meet the brooklyn finalists: black haüs

On Friday, August 9th, five acts will perform at the AFROPUNK Brooklyn Battle of the Bands Finals, at the Knitting Factory in Williamsburg.

The Grand Prize is the chance to join the star-studded, line-up of AFROPUNK Brooklyn 2019 at Commodore Barry Park on August 24th-25th. But the Battle of the Bands is not only an opportunity for a big break most musicians seek in their careers, it is also an occasion for the bands to showcase their music, their creative spirit and their artistry to the AFROPUNK audience. So this week, we’re spotlighting all five finalists, asking them questions about who they are and what this moment means to them.

Presenting Black Haüs, a garage-funk alt-rap two-vocalist quintet from North Carolina that’s impossible to musically pin down — in a good way.

What is your name, your age, and the instrument that you play? 

Jeffrey Tulliz (22, vocals), Patrick Young (21, vocals), Collin Nesbitt (23, bass guitar), Siid Pennix (23, percussion), Taylor Willams (23, guitar)

Where are you from?

Greensboro, North Carolina 

What are your favorite things about where you are from? (Especially when it comes to Black culture of where you are from.)

There are so many different things that we deal with daily while living in the south. Being Black, Queer and alternative men living in North Carolina is somewhat of a rarity. Despite the political climate and racial oppression that we all face everyday, we still find the positive in our surroundings. Our favorite things about being Black in the south range from cookouts to civil rights, and everything in-between. Being around historically Black colleges such as [North Carolina] A&T and Bennett [College], there is a notable richness in Black culture in Greensboro, NC. Black culture in the south is everything between partying and smoking backwoods on porches, or skateboarding in the middle of streets with your friends. Black culture in the south is very diverse and has no definition. 

In your own words, give us a short description of the kind of music you make.

We HATE having to categorize our music. We feel as though our music is genre-bending and can’t be put into any box. 

If there was one or two core thoughts or ideas that you want your music to convey, what are they?

We do what comes naturally to us. We say what we feel and we share our life experiences through our music. There’s honestly never any one message that we are specifically trying to convey, we just enjoy pouring out our souls for any open ears. 

What are your musical dreams and aspirations? Not fame-wise, but creatively. What do you think you can do with music?

To create music that not only we enjoy, but others find solace in. We hope that our music is diverse enough to reach and touch people of all backgrounds, no matter what genre they typically enjoy. Our dream is to create something that has never been made before. 

Name one artist that you would like to collaborate with? What do you think that collaboration would sound like?

AGGGHHHH THIS IS A HARD ONE. We each have different inspirations and musical influences so it can be quite difficult trying to choose one artist that we would all like to collaborate with. Individually, Jeffrey would love to collaborate with SZA, Patrick with Kaytranada, Taylor with Pharellel, Siid with Toro y Moi, and Collin with Night Jewel. If we had to collectively choose one artist that we would like to collaborate with we would have to say… Tierra Whack, and it would sound like something ya’ll never heard before.

What are you most looking forward to if you win the Battle of the Bands? What do you think winning could do for you?

We are all just so happy to even have made it thus far in the competition that anything else is an external factor. We think that winning AFROPUNK’s Battle of the Bands could open the door to many opportunities for us. Being from a small town such as Greensboro, we are all treating this opportunity as a networking experience. We have met so many wonderful people in the music industry that we honestly don’t know what winning this competition holds for us, but we know it’s only up from here! 

Anything else you want to say to the AFROPUNK audience as a way of introduction?

We want everyone to know who we are personally! Jeffrey, the fashionable stoner. Patrick, the multifaceted Virgo. Siid, the dread head vegan. Collin, the wild child. And Taylor, the quiet storm. We are a family. The thing that makes Black Haüs unique is that although we are an all-Black band, no one member is the same. We all come from different walks of life and have learned a lot from each other over the two years that we’ve known one another. We are queer, we are punk, we are Black, we are undefined, and we are unapologetic, those are the qualities that make up Black Haüs. 

Follow Black Haüs on Soundcloud.