TJ Lavin

The Second SetTake it slow, don’t bite off more than you can chew, and put your whole soul into it …
Most of us know TJ LAVIN primarily as one of the best World Champs in BMX Dirt Jump competitions. He has been a full-fledged pro for 12 years now, and has pocketed pretty much all of the awards and prizes to be won in his field, including 3 Gold Medals and the heavyweight title “King of Dirt”. He has also spent the last 5 seasons hosting the reality show MTV Real World Road Rules Challenge, in which young adults compete for a cash prize. What hardly any of us were aware of until now: TJ LAVIN is an outstanding musician, too, a man with a finely tuned knack for beats, samples and grooves. The Second Set is his second album all set to be released by us.
TJ LAVIN produces his tracks in his well-equipped home studio in Las Vegas: “I love to create things from scratch, to start off with a beat or a sample, and then watch how a track grows.” What emerges thereby are captivating HipHop tracks that give testimony to TJ’s self-assured feel for catchy grooves and a marked sense of rhythm in language. His word flows burst with power, most of them faster than the average lyrics in the genre, a hurricane of words swirling with cascades of syllables he fires off with ease. Together with precision-honed beats, they provide the dynamic drive behind his songs.
For over 10 years TJ LAVIN has used music as an equalizer to counterbalance his risky profession. He is a self-taught piano-player and put his nose to the grindstone to be able to deliver studio work on a professional scale. When “The First Set”, his first album, came out a little over a year ago, word of its release spread via mouth-to-mouth propaganda like wildfire throughout the USA. Meanwhile TJ is a fully acknowledged recording artist in the Vegas Music Community, and he works hard to nurture a fruitful musical friendship with the likes of the Kottonmouth Kings and Big B, among others. “I didn’t do it for money,” TJ LAVIN points out. “It was just that I had fun doing it. And the better you get, the more fun you have.”
The Second Set came about during the last 6 months at his own studio, nearly all of it do-it-yourself. A lot of the guitar tracking was laid down by Simon Tabron, a friend of his. Pipa Tabron, Simon’s wife, contributed highly intense input on the vocals, including the powerful ballad Soldier. Additional guitar work came from 3Pair, a poker buddy of TJ’s.
The Second Set sparkles through a well-balanced blend of fun tracks, reflections on his surroundings and his way of coming to terms with personal experiences. As TJ explains: “I can only write lyrics about things I’ve seen or lived through. I’m a real studio nerd trying not to waste any time in a club. But if you do see me there, I’ll be the dude in the corner with a bottle of water.”
World Of Wealth and Live Beyond Our Means are examples to describe the completely normal madness of a life targeted toward luxury: “People who are making 50,000 dollars a year don’t bat an eyelash at buying a car that costs 50,000 dollars, a car they’re going to have to pay off,” according to TJ. “If they were making 70,000 dollars, they’d go out and get a car for 70,000. With a lot of people, all they look at is what they own. The more luxury they can get their hands on, the better. In the end, they spend all their time making sure they don’t lose what they’ve got. It’s an endless spiral that keeps on twisting upwards and can’t be stopped.”
In contrast, songs like Go celebrate the life that TJ LAVIN enjoys; without alcohol and drugs, by the way. The track with the ultra-dry beat, samples tuned down to the essentials and an implied girls’ choir on backup was made above all to dance to. Not surprisingly, particularly women get a special kick out of the track. An equally highly danceable cut is We Wanna Make You, a tune that also makes do with a low-key soundscape and aligns itself along tight, hardcore HipHop grooves. On Lavs At The Opera, TJ LAVIN even makes use of an excerpt from an aria he once found on the Internet. “I bumped into this fantastic part by chance, and for a long time I didn’t know what to do with it. Then one day a pal of mine dropped by and laid down a few raps on top of it. The track was as good as done.”
Yet TJ LAVIN also takes time to concern himself with personal topics on The Second Set, for instance on Time Goes On. Here TJ takes a look at a life chock full of stress, both as a top-notch athlete and as a media man. A song with a bitter background is Soldier, a well-done fusion of HipHop and ballad that is going to be released as a single, too. TJ wrote it for Stephen Murray, a friend and fellow BMX rider, who had a serious accident back in June 2007. At first it wasn’t even clear whether Murray would survive the crash. He lay in a coma for days, but he survived, although paralyzed from the shoulders down. TJ wrote the track to tell everyone what has become of Murray: a man who displays real strength and the will to live. Soldier is intended to give his 27-year-old friend encouragement and help him to persevere in a rough situation.
Unlike the NBA, NFL or other big-time pro sports varieties, BMX racing has no league to shore up athletes with financial support. That’s why TJ LAVIN is going to donate his entire share of the proceeds from selling the single to the Stephen Murray Family Fund (more details at www.stephenmurrayfamilyfund.com or at www.myspace.com/murraystrong).
When TJ goes on the US-wide AST Dew tour that kicks off in June, he’s going to tell Murray’s story and promote the “Soldier” single wherever he can – to have a strong man receive the help that he has earned. “Take it slow and stay within your abilities,” is TJ LAVIN’s advice to the up-and-coming generation of BMXers. “An accident like that happens rarely, a lot less often than an airplane crash. It was just bad luck, a freak accident. But don’t ever try to do something that you’re not able to judge.”
TJ LAVIN constantly has to contend with injuries, both major and minor. For him, life is a precious asset, and his uncompromisingly positive attitude toward life is a stance he lives by day in, day out. A man with both feet on the ground who communicates his thoughts clearly and well ordered. His tracks on The Second Set are just as straightforward. And Rodeostar is now going to be opening our ears to those tracks in Europe, too.