Shlohmo Speaks on Jeremih's Delayed Record, Growing Up and Stoner Metal

Since the creation of WEDIDIT back in 2008, LA-based producer Shlohmo (aka Henry Laufer) has been gradually building a collective beast with his virtuoso mates from the old high school days. From running that "dumb kid shit" as a teen, we fast forward to now, with his second studio album under his belt – the emotionally distorted Dark Red.

He's collaborated with the likes of Jeremih and the Banks, all the while racking up millions of SoundCloud plays in the process thanks to his maverick take on electronic R&B. We spoke with Henry to hear his thoughts on everything from the Def Jam beef to the jacked music industry, stoner metal shits and how this crew of high school friends built an electronic music empire.

THUMP: The WEDIDIT collective was born back when you were in high-school. how'd that come about?
Shlohmo: We were all just hangin' out making shitty beats together, DJing, drawing and doing dumb kid shit. Just all being creative kids, a bunch of us skated and what not. It was just something to call the crew and our group of friends. We had a bunch of names, but that was the one that kinda stuck, that was around when we were 17-18. When we graduated, we were all going to different schools and shit across the country, and it was one of the ways to keep in touch and to share all of our content with each other. Even 7 years ago the internet wasn't what it is today. It was way harder to share data, so we started a blog spot just as a way for all of us to have authorship and upload our own things for each other. Just through Myspace we gained momentum and that was back in 2008 and now here we are.

How would you best describe the sounds coming from yourself and the guys within the WEDIDIT camp?
It's a funny one because it definitely wouldn't just be one thing. It's a pretty fuckin' vast enterprise that we're growing. Everyone's sound is so unique and different, but the thing that relates us is the similar mindsets we have and humour binds us all. For instance, Groundislava's music is very video game orientated. Even as a kid he was collecting like old Atari's and what not, so for him he has a far deeper connection with real old school gaming, and that really comes across in his sound. Then we got RL Grime who legitimately has the best ear for sound and somehow for the sound that he's created people will bite it endlessly just because he's the king of all that shit. Then I feel like my music is totally fucking different too, and it's like not trying to be anything. My music is just kind of all over the place, and I think it always has been. There's been times when I've just concentrated on making beats or even rap beats, and I've been doing that recently in the studio. But I think my albums are much more like me showing a journal/diary entry of my life. This last one was all kinda metal, techno and jungle inspired so I don't even know. We are all so fucking different. I think the only thing that maybe we have in common is that we are like semi-submersive, and that is something that always draws us back together, forever straying from the norm.

Dark Red is intense and seems to go deeper with every track? Did you lose yourself in the creation of this beast, Or potentially find yourself in the process?

I think it was a big fucking cloud of confusion the whole time, and I don't think I'm never certain about what I'm making like that. This one came out all anxious and overwhelming, but still maintaining it's honesty. I take sequencing very seriously so this was like a journey from start to finish; with a shit load of chaos in the middle.

**How do you feel your sound has changed since the *[Shlohmo's previous moniker]* Henry From Outer Space days?**
Oh man, fuck. Hahaha a lot. I was 18 back when I was doing those, and I'm 25 now so there's been a little bit of growing up I'd say since then. You know the whole fucking concept to that one was more like a joke under this guise where I could experiment and make beats. So the concept was the alien that found weed and rap music and soon after that I just wanted to drop any kind of gimmick whatsoever and just have my music be music, without anything else. I mean shit, I think you can still listen to some of that (that is if anyone still has that mixtape). I think you can still hear me in there, it just sounds like a younger version of myself for sure. But now I wouldn't even know how to compare the two.

Is there any music that you're into right now or is it all cooked?
Shiiit, hahaha. I like a lot of new rap music that's pretty much all the new stuff I'm into at the moment. I haven't listened to that much electronic music as of recent. It's all kinda overwhelming and I stopped really caring all together. Everything all just started sounding the same. Rap music has been really good. Great new rap music keeps coming out. All the Atlanta shit has been really good, and there are some crews coming out of Texas and Florida. The new Southern vibe has been great. I could name a few names but fuck, I'm stoned and I can't remember shit. I've just been moving backwards and listening to old shit, discovering the old discographies and delving into old music that I liked. From like New Order or Depeche Mode, trying to find the other things. Delving deeper into all that stoner metal and some of the newer stoner stuff too is still really good. It's all just kinda a one trick pony, but I don't know if you have that expression out there in Australia. Hahaha

Haha, I think we know about them one trick ponies. What's your favourite stoner metal at the moment?
I've been listening to that Bongzilla, which is the funniest fucking name ever and also some of the heaviest and always just returning to Electric Wizard every time. Bongripper is another one, but I can't really think of shit right now.

What are your thoughts on the music scene today? and what would you change?
There's always a funny thing about 'music scene' as like a blanket. It's always hysterical. Cause any scene is usually hysterical. Right now everyone is super about money, even more so than previous years and it's pretty fucking annoying. There's a lot of really bad music that's being pushed, but I guess nothing has really changed. I guess it's just more in your face now with "social media" and if you follow anyone on Instagram who's a pseudo celebrity you're just going to get fucking bombarded with ads and shit. There's barely any fucking music anymore, and just content of other things and people talking about what other people have said about songs instead of just releasing new songs. It seems like this is all just an effect of the industry being grouped in the same category as the music, which I feel should be separate. The Music industry just always tries to monetize the music's art and some people play into that game, and a lot of that game has been glorified with everyone trying to get a cut of the big cheque. Chasing deals to get that big break and it's getting easier and easier for people to do that so now everyone thinks they have a chance. Which is super annoying and that's the problem with young kids and the 'scene.' I'm just worried about the new wave of artists just becoming stupid as hell. There are still some real ones out there, the Luddites, doing their thing, ignoring technology and making CDs. Going back to the beginning, back to what it's all about. Being a celebrity is a by-product of making rad tracks, you don't just get to be a celebrity because you are affiliated with the music industry.

Your thoughts on Def Jam, and is there another possible collab with Jeremih in the pipeline?

The mismanagement at Def Jam was something super weird like we never got to speak with those guys direct. It was all handled by lawyers and I don't know who works at Def Jam, but all I know is that were trying to release this record with them because Jeremih is signed with them and they were working on it for a fucking year and this shit was going through legal the whole time, we had the papers and they just kept delaying, delaying, delaying. Not even delaying the release date, they were delaying the talk about a release date. Eventually, they just came back with the fact that they didn't have legal authorization to release a track. And I was like what kind of authorization do you need. We wrote the track. Was all just a little frustrating. So we were just like if they're not going to sue us then lets put it up for free, and Jeremih's team was down for that and it is what it is. I'd never heard any good stories about the music industry and I wasn't like "Oh wow these guys are gonna be awesome" or "Yo you never heard of a big record company that's so kind and wonderful," so I guess it wasn't that much of a surprise I guess. It was always gonna be Def Jam's money at the end of it, so I'll never understand why the fuck they didn't wanna make their money. It's honestly no hard feelings on my part, and I never got to deal with anyone direct except for Jeremih and he's cool as hell. He's just killing it at the moment, and we are always in different parts of the world doing our own album shits. I'm not saying "no" to the possibility to work with him again just need the timing to be right.

Damn. What can we expect from your future live shows?
The most exciting thing about this whole thing is the live shows. I've always wanted to do this and make it into a live band situation. So it's like me playing guitar and synths, resampling pieces of the record. D33J (co founder of WEDIDIT) will be playing guitar and synths also, got my friend Bill who'll be on the drums and drum pads. It's kinda the first time that I've had a great band interaction with a good music relationship. Haven't had that vibe since I was a kid and playing in shitty bands. It's just fun being able to do it with music I've written. So that's what you all will be getting if you're into that kind of stuff, plus some 30-foot hand drawn backdrops and coordinating with lighting guys at each venue.

Shlohmo on SoundCloud // Facebook // Twitter

Shlohmo continues his tour across Australia this week with support from D33J, Purple and Nick Melons:

Thursday July 30 // The Corner Hotel // Melbourne VIC
Friday July 31 // The Metro Theatre // Sydney NSW
Saturday August 1 // Villa // Perth WA

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