At the Tailor's with Sabzi of Blue Scholars

Over a century ago, buying new clothes was often a friendly, personal encounter. All but the most destitute bought their apparel from a professional, who would measure them, and have a conversation about their preferences, then, with a team of apprentices and assistants, create an item to the client’s needs and tastes. During the lengthy (and sometimes awkward) fittings, conversations would often stray off-topic: into sports, news, literature, politics or even personal matters. Much like a modern bartender (or therapist), the ability to hold up a conversation was a part of a tailor or seamstress’s job.

Tarboo Inc., a year-old outfitter located in Pioneer Square, sometimes feels like a throwback to that golden age. Their clothes are handmade in-house, and it’s not uncommon to see clients stop by for a fitting and linger long enough for a good chat. When Tarboo co-founder Maikoiyo Alley-Barnes got a call from second-time client and long-time friend Saba Mohajerjasbi (better known to many as Sabzi of Blue Scholars, Common Market, and other projects), he resolved to record one of the pair’s famously wide-ranging conversations. A film-making friend, Canh Solo, edited the results into an engaging bit of publicity, both for the company and the young artist.

Sabzi and Maikoiyo talked for the better part of an hour, only a fraction of which is captured in Canh’s video. Topics ranged from the temporal- music, fashion, Tarboo happenings, Sabzi’s music projects, to the more philosophical- the reality of the music business, the future of capitalism, and a shared love of Seattle. I was lucky enough to to be a fly on the wall during their conversation, and we’ve produced a transcript of some of the most interesting parts of their chat (with a few minor edits for readability):

MAB: You brought up music. People are familiar with some of the things you’ve done- Blue Scholars, Common Market, but there’s something you’re working on at present...

S: Right. I started a new duo with a friend of mine. Her name is Kelsey, and our duo is called “Made in Heights.” We have one Winter collection of music out, and the next one comes out in a little while [just released last week!]

MAB: I hate to do this to artists, as a maker myself, ask someone to put themselves in a box, but...

S: “How would you describe your music?”

MAB: Yeah.

S: Well, we’re exploring it. We don’t know. We’re figuring it out.

MAB: That’s refreshing.

S: We’re cutting pieces of what we made and putting it out to share with those who want to listen to the process of the sound taking shape.

MAB: That’s kind of a vulnerable position.

S: Honestly, I don’t know what we’ll make, but we have a bunch of stuff. There are about 10 songs out now, and then there are a bunch of “scraps” that we have from making the more established songs, which we’re also going to put out in the next few months. So instead of being like: “yo! this is what we are! listen!” it’s more: “this is what we’ve been thinking about, and we’re still exploring it, so check it out.”

MAB: That’s a rarefied place as a listener, to be able to hear that progression, chart that progression from somebody who- I don’t know about Kelsey, but a lot of people are familiar with what they think your sound might be.

S: Right. Well, if they listen to everything I do, I have a lot of different sounds. It bangs really hard, that’s one thing. Two- it’s melodic. There’s intricate chord progressions, she sings, and the beat- I mean, you can bump it in your car, you can listen to it while you study, and you can also pay direct attention to it on headphones.

S: ...That’s how I make music, I drive these streets. I spend time in New York now because I’m trying to network, but this is my home, always will be, and I’m coming back here.

MAB: Where’s that?

S: Seattle. Seattle, Washington is my home! I drive these streets, I think about the music I hear when I’m here, then I make, and I make it for here, and anyone else who’s into hearing it.

MAB: How’s Seattle sound?

S: It sounds like rain. like rainwater

MAB: Obviously you’re tied to this place because it’s home, but having traveled, what is so particular about this place, as opposed to...?

S: Oh man, I could talk about that for a long time.

MAB: How's 5 minutes?

S: 5 minutes. Well, it’s West Coast without being California. It has a capacity to understand the East Coast that the rest of the West doesn’t necessarily have.

MAB: What do you attribute that to?

S: I’m not sure. Maybe it’s just geographic, the topography of the big cities of the East Coast isn’t too different from what we have here. This place is big enough to matter culturally in the international psyche, yet small enough for those who want to make something or do something to wrap their head around, and to not just be a cog in a bigger system that no one has control over.

You can maintain a ground-level relationship, even with people at the top or the scene here, be it in politics, music, anything. It’s a small enough town, and we’re unified enough. The level of unity that’s required to have another large city behave this way just doesn’t exist yet in the world, but it can, and it will. Contrary to what most people think, or maybe they just don’t know, it’s a very diverse place, but it’s small enough that all the different groups- different ethnic groups, different types of people from all over the world who came here, in the last 30-40 years, all mix together, and we all learn about each other’s heritage, and culture, and food. What we’ve inherited from our parents’ generation, we put forward in this new, culture that actually mixes sincerely, versus other, larger cities, where there are people from all over the world, but they stay in their pockets, or they’re forced to stay in their own neighborhoods, and they don’t interact.

So even though this is a small town, I find that there are people who are more cosmopolitan and world-embracing despite it being so small. That’s why I like it here. I was surprised when I went to New York and I found out how racist people were, like: “what? [laughter] ya’ll live in one of the biggest, most important cities in the world!” I thought that meant they were gonna be more... aware of how big the world actually is, instead of thinking narrowly, but that’s not the case... at the moment.

MAB: That’s an interesting perspective. Can that change?

S: I think that can change. I think it probably will later on.

MAB: I don’t think they have much choice in that. I think it’s maybe in the midst of changing.

S: Yeah. But at this moment in history [Seattle] is a really special place to be. There’s people who see that, and are actually moving here. I have Silicon Valley friends who are saying “the dot-com biz is not poppin’ here, we need to move to Seattle.” I know people who work for well-established record institutions in other cities that are re-locating to Seattle, because they think that they can do their work better here. There’s something about this place.

MAB: You mentioned plaid [before the interview], and we do love plaids around [Tarboo]...

S: We’re in the Northwest! We invented plaid as far as I’m concerned!

MAB: It’s something that’s near and dear to our hearts, both for the aesthetic reasons, and for the functional ones. Not just the tones, but the fabrics that come along with them. You were talking about your collection of plaids...

S: Right! So, I have a lot of plaids- I just like ‘em, always did. Sort of “nerd-chic, but I’ve spent time on the block,” which is how I’ve always dressed. Then I got this chambray in lilac from you guys, and I said “yo, fuck yo plaids.” [laughter] I don’t know! I can’t rock them as much, because they’re so specific. I still really like them, but I’m torn. Maybe I’m just getting older.

MAB: It’s also about balance. It’s important to have things that are complimentary. The solid colors tend to work that way. They’re more versatile.

MAB: I wanna talk about Blue Scholars for a second, because that is the thing a lot of people know you for...

S: ...chasing the hype for years, and never succeeding in catching it!

MAB: [laughter] self-deprecation from the finest! But in all seriousness, what are you excited about that you guys are working on?

S: Honestly, I’m really excited that I don’t care any more about the “music business” as it was introduced to me. I think it doesn’t matter... almost at all. There’s like five people in the music business who matter.

MAB: but there’s a distinction- music business and music...?

S: Yeah! Music belongs to everybody, and will always exist, and will always be really important. The music business as we understand it now- there’s a short list, and they’re all really famous, and they matter less and less every day. We care about them less and less every day.

MAB: ...over-saturation?

S: No, I think it’s because we’re starting to understand that they don’t have what we need. They don’t actually know anything better than we do. So, whatever throne it is that I’m watching, doesn’t actually have any power the way it used to. People are still sitting there. They really have that spot, and it belongs to them, and probably no one ever will take it from them, but nobody cares any more. People are looking more towards- well, what we talked about with clothes here, it’s the same with music.

MAB: you can expand if you want to...

S: It’s like “yo! H&M is huge, look at this bitchin’ coat I bought!” it’s no different than “look at this record, like at this feature I got on this song from someone who everybody knows.” No one really cares any more, especially because those people aren’t any happier than you or I. That’s what people really want.

MAB: Happiness?

S: Yeah. They want to live a life that means something. People think the internet has caused an over-saturation, or has caused meaning to be lost, but I think it’s only uncovered the reality that was always there. Now that our capacity to understand the world we live in has increased, it’s time for us to all step our game up. To tie this back to Blue Scholars, which is what your question was, I think it’s more meaningful, and even more economically viable, to make music and do projects that 30 or 20 thousand people hear, and 10 thousand people really remember, versus chase something that maybe a million people will hear and everyone will forget. So I’m really excited that we’re 100% independent. We’re actually working with Nin and Christa, a design team here, developing a line of products that emerges from the Cinematropolis project, which is our latest record. We’re doing a tour this fall with a friend of ours. We just got an office in SoDo.

MAB: So you guys are our neighbors now!

S: Yeah! We’re doing everything ourselves. We used to have merchandising, fulfillment, that kind of stuff outsourced to another company- cut that, bringing it in, giving the homies jobs, having everyone work here.

MAB: So cutting the waste, and getting more of a team dynamic...

S: ...like, why would I give that money to someone else, when I can give it to somebody who matters [laughter] not to say they don’t matter, but this person matters to me. And that’s part of having the system rooted and growing from the ground up. You know, [laughter] I didn’t talk about music... actually at all in all that, but that’s what’s going on behind the music, and anything we make creatively will emerge from the spirit I’m talking about.

MAB: ...thank you, we appreciate it.

S: Of course! It was really good to be here.

MAB: Keep up the good work.

S: You too.