After they had a few problems with the scheduled interview, Phil and Marc managed to find MC Lars at the merch table of his gig in Liverpool, being the super cool guy that he is, he offered to do an interview after his set (which you can read about here). We went upstairs with Lars at the Barfly, where, after we all enjoyed a nice banana, we started chatting.
Phil – Brilliant gig tonight Lars
Lars – Glad you liked it.
P – So this was your last UK gig, are you going to miss the UK?
L – I will, I’ve got lots of great friends here, I love the bands here, I love the venues, and the weather’s been really nice. I love it, yeah. It was a great tour. I was with the Aquabats for some dates …
P – I really wanted to see that.
Marc – Yeah, we were gonna go down.
L – I’ll try do some more shows with them, they’re great
P – You should do. You’ve got your new album ‘This Gigantic Robot Kills’ out in the UK soon …
L – I think it’s out in a week here. It’s out on Crappy Records, which is Jared from Bowling For Soup’s label, my own label, Horris Records paid for all the initial production and they helped me put it out. They are a great label, they’ve just signed a band called The Leftovers, and they may put out BFS stuff down the line. But yeah, my album, it turned out well, it’s got a million guests on it, and it’s 14 songs of joy, and one song about my friend who killed himself ..
P – So the world tour’s going well. You’re carrying on after the UK, you’re giong to Australia …
L – Yeah, I’m doing a week of shows in the US, I’m doing a show with Nas, and a show with Ludacris and doing some club shows, then I fly out to Australia for two weeks and I’ll probably be back in the UK after that.
M – How do the more recognised rappers like Nas, and Ludcacris, feel about your brand of Post-punk-laptop-rap?
L – That’s a good question. I think the heart of what I do is very hip-hop because hip-hop is about being true, recognising the elements of hip-hop, recognising the history of it, being yourself, being DIY and independent. Because, punk and hip-hop at the core are the same thing. I think if they listen to it, they’d get it. If they see the show they’ll be like ‘this is ridiculous’ but if they listen to the lyrics and they hang out with me, then it’s cool.
M – They don’t just think ‘oh, white boy rapping’ then?
L – No, because the racial barriers in hip-hop have really been taken away since Eminem. It’s a matter of how you sound, and is it honest and is it real. The hip-hop community get it. Nerdcore, though, is seen as a joke by most people.
P – You’ve got a lot of the big Nerdcore names on your new record, Frontalot, YT Cracker, K Flay Jesse Dangerously etc. do you think nerdcore will ever be more accepted into mainstream hip-hop or will remain an obscure sub genre?
L – By nature of it’s aesthetic it will always be novelty. It’s the joke isn’t it? ‘We’re computer nerds, we wear glasses, and rap’. But the real good rappers see themselves as crossover acts. Frontalot gets props from mainstream hip-hop.
P – But all the big guys have gone past their second records now, so for a novelty genre you’re all moving on, cos you’ve had some longevity and have moved away from the “Nerd” core of Nerdcore.
L – I don’t like being labelled as nerd core, I kinda hate nerdcore. I mean as a genre, it’s embarrassing, cos there’s so many people who are so whack and suck. There’s like Frontalot, YT, Chris and Jesse the only guys I really respect. They transcend it.
P – Yeah, and they don’t really rap about sitting at home in front of their computers so much any more
L – Well, no one wants to hear that
M – It’s cos their not doing that any more
L – Yeah, they’re banging chicks, dude!
P – They all started on the Internet, as did you, do you think of the Internet as the best way to get out there these days ?
L – With me, I started doing music before I used the Internet as a tool. I was making hip-hop and punk songs in high school, Then I went to Oxford for school in 2003, with oversea programme, this was before Myspace or anything. Instead, I’d send promoters in the area mp3s and CDs and meet them at shows and beg these punk bands and indie bands to let me open for them, and this label, Truck Records, signed me. So for me, I used the Internet as a tool to meet people, then to put on a show that was awesome. It’s kids who are on myspace 24/7 who are adding friends, not really working on their music or getting out and playing, are the ones who are using it wrong.
You need the Internet as a tool to meet people to get your awesome music in front of. You can’t exploit the Internet, cos that will end up exploiting you, the Internet is great, and you don’t need labels, but you need to have great material. Independent hip-hop thrives on the Internet, so many great people have made a name for themselves.
The function of labels is they’re like a bank, that if you’re lucky, you don’t have to pay the money back they advance to make your record.
P – With Fall Out Boy, they got big on Myspace adding friends, a label came up and said ‘We’ll promote you now’. Do you think that’s kind of the labels saying “You still need us to be famous…”
L – If you wanna be playing arenas you still need a major label. If you don’t wanna be just a pop thing then you don’t need that now. You can’t really play arenas on your own, you could sell out thousand capacity places, but to sell 20,000, you can’t really do that with just the Internet.
P – So, what so you think is your most well known song?
L – Definitely in Australia, it’s ‘Download This Song’, here in the UK I would think maybe ‘iGeneration’. But ‘Download This Song’ is one people recognise.
P – Do you still believe in the message in that?
L – 100%. I remember hearing how many people had stole my record, and I was like, ‘Yeah!’, This tour’s been almost sold out, and it’s been awesome because people stole my album. I don’t care, they bought shirts, we sold out off them, they bought tickets. If you go to my site Mclars.com you can get all my stuff for free, I host it and share that with everyone. Not the new record yet though.
M – So you prefer people to come to gigs, instead of buy the CD and stay at home.
L – Totally. A lot of people want the CD as a memento though, cos I’ll sign it and draw a little cartoon or something.
P – Talking of downloading music, in the news at the moment is the Pirate Bay trial, they just got found guilty of assisting copy write theft and face a year in prison
L – Yeah, its a shame, but they kind of set themselves up as if they were the face of piracy, it was like a witch hunt. I guess they’re appealing and if they don’t win their appeal they’ll be in jail for a year. I hope they win though.
P – You’ve done a video for your song “Guitar Hero Hero”, which talks about how playing the game isn’t the same as playing guitar, do you really not play guitar hero?
L – No, i mean yeah I’ve tried it, but I’m not a gamer you know, I did as a kid, Nintendo and game boy, but I’ve moved past it. That’s one of the things that sets me apart form nerdcore. I’d rather do something than just get points on a screen. No disrespect to people who play games, but I’d rather be making beats and making rhymes. Instead of sitting alone playing a video game you could be doing doing something real, kids should create instead of consume.
Find out more about MC Lars on his website http://www.mclars.com , where as mentioned you can find free downloads of his earlier material, his new album “This Gigantic Robot Kills” is out now in the shops and digitally, so check it out.
