Written by S.O.B.’s Intern Marissa Duldulao

Article courtesy of 1202 Magazine

In the vibrant world of music, Bay Area duo AG Club — featuring Baby Boy and Jody Fontaine — brings a fresh and dynamic edge. Their exceptional knack for merging creativity with charisma makes them stand out in a crowded field. As their latest project, Brodie World, continues to captivate audiences, the duo’s journey from enthusiastic fans to influential performers underscores a fascinating story of growth and artistic expression.

Recently, they took the stage at S.O.B.’s in New York, following a series of high-profile festival appearances, including Lollapalooza and Camp Flog Gnaw. Their S.O.B.’s performance showcased their energetic presence, blending powerful live renditions with engaging crowd interaction, followed by openers DJ Annabelle Kline and rapper Baby Osamaa. With their infectious energy and deep connection to fans, Baby Boy and Jody continue to leave a lasting impression both on stage and in the studio.

We had the opportunity to catch up with Baby Boy and Jody following the months of releasing Brodie World. As a fan who has been listening to AG Club since their 2020 album Halfway Off the Porch, I found it exciting to witness their evolution and discuss their recent milestones with them.

So, how are you guys feeling today? How does being in New York and performing at S.O.B.’s feel?

Baby Boy: I feel good. I feel excited.

Jody: I love New York like Flavor Flav.

Let’s talk about Brodie World. How do you feel about releasing this project over the course of a few months and receiving love from your fans?

Baby Boy: I’m glad it’s here. I’m glad the people have it. And I hope they’re dancing to it for real.

Jody: Yeah, I feel like it did everything that it was supposed to do, everything that we wanted it to. It’s just very fun, and I’m glad that we got to come and perform it in New York because its energy is just really high. So it should be really fun. I’m excited.

I personally love all the collaborators on Brodie World. How was it collaborating with each feature on this project?

Baby Boy: I feel pretty seamless on this one. It was just like the homies, so it was cool.

Jody: Yeah, shoutout Merc, shoutout Aka, shoutout Hippie Sabotage.

Mike Dimes.

Jody: Oh my, Michael Diamond, that’s like our king. But it was dope because all of them are close friends of ours, so it was really easy, and they all really delivered, so shouts out.

I know you guys developed this visual and creative identity over the years. What was it like making the visuals for Brodie World?

Baby Boy: It was pretty cool. We just wanted to make this one as cohesive as possible because it’s pink. We wanted it to be pink.

Jody: We wrote out a bible of the project before we put it together and made it. It had the color scheme, all the concepts, and all the inspiration, so when it came to making the videos, it was all right there. And also just a bunch of movie-watching as well.

Do you guys take inspiration from any movies? Which ones?

Jody: For this project, it was Hudsucker Proxy, Weekend by Godard, and Barry was Napoleon Dynamite a little bit. I forget there’s so many, if Manny (AG Club’s director) were here he would rattle off 20 different movies. That’s what we’ve done since the very beginning because we’re all pretty big movie and TV heads.

I have to ask you guys about the last Camp Flog Gnaw. What were your guys’ initial reactions, especially regarding the experience of being part of that lineup?

Baby Boy: Oh dude, super full circle because I went to Flog Gnaw in 2018 and 19, and I told my friends in two years we’re going to be here performing, and it happened. It’s just surreal. It was maybe one of the best feelings I’ve ever felt. It’s really cool.

What was your favorite song to perform?

Baby Boy: Honestly, “eva” because we had autotune. It was just like crazy to play with the vocal things that we had in the song. It was super fun.

Jody: Yeah, Flog Gnaw was crazy. I think my favorite song to perform was “COLUMBIA,” just because there was a lot of crowd interaction, and we had a really big audience for that set. All the things we usually do on a much smaller scale were so huge. I think I blacked out during the actual performance, but when I watched it back, I realized, oh my gosh, I was doing all the normal stuff—but to tens of thousands of people. It was also cool because my mom watched it. She usually doesn’t watch our performances cause we curse, but she was like, curse words aside, it was crazy to see me telling all those people what to do. (laughs)

Do you guys take any inspiration from any hip-hop groups or duos? Do you guys have any that you guys listen to in particular?

Jody: Outkast. All the classic ones like Outkast, Wu-Tang, Gang Starr, and Black Star, but then also Odd Future, obviously. Bands in general, too. Oh, N.E.R.D., obviously. A lot of our crowd control stuff comes from heavy metal bands, watching System of a Down performances and seeing the things that they do.

Since you guys have been doing shows recently, especially the one in LA, and are opening for festivals, are there any places in the world or particular venues where you’d like to perform?

Baby Boy: Japan.

Jody: Yeah, Asia for sure, maybe Thailand. That one video at DMX where he’s wearing the red jumpsuit and he’s performing to the entire world. I don’t know where that is, but I’d love to do that.