Temporex (Nov. 2018)
Of the many up and coming, transcendentally emotional artists making their paths in music in the last months, Temporex stands individual among the rest. He doesn’t comply to an over used aesthetic, he doesn’t sing the way everyone else does, his instrumental choices are a complete divergence from the norm; and simply, it all culminates to create an artist more unique than any other.
Temporex is truly himself, you can tell with every drawing, song and clothing choice that he finds no worry in allowing his internal self come forth in its most uncompromising way. Through this, he’s building a fan base of like minded individuals who’s core hope is to accept each other, regardless of flaws and oddities societies deems unloveable or alien.
If at all you are longing to find confidence and understanding of yourself, then Temporex is for you. And truly, I don’t know too many people without this hope. I don’t know too many people who wouldn’t find comfort in his words and sounds, and more so, the environment of positivity and acceptance he cultivates with every piece of work.
Our first question as always, how’s your day going and how are you?
My day is going pretty good, I just played that Young Love show last night and it was really fun. The crowd really liked me I think and they all had good energy. It was really nice. I stole a bunch of lollipops from this box of candy in the green room area so that’s gonna be pretty cool for the flight back home hahaha.
To begin, you’ve been recently playing a lot of interesting concerts with very talented people between Tropicalla, Blurry Vision and your upcoming Young Love concert. It all just leads to the question of what you enjoy most about the live experience and what you find it does that other mediums cannot?
Well, basically I just practice all these terrible dance moves that I’ll do on stage usually the night before the show in front of a mirror in my room, and people seem to like them. So the movement part of everything is probably the highlight of it, along with the audience’s reaction to my occasional improv and jokes I’ll lace into my performance. Things like that are what makes the experience special for me personally. But obviously, without the audience’s encouragement it wouldn’t be so fun… so in a sense, my performance can only be great if the audience is great!
What were some of the biggest difficulties in transferring a digital sound with vocal shifts and rapidly changing synths into a live environment, and how have you found your live sound to have changed over time?
It would be a lot harder if I had a band I think, but since 70% of the backing tracks I use on stage are from the original Care files they all sound pretty much exactly like they do on Spotify or Apple Music. That really isn’t the challenging part of performing. Being solo on stage and bringing great energy to the room is a skill I think only a few solo acts have. I definitely think I’m improving but I’ve really not mastered it yet. Not as many people know the lyrics to my songs yet, but hopefully, that’ll change with the stuff I’m working on now…
Now it is a hard question, but what is your personal favourite concert you’ve ever attended? What was it that meant a lot to you about the experience?
I don’t really know man, honestly, the one that sticks out is this one time at Blurry Vision when I was able to stand side stage for Brockhampton. I don’t know any of the members I just asked one of the security guards and he said it was cool. I’ve never had an experience like that before. Watching them all walk on stage was fascinating. They all walked past me on their way on stage and I was kinda just in awe… they probably thought I was weird as fuck but whatever man. I’m sure they’ve experienced the same feeling before. They all had that energy. It’s hard to describe, but I’m sure people will know what I mean. I had the same feeling when I saw Wyatt from The Garden walk by me at another show. I don’t know how to put it in words they just had this energy to their appearance.
Do you believe aliens exist? If so, what do you think they look like?
I’m gonna go ahead and quote Lil B here and say. Aliens are real, and bugs are them. If you look at a fuckin bug that looks nothing like anything else in nature other than a bug. If a flea was the size of a horse, life would not be the same. Same things with some sea animals. Crabs are crazy. Lobsters are immortal and shit like that. Scary stuff. As far as life outside of this planet, for sure there’s other stuff out there.
Now, you’ve mentioned before that you found your early inspirations in guys like Tyler the Creator and whatnot, but looking to the present day, who would you say are the artists inspiring and challenging you currently in your music?
I’ve been obsessed with the work of Brian Wilson. Primarily Pet Sounds, Smile Sessions, and Smiley Smile which are all by The Beach Boys but written by Brian. I never thought I would like music that was considered “rock” before but I am so in love with his music and the impact he’s had on everything. I got into The Beatles more once I heard Pet Sounds and the influence it had on Paul McCartney. I really hadn’t even liked The Beatles until I heard Strawberry Fields last September for the first time with fresh unbiased ears. My girlfriend would tell me all the time that I should explore their music along with other people within their realm. But I’d heard so much about The Beatles growing up that it made me annoyed with their name, but damn bro. They got some good shit. They’re about to blow up for real.
How would you say your vision as a musician has changed since you began making music?
I’m doing my best to drive myself as far away from my old sound as possible. I found myself writing songs just to write them and they began to feel so insincere. In order for me to be happy I need to grow, and I hope my audience can understand that and grow with me. I don’t think I’ve necessarily changed, I don’t think my tastes have changed either. I just love variety and different sounds. I have such a picky taste now with music that the new stuff that’s coming out isn’t pleasing me so I’m looking back in time and finding a new appreciation for the people who did stuff in their era that was different for that time frame and blew people’s minds in hopes that I can do the same one day. I’m not there yet though.
And not to linger on the past too long, but after Nice Boys really took off, did you ever feel an anxiety to follow it up, and now that you have proven you have so much to offer beyond that one song, how do you look back upon those fears and how they shaped your early career?
Something interesting that I think Kevin Abstract said on Twitter was that his biggest competitor is his past self. I feel the same way. Things tend to change when an artist gains a lot of followers, at least it did for me. It took me a period of time to relax and live for my own approval rather than others. And that’s still a big thing I deal with to this day, but hopefully, I’m getting better. I’ve always said that there won’t be a Nice Boys 2 or a Care 2 because if I had to do that I would be very sad. I’m so thankful that that song touched that many people, whether it was sonically or lyrically. It’s something I didn’t imagine happening especially with that song. I wrote Around You thinking like wow people are gonna love this one. It’s funny how things like that work. But crazy things happen, often when you don’t know what you’re doing which is even funnier. I have no idea to this day why so many people like that song, but maybe someone will make a video essay on it one day and I’ll find out. But for now, I’ll keep making what makes me happy and hopefully, it does the same for others too.
What other changes and improvements do you feel you’ve been making as a musician and what ideas are you excited to explore in the near future?
I want to collaborate with people who are masters at their instruments. I know exactly what I want to make but sometimes there’s a guitar in my head that I would love to record myself but I know nothing about guitar. I’d like to be able to walk up to a guitarist and be like, alright this is what I want - “doo-wop da doooo WOP” and have them execute whatever I just hummed out perfectly. I want more musical freedom because I feel like my own skill set as of right now doesn’t suit what my brain wants to make. My fingers can’t really do what my brain wants them to do quite yet with any instrument which is so frustrating.
If you could take one movie, remove all the music, and make your own for it; which would it be and why?
That’s difficult for me because I rarely watch any movies. I love cartoons though. But I think I’d really like to do the music for a Pee-Wee Herman movie. I’d wanna do something weird and silly with a bunch of cheesy midi sounds. I really wanna do music for a kids show, I think I’d be able to make it extra interesting somehow with what I’d make.
Also, you released a fantastic animated short for the song Georgie recently, where did the inspiration for this sort of project come from and is it a medium you hope to keep exploring considering your strong artistic aesthetic?
I started the animation in September of 2017 and finally “finished” this year. If I wanted to finish it, it would have taken another year or so. I started it because I hadn’t seen the half animation half slideshow style music video for any recent songs, so I decided I’d try to do it. I’ve scrapped a lot of animations similar to that one for multiple songs, about 3 others. I knew I’d scrap this one too if I didn’t just release it as is. So I decided it was done and let go finally. For future videos, I’m gonna try to have them be live action with me as the star. I’ve never done anything like that or really really shown my face. My “brand” revolves more around my music and the art style that surrounds it. Technically I’d assume only 16,000 people know what I actually look like. So it would be interesting if that actually works out.
And to wrap up, what’s one book you would recommend to people reading this interview? (if you don’t read books, an album or movie is cool too!)
Hmmm… the only things I read are like lyrics and interviews. I admire anyone who reads though, I just don’t have the attention span for it. A good discography to sift through is The Beach Boys. Listen to Pet Sounds, Smiley Smile, and The Smile Sessions. People who listen to me might not think to branch out in that direction so it would be cool to see that group go more in that direction with their taste. You might find something you like. A song that sticks out to me by them is Little Pad. Such a sweet tune.
Do you have a message for the youth out there or anyone to shout out? The floor is yours!
Vote, speak up for others who don’t have a voice. There are some bad people out in the world right now, the world needs more good friends so…be a good friend. I would like to give my girlfriend a shoutout because she is very important to me and I love her. Her name is Victoria, she is very talented and has a great eye for things. I just want her to know that she is so appreciated both by me and everyone that knows her. And my friend Xavier, he makes music under the name Xav. He’s helped me out a lot lately and he’s a really great friend.