GUPI - Interview

ETHEREAL.PRESS

Tell us about GUPI.

GUPI

I use gupi as my music/artist alias, and have been for the past 8 years or so. I wanted it to be my epic brostep EDM alias when I was in high school but it just sort of stuck around as my sound changed with time. I've grown quite fond of the name and I don't see myself changing it any time soon.

ETHEREAL.PRESS

Your 2020 release, 'Food House,' is a viral hyper pop release to say the least. Both Mos Thoser & Thos Moser are some of the highest-rated tracks in the genre of hyperpop on Rate Your Music & have accumulated millions of streams.

Can you speak a bit about the story behind the project's release and how it came to be?

GUPI

It’s quite odd for me to hear how prolific you make it sound lol.

I know we have fans, but it was easy to forget we did while in quarantine (without shows and social gatherings being on my agenda). Luckily we’ve been getting to do a few shows here and there again, and seeing the support in person is really inspiring.

Basically, food house started with thos moser. Frax (who grew up in Massachusetts) was my anchor friend when I moved to Boston for school. We didn’t know each other but knew we had some mutuals online. Once we started hanging out we quickly grew close and explored the absurdity of smalltown-massachusetts and the hyper-corporate colonial vibe of Boston (and smoked a lot of weed to cope with it).

We were both familiar with and supported each other's music endeavors, but in the couple of years we knew each other, we never got around to making a song together. One halloween we were hanging out at frax’s place in the garage and had an amount of alcohol I would not have again. We decided we needed to make something because at this point we had known each other too long not to have. I was currently in one of my overproduced-EDM-house-music phases so I pulled up a project I had made earlier in the week with that sound. I did not produce it with vocals in mind, but frax wanted to try it nonetheless. They pretty much just started riffing into the mic and absolutely nailed the first take, which is what we ended up using for the first verse in thos moser.

I was blown away with how much better they had immediately made the song sound, especially in our inebriated state. Frax kept on recording verses and we were almost writing it ‘as a joke’ like “let’s make something just our friends will think is funny” but we also knew it sounded good, and liked how it was almost a sarcastic kind of love letter to the internet music/culture we enjoyed so much (or didn’t sometimes).

Some time had passed, and in the meantime I had got a deal to release my album None with Dog Show Records. Frax and I knew we liked our new song, but didn’t quite know how to release it. I asked frax if I could put it on my album since I knew there would be label promo, they agreed. We made our first music video visiting the Massachusetts horrors I had mentioned, and then release day eventually arrived. The song/video garnered more attention than we ever expected it to, and we were so pleased to find out it clicked with so many people. I’m still very grateful to Dylan for helping us with the release since it helped expose us to people that were already enjoying that kind of music, but might not have found us otherwise. The positive response made us want to make more songs, and thus the food house album had begun.

We started food house pretty much right when quarantine began. Frax decided to stay at my apartment since my roommates had gone back to their home states. The name food house comes from the disgusting amount of delivery we (I) ordered, being college age stoners with minimal kitchen skills. The trash from all the chain restaurants piled up in the kitchen and became the food house, taunting us. We thought it was such a funny sounding name we kept it. We made the album over the course of the next month or two, and afterwards was when frax moved to chicago. It was bittersweet saying goodbye to them because we both didn’t know the next time we’d have a set up like that again. We were around each other all the time, and could make music right away, together, whenever we felt like it. It’s been a lot different to try to make music over the internet, but we know it’s possible. I know it’s only inevitable that we will make music again but I can’t quite say when.

I appreciate how patient all the fans have been.

ETHEREAL.PRESS

Talk to us about the pop culture references/samples on the track 'mos thoser.’

GUPI

Let’s see we’ve got: hot pink bitch named breakfast, crazy frog, king palms, tetris, thembofication, sophie is god, cringe comps, poggers, poppers, frogger, früh, nightcore-beyonce, vineyard vines, maroon 5, dog show, and can gupi turn the snare up.

I’d say frax was just singing mostly about stuff we liked/thought was funny. It was a daunting task to follow up thos moser but I think they did so very well, I’m always amazed by frax’s way with words they truly do it like no one else.

ETHEREAL.PRESS

Do you think Hyperpop is the future of pop?

GUPI

I want to say this without seeming rude but no lol.

I think it currently is pop, along with many other genres. You can absolutely hear hyperpop influence in modern pop music, but I don’t think hyperpop will replace pop. It seems that the music that is considered to be pop music from one era will have a different genre/sound than pop music from another era. Our idea of what pop music is is always changing, and varies all around the globe. And to add to the confusion, our idea of what hyperpop is is always changing as well. You have anything from 200bpm happy hardcore to soundcloud emo rap. It almost feels like the genre is “that kooky music those internet kids make” rather than the sound of the music being what defines the genre. Musical genres are a super nuanced topic that I can barely wrap my head around sometimes, and I think it does me best as a musician to not stress out about them too much. I understand how genres serve the listener (myself, also being a listener), but I think when genres are taken too literally/seriously it can lead to pigeonholing and stagnant creativity.

ETHEREAL.PRESS

Recently, what sounds have inspired you in the mainstream & underground?

GUPI

Lately I’ve been listening to breakbeats, rave music, baile funk, nightcore, and other fun computer music. My partner is a big rave music fan and plays me a bunch of 909 Worldwide compilations among other things. Casper Mcfadden, Yesterdayneverhappened, Ruby My Dear, Aphex Twin, The Prodigy, Goldie, Golden Boy, Padlock, and many others. I’m also inspired by my Boston friends Replicator, Ruby Bell, and DJ Re:Code who all make their own incredible pop music.

ETHEREAL.PRESS

Talk to us a bit about the track 'foreverial.'

GUPI

Foreverial is the third single for my next album I’m hoping to release soon. The album is entirely instrumental, so I get to take some creative liberties with the song names. The word “foreverial” comes from the art piece “Foreverial Tiedup Jake” by Deviantart user Rafe15, involving the character Jake the mouse from Rescuers Down Under.

ETHEREAL.PRESS

How has your sound evolved since the release of your most recent full-length project, 'you're it'?

GUPI

I think I’m having a lot more fun writing music lately.

I liked how you’re it turned out, but a lot of the songs on there had become so old that I grew very tired of working on them. I was trying to master it myself too and I think I just kept over analyzing things and barley knew what I was making by the end of it. I think I was also trying to make music that people would immediately recognize as gupi. With this next project it’s been liberating to just make some songs that I think sound cool and that I had fun with. A lot of strange sounds going very fast all at once, very “IDM” noisy rave tunes.

ETHEREAL.PRESS

What would you like to accomplish as a musician?

GUPI

My main goal as a musician is to inspire other people to not be afraid to create.

I think the best feeling I can get as a musician is knowing when I’ve inspired someone else to make something. It’s so touching to see when art I’ve made inspires other people to create even more art. I taught my own online ableton lessons for a period of time and it was a very fulfilling experience. I met so many great people with a similar yearning to create, and helping them build the confidence to do it really gave me a sense of purpose. I had to take a break from it but I hope to be able to teach computer-music to people again in the future.

ETHEREAL.PRESS

Can you speak a bit about some of your favourite collaborators to work with?

GUPI

I love to make wild sounding beats with Folie, when we first started working together I would insist that our group name be “shitt asss” lol (she was not a fan, I get it).

I love working with Frax of course, I always feel like it’s real easy for us to just pump bangers out when we’re together. I’ve made some amazing songs with Ruby Bell that are yet to be released, but they are some of the best pop songs I’ve helped make. Also yet to be released, but I love some of the things I’ve done with That Kid. I have a friend from where I grew up who goes by Jenova and I love making music with him too, we bounce off each other really well. It’s always been hard for me to find people I work well with so I’m always pleased when I do. Most of the time it’s more of a me issue than a them issue.

ETHEREAL.PRESS

What's next for Gupi?

GUPI

Who can say! I’m just going to keep releasing music and find out. Eventually, I’m hoping I can start a label with some people I trust and have it not be bad, but I don’t feel comfortable putting together something like that at this point in time.

For now I want to focus on releasing music, making music with friends, and doing more shows. And maybe getting more into trading card games as I do it.

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