Bay Area champion of post punk laptop rap MC Lars is about to drop his latest album The Zombie Dinosaur LP on October 6, 2015 via Horris Records, and spent the summer performing his latest single titled ‘Dragon Blood.’ Based on his favorite television showGame of Thrones, he talked about his latest video.
“This season got weird…I won’t spoil anything. You know what I like about it? I’m such a literature nerd. I love the Shakespearian stuff. We’re trying to make it metal,” he said.
He spoke about the storyline behind the video, including how he incorporated his favorite character from the series into his theme about good versus evil.
“Her name is Chell Stephen. She’s a friend of the director’s. The whole album is this theme of the underdog surviving, and that’s why I like Game of Thrones. You don’t know who’s going to survive and it’s good versus evil but good doesn’t always triumph. I like the character Daenerys [Targaryen] because she’s always trying to do good. That’s like her tragic flaw.”
“We wanted to do a video about a woman in an office who gets fired and comes back to kick butt. The problem was I was rapping in a female perspective but I didn’t want to dress up as a girl necessarily, so we got this talented woman who’s clenched blonde and looks like her to learn this song. So the concept was revenge and post feminism – the modern feminism, the sexy heroine.”
Despite the strong female character, MC Lars himself took the fall and got beat up towards the end of the video, but got to throw down doing a dance with Stephen’s character at the very end of the video.
“The theme was each level she kicks the butt of each house. I was the symbol for the white corporate oppressor capitalist boss when she punches me in the nuts is like smashing the patriarchy. So it’s like symbolism. It’s maybe very literal but I’m the zombie character. In Game of Thrones, they have these things called the White Walkers, which are like the scariest zombies. So the idea was I wanted to be in the video somehow. I wasn’t going to star in it.”
“Max [Isaacson] & Morgan [Faust] from BroSis are a director team that I’ve known for a while. They’re great. They knocked it out of the park.”
Aside from music videos, MC Lars had an app of his own in develop but potential developers could get in on helping him reach new fans within the mobile world.
“Yeah man. If anyone’s reading and wants to help me develop an app, hit me up. [email protected].”
“When I was in LA, I was working at USC in the computer science department on an app, but it didn’t pass the prototype stage. We had three months to do it. It came out dope. It was like a Guitar Hero where you click on a rhyme. It would have to be good though. I wouldn’t want to put out something that’s bad.”
The oddity subgenre of nerdcore was once again represented at this year’s Vans Warped Tour, as Bay Area native MC Lars has made his way to bring his upbeat style of rhyming that a new breed a fans have grown to appreciate, as he is about to drop his latest album The Zombie Dinosaur LP.
He is excited to be taking part of this tour once again and shows immediately how excited he is to be part of this tour. “This is my third full summer. I always come to see it. Shout out to Kevin Lyman. One of the things is awesome is his nephew Evan is a big supporter. So that helps. Any time I get asked to do it, if I can I’d do it. There’s nothing like it and it’s so crazy. This year’s there’s so many new artists. It’s so weird to be like ‘oh yeah I’ve been doing this since 2011.’ It’s dope.”
On previous Warped Tours, he has collaborated with Weerd Science, the hip hop side project of Coheed and Cambria drummer Josh Eppard. The two of them had collaborated on recordings in the past and he shared his thoughts on his earlier years on the tour with him.
“My man Josh [Eppard] – he’s back in Coheed and Cambria. We’re thinking about doing more stuff together. That was really fun working with him because he’s such a great rapper, a great lyricist and a good guy. He’s crazy but I think all brilliant artists are crazy. Did you hear his Red Light Juliet II? Check it out. It’s great.”
“I think Warped Tour showed the Coheed guys he’d gotten his life back together. This tour’s so hard that if you could do it, it’s symbolic.”
Sticking to subjects ranging from video games and pop culture than the hard streets, MC Lars has lit up crowds over the years with his much talked about style fusing his vast knowledge of pop culture and literature with his laptop style hip hop. He talks about his upcoming album.
“The record is called the Zombie Dinosaur LP and it comes out October 6th. So it’s kind of like the mythical beast, dragons, [and] dinosaurs. The album has a lot of mythological references. I’ve been at this since 2003. I’ve seen the whole world change. I’m still lucky I get to do this. I feel like the Zombie Dinosaurs are like the dragon. I relate to that.”
Creating a style he calls “post-punk laptop rap,” he began in the Northern California pop punk circuit where he started performing his style of music. While his style was not always embraced at first, he found that over time, laptops became an integral part of a live band’s sound, whether they liked it or not.
“Yeah I was early in the laptop game. I opened for the Dead Milkmen back in the day and the fans were like ‘yo! You can’t have a laptop on stage! That’s not punk!’ Now there’s not one band that doesn’t have samples at Warped Tour. It’s a prominent part of the set. It’s kind of weird. I called it post punk laptop rap, which now sounds like an antiquated genre but I still own it. It’s fun.”
Another aspect behind MC Lars is that since his early days, he has released all of his music through his own label Horris Records, aside from distribution help in select overseas territories. While many have been swayed over time by bigger labels to sign, he has done things his way.
“That’s a great question and I really appreciate you asking and saying that. My story’s kind of different. I played in punk and hardcore bands in the 90s. I went to college and studied English and I was able to go to the UK for an Oxford program to study Shakesphere. I’d always done rap to open for my punk band, but I met a bunch of indie and punk bands over there that I became friends with that led to finding a really cool manager and all of these things happening. It all came from being friendly and being like ‘yo I’d like to work with you and the fact that in 2003 or 2004, doing ironic smart nerdy rap was still a novelty. YouTube hadn’t killed off that whole thing. I was able to do it without a label and I was a big proponent of giving my stuff away for free, which I still am. Now everyone does that and with streaming you kind of have to give away your music.”
“I was on the forefront of that being that I uploaded my stuff on torrent sites to get download ratios to get beat programs. I see it having longevity as a DIY artist. It’s a four piece thing – great records, good touring, a piece of mind and your social media. You can’t let your social media take over everything. You need to make that 25% of your time. I kind of had balance. I’ve been lucky but I’ve also worked very hard. I can’t believe that this is my fourth record.”
“I’ve had labels distribute my stuff and get on board and help me spread the word, but I’ve never been signed to a label. I see so many artists who did sign to labels, some did very well but most of them have day jobs now. They didn’t sell that 500,000 they needed to sell, which in this genre of hip hop, punk and post hardcore, that’s a hard number to hit. It’s an adventure. You’ve probably seen a lot of bands on their way up and their way down. Labels can be great but most of the time it doesn’t work.”
As the summer progresses, MC Lars will be staying busy by dropping another single and he is excited by the outcome from being on this tour.
“Later this summer, my song ‘TriForce’ comes out, which is about growing up under the metaphor of Zelda. It’s all footage from my tour with MC Chris last year. Then I have three or four more videos coming out.”
“I’m really excited to have this album finally come out. I’ve been working on this for a year and a half. It’s really good. The ‘Dragon Blood’ song we’re playing this summer. We’re spreading the word.”
“Warped has taught me that being positive and working hard has concrete results. So props to this whole festival – I’m stoked to keep coming back.”
Another year has arrived for the Vans Warped Tour full of anticipation and excitement to hit the summertime across North America. This year’s edition maintains their tradition of youth oriented angst filled music (or whatever the kids call it these days) and carving a path for the next batch of rising stars on the scene. Thanks to photographer Kevin Estrada for shooting these two dates of Warped tour for Ghost Cult!
The main stages (Shark and Unicorn) showcased the main attractions on the tour, ranging from the pop punk acts (The Wonder Years) to the screamo/emo (Pierce The Veil, Blessthefall) to the crossover half melodic and half aggro (We Came As Romans) to the harder sounding (August Burns Red) managed to keep the kids bouncing around in the crowd and rarely laying low.
Tour veterans Motion City Soundtrack made their brief California run appearance, showing the crowd how things are done on this tour. Metro Station (featuring Trace Cyrus, son of country performer Billy Ray Cyrus), melodic punk act Man Overboard, and hardcore outfit Fit For A King all set the pace for the day with their respective sounds while keeping the crowd engaged.
The main acts on these stages won over the crowd throughout the day. Memphis May Fire got the crowd into a high with their half heavy yet melodic styling that struck a nerve with them; Attila, led by their enigmatic frontman Chris “Fronz” Fronzak and his guitar crunching yet Eninem-esque “meth” suit bouncing along with the crowd; Black Veil Brides and their legions of die hard fan base singing along to every word; and Miss May I and their modern metallic sound that got the crowd worked up later on in the day.
While the main stage had their moments going on, there were a number of side stage acts making noise of their own. The Monster Stage housed their own brand of chaos throughout the day, as Senses Fail, Being As An Ocean, Beartooth, Mallory Knox and The Amity Affliction all got the pit crew throwing down alongside each band and rarely letting down. The harder driving acts such as hardcore outfit Hundredth had the pit kids going in effect, while veteran Canadian post hardcore act Silverstein had their mix of longtime fans as well as newbies who both showed their appreciation for the band. Australian metallic hardcore outfit I Killed The Prom Queen appeared to be bass player less, but that didn’t stop them from bringing out their At The Gates meets hardcore stomp to these fans. British metalcore act While She Sleeps briefly were down a singer (ie visa problems kept frontman Lawrence Taylor making a late start on the tour) but friends pitched in to lend a helping hand and fans didn’t even notice. Plus Escape The Fate closed out the evening with their eclectic brand of punk meets screamo meets modern metal that got the late comers their last bit of a sweat.
On the other stages, indie hip hop acts MC Lars gave a lesson in nerdcore with rhymes about video games and Game of Thrones (ie his latest single “Dragon Blood), while Kosha Dillz brought out his East Coast blend of Spanish, English and Hebrew rhymes; and electro-DJ-performance duo mystery men Drama Club put on an interesting performance that combined part Blue Man Group-esque percussive moments with part electronica meets EDM moments and spontaneous bursts of energy that kept the interested crowd on its feet.
The Journeys Stages found Juliette Sims and Night Riots wowing the crowd with their high energy sets, while hotly tipped electro pop outfit PVRIS became one of the much talked about acts on the tour and their set did not disappoint. Hip hop act Riff Raff put on quite the entertaining show on this stage, with his colorful summertime dress and animated raps to get the crowd bouncing along.
New York alternative rockers The Karma Killers stood out amongst the vast number of acts performing on the Ernie Ball Stage, with their fresh take on classic pop-punk, rock, and alternative rock with an energetic stage show. While they are newly signed to Island/Def Jam and new to the scene, they showed that they could one day end up on one of the larger stages in the new future.
The Acoustic Basement easily became an area largely for shade against the sun, but while most of the acts attracted stragglers throughout the day, Canadian singer-songwriter Saywecanfly and Brian Marquis were two of the acts who attracted a decent sized crowd throughout the day. Saywecanfly attracted a packed tent and entertained the audience with his emotion filled lyrics that got his largely female audience awaiting with anticipation.
Overall, this year’s edition featured a good mix of repeat acts moving up to larger stages, as well as a number of fresh faces to the scene. It is a positive sign to see new acts on the rise at a time when the music industry is struggling to attract new acts to the public. Hopefully someone is paying attention to this tour to see that there is a new generation of artists on the rise.
