LS2 Music chat to Syd tha Kyd and Matt Martians – a.k.a The Internet – about touring with Odd Future, recording with cheap equipment and err… their love for furniture design
LS: The Brudenell gig is the fourth show on your European tour. How has it gone so far?
S: So far it’s been pretty good. I can say that this is the best venue we’ve been to so far. Don’t know about the crowd yet, but this is the best venue, for sure. It’s a beautiful venue, beautiful sound in here.
LS: How does touring as The Internet compare to touring with Odd Future?
S: With Odd Future you have Hodgy and Left Brain, and with The Internet you don’t. It’s a lot calmer, there’s a lot less drama involved. Don’t get me wrong, touring with OF was like the most bittersweet experience. Being the only girl, I thought it wasn’t a problem, but eventually it started to get to me. But what got to me the most was that once we released PNL [debut album Purple Naked Ladies], I was still with them and didn’t have enough time to try to tour my album. I had an album out and I wanted to perform it.
LS: Do you look back at the process of making that first album as being something very experimental, or did it feel preordained? Did everything fall into place quickly?
S: It was both. Our sound is very experimental, and in general us working together was an experiment in itself. The first beat we made together ended up on PNL. We were just gonna make beats together, and give them to the rest of the guys in Odd Future. But it ended up sounding so cohesive we had to make it a full project.
LS: What did you learn about each other in that process that you didn’t already know?
S: How much we’re alike. Musically, me and Matt are really different, but we love the same music. When it comes to what we make, we make completely different sounding stuff. Those two blending together was what made it so unique. You can’t just pull that out of the air, you can’t just replicate that. It’s perfect.
LS: How did you approach making the second album?
S: The second album has a lot more to do with the rest of the band. The first album, we were broke. We had a $50 midi keyboard and some speakers that came with Matt’s apartment, and our laptops, and we just used to make beats at his house. We had a $125 microphone, with this little Pro Tools box that Frank Ocean gave us. This time, we definitely have a lot more money. We have a budget more so, and we have a whole band.
M: We have more to work with, more instruments to work with, more programs, more sound, more singers, more artists.
LS: How do you see the relationship between The Internet and your duties to Odd Future? Do you see this as a side project?
S: No. The Internet is not a side project.We were the first release on Odd Future [Records] because management thought that it would look good for Odd Future Records. “Oh, it will show all the world diversity, it will show they’re not all about hype and ‘rape-rap,’ and there’s legit music behind them.”
M: People are stupid, they don’t look past the OF name sometimes. They don’t give things a chance. Everyone likes to discredit things we do because we’re young. That’s just how it is.
LS: Matt, you’re an illustrator, and you’ve designed all of the tour merchandise…
M: That’s really my first love, that’s my first love still. Art is something I can do ’til my sixties and make racks. So yeah, I think it’s a gift. I’m very blessed to be able to do it, to be able to go into certain lanes and get certain jobs that I can always get with that talent.
LS: Syd, do you have any other creative outlets?
S: Unfortunately, I don’t have that many hobbies that don’t include music. Reading, I do enjoy reading.
LS: What are you reading at the moment?
S: I started reading Fifty Shades of Grey…I didn’t know it was about sex! I thought it was about, like, law and order… and I still haven’t gotten to the part where they start fucking or something.
LS: It still seems like Odd Future have risen so far and so fast, and you’re all still really young…
M: That’s the internet, bro. Ain’t no pun intended. I’m 24, I’m the grandfather. Frank [Ocean] is still older than me, but…
S: Frank came in later in the game. Matt has been part of OF since, like, ’06.[Frank]’s more of a big brother. Matt has a more laid-back grandpa swag than Frank.
LS: …so do you have any other aspirations outside of music that you’d like to realise?
M: Build shit.
S: Build furniture. We wanna do furniture design. You have to remember Matt’s an artist, and we love abstract furniture. Not stuff that’s, like, way-out there, like “How do you sit on that?” But, you know, cool-looking modern furniture. We want to be able to make a brand of awesome modern furniture at a reasonable price. You know?
words: James Killin