It was the final and hottest day of Coachella yet. At the peak of the heat in the middle of the afternoon, we took a break from the heat and sat down with Eyedress in an air conditioned trailer for a quick chat. We chatted the intimate songwriting details behind his platinum hit "Jealous", his new album (coming out soon) with HOMESHAKE, and more.
Check it out below:
How are you doing?
I’m fine, how are you?
I’m good. How are you liking Coachella?
It’s great, hot. I like it better at night.
Same here. I understand you’re from the Philippines, how has this influenced your sound?
Because I grew up in America for a bit, I always just followed what was happening in LA. I was always paying attention to all of the music and bands coming out of there. In the Philippines nobody really likes the kind of stuff I make so it’s easy to stand out and just be me.
That’s fantastic. I know you used to make your beats on FL studios, I use that for my podcast. What’s your process like now? Do you still use FL?
I still fuck with FL but I use Ableton. I just bought a bunch of synths so I try to play everything.
What’s your favourite synth right now?
Oberheim Matrix.
Talk to me about your latest track “SMOKE AND MIRRORS” which is an excellent collaboration between so many artists. How did you contribute and what was that collaboration process like? That’s a decent amount of people!
That was one of the first official Eyedress rap songs. I’ve been pretty shy about my rap songs. I usually put them out as LIL DMT usually. For this album, I feel like a lot of my rapper friends are down to be on the record so I was like, “I guess I’ll make some rap shit.”
It was very different and out there and I wasn’t sure how you contributed.
I’m on the second verse.
Amazing - I’ll listen to that back. So ‘Jealous’ has obviously become an iconic song on TikTok and it’s trended multiple times and never seems to get old. It’s definitely a moody track. Talk to me about why you wrote this song?
I was going out with this girl that wasn’t my girlfriend. We weren’t trying to commit but I wanted her to be my girlfriend, but she was seeing other musician guys. I didn’t want to be possessive so I was just like, “I’m gonna make this song because I’m pissed that you’re going to see another guy after you just saw me,” and you know, I’m not controlling, but that song was my only way to vent about how frustrated I was. They didn’t want to have a relationship like that.
What a way to come out of that! It’s one of the biggest songs so that’s cool.
I didn’t make it to shit on her, but all of these platinum plaques!
It wasn’t for that- it was a song that I made so I could be like hey, I care, but you don’t,
Would you say it was at all influenced by Joy Division?
More Sonic Youth, 90s rock. I like Joy Division though, I have some Joy Division inspired songs but not that one.
What are some key pieces of gear you used on the track?
I used a Teisco, which is a Japanese guitar from the 60s, about 500 bucks. I didn’t use anything fancy. I had a 100 dollar mic. It's not what you use, it's how you use it.
Can you tell me about your new single ‘House of Cards’ coming out and what we can expect from that?
That song is about betrayal lyrically but that’s my best keyboard work. I'm not good at playing the keys but when I made those chords I was like, “Finally, even something that’s impressing me!” because i'm very novice at the keyboards.
What’s your live show like for someone who hasn’t seen it before?
Lit. I encourage everyone to mosh but if people are shy it’s all good. I just like to be energetic so people don’t get bored.
Do you have a lot of graphics?
Oh yeah. We have a visual guy doing visuals and some blow up sphinx's and random things to get my vibe, and Egyptian stuff.
Cool. Anything else exciting that’s coming out?
I have an album coming out with Homeshake. We recorded a full album a couple of months ago and we’re working on it. He’s definitely got one song on my next album, it’s called “Break the Law.” It was going to be “Full Time Lover” but “Break the Law” sounds better.
And I’m playing “Break the Law” tonight.
Interview by Gemma Mastroianni.
All photos by Razy Faouri.
Follow Eyedress on Instagram, YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Music. Check out his website.