underscores Interview - The Backlight Podcast Ep. 33

I don't know what else I live for other than I like doing this I guess I should like it oh cows, sorry first, do you think Drake has ever killed anyone before? That's my question, oh my god, you stole my question, that's my way of breaking the ice, yeah, it's wow, okay, I was wondering if you were just going to take it and let him think. I just asked you that, yes, yes, yes. I probably should have. I believe he has been responsible for someone's death. I think he ordered a hit and I think he felt really bad about it.

I think he was devastated for weeks. Shattered by guilt. I was like, "Don't text. He Posted on his story." "Don't hit me." "Don't hit me." happening, yeah, exactly how do you think Drake shoots a gun? I don't think he does, he pretends he's like R and likes Twirls going around like and like oh my god am I bad exactly should I be? bad, yeah, yeah, you went to a gun, the Ranger was like, yeah, he got some kick, do you think dra killed anyone? uh I agree, I think indirectly, I think so, I know he runs the six like it's the Navy, so I mean being afraid. the six, yeah, scared, I'm terrified for the next one, uh, we're driving through beautiful or I don't know, beautiful is a strong word, but we're driving through the Midwest right now, uh, beautiful, okay, you can say it, it which brings up the Point out that in your experience traveling or just touring, but or just traveling in general, I'm wondering what are some of your favorite and, to be honest, least favorite parts of the country.

I might be shooting myself in the foot here because we have a show. there, but no, I don't know if I'm with Arizona. I think maybe I don't like Arizona. I don't know if people who live in Arizona are with Arizona, so I don't think that's shooting yourself in the foot. I like to be. It's cold and no, I don't like to be hot, so the lower down I go L and comfortable, but there isn't much of the country where I can't find something I like. I like a lot of the northern states. like some of the midwestern states in the great Pacific Northwest it's really beautiful and while on tour, what have been some of your favorite interactions with fans?

I signed someone's Spanish passport, oh hell yes, it makes you feel very official, yes, you also maybe feel like, oh how the tables have turned, you know what I mean, yes, we give him a pizza like before the show to the first person in line, oh gosh, okay, that's sweet and it's been so much fun because I don't really say anything, just like leave it, sometimes we've had to fold the pizza because it wouldn't fit and then sometimes , the pizza has been too small depending on the city, oh no, and I like to feel bad that people get the small pizza. the little folded and crumpled pizza we made for Chicago was like I had to get creative, it was like two pizzas stacked on top of each other, it's two for one, that's a good package, that's what I'm saying, lucky person, first person .

There were people outside the place as early as 3:00 p.m. the show was on we stopped like we hadn't even loaded for a few hours or something, they were already there, it was crazy, do you like Central C, Central sea, do you hear an

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for you man, I want to ask? some questions, okay Central Sea, I can get depressed. I have a question for you. I don't know if I should ask. It could wait until the end of the

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. Ask. I've been wondering any horror or nightmare stories. hotels or something like that from the tour, oh, actually it's not like things have been pretty good.

I did Electric Forest last year. I think it's like this Festival in Michigan, it's a lot like w Vibes, confident, fun, baby, like a white guy with dreadlocks. Vibe, oh yeah, a white man. dreadlocks five gotcha cargo shorts shoes DC sure like there was nothing there in the city I was in in Michigan and I stayed in Mosan there clearly like families like to live there and stuff so I felt like it was like a meddling, I felt like a bad guy for staying there I've always really liked hotels, it was definitely my fixation when I was a kid was hotels, I really liked the lobbies and I liked the different rooms and the different architectures depending on where you are and stuff. .

Yes, it varies from state to state and exactly yes, so I'm always excited to go to a hotel, a new hotel, that reminds me of the first hotel we got in New Jersey for the Wonder World tour and it flooded the night before. so we had to go to a different one, oh my god, yes, I remember hearing about that, yes, I know, yes, we stayed. The one we stayed at was like connected to an IHOP, like an IHOP hotel combination, and there were like three doors that just Say Don't Enter on pieces of paper like they were taped together and I was like that's crazy.

Now let's say a fast tomorrow, any fast food restaurant in the world calls you and says April, this little musical thing you have, it's pretty cool. but it's time for you to get into the food industry and we'll give you a billion dollars to do it uhhuh what fast food restaurant is that and what's the underlined food the underlined food I think it's a fire to do it at McDonald's because there are already There have been so many artists' meals, but I would make it obnoxious, it would be like a packet of mustard and two bottles of water, a piece of fish without bread, oh, I think, I think that would be the underlined food.

I just eat without nutrition, not even sympathy, maybe like a McFlurry and then I think it would be like honey liked it that's how you eat it, like you like mixes and I'd be like, okay, you put the mustard packet in. like around I think that would be the underlined food below, what can you tell me about this playlist? Hormone replacement therapy. This is my personal Drake playlist. I'm very proud of her. I've been adding it like last week because during all the dogs came out good of course I'm very proud of this playlist Drake is my number one artist they're going to say low key inspiration that's okay too awesome and did you like it ?

You posted as your Spotify rap last year something, oh, I think. He's been number one for the last two years and it's going to be Absolut like there's no competition for this year too because all the dogs came out well, you're rocking so far, there are some really good songs. It's also like I'm not going to listen to the whole thing, it's like an hour and a half, yeah, an hour and a half, yeah, but Drake is like Drake for the playlist, girls, you know what I mean next, something that I have always done. What I really appreciate about your music is the amount of time and consideration you put into all your images.

It's like it's not just the music, but the visualizers and the music video and all that. Thank you. So I'm wondering if I found one of the most interesting parts about the wall plug rollout is, correct me if I'm wrong, but every music video is shot on an iPhone, yeah, so I'm wondering if you could walk us through how the decision is made. behind that. IO IOD deji I just worked with him on all the videos, I think since I started making videos, he just broke out a crazy style like the iPhone before he started making videos for the album and I was like okay, like we should. just FSE on that because I really like the way he looked and I like the treatments he put on him and stuff like that and I didn't realize how far he could go until we got on set and it was like all this crazy technology. and then the camera was like an iPhone, it's like an iPhone with about 50,000 parts around it, yes, yes, the person who came to get a still camera during the first few days brought this machine for about $90,000 so they could see what it was being filmed on the iPhone.

Which I thought was really funny, the ties to the iPhone and the project went back a little bit because the fishmonger and the fear were like all the voices I just did in the voice memo and stuff, which is still crazy to me , Yes Yes. so I wanted to keep the like, I don't know, I think that's an important thing where you can say oh, I have this tool like, I just don't like that, but I like it, but I like it, I carry the iPhone. Wherever I go I can make art whenever I want with what I currently have, some of those big iPhone videos for those who like commissions and stuff feel a little unreal because they use a lot of this crazy technology. the iPhone and things like that, but even things like the video of the locals that was like we appeared like there was nothing fancy.

Technology came into that video. I really like how it turned out, it's very cold. and very blue, very blue, yes, hell yes, and on a similar note considering how much time you spend selecting this audience as an Underscore Person. I'm wondering how you approach things like this interview fitting into an assumption like

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like Cinematic Universe. I'm really excited that we're doing this as a road trip because it's like Coffee Run. Have you ever seen Coffee Run? coffee with other artists and there is one where he has coffee with Dylan Francis and Skrillex and they are in Toronto, they play a song like Kill The Noise and they play it at full volume and I think they get noticed or something like that. but that video is like a main room in my house, it appears like we just put it on the TV and watch the whole thing and it's very boring, but it's fire, it's a good background noise, yeah, exactly, so I'm I'm super excited to do this and I think the fact that everyone planned it to be so immersed in the world I really appreciate it so yeah I know of course yeah no I like it as soon as we get to this.

In the area where I thought, oh yeah, okay, this is next. The Wall Plug struck me as the kind of narrative that you could uniquely spend like an eternity writing, so I'm wondering how you liked it, at what point did you know that the album was ready and was ready for the world? When I saw it, it was a little rushed, I think because I signed and stuff, so it was like the first time I had someone really waiting for me to release something like that. That's why there's a different vinyl version for locals and stuff like that.

I would have liked to have spent more time on it, I think, and there are a lot of loose ends I wish I had taken care of so I didn't. I think it was completely 100% of what it could have been. I still think there's a way to retroactively close everything in hopes of doing it in the next few months or years, whatever on that topic the other day on Instagram you mentioned that. There were like a dozen local versions before I eventually liked it or a dozen versions of the second track on the album before I decided on the local ones oh yeah yeah yeah so Wonder as that raises the point that I think that anyone can relate to that. feeling of having to like Kill Your Darlings ha, like and just and as you know, putting something you really love to rest for the benefit of something else, some wonder how you struggled with that during the creation of the wall.

And if so, how did you achieve 100%? Yeah, track two is like I'm really serious about ordering it or whatever, but liking a really annoying and stubborn spot like a Taurus Vibe track 2 was hard because I couldn't find it. Like track 2 needed to be kind of like Banger like it usually is, I don't know, I just tried so many different ones that aren't even local versions, there were really just other songs like Banger that just weren't Finally I ended up at locals with Gabby and started jamming. releasing it without knowing how I felt about it, like I wasn't really crazy about it and then it was very well received, like I didn't see much of it.

Hate for that, really, just kind of like comparisons with Paramore, this is the reason and like Flatline Frost, there are no bad things to compare, that's what I say, like I like it, I'm not into Technologic, like I'm definitely not. I'm mad about this, a lot of these songs took several attempts, several different attempts to achieve the same goal, mom, whereas in previous things it was like once the song was done, it was like done, but this time I think. It was like I had to figure out what the message of each song was before I got into it and then I would try to get the message across so many times, the locals aren't the only ones Johnny took forever, oh I can imagine.

Yeah, 77 dog years took forever and have you ever considered doing something like a wall plug like B-sides or something to clean us up more? Yeah, I think I'd love to do that, I'm not sure I would have. to coordinate with the label and everything and if I did it the way I wanted it would be like I don't know, it's always expensive. I will say that the wall plug is incredibly ambitious so I can imagine it wasn't that way. It's not a Sho string budget, but you're not a Sho string, but we put a lot of money into it and that was a big reason I signed on is so we could make something that was super wide. and if I ended up making bsides, I'd love to make maybe more videos or something, so we'll see.

I really appreciate it, as you know, that it's like my hometown tour. I appreciate that it really felt like a community effort. in the way you brought in all those animators to make the images and it feels very similar to what you needkind of like a village, which is like 100%, which feels appropriate, yeah, I try to do as many things as I can on my own, but I think, especially now that the ambition is higher, it absolutely takes a village, um , and I'm just glad that a lot of people on the team are taking silly ideas of mine like money and stuff like that, and just making it happen, which is really cool, it absolutely takes a village.

I'm not the only person who does it, but yeah, ah. wait, your notes are so long. I can't, I can't see anything like what are you trying to copy my homework? Something I learned recently is like how bad my eyesight is. I took an eye test and the guy said, are you nearsighted or farsighted and I said, "I think I'm farsighted" and then I took the eye test and paid attention. In reality both are like one in each eye or not. I think it's like when something is too close and I can't see it and when something is too far away I can't see it so it's like a super narrow window that's kicking my butt right now because I broke my glasses and I haven't been wearing glasses like that.

I can't, I can't read that, but they are paragraphs that I can see correctly. I think the unfortunate reality of making art is that for every idea you bang over the head like the locals, there will be another one that ends up on the floor of The Cutting Room, so I wonder: Obviously working on so many things, back to back , especially you know, Wall Sock is not a short album. I imagine there were times when you felt exhausted while working on it and I wonder how you did it. If you insist that I like to work with projects like albums, I think having a creative goal I feel like I need to have some kind of concrete goal to feel fulfilled, I guess, and it's the whole package, like the package is the end goal, yeah, I definitely got burned out a lot because I just couldn't figure something out or couldn't find the right variable, you know, kind of like I don't know, I think the process was pretty frustrating, actually I think.

Like making the music was a little frustrating, but listening to it again I was like, oh, okay, and that raises the point because the wall plug is a huge step forward in terms of immersion and world-building for you, um, to the make the album or now you feel some kind of change in scope in the way that oh like you know this is really big and I have to get over myself again like something like that do you have any and if so or how are you rectifying ? I think whatever's going to be next is going to be a lot less scope, I think probably what I'm realizing is that the team was still too small for all of this and the route might be to do something like bigger. in the future and maybe I'll come back to that, but I think whatever the next thing I imagine is that the people who listen to me are growing, so I feel like the approach that I have to do has to be maybe a little more subtle unless I'm clumsy, but this project was definitely for the kids, so you know what I mean, I think there's a storybook moral that I think is like me.

I'm assuming the average age of my fan base is 16 or something, so I felt like okay, you've been to enough shows that yeah, yeah. I thought okay, so it seems like this is like me pushed into this position I should probably be talking to them or whatever so this project is very big it's very cinematic it's very much like morality is supposed to be quite Clara I was trying to match the storybook type with something like a super wide, ambitious world around it. I definitely think whatever's next is probably scaled back a little bit, but I love immersion so I don't think I'll ever stop doing something immersive, but yeah, I think next Anyone who's talked to anyone for more than 4 Seconds you'll understand that when you're starting out, your idea of ​​what the music industry is like often doesn't align with reality, so I'm wondering as someone who took that step of signing and all that.

I'm wondering if you have any advice for artists who are maybe starting to experience a little pull and maybe are a little disenchanted by what they're discovering, the reality of music. The industry is safe. I think you have to start developing a detector. I think with an anrs, especially, it's a very good practice to say: What do you like? What are the similar nuggets within all the similar things? I'm saying it's like the real information I need to hear from you, whatever it is, because most of it is like I mean, I'm like a fan first, like you, just call me anytime if you need anything. like I'm a fan, I'm like I'm a fan more than anything else, you know, and it's like they were just talking or whatever was in development, that was really important.

I took my sweet time like they were complaining and DED. and I was like spread it out for as long as possible no, I remember, I remember, oh yeah, I mean, it was Daniel Cyber ​​rubbish who literally told me to blow you up because they say there is money as it is. it's couch cushion money to fly you know what I mean so definitely do that that's fire you know there are people like Quinn who are completely independent and still make amazing artistic and creative decisions and stuff like that . I don't think it's necessary to sign I signed because I got to a point where I was like I don't know what else I live for besides like doing this I guess I should like oh cows um like I should just kind of like ha Mary and I like doing the kind of ambitious things I've always wanted to do MH and if I'm in debt for the rest of my life like whatever I guess that was something I also plan on treating any deal that comes your way like a loan from a bank rather than a team of people , the things they promise you, whether it's like you know sync opportunities or just help in a creative direction or something, they never promised you.

Think that if you are already independent you need to maintain that independent mentality. I think because you're the only person who might like to creatively guide your project the way you want to see it. Okay, this is money for me. To continue doing what I'm already doing and things like that, instead of this, it's a team of people that are going to help me. I think it was really important. Money is the only thing that is guaranteed in the deal at the end of the day. everything else is circumstantial and you teamed up with Jane remover Hen House and Gabby started some of the songs on Wall Socket and I wonder considering the narrative of Wall Socket is your creation.

I wonder how it went. about involving other people, did you like writing songs with them in mind or did you write them together with them or yeah, I think so? I wrote with them as if together and explained what kind of purpose I was thinking about. Every song, I think with Gabby, was a little freer because I wanted it to be a kind of welcome to the world of Plastic Beach, like Vibe Hen House, for example, like they fit into a very specific sales diagram. The song is about being able to talk about it with them.

I think it was very important for that song. No way, what the cows, this is a giant skeleton, oh my god, there's a giant skeleton, come on, the name is Dewey, right, yeah, he found a new home. Yes, a little bigger than the last time we saw him in puberty, yes, he grew. Wow, this is just a landmine or like a minefield of things that it's like we saw, we saw a giant pink version of uh, the fishmonger, the Water Tower, it's crazy. We're in a town called Leroy right now, yeah, with Jane's, she just got it right away, she got the assignment, so yeah, she got the assigner, we were good, it's also really funny that this is like the third time .

You two have, you and Jane released albums within a month of each other, yeah, I know it's fire, we're like, yeah, you're in sync, we're in sync, which begs the point that you got to break up this time, but uh , the last. At the time this cycle a little thing happened, uh, the alarmist fell 3 weeks, uh, or no, 3 weeks after Frailty, yeah, um, and when I think about that period like that week when Frailty fell, I remember a lot things like half jokingly, but still, pretty shady conversations with people like. my friends who make music and they were all saying that I have to throw out everything I'm working on right now, that the bar has been raised, that I can't like it if it's not a competition, but if it is, Jane is winning, so I'm wondering if not with Jane specifically, have there ever been times like that where you've had anxiety about being surpassed musically in a way that I remember when I was 15, I posted a song on Soundcloud and someone was like uninstalling Ableton and not I understood.

I thought why would you do that or whatever and I didn't realize it was like a joke. I think I got to a point where I was like I'm okay with all the people that makes art have their own set of similar selling charts that only they can claim, like where you grew up, what your identities are, things you heard in the car when you were a kid or something, all those things it's like all those things come together and then like there's not one person that can make the art that comes out of those things that you might like.

I'm definitely super inspired by a lot of people in the scene, especially these big flagship projects like Frailty and stuff like that. but I don't think I'm very envious anymore. I think I'm something of an entertainer. Vibes that's like the SoundCloud mentality. I think I had to like unlearning, it's the type of competitions with your friends and things like that. trying to be who can do the craziest thing or whatever, I think I've been trying to unlearn that it's especially, I feel like it's especially common in circles like dubstep, right, because that's all you have is like the C, what is the craziest sound? you can do mhm, yes, like you.

I remember in an interview you once mentioned or referred to it as if it was a giant penis measuring contest, it's like swinging a penis, all that mentality stuff like I still love being upset, but I had to like being upset. like, oh, you can do different things, like, you can change the shape of the song, it doesn't have to be the same for every song. Whatever I do, I can give away all my tracks, I can show people how I made everything. These things are not going to make anyone go to make the exact art that I make.

I don't think anyone should want that. I think they should make art that is inherently them because that's what they can claim and stuff if it could be reincarnated as anything, what would you want to reincarnate? I feel like I would want something with a very short lifespan, like short flying, yeah, 24 hours, like a week, yeah, really, it's probably completely different, like something completely different. value system oh, something that takes like five minutes, yeah, that's nothing to us, but like that it could be like a quarter of your life if you're a fly, yeah, wouldn't I like to be like the sun or something, mhm, the Sun and with the fold out wall plug the airpods max have become a bit uniform for you so I'm wondering if you give us your elevator pitch on why they are or why they aren't worth the $500 you asked for this to Alden.

Crazy question yeah well it's not my fault everyone likes that we all use airpods Maxes what did Alden say? It was like I was saying they're good as a reference for what average headphones sound like, so you're not. mix like $1,000 like Beay Dynamics or whatever, you know, they still sound good, but it's how the average listener will hear it. I made a wall plug for it, but it was like a pain because, like, it was Bluetooth. So like there's a latency, oh God, that sounds horrible, why did you put yourself through that? I don't know because I got the headphones and then I thought okay, well, like I could.

I have to use them every waking hour. every day but every time I get a call I would like to disconnect, it would be very annoying and I would like to be able to do it and fail oh no it's horrible but they sound great. I wouldn't recommend it. I understood you then. I came up with a little segment for you. I was in the crowd at the show last night and asked some questions and I have them here. You are doing reconnaissance. Yes, and what I want you to tell me is basically that I have these questions.

I'm going to say that. and then I want you to guess the probability that the people in your group will have an immediate response, either on a scale from what are you talking about to having an immediate response. I asked them which one is your favorite. YouTube poop oo, I think I might be halfway in the middle, but if they have an Elena hat it's like they immediately have to oh you know what I could have, maybe I only or not only interviewed people with Elena hats Alena, but I interviewed. a lot of people with Lena hats okay well if they had Elena hats then immediately okay I might be skewing the results a little here yeah stop counting but stop stopping every person had one like at the top , yes I have a lot. from uh F from Blair yeah, that's your favorite.

I know it by heart. Awesome, there was someone in the crowd who said they couldrecite it because they had seen it like exactly 500 times there is a video of someone reciting it in their room and they like that they moved their bed so that it is in front of the door so that no one can enter and at one point someone tries like their sister or something tries to enter No It is like a stone, but it is fire. The next one I asked was what is your favorite Creepy Pasta? I think that's a little bit on the lower side, so you think.

I think if everyone had an answer, I think you got very similar answers, like Squidward's Suicide I didn't do it I was hoping to get a Squidward's Suicide Squidward's Suicide no, I got a lot of Jeff the Killer, it's Squidward's Suicide, I'm sorry. and the next I asked what your favorite puzzle game is. I think it's like deep down you really understand. quite a portal, that's the most popular answer for Portal 2, yeah that makes sense, you know your fanbase, well you know your demo, that's probably just me. I realized in the middle of the show that I was like I was an idiot, why? t I ask favorite rhythm game oh yeah I'm up there I should have asked favorite there's probably some OSU heads in there uh yeah I wouldn't be surprised maybe some like to beat saer people but six imp Paula It's huge in Geometry Dash like we're discrete. run Geometry Dash, okay, I don't want to start with meat or anything, but yeah, everyone thinks they're big at Geometry Dash too, um, um, think again and then the next question is what's your favorite monster cat song, I bet a lot. of people said fly because they couldn't think of anything else, we only got one answer, you want to guess what it was, it wasn't flight, okay, it's like a big one.

Rogue Adventure Time Rogue I, I'm brave, okay, it was orbit by World whoa, that's crazy, that's a crazy choice, okay, whoever it is, I think that was the guy I like, I interviewed him and then, Like a couple minutes later, he said, oh, what's your guys' YouTube, by the way, and me? it was like oh

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and he's like you're

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Noah I was like bro I've been talking to you for like 5 minutes fire I think my favorite MonsterCraft song is disco disconnected which is good board nerds oh my god, which is cool and then I had what's your favorite video game soundtrack.

I bet they said Minecraft, there was a neon white one, someone probably said undertale, yeah there is undertale, yeah I don't remember exactly what the other ones were, but they were like The Usual Suspects. Let's say Mirror's Edge Not Mirror's Edge, but that's an amazing soundtrack, that main theme and its portal are also like they're both still alive. They are both really good soundtracks. I literally remember crying over the theme song in Mirror Ed found it like that. so beautiful when I was like 9 to a Swedish woman or whatever you hear like playing in the credits after that ending like I know and they're like hugging, yeah, and then I had what's your favorite Regular Show character, said the people. morai every person answered the same wow pops po that's bold Choice pops is a good character I like it I feel like they hate him too much so I guess he's RI so yeah of course R I know all the people said RI and I said and I think that all the people used the word, it's just a little naughty, yeah, it's just a little, yeah.

I was going to say it was like he was just a little guy. I thought that's definitely it, but it has a really good arc at the end. from the show he's like a super mature morai he's jealous of the fact that like RI it's like growing up yeah it's weird they like a little flip-flop situation. Really with that we're going to like go in and accelerate after this and the The first bomb we're going to go to will have one of those stickers like the ones I made. There was like a whole year where I kept saying "let's go", Brandon and I stopped doing that, I got you because it's like a funny line and then the last question I asked is what's your favorite sport?

Yes, they didn't have an answer. Yeah, none of the people I interviewed, every single one of them except one guy, said, "I don't play." sport a guy had played a sport for 10 years do you want to guess what the sport was bowling bowling oh that would be funny no hockey yes okay hockey yes canadian yes oh no I forgot to ask but it didn't sound Canadian yes I was like there's no one from the lacrosse team In my show I played lacrosse yeah, why are you looking at me funny? Always be like never, well not like the first underlining song, oh it's actually okay, it's called the original Leroy Jenkins mix, got you, is it still available on the internet or am I sure the kids will find it somehow way and now I wonder how? are some of the most important lessons you've learned, whether in terms of creative expression or just in business terms, like the fishmonger to the alarmist to the wall socket side of things.

I think I started to realize that everything can be like an extension. from social media posts, the way you write, and the things that fit into the wall socket. I wanted to be really intentional about how involved I was with the fishmonger and the alarmist. I didn't realize that I wasn't completely ready to have people like me. I didn't know they wanted me for anything, I think with the wall plug I wanted there to be some kind of intermediary, even if that's like the album itself or interviews like this or something like this is the means by which people can like learn more about me instead of directly from me.

I wanted there to always be a degree of separation between the next. I mentioned it before, but we first met on the Wonder World Tour in November 2022 and left. I was a little frustrated because I was, you know, in all these cities for the first time, experiencing all these amazing things, but I had to go like it was Fastpac and I didn't have a moment to like it. stop and take it in until it was all over, so I'm wondering, considering you went straight from releasing an album to immediately going on tour and you know, overseeing an ARG and all these different things.

I wonder, how have you been? handling this increased like Pace, I really like it, that's probably something I need to address with myself, although my need to always be doing something or have work prepared for me, I wish I could go on tour and everything I could have. I stayed a little longer in the new places I visited, like we went to Montreal, it was kind of a bad time, but I only heard good things about Montreal, so I guess I just didn't see that it was raining and we were carrying a bunch of equipment lighting like a lot of flights of stairs and things like that.

I don't think I had the ideal experience in Montreal and I think if I had stayed, as you know, an extra day or so, I would have been able to explore and see a lot more, but I'm also grateful to see all these places regardless of whether or not then You play with a lot of horror themes on the wall socket and I understand that you are quite a fied tier list, so I have a horror movie tier list with me. I was wondering if you can rank them from the best work Cloverfield. I'm going to set a level.

Yeah, if 10 Cloverfield Lane was here, mhm, it would be S-tier, oh god, yeah, that movie is amazing. that movie is really good actually Cloverfield is going B really how come? I think maybe when I'm comparing it no, you're right, it's here for sure, it's here for sure. I really like The Shining. I think we can shine without friends. Okay I enjoyed it, oh yeah I thought it was going to be S or F for you because I know you had an interesting story when you saw it at the movies with your friends, yeah I had a great time, it sounded like your friend didn't did. although yeah, my friend didn't have a very good time mhm uh Texas Chainsaw that can reach the top I just watched I Know What You Did Last Summer I think it will go to the B level H I like the Town Vibe chainsaw that can reach the higher I really like the first one.

I haven't seen the others, although I saw the first one in a single room. I think it's great. I'm being discreet about putting it at level D. I really didn't like the structure where it was. it was like mhm normal scene scary scene normal scene scary scene ha like jokes and yeah Blair Witch level B I know the ending is supposed to be super like oh you just don't get it mhm but I don't really like it I think the whole movie is pretty poorly made and unbearable until the last 20 minutes. I think the rest of the movie is like all the characters hate each other, they're just annoying, they're kind of pissed off. they look at each other they just like to have zero chemistry, it's not interesting, the documentary they were making would have been terrible if Blair's genius hadn't happened, yeah, I think the things that came after, like Marvel Hornets or whatever I mean, I think they could go much higher, but I think it's like a pretty fundamental movie, The Purge.

I'm going to put it on level V, okay, I enjoy The Purge as much as I do. I really like the concept and I know people were angry because it was like a home invasion and not something like them. I could have done more with it and I think with Anarchy they did more and that movie is really good, definitely better than the first Purge, but I also really like the first Purge, I like the vibe, what would you do during The Purge? Vibe Vibe what I do every day VI yes, it would make me hostile, can I go here, yes, it's worse.

I don't know, I guess it's great and it's emotionally a little conflicting where it's like you don't really do it with these characters and then they take them apart and you're like, oh, there's a handful of amazing scenes, like the series, like the Achilles scene. , yeah, yeah, yeah, the Achilles scene and I really like the idea, I'm glad there's a movie about rich people who do that as a hobby. I think it's a good concept in the same way that the hanger is a good concept. Evil Dead. I'm going to set a level. I haven't seen them all and I actually like it. the one from 2014 or whatever the gore doesn't even look like gore but it's ridiculous I don't know I really like that one I haven't seen it but I've heard the soundtrack and I love the soundtrack Final Destination Level C yeah but I really like it like the concept yeah it's a cool concept it just feels like they never had the right writers behind this yeah in the trailer there's a part where this woman is going laser mhm and I was.

I was always really afraid of that because I was like 10 when I saw that and I was horrified, but then when I saw the scene I thought, oh, that's not so bad, like I thought the thing that opens its eyes was going to keep opening until that like opening his eye and I thought that was horrible, but no, you just had to point a laser at the eye, yeah, I'm discreet, a fake fan. I haven't seen most of these screams. I could put an S Paranormal Activity. can go to C level above that, that's hard, you're right, you're right, same level, what else have I seen?

The Conjuring, this might be a good take, I think it's like B. I remember watching it and not being that crazy about it, but the thing is not in this tier list insidious insidious it's like s for me I have to go to hell, yeah, I love that movie, it's very, very effective, like I haven't seen Human Centipede. I haven't seen the fly, but I think both the fly and the Human Centipedes are like the ones I don't want to see, have you seen any of Cronenberg's stuff? No, he's like I'm not, he's just very sticky, very similar to I've seen scenes from The Fly and stuff where I'm like yeah, the fly is definitely him, he's rather slimy and I've seen something like the original, although not I remember it, so I feel like I don't like to place it, it's like one of my favorite horrors. movies, I know it's like one of those, yeah, I have to rewatch, oh okay, this one, I'm glad I saved it for last.

Sinister is the best, it's really good, I love Sinister, the kind of twist in the ending is very, very well done. I like video tapes. Ethan Hawk is like a funny guy. I really like Sinister. Like Sinister it was like one of my favorite horror movies. Sinister 2 can go to level F. They really lost the plot. They lost the plot considering how. A different wall outlet is from everything you've launched before. I wonder how you remember your previous music, maybe as far back as Papaya and his friends. I'm glad it's like that. I feel a little weird about papaya. videos just because it wasn't fully there yet, but the music itself I think it's important for people to see Evolution with the artists both in the person they're in and just the music itself.

I don't want to like take anything retroactively. down or whatever, I think it's important to preserve that I've seen two very diametrically opposed points of view that there are people who you know want to like the story of, you know, how they metamorphosed over time and changed and What no, but then you know there are other people who decide no, I want my current artistic direction to dictate how you view the material I've released and all that, I think they're both right in different ways, yeah. Both are super valid. I think there's a level of boundaries that I think is important to set because I don't want people digging into when I was in high school like personal stuff or whatever it sounds like. invasive if I've put out a work of art where I have to like deal with the fact that it's going to bethere forever making peace with it and just being okay there's all this music from when I was singing super low and like I just liked it I changed a lot as a person over time and I refer to myself differently and stuff .

I think it's still important for people to see where I came from to where I am now and being able to compare the two is just important for people's personal things like oh if she can listen then I can listen or whatever, I think it's important, I like it, it's not easy to come to that conclusion, yes, I've definitely had many moments where I think, oh I had to scrub everything and then realized it's a bit useless because of how different the power plug is wall of everything you've pulled out before, make your decision to reuse the second verse from Kinko's excursion, um, at the end of Uncanny. long arms like Stand Out in particular, so I'm wondering if you could explain to us like your decision making for that one which was mainly like I did the first half of the song with Jane and then I realized that the original demo done for Kinkos it had exactly the same tempo and tone, oh wow, and I thought, oh, this could be a really good callback and I think also the fact that I don't include the word anymore to recontextualize the lyrics into something like that. is happening in the story, I think it makes it feel more like some kind of epiphany.

I just felt like it aligned in a good way talking about this with one of my friends and they were like, I wonder if there's something like that. some deeper meaning, honestly, it could be that you would like it to sound, it could be that it sounded good, yeah, have you? I wonder if you've seen any cases like that of people dissecting a wall socket, obviously, you know that. That's bound to happen, but I've seen that people like to dissect the details and you were like you just did it because it sounded good, you know, Fooly coie, yeah, it's like the whole show is like that, where it's like, oh Well, this is like depression and growing up and I guess there are some themes of that, but the Creator is like, I don't know, I just wanted the girl to like holding a base all the time the curtains are blue the curtains are blue exactly I think that it's important that people have their own interpretations of the art almost immediately once I posted it, it wasn't, it doesn't feel like mine anymore, it's like a very internal feeling, like I knew a lot about wall sockets, but I liked it , no, it was not. involved in it or something, it's up to me, it's my responsibility to make sure the message is as clear as I need it to be, especially with these more difficult topics and I think if I had spent a little more time on it, maybe the messages They could have been clearer than they are.

I think it's a little murkier than I thought. I guess like the fish song, for example, it was kind of me explaining word by word what happened to this random fish. It's like a true story and stuff. but it doesn't really mean much to me personally. I just felt like this is something metaphorical or whatever. I think people can draw their own conclusions from it if they want and it can mean something to them that it doesn't have. It's not for me and I think a really cool thing you can do with music and art in general is allow people to interact with Eng in ways that you couldn't have predicted, like you mentioned, like the fish song.

The fish song for me I heard probably hundreds of times when I first visited Monay like crazy and it's like Monteray like it's blue hour like Monteray 24/7 as it's like super Monteray . I imagine you would like it oh. I'm going to write about Monteray in this, but it's like you know there are things like that where people interpret them in ways that you would never have imagined and that could be something really beautiful exactly like me, there are probably people listening. plug it into the wall like a city or something and associate it with the city.

I really like how digital art breaks down like an album will be highly hyped when it comes out and then it will die out and then some people will revisit it. later some people won't revisit it at all, people like to remix it, cut it up, especially once those stems fall exactly, it's like breaking down what it was originally and I think it's really cool, Wobby Saabi or it whatever, I think it's like a really cool consequence of posting art on the Internet and while I was preparing questions for this, a lot of my friends asked me to ask them questions about the AR G, which I'm not going to do because I think the magic That's something very special and I don't want to spoil it here, but I will say that it is extremely long and much more complicated than I thought it was going to be, which was really interesting to me because the overwhelming majority of people who are seeing the album They hear it and they appreciate it, but they're not going to dive into all these websites and these Instagram accounts and you know, they're all different, like Google Maps locations and all these different things. wondering how you approached making such an extensive addition to the album knowing that, as you know, most people will never experience it.

I made so many flowcharts on a whiteboard and it was like staying with my parents and then my dad came in and looked at it and said, I don't think the label knows who they like, who they signed, like you're like, I'm going to be like and then and and and and this yeah, exactly like I've talked about this a couple of times before, but I really like the kind of continuous immersion if this ending is like ARG websites like going places and then this ending is like they listen to my song like the list hyperpop playback and then change. turn it off after about 1 second, be able as a listener to be at any point on the scale and have it still work.

I think it's the best thing you can do with a project that seeks to make songs sound like individuals. songs instead of having to connect with other songs to be perceived as the way we wanted them to be independent of the album. I think I really got into the idea of ​​doing it as much as possible with my resources, hopefully. It's gratifying for the people on this side and also for the people on this side and having so much material related to the album online like that also made me think about how yeah, there's a lot of stuff on the internet that actually does that.

They last forever as you know when our parents said oh the Internet is forever like there are many things like that but there are also many things that rot over time like me. I think of the original projects like Blair Witch as the Forum. boards and that they had and all that is possibly the most successful ARG ever created and you can't access it anymore, it's like it's not on the internet anymore, so I'm wondering how you approached creating similar elements of this ARG knowing that at some point moment the sites are going to break or the hosting is going to run out or somehow not be accessible in its current form.

I think so, I think it's like I want it to be accessible in retrospect also like people can look back and say this was here this was here this was here like having a map of because that's how I also learned that I love the bees and I like all the different types of extensive ARG things that like you know the accommodation is no longer available like I can't go through that myself but I can look at someone who's been there and knows all the different things like Talking about it retrospectively, it will live forever in one form or another. form or another just not in its original form.

I'm waiting for the video essay. I want a video essay. Someone can do it. Yes, exactly. I have it. If I had a free month, I'd put one together, but it doesn't matter how. you discover a lot of new artists, it seems like there will always be 100 more that you wish you found sooner, you watch the interviews. I know you know this is coming. What are some artists? If you could choose a handful of artists to introduce to our listeners. Right now, who would you choose? Well, I have to say, let's say, Drake, oh, okay, yeah, you're not the first person to do that.

I know, that's why I say that, okay, cool, their new album just came out for all the dogs, it's really good. listen to it if you're not connected to Drake in some way if you're not connected to Drake like what you're doing I don't know I was there from day one you know what I mean like you're really on the sixth with him I'm not afraid of the six you're not afraid of the six I won't say it I personally in a way you're afraid of them you're afraid of the six there's a really cool scene like That's Blackwood, but I also think Lane is in there, just people doing something as well as creative progy, the new Can of Bliss album is really good, too surprising, yes, yes, it's really cool, very theater-like.

I need to get back in. I've been listening like an old man, it's bad, I need to get out of this hole of nostalgia, you're like a method to act like Austin Butler and like Elvis or something, you're like listening to old music to plug into the wall socket. Vibrates, yes. I was born in the wrong generation, be one of those, I'm one of those girls and similarly you've worked with quite a few people in the past but I'm sure there are still plenty more you want to work with. with with so if you can name a handful of dream collaborators, who would they be if you say Drake?

I swear to God, I don't want to collaborate with Drake, okay, okay, I got you, I mean, I don't know if he's watching, I mean, if I mean, I mean, if you want, I don't know Pink Panther, I think we can make one funny song, Breakin, oh yeah that could be fun, I want a Skrillex remix, oh I feel like it's a matter of time until Skrillex comes. when he wants, you know I can't force anyone's hand here, he just has to like it, we'll see. I feel like working with him would be really intimidating. I've heard he's a really nice guy, but I'd be scared.

He would be really scaled, but if it was like a Skrillex remix, it would be like in this Pantheon of Skrillex-like remixes. You'll be etched in the halls of Skrillex history, that's what I'm saying, other than that, I don't know. I'm kind of bad at working with people, I think in a context where I'm not expected to sing or write or do a verse or something that I would love to produce for as many people as possible. Finally, what are you looking for? to achieve the next what can we expect from April Harper Greg in the future?

Don't know. I have a question for you. Okay, oh, you mentioned you were going to say this to the end. Well, why is it called black light? Oh my God. Austin was telling me this the other day. Well, the story behind that too for people asking. I've been considering just reconfiguring it and just calling. It scares me, I feel like I'm dyslexic or something. Originally, yeah, several people told me that the backlight was originally under a magazine that they ended up closing and I went to a different magazine and under that different magazine we came up with names, we're just throwing names back and forth.

It was my suggestion, so I take the blame here, but we came up with the black light because it's like, oh, you shine a black light on something, you see something there that you didn't see previously, that you couldn't see previously. Shining a light on artists who, like you, otherwise wouldn't have heard about it or whatever, that's what we were going for in retrospect, people think publishing is called blacklight, people think it's called backlight

podcast

, like me, I think I'm going to ruin it. Honestly, I always read the Backlight Podcast and then look at it for more than a second and think there's an extra L, what is it doing there?

Yeah, and it's in everyone like I said, oh, like it's not like if. It's not like a typo I didn't do it yeah, yeah, no, how about this interview, I'll ruin it, let's go with this interview, I'll come back and update them all, come on, okay, come on, then, um, I think that's it. To wrap up today, thank you so much for coming with me today to beautiful Leroy Indiana. Thanks again as if not in the northwest.