JabbaWockeeZ

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One of the acts performing at the Virgin Festival in Montreal this summer was, JabbaWockeeZ, an all male, California based dance troupe who became the inaugural winners of the MTV hip-hop dance competition  known as America’s Best Dance Crew, back in March of 2008.  Remembered for their intricate synchronization and precise dances, performed while masked and gloved, these ten guys have made quite a career for themselves out of their craft.

CONFRONT had the opportunity to sit down with most of the crew backstage during the festival, for one of the most fun and entertaining interviews of the day.  The boys were in a playful mood and it made for a relaxed and enjoyable conversation.

CONFRONT: Hi!  I’m Angel.  It’s nice to meet you.

JABBAWOCKEEZ: HI ANGEL!!!!  She’s an angel of the Lord.

CONFRONT: Of the Lord??  Not so sure about that but ok.

(Everyone laughs)

CONFRONT: I guess that the best way to start this interview would be to ask you to give me a brief description of how you guys got into music and then formed the group and got to where you are today.

JABBAWOCKEEZ:  It was just something we group up with in the earlier 80s and so on.  And then from then on we just progressed and got together.  We learned from a lot of different mentors and stuff like that but we also did our own thing.  We are brothers and we learn from each other and teach each other things.

CONFRONT: How did you learn to dance originally?  Did you take classes in your neighbourhoods or anything like that?

JABBAWOCKEEZ: We are self-taught.   Doing hip-Hop and the style of dancing that we do it’s basically self-taught; watching TV or watching other people you are inspired by and then putting your own little twist on it is pretty much how it goes.  I think that what we did as Jabbawockeez is take the foundation of hip-hop dance – popping, locking, breaking – any type of dance style, even modern and Jazz, and put that into our own style.  So you can say right now, in this century, Jabbawockeez is becoming its own style.  If you go on YouTube, you can see people are doing our style of dance.

CONFRONT: I’ve seen that yeah.

JABBAWOCKEEZ:  Hey can we just take a minute, you can’t see this on the recorder but can we all give Angel a big hug for a minute.

*Group hug*

JABBAWOCKEEZ: Awwwww, audible hugs, audible hugs.

CONFRONT: Thanks guys.  That was a first.

JABBAWOCKEEZ: Awesome.

CONFRONT: I have to be honest and say that I didn’t watch America’s Best Dance Crew at the time….

JABBAWOCKEEZ: SHAME ON YOU!!!!!!

CONFRONT: I know, I know!  I’m sorry.  But that being said, I was aware of you guys because the hype about you was so intense.  Everyone was talking about you.

JABBAWOCKEEZ: Right on!

CONFRONT: Since that first season, you still seem to be the group that everyone remembers and talks about.  Why do you think that is?  Is it because of who you are as a group; or because you were the first to win?

JABBAWOCKEEZ: It’s both.  It’s because we were the first to win but also because we were the first to win.    It’s our style, it’s our energy.  It was our time, man; we’ve been doing this for a long time.  We’ve been doing this forever.  We got together in ‘03 but most of us have been dancing since way before that.  We’ve been dancing for a long time but the fact that we decided to stick together as a crew allowed us to accomplish these big things together.  We could have gone our own individual routes, we started that way, but the fact that we stuck together allowed to shine.  America’s Best Dance Crew was the best thing that could happen for us.  We did America’s Got Talent and it didn’t work there.  We could have given up after that.  But the stars aligned and here we are.  But just for the record though, we don’t feel like we are America’s Best Dance Crew because there are so many dope dancers out there that could put a crew together and make it happen; and there are other crews worldwide that people haven’t seen yet and they knock our socks off.  It is definitely and honour and a privilege to be called that, but we want to let people know that they also have to keep their eye open for the next best thing cause it’s out there.  We are going to continue to work hard though.  Although we don’t consider ourselves to be the best, we ARE pretty good!

(Everyone laughs)

JABBAWOCKEEZ: One of the reasons people [are probably] drawn to the Jabbawockeez is the energy.  Of course the dancing is great, we’ve trained a lot of years, but it’s the energy that we bring onto the stage and camaraderie that we have as a group.  We aren’t just a group that sees each other when we have to perform.  We are always together, like brothers.  It’s something we’ve always done since we started the group.  Not even since we started the group cause some of us have known each other since the early 90s; we all official meet in ’98 or ’99 and since then we’ve been really go friends and hanging out all the time.  So that’s one of the reasons why America, Canada and even the world is drawn to Jabbawockeez.

CONFRONT: You were saying that you tried on America’s Got Talent first.  Why do you think you weren’t successful on that show and yet went on to win America’s Best Dance Crew?

JABBAWOCKEEZ: They weren’t actually looking for talent on America’s Got Talent.  They were looking for freak shows.

(Everyone laughs)

JABBAWOCKEEZ: On America’s Best Dance Crew they were really able to capture what we really do.  It was also the challenges that we rose to.  Cause we would never have danced to Blondie before that- who locks to Blondie.  It was pretty dope for us to rise to the occasions because it taught us that we can do anything.  We can take any concept and make it us.  Dancers have an ear for much and they can physically articulate the music.  And now we can do [any type of music].  We can do the New Kids and we can take that and do something pleasing to the crowd.  That’s what’s great about that show.  They were able to see the talent that was there before and they were able to spark in us the realization of what we are capable of doing and going beyond.  Also, we did America’s Got Talent a while ago.  So before we did America’s Best Dance Crew we were able to sharpen our skills even more so.

CONFRONT: You mentioned that you are now on tour with the New Kids on the Block.  Can you tell me a little about how that relationship came about and how you ended up on this tour with New Kids and Jesse McCartney?

JABBAWOCKEEZ: We attended an Interscope party and there we met Jordan [Knight] and we’d seen their first performance at the Rockerfeller Center that we had also performed at.  We texted him saying that it was good that they were on stage again and we just kind of kept in touch here and there for about a year and  then they reached out and asked us to go on tour with them.  They are great guys so it’s nice to be on tour with them.  Nobody is trying to have any egos and crack jokes all the time.

CONFRONT: ummm…  I just drew a blank.  I have no idea what I was going to ask you now.

JABBAWOCKEEZ: Aww! Angel just drew a blank.  But it’s ago cause she’s so beautiful.

CONFRONT: Aw! Now see, i should interview you guys every day.  It would be great for my ego.

JABBAWOCKEEZ: It would be especially good in the mornings.  Having just standing there saying: ‘Hey Sunshine!  How are you this morning!’  we are a full service dance crew.  We do showers, we fix the bed.

CONFRONT: Do you guys clean too?

JABBAWOCKEEZ: Yeah we clean.

CONFRONT: Ok then.  You’re hired.

(Everyone laughs)

CONFRONT: Ok i’m being told I have to wrap this up.  So we have a few questions we ask everybody.  You have to finish the sentences.  So the first is: I would never….

JABBAWOCKEEZ: I would never stop dancing.  Or  I would never say never…

CONFRONT:  Oh come on!  That is so cliché.

JABBAWOCKEEZ: ok, ok!  How about I would never say that I would never say never…

CONFRONT: I guess. That’s better.

JABBAWOCKEEZ: I will never eat yellow snow.  I will never EVER use the bathroom in a porta-potty.

CONFRONT: You should go to the VIP ones here.  They are impressive.

JABBAWOCKEEZ: Really?

CONFRONT: Yeah!  It’s in a mobile home and it looks like a clean public restroom with stalls and sinks with running water and everything.

JABBAWOCKEEZ: Awesome!!!

CONFRONT: ok so moving on from bathroom issues, the second one is: I have never…

JABBAWOCKEEZ: I have never sky-dived.  I have never been naked in public… yet!  I have never robbed a band.  I have never turned a cart-wheel on Jupiter.

CONFRONT: That’s an interesting one.  Ok guys.  Thank you so much for spending some of your afternoon with me.  I appreciate it.

JABBAWOCKEEZ: It was our pleasure.

JabbaWockeeZ performed twice that day – the first at their pre-established time slot, and a second time in replacement of Akon’s set, who ended up not participating in the festival at the last minute – and both times the awe and approval coming from the crowd was impressive.  Although this was a music festival and these guys don’t sing or play instruments, the way they interpret the tracks they set their routines to is mesmerizing.

Fresh off a tour with the New Kids on the Block, JabbaWockeeZ are taking a little break before heading out to Australia for two performances at the end of the month.  If you are down-under, I strongly urge you to check them out.

In the mean time, if you guys would like to learn more about JabbaWockeeZ follow the links below.  And be sure to catch them live at the earliest opportunity, you won’t regret it.  We certainly didn’t.

http://www.jabbawockeez.com/

www.myspace.com/jabbawockeez

To view our full JabbaWockeeZ picture gallery please click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/confrontmagazine/sets/

Editor’s note: I do want to apologize to the JabbaWockeeZ fans for not being able to be more precise about who in the crew made the statements during the interview.  There were so many people in backstage area that it was virtually impossible to keep track of who was saying what and therefore I had to generalize the answersrather than citing he individuals making the statements.

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