Up in Smoke with L-NO! and Northern Lights:

Up in Smoke with L-NO! and Northern Lights:

I’ve been seeing a lot about Northern Lights lately and their grind is crazy right now. I got up with members Thick Nick and Black to talk shop about music, the grind and of course; sweet, sweet Cheeba.

L-NO: How is promotion of the Green Team doing as far as response and I’m wondering if you have ballpark numbers for sales/downloads?

Thick Nick: We’re looking at 1,300 (sales and downloads). This has been the warmest response we’ve gotten from outside the area on an album. We’ve had people from Peru, Thailand, all over that shoot us messages on Facebook and MySpace. It’s crazy to have people from another country that speak another language bumping your music, it’s really a blessing. We’re getting a super warm response in Canada, which is a given, and also the Netherlands and we’re getting a response from the Corby, London and Manchester areas in the UK.


L-NO: Tell me a little bit more about the sponsorship with Nugg Brand, how that came about and what all that entails?

TN: We had always seen Nugg Brand in High Times and we had sent out a press release whenever we dropped the album. I sent it out to a couple smoker friendly magazines and they spread the word that we were grinding. I never play golf; but I was on the golf course and they called in and said they wanted to sponsor us. It’s all Nugg related, they’ve got a lot of cool shit. They gave us a huge monster banner, they’re hooking up clothes and they’re helping us put together some shows in Florida, in Miami. We’re trying to do a little Florida tour this summer. We’re also playing June 4th in Atlanta, at the ATL Music Room. But it’s cool because I would actually pay for this stuff before they hooked us up.

L-NO: It seems like you guys are gonna be pretty busy this summer, can you tell me a little more about the shows this summer? (July 4th at The Hemp Can Save The World March in D.C. and July 16-18 at the Medical Marijuana & Hemp Expo and 2010 Marijuana Music Awards in Toronto)….how did those come about?

TN: We’ve done some large shows in and out of state, down in ATL and Tampa. We’ve been opening up a lot (for other acts) in the past; we’re welcomed so warmly in the smoker friendly community. I was friends with the editor of High Times on Facebook, and that’s the guy setting up the show in DC, and that’s how we linked up with them. A week after that a guy; Marco Renda, he runs Treating Yourself Magazine, its more for medication and helping people with problems. He’s the one that’s putting together the show in Toronto, we get to open up the event on Friday, then there’s a VIP weed cruise on Lake Ontario, we’ll be performing there. We’re nominated for best album, artist of the year, song of the year and rap artist of the year at the Marijuana Music Awards.

L-NO: When did you each first start smoking?

TN: Ohh, damn! I started at about 18; before I was real into football and I wasn’t smoking, but after the last all star game I started and I’m still going!

Black: I started before I moved down to WV from New York; it’s an every day thing man it’s almost like cigarettes, no addiction though!

L-NO: What gets your vote for your favorite strain?

TN: Oh wow, I’ll give you my top 3 and Black will give you his. Northern Lights is always in the top 3. 70% of indoor has elements of Northern Lights, so if you’re smoking anything heady it’s probably got Northern Lights in it. I really like Dumpster, it’s out of Columbus and they’re starting to mix it with a lot of things. Tied for first place I have Meigs County Gold, or this guy Homer we met at a hippy fest in Kentucky, he’s an old dude with no teeth in his mouth and had blue chronic, I’ve never seen blue before.

Black: Number one for me has gotta be G 13, that medicinal is number one. I probably go with Trainwreck because it reminds me of Haze, and then I gotta go with Haze.

L-NO: What’s your favorite smoking method; blunts, bowls, bongs, or vaporizer?

TN: Down to a T; it’s a grape White Owls, I’m looking at 10 of ‘em right now. We’re on the White Grape right now, the ones in the green tube with the purple trim.

L-NO: What are some of your influences as far as making herb a focal point of the music?

TN: Bone Thugs, for sure, they crossed over and since then there really hasn’t been a pot friendly group at had sold major units. We pride ourselves on having an undertone, even if I’m talking about a chick; I’m talking about stopping to get some Purple Kush. Also, you know; Snoop, Method Man, Redman (were influences). We talk about what we know best, I’m smoking a blunt right now.

Black: That’s tools of the trade to get your mind right. We’re a big supporter of the legalization process and that’s what we do, you gotta rap about what you do. We just kinda take it to the next level.

TN: In all honesty we’d done three songs together and we didn’t really have a name, but we’d been smoking Northern Lights the whole time, so boom we’re Northern Lights. People are showing us love outside the area, its nuts. Every 39 seconds someone gets arrested for smoking marijuana, so there’s a lot of people out there who know what we’re talking about.

L-NO: When do you think herb will be legal nationwide?

TN: I’d say in our lifetime. I can see it happening in the next 15-20 years. With the national deficit we’re in, the ability to make fuel from hemp, knock down violent crime from violent drug dealers. I see it happening in our lifetime for sure, probably in the next 15 years. There’s a Harvard professor who wrote the book “Pot Politics” who points out that we could make $49 billion a year as a nation on this, and that takes a big hit on the deficit. Then the police could focus on violent offenders, not non violent ones.

L-NO: How do you think legalization would affect WV economically?

TN: We’re usually when they write about money in the household; we’re usually in the bottom three nationally. We have the third best climate outside of Oregon and Cali to grow marijuana and hemp; we can get people out of the coal mines and get our unemployment rate down. The movie “The Union” shows how it stimulates the industries around towns in Canada. Everything all the way around the economy is stimulated. We could go from the bottom of the barrel to the top; we’re dying out here waiting for something. It could change things dramatically in WV.

L-NO: So my last question is kind of a joke, but also kinda serious. How do you guys stay this high and keep grinding this hard?

Black: Hahahaha, that’s the whole thing man, we gotta keep the buzz circulating and making sure we put out product and the right people hear it, we keep the fan base pumping and get the music pumping. We don’t treat it like a drug; it’s like an every day thing you know.

TN: when I’m fried, I’m motivated. I don’t work as hard when I’m not smoking, that’s the medicine. We don’t treat it like a drug, what we’re smoking would put most people to sleep but its just putting us to work. Also, man real quick I just wanted to talk about Meuwl. We did a bunch of shows with him in Huntington and Charleston and we love what he did for the State man. I hadn’t seen him in a long time and he grew a beard, we stopped at Smoker Friendly to buy some blunts and I didn’t even recognize him at first. So it was cool to see him, we talked a lot about good (herb). That was the last time we saw him man. We loved his music and we miss Meuwl big time!

L-NO: That’s funny man, that’s a pretty on point sighting for sure. Thanks for the kind words; it was good getting to talk with you.