SPEAKER 1: Sam, I'm a
huge fan of you guys.
Have been for more
than a decade.
It's such a thrill to have three
of my favorite rappers up here,
and especially to
introduce Google LA
to the awesomeness of Nerdcore.
So here to my right,
we have MC Frontalot,
the Godfather of Nerdcore.
MC FRONTALOT: Hello.
[APPLAUSE]
SPEAKER 1: His latest album is
"Net Split," or the "Fathomless
Heartbreak of Online Itself."
MC FRONTALOT: You memorized
that whole album title.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah.
MC FRONTALOT: No mean feat.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah, 25
minutes studying.
Miss Eaves, the
multimedia artist
by day and fierce
femcee by night.
Her latest EP is "Sad."
MISS EAVES: I'm a sad girl.
[APPLAUSE]
SPEAKER 1: And
Schaffer the Darklord,
the super villain of Nerdcore.
His latest album is "The
Department of Darkness."
So let's start with the basics.
What is Nerdcore?
MC FRONTALOT: Oh, it's a
little subgenre of hip hop
where you don't have to be cool.
You know, it's like
hip hop is cool.
It's like the coolest kind
of music in popular culture.
And generally, if you're
trying to do some hip hop,
you're expected to be the
coolest person in the room,
maybe start trends,
that kind of thing.
But maybe you just want to do it
by yourself with your computer.
So then you have
Nerdcore for that.
SPEAKER 1: That's cool.
So what kind of reactions do
you get when you tell people
that you're a Nerdcore rapper?
MC FRONTALOT: Some
blank stares sometimes.
Mostly blank stares.
No, people understand,
if they're like--
SCHAFFER THE
DARKLORD: I feel you
people, the average
civilian, can put it together
based on those context clues.
But I don't get blank stares.
I get a lot of like this--
MC FRONTALOT: Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER 1: So how has this
changed over the last 20 years
that you've been doing this?
MC FRONTALOT:
Actually, right when
it-- right when I came
up with that term,
it was really easy to get
press, because reporters
are just famously lazy.
And they would hear Nerdcore,
you mean like rap plus nerds?
I could get five column
inches out of that.
I'll immediately cover
that and then go back
to finding other work not to do.
So that was fantastic.
I'd get covered all the time.
And then now 20 years later,
it's kind of like, oh,
nerds doing stuff, huh?
It's much less
exciting to the press.
And I guess it
also probably seems
obvious to random strangers
who haven't heard of it before.
But we're also 20 years
better at doing it,
so maybe we can get
some attention that way.
SCHAFFER THE DARKLORD:
Yeah, I think
we've developed more
skills in 20 years,
but the content has changed.
Because I feel like
there were a lot of kind
of novelty songs in the
beginning, where it's rap,
but it's about
Zelda, and Pokemon.
And now, it seems
like it's mostly
a bunch of people who are
aging and now writing songs
about how unhappy they are.
There is a pretty
consistent theme
throughout the Nerdcore acts
that are still operating,
of making themselves
vulnerable and exposing
all of their sort of inner
turmoil, which is kind of what
it's shifted into, I feel.
MC FRONTALOT: Also,
popular hip hop
has embraced all of the little
nerd pop culture stuff that
used to be obscure or strange.
So the culture at large--
I don't think
there's any gangsta
rapper who hasn't discussed
their gaming console in a song.
GZA did a whole science
record, didn't he?
SCHAFFER THE DARKLORD: Yeah.
MC FRONTALOT: Yeah.
There's plenty of nerd
stuff in proper hip hop now.
We are completely superfluous.
Welcome to our goodbye party.
SPEAKER 1: MC Frontalot, this
started for you as a hobby.
And you were a web
designer before.
What made you think that
this could be a real thing?
MC FRONTALOT: I was
super fortunate in that I
was freelancing, so the hobby
just slowly built up a fanbase.
And people were asking me
to do shows and make a CD.
And so I could just kind of
do those things a little bit
at a time and see how
it worked, and have
fewer and fewer clients,
and more and more shows,
until all of a sudden it
was just a rap career.
So I had-- there was
none of the bravery you
imagine in embarking in your
early middle age in a music
career.
I just eased into it.
SPEAKER 1: So your
first tour with--
your first album, "Nerdcore
Rising," that was pretty easy.
Just kind of show up and sing.
What was it like?
MC FRONTALOT: Well, I'd always
been into home recording.
And I had been like a four
track person in college.
And then computers,
much to my excitement,
became fast enough to have high
res music studios inside them
on the desktop.
So my first project
with that was
to make some rap songs out of
samples from my CD collection.
Anyway, I came at it
from home recording.
So it was kind of easy
to just make a record,
because I'd already been goofing
around with how to make songs.
Shan, how did you
start recording?
MISS EAVES: I was just
recording in my closet.
And I had this pantyhose
that I put over
like a hanger, that
was a pop filter.
MC FRONTALOT: That's how
you make a pop filter.
MISS EAVES: Yeah.
And then I just
recorded in my closet.
SPEAKER 1: Schaffer,
you mentioned--
you mentioned Nerdcore rappers
getting older and writing songs
about being sad.
So one of your albums
was "Sick Passenger."
And you put a lot of your
personal life into that one.
SCHAFFER THE
DARKLORD: Yeah, I did.
I spent a long time
really posturing
with this sort of maniacal,
out-of-control satanist
character that I
played on stage.
And I did a concept
album, because nobody--
I felt that there
weren't a lot of people
making concept albums anymore.
And I grew up on all
this great classic rock
of the '70s, where people
would write these kind
of sweeping rock operas.
And I wanted to write
a concept album.
So I wrote an album
about my experiences
in therapy, that ended
up being a lot more
unguarded than I thought.
I thought I was going to
do this kind of parody
of what therapy was.
But halfway through the
project, it just turned real.
And I have-- there's
skits with a voice actor
playing my therapist.
And every time I would
write material for it,
I had to go to my
actual therapy sessions
and talk to my real
life doctor about it.
And then I would take
notes, give those notes
to the voice actor.
And it got-- it turned into
this weird ouroboros of art
and sadness.
But it ended up being a very
positive experience for me,
because I found that there was--
that I could write about
real experiences from my life
and connect with an
audience without feeling
like I had to specifically
pander to any of my fans
with explicit video game
or anime references.
MC FRONTALOT: Which
is great for you,
because you hate your fans.
You would despise
pandering to them
or making them happy in any way.
SCHAFFER THE
DARKLORD: Everything
you just said is true.
I do just have a lot of
contempt in my heart.
MC FRONTALOT: He's a dark
lord, ladies and gentlemen.
SCHAFFER THE DARKLORD:
I'm playing my part.
SPEAKER 1: Miss Eaves,
on your latest EP,
you have a song,
"Homebody," which is about--
has the refrain at the
end, "read a good book."
And it's about
being an introvert.
Do you identify as an introvert?
MISS EAVES: Oh, I'm
definitely an introvert,
but I also love attention.
I love it when
people clap for me,
so that's why I like to perform.
[APPLAUSE]
Thank you.
That's why I like
to perform, but I
need to spend a lot of
time alone in my house.
I love eating peanut butter
directly from the jar.
So I reference that in the song.
MC FRONTALOT: I think that's
the most Nerdcore number
you have in your catalog.
MISS EAVES: Yeah.
Because technically, I-- this
has been like a big education
on Nerdcore, because I
don't identify as Nerdcore.
But what I've been told is that
I am a nerd, this whole tour.
MC FRONTALOT: People
are saying that--
they're trying to be nice
to you when they say that.
At the show, you mean?
MISS EAVES: Oh--
MC FRONTALOT: Yeah.
MISS EAVES: You're a nerd.
MC FRONTALOT: It's not like
when people yelled that
at us in school.
SPEAKER 1: Are you
happy with that?
MISS EAVES: Well, I'm
like a really big weirdo
and a really big misfit.
And so I identify
with not being cool.
I've become so weird
that I am cool.
SPEAKER 1: So how
about you guys?
What is it like
being an introvert
and going up on stage?
That's your career.
MC FRONTALOT: Yeah, I
also like attention.
I found a career in
the performing arts
served that pretty well.
MISS EAVES: Yeah.
MC FRONTALOT: Yeah.
MISS EAVES: The
validation's great.
MC FRONTALOT: And also, if
you get marginally notable
in your music field, you can
take as much time for yourself
as you want, because you
can pretend to be busy.
Oh, I'm working.
I must be working
on some projects
for the next three weeks,
since this game I wanted
came into early access.
But that's not what
I'm working on.
SCHAFFER THE DARKLORD:
I have gotten out
of attending weddings.
I mean, I've got a
deadline for this record.
I know I've known you since
childhood, best of luck.
Yeah, I think that that's
shared by all of us.
I also, left to
my own devices, I
would by far prefer to
spend all of my time
at home, noodling around
with music projects
and not going out of doors.
And then every
couple of months, we
have to travel
around the country
and be hyper social,
because it's such--
especially when that skill
of interacting with groups
of people kind of atrophies
after spending months
and months alone,
it's pretty intense
to have to travel around, and
do lots of meet and greets,
and talk to an audience.
But I still love their attention
and still want their distance--
several arm lengths.
SPEAKER 1: So it's
fun when you do,
and then you have to cool
down afterwards for a while.
SCHAFFER THE DARKLORD:
Yeah, I do kind of escape.
I don't know if
you've both noticed,
but I do tend to like
disappear for about 20 minutes
after the set.
Yeah, that's crying.
MC FRONTALOT: Can I also
introduce our drummer
that we've brought?
This is Beard Science.
[APPLAUSE]
Is you're mic on?
BEARD SCIENCE: I think it is.
MC FRONTALOT:
Nice, his mic's on.
MISS EAVES: Another round of
applause for his mic being on.
[APPLAUSE]
Thank you.
SPEAKER 1: Empowering women is
a theme in all of your music.
Miss Eaves, you have
a song, "Miss Emoji."
MISS EAVES: Yes.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah.
MISS EAVES: OK, so my
song, "Miss Emoji,"
is about men
telling me to smile,
which really irritates me.
And I'll tell you why.
Because I have a
range of emotions
that aren't just happiness.
And so if I'm like bummed
out about something,
and I'm just like
walking down the street,
even if men maybe don't
find that attractive,
I think it's my
prerogative to wear
my face like that, potentially
for 24 hours, maybe more.
So that's my clap back at
people who will be like,
smile, you would look better.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah, there's
a lot of pressure
against female
authenticity sometimes.
MISS EAVES: Yeah.
And I think, too, it's just like
the idea that a lot of people
think that women
should be decorative,
and it's almost 2020.
And I just like don't--
I think we have the right
to also not be attractive.
And that's cool.
We're still valid and
awesome, and it's fine.
SPEAKER 1: You have another
song off that same album,
"Fem Nasty"--
"Thunder Thighs," is
that the same album?
MISS EAVES: Yeah.
MC FRONTALOT: Your hit.
MISS EAVES: My big hit.
MC FRONTALOT: Your monster hit.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah,
about body image.
MISS EAVES: It's actually
about when your thighs touch
and you get that rash.
SPEAKER 1: You have
a song called "Yes."
SCHAFFER THE DARKLORD: Yes.
SPEAKER 1: About positive
consent, enthusiastic consent.
SCHAFFER THE DARKLORD: Yes.
SPEAKER 1: Why is
this important to you?
SCHAFFER THE DARKLORD: I felt
that, once I got to a point
where I had amassed an audience,
and I could travel around,
and have a lot of
very enthusiastic and
impressionable, specifically
young men in the room,
that I'd reached a
point where I could
use this little
modicum of influence
that I had to do something good.
And I found that there was this
pervasive theme of male fans
just informing me what
great guys they are.
And I know that's not true.
I know that they think they are.
And so I have a song and
an increasingly angry rant
that happens during
my set where I lecture
about believing women, and
preaching enthusiastic consent,
and basically challenging my
audience on all of their self
image that they
have invested in.
And I feel that it's
important to remind
these men, who have been
rewarded for anything that ever
pops into their head
as being correct,
thought it was important
to try to correct
some of that behavior
with my platform.
SPEAKER 1: Frontalot,
your latest album
is about a painful breakup.
Would you mind saying
who you broke up with?
MC FRONTALOT: God, we
just have three sad sack
records in a row.
I think it's because of the
terrible moment we live in,
partially.
But my record's a breakup
record about Internet.
I got to retire this line, but
it is not the kind of breakup
where you'll never see
the other person again.
It's the kind of breakup where
you insist to your friends
that it is completely
over, but you still
make out behind the dumpster
over by the Best Buy.
It's just a bunch of
songs about specific ways
in which Internet is awful now.
SPEAKER 1: One of the
songs on your album
is "Memes are Dumb," which is
sort of a controversial opinion
here at Google.
MC FRONTALOT: Especially
with the all ages crowds.
We get a lot of
pushback on that one.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah, why do
you hate adorable cats?
MC FRONTALOT: Memes are
actually fine, of course.
There's like creativity
sort of blossoming.
I think a lot of
people are getting
their first taste of making
something when they participate
in meme culture.
And that's fantastic.
But I'm a stodgy old now,
and I would prefer for people
to express an original
thought, that's all.
And also, it's hilarious to go
up and make a whole crowd sing
memes are dumb and have the
little kids like aggressively
doing the Fortnight dances
at me from the front row.
Love it.
SPEAKER 1: Schaffer,
you recently posted
that the latest generation
of Nerdcore rappers
are better than you guys
were when you started.
So I guess you're talking
about rappers like Flex
the Lexicon Artist
and Miss Eaves.
SCHAFFER THE DARKLORD: And
ShubZilla, Kadesh Flow, Oh My.
I mean, there've been--
MC FRONTALOT:
Creative Mind Frame.
SCHAFFER THE DARKLORD:
Creative Mind Frame--
there've been a lot of--
I don't know, sort of--
MC FRONTALOT: Dye Blue.
SCHAFFER THE DARKLORD:
--generations, which
is a pretentious phrase to use.
But there have been these many
different tiers of Nerdcore
that have come after
us in the 40 years
that we've been doing this.
MC FRONTALOT: 20, 20.
SCHAFFER THE DARKLORD: Whatever.
But no, I feel that when we
started, we were all kind of--
we were very clumsy at it.
We didn't really know
what we were doing.
We were all hip hop fans.
MC FRONTALOT:
Learned as we went.
SCHAFFER THE
DARKLORD: We learned
the basics of
multi-track recording
on four tracks in our basement.
But it took-- there was there
was a pretty serious learning
curve.
It took us a long
time to figure out
how to be rappers without
insulting this art form
that we were paying tribute to.
And I feel that there's
this-- as new rappers come
into this community,
they're coming in
with like much more honed
skill sets out of the gate
than we had.
It took me many years before
I didn't think that I was just
god awful at this.
And I see these new
rappers coming out,
being like, hey, I'm a rapper
too, here's my first single.
And it just makes me angry,
because it took me 10 years
to write anything as
close to as good as that.
MC FRONTALOT: I
think there's also
a different
understanding right now
of what a successful rapper is.
Because there's all these kids
coming up through SoundCloud,
who are basically just doing
bedroom recordings with Fruity
Loop and some
garbage microphone.
And they might very legitimately
create a hit that way.
SCHAFFER THE DARKLORD:
Well, I'm not
talking about their success.
I'm just talking about
their skill level.
MC FRONTALOT: Sure, sure.
SCHAFFER THE DARKLORD:
I mean, we're
still more successful than
those kids I just mentioned.
MISS EAVES: Wait a
minute, I was one
of the people that mentioned.
I'm right here.
SCHAFFER THE DARKLORD: Peep
my band camp numbers, Eaves.
SPEAKER 1: There's so much
collaboration in Nerdcore.
I wanted to ask about that.
So for you, I've
counted four songs
that you did with
just these two guys.
I don't know if I missed any.
But what drives all
that collaboration?
MISS EAVES: Well, I'm
more adjacent to Nerdcore.
They're my friends.
So I'm just like, yo, I want
to get my friends on my track.
I like what they're doing.
I respect them as artists.
So, yeah.
MC FRONTALOT: It is
sort of a scene, right,
all these Internet rappers
who know each other.
But the main reason we're
on each other's tracks
is because we can talk
each other into it,
whereas if I called
Jay-Z up, I would
get one of those recordings
where you haven't
reached the right number.
SCHAFFER THE DARKLORD:
Our friends are obviously
a lot more accessible.
But also, by being
friends, we know
that their values are going
to be in the right place.
It's terrible to-- I was just
telling this story to Eaves--
get somebody to reach out
the Internet, and say, hey,
I'm a big fan, I'd like to
get you on one of my tracks.
And you say, great.
And then you go and
scour their material.
And you find all of this
horrific content that
makes you think, why would
you want to align yourself
with me, because
I definitely don't
want to be anywhere near you
with that kind of content.
But being friends with--
hanging out at rooftop
barbecues with Eaves,
you learn pretty quickly that
we share a lot of the same value
system.
AUDIENCE: This is for Frontalot.
When you first started
on your website,
you would have your face
obscured by a colorful thing,
to the point where
the first time I
saw you live, no
one in line knew
what you looked like,
except for the one
guy who was your backup.
What were you-- what
made you decide finally
to put your face in
there and out there?
MC FRONTALOT: I did do that.
The original version
of my website
was supposed to create
an air of mystery.
And the photo gallery was
pictures of very famous rappers
with their bars over their eyes,
or their faces blurred out.
There'd be a picture of Biggie.
And it would say, MC Frontalot
enjoys a pensive moment
between steaks.
Or there'd be like an image of
really, really famous rappers,
like all the most
famous rappers.
But if you didn't know
any rapper in the world,
you could look at that
and feel very confused.
And I was going to
even go so far as
to just send random people
to interviews instead of me,
and send competing ones.
So the first one goes in and
starts fumbling questions,
and the other ones like,
banging on the-- who is that,
why is he doing my interview?
But I found that all fell
apart about two years
in, because the legitimate
press is not interested in--
SPEAKER 1: OK, can we call
in the real Frontalot?
MC FRONTALOT: Fake.
Yeah, really.
And 20 years later, I
finally got found out.
Yeah just, it tied
into the name.
I wanted to
participate in rapping.
But I did not want to clear the
obstacle of people questioning
my hip hop authenticity.
So I'm like, well, I'll
just go the other direction.
I'll be MC Frontalot.
Every rapper I've ever heard
has discussed at length
how they do not front and
would never be caught fronting.
No rapper will ever try
to steal my unique Google
hits with my rap name.
And in fact, I could just
explore secrets and lies
and kind of have
that be my theme.
But yeah, it only lasts until
like "XXL" magazine calls up
and they're like,
we need a picture.
Oh shit, I'm in X--
send, you know.
Also, then Wikipedia
starts investigating you.
It all comes out.
AUDIENCE: How has
the business side
of the music industry
changed for you
all throughout your careers?
It's kind of an open question.
SCHAFFER THE DARKLORD:
We used to be
able to put out a new
album, press a bunch of CDs,
do a couple of tours,
and unload those CDs,
and repress them, because
we could additionally
sell them online.
But selling CDs is not a
realistic game anymore.
We still can sell them on the
road, because people still--
and I don't know if this
is universal to the music
industry, or if it's just
because our fans predominantly
come from nerd culture and
they love collecting things.
But on the road, we
can still sell them,
because people like
a physical keepsake
that we scribbled our name on.
MC FRONTALOT: They
serve as an ink holder.
SCHAFFER THE DARKLORD:
Yeah, that's basically it.
It's not even a means
of getting the music,
because most of
our fans are like,
I already bought
all these online
or I stream these regularly.
It has changed-- selling
and actual physical product
is-- other than
t-shirt merch, is not
a huge part of it anymore.
MISS EAVES: For
me, in a way, it's
been easier, because
of the Internet,
to break as a DIY
independent artist,
just because there are so many
channels to share your work,
that you don't have
to go through labels.
And so there's just like
so many different ways.
So for me, it's been great.
Because I've never made
a lot of money from it.
So it's just been
like, oh, cool,
now there's like a
lot of people who
can see my work through social
media, and like SoundCloud,
and all that.
MC FRONTALOT: It was right
at the beginning of my
trying to sell the
music, which was 2005.
I was like, all right, I'll
take all the samples out
and make a version of this
that I can press on a CD
and sell to people.
It was exciting right then,
as the major labels were
freaking out and trying
to figure out what to do,
and installing root kits on
your machine when you bought
a Britney CD or whatever.
They were flipping out.
And they had no idea what
to do about Internet.
And so those of us who were
like, no, Internet's great--
I'm like bypassing all
of the gatekeeping.
And I'm getting direct
support from listeners online.
I'm even moving
money around online.
It was great when
there was hardly
anyone who knew how to do that.
And now everyone
has all those tools,
even if they're not
huge computer nerds.
So now everything's terrible,
because I have competition
from more talented children.
Don't like it.
SCHAFFER THE DARKLORD:
We're all fighting
for the same 100th of a cent
on various music streaming
services.
It's not--
MC FRONTALOT: And streaming
has been a big change.
As the music
industry-- the labels,
they figured out how to
sell stuff on iTunes.
And it was fine.
As CDs kind of
diminished, people
were still buying stuff
for their collections.
And over the last five years,
that has just cratered.
Nobody buys anything.
It's all your Spotify.
So I'd love it if you'd
kick them out of the space,
because I know
somebody at Google.
I don't know anybody at Spotify.
SPEAKER 1: Understood.
MC FRONTALOT: Really crank
that up to 4/9th of a cent.
Anyway-- joking, I'm
not going to cause
you to corrupt your databases
to make all of our Google
Play streams more lucrative.
I'm saying you definitely should
not do that this afternoon.
SPEAKER 1: Understood.
AUDIENCE: We were
talking kind of
at the beginning about
introversion and nerdery.
And certainly in
the Venn diagram
of introverts and nerds,
there's a great deal of overlap.
To what extent do
you feel like you
have to be an
introvert to be a nerd,
and to what extent
does introversion
per say, as opposed to nedery,
kind of inform your art,
do you think?
MC FRONTALOT: I think you don't
have to be a introvert at all
to be a nerd.
I know tons of extremely
loud, obnoxious nerds
who never, ever turn it off.
AUDIENCE: That doesn't mean
they're not introverts.
MC FRONTALOT: Oh, doesn't it?
MISS EAVES: Oh, no, I'm very
loud and I'm an introvert.
MC FRONTALOT: Oh, do you use the
loudness as an armor against--
MISS EAVES: No, I use
the loudness, again,
to get attention.
I love it when people
laugh at my jokes and clap.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
MC FRONTALOT: You're
so good at that.
I don't know.
What do you know?
SCHAFFER THE DARKLORD: If those
two things go hand-in-hand,
introversion and nedery?
I don't think they have to.
I don't think they're
mutually exclusive at all.
And I think that--
I think that there are--
I know a lot of
people in our scene,
in Nerdcore, who strongly
identify as extroverts.
And I think it's probably
because the rule is that we're
all supposed to be introverted.
We're supposed to be at
home making papier mache,
playing with the FourTracks,
or doing things like that.
And I know these people who go
to cons in an excited manner.
They're thrilled to be around
seas of people and interact
with them.
And for me, that's always
a challenge of the gig.
But I don't think
that they have to--
I don't think that
they have to exist
as a function of one another.
MC FRONTALOT: I don't know
if this is still true,
because the role of nedery
itself has kind of shifted
in the culture.
But when I was a kid, and then
looking back at being a kid,
while thinking about my
development as a nerd later,
it seems to me not so much
about personality type,
but about how well you
fit in with whatever
was sort of mainstream popular
on the schoolyard, which is
generally, I'm sure, unchanged.
You have to be beautiful.
Social is part of it.
You have to be accomplished in
certain normal cultural things
in the country, like
some sports or whatever.
And if you're shunned
from that, you're
sort of pushed into the
role of the introvert,
even if that's not
your personality type.
And that's when you go
and spend a lot of time
with your online friends, or
developing your imagination
with all of your fantasy
books, or various things,
the various escapes
that sort of have
turned into the nerd
cultural identity.
Although, now that's
the mainstream thing.
SCHAFFER THE DARKLORD: It
doesn't mean much anymore.
And I don't want to be one of
these nerd gatekeepers that
says like, oh, I'm
so tired of seeing
all these people in Captain
America shirts, being like,
oh, I'm such a nerd, LOL.
But seriously, I'm
kind of tired of seeing
all these people in Captain
America shirts, being like,
I'm a nerd, LOL.
That movie makes
more money than I--
a figure that I cannot
estimate right now.
MC FRONTALOT: The
movie's very carefully
made for every kind of person.
SCHAFFER THE DARKLORD:
Sure, and that's great.
Because it's great
that more people are
into the things that we
were as kids, because now
we also get to enjoy
these things with budgets.
MC FRONTALOT: Yeah, get an
expensive version of that thing
every four months.
That's great for me.
SCHAFFER THE
DARKLORD: But I don't
think that there's really
a whole lot of validity
behind I am a nerd because I
like this costumed pop culture
property thing.
I don't think that
really exists anymore,
because it's all so very
accessible and mainstream.
MC FRONTALOT: I think
needing to escape
into your imagination
for whatever reason,
and having gone through
some amount of alienation
and loneliness,
these things still
create people I
recognize as nerds.
The list of stuff on
your Facebook likes page
never really was an identity.
It was just a list of things
you typed into Facebook once.
AUDIENCE: Before I hand the mic
over, I also neglected to say,
I love the earrings.
Those are awesome.
MISS EAVES: Thank you.
They're French fries.
They're my favorite food group.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
MC FRONTALOT: Miss Eaves
creates most of her own couture,
including all of your earrings?
MISS EAVES: Yeah, I
like to papier mache.
That's my thing.
So I never really thought
of myself as a nerd.
But I'm into some very specific
activities that I do alone.
So I'll make a giant
slice of pie out of papier
mache, or earrings, like these.
SPEAKER 1: Sure we maybe
clear up some things
and make this more rigorous,
have like a point system,
and a threshold for--
MC FRONTALOT: No, that's exactly
what we're trying to avoid.
Let's just say everyone can
identify as whatever they want,
including being a nerd.
SCHAFFER THE DARKLORD:
All of us, when we were--
I know that we all had the same
experience when we were 16.
All of us got dangled out of
a high school bathroom window
while we were still wearing
our marching band uniform.
Or just me.
MC FRONTALOT: Or just you.
MISS EAVES: I do feel like
being called a nerd, that's
even become more inclusive.
Because I'm not into comic
books or video games,
and I didn't feel like I
belonged in that space.
But just like--
I've learned that
I do nerdy things,
and even though I'm not into
like traditional nerd stuff.
MC FRONTALOT: Traditional
nerd stuff, oh.
MISS EAVES: Yeah.
MC FRONTALOT: This like
nerd cultural moment
is so long lasting
that there's now
modern and traditional nerdery.
MISS EAVES: I'm an
avant-garde nerd.
MC FRONTALOT: There we go.
SPEAKER 1: It means
something rather different
when said by someone who
identifies as nerd much warmer.
To me, personally, I see you
all standing there in the realm
of pop culture, holding
up the flag of nerdom,
and I look at that, and I think,
that's me, and that's you--
that's you.
And it's very powerful
and affirming.
MC FRONTALOT: Thanks, yay.
That's hopefully why
much of it gets made.
AUDIENCE: I have a very
conflicted relationship
with nerd culture.
I was very into a
lot of nerdy things.
I also always felt excluded by
the nerds for various reasons.
And I go to comic
con and these things.
And you see all of this.
It's embracing of
the stuff I love,
and it's also
gatekeeping moment.
I want to know, how does
the existence of Nerdcore
and the practice of
Nerdcore either help
break down that gatekeeping
or reaffy that gatekeeping,
kind of like solidify
what a nerd is,
or does it kind of
serve to break down
these kind of barriers?
MC FRONTALOT: I would hope
that as more and more people,
and more and more
different types of folks
participate in Nerdcore, just
as a little thing, a little part
of the whole culture, this
little kind of music that we
do, that that erases
the urge to gatekeep.
Because everybody's got
their own take on it.
And everybody's got their
own angle on what they love
and how they feel
about themselves.
And everybody just sort
of knows who they are
and what they are
in a different way,
from the way the
person next to them
has their own self
understanding.
And you don't want--
the whole point of fighting
against nerd as this insult
that we used to get,
at least in the '80s--
some young people here.
In the '80s, if you were
a nerd, that was like--
that was pejorative, and
someone said it to you
while they banged you
against a locker or whatever.
And that was it.
And that was all that--
you tried as hard as you could
to get out of that label.
You did not want to
be called a nerd.
The idea now of embracing it
is not at all revolutionary
anymore.
And that's great.
But then, of course, trying
to kick other people out
of the identity, what is that?
That's the cycle of
abuse coming back around.
So I'm hoping that everyone
who I like within our subgenre
would see it the
same way as that.
MISS EAVES: And I accept
you just as you are.
MC FRONTALOT: So
you've got Miss Eaves.
AUDIENCE: You've
all talked about it
other creative
stuff that you do,
whether it's other
types of music,
or technical creative stuff.
So what about hip
hop made you decide
to make that like your
main creative thing
that you want to
be out there with?
MISS EAVES: It actually
isn't my main creative thing.
I'm still a designer,
a graphic designer.
And I run a photo
street blog that's
inclusive, body
positive, style, that
shows like all different
types of people.
Really, my whole message is just
about making everything equal
and having a very inclusive
safe space for all these people.
Because I've always
felt like such a misfit,
so I want to have like
an inclusive safe space,
so other people have felt
that way, they can come too.
And so all of my
work kind of revolves
around creating that
safe space for people.
MC FRONTALOT: I wanted
to be a novelist,
but I didn't have a fanbase
for my inspiring novel writing.
And people kept downloading
the MP3s for the other thing.
I feel like the way
that the Internet
has injured everyone's
attention span,
like writing song length
lyrics has injured my ability
to make a novel, as
evidenced by the fact
that I have not made one.
SCHAFFER THE DARKLORD: I've
read some wonderful reviews
you've written of hotels
that we've stayed at on tour.
And those are miniature
novels in themselves.
I used to play drums in
a bunch of metal bands.
And so I was playing
metal at the same time
I started dabbling in
recording rap songs.
And so I very quickly stopped
playing drums in metal bands,
because I'm like, I'm
not sitting in the back,
behind a bunch of other people.
I'm standing in the
front, and there
are people moving their
mouths along to the things
that I wrote.
And I was done.
I was just done with being a
rhythm instrument, no offense.
BEARD SCIENCE: I like
sitting in the back.
MC FRONTALOT: Yeah,
but the direct feedback
from doing a song that folks in
the crowd know and appreciate
is just overwhelming.
The amount of dopamine
you get out of that--
SCHAFFER THE DARKLORD:
It's intoxicating.
MC FRONTALOT: Real
hard to put it down.
MISS EAVES: There's also a
lot of overlap with music,
because there's a visual side,
which is your music videos.
And that can also be a way
that you can express yourself
creatively.
I direct, or co-direct, art
direct all of my music videos.
I produce all of them.
I design all of my album art.
So this music has become
a vehicle where I can--
I like the southern--
vehicle, vehicle, vehicle.
I don't know.
But it's become this
way that I can just
use all of my artistic
interests and funnel them
through this one project.
SCHAFFER THE DARKLORD: Just as
a footnote to that, everybody,
you all owe it to
yourself to check out
Miss Eaves sensational
collection of music videos.
They are unparalleled
by anybody in our field.
MC FRONTALOT:
They're on YouTube.
SPEAKER 1: I saw your
video, "Left, Swipe, Left."
That was with the picture frame.
That was adorable.
MISS EAVES: So I have
a video for a song
about how online dating sucks.
So I was like,
this isn't working.
So I made a giant
live Tinder window,
and I just walked
around Brooklyn,
trying to get people to date me.
Still no one dated me.
But I did get ice
cream at the end.
MC FRONTALOT: Solid, though.
I mean, the story
ends on a happy note.
MISS EAVES: It does.
SCHAFFER THE DARKLORD: Your
music videos are so good.
MC FRONTALOT: They really are.
SCHAFFER THE DARKLORD:
They're so good.
MC FRONTALOT: They're amazing.
SPEAKER 1: And on
another happy note,
would you guys like
to hear a song?
[APPLAUSE]
MC FRONTALOT: We'll do--
thanks.
We'll do "I'll Form the
Head," which originally had
Dr. Awkward and Zealous1 in it.
But for this tour, these
two wrote their own verses,
as mech pilots who
would like to argue over
how the giant robot will
be formed in the end.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Thank you, Google.
[APPLAUSE]
Beard Science on the drums.
