FIDLAR seemed from the outside to be kind of indefinitely gone for a while. But according to Zach Carper, “It didn’t feel like it was gone, it just felt like it was not here.” Which, in FIDLAR fashion, is humbly profound in its simplicity.
FIDLAR is a live band — they exist to play for people. Making records or writing songs for a future where live shows weren’t guaranteed was weird. So when shows opened up again it started to feel more like FIDLAR o’clock. “Definitely the wild west out here for rock bands. [FIDLAR] is starting over which is kind of nice – let’s just have fun,” Zach says, with Brandon Schwartzel adding, “It’s weird re-entering the world.”
“It’s weird when you take that long of a break, you’re like do people still give a shit?” Max Kuehn clarified. Max, also, had remembered that we spoke over email in 2020 about his solo record (also very good!), which was really nice since I’ve loved FIDLAR a lot for a very long time. I definitely still gave a shit, and being at the show, it was incredibly evident that there were tons like me, who’d been waiting for new stuff since the divisive Almost Free. The crowd almost didn’t know how to behave; the pit was lawless in a way that made me feel like everyone there was equally eager for the set to happen to them.
When asked if it felt like people still gave a shit, all three of them said “YEAH.” Brandon adding, “Being able to come back and kids were there, we’re like, we did something right.”
Over their break, they rewatched the Sopranos. Mushrooms became cool — “I was micro-dosing, but I realized I was just high the whole time — I was just dosing,” Zach tosses out. They worked on other projects and went on long walks. But for Zach especially, this is what he knows how to do. The brand of songwriting that’s so distinctly FIDLAR doesn’t have frills. It’s every element at face value, from the lyrics to the riffs to the intention of the band. It makes sense and you just don’t have to think too hard about it. “The three of us – getting together is at the center of the band. A lot of it is the compromise,” says Brandon of what makes FIDLAR, FIDLAR. Zach adding, “The limitations are really where it’s at for us. We don’t know how to shred or do certain things as producers – our word selections are very basic, so learning how to work within those parameters is actually very fun and limiting, but it’s like limiting because we purposely do that you know what I’m saying?”
Zach’s lyricism is self-described as basic. He laughed through a story about delivering pizzas when they started – his car’s radio was stuck to the pop country station: “I was like ‘oh I’ll just rip off pop county,'” but tacking on, “weirdly enough it’s hard to make things sound simple.”
That simplicity is what makes it so easy to click with. Sometimes you don’t want to think too hard, or to work through things, or you do want to but don’t know how. Sometimes you just want someone else to write it all down, articulate it in an unintentionally poignant, base way, and yell it all out for you and at you over a very sunny, upbeat sound.
Starting as an LA band, they’re all now seeing their sound as a broader feeling. Not just LA surf or skate, but simply sunshiney. It’s coastal. “You find the same type of kids at every show, every place we play in the world, it’s like oh, these people are everywhere, not just in LA”
“There’s fucked up kids everywhere,” adds Zach. “You find the scene — or the scene finds you or whatever.”
Pushing them to find an explanation for why these fucked up kids connect with their music and find catharsis in it, Zach explained, “I think it’s human nature to figure out why it works, but I kinda gave up trying to figure it out and like, I’m just gonna do it. Because, yeah I don’t know why people like it. I mean, my fucking English is all over the place – I sometimes put the noun after the verb, and it’s like — [Max and Brandon] make fun of me all the time the way I fucking say shit. I put an “s” after the end of shit – it’s fucked up but I don’t know why — a big common thing with the lyrics is the happy/sad. I’ve always been a fan of happy/sad. I love happy-sounding stuff with sad lyrics. I think we all do.”
“Maybe it’s a subconscious catharsis,” Brandon adds.
“I think that the main goal is to make people feel good. When they feel good, then I’ll feel good,” Zach explains, with Brandon jokingly correcting him slightly, “Well, feel good about feeling bad. Feel good about being sad.”
It’s funny to hear what your favorite bands are listening to while they’re making your favorite music. Zach has been listening to “NSDR — yoga nidra — non-sleep deep rest. It’s basically a nap — it’s a power nap, a meditation thing. I put this on and I feel energized.”
And when asked what they though of the future of music, this ensued:
Zach: The future is music is funny. Everybody claims that they’ve figured out the future of music but it’s all just music. It’s all just frequencies together like I – when hyper-pop popped off everyone was like ‘This is the new punk,’ and I’m like I don’t know, its just another fucking form.
I think now we’re in this total era of everything is everything. I’ve heard record label industry people say nu metal’s coming back I’m like, yo I think nu metal’s already here? I think cause everything is connected right now it’s just that everyone can figure out what they like, you know what I’m saying? So…
Brandon: There is no future it’s just all now.
Z: I think eventually what I think the future of music is gonna be, honestly, is gonna be a form of binaural beats, the sleeping shit. Dude, yo, ten years from now I will bet you guys each a hundred dollars – I guarantee you, they’re gonna figure out a way for frequencies to be like yo this is what you have to listen to, to feel happy for ten minutes and you listen to it for ten minutes and you feel better. I think that’s gonna be the future of music. They’re gonna figure out how to incorporate it.
Max: Josie and the Pussy Cats, dude
Z: Is that – that was the theme of the movie wasn’t it?
And we all agreed that Josie and the Pussy Cats was the future of music.
