Why DC Musicians and Fans Should Watch thecrossover.tv

While I have been involved with the DC music scene in many capacities for some years now, I hadn't heard about thecrossover.tv until recently when I had the opportunity to work with them on a shoot. It was an incredibly gratifying experience and afterward, I needed to know more. 

I met up with Avik, Rich, and Chris in Mount Pleasant over coffee and pastries for a lovely interview. We had about an hour. We took about two. They had a lot of passion to share and we all expressed our mutual love for this city. Here's what I learned.

Nina Goodman: Hi guys, thank you so much for taking the time to meet with me. It's great to see you all again!

thecrossover.tv: It's great to see you too, thanks for reconnecting with us!

NG: It's a pleasure! So first off, what are your goals for this project?

Avik: We are taking a calculated bet that the world wants to hear music coming out of the DC/DMV scene and we want to create a successful YouTube channel. Not to use any clichés about bringing people together through music but that is exactly what we are trying to do.

NG: Talk to me about what’s in it for the bands? And what does thecrossover.tv get out of it?

Avik: At a minimum, the bands will get quality content they can use. They come in, perform and we work together as a team for that afternoon. As a result, they get a ton of media assets that they can use across a number of different platforms to help get the word out, including three videos that will feature on the channel which they can then embed on their website and share with their fans across social media or with venues. We also provide the bands with the mixed audio from the live recording session for their own use. Above all, we hope it’s a great experience and they have a good time recording their songs.

For us, we get to use our skills to be a part of this magic.  And as the channel grows, the subscriber base grows and more and more people find out about new music that is being produced in the DMV across a variety of genres. 

NG: Tell me a bit about the backstory of thecrossover.tv? How did you come up with this concept.

Avik: The earliest inspiration for this is my brother. He’s an incredible guitarist and used to run an open house music session back in London. It was phenomenal, we used to hear great bands play their own material live and people used to come together and jam together on covers, often with people they had never met before. There was a rawness and energy about that experience that I just loved.

NG: One thing that is very special about the DC music scene right now is the support given to one another. There is connection happening all over the place, I see it at the jams especially. There is a lot of amazing footage of these jams that is such a gift to the community. What you are doing here is a little different. ​

Avik: For sure, this is a different beast, it is not the same as a live recording. We treat it like a live show, but we can afford to take more risks because we have a few takes. When you film live you don't want to screw up, you have one chance and you don't take as many risks in terms of type of shots you take.

Chris: There is a bit of electricity in the air when bands show up. It feels different than shooting a show or making a music video.  No one knows what's going to happen. We as listeners don't know the nuances of the song, we need to learn it in the moment. And the band has to adjust to having us there and working with another artist in this small space. We are all in it together. and it's super fun. 

Avik: And you'll notice when we do a take we may say something like, "it was really great when you did that thing you did with your foot at the end of the phrase." It's not engineered but it's directed, we want to make people come out the best that they can so the band is happy. That's our measure of our success. Bands are proud of what they've done with us and want to share it. 

NG: I feel like you take this very seriously and what you do is an art form. Tell me more about that. 

Rich: We are digesting video content on the internet all the time, I ask how will this look in the grander picture with all the other content out there. What you said about the realness of this, how we're creating the experience and elevating it, that's hopefully true, but so you can feel this electric moment. I bring this up because we are all coordinated on that sensibility. We're not over doing something or trying to create a special little gemstone, we're thinking about the musicians when we do this, showing the realness.

Avik: And you mention art form, and I take great pride in what we do, I know Rich takes pride in audio, Chris taking shots, and I'm always thinking about the edit while we're filming.  In that room you're really trying to find those perfect shots, perfect angles, we try to create the best possible visual experience, the timing, edits, shots, movement, all of that. And I love the feeling of getting that right, catching a facial detail, catching those electric moments, that's what it's about. 

N: For me, from the moment I walked in for the video shoot, I sensed the chemistry and mutual respect between you three and it made me trust in the process. You made it clear with your body language, you were very open and communicative. I could tell immediately you knew what you were doing and you cared deeply about what was going to happen in the video shoot. 

Avik: It's a very intimate experience being on camera, I'm happy to be on the other side of it, (laugh), but you do have to build that trust with people and know you are out there to make it look and sound as good as they possibly can. I feel incredibly grateful that I met Rich and Chris and that we have this team. And the productions get better and better each time. 

Rich: Yeah, you know that feeling when there's a chasm there? With this, and working with each other, there has been none of that. It's very real. And there's energy in the room as well. The band doesn't want to let the crew down and the crew doesn't want to let the band down.

Chris: To add to that, the first time I met Rich and Avik, we all fell in line with that type of ideology of trust. It's so nice to know, like you're saying, that it's supporting the creative process. It takes experienced people to get that chemistry and trust right, and I feel it when we work together. 

NG: How long does it take to do one set of three video shoots?

Avik: What takes the most time is honestly finding the times to get everyone together. The actual production side is one afternoon of filming. Rich will spend two hours to do audio, I can edit video in three hours which comes with a lot of experience doing this kind of thing. We've set things up for each other so as a team we can move quickly and efficiently. 

Chris: It's amazing how getting people together takes the most time. The first step in the funnel is when we ask, "can you make time for this?" It all starts there.

Avik: And we are grateful for the time the bands give. The fact that people are taking time to do this, it's an indication of the type of artist who is drawn to this. We hope the experience is worth them coming out for an afternoon.

NG: What you're creating, it's got this intentionality of capturing a kinetic moment. And you are coming at it with love. 

​To me, it's emblematic of what's happening in the scene. It's what makes this city so special, no matter what pocket it's in: jams, jazz, indie, hip hop, Go-go, you name it. I see connections blending all over the place. 

Speaking of which, talk to me about diversity, who you bring together for the shoot. Do you choose the bands or do they say who they want to work with?

Avik: Our vision is that we can bring in any two bands from any two genres and do something unique. We have them perform their own work and do a cover together because logistically and timing-wise, it's easier to do it that way. For the cover, we want them to own it, deconstruct the song and reinvent it and make it relevant to their audiences. And I think that's been very powerful in terms of the content that comes out of the show. Like Olivia and The Virginia Southpaws totally reinvented a popular song and I really like what came from that.

Chris: The opportunities are pretty deep, in some cases we talked about how diverse the music scene is here in DC, it means we have a lot of options.

Avik: In terms of finding bands, there's a lot of word of mouth. We'd like to have lots of different people proposing bands. The only issue is to make sure we don't end up working in an echo chamber. We want to expand genres more and mix them up together, and would love our channel to be one of the places where that happens. And yes, there is a curation process, we will have a limit because for now it's just three of us so we may have to say no. But we are trying to do as much as we can with the people who want to be there. 

​

NG: I'll be honest, I hadn't heard of your until I came to a shoot, and you've worked with some really amazing DC artists. How are you getting the word out about what you're doing? 

Avik: We are not so great at self-promotion on social media, we lean on the bands who come on our show for a lot of that. We want it to happen more organically.

Yes, we want success but that comes from people watching the videos and learning about these musicians and our scene. Views are our currency right now. The more views we have, the more subscribers we have, the closer we have to this becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy of becoming a platform to promote new music from the DMV to music lovers around the world.

Plus, there are organizations like yours, DC Music Review, and radio stations and other sites focused on the scene that are distributing content, we would love to partner with them. 

NG: Hopefully it's the type of thing where you people get word and see your work and want to be a part of it. 

And there you have it. This truly hidden gem that seems ready to shine brighter.

thecrossover.tv work is stellar, check out the videos and you'll see the care and the quality. But why will they succeed? I think it's because the fantastic people behind the cameras are truly about the music, this city, and the magic that happens when artists come together to create. And to me, that's what our beloved DC music scene is all about. 

To learn more about thecrossover.tv, please visit the following resources: