Music
What's Your Story? Grasshopper
What's Your Story? features the different characters that roam the streets of Toronto. Every Monday and Thursday, a new person shares their story, likes and dislikes about the city, a little secret and more.
Name: Derek (aka Grasshopper)
Age: 36
What neighbourhood are you from? Little Portugal
What do you 'do'? Musician, graphic artist, DJ and I also work in film.
How long have you been in Toronto? Born and raised.
What's your story?
I started jamming with friends around 1990 while I was a student at SEED, an alternative school. I was a "punk-rock-hip-hop head". Two years later, I released a cassette called Born Loser under the group name Grasshopper. People thought it was really anti-industry and we weren't getting any radio play despite the fact that people were attending our shows. So, we moved. Bong Load Records asked us to come to LA where we were busy playing gigs for four months. Musicians like The Melvins, Sonic Youth and Mike Watt were coming to our shows with great feedback.
I got sick of guitar music by 1995 so I hung out in Harlem and then, went back to Toronto. I ended up working for Gadget, the producer of hip-hop records I was crazy about like Saukrates, Choclair and the Grassrootz. I also launched Grasshopper Soundclash and worked in film as a soundtrack supervisor and composer.
Right now, I have a few pieces at Whippersnapper Gallery until the end of September. I also play gigs with 10000 Watt Head and a great new band called, Still Life Still.
Favorite thing(s) about Toronto:
Multiculturalism - I like how it's not segregated here. I used to live in New York and it drove me nuts.
Least favorite thing(s) about Toronto:
It's a small town fronting as a city. And, snow.
You have 24 hours to spend with someone who's never been to Toronto before - what do you do?
Take them to Trash Palace to go see a great movie. Eat at Addis Ababa by the Drake. Go record shopping at Rotate This and then, go to an Extermination night party.
One thing that your friends/family don't know about you:
Skip.
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White guy with dreads.
"The Montreal graffiti scene called, it wants its hair back"
People who think they have a right to judge others for their hair choices, their clothes, whatever.
Dreadlocks have been grown on people of all skin shades since ancient times. So, just relax a bit, k?
People who think they have a right to judge others without looking into what they do or what they've done, how it might be unique or influential, and dismiss someone based on a brief website Q&A and their hairstyle.
FYI: Grasshopper were one of the most important Toronto bands of the early '90s, one of the first locally to really understand the power of NOISE in a rock context. Derek is probably too modest to mention that they are playing shows again, much to the excitement of a whole generation of fans that grew up on their music.
I can't stand ANYONE wearing them. Nasty!!
That does not mean that white guys that wear them are not gross.