INTERVIEW: DOFLAME

GOING OFF THE LEASH WITH THE CANADIAN RAGER

“WARNING: The following tape features activity that may be considered OFFLEASH. If you are on the leash, please do not attempt to recreate or re-enact any of the content featured in this video. Viewer discretion is advised.” 

I’m not going to lie. I know very little about the city of Brampton, Canada. Even still, Brampton, which is around an hour to the northwest of Toronto and has a surprisingly large population of over a half a million, holds some major intrigue. And that has nothing to do with the fact that Michael Cera spent his childhood there. It’s thanks to the activities of the artist DoFlame and his extended crew, OFFLEASH, whose early singles and mixtapes blew me away when my friend Jacob Ciocci showed them to me a few years ago.

In both their music and videos, OFFLEASH presents a timeless, freaked-out vision of North American counterculture, one rooted in skateboarding, graffiti, rap, and hardcore. I’m talking about crowd surfing captured through a fisheye lens. I’m talking about rapping over loud guitars. I’m talking about the kind of parking lot damage that crosses through generations and feels as wild now as it did in 2010 with Odd Future or in 2000 with CKY. Or in any of the ‘90s skate videos that surely inspired Mateo Naranjo and his friends, in 2020, to start documenting their music and their scene.  

A few months ago, DoFlame put out a new record. It’s called BENT, and it doubles down on the hardcore side of the project, which in prior releases was cut with more overt rap and noise influences. It’s more imaginative than a lot of the hardcore records being made right now. It still wouldn’t be a stretch to call it rap rock. Last week, I checked in with DoFlame, who right now is based in Toronto. You know I had to ask him about Tim Hortons. Among other things.

Are you in Canada right now? 

I am in Canada. In Toronto. Actually, our coldest day today. So I’m freezing my ass off in our apartment. 

Oh shit. What's the temp at right now? 

I actually couldn't tell you the temperature. They just said it was going to be a crazy storm and I'm feeling it already—it's snowing and stuff. I don't know, definitely below freezing at this point. 

I'm from Milwaukee, so I know about those cold winters, but it's a little bit worse up north. Are you immune to this shit at this point? 

Once I'm the tiniest bit cold, I'm pissed. Even if I'm outside, chilling with my friends at a show, whatever, I'm like, I'm going home. So I've learned to layer up—long johns up and everything, all that, all that noise. So that's me. I deal with it, but I fucking hate it. And I don't like going to Milwaukee in the winter. That's for sure. 

Have you been?

We drove through in the winter. And, yeah, it was a trip. It was cold. It was cold as fuck. 

Long underwear is crucial. I've been rocking with that Uniqlo Heattech for a minute. Recommended. 

I've heard that's what's up. I've got to indulge.

I'm curious about your hometown of Brampton. I've been to Canada a bunch of times, but I've never been to Brampton before. What was it like growing up there? 

It’s a weird little spot. It’s weird but, you know, also the same as every kind of suburb you'd find—cookie cutter houses, big stroads, an unwalkable kind of vibe. The reason I say all this is because I'm from Toronto originally, which is a pretty big city, and it's just sick. I love it. I'm here now. So it was such a weird jump growing up there, moving from the city to this really suburban spot. It was a bit of a pain. People were spread out far and few, but those that were around doing music, into bands and music and stuff, were super sick. Having that stuff come together—bands, creative people, and shit—it started to be this kind of hub. Now there's so many shows and people come from there all the time. 

At what point did you start going to shows and playing in bands? 

Around when I was 13. My friends were like, yeah, there's shows out here. Then starting to see, like, oh shit—people are really down with this. It's beyond watching old videos and stuff. Shit feels super real. Yeah, I was like 13. But in the city first.

So you were going to hardcore shows in Toronto? 

Exactly. There's this venue called Faith/Void out here that was super sick. The first show I went to was a Christmas show. Stacked bill, all the homies were there, like band’s homies and stuff. I just really felt the love. And I was like, holy shit—this is it. 

Was there a band that night that stood out to you? 

Probably this band, they're called S.H.I.T.. They're from Toronto and they just run shit. I've become good friends with Greg lately, which is rewarding in itself. They also just released an album too, which is sick. 

And then coming to Brampton, you sort of already had this knowledge. Were you instrumental in getting a scene going there, or was that already happening?

It was probably a combination, like, three people, in different parts of Brampton. Myself included, but I would say more so pushing, like, let's get this out there. Let’s video this and make edits. Like, this is sick, this is something. There were a couple of us—I started a band with some friends and disbanded from that naturally and they are now in a sick band. My buddy who plays in my band and I play in his bands, he's super, super in the lead also. We were maybe some of the first people doing it out there and trying to stunt with it and just post up and make these edits and be like, Yeah, that’s what’s up, join a band. Yeah, me and my homies—Mile End and and Dear-God, to mention.

When I first came across your stuff years ago, you were pushing this sort of Canadian, suburban freakout energy that was really exciting to me. At what point did you start calling your crew off OFFLEASH?

We got a two week break in 2020 and they let us go for COVID and then we just ended up never going back to school. That was my senior year. I had all this time that I should have been in school. I had this idea for so long, I wanted to have everybody involved, no matter what it is—I'm in so many pockets of friend groups. People are skateboarding, people are writing graffiti, people are making music. Anything similar I'd seen was super dope. This is really important for not only showing your stuff, but when kids see it, for them to be like, Yeah, let's do this. That kind of thing. This is cooler than like just fucking off or whatever. 

For sure.

That was the end of high school, senior year 2020. I made the DoFlame songs that are out on the first record all in that time. 

You seemingly were very influenced by ‘90s skate culture and videos. Was that something you were studying? 

Honestly, it wasn't even like, I got to make a video like this. I’ve just seen so much stuff. There's a couple videos I like that I will always pay homage to—there's always influence from a handful of videos. But those [early videos] were just like, alright, I have the camcorder thing going, and based off of what I remember is cool, I'm gonna throw this together. And then people would be like, Hey, this looks exactly like Beastie Boys or whatever, and I'd be like, Oh shit, like, yeah, yeah, yeah. But it all kind of works. I feel so funny now, because it is an unintentional homage. But it really helped. It was a fun era, I was skating so much, and so many people in the skate scene were involved. Big shows in the summer, all the homies at the skatepark. And yeah, it's a vibe. 

So it was really coming out of you hanging out more than anything else. 

Pretty much. 

When I first heard your stuff, it felt like rap rock. I don't even know if that's a term you care about. Is that an embarrassing term to you? 

No, and honestly, that's what I mean. I was 17 when I was making all this stuff, so now when I'm making music, some of those moments are a little funny to me, but I genuinely was just going to rap shows, like, Holy shit, yo, bro, I want to use this beat. And then I would go so, so ignorantly with it that I'd be like, Oh, shit, I just made some fucking rap rock. But I feel like it was coming from a good place. 

You never rapped yourself, but you were pulling rap instrumentals sometimes. 

Yeah, exactly. Also people who I produce with, maybe they were kind of in the rap pocket. A song like “In Your Face,” which is super like—it's crazy ignorant, but it’s one of my most fun songs. It's just so funny to me. But I'm like, Hell yeah. Rips at shows. It gets everybody up. Like, let's do it. 

When you write songs now, do you think about how it's going to go off at a show? 

I feel like I separate the shows from the albums and dedicate certain songs to shows. I don't really feel like a band that wants to play their album front to back for an audience. I'm mostly making songs that I like, and that I feel like are new and, if anything, trying to do some more dancier stuff, and enjoy seeing people dance at shows and just get off their feet. So I'm never really gonna write something too mellow where I just see people swaying or whatever. But that's about as far as it goes. I'll put a two-step part in if I'm like, let's make a fucking badass song. I've been in the studio with my friends in more hardcore bands, and I see their process, that's really fucking sick. They're like, Yeah, we got to do this for a pile-up part. But I'm not really thinking about that. I'm thinking about a flavor first and then what comes of it, just goes.

Hardcore at its purest form is dance music. It's not that different from a techno producer making tracks for dancers. 

Yeah, absolutely. 

But I think there’s things that separate your music. This new record, you're diving into a more hardcore-focused sound, but still you're throwing a lot of curveballs. 

There's still a couple of 808s on there, a couple of trips to Splice. Yeah, I love that shit. 

But it does seem like this record was made for hardcore kids maybe more than anything you've done. Do you think that's true? 

Oh yeah, most definitely. I feel like I've encapsulated a year or two of my life into this record, what I was into going through, whatever. And there was a big, big impact from the hardcore scene. Hanging out with all hardcore bands, playing all hardcore shows the last couple of years. That's always been what's up, but I feel like me and some friends from Brampton are a little bit different in that way, and you can hear that on the record. Stuff where it's not purest hardcore. 

Yeah, that comes through.

And maybe at some points this year, I was hesitant to dive into what could be considered a little bit of a pigeonhole. I feel like a lot of my influence was wanting to shout out my friends that are my family in hardcore and show respect to that, but maybe the more hardcore moments are me still with a little bit of hesitance and also still like—put a sample on that, you know? So I'm definitely there. I'm definitely there for it on this record. But I'm just taking some inspiration. I don't know if I'm fully hardcore. I'm hesitant to play crazy hardcore bills, like five bands, just hardcore, and then DoFlame. So yeah, just showing respect. 

The record sounds really good. The earlier stuff, there's these other influences. You hear a Sonic Youth and grunge influence, maybe in a minor way, but it comes through to me.

I definitely have a lot of Sonic Youth influence. Grunge music too is just like, I'm not intentionally out here with it, but it was definitely a big, big part of my early teens and I’m always bumping that. Definitely just trying to get weird, trying to do weird things, break the amps a little bit, always. Yeah, always in favor. 

I think it's important to have voices like yours in hardcore. When I was growing up going to hardcore shows, there were these bands that didn't fully fit. And those were my favorite bands, the bands that were a bit divisive. I think that hardcore can always use that energy. 

I agree. Yeah, I am having a little bit of trouble going to shows lately just out of like, I want to see something new. And I don't feel I'm really getting that as of late. I've never said I've fallen out of love with hardcore or anything, but I'm just like, Oh, I really want to see something new, so I'm gonna be a little bit more excited to go to shows. Because I find myself like, damn, I love these bands that are up right now, but they played like two, three shows this month in the same city. It’s getting a little stale, I find, with some of the stuff coming out right now. I think there needs to be a little bit of a new wave that hits and that's exciting. But yeah, that's just my opinion. 

For sure.

But also, Turnstile is playing in stadiums, too. So like, fuck it, you know? But that's a little different. Anyways, I digress.

It’s an interesting time seemingly looking from the outside. What has it been like touring overseas? Is that good for you? 

Oh yeah, that shit’s awesome. Like dude, Europe’s so sick with the fans out there, not even fans—people who'll just get down. They're like, You're playing on stage? Yeah, sick, I'm gonna go crazy. We had a great time and no complaints from that trip whatsoever. 

How does the food in Europe compare to the food in Canada versus the food when you're in America? 

Oh, fuck man. Dude, we gotta go to America soon. I'm dreading it, man. I'm dreading it. But yeah, European food is great. Only thing—I really like drip coffee. I love drip coffee. 

Can’t find that in Europe.

No, you can't get that shit over there. So that sucks. That sucks ass, but no, we were eating good. There's no preservatives and GMOs in their fruit and stuff. It's so good. Cheese. Love cheese, fuck yeah. London—fucking no. British food—horrible. But whatever, we were only there a couple days, so we're good, ate some kebab. That's all good. America, I remember I crossed the border and I went to a, dude, I don't know what the fuck it was called, like Jimmy John's tacos or something, like gas station tacos. I ate it and threw it all up immediately. 

Wait, Taco John's? 

Taco John's, yeah, yeah. 

I love Taco John's. 

Dude, it looked amazing. But I just couldn't, I don't know. And I had to get in the car for like nine hours. Honestly, I’ll just say that I probably would go back. I don't know if that's crazy, but I do like tacos.

They got the hash browns there. The Potato Olés.

I was just gonna say, I did like the hash browns. The hash browns were pretty sick. 

What's the best place to eat in Toronto? 

At the moment, probably this Mexican spot called Alebrijes. Dude, so good. It's really hard to find LA-style Mexican food out here. But we've had a crazy influx of Central American immigrants here. Me and my girl, we live in a little bit north neighborhood, and that's where everybody's at. It’s just Mexican and Jamaican food out here. The food’s crazy. Yeah, it's the only spot where I can find Cali style tacos, and not for like 15 bucks a taco, you know, like some crazy hipster shit. That's been my domain lately. That’s what I’ve been eating up. 

Good pho in Toronto. 

Oh, you know what? That's the second one. I went to this pho spot the other day that we regularly frequent. Dude, they have two Michelin stars. 

What? 

I don’t know how to say it, it's kind of a hole in the wall, but they got two Michelin stars. It's the best pho in Toronto. 

How often do you eat at Tim Hortons? 

Oh, shit. These days, barely, because it's expensive. And some company in Brazil bought them. So the quality changed, like everything changed the tiniest bit, but it's noticeable. 

For a real Canadian.

Yeah, you gotta grow up with it. Then also like, they're on like some anti-Palestine shit too, so there's that. And it's just been an overall turn off. But I will say, I grew up on that shit, and it was awesome when it was okay. So I guess I could say I miss you Tim. 

Bent is out now. DoFlame on Instagram and Bandcamp. OFFLEASH on YouTube