals laced with reverb in the headphones. At that point, it was the greatest experience of my life. After what happened that night, I dreamed to have and be able to do it all for myself one day; write songs, produce my own music, record myself, everything. BuzzSlayers: What's next for you as a group? That’s an interesting question since there really isn’t a “group” lol. I’m sure that some people may assume there’s 3 different people on the BLACK FLOYD album cover, but it’s just me as different characters of myself. Some may not notice that they’re named “Mi”, “Moss Elf” and “Eye” as a tribute to the classic De La Soul anthem, “Me Myself and I”. But although the group is technically fictional, I’m developing other multimedia ideas for the band of characters. BuzzSlayers: What inspires you to write a song? On the surface, of course there’s self-expression, life experiences, conversations, love for the craft and countless other things that inspire me to write songs. But, there’s a lot more to it for me than just that. Call it whatever you wanna call it, believe whatever you wanna believe, but I know for sure that there’s a higher power beyond our comprehension that comes and taps me on the shoulder of my soul at times and blesses me with ideas. The story behind how the composition for “Bass’d on a Birdwatcher” came together is something I couldn’t make up if I tried. BuzzSlayers: What are you doing when you're NOT working on music? Currently I’m working full-time as a career counselor for music production students and graduates at a private college in Los Angeles. In my free time, I spend time with my wife and dog, as well as friends and family when I get the chance. I watch WWE Raw and Smackdown literally every single week. I like to write. I like to read. And of course, I like developing other types of creative projects. BuzzSlayers: Who are you listening to right now? I’ve been listening to Cab Calloway a lot lately. Truth be told, I don’t listen to music all that much like I used to, unless I’m driving. And when I do, it’s very random. Right now, the most recent additions to my “Liked Playlist” on Spotify are songs by King Crimson, Prince, Bobby Caldwell, The Dramatics, The Andrews Sisters, WILLOW, N.E.R.D., Timbaland & Magoo, George Clinton, Ty Segall and Björk. Like I said, very random! BuzzSlayers: Are you putting any thought into live performances? Not really. I’m not interested in pursuing the typical kind of music career, so I'm trying to carve out a new niche for myself. As both a musician and actor, I’ve always preferred performing on screen more than on stage. So I’m always putting thought into stories and visuals with my music, acting and video production for television and film. BuzzSlayers: Do you have a home studio where you track your stuff? Yes, and I’ve done literally everything in my home studio pretty much my entire career. But back in 2012-2014, I built my own private studio at an office suite I was renting in Colorado Springs. It was very similar to Base Jase’s studio where I first started recording as a teenager. But when it was time for my wife and I to move to Los Angeles, I sold and gave away most of my equipment and kept the essentials. My setup became even more stripped down after my 3-year hiatus. The whole BLACK FLOYD album was made in my apartment living room with just my vintage Wurlitzer 200, Fender Mustang and Jazz basses, MIDI keyboard, AKG Perception microphone, a 10-year old Apogee One interface and Logic Pro. BuzzSlayers: This album seems like a big undertaking. What kind of advice might you have for other up and coming artists out there? It was definitely a big undertaking like all the albums I’ve produced, but this time was very different because it didn’t feel like it. I wasn’t stressing myself out over the process. I learned the balance between putting my all into the music and detaching from it to let the ideas breathe, like watering plants and letting them grow. As far as my advice for up and coming artists, I’ll say this from a creativity standpoint. First and foremost, you have to become a master of your craft to be able to bring your ideas to life at the level of your taste and imagination. Yes, it will take years. Yes, it will require constant practice. No, there aren’t any shortcuts. Don’t waste time comparing yourself to everybody else, work on becoming the best at being you. The next point I’m about to make will not matter much if you don’t at least do the work to master your craft. Please don’t let this pretentious industry fool you into believing that you can’t make something high quality and spectacular on your own without their approval and all the ridiculously expensive equipment and studios you can’t afford. It’s a New Day, yes it is! Shout out to Big E.! BuzzSlayers: Before we go, what would you like to say to fans of the music? First of all, thank you so much for feeling, understanding and supporting what I’m trying to do as an artist. And second of all, word of mouth is everything y’all! If you love it, please share it with the people you know in real life and online. It all makes a difference.