Interview: All City Affairs

When he's not spinning records as DJ Hugsen Kissus, or pounding away the funk beats in local 3-piece Baby Teeth, Peter Andreadis is working like a busy bee on his solo project All City Affairs. With the recent release of ACA's latest LP "Bees" on Lujo Records, All City Affairs is primed to bring it's vibrant infusion of rock, funk, reggae, jazz, and hip-hop sound to a wider audience with an upcoming tour and even a new album in the works. Peter took some time in his busy schedule to answer a few questions for RadioFreeChicago.

How long have you been working on All City Affairs? Where did the name come from?

All City Affairs has been around since about 2000. It started as a band under my real name and then became a band-band, and then became just me again with no band and called All City Affairs. I wanted to call it All City Affairs, because when I was playing with live musicians we were from all over Chicago.

What are your plans for ACA?

My plans with ACA are to finish the next record and play as much as I can in the fall. I'm working on booking for out of town dates.

So, you perform primarily as a one man band, what can an audience expect from a live ACA show?

An audience can expect me to be selling the songs in a very genuine way. When I am at home working on these tunes I can get lost in them. Really get carried away and all. Now that they are finished and I am performing them in front of people, I get the same feeling. It's my time alone up there and I'm just trying to give people the same experience of what I felt in my room at conception.

What is the most difficult aspect to recording as ACA?

I would say the most difficult thing about recording ACA is that there is no one there to edit but me. I have to be conscious of what is relevant and interesting and what is just musical vomit that I've decided to throw out that day? or week? After a few listens I can usually tell if a particular song will be compelling to audiences or whether it's only compelling to me, because I've created it.

What inspires you as a songwriter?

At the core of songwriting, the artists that inspire me are Paul McCartney, Elvis Costello, Sly Stone, David Bowie, Freddie Mercury, and Neil Young, etc. I can listen to any number of those artists' tunes and just break down and cry at how beautiful they are. As far as sounds are concerned and production, I would say Dr. Dre, the Neptunes, Timbaland, Squarepusher, Lee "Scratch" Perry, and Aphex Twin. I'm very interested in rhythmic patterns and what makes things progressive and moving underneath the melodic and harmonic structure of a song. If you don't have a moving rhythm, what do you have?

You are in constant motion yourself, does that motivate your work on All City Affairs?

Yes. A dominant influence on All City Affairs is my reluctance to relax. I don't like idle time. It makes me nervous. I'd rather strum out some chords on my guitar or tap out some rhythms and walk down the street and beat-box something.

What's your favorite part of Chicago and the local music scene?

Chicago feels like a small town. You can see the same people walking down the street everyday if you wanted to stay in the same neighborhood. If you move around a lot, like I do, you see new people. But sometimes I like to visit some old haunts and see old friends. I also like the fact that there are many, many talented musicians here and the bar is always set high. I like the pressure of knowing that there is a bit of competition. I work best under pressure, I always have.

Finally, who are you listening to these days?

I'm really into the new Baby Dayliner CD called Critics Pass Away. His name is Ethan and he is from NYC. Great pop tunes, with a dance floor appeal. I'm also listening to Donald Fagen's Morph The Cat, Broadcast's Tender Buttons, The Roots' Game Theory, and Ludacris' Release Therapy. Oh, and I checked out a copy of Company from the library, which was a Stephen Sondheim musical from 1970.

Thanks for your time, Peter!

You can "send yourself to work" on the dancefloor at The Kinetic Playground this Friday, when All City Affairs takes the stage as part of BANDWIDTH: A Launch Party Revolution.

Download: All City Affairs - "Send Yourself To Work" - (MP3)
Download: All City Affairs - "Man Of Modern Times" - (MP3)