The interview took place over video chat.  While Daz Merchant is located in Los Angeles, as am I, we wanted to get this “session” on the books as quickly as possible.  Also, video chat served as a great test medium for the future of this publishing project since the goal is to document as many Web3 artist stories as possible for the foreseeable future and not everyone is LA-based.

It has been almost a year since Daz participated in an interview and his previous write-up was lost to the Good Karma Records (GKR) wind during their website rebuild.  Having worked with Daz for many months now it was interesting to dive into his story.  In all the time we have spent inside and outside of GKR neither of us ever got into the behind-the-scenes of his journey.  The Web3 music space frequently highlights the intimate connection that collectors get to have with artists, and personal narrative should be a larger part of that connection.  Even Daz alludes to this desire to know who other artists are and who he is supported by beyond just PFPs.

We linked at 3 pm PST to chop it up. Today, Daz was looking laidback in a blue crewneck.  Most of us who have encountered him offline know of his eccentric fashion sense down to the signature glasses that only he could pull off.  The love of unusual glasses is mutual.

After working through the initial jitters of sharing this session together we dove right in–  Arella Trustman

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Can you hear me Daz? Cool. Let's fucking go. I'm ready to bang this shit out, type it up, and make something cool. Obviously, we've worked together a bit, so like I kind of know some stuff about you, but, for the sake of our readers at the end of this, let's run through it from the top…tell me about yourself. Who are you as an artist? Give me your origin story.

I started making music when I was 11. I went on a summer vacation down in North Carolina, where I used to stay with my grandparents. My uncle had a microphone. I recorded my first song on that vacation, and uploaded it to Facebook, like direct Facebook to MP3.  I was liking the response I got and so I kept making music.  I wasn't really good at all, but for me being 11, it was pretty cool. I just carried it [making music] all the way through school. That [uploading his first song to Facebook] kinda jump started…everything.

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So, who or what would you say inspires your music and creative process?

When I go into create a record, I'm always trying to invert and flip and do what's not supposed to be done necessarily, or like I don't wanna do anything that's expected. So, whenever things feel like they should go right, I always go left or vice versa.

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I feel you!  That sounds like a true personification of Daz energy! How did you decide on your preferred genre or sound? Was there an evolution to the point where you're at now?

The evolution really came more recently in the past, like two and a half or three years.  I was definitely making more predominantly hip-hop music.  I was actually just going through my Google Drive listening to music from a few years ago and I did see that I dabbled in some pop here and there, but there wasn't anything that was really moving until like the past two and a half years.

It [his sound/genre] was more of when I develop that mindset of wanting to do things rather unexpected.  The sound that came out of this just kind of came naturally as opposed to trying to make a specific genre. Everything has a hip-hop dialect or background/cadence to it because it's just me. It's just, that's just what's in me, but whatever it's morphed into, it just came. It also came from my environments, for sure. It's definitely environmental. Probably partial nightlife, like going out and maybe hearing a house record here, a house record there, and feeling how it made me feel in that moment.

Just like kind of that sort of thing. That's what's kind of molded and morphed my sound into what it is.

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Love that evolution. So when did you get into Web3 and what made you want to pursue this like Web3/Music NFT narrative that's going on right now?

I got into Web3 in, I could tell you, I could say the exact date right now.

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I love that you can just like pull this up and you have an actual date of “I launched, this was my Web3 start”...

Genesis was February 21st, 2022. My first Web3 release was on February 21st of this year.

** Daz met Grady through his roommate. Grady has played a big role in Daz’s musical journey in Web3. When Good Karma Records launched Daz was onboarded as their introductory Web3 artist.**

So, coming in on almost a year in Web3. That's crazy! So, I would love to know more about your experience here in Web3 music. What do you like, what do you not like, and what could be better?

I think just the simple sheer idea of complete, well not a complete stranger, but just someone kind of just buying into your success in general.  It's like you're really treating your music like a business, like an LLC, where people are really buying in and collecting shares of something. That just puts more hands on deck for the long-term vision and investment in what your career may look like, and I think that's super cool.

Then like as far as what I think could be better, what do I wish could be different? It's just more of the correlation between DSPs and Web2 releases and Web3. I saw Cooper literally tweet this today. Once those two things kind of click and connect, things will kind of be through the roof, I think for Web3 [music] in general.

If you think [about it] if a record.. how it really should be is if a record is performing well, in the Web2 side of things, in theory, it should be kind of pumping or increasing the value of where it stands at in the Web3 space. Right now it's not, it's not quite that simple.

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I totally get what you're saying, like adoption of Web3 versus the access of Web2 hasn't quite correlated enough for the listenership of Web2 to translate over into popularity and growth in Web3 yet.

Yeah, because like how it should be seen is like when the record comes out in Web2…You should be bumping it with the knowledge that you own a part of that, in a way. So I think that's kind of like what we’re headed.

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So, what has been your proudest moment as a Web3 artist today?

Building the community out. I don't think it's, I don't wanna say it's impossible in Web2, but I don't really see where I would've been able to, you know, like have a chat full of people solely interested in the art that we're producing right now.

All these people have bought in and now I have this chat, this group, where everyone can kind of communicate their thoughts, ideas, and can build that relationship and have a direct connection to the music and the artist. I think that I wouldn't have gotten that anywhere else.

That's probably like the most exciting because it feels, it feels very much like an army. Mm-hmm… So, the bigger and stronger the army feels… Then again, that goes back into like what we were saying before, previously, with like how it should be correlating better into Web2. With this army going out to push these records,  they own parts of these records. You should almost see it as if like this army is really pushing and promoting these records because it's a piece of theirs, you know?

JOIN DAZ MERCHANT’S COMMUNITY BY COLLECTING AN EDITION OF HIS MOST RECENT NFT RELEASE HERE

Definitely! So, you're currently in the process of releasing an album as NFTs.  Talk to me about this album. What is it? What's the concept? How did you come up with it? Let's dive in on it. because I think we all know what Fever is, but we don't really know what Fever is, right?

Yeah! I started recording the album pretty loosely without a concept, I was writing records and making records that were just kind of based on what was going on in my life at that time.  The concept of Fever started to come together a little bit after.  I took a step back and looked at what we had as a body of work. Not that it was necessarily put in order yet, but I'm like, all of these are just experiences, one experience after another. So it was just like the combination of, of a lot of psychedelics and the creative process and looking at what we had.

Then looking back at the whole recording experience, I was like, the whole thing felt like an entire dream, my whole year prior to that was a complete dream.  Recording the bulk of this in the winter time, it was just like, it felt right. It just felt like everything was a fever. Like this was a fever dream.  The experience that I had with [making] the album was a fever dream.

So I wanted to bring that image to the forefront and bring it forward with visual arts. Um, so that's what Fever is and where it's at.  It's been six weeks. There have been six or seven releases.  They are out of order just so that each record can be taken in for what it is, and just live individually in those experiences.

What is your next release off of this album? What is that song about? Can we get some details since that's going to be what we're collecting next?

Yeah. The next release is called “The End is Near.” It is produced by Grady and Daniel Allen. It definitely shakes things up.

Every release [I make] is nothing like what has been released before and this falls right in line with that. [Take it] like I don't have anything out. That's really what this record is. This is just like another experience, full-length experience record, where I kind of would just like to have it speak for itself.

Though I would say, for people who are really into the Electronic House space, this would definitely pique interest there. It definitely leans that way for sure. Just with the spin that you guys have seen with all the previous records.

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So, “The End is Near” is the title of this track, is that significant of something?

Yeah is it! How you operate when time is ticking. That's kind of subjective, whether the end is near is a bad thing or a good thing, like whatever it is that we're doing and how we're operating will forever be like the end.  So, you can kind of take that like how you want to take it. It's neither good nor bad.

So, it just depends on where you're at and how it resonates, then! What can we expect from you in the coming months post this album’s release?

Web3 specifically, I want to really get into putting my records out more in real-time. A lot of these records, like some of these records that are out and that are coming out, have been in the works for a year, some even over a year.  So, I want to kind of see what it feels like to connect more in real-time. See where my head space was at like two weeks ago, you know what I'm saying? Instead of like a year ago. Yeah, that's really what I'm looking forward to.

Definitely visuals. I've never released a music video in Web3. So, I'm excited to kinda onboard for that and see what that does.  I think there's also a little bit of disconnection when it comes to Web3.  I don't know what anyone looks like in Web3.  I see just digital art as everyone's avvy [avatar] or something, and then like, I only can use whatever their name is “.eth” to associate, like who they are. Maybe a couple [other] things that decipher who they are based on language, but like, even with the artists that's not even just for like the collectors, but the artists too.  If it wasn't for the Good Karma showcases, I don't think I would know what 90% of the artists look like.

I find that pretty interesting. So, I guess it'll be cool to show face. Maybe people might be looking at me and be like, I have no idea what this guy looks like either.

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Yeah, people are just consuming your music. They don't actually know like, the person behind the music at all, because it's all virtual.

Yeah. I think visuals like an artist's look and how they lay things out is equally important to what the sound is. It's like why some of the biggest artists are who they are, you know what I'm saying? If 21 Savage looked like, uh, The Weekend, chances are he probably wouldn't be 21 Savage.

Right? So like, it's cool to kind of see where the sound comes from and get a bit more of an understanding. Like, this is why this is, and this is why this looks this way, you feel me?

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Yeah, definitely. There's something to be said about an image and the music going in tandem…That is part of your artist brand identity.

One hundred percent. The biggest [statistically] in my opinion, are the ones who are really good at curating how things look, albums specifically. You know what I'm saying? Like if we talk Tyler, we talk Igor, the first thing we think about is that wig, you know what I mean?  We think about that wig, that microphone on a stage. Like the same goes for just, you know, a handful of those big, big artists, we can associate them with, with tangible things, you know what I mean?

That's something that I definitely want to continue to think about in my own sphere, in writing and whatnot, because I think that's very poignant for the Web3 space…also why we're doing this little interview here and continuing to build the narrative about who artists are.

So, If you had one piece of advice for an artist looking to follow in your footsteps, what would it be?

Looking to follow in my footsteps as far as…

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In Web3. Outside of Web 3. Mostly Web3 though… Like, someone's gonna follow in your footsteps, they're gonna take the leap of faith into this space. What is your advice?

I'm gonna go ahead and promote risk-taking.  I mean, if you're already going into, taking a step into Web3, you're taking a risk. That's without any negative connotation, it's an interesting world to understand. It takes a lot of time to understand. Even right now, I'm still trying to understand different things.

There are things that I'm still trying to figure out. So, with that being said, even when you're in the world of Web3, I think continuing to take different risks, being the first person to try something or that sort of thing. I one hundred percent advocate for that, whether it's in the music directly or how you operate as a business.

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I think we kind of already touched on this within like the body of this discussion today, but let's take a second and get high-minded about the direction of Web3 music. Where do you think we're all headed?

That's one of those things that goes back to what I was just saying in the previous question, it's a risk. I'd like to think that we're heading in a good direction. I mean, so far everything that's come out of it has been positive for me. Where I would like it to head is exactly what we were saying.  With it [Web3] having more correlation between DSPs and Web2.  As soon as those two things sync up and click together, like, then I think Web3 will become impenetrable. Like, it'll kind of be bulletproof, not, not fully bulletproof, but it'll put a stamp on it where it's fully in the forefront and it's kind of mainstream.  It's no longer just like this foreign tech, weird nerd concept that people have to read a lot of books about to understand.

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Fair enough. So, I have some bonus questions that are a little bit more fun, a little bit more casual about, you know, music and your style, etc. So who's your favorite artist or artist? Non NFT.  What about their work resonates with you?

Just a bunch of different ones. It's a big handful. Like Sade is like always top of my list. This one  specifically for like where music takes me. Like when I want to be relaxed and I want to be uninterrupted and I don't wanna feel like [the] sound is abrasive and things are just smooth and easygoing. Like that's an artist that I go to for those reasons, you know what I mean?

When I think about like a story and I think about the imagery that goes with the verbiage and vocabulary. I  jump into my 90’s phase and I'll listen to The Lox, I'll listen to Jadakiss, I'll just imagine the things that are coming out of his mouth. Like all of these different artists are kind of what you'll end up finding in “my” music. I kind of consolidate everything. When I think about a space or a had space or a mindset I want to go to, I go here, here, here.

There are so many…I should probably look in my library to be specific, because everyone always asks me this question, this question specifically, and I wanna be one of those people who can just name six, like no problem.

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Maybe you can make like a playlist for your community someday of stuff that you like to rock to when it's like, not NFTs, not you making music, like what you're playing on your day-to-day instead of like, you know, talking about your own music for a change.

I think that's what I have got to do. I think that's what needs to be done. Cause like my library is just like all over the place, like really all over the place. I have my Clam Casino, I have Clyde Carson, which is like an extremely west coast artist, Currency, which is very Louisiana/New Orleans vibe, and like the list just goes on really.

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That's like a perfect segue then, because it seems like you have musical taste across the board here. If you could collaborate with one artist, living or dead who would it be and why?

If I could get an album executively produced by Pharrell, I think I'd be pretty happy. I think it'd be dope to work with The Gorillaz as well.

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Interesting. Okay. Like two very different sounds there for sure. But then again, Pharell is like a musical genius.

Yeah! I mean, producing soundtracks for like children's movies and like just off-the-wall things, like all of that is just like a vibe to me. Like I would enjoy spending my time doing that. You know what I mean?

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Daz Merchant will be releasing another music NFT titled “The End is Near” off of his debut album Fever.  Announcement coming soon!

If you have collected an NFT from Daz Merchant you can join his private telegram group and connect with the rest of the community.

Keep your eyes on Daz Merchant as he embarks on the next phase of his Web3 journey.  He is an artist you won’t want to miss!