Soce, the elemental wizard

Today I am interviewing Soce, the elemental wizard, a comedian/musician born in Exeter, NH who has been doing comedy for three years. To find out more about Soce, please visit his website.

Why did you start doing stand-up comedy?

I have always done comedic hip hop music, but I was initially afraid that "real" rappers would see my music as just "a joke" if I called it that, but let's face it. I'm not from the streets, and I never have been. I am one of the smiliest dudes in the universe. After years of spewing out generic "hard" raps about basically nothing, I began to embrace my happy side and learn to have a good time while I was on stage, rapping about topics that actually matter to me. I call my style "fun hop".

At the same time, I produce and record high-quality beats that will make you bounce featuring live instruments and intriguing chord changes, and I try to put in lots of the multi-syllable rhymes and mystical metaphors that make all the hardcore rappers tick.

I used to perform at hip hop, folk and rock venues back from 2003 (when I moved to NYC a year after finishing college) until 2006, but I have since made the switch to mostly comedy venues in the last few years. I prefer the comedy shows because they are shorter overall (1 to 1.5 hours instead of 4 to 5 hours), they are much less loud and harmful on my ears, and each performer is only on for 8 or so minutes, instead of the 30 to 45 minutes of many music shows, so even if you're not crazy about the current act, a new person will replace them pretty soon, no matter what.

Also, it's easier to collaborate with fellow comedians. We can do songs, skits, videos, podcasts, writings, improv and much more together. I don't have as many options for teaming up with musicians, except for doing live shows together or forming a new band, and those tend to require a lot more work for not necessarily any better results. I still love the music scene and do a decent amount of music shows, but I find the comedy scene more versatile in general.

Why did you start interviewing comedians and what have you learned from your interviews?

I began interviewing comedians for The Apiary in the summer of 2008 because I felt that there were so many interesting people out there who had their own stories to tell, and while they may not have megastar success levels, they had still achieved quite a lot of victories. Just continuing to plug away after years and years of effort is a great achievement in itself. I am always hoping to get people to interview me (and I appreciate you interviewing me, Slava!!), so I figured this was a great karmic payback to have a chance to offer some shine for others instead of always trying to get them to shine on me.

Also as with any scene, there tend to be a certain set of people who find themselves in the spotlight and receive the majority of the love. I think all of those people are great, yet I also wanted to show the community that there were other good people as well, so I have interviewed not just popular stand-up comedians but also writers, musicians, cartoonists, actors, storytellers and other types of people throughout the comedy world. I'm hoping that this will help bring about an increased variety and maybe introduce new people to each other, in a sense tilling the comedic landscape and bringing about a more fertile soil overall.

I love interviewing people who are passionate about what they do. I've learned so much just by reading about how thankful they are to have so many wonderful opportunities. Nothing makes my day like seeing how their eyes light up when they describe some of their favorite moments. I live for that excitement and intensity, and it makes me more motivated about all of my own projects. If you surround yourself with failure and misery, you will end up a miserable failure yourself, but if you surround yourself with positive, constructive forces, then you will see more and more success, plus you'll just feel much better about yourself in general. The majority of people who truly make it in this highly illogical and competitive industry are the ones who keep plugging away and continuously deliver an excellent and easily accessible product.

What is the meaning of life?

Follow your heart and live your dreams. Spend all of your time with the ones you love. Only you control your destiny!! Make it so! Figure out what your own story is, and tell it to the world!