"760" by (760)

“760” by Escondido’s hard-rocking hip-hop crew (760) was the most downloaded local MP3 from SDReader.com during January 2010. Bassist Mark Swanger provided some background.

The song opens with police and ambulance radio calls.

That was a special-effects compilation, of what a Friday or Saturday night sounds like deep in the heart of ’Dido.

When you recorded the automated 911 message on the Highway Patrol emergency line, what did you tell them when a live person came on the line?

Never spoke to a real person. Some guy in the studio was joking with us about how you can never get through to 911 from a cell phone. Sure enough, we called it a few times and recorded the message as is. I found it shocking that a person in distress would have to listen to a prerecorded message.

Does your neighbor in the song still smoke crack?

Our singer had some wack job who lived next door to him, and we weren’t sure what he was on.

If you could sum up the message of the song with one line, which lyric would that be?

“Looking back to the time when you were young, walked around, and didn’t carry a gun.” Society is way too violent; we have become desensitized. A certain percentage of the population can’t live without their guns. I’ve never understood how something so negative could mean so much to so many people. It’s kind of sad.

The song repeats “We call it ’Dido” a lot. When you call it ’Dido, does anyone ever think you’re referring to the mythological Greek princess of Tyre in Phoenicia, who later became founder and Queen of Carthage?

No. We have never taken that Iron Maiden approach to songwriting.

We can see you have a lot of ’Dido pride, but tell us something sucky about the city.

The casino traffic. There are thousands of cars a day, heading up to those casinos in Valley Center and Pauma Valley. That can add many drunk drivers to our roads.