Living Together
Download: XXYYXX – Living Together
EARMILK: You're 16 years old. What are you doing with your life right now?
Marcel Everett: I'm making music and applying at Starbucks over, over and over again.
EM: And as for school?
ME: I'm going to community college to get my diploma. They have a high school program where you graduate early, so you don't have to deal with stupid kid bullshit. It's really distracting like either getting the fuck out of school, wait, am I allowed to curse? I'm super vulgar.
EM: Perfect!
ME: Good, yeah, I don't know. It's just really hard for me to focus on anything. Most of the time, it's either my friends dealing with drama or someone is trying to involve me and I'm never in it. When I am, I'm ultra pissed. I hate high school but I think everyone does. Ultimately, it's making my life shitty.
EM: How did you get started in making music?
ME: From the very beginning or electronic music? Well when I was 9, I got my first guitar and I tried to cover really old Greenday. I was in a punk phase until I was 12. Then, I joined a couple of bands. I was in a hardcore band and a deathcore band. I did the screaming, lead guitar and shit. It was fun but I left that. When I was 13 or 14, I started with the xxyyxx music. Before, it was called, well, it was a really shitty name through a generator called New York Government. It makes no sense and I didn't know it was going to be an actual thing. Anyway, Jered (Relief in Abstract) decided to start a label. I was actually there when he was like "you know what? I can do this and make it into a real thing. I'm business savvy." . So he did that and said, "you have to release your stuff" and I agreed. Then, I gathered all the tracks I made and named it after a stupid blog I had called xxyyxx.
EM: When you're performing, do you hear the audience scream x-x-y-y-x-x? Tell us about playing live.
ME: There's a weird thing that happens (starts waving hand gestures). They do this and that, all to the beat like the YMCA but cooler. It's exciting and makes me start moving. I actually have stage presence issues. It's nice to perform live but it's generally uncomfortable for me. I'm just a nervous kid because everyone is looking at you, listening to your personal bedroom shit that you made when your felt like you fucked up on something. Showing it to everyone is very personal and awkward but I like it. There is a rush.
EM: What's next now?
ME: We're releasing an album the end of this month (March) with Relief in Abstract. I'm doing physical releases with a small company this summer. We're going to get it on vinyls. The album is self titled because it's more of me coming into sound. If you listened to my music before, it was kind of scattered and way different then what I do now. This is like me actually finding out what my sound is, for the most part. So I have it self titled as this is what xxyyxx is.
EM: Can you throw random words to describe your sound for us?
ME: It's really drug influenced. Emotional bullshit, stupid, trauma, stress, sadness but at the same time, it's like fuck it, drugs, happiness and friends. My happier stuff, the more dance tracks are inspired by actually doing stuff like hanging out with friends. Anything slower is fueled by melancholy and "ah, I feel shit about my music" or "my friends don't like half the shit I do".
EM: Is there a color you can place this?
ME: My newer stuff is really monotone. The earlier stuff could be a hazy orange? Really chill and retro.
EM: The physical release on vinyls is an EP?
ME: Yeah, it'll be on Dandelion Lotus Records. They have one artist on their label right now. I'm actually not sure if I can talk about it but I don't care. It'll be a 5 track EP. Apparently, there are rules to it. 2 remixes and 3 original tracks. I have a track already made for them. Well, I have a lot of stuff made for the future. It's constantly getting better.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCQS5MCpk-o[/youtube]
EM: Your music video for "Tied2U", it has a witch house vibe.
ME: Well, I listen to a lot of witch house. I think the whole song is inspired by a lot of oOoOO. The video starts off with 80s avant-garde VHS tapes and clips, then it goes to weird retarded frat guys smoking weed.
EM: A while ago, you posted on FB about how a girl ran up to ask if you've ever heard of xxyyxx. How did that make you feel and the overall exposure of your music?
ME: It's nice because people know about it. I felt really uncomfortable at that time though. I was embarrassed and said "no, I'm sorry I don't. Whose that? I'll talk to you later" and she was like "I'll talk to you later?". It was so bad. I'm bad with people. I like the recognition though. It makes me feel less uncomfortable playing live and showing other people. Before, I just felt like it was personal to me and I wasn't sure if other people are able to perceive it the same way. And I don't make music for other people so it was effy. To have support and a fan base now, I feel comfortable promoting and releasing, annoyingly on everyone's facebook walls.
"EARMILK is the shit. I've literally been checking out new music on EARMILK before I got my first write up. That's why I freaked out and told my mom but she was like "what the hell is that?". I've always been a fan of EARMILK and to know the people behind the scenes, I like it even more."
