Q+A • Apache Grosse Releases “Brooklyn Girl” Video

Over the last half-decade or so as Chicago has become a launching pad for local acts, it has similarly become a destination for many across the country and the world to find a creative community from which to ply their trade. Transplants are as important to the scene as the truly homegrown talent, serving to add depth to the overall city’s culture and movement forward. One new face in town shaking things up has been Apache Gross, who last week debuted the first video and single, “Brooklyn Girl” in a larger rollout aimed at establishing his name outside of his native Arizona.

The video itself is a cinematic piece that does much to stake an aesthetic understanding of artist and song throughout that was premiered with an event at AMFM Gallery in Pilsen. A job brought Grosse to the Windy City but a endearing nature and penchant for perseverance have helped him take important steps forward. With a management team and a fully understood plan for his work ready to go and quickly approaching on the horizon, the future looks sunny for the sinewy soul voice manifested in the desert. You’ll definitely be hearing plenty more from Grosse soon, but for now enjoy the video that is streaming above and the single playing regularly on Mild Sauce Radio. We caught up with Apache to get a deeper understanding of the video, the single and the work that’s beginning to set him apart. Check that our below and be sure to keep an eye out for new releases coming soon.

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This being the first single of many, how did it feel to get it out?

Apache • It feels amazing and terrifying at the same time. I’m extremely critical when it comes to my music. Not only do I hold it to a certian artistic standard but I also hold it to a performance standard. This is my dream and I want to ensure that I can create for the rest of my life without distraction. I won’t put music or a video out until I believe it meets my standards, which I have control over. What I cant control is how people react to it, and that is the nerve racking part. Will I land a big premiere? Will only 20 people hear it? Or will this be the song that makes my career? Being a new artist is challenging, people don’t want to take a risk and put there name on something that might not pan out. At the end I know that day it will come and until then all I can do is work around the clock until I get there.

A lot of energy obviously went into the video, explain going all out for a piece of art. 

Apache • It was an incredible experience but one of the most difficult things I have ever accomplished. I didn’t want to make the same low quality video we’ve seen time and time again. I wanted refinement and originality. I wanted to create something that would not only be visually stunning, but different than what other people are creating right now, especially in Chicago. I was lucky that my team at Pogi Studios shared a similar vison. Creating a video like Brooklyn Gril took a large amount of planning, editing, and a handful of luck. When you are trying to create a label-quality video as an independent artist, everything has to be executed perfectly or you could find yourself with sub-par results. There were a lot of moving pieces. We needed rental gear, locations, makeup, hair, extras and the star of the film, which we were very lucky to find Selena Sofia. After that we needed to get all of it to New York City. The editing process was probably the hardest part. We shot over 500gigs of film and we needed to refine that into 5 minutes. There were times when I feared that weren’t going to pull it off. But luckily Brian, the director and my close friend, was willing to takes months to get the film where it needed to be. Looking back on all of it one for the best experiences in my life. 

How would you explain your creative process?

My creative process is to purge all of my emotions into the vessel in which I am creating. If you know me in my normal life you probably wouldn’t consider me a very emotional person. But when it comes to my art this is how express myself. For example, when I create a new song it is usually after a high experience in my life or a low point. I start by sitting down in my studio and laying down a beat and some chords. I like to leave my instrumentals bare in the beginning stages so that I have room to move. From there I just freestyle. I use Ableton so it’s easy to record vocal clips one after another. After I capture the emotion and curate the story of the song, the rest is just amplifying that emotion through the production of the song. Creating this video was different process though. The emotion was already conceived through the song I got to focus on developing the main storyline while hiding undertones and backstories. My favorite films were movies that had backstories and twists. I spent time doing research and working with my team to discover the most effective and high-quality techniques to create this experience for my viewers.

Having moved from Arizona, how has it been adjusting to Chicago’s scene?

Moving from Arizona to Chicago was one of the best moves I’ve made in my life. In a past interview I called Chicago the best accident to ever happen to me. I always wanted to move to LA or New York to pursue music. That was because I never knew Chicago existed. By that I mean when I moved out here on a corporate contract and I didn’t know I was moving to one of the most interesting and developing music scenes in the world. It was hard at first because I felt displaced being away from all of my creative friends from Arizona and was submerged into a corporate culture. But after returning to Chicago from oversees I became a member at Soho House and began to find routes to the creative community. My return was when my music career truly started.

What are you excited about today?

I’m very excited about my network. I feel very blessed to have a group of friends to create with and to work on the vision with.

What can fans expect throughout the rest of 2018?

I’m currently in the final stages of a song called Poison that should be dropping in the next couple months. Out side of that I will continue to create music and visuals I believe reflect where I am at in my artistry