DANCEiSM

Founder of Elm and Oak and Colorado bass champion, Paper Diamond, fully smashed the Snow Globe stage, showcasing his abilities to combine genres and create a truly fun, danceable show, genres like bass music, hip hop, dubstep, and even some moobahton, all with the same energetic flow. He’s got the groovy swagger of a true Colorado bass musician, but with more raw electricity, he delivers filth like has never been scene outside of the Rocky Mountain State. Unfettered and unhunched, Paper Diamond rocks a wireless mixer made to ensure that he can jam and move around just as much as the crowd. He is an improvisational performer who truly responds to his fans in creative, new ways. We were lucky enough to sit down with the man himself in the smokey Horizon’s Casino just over stateline and discuss with him Elm and Oak, his live set, and all the up and comers that he’s opened doors for, Enjoy!

Danceism: How did the creation of Elm and Oak come about?

Paper Diamond: It was originally a company started by my friend Berk Gibbs and another friend Ian Oliver. Basically, they were out of Virginia and being that I was a musician I was repping their clothing. Berk and I have been working together since I was 17 or 18 years old, he would make posters for my old bands and we would sell them on the road. We started doing design work, I do design as well, I love typography and all kinds of other dorky shit, and instead of creating a new name for the company we decided that since we’d been repping Elm and Oak so long we would turn that into our all-encompassing company. Now it’s a design firm, a record label, a clothing line, we have a blog, it’s basically a brand, a lifestyle brand where we support a community of artists that are making a living with their art. Elm and Oak means, Exclusive Limited Merchandise and One of A Kinds, that’s where it comes from, people think it’s the two trees, that’s why we have the two axes to cut it down. It’s awesome being able to have a storefront in Boulder, we use that space to take meetings about the label, about the designer work, and we also sell art and have parties in there.

D: You’ve already sort of answered our second question, but the Elm and Oak store opened up in Boulder, what goes on in the shop? What’s the atmosphere like in their?

PD: Well, Element Skateboards hooked us up with this fun box, we sponsor some pro skateboarders and snowboarders, so there’s always people coming by the shop and skateboarding, and it’s wired for sound so we have parties in their. We have a table in the back, a one-legged table that’s bolted into the ground, it’s really cool, there’s pictures of it up on the site. We take all of our meetings in the shop, work on the record label stuff their everyday, we have a bunch of interns that come in everyday, we also sell clothing. Really, send the people to elmandoak.com and that has photos of it. I like to go down there a lot, I don’t run it all the time, but everyone who is in their is somebody on the label or somebody who works the store.

D: Going along with Boulder, CO it’s kind of become one of the biggest EDM hubs worldwide, especially for bass music. What’s it like coming from there? What’s it like working out of there?

PD: It’s amazing! I’m not originally from there, I’m from Kansas City originally and spent a bunch of time in Tennessee. I knew electronic music was going to be huge, the Paper Diamond thing is new to me, I’ve been doing it since last new years, that was my first show, I opened for Bassnectar on new years eve. So, in moving to Boulder I already knew it was a musical hub and knew electronic music was going to be on the rise, for me, it’s been awesome to see it come to fruition, to see people coming out and loving the music that I love as well. It’s cool to be in that space, be able to represent it, and be able to help these other artists. For example, Big Gigantic, I taught Dominic how to make music on the computer.We all support each other and I like that about Colorado, because with Savoy and Pretty Lights, my affiliation with Pretty Lights Music and Elm and Oak, all of Elm and Oak’s artists, and Dom doing his thing, Colorado’s got it going on.

D: What would you be doing if you weren’t making music?

PD: I’d probably just be designing and taking photos, and skateboarding and snowboarding. That’s an interesting question, because all I’ve done since I was 19 years old is music.

D: You have a fairly improvisational show, through the use of Midi pads, is it important for you to give your fans a live set?

PD: Definitely, what I like to do is I have all of my songs broken down so I can play anything I’ve ever made. I’ll go through my sets and I’ll change the colors, like these songs will be a good fit for the night but really I’ll just know where to start and feel the rest out with the crowd. I won’t do the same repetitive thing where it’s like, build-up, drop, section, build-up, drop, section, I really want to add some versatility to the show. I actually run my show from an iPad wirelessly, I control the whole thing wirelessly, I don’t have to be hunched over, I can move around, I love it.

I love playing shows it’s great and I’ve been in the studio a lot working on a new record called “Paragon” and that’s almost finished, I’ve been making tracks for about a year strait, these are the best of the best. I’m taking those and I’m finishing them, that should be out at the beginning of the year. No set date yet though.

D: You’ve kind of talked about this a little bit, but you’ve definitely been an artist to open doors for other musicians (i.e. Two Fresh, Cherub, Big Gigantic). How has working with these younger artists influenced your own style musically?

PD: It’s interesting because everybody has their own style and what I do is, is I just try and help my friends. I feel like you’re really doing something when you’re putting your people on. Two Fresh actually just moved out to Colorado this week, we’ve already been in the studio, I’m helping them develop some songs and not just beats. I’m pushing them to take their shit to the next level. The Cherub guys work really hard and they’re pushing me and I’m pushing them. I’m the type of dude who gets up at 6 or 7 in the morning, not on nights when I’m partying, but I’ll spend a few days not partying just so I can studio and work from early in the morning until late at night everyday.

D: Do you have anyone on your radar right now that you’re looking at for the label?

PD: I’m not really searching out new acts, I’m kind of just letting it come. Right now, we are a smaller label and I want to make sure that I can do for all these people what I would want done for myself, running the label from an artists standpoint. Right now I have a team in place to keep things running smoothly and to give these artists what I would expect as an artist. I don’t know the next time we will sign someone, but it’ll have to be someone who is really dope who we can be friends with. We’re building something special that we all love and promote. We treat it like the Elm and Oak crew is a family.

D: What’s your take on giving away your music for free, what’s your opinion regarding it?

PD: I have and have not given music away for free previously and I will and will not do it in the future. Right now, I’m enjoying it, I know how I get my music and it’s generally for free. I embrace change and I embrace technology, and I feel like one of the most important things as an artist is to be adaptive. I’m glad that the people can easily get the music and I’m stoked to be able to make music everyday and be able to play shows. I do all this for the love of music.

D: Finally, what’s your new years resolution?

PD: Uhhmm more threesomes . . . I mean, get more organized!

Same Old Song (Paper Diamond Remix) – The Weeknd