Hello Rockstars! Today my Artist of the Week is Punk Rock band The Wise Idea!
Here’s their story in their own words, please enjoy!
VMS:
“When did you start writing and performing your music.What’s your backstory and current lineup.”
The Wise Idea:
“I used to be in a band called Duct Tape Shoes. We made kind of a name for ourselves in the backyard scene as a garage band straight from the east side of Vegas. We had a good run for 5 years before a bunch of life stuff happened. A good friend of mine and his girlfriend had passed, and I just wasn’t right about it for a very long time. I quit doing music for like 3 months before my soul couldn’t stand it anymore. I had a bunch of old Ideas from DTS leftover and honestly, I threw all of them away.
My full name is Danny Wisdom Ortega, so that’s where the name The Wise Idea comes from. The Wise Idea has always been kind of a nickname or a placeholder name, at first I wanted to go by The Nobody Prodigy. It was me and a buddy of mine from high school starting the foundations of the band and then we had some creative differences and some personal conflicts. It kind of ended our project and I just stuck with The Wise Idea.
After all that happened, I wrote “All City”, I wrote “Out At Night”, And I wrote “Nufunk” and “Dead Inside”, and I showed a couple friends from other bands and they loved it so much they said they would help me perform them. I like to think of The Wise Idea as a movement more than a band, especially right now with everyone’s life happening for them. I’m kind of just into the idea of interchangeable members.
But I have to give absolute love to the people who have supported me over the years, Like Cody Leavitt at Asteroid M Records put me on. Harley Swisher from Jaq Jaq is an absolute treasure, and with the production talents of both people, Coupled with Thomas Whalton who played Drums with me in DTS and plays bass in the Muertos Heist, and Ronnie Shallcross who played bass in The CG’s.
All of these people are family to me and without them the music wouldn’t be possible.”
VMS:
“What artist or bands inspire you and your sound.”
The Wise Idea:
“Honestly, I can be Inspired by anything, I can’t even just say artists inspire me, cause I have a callback style of rapping. I listen to a lot of hip hop, I listen to a lot of punk music, but I also play a lot of video games, I read a lot of comics and graphic novels.
I don’t like to say that music is the only thing that inspires me, because I will listen to people talk and write down something if it sounds dope.”
VMS:
“What’s your writing process and inspiration for your lyrics.”
The Wise Idea:
“I write alone most of the time, It’s easier to silence the world around me and just get into my thoughts. I feel like I am kind of a neat freak about arrangement.
My formula can be pretty consistent; Opening, verse, hook, verse, hook, a middle part, and then the hook one last time.
Being a lyricist is weird sometimes, I’ve never started anything in the beginning. I always come up with something and think “How did I get here?” and then develop that idea. Every idea is a built upon idea from a previous idea.”
VMS:
“I love your songs “All City”, “Dead Inside ” and “Bringing Me Down”. What is the inspiration or story behind these songs.”
The Wise Idea:
“Okay so before I get into this, I’m gonna preface this with Before When it was The Nobody Prodigy.
The Nobody Prodigy was just me and a homie and we wrote a song called “Havok”. At the time, It was the final product for a song that I was calling “Organized Chaos”.
Life happens and me and my homie kinda drift apart and so I rewrote everything and renamed the song “All City”. It’s the same bassline in all the versions, Cause there’s 2 versions, The Original and The Live Band Mix.
So “All City” started off as “Organized Chaos”, then it was “Havok”, and then it was “All City”. I’ll get into “Organized Chaos” later, but “All City” feels like the first song in a new Era of music for me, cause Before this I was in Duct Tape Shoes and that was a lot of screaming.
I don’t want to scream so much, but I do love the delivery that harsh vocals have and so I rap scream. I EMPHASIZE my bars. And I like to say a lot of catchy Metaphors.
The entire production of the song was a favor really, cause I was down and out. Cody Leavitt from Asteroid M believed in me so hard he let me record 1 good song and even tho it went through kind of a developmental hell, I’m proud of the end result.
“Dead Inside” came out with it later on the “Out At Night” EP. and then the band formed, and we reworked everything. (“All City”, “Out at Night”, “Dead Inside”, “Nufunk”.) and then we wrote another couple songs. Some of which will come out on our next album, but one of the other songs was “Bringing Me Down”.
Both “Bringing Me Down” and “Dead Inside” deal with addiction. “Dead Inside” is about how you feel when you’re using and “Bringing Me Down” is about everything you lose while you’re using.
I know that that’s probably a drastic change in theme from “All City”, but “All City” is not the only song on that album, and neither is “Dead Inside” and “Bringing Me Down”.”
#ForTheReader Please Check Out The Album.
Listen to The Wise Idea on Apple Music!
VMS:
“Tell me about your 2023 Album: “Organized Chaos”. What was the inspiration and process of writing it.”
The Wise Idea:
“”Organized Chaos” is a Mixtape, and I think the mixtape formula is changing these days, everything moves so fast. And I might change how I release music in the future, until then.
“Organized Chaos” is like a Volume One of things you can check out. The whole idea is to encourage people to just create. It doesn’t have to make sense, it’s just gotta help make you dollars.”
Listen to “Organized Chaos” on Apple Music!
Also, check out their awesome Live Session at Asteroid M Record’s Youtube Channel:
VMS:
“Which local artist would you like to work with and why.”
The Wise Idea:
“I’d Love to be more involved with the community, and Vegas is such a thriving city of flourishing talent. It’s hard to pick just one artist. I think that’s kinda what I want to achieve. I want to take a little feature of everyone here and there, Not even just vocalists, but like obscure instrument players or something.
We got an accordion player to feature one of our upcoming songs, I mean, I don’t know. I really want to take everyone’s soul like an infinity stone, and make something that’d turn out vegas like the “Not Like Us” music video.”
VMS:
“What’s your overall theme or message of your music.”
The Wise Idea:
“Just create.”
VMS:
“Do you have a favorite song that you like to perform.”
The Wise Idea:
“Yes, Some of the new songs are amazing. I’m really into this “Blissful Existence” song we got right now. It feels great to call back yourself in stuff like Dead Inside’s hook is “Every single day is just the same shade of gray, I can’t stand it, I was born this way.”
And then in “Blissful Existence”, I start my second verse like “With my drinking days behind me, My gray days have all changed to blue.” And I love that analogy, cause it’s like even though the days are still kinda bleak, I can finally see some color. I heard it once in the crowd and I almost cried.”
VMS:
“Do you have any crazy or interesting stories from working in the music scene.”
The Wise Idea:
“I broke my eyebrow open Moshing to Anti-vision at 11th street records, and the guy who owned the place said I had a pretty face and sent me to the hospital. I’m pretty sure he was just being nice.”
VMS:
“What does the future hold for The Wise Idea.”
The Wise Idea:
“We have new music coming out, but we have no shows planned. I think some changes are happening, music is evolving, and people are growing. Which Creativity is nesting.
We’ll be right back after these messages.”
VMS:
“What do you want your audience to feel and experience at one of your live shows.”
The Wise Idea:
“I want people to come and see what happens when you let life happen. Everyone on stage is a different person when they are walking the streets or at work, but put us in the environment where we can let our souls run wild and we are truly ourselves.
I want my music to be a reflection of what happens when we let our souls fly. Mine is in a lot of pain, and when i perform that’s how I alleviate that pain.”
Vegas Music Scene Thoughts:
What I love about The Wise Idea is their amazing fusion of Punk and Hip Hop, wonderful musicianship, and biting lyrics about Addiction, Political and Social Issues, I think they have a unique perspective on life and how not everything is what it seems. I find it awesome how organic of a project this band is, it’s wonderful to see all these amazing vibes in the vegas music scene finding each other and creating such an original and cool band, I hope more of the crazy talented musicians we have here in the valley find each other, cause it would be sick to see more hybrids like The Wise Idea.
I love all their songs but a standout track for me has always been “Bringing Me Down” and I feel the emotion come through with his growling and rapping vocals, and lyrics about the struggles of addiction, it’s definitely a Must Listen! It’s amazing to watch their Asteroid M Records session, between their amazing chemistry as a band and his energy is unlike anything you will see live, they truly give a one of a kind experience each time. I really encourage you to check out their EP “Organized Chaos” on Apple Music to tide you over while they are working on their next evolution of what The Wise Idea means, but I know for one I am definitely sticking around for the ride.
—Vegas Music Scene.