interview with psychic slime! -- magenta
HEADLESS BLOOD IDOL 04.21.2021



PSYCHIC SLIME- opens up with us a bit about his process, learning new styles after 20 years of making music, writing lyrics and we chat briefly about the dark secret i learned today! We also take a moment to discuss Time Violence, plus PSYCHIC SLIME talks a little hardware

We sat down for an hour after watching movies with Elias and The Error, who has been hosting movies all week long! Psychic Slime was free of government supervision and had just finished happily watching movies chilling before the upcoming concert when we had a chance to catch up!

i'm notsleeping: psychic slime is psyslime:

<lets get right into it>

notsleeping: so hi there, we have Psychic Slime today for a second half of our interview! i'm magenta skull!

psyslime: hi hi

notsleeping: so i've got a couple things i wanted to ask you about that we didn't get a chance to talk about last time

psyslime: party time, excellent

notsleeping: so we've been talking about you working out some new styles, and kinda a little bit of the process of cooking up entirely new styles

notsleeping: would you say that thats something that you've set out to do intentionally? or is it something that's sortof happened naturally

psyslime: i try to do that intentionally. theres times when it feels like im making the same song over and over, and i dont want to do that. so i have notes ill take for whatever record im working on and there is almost always a "try new styles" tag in there someplace

notsleeping: yeah, i get that. sometimes its not the like, tracks that you output that you aren't happy with, but like your process in general

psyslime: yep! if it starts to get stale it can be boring, both to make and then probably to listen to as well if you arent having fun making it

notsleeping: so, for you do you set out to like craft in a specific new vibe or do you like go where the experiments take you?

psyslime: a little bit of both, i dont try to put alot of pressure on myself to create a certain sound, again just try to have fun and work with what is sounding good at the time

notsleeping: so you'd say you kinda just feel for what is sounding right in your sessions

psyslime: for sure, i might have something in mind when i start the production process but it will usually morph over the course of working on it into something new and different

notsleeping: so we were talking before about the like, excitement of being new at a project, and kinda being like .. bad at what you are doing

notsleeping: or i dont know if bad is the right word, but like, not great at it yet

notsleeping: so would you say thats a big part of your new styles process? do you kinda prefer to ride that vibe of "idk what i'm doing exactly rn" or are you more like, searching along for what clicks most solidly

psyslime: adding vocals to my stuff has been a new wrinkle to try and work with on this project, which can be really awesome when it works well or can be kind of a headache to break through writers block

psyslime: so mix that with i know what im doing on the production side, since ive been zeroing in on that sound for my whole life basically

notsleeping: yeah i wanted to talk to you about that, you rep a strong verbal element in your work

notsleeping: that makes sense, that you know how to get your sound down and produced with the history of releases and all of that

notsleeping: do you work on the beats first or the lyrics and then do the beats? sorry i keep feeding you a lot of these "its a little of both" questions ha

notsleeping: would you say the writing the lyrics is the hardest part, or making the track that accompanies?

notsleeping: how much like, going back and forth with different renders do you do? do you like, produce everything in the same program?

psyslime: always music first, it helps to know the direction to take the lyrics in, and the cadence. ill try to get the full instrumental song finished, then listen to it 40 or 50 times or however long it takes to write the lyrics for it.

notsleeping: i know i have a lot where i make this bit in this program and this bit in something else, there's no like, main save for the file except for like the last version workspace mostly

notsleeping: ohhh yeah that makes sense

psyslime: lyrics is the hard shit!!! making beats is easy and fun, playing around on my sampler. when it comes to lyrics you have to make sure what you are saying really represents what you are about, and not just sounds cool

psyslime: and is also interesting and hopefully original

notsleeping: word, that makes sense. the tunes-making gear probably feels like an appendage at this point

notsleeping: so touching back to the workspace thing, how much of your work is "single daw" focused vs like lots of different renders

psyslime: right now the way i work is i make a skeleton beat on the sampler, maybe a bassline or some kind of loop as well, then record a plain version of that to the computer, then a version or two with effects, once i have that mixed down then i will start to layer on synth leads and bass / any additional samples and FX

notsleeping: word, do you wanna mention your gear for any gearheads reading?

notsleeping: its ok if not, i'm not trying to ask anyone spill the secret sauce

psyslime: yeah i have a model:samples, su-10, kp3, crave, 4 track cassette recorder, usb mixer, telecaster

notsleeping: ohh hell yeah, the 4track is a sick lil addition

notsleeping: i really like the focus that a lil track recorder brings

notsleeping: did we talk about this before? if you had to pick one, are you hardware or software

psyslime: theres something about how tape sounds too, it adds a nice dimension on things

notsleeping: omg for sure, like the change in texture of stuff by rerecording them or recording them down etc can be just magical

psyslime: right now im leaning heavily on all my hardware, its been alot of fun to learn
psyslime: but in the past it was the other way around, almost all software

notsleeping: i totally feel that

psyslime: so if you are feeling kinda stuck or whatever in your music process, switch it up try something new!!!

notsleeping: i finally got some solid hardware distortion, its a really nice element

psyslime: heck yeah!

notsleeping: omg what a great tip. yeah sometimes you just need a refresher

notsleeping: and like, to work with a different setup, even if it's just for a little while

psyslime: totally

notsleeping: so idk i kinda wanna get on to the next question, but i wanna just real quick mention that a good process for learning and development revolves around taking breaks to do study/research/learn more intellectually, then play around to practice the skills and experiment in a fun way to cement your new tactics, then finally to use the skills to make a new work

notsleeping: if you find yourself getting stuck, sometimes it's just as simple as understanding that you're finished with the current phase and you need to go back to studying, practice/play, or creating. sometimes you are struggling because you are forcing it and your mental hopper is empty. go take a break and fill up your mind by learning/goofing around

~ ! ~

notsleeping: so anyway, to get into a different gear, i wanna talk about a shocking fact i heard about you out of your own mouth today

psyslime: uh oh

notsleeping: so you mentioned that REPO MAN is your favorite movie

psyslime: whew

psyslime: YES

notsleeping: hehehehe

notsleeping: yeah i wanted to talk a bit about REPO MAN if you wanna heheh

psyslime: how much time do you have?

notsleeping: so like, dang, nobody has seen this movie our age it feels like

notsleeping: hahahaha i got time

notsleeping: we're straight up at like question 3 or 4 on my list

psyslime: yeah its a cult movie for sure, i feel like if you are a punk rocker than you probably have seen it

notsleeping: yeah i think it just hits like that magic spot that it's like bizarre but like approachable enough that you might have come across it

notsleeping: i don't want to like, spoiler it but i do wanna suggest that any movie lovers reading this might wanna put it on their radar

psyslime: its required viewing.

notsleeping: i feel like it kinda def has fell under peoples radars

notsleeping: alright so anyway, lets get back to the PSYCHIC SLIME information i think we nailed the REPO MAN shoutout

notsleeping: so, looking back at young you's styles: have you matured? do you miss your old styles?
notsleeping: do you feel like your sound evolved into a whole different digimon or do you feel like it just leveled up some

psyslime: yeah i think ive come a ways since i started way back when, but i also think ive kinda been working at refining this style im doing now for the entire time as well. or elements of other things ive worked on in the past, being blended together in what im doing now
psyslime: i got into digimon during the pandemic and it was the shit, another recommendation

notsleeping: and so can you say again for the readers about how long you've been at this approximate type of music

psyslime: i started in 1999, so whatever that math is
psyslime: 22 years?

notsleeping: hah yeah thats basically my same year
notsleeping: it doesn't feel real
notsleeping: it feels like 12 years is more right

psyslime: time gets weird when you get older

notsleeping: my linear concept of time is bad yeah
notsleeping: but thats what the numbers say so i guess i trust the math lol
notsleeping: alright so how do you think young you would feel about you now? do you think you would get along?

psyslime: probably not at first, im actively different than i was as a youngster in some areas
psyslime: but yeah once he got over how boring i am we might be cool

notsleeping: haha word
notsleeping: could you beat up young you do you think, if it came down to it

psyslime: 100%

notsleeping: i must know these things
notsleeping: yeah young me wouldnt stand a chance against my fists

psyslime: i eat my veggies now, young me would get faded so quick

notsleeping: omg lol
notsleeping: young you would taste the lightning


psyslime: got that old man strength brewing

notsleeping: so like, i guess lets stop talking about Time Violence and hectoring ourselves, and i got a couple questions about live visuals and the show and stuff

psyslime: stupid hector

notsleeping: so making your second visual set for this upcoming show, what was different about the experience?

psyslime: i didnt take any shortcuts, i really tried every resource at my disposal and just threw everything at the wall. i also didnt want to be left in the dust after seeing some of the other visuals from the first show! there was some really neat stuff there and i know we are going to see even more of that in the future

notsleeping: ha! yeah i love the sense of trying to get better from everybody, i don't feel competition just like the desire to improve! i can't believe how many like, completely different styles that we saw, but like, strangely overlapping vibes
notsleeping: i cannot WAIT to see what is in store this weekend
notsleeping: i didnt want to do more than spot check so i wouldn't like, be destroyed by the power before the show

psyslime: that takes some serious self control to not watch all of that before hand

notsleeping: i was just so hyped by the vibes you brought last show

psyslime: but im sure it makes it that much more special to watch it with everyone else live

notsleeping: it's purely self-preservation, if i die i won't be able to broadcast the show so
notsleeping: i guess thats actually being responsible
notsleeping: but trust me i shirk any praise

notsleeping: so alright this question is sorta similar to the last one, but what did you learn during watching your set at the last show?

psyslime: that people are actually going to see this shit, so i need to make sure i do it proper

notsleeping: HA
notsleeping: yeah, hah yeah its a good feeling. it feels like instead of working hard on shit and then it's just like BROADCAST INTO THE VOID, we've got something people are able to like, work hard on, bring the creativity, and people SEE IT!

psyslime: theres a certain safety of broadcasting into the void as you say, but when you know someone is out there i feel a certain responsibility to put forth my best effort and not waste their time
psyslime: you can fix my typos later
psyslime: run me through dat spell check

notsleeping: the amount of new artists that have joined us on the june show is really awesome to me, it makes me feel like the work is worth it. like, i'm learning so much about making video stuff and playing shows, and i see everyone else working hard too! notsleeping: it's such a blast to be able to share everyone's energies with the world!
notsleeping: haha yeah SAME
notsleeping: i will do my best to correct our errors or promptly do so once i notice hehe

psyslime: im excited to see what everyone is bringing to the table, you are doing a bang up job of curating a wide range of styles for these things

notsleeping: alright so i got my last set of questions coming up, it's been a lot of fun to chat with you about your process! i feel like i will think of lots of cool stuff that i should have asked afterwards, but-- we can do this again, right? im open for it
notsleeping: aw ty

psyslime: anytime!! i appreciate you asking
psyslime: im a chatty motherfucker

notsleeping: so you mentioned that you had a new track dropping during the show, do you have any upcoming release plans? are you stocking up on the track ammunition still?

psyslime: yeah ive got several new songs already finished, i dont know when ill release them, but im working on new stuff for sure

notsleeping: word yeah, thats what i was feeling but i wanted to give you a chance to mention if you were there yet!
notsleeping: so do you have any bandcamp/soundcloud/etc links you'd like me to drop here? you said you are getting psychicslime.com up and running right?

psyslime: shhh dont put additional pressure on me to figure that out
psyslime: lmao

notsleeping: hahaha i will not mention it any more
notsleeping: we can certainly link any release or etc you want me to drop here

psyslime: just the usual shit, psychicslime.bandcamp.com /
psyslime: https://soundcloud.com/psychic-slime / leviathansatellitedish.com

notsleeping: nice! so im gonna do the mandatory plug here to mention that we have a compilation going on right now, and we would like to hear all sorts of styles, airing the compilation after our show in june
notsleeping: we're also gonna be doing another compilation when the summer rolls around, so there is plenty of time for people to cook up new fun stuff

psyslime: yerrrp! ive got my track for it done and lyrics written, just need to get it recorded and shipped off to the offices!

notsleeping: wooo! i can't wait to hear it!
notsleeping: so all right, that is our time today with PSYCHIC SLIME

psyslime: thank you so much magenta!!! <3

notsleeping: thanks for sitting down with me for a minute to talk about your process and stuff!

psyslime: of course

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Psychic Slime interviewed by Magenta Skull
for HEADLESS BLOOD IDOL ~ 4/21/2021