Q&A: Robin Hannibal of R&B/folk duo Quadron

From Denmark, Robin Hannibal produces beats and rhythms that combine an R&B feel with smooth, brassy instrumentation and a soulful vibe. Hannibal and vocalist Coco O make up the duo Quadron. They have traveled all over the world with their music and have even made an appearance at UCLA’s 2010 Jazz Reggae Festival. Their new album, “Avalanche,” comes out June 4. Quadron will perform at the Getty Center as part of the Saturdays Off the 405 concert series this week. Daily Bruin’s Manjot Singh spoke with Hannibal about his roots, Coco O’s work with Tyler the Creator and the essence of Quadron’s “electric soul” musical style.

 

Daily Bruin: How did you come up with the name Quadron?

Robin Hannibal: The name Quadron is a play on the racial term quadroon, which means a quarter black. It’s used as a positive thing to explain your heritage because people of mixed ethnicities and color is still fairly new. So Quadron is something that spoke to our background as Coco’s father is African and my father is African American. We are both actually a quarter (African American) and we thought it was something that was interesting as we kind of have a bit of the same story.

 

DB: How did you and Coco first meet?

RH: We met in Denmark. She was 17, so like eight or nine years ago. She was performing locally with a friend of mine and he wanted us to meet. I heard her sing and we started slowly working together (before she became involved) in a couple projects that I was working on. Slowly, we developed a sound and style together. That’s kind of how it happened.

 

DB: How do your and Coco’s backgrounds play a role in your musical style and essence?

RH: We’ve kind of seen soul music or listened to it from afar. But we’re also listening to whatever music is popular in our part of the world. (And) the way that we were listening to soul and R&B was probably very different (than) what it is here. So it’s a mixture of all those things. We were never really interested in trying to make it sound just “American” or only wanting to duplicate what is “American” because we aren’t American. You kind of have to work things to your advantage. The advantage was that we had a lot of other influences as well and so we used those to kind of mix it up.

 

DB: What kind of venues did you first start performing in?

RH: Denmark is a very small country so there aren’t that many venues. People were always very receptive and really liked it. We played at a lot of different venues including museums, cafes, bars, clubs and festivals – all kinds of places. Then we went to the States in 2010 where we actually played at the UCLA Jazz Reggae Festival. We started playing at a lot of bigger and smaller places here. We just tried to get our music across as much as possible.

 

DB: Personally, who was instrumental in giving you the push to pursue music?

RH: Listening to music in general and your family and friends that introduces you to good music. No one really pushed me; it came very naturally. I had a curiosity toward it and it kind of culminated when I took down a lot of my dad’s vinyl records from the attic and started listening to them. I was about 13 or 14 and that kind of triggered something in me. I wanted to know how to make this music and what it takes.

Coco always wanted to be a singer even when she was in elementary school. She always wanted to have the microphone, whenever there was one, and sing.

 

DB: How was it working with Tyler the Creator?

RH: Working with the whole Odd Future crew was really fun and they were very supportive of our music. They actually reached out to us. They’re very interested in music and they’re super creative and in it to learn and develop which is great to see. It’s not just a lifestyle thing. They’re all about the music and creating. We (ended up also doing) some songs with The Internet, (comprised of) Syd tha Kyd and Matt Martians from the Odd Future crew.

DB: What was your group’s first big break?

RH: There’s been a lot of different breaks. One of them was when we signed with Epic Records, the label that “Avalanche” is coming out on. Meeting a lot of supportive American artists has been big for us. It kind of showed us that when it comes down to it, it’s all about the music, really. People just react to that. They don’t really care about who you are, where you’re from or what you look like. You just want good music, in the end.