A winter wonderland at the New York Public Library…
On Friday, December 4, VH1 Save The Music hosted its first-ever “Snowcoming” winter gala at The New York Public Library. Save The Music is an organization that funds music programs at public schools across the country by donating instruments. And at this sold-out event, electronic-R&B, Hip Hop band ASTR performed. They sang songs from their latest EP Homecoming like “Bleeding Love,” “So High,” and “Operate.” Using funky beats and cool projections, their performance was one to remember.
The gala featured some amazing food and cocktails. The signature cocktail of the night was called the “Snow White.” It was made with Vodka White cranberry juice, lime, and vanilla syrup with candied cranberries in it and guests seemed to love that drink a lot. And some of the food being served included a savory cannoli made with gorgonzola cheese, shrimp cocktails, and even some delicious sushi. All in all, this event was a lot of fun. The music played by the DJ was great, ASTR was amazing, the drinks were delicious, and the food was amazing. And from this night, Save The Music was able to raised more than $35K which will go to fund instrument programs for schools around the country.
Read our exclusive interview with ASTR:
Q: Can you speak about being at this event and supporting this organization?
Zoe: This is our first time aligning ourselves with this event and cause so we are extra excited. We are musicians so to perform at a place that is giving back to music is perfectly fit and I just can’t imagine not having access to music. So it’s the most important thing for us.
Adam: I get nostalgic coming over here because I thought, ‘who were some of the pivotal people that I knew who I had access to in terms of music lessons or just to explore and there are one or two people that if I never met or never had access to I probably would have never sunk my teeth into learning music and creating music. It’s a charity with a real purpose.
Q: And you are performing at the grand New York Public Library. Do you have some nerves? Are you excited? How are you feeling?
Zoe: I think we are over the nerves now because we are touring so much. But this is our home city in New York, so we know this establishment. It is such a beautiful place. It is such an honor. And they set it up so nice and we still get to use our projections that are trippy and weird in this beautiful place. It’s awesome and we are excited to be in New York, with our people.
Q: Can you talk about more of your music? You just released your EP Homecoming, so can you talk about that and the reaction you got from fans?
Zoe: It was a long time coming for this project and we have been writing it over a long period of time. There was a lot of backend stuff that we were figuring out in the business end so coming out with it was really just a homecoming for us. It was time and it was a full circle for us and it is like fully closing the chapter and then to go on tour and seeing how people are receiving it with the new music is just amazing.
Q: Are there any musicians that you want to collaborate with in the future?
Zoe: I mean, there are so many people we want to collab with. We just started opening up to collabing because forever it has just been us two writing together. These next few months we will be in LA working on our album so that’s the time we are going to test the waters. We have been working with this guy Hood Boy, some DJs, some cool people, some rappers, so seeing what sticks is what we will be doing for the next few months.
Q: And what can we expect from this upcoming album?
Zoe: Dance music. Jams. Sweaty messes. I think this music will be edgy, dark, and it will be an extension of what we have been doing.
Q: What can we expect from this performance tonight then?
Zoe: A dance party. It is going to be interesting because everybody is in ball gowns. I don’t know if people are going to get ratchet in this fine establishment but we will see. We will definitely test the water. I was like, ‘damn, there are so many things I can jump on but I want to be respectful.’ So I am going to try to hold back.
Q: And is there anything coming up very soon that you would like to share?
Adam: We are working on a video this weekend for our single “Bleeding Love.” We are really excited for it, I think it’s going to be really great.
Zoe: It’s like the next level. We are adding dancers. We finally have choreography and I am so excited. I feel like this is going to show a lot about what we are.
Q: Are there any people that maybe have influenced you and your music in any way?
Zoe: I think it’s a wide variety because we listen to so much. But it’s a lot of house music, we listen to a lot of rap, we listen to a lot of Hip Hop, and R&B, it’s a good blend.
Q: Who are some of your favorite artists right now?
Zoe: Right now? It changes like every single day. I am literally a week by week person. This week, I love Chiara. She is an up and coming singer. She is totally new and nobody really knows her but she is awesome. And we are really feeling “The Game.” The new record, ‘The Game.’
Adam: We keep going back to this Travis Scott record. I think some of the greatest things that are going on right now like Future and Travis Scott—these guys can make up anything they want and it comes out a banger. No other genre can you push it lyrically or just get out of the box.
Q: And your new video that you talked about, can we get a little inside scoop? What will we see besides dancing?
Zoe: Some futuristic, dark vibes. Insane asylum.
