#interviewtion

In this interview I talked to Texas-based musician Niku Gutfuck about the role of ambient music as a healing tool, the inspirations for their new EP, and the process of focusing on addressing mental health.  Q: You’re extremely honest and outspoken about your struggles with mental health. How have those struggles informed and inspired the music you make, especially on this new EP?

A: I've had these issues for a long time but never bothered to talk about them. I never really knew how to. That said, I didn't know how to make art about them either. I didn't even know I had bipolar disorder or OCD until I was diagnosed this year. It all made sense after I was diagnosed, but finding out I just...gave up. I stopped caring. I skipped class, I never went outside, I avoided other people. I just kinda existed. 

Relating this to the EP, someone very dear to me who had been a very big part of my life for about two years tried desperately to help me. They tried their best, but the issue is I didn't. I instead, pulled the stupid pity party card multiple times and found myself being like "well, this is just life. Whatever," rather than growing the fuck up and taking the initiative to make things in my life better. Suffering took zero effort. That's why I decided to just be miserable. Eventually, these issues of mine took control. 

I said things I didn't mean and acted in ways I never thought I would, all to this person that has always been there for me. I hurt them badly. We ended up going our separate ways. I didn't realize how much their company meant to me and how much I had taken them for granted until they were gone. It was too late. I grew the fuck up too late. I did everything too late. 

I found myself remembering that this person always told me that I was one of the few people who truly cared about them. That I was always there for them. That I was very important to them. And in return I gave them a big "fuck you" without even realizing it because I was so clouded by my own self loathing and selfishness. It fucked me up. I considered this person family, and honestly still do. But because of me they are gone. It pains me more than I could ever explain. 

This EP is about that. It's about me grieving over losing this person. How much I miss them. How sorry I am. How I decided to start self harming because I couldn't live with myself. How I became even more of a shut in because of my actions. And finally, realizing that I need to change. 

It's entirely ambient because I feel like droney ambient music is best at giving off intended emotions. Ambient music is very personal, I feel like lots of people don't realize that. The message behind the EP is "look into yourself, see if your problems are becoming you, and change it before it comes at a price that you would have no choice to pay." 

I don't want my listeners to be like me, I want them to learn from me. I don't see myself as a role model. I see myself  as a colossal fuck up that's trying to change their ways and NOT be a colossal fuck up. I care so much about all of my supporters and their well being. To be honest, I want to make that person proud despite everything. I hope I am. Take your mental health seriously. You don't want to find comfort in your problems. That's a path that leads to a very dark place.

Q: In your essay on your latest release you talk a little bit about Tamakichi Anaru, so how has his visual work inspired your own music? A: Snuff films used to really interest me in the sense that I never really got what motivated people to do such acts. Anaru-san's work is very very violent and, to be blunt, fucked up in nature ranging from the most heinous acts of violence to straight up gore porn. I find Anaru-san's work to be in a sense some of the most human shit. To explain, we're fucked up. 

I have a writer friend named Noah, who once told me that he believes that humans are naturally born evil. Though it isn't as black and white as that, there is some truth to the statement. The human race in general is just fucked up. We spread the message of loving each other through media outlets or to strangers passing by, yet we hurt each other every single day. Slavery, genocide, war, oppression, even things that are on a smaller scale like bullying. This is the shit we do to each other. We make each other miserable. 

I feel like, in a way, Anaru-san's work is a manifestation of that. It's fucked up, and in no way do I condone any of it, but at the end of the day all of us have the potential to be fucked up. Some people just choose to hide it behind a mask. Q: What made you end the Midori Kida project in order to start releasing music as Niku Gutfuck? A: Niku Gutfuck started last year, actually. I was releasing very violent harsh noise music, it was straight up a wall of power electronics. The project initially was started because of my experiences with anger issues and obsessive compulsive disorder. 

It was meant to portray a feeling of anger. As a society, we look down upon anger. Anger is painted in a negative light all the time, people with bad anger issues are often demonized, and looked at as violent people that just want to inflict pain on others. For the longest time, I shamed myself for it because of that. I believe that we shouldn't be judged for our emotions, but for our actions. Anger is human. We tend to think of humanity as whatever the media portrays humanity as. That feeling of being an outcast due to my issues was initially what inspired Niku Gutfuck. 

Midori Kida, however, wasn't at all as deep as that, nor do I think it ever could have been. I was catering. It was me not being myself. It felt like I was making music under someone else’s project. That's a very harmful way to look at doing something you like to do, but it's the truth. I didn't realize just how personal Niku Gutfuck was until very recently, so I decided to keep the name and take the project to new places, while still keeping the themes that were personally significant to me.

Q: How did you choose the name Niku Gutfuck for this project? Are you worried at all that a name like that might turn some people away from listening to the music? A: Originally I just picked it because it sounded violent and angry enough for the context of the music, but after I got tired and upset with Midori Kida, I realized I had some personal connections to it. Like I said, Anaru-san's films depict the ugly fucked up side of humans that we like to pretend doesn't exist. Well, one has to be ridiculously fucked in the head to commit such heinous acts of violence upon another person. To me, it's giving in to your mental health problems. Letting them take control and change you. You're no longer yourself, you're your problems wearing your skin and passing off as you. It makes you harm people, break others, destroy them because your mental health problems grabbed you by the collar and you didn't have the willpower to force them to put you down. Just like I did to my best friend. 

Like I said before, I want to make music so people learn from my mistakes, I don't want people to be like me, I want people to LEARN from me. Mental health problems can be fixed with time, willpower, and effort. It takes courage. Something I lacked. And in turn I hurt someone who was very important to me. Niku Gutfuck is supposed to symbolize that. Not even being yourself anymore. Becoming a costume that your paranoia wears to look like you. 

I was worried about the name at first, and in a way I still am, but the more I thought about the personal aspects the more I felt like I had to. I'm so obsessed with people being happy honestly. Happiness is the best thing in the world in my opinion. Just seeing someone, anyone, happy makes me emotional and happy too. But while that's something I wanna do with my art, at the end of the day I need to do this for myself too. I do this for other people, but I also do it for me. Art is the only method of self expression that I have. I want to make things for people who need it, but how can I expect my art to help others if it can't even help me first?

Q: What is the appeal of ambient music for you? A: My friend Warren (he makes music as Foxes in Fiction) once described ambient music as "audio xanax". I think that's very accurate. To me, ambient music is the epitome of emotion. A lot of ambient and drone-y experimental music doesn't have a ton going on, and I normally see that as a common complaint with the genre. I, however, think that is fine. There is this science where certain frequencies and tones can make people feel certain emotions. Music can be healing. That inspires me a lot. 

Ambient music is a genre I always find myself going back to, especially when things start to become overbearing. You don't have to worry about any drastic changes, it's pretty much just music to remember things to. I enjoy that. I'm a very sentimental and sensitive person, so I remember things in my life a lot. Good and bad. Ambient music tends to be my soundtrack for that.

Q: Who are some of your personal favorite ambient/drone/noise artists? Do you have three albums in those genres you would recommend to people who aren’t familiar with them? A: An artist that has always been there for me is Yuko Imada. In fact, Yuko Imada's "Untitled (Moon)" was pretty much 99% of the inspiration for Everything is Gone. On Seeing has been my favorite song for years, I listen to it when insomnia keeps me up. I Am A Lake of Burning Orchids has also inspired me a ton as well. I also can't go without mentioning Watashi no Koko and Apollo Knives. Since I have quite a few influences for this album, I decided to give five recommendations instead of three, simply because there are a lot I recommend. Yuko Imada - Untitled (Moon) I Am A Lake of Burning Orchids - Summer in My Veins Apollo Knives - The Harshest Winter Watashi no Koko - まごころを君に Nobuto Suda - Modest Calm I also want to point out that the Yume Nikki and .flow soundtracks are fucking fantastic. They inspire me a lot, both of those games are so dear to me.

I really wanna talk about some of the other artists that inspire the album I am working on. Not ambient artists, but I really feel like I should point them out because of how much they all mean to me. 

One of my biggest influences is Halsey. She's honestly one of my favorite artists of all time. Her music is so important to me and she's somebody I really really look up to and view as a hero. Her lyrics hit very very close to home to me, I relate so much to them. Reading interviews with her and seeing that she also deals with bipolar disorder makes me feel like I'm not alone. I usually feel like I'm an outcast because of my BPD. Like I shouldn't have anybody close to me and I should remain in solitude cause I'll just end up hurting them by accident. She showed me that my mental health doesn't have to define me. She influences me in so many different ways, in my opinion all of her music is perfect. I honestly can't stress enough how vital Halsey is to me and how much I look up to her haha. 

I feel the exact same way about Meishi Smile. Meishi Smile has been one of my favorite music projects for so so long. The amount of raw emotion in the music is so breathtakingly beautiful to me, I've viewed Garrett Yim as a hero since I was a Junior in high school. I've always been obsessed with his countless projects (nono., and the previously mentioned Yuko Imada) and honestly he is one of the reasons I ever started making music in the first place. 

Meishi Smile and Halsey both make me feel like somebody gets it. Every day I wake up and feel like I am inhuman. Like, my mental shit makes me some monster that deserves to have nobody. They show me otherwise. I wanna do that for somebody at the end of the day. Show someone that they are not alone.

On another note, I am also very inspired by J-Pop. I really love the works of Yasutaka Nakata, whether it be Perfume, Capsule, or Kyary Pamyu Pamyu (the queen haha). J-Pop just has this sound to it that really makes me gravitate towards it. It sounds very happy on the surface, but if you look deeper it's a very dark genre, a good example being Kyary Pamyu Pamyu's music video for Kira Kira Killer (one of my personal favorite Kyary songs) exploring themes of death. 

Tyler the Creator is also a colossal influence on me, he's helped me a lot when it came to dealing with my anger issues and shit. And of course I am also very inspired by Porter Robinson and Madeon, they are also heroes to me. Also, anime haha. Stuff like Danganronpa, Anohana, and Madoka Magica fill me with this weird urge to recreate how those franchises make me feel and how they sound to me. 

But I get most of my creative inspiration from my personal experiences. I do lots of venting through art. All of the upcoming album is me doing that. Venting.  I have a lot of emotional scars and have so many regrets. This new album is so personal. One song is about how in my state of feeling torn up over what I've done I turned to drugs as a coping mechanism and ended up having this mental breakdown after getting super fucking high. Another is about my dependency issues with self harm and how I've become addicted to cutting and burning myself. It feels weird, honestly. Makes me feel kinda naked, you know? At the same time it feels so good putting feeling into my music. Letting out all my regrets, grudges, and anxieties into a tangible form just feels...good. It's something I wish I've always done rather than make music I'm not proud of. I'm hoping I find myself while making this album.

Q: It seems like video games are an important component of your life, so do you ever see yourself soundtracking a game? A: I've actually thought of this quite a bit. I'd love to in all honesty. I'd soundtrack any game really, but I'd really love to make the ost to a Yume Nikki fangame. Yume Nikki is such an important game, it's amazing that Kikiyama was able to create such a dedicated fanbase over a simple little RPG Maker game. I still visit Uboachan, though not too frequently. 

I first got introduced to video games in the Gamecube/Game Boy era, so growing up games like Pokemon Silver, Sonic Adventure (both of them), Super Mario Sunshine, and my favorite game of all time Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess took up all my time. I remember maxing out the ingame clock in Twilight Princess haha. From there I graduated to PC gaming, and now the game I've been playing the most of is Overwatch. I'm pretty garbage at it but competitive has been helping me get better. I'd also like to point out while we're on the topic of video games how much Danganronpa means to me. It's one of my favorite games and makes me hella emotional. There's a song on my new album about it haha. Q: What do you have planned for the future of this project? A: I have a new album coming out at some point that’s named Stay. Niku Gutfuck is split into two different styles: The ambient, droney harsh noise side such as Everything is Gone, and a very J-Pop inspired electronic music side. The topic of Everything is Gone is gonna be elaborated on in a few songs, as well as other topics I want to get off my chest. I am not sure when this is coming out, where I will release it, or if I will fuck with any labels at all, I am just trying to get my emotions out in audio form as of right now. I'm ultimately trying to improve as a producer and musician as much as I can, music production is honestly something that I just adore fucking with and I can't see myself stopping no matter how discouraged I get. 

There's this fire in me that won't let me stop, and I am so glad it's there cause it keeps me going. I'm trying to find an artist to work with to make the album cover, especially since I love working with visual artists. The feeling of two artistic minds that focus on different art forms coming together to create something is so inspiring to me and one of my favorite things about making music.

Emma Witmer makes intimate bedroom pop music under the moniker gobbinjr. It’s as dreamy as it is raw. She’s just released her EP “vom night” that’s as dreamy and fun as it is raw and dark. In this interview she talks about moving to New York, crafting her new EP, and using comedy to find some light when things get dark.

Q: What made you decide to title the new EP vom night?

A: The EP was actually made during a period of my life when I was trying very hard to get myself to vomit. It was a pretty crazy (and, looking back, scary) time in my life. I had a lot of dark feelings that I wanted to purge of and somehow I convinced myself that vomiting would help. You always feel so much better after you vomit. Anyway, during this Pursuit of Vom, my bestie/roomie Hayley Livingston and I were joking about the eventual Vom Night and came to the conclusion that that's what the EP should be called. It made sense because the EP was a different form of emotional purge for me. The actual Vom Night did occur though, on July 15th, which happens to be Hayley's birthday.

Q: For the new release Sophia Foster-Dimino created a comic to accompany the release. Was that your idea? What do you think it helps listeners understand about the EP?

A: The whole minicomic thing was completely Jordan Michael's idea! I was actually pretty against the idea of doing an EP but he came to me with this idea and it was so cool that I went along with it. Jordan showed me Sophia's work and a few others' and told me that Sophia was shooting the highest. She agreed to it pretty fast though. I think our works just really vibe together and she made the comic to accompany the EP perfectly. She personified the feelings I was trying to evoke. 

Q: After growing up in Wisconsin, how has the DIY scene in New York affected your life and the way you write music?

A: I could write a book on this! They are entirely different worlds and I often feel both at an advantage and hindered because of my scene origin. I feel like everyone in Wisconsin was striving to go for the same pristine sound while everyone here seems to celebrate all possibilities and individualities. There was also very little DIY in Wisconsin, especially for teens and all, so it's been very liberating coming here.

Q: How has it been performing these songs with a live band? Was it difficult to transition these songs that you had recorded on your own to that setting?

A:  Transitioning from writing and recording these songs to a live setting is very tough. It's like I have to rewrite everything. Lately I've been working with really good musicians that I know well so I've been trying not to order them around too much, otherwise I would just end up passing out sheet music to everyone. This makes playing with a band so much more fun because I get to see how my friends interpret my music and what it sounds like to have other personalities mixed in. 

Q: You talk about extremely personal experiences in your lyrics, so have you ever been writing lyrics to a song and gotten rid of something that crossed a line for you somehow?

A: I don't really ever swap out lines when I go too far. The songs that have crossed a personal line come super easily, so they're usually finished soon after I sit down to write them. Those songs are put away. Some of them I'm waiting to see if I reach some sort of personal closure and maybe eventually share those songs, but some of them get really dark and I won't revisit.

Q: One of my favorite parts about your music is how you don’t limit it to one genre. Is this something intentional, or do you just write in whatever style you’re feeling at the moment?

A: I never really try to sound like anything, so I guess what comes out is whatever I'm vibing on. I try to just write whatever I would listen to.

Q: I love the way your songs are mixed (for example, the subtle pacman sound in firefly). Did you teach yourself how to record, or was that something you picked up in your time at NYU?

A: It was a big mixture of things. When I was in middle school I started teaching myself. Eventually I got bored of taking piano lessons and asked my piano teacher to teach me more about mixing and production, which is something he would do for this audio software company Mixcraft. I took a couple classes in high school on music technology, then I picked up some more at college. I took everything everyone taught me with a grain of salt though, because if I did exactly what they said I would end up with something that's been done a million times before. I guess that's kind of where the corny noises come in, but I try hard to pull them off in an unobtrusive way.

Q: When you record do you have your songs written out, or flesh them out as different instrumental parts come to you?

A: The whole writing, recording, mixing, and producing process is just a big jumble for me. I'm very bad at working linearly. I couldn't just do each of those steps one by one. It's part of the reason why I'm so determined to keep the entire process to myself; if I have to organize my process I'm not sure the product will come out as special.

Q: Do you have any hobbies that inform or inspire the music you make?

A: I don't really do much besides music. I really like hanging out with dogs and cats but that's not quite a hobby. Right now the songs come from a very internal place, although I would like to start going back to school or educating myself or SOMETHING so my songs can be a bit more multi dimensional.

Q: What has it been like to hear the reactions to your music once you’ve release it into the world, especially since the songs are so personal to you?

A: It's very strange to me. It was always my goal to make my music applicable to a listener's life so, although I'm singing about something very particular that happened to me, someone else hears the same lyrics and thinks of someone they know or something that they did. Although these songs are very much about me, once I release them I want them to be about the listener. That being said, I do always flinch when someone tells me they like "the dead girlfriend song". 

Q: How important is comedy and goofiness in your lyrics? Is it intentional to balance out some of the darker lyrics?

A: Comedy is important in the lyrics because it's important in how I deal with my feelings. When I'm angry, I'm usually also laughing. I think when I feel feelings that are scary for me, I use comedy to alleviate that pressure on myself and those around me.

Q: Do you have any advice for people who have gone to through some of the same things as you?

A: I think the most important thing is to be aware of how you affect other people. No matter what you've gone through, you should be working to make sure that no one else has that same negative experience. I've found focusing on other people helps me work through things I've gone through too, so it's sort of a win-win thing.

Q: Looking into your crystal ball, what’s in store for gobbinjr?

A: I still don't really know what I want. I would love to have this be a career for me, so I don't know if that means expanding to something bigger than gobbinjr or simply expanding gobbinjr. But one thing I can confidently say that another full length is coming and it is the best songwriting I have ever done.

Jordan Fox is the lovely bedroom pop hit-maker that releases music under the moniker moving in. He recently released his debut EP Sunburn via Z Tapes, one of the best lil’ labels out there today. It’s music that sounds like sunlight being filtered through dust kicked up in a carpeted bedroom. In this interview we talk about recording music at home, learning how to work through an eating disorder, and working with Z Tapes to release the new album.

Q: What was the process for recording your album? What was it like getting Warren Hildebrand (who has touched so many albums I love) to master it?

A: I would usually have an idea for a song somewhere strange like in the middle of a grocery store or while in a room full of people. I would immediately pull out my phone and hum it into my voice memos and then later in the week or in the day (depending on my motivation), I would set up my mics and record in my bedroom. My house can get pretty loud at times, so for vocals I would set everything up in my tiny closet and record them in there! It was a pretty comfortable process though, minus the cords all over my room, I hate that so much!

Having Warren work on my music was incredible. He has mastered some of my favorite albums ever, and he has made some of my favorite music! I spent weeks trying to build up the confidence to email him about it and I’m so glad I did. Warren is such a sweet person, it really felt like I was working with a friend and he gave me so much confidence in my music, he brought so much life to the EP that it didn’t have before!

Q: Have you always lived in Fort Worth, Texas? How do you think that environment has influenced your music?

A: When I was very young I lived, like, twenty minutes outside of Fort Worth, but most of my life I have been here! Downtown Fort Worth specifically has influenced my music a ton, I’m not too sure why, but there's something special about it that inspires me so much. Some of the experiences I wrote about on the EP happened there, some of my favorite memories are there too! So I would say it definitely has played a part in my music.

Q: You recently made a tumblr post about your eating disorder. Do you think that music has helped you tackle some of the feelings that have stemmed from it? 

A: I feel like listening to music has helped a lot. Certain songs or words can make me feel confidence in myself and that is very important. I’ve written so many songs about how it has made me feel and I feel like in writing songs I help myself feel like I’m worth something, which helps so much. I want to write more about it in the future because it has had a huge effect on my life, but not necessarily as a way to cope. I want to write about it so people can understand that this is something other people go through and that no matter how badly you want to feel like you’re crazy for feeling this way, you aren’t. Another thing that helps me so much with music is hearing that people like my stuff or connect with it in some way. I am still genuinely surprised that people care about it, but it helps me so much with that and other problems I may be having. Its amazing, it makes me feel incredible!

Q: How do you feel about being categorized as a “lo-fi” musician? Do you feel like what reviewers call “production value” is currently weighed more heavily by reviewers than songwriting itself?

A: I don’t mind moving in being referred to as a lo-fi project at all, although I don’t really feel like its completely accurate. Lo-fi started as a term that had to do with quality and turned into a genre, kinda like "indie" meant independent at first, then turned into a genre.

I think not only reviewers, but even some musicians care too much about production! In my opinion the focus of being a musician should be the quality of the writing, not the quality of the recording. I completely understand why people would want to focus on it, but for me personally I want to put more of a focus on the music itself. Some of the most beautiful music I’ve ever heard was recorded with low budget equipment! In the future, I want to focus less on the quality of the sound and more on just having fun and creating meaningful music.

Q: Where does the name of your project come from?

A: moving in is supposed to be a play on words of "moving on". Sunburn is about me reliving memories I had made in a relationship and accepting that it was over and moving on from them. Before I started recording it, I realized that I was only one step away from starting to move on, and that step was the album, so I thought it was a nice representation of that. 

Q: One thing I absolutely love about Sunburn is that it creates such a coherent atmosphere that’s so easy to get lost in. Were you intentionally trying to create that sonic mood, or is it something that just naturally happened?

A: I love that it made you feel that way because it was definitely something I was going for!! When I was writing those songs, it felt natural for me to have a lot going on with the music. There are a lot different vocals harmonizing, some tracks have multiple layers of guitar parts and keyboards too! With this project I just really wanted to have a full sound, I wanted people to be able to get lost in it!

Q: How did you get connected with Z Tapes? What was it like working with Filip (the founder of Z Tapes) to distribute the album?

A: I’ve been listening to artists on Z Tapes for a while now, I’ve always been a big fan of the label. Me and Filip had messaged a few times before I even put out music with this project, and when I put out my first single he was super supportive with it. When I put out sunburn I saw that he bought it and I messaged him to thank him and he brought up releasing it with Z Tapes, which was huge for me. I had wanted to be a member of the family for such a long time, so I was really excited. 

Working with Filip has been amazing. He is such a sweet and genuine person and he has made me feel so welcomed. Everything has been super comfortable and I love that, he makes it feel like it’s more than just a label, its like a family. I truly believe that Z Tapes is putting out some of the best bedroom pop music there is, and its so nice to know that the person behind it genuinely cares about not only the artists involved, but the supporters! I am so happy to call him a friend and to be able to work with him. 

Q: What are the main influences on your music, whether bands, artists, life, etc.?

A: I draw influences from so many things! As far as music goes, right now my biggest influences are John Frusciante, The Magnetic Fields, The Cure, A$AP Rocky, Elvis Depressedly, Animal Collective, Drake and Midori Kida. Outside of music; memories, the beach, October, run down dollar stores, libraries and anime all inspire me more than I can really understand! 

Q: Besides music, what are some of the other things you like to do to occupy your time?

A: I’m not very good at anything else, but I love to make origami, doodle, collect cute things, take photos of things that make me feel warm & fuzzy inside, read manga and obsess over the paranormal. Astral projection is fun too! 

Q: Do you feel that music and spirituality intersect in any way?

A: Spirituality is interesting for me. I’m not religious at all. I follow science and focus on what science can prove is real for my beliefs, but at the same time I know I have seen and felt spirits around me all of my life, so in that sense I am very spiritual. I think spirits and trying to figure out what a spiritual afterlife could be if there is one at all is a huge part of my daily life, so it definitely ties into my music. I believe that when you are aware of spirits around you, they can have an effect on what you’re doing (in my case, music) even if you’re completely unaware that they are doing it. I hope to write a lot more on the topic of spirits or what I believe the afterlife could be in the future!

Q: How has it been for you to hear the reactions of all these people listening to your music, which is something so personal for you?

A: Hearing the reactions has been absolutely incredible. I honestly NEVER expected to get this much support. When I put out Sunburn, I expected it to get maybe 100 plays on Bandcamp in a few months. I figured maybe my family would listen to it and maybe a few friends... So when so many people started telling me they liked it and so many people supported it I felt this feeling inside me that I’ve never felt before. A feeling of happiness, confidence and honor that my life experiences were touching people in any way at all. I have always had the mindset that I am nothing special and never thought anyone would care about anything I do, so it blows my mind that people care, I still don’t understand why, but I’m so thankful. Its one of my favorite parts of being a musician. In the past few weeks I have felt more confidence than I have in a very long time, and I owe that to the people who support me. 

Q: What are your plans for the future of moving in?

A: As for moving in, I’m not sure. But, I can say that there will be new music from me within the next few months that I am very excited to share! Also shows, and maybe some merch too!

Pet Cemetery is the moniker under which the London based Saam Watkins releases some beautiful bedroom pop music. Listening to Saam’s music feels a little like accidentally opening someone’s diary, but it’s this honesty that is a main component in making his music so compelling. In this interview he talks about the formation of the project, how he goes about writing, and dealing with varying receptions of his music.

Q: How did Pet Cemetery come into being as a band?

A: Pet Cem initially started because I was obsessing over the song Pet Cemetery by Little Lungs and wanted to start a new band like that, so I set up a Facebook page for the name and well never ended up starting that band ha. For me, writing/recording songs is just an activity I do/enjoy doing. Like I'll get home from work and I'll watch a movie or I'll write a song. I think I was doing pc in secret for a year or so before I finally decided to start posting things online. From there the releases started happening, so I started drafting friends in to learn the songs to help me play shows. 

Q: There are a lot of somber themes on your Dietary Requirements EP. Were these brought on by events in your own life or are your songs more fictionalized?

A: I think when I wrote Dietary Requirements I was going through my annual summer life change/reevaluation, so that probably comes across in the songs? Idk. I'm not sure why, but every summer my life seems to shift towards whatever direction it's going to take for the next 12 months and I found myself chasing chaos and misadventures whilst writing the EP. I treat my songs as a sort of scrapbook, like just because one lyric precedes the next, that doesn't mean they have anything to do with each other. So the EP as a whole captures all the things that were occupying my brain at the time. Trying to find the middle ground between a new lush and uncertainties without attempting any sort of understanding, just an acceptance I guess. 

Q: What’s your writing/recording process like? Have all your releases been self recorded?

A: For the most part I record everything in my room because it's easier and because it's free ha. And although I may not have 100% of the knowledge required to make things sound how I want them to, it beats having to explain that to someone else who may have their own vision, but also I enjoy the learning curve. With Dietary Requirements, I recorded that with my friend Dean in his living room and we worked on how that all sounded together. As well as him having an input on the writing process, which was real fun. I have a couple songs coming out soon on a split 10" on Z Tapes (spoilers) and those songs were both recorded in a ~real studio~ which was as enjoyable. It was nice to have almost unlimited freedom to try things out for whatever sounds I thought would work. 

Q: Your songs fit into the lo-fi category, so why do you choose to inhabit that realm? Do you think there’s a special quality that lo-fi sound lends to your songs?

A:  First and foremost, I listen to a lot of 'lo-fi' music, so I guess even without intending to, my songs would lean towards that sort of sound anyway. Then of course there's the practicality of recording myself versus booking and paying for studio time.There's something so pure and - to me - honest about a home recorded record. Like it's real and it's putting itself out there in it's simplest form and I love that. So I guess that's why I do it myself. But like I said I have some full band, studio recorded songs coming out soon too. I like that with Pet Cemetery, as it's my own thing, there's no rules to how it should be and the only person I need to agree with is myself. I plan to keep the project somewhere in the middle. Like I'll do a bedroom EP and then maybe I'll do a release that's done in a studio. Whatever best suits the songs. 

Q: This is more of just personal curiosity than anything, but where does the dialogue sample you use in Birthstone come from?

A: That quote is from I Heart Huckabees. A film I love and may never fully understand ha. Every time I watch it, it gives me something new. That sample is one of my all time favorite movies quotes anyway, but I felt like it accurately summarised where my head was at at the end of writing that EP. A beacon of hope looking over me and the songs. Idk haha, I think it works. 

Q: What has your experience been like working with different labels and distribution places like Z Tapes?

A:  I've played in various bands over the years, so when it came to letting Pet Cem leave my bedroom and tackle the outside world, I already knew a few labels to do things with. Cheesus Crust Records, Art Is Hard, Havana Tapes and Sad Girls Club did the first load of pc releases and are all good friends of mine. Z Tapes was interesting because Filip found me and asked if I wanted to do that EP. Through that we've become friends and already have a whole heap of things planned for the summer. The Z Tapes back catalogue is all golden and I've not met many people with as much and love for DIY music and the running of a label as Filip. He's been real great to work with.

Q: You mentioned that your songs are like scrapbooks to you. Do you generally write your lyrics all at once or do you gather bits and pieces into a whole song?

A: It varies really. Like with the song Champ (on Dietary Requirements), I was just playing around one evening, about to go make some food when all of a sudden I stumbled upon the chord progression and all the lyrics came to me at once. But then I'm always making notes of little ideas that just present themselves to me each day, as I go about my business and sometimes I'll sit down and pool all my favourite lines and piece together some sort of narrative. So yeah I guess for the most part I'll have the words I want to use as they come to me. It's real rare that I'll sit down with a subject matter in mind to write about, that always seems so fake/forced to me. I feel that the ~emotions~ are purer if I just let them work their way out of me. 

Q: What has it been like hearing people’s reactions to your music? Do you ever get scared or self conscious about what you’re releasing into the world, especially music as personal as yours?

A: To be honest I rarely seek out reactions to what I've done. I've lost count of how many times, over the years, I've read a review of something I've written where the author has completely misinterpreted what I've tried for and that's fine, it just bugs me. So I avoid it now. whenever there's been a premiere of a song/release in the past I always get a friend who works in music to do it because I'll trust them to do it justice. And sure when a blog I'm a fan of has something to say I do let curiosity get the better of me from time to time and take a peak, but not often. For me, the realer responses are people at shows who have something to say, or when someone takes time out of their day to reach out and say they're into it. That’s what means the most because those people are just music fans. It's always surprising because music is something I do for me, something I'm compelled to do because I can't not do it ha. So I never expect any praise or anything because why would someone like this thing I did for my own enjoyment? But yeh it's cool and always appreciated. 

Q: Has it been hard for you to convert these songs into a live setting when you play shows?

A: It's actually been really fun working it out. There's been pc live shows sporadically for about a year and a half now and it's always been full band. I have a whole batch of full band songs that'll be working their way out into the world soon enough anyway, so for the most part we've played those. But it's been really interesting to (soy) beef up the quieter songs into a live setting too. I’m lucky enough to have a lot of music paying friends so whenever there's been a show booked I just ask around who's free and assemble some sort of lineup. The album I've been working on is all full band instrumentation, so there'll definitely be more shows happening as that progresses. 

Q: When you’re recording do you generally do all the instrumentation yourself or do you grab some of your friends to help you out?

A: I'd say like 80% of the pc 'back catalogue' is just me and then for a couple releases that were recorded last summer, my pal Dean worked on stuff with me. That was a load of fun. Sometimes the motivation can be hard to find, but I like that there's no pressure with doing this project. Like it's just me when I can and when I want to do things. When I feel it. 

Q: Do you think you ever put any limitations on yourself in terms of instrumentation and arrangement for your songs or do you see Pet Cemetery as a blank canvas where you can make whatever you’re feeling at the time?

A: Yeh I guess it's a blank canvas. Like I said before, it's about what suits the song. I don't often set out with a sound or 'destination' in mind, I just start playing around with whatever idea comes to me and sometimes it'll suit being as simple as possible and sometimes it'll feel like it needs to be built up. I enjoy recording and listening to bedroom stuff as much as I do full band stuff, so I think there'll always be the two sides to Pet Cem. It's like there's two different kinds of urgency, the urgency and momentum you can build and experience from like a 'big' sounding full band song, then the urgency within a home recording like you have this spark and you need to just capture it as soon as possible with whatever you have in hand. 

Q: Why did you name this project Pet Cemetery? Are you just a huge Stephen King fan?

A: I've honestly never read the book or seen the film. It was only within the last 6 months I heard the Ramones song of the same name too! ha. Like I said, I was obsessing over the Hoist Me Up EP by Little Lungs forever ago and the first track on that is called Pet Cemetery. It's just the perfect song. This burst of energy. That's what I'd originally wanted to write songs like but it kind of just became what it is now I guess. 

Q: Do you ever write a song but then hold back from putting it out there because you see it as being too personal? Or do you have essentially no filter in those terms?

A: Writing songs, for me, is like a catharsis anyway, so I think they're probably all too personal already ha. Idk I like songs that feel 'real'. I'm a big fan of emotions ha! So why not put them in my songs? They don't feel too personal to me because even if someone picks up on something i've written about, they're going to perceive in their own way. I have held songs back before because I've thought that they sounded too ridiculous, like I've played around with a sound or genre out of boredom and written something that should never leave my iTunes. That sort of filter is hard to keep a hold on when it's only your opinion dictating it. 

Q: What are your plans for the future of Pet Cemetery?

A: Most of this hasn't been announced or whatever yet, but i've got an EP coming out on the Australian label Swirl Records sometime soon, then Z Tapes has put together a split 10" that I've got two songs on too. Then I'm playing in New York in like 2 weeks (don't tell customs) and trying to book an EU jaunt for the summer. I'm also piecing together an album I guess, there's no real plan with it, I'm just letting it happen. 

Greta Kline is a 19 year old “indie superstar/rocker/popper/singer-songwriter” who releases music under the alias Frankie Cosmos. She has been releasing home-recorded singles, EPs, and albums on her “Ingrid Superstar” Bandcamp page since 2009. They are the kind of quirky lo-fi songs that seem perfect to wake up to in the summer and to fall asleep to in the winter. This past March she released Zentropy, which is her first studio album. In this interview she speaks about her songwriting process, her rather rapid rise to indie-stardom, and what an extraordinary feeling love is.

Q: How would you describe your music for those who haven’t heard it before?

A: Folk and rock influenced, kinda goofy, as of yet untrained vocalist, quiet acoustic recordings and full rock band live show!

Q: You have an insane catalogue of music on your “Ingrid Superstar” Bandcamp page. Most of it would be categorized as “lo-fi”, but how do you go about recording it? What gear do you use?

A: I usually have just used my computer microphone. Some of it has been on a 4-track. I don't really know a lot about production, so just whatever works to get the idea down!

Q: “Zentropy” is your first studio album. Where did you record it and what was the process like for you?

A: We recorded it in Binghamton, NY at Hunter Davidsohn's studio, the Business District. Aaron and I went in and did all the drums and guitar tracks together, and then worked together adding bass and keyboard and vocals. We did the whole thing in a pretty short period of time, and worked really hard on it. For me it was a really eye-opening experience in terms of recording and how intense it can be, and how great it can sound! It changed the whole way I viewed making my music, because until then it was just like a fun little project. Recording in the studio with Hunter and using real equipment made me want to get really particular about everything, and it turned out exactly how we all wanted it to.

Q: On “Zentropy” you sing “I wanna go dancing in the public eye.” Recently you have been featured everywhere from Pitchfork to Rolling Stone. How does it feel to be dancing in the public eye?

A: It's insane for me. I'm just really happy that I get to make music and have people hear it. I never saw that happening for this project. But I'd also like to say that Dancing in the Public Eye is not about that! It's about wanting to show off the person you love (and yourself) in public and be brave. It's kind of a joke but kind of true.

Q: What has been the most memorable show you have played?

A: Probably my first show ever with this project (in October 2011), which Aaron booked a couple months before we started dating. I got to play with 3 of my favorite bands (Aaron Maine, Old Table, and Jesse Carsten) and it was in this weird cafe in Westchester. I didn't know that I needed to bring a set list or a guitar because I had never played a show before. It was really funny and embarrassing, but I think I actually played pretty well (though I played like 5 songs and spent the rest of the set saying "hmmmm, what should I play? what should I play?" into the mic).

Q: How do you go about writing songs?

A: It's different every time (and my process changes every day) but I often start with my notebook filled with lyrics/stories and my phone/computer filled with melody ideas.

Q: Many of the songs you have, especially on your home-recorded albums, seem extremely autobiographical and like they are snapshots from your daily life. In your songs how much is truth and how much is fiction?

A: It's hard to say. A lot of the songs are half and half. Often I write about something from a different time in my life, or about something that didn't happen to me but happened to a friend or a stranger. Sometimes I write about something I am feeling at that very moment (although those feelings are really intense and I've found that it's easier to sort through the feelings first). Sometimes it's totally fiction, or a poem.

Q: Again, lots of your songs seem very personal, do you think they serve as a sort of diary or release for you?

A: Sometimes they do, but that's what my journal is for. The songs come after the diary, they are the feelings that are realized!

Q: What seems to provide the most songwriting inspiration for you?

A: People!

Q: NYC is your home, and it seems as though it has had a huge impact on your life. What about NYC has provided you with so much inspiration and material to work with?

A: I think it's provided me with as much inspiration as anyone else's hometown can provide them with. It's where my home and family is, and where my friends come home to.

Q: Who are some of your favorite bands that you have gotten to play with?

A: I love playing a show where I've never heard of the band before, and then they surprise me and are totally amazing, and then we form a lasting friendship. Basically the band Krill.

Q: If you could collaborate on an album with anybody, who would it be?

A: I feel really lucky to get to collaborate with the musicians I'm already working with! PORCHES. and Frankie Cosmos bands are both filled with really talented people, and so is Hunter who recorded our albums. Other people I would want to make an album with (in the dream realm) would be Arthur Russell or Joanna Newsom!

Q: What has life “on the road” been like for you? Have you had to make any hard adjustments? Is there anything surprising about this kind of lifestyle?

A: Definitely the hardest part is finding ways to eat healthily when you are mostly stopping for food at rest stops or gas stations...I'm still working on it but I think I am gonna go into this next tour with a much better idea of how to stay healthy and feel good. I've also gotten much better at sleeping on hard floors in a sleeping bag.

Q: What is your favorite feeling in the world?

A: Duh, LOVE!! It's the best! Just having overwhelming love feelings or looking up to someone a lot.

Q: On your album “affirms glinting” you sing:

“the world is pretty big

its cool we fit on it

it makes me wanna grow

so i can go see more”

So with this in mind, where do you see “Frankie Cosmos” in the future?

A: Right now, touring around and seeing more of the world. I'm excited to go on a full AMERICA tour in the fall, with both Frankie Cosmos & PORCHES.! We're gonna be on the road together for about 6 weeks. We all really want to see more of the world. I'm hoping for some sick tours of other countries too.

KC Green is the creator of the web comic Gunshow. He is also a writer for the Regular Show comic book line. Recently he and Anthony Clark of Nedroid fame started a collaborative web comic, BACK, which is updated every Wednesday. In this interview he talks about making comics, loving Kelsey Grammer, and regretting Dickbutt.

Q: First of all, for those that have never seen a KC Green comic, how would you describe your style?

A: It's hard for me to describe my own style. I wouldn't honestly know where to start. If anyone asks me about my comic at shows where I should sell them a book, I just tell them to go online and buy a book later. I never know if they're gonna dig it or not. "Weird," I guess is a good catch-all. So, go and read some gunshow and let me know what you think.

Q: In a previous interview with TopatoCo you stated that your favorite kind of comics you draw are “...the ones that don’t truly have a clear punchline, and maybe read more like a weird poem, or the start of a interesting story.” Would you say that comics for you are just another form of poetry, even if they involve characters like Cummy Mummy?

A: They definitely can be, and those are fun. Those that leave a little more open for the audience to think about afterwards. They're like short stories. People think gag-a-day and expect a punchline that will make em laugh or not at the end and I don't really do that all the time. The comic itself is the funny thing I am showing you. The story that is going on is weird and exciting, maybe. The best tool sometimes is the imagination of the audience.

Q: You are somebody who has had no formal art training. What would you say is your best piece (or pieces) of advice for aspiring artists who want to make a living out of art, especially if they have no prior formal training?

A: It's okay to copy, but don't steal and say it's yours. Copying artists and art I liked is how I grew as an artist and cartoonist. I would mix in little things I liked about certain artists and continue to grow and grow. I still do! i always find people who got an amazing style and just look at it and copy little details in my sketchbook and continue to work on my own. A formal art training isn't the worst thing, but I was more into doing it myself and learning from there. I learned things that I could do WITH my art (like printing shirts, making a mini comic or book, etc) but I was never really into the few art classes I took in college.

Q: How have events in your own life affected the tone of the comics you put out? Do your comics serve as a “release” for things going on in your day to day life? I feel as though a lot of times your comics tap into things we all struggle with, but in a way that makes them easier to digest while laughing (like in one of my all-time favorite pieces by you).

A: Yes, they definitely do serve a release. It's a good stress reliever at times or just an interesting way to work out your own feelings on something. There's nothing wrong with being yourself in your work, I've come to learn over the last handful of years. That's more real to people than trying to paint yourself with a strawman argument and pushing an opinion. Not that I don't sometimes fall prey to that either, but I try not to. And that's okay to try. It's okay to fuck up.

Q: How has it been being involved as a writer for the “Regular Show” comics?

A: It's been good practice in learning to just be a writer and trusting the artist to do their job well. I usually would rather keep things in control, but in this case, I couldn't! I wasn't familiar with Allison's (the artist) work and didn't know how it would hold over, if I explained things okay in the script, or what. But the first pencils I saw from her, I realized things would be okay. I realized that I sort of had to let go at one point and trust the other person. This has helped when I started up BACK with Anthony Clark. I knew Anthony's work better, but still didn't know how it would come out. I was giddy when I saw the finished pages from him. So overall, it's been good! It's helped me grow more as a writer which I am very happy about.

Q: You have said before that with “The Regular Show” initially you had been “...asked to do a storyboard test for the show before it became a real show on Cartoon Network” but that “It did not pan out for whatever reason…” Would being a storyboard writer for a cartoon be something you would consider doing in the future?

A: The reason it didn't pan out is because I didn't get the job! Also probably cus I didn't live in LA, where most of that is. Anyway, I've tested for other shows and the story boarding process always seemed kind of boring to me. It's way not the same as comics. I've considered maybe moving out the LA and doing it a bunch, but I straight up just like comics. Let someone else do the boarding stuff. LA's too expensive.

Q: What is your dream job?

A: This. This is. Doing what I am doing right now is good. Not dreamy, but it's pretty okay!! Pretty really okay!!

Q: How has the almighty “Frasier” impacted the course of your life?

A: It's impacted my life by making me fall in love with Kelsey Grammer and buying his 7-CD autobiography (read by the author).

Q: Are there any examples of comics that you write that you think aren’t so great when you put them out, but then the internet loves? Also vice versa, are there any comics you have created that you loved, but didn’t make much of a splash when you shared them?

A: Constantly. In every cartoonists' career, this will always be a constant. You can ask any person and they will have a story for you about this very thing. It always happens because you can't guess these things. You can spend thousands of hours on something you crafted so perfectly in your mind, and someone will not get it, not like it, not care. You piss out a quick thing for fun and it's a meme now. Sometimes it's not the case, but more often than not it is. I learned this with dickbutt, the question hound on fire "this is fine" comic, and a handful more. It's helped me realize you can't control what people like, so you just... do what you can the best you can and let it go. I usually work pretty quick anyway, so it's never a big problem for me. 

Q: On that topic, how does it feel to be known as the man who created Dickbutt?

A: I waffle between not caring and being annoyed! It's gotten bigger again in recent years and it's borderline annoying now! People have taken it and made it their own! Fine! I don't care! Please just make your dumb t shirt and leave me alone! If you are not even gonna bother buying a book or reading my newer stuff, then I just can't bring myself to care about a 7 year old drawing you worked into an animated gif. I'm bored and annoyed by it! That's all there is to it for me.

Q: You recently launched a new webcomic called BACK, which you are co-creating with Anthony Clark of Nedroid fame. What is your best description of BACK and why should people go check it out immediately (which they should anyways)? 

A: BACK is a western fantasy about the end of the world. It's not an apocalyptic take on our world, it is just about the end of the world our characters live in. The gunslinger, Abigail, is a part of this. It's hard to say much, cus we only started a month ago and it's been a bit of a slow burn showing you the story. I don't want to give away too much before the story let's itself tell you. You should read it tho, cus Anthony's art is amazing and I'm doing a good job writing it too.

Q: How has it been working collaboratively with Anthony on the project? 

A: It's been good. I said I learned more to trust collaborators on projects when I did Regular Show, and this was no exception. Seeing what Anthony comes up with always puts a big smile on my face and I laugh and scream with joy to myself. And drawing with him is always fun too. Again, it's still very early in it's life as a comic, but we're gonna work on it to make it good.

Q: What does the future look like for you? Any big projects on the horizon?

A: Nothing too big I can think of. Just keeping on with Gunshow and Back. I want to do more animated comics like I've done before on my youtube channel. It's hard doing voices for things like that cus I'm not a talented voice actor, but I still like the process and execution of an animated comic so much that I want to try. And that's all we can do, is try and get better at it.