nternet pirate radio show impresarios and NYC (and beyond) stalwart DJs Chances With Wolves have a proposition for you. Drop them some change and they’ll send you a decoder ring (or some reasonable web equivalent) for their super secret gold-level mixtape club.
To hear them tell it, “Chances With Wolves started at the end of the Bush era. We were bartending in New York and used to play music behind the bar and Kino-compete for who could play the weirdest and most beautiful stuff. Then we got offered a show on East Village Radio and the rest is historical.”
We were bartending in New York and used to play music behind the bar and Kino-compete for who could play the weirdest and most beautiful stuff.
Their own show has gone on to garner its own fervent following, and it’s sporadically regular Soundcloud mixtape are eagerly anticipated and played loudly.
Their aesthetic is what would happen if you put your patchouli-scented neighbor who designs wilderness T-shirts in a blender with a mural painted on the side of a 1976 Econoline and an 8-bit Nintendo cartridge and then crushed it up and smoked it. Drink up.
On the occasion of Whalebone Magazine’s New York City Issue presented by Huckberry (which happily coincided with Chances With Wolves own brilliant locked-in-a-booth-in-Times Square NYC mixtape), we had this chance encounter and the opportunity to pepper CWW with questions about New York City, music and our mutual favorite baseball movie actor.
Making mixtapes out of thin air.
What should be New York City’s national anthem? (we know, it’s not a country, but we don’t care).
Chances With Wolves: Well, that’s kind of the beautiful thing about New York City. There are so many songs that could be the anthem depending on who you are, or even how you’re feeling. I’m going with “New York City” by Gil Scott-Heron.
What was the greatest era for NYC music?
CWW: Again, That’s subjective. So many important scenes! I wouldn’t want to say any era is better than another, but on a personal level I lived through the ’80s and early ’90s and it was pretty amazing.
Who is the quintessential New York artist or band? The one that most embodies the City and is inseparable from it?
CWW: Kool Herc
Greatest NYC-set film soundtrack?
CWW: I mean, There’s so many, but they really killed it with “Midnight Cowboy.”
How will the wolf survive?
CWW: It’s rough out here. Did you see the thing about how wolves change rivers? Because that shit is crazy.
Most memorable NYC concert you’ve ever witnessed?
CWW: We used to work at a music venue, so saw a lot of stuff just showing up for work. ESG Is probably at the top of the list though.
Greatest MC of all time?
CWW: For me it starts and ends with the God Rakim Allah
That’s pretty dope and has a great performance by Gene Hackman also.
Favorite Kevin Costner performance?
CWW: Well, There’s a joint called “No Way Out” that’s actually a remake of a noir art film called “The Big Clock,” that’s pretty dope and has a great performance by Gene Hackman also. “Bull Durham” is also good. And there’s also that one where he plays like a Union soldier and gets down with the Native Americans and the Tatonka but I don’t member what that was called.
You’re walking into the Whalebone Magazine New York City Issue Release Shindig at Huckberry’s Pop-Up Shop on Bleeker—what’s playing?
CWW: Something warm and inviting.
Most unusual gig Chances With Wolves has ever done in NYC?
CWW: We’ve actually played some crazy notable places in New York… Lincoln Center, MOMA, Brooklyn Museum, but for me, playing in the subway was probably the coolest thing we ever did. That, or the Flooded Art party in Red Hook after Hurricane Sandy. I’ll never forget that night.
What happens in the Magic Wolf Gold-Level Champagne Room?
CWW: Man, it’s just a space where you can come and be yourself, you know what I mean?
