Rainbows and Funk with Remi Wolf
When she mentioned chef Matty Matheson, I was even more sold. Her passion and methods in cooking mirror those in her writing process; improvisation and going with her gut are her ways to go! Remi performed a drive-in concert last Thursday, and in her whimsical world, I can imagine the cars dancing around to her joyful sound.
Congratulations on your new EP!
Thank you!
How did your drive-in concert this past Thursday go?
It went super well. It was so fun, and everybody really liked it. I think all the cars could see the projection… which is what I was worried about… It felt really awesome to perform again, after three months of not doing it, which honestly felt more like a year. I was shocked that it was only three months since I had performed. It was a huge release of energy for me, and it was the best workout I’ve gotten in quarantine.
What was it like performing in this new format?
Well, it definitely felt very different from a normal performance. Even though they were cars, I could still tell there was a lot of energy and excitement. I felt the energy; It didn’t feel like a graveyard of cars. It was really fun to interact with the cars with beeping and flashing headlights, so that made it feel a little bit more like an interactive experience and that there were actually people out there. It’s weird not to see very many faces, though. I could only see the faces in the front row of cars, which, I don’t know, I guess is a little isolating, but honestly, I felt a lot of really good energy.
What brought you to music?
I’ve always loved listening to music. I did a couple of talent shows when I was in elementary school, and that’s kind of where my whole music and performance started. I got really positive feedback when I was super young, and I just really loved doing it. It connected me to friends, and it was a really good outlet for me. I was in a little band when I was in middle school, and we did barber-shop quartet style vocal arrangements, which is kind of where I got my basis for harmony and melody, and a lot of performance. I think the thing that really drew me to music, even before writing music, was the performing music live for people. It was kind of my first love. I just loved doing it so much.
Who are some early musical influences of your’s?
My mom loved Prince, so I listened to a lot of Prince. My dad was super into classic rock; he was really into Led Zeppelin, Guns and Roses, ACDC, and all those kind of glam-rock bands from the 80’s. Stevie Wonder and the Rolling Stones; those are all really early. And then whatever was on the radio, I guess, when I was really young. Like, I don’t even know… Colby Caillait? Corrine Bailey Rae? Yeah, like all those singer songwriter girls I liked when I was younger.
What about some of your current influences, musical or otherwise?
I’m super into Matty Matheson, he’s a chef. I love him. Yeah, I'm obsessed with him all the time. Picasso is a classic favorite painter of mine. I love the show Forged in Fire… I’m just kind of obsessed with television right now. I’m super into any kind of reality TV competition shows, so like anything having to do with craftsmanship or cooking. Forged in Fire is a show where they make knives from scrap metal… super obsessed with it.
Since you mentioned Matty Matheson, do you like to cook?
Yeah, I love cooking, it's kind of my second passion. It’s kind of up there with music, I feel like they’re really equal in terms of things I love doing and am kind of obsessed with.
What’s your favorite dish to cook?
I really love making pasta dishes, and I love cooking meat. I’m really just improvisational in the kitchen, I don’t really use recipes at all. I’ve been cooking forever, my mom’s a chef, so I just kind of use my intuition a lot of the time and whip shit up. That’s kind of my way to approach cooking. But yeah, I love making pasta, pasta’s probably my favorite thing to do; I’m Italian, so…
Would you say your creative and writing process is anything like your cooking process?
I think they’re very, very similar. I kind of approach both in a very improvisational way, and go with whatever I’m feeling in that moment. I make a lot of decisions in a split second. I go with my gut a lot of the time in writing and in cooking, and I don’t overthink things too much.
So tell me about your favorite part of this new project?
Writing the songs is always the most cathartic and rewarding part, I think, along with releasing it. Now that the whole thing is out, I feel really excited. It’s very rewarding to see people connecting so heavily with what I’ve made. But, I think writing is always the most important part, and liberating part of the process. Definitely the most creative part. The releasing part is always like, I’ve already made the music, I’ve already done the thing, so releasing is kind of… it’s a little excruciating for me sometimes. But I’m super happy it’s out. And it’s getting a lot of random-ass radio play, which is very exciting for me. They’re playing it on KROQ right now. I was driving around in the car yesterday, and it just came on… I was like, Holy fuck.
That’s wild.
Super crazy.
When I watched the "WOO!" music video, I was distinctly reminded of Spy Kids… was this intentional?
That was definitely one of the main references for that video. We tried to reference Spy Kids and Willy Wonka, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. When I was little I was obsessed and also kind of scared of the Fooglies from Spy Kids. And the Thumb Thumbs. I fucking love that movie so much, it’s so good. I was obsessed with how the mad scientist dude just formed the clay heads and that’s how they were made. With the 3D scanning and with the styling that I chose, we tried to make it super fucked up and weird and whimsical but dark. We chose the sky, all the clouds, to kind of mimic all the big Fooglie slides from that one scene.
Which Spy Kids character would you be, then?
I feel like I always related to Carmen; she was my girl. But, I also love the Thumb Thumbs. And I kinda walk like a Thumb Thumb. I kind of waddle when I walk; people honestly make fun of me for it a lot.
The video was dreamt up in collaboration with Agusta Yr (@iceicebabyspice on instagram), whose work often involves goopy 3D renders. What was this collab like?
The whole filming process we did entirely together. It was like 2 weeks before everything shut down for quarantine, we were able to film on green screen and get all those 3D scans done. My main influence in that process was definitely the styling and the performance in general. I was kind of directing my own body. But I did all the styling, I put together all the outfits, and I had a pretty clear vision of wanting to look kind of fucked up and crazy. In the actual putting together all the animation and building the world out, Agusta and I collaborated on that together and figured out what the world wanted to look like. I knew that I wanted to have the tree with the boobs on it, and I knew I wanted there to be fruit and food all over the place and to look super like the candy chocolate waterfall world from Willy Wonka. That’s what we were going for. She put together all the animation, I have no computer skills; That was all her.
You’re always sporting crazy colors and 60’s/70’s style vibes, and your music videos certainly match. What helped form the vision for your aesthetic?
The vision for my aesthetic is kind of just what I like? In terms of fashion and my style, I’m all about thrift stores. I kind of just go in and pick shit out that catches my eye. I think I’ve just always liked mixing patterns, like literally since I was a baby. My mom said I would always assemble all these insane outfits, and my aunt would get mad… I think that’s kind of how I’ve been my whole life. I just like what I like, man, and I just pick it out. For the visuals, I’ve always been attracted to bright, for lack of a better word, trippy visuals. My favorite visuals in highschool were MGMT and Tame Impala, and all that colorful, whacky, trippy shit. I’m super inspired by crazy, out-of-bounds movies, like a lot of Tim Burton stuff, I’m obsessed with.
What message are you conveying with “I’m Allergic to Dogs!”?
I would say, Express yourself how you wanna express yourself, and don’t be afraid to be weird. Because, for me, a lot of these songs are just very, very raw expressions of myself and how I was feeling the day that I wrote those songs. There wasn’t too much editing beyond day one of writing. Stick to your guns, and be who you are.
Your music career is off to a great start. What’s coming next?
There’s gonna be more music, eventually, so we can all look forward to that. I probably can’t tell you when, or I’m not gonna tell you when, but I’m also looking for a permanent place to live. I’ve kind of been floating around for the past couple months, so hopefully I find a nice apartment or house to live in.
