Travel Out of Your Body with Squale

“The song is fun and gives you a head rush. At this point in my career, I’m looking to give the fans a new experience and express my sound in a way that they haven’t gotten to see from me when I was solely a producer. OUTTABODY grew from the beat I was making, and the lyrics just came naturally. Similar to one of those sparks’ God gives you to keep going, the flow gave me a euphoric feeling, almost out of body.” The East Coast artist freely spills over a unique beat cementing himself as an artist as well as a producer with the release of “OUTTABODY”.

His upcoming album, Hear.no.evil, spin tales of tragedy, triumph, romance and everything in-between, creating anthems that sit at the intersection of despair and inspiration, drawing from a life that’s been filled with unexpected twists and turns.

Check out the exclusive interview with the artist below.

Well first off, how are you? What’s on your mind right now and what are you feeling grateful for today?

I’m feeling grateful that I woke up this morning and I'm healthy, my family's health and my friends are healthy and everybody is striving to be the best right now that I know. Overall I'm thankful to be alive and for all the blessings.

Amazing. You were born in Staten Island, in the boroughs of New York. How did your surroundings and upbringing shape your current values?

Growing up in Staten Island, I got to witness both sides of the metric of society. Being from a half black and half white family and understanding the difference between different social skills that you have to develop while growing up in school. I think that had a large impact on my music because I got to experience different kinds of music growing up. I feel like that shaped a lot of the things that were going on, but at that time and still, up until now, I grew up in Rockland County and Staten island so I had a diverse upbringing. My mother passed away when I was five, so I was raised mostly by my grandparents and my, and my father.

For sure. How have you injected your culture into your music? How do you sort of fuse your cultures together?

My dad would listen to a lot of Motown, Jackie Wilson, and Stevie Wonder so it was more integrated soul music. Then coming off living with my grandparents, I was raised on a lot of rolling stones and Beatles. So I think those two influences had a large impact on the music that I make right now. I don't listen to much hip-hop music. Most of my influences come from the background of my culture and what I was raised on and how I listened to music.

We live in a world where access to making beats and music is much more attainable. Describe your experience as an artist back when you first started.

I feel like it's a lot different now. When I was getting into music, you couldn't just put music out on platforms like YouTube or up on the internet. I came in before all of that, even the SoundCloud generation. It was more structured in a way where you still needed a deal and you still needed the market viewing in a certain way. Coming in around 2010, you were just getting introduced to blogs and MySpace. Now it's a bit easier just because somebody could put a song out and it could go crazy overnight just by the power of social media. When I started, you didn't even have all that. Somebody could work with somebody from the Netherlands through email and collaborate with somebody from Canada and make such a big record.

How did working with talents like Drake, Cardi B, PnB Rock, Russ and all of these other artists sharpen your sound? In other words, how have they assisted in paving the way towards your current ambitions?

Working with them as a producer helped shape me out as an artist. I learned how to move in the industry and stay grounded during certain situations, which was important because your personal life could impact your music too. Most of my music is just purely impacted on the moment that I'm living in whatever's going on at that particular time in my life, more of a diary. They also taught me how to perform better and it's inspiring to see those kinds of people work and see what we were able to do together. Also seeing how they integrate their work into the real world and how they're able to make such an impact on society and inspire millions and millions of people just through the power of sound.

So I think that had a lot to do with teaching me how to kind of do the same thing in my music. Once I was able to witness that, it kind of led me to wanna come more onto the scene of being an artist and having my voice and being able to tell my story in the same way they're able to tell their story. I feel like my story is different because it's my life and everybody's upbringing or life is different. So for me to be able to tell my story and have similar situations that people could relate to, I think I could help people relate to me and have them feel more comfortable listening to my music, knowing that other people are going through the same things.

Following your most recent release, Can’t Feel Love, you just released your latest single, OUTTABODY. Could you talk about this song?

OUTTABODY was an abstract of sounds. I tried to do something different with this track, where it wasn't such a standard, 8 0 8 beats. You can kind of catch more cultural backgrounds of things that I was brought up into, like how the drum structure is and even the way that the song is arranged, I didn't particularly arrange it in a standard way, I kind of just did it in a more untraditional way and I feel like that would be able to grasp, uh, the listener a little bit more just to hear something different than what everybody else is doing, because I feel like a lot of the music out right now sounds similar.

So I feel like being able to stick out in a crowded area with people that look the same and sound the same. If I was able to do something a little bit different and still be able to blend in which OUTTABODY kind of relates to a lot. This track still blends into what people are listening to right now and it’s still different at the same time. This track was more about what I was feeling at that time and at that moment. I was feeling in a good mood when I made it, so, it has that fun effect.

Yeah, definitely. What themes are embedded throughout the track?

I was trying to make it a fun track. Something that somebody could dance to and I wanted it to have a more futuristic sound and the song was all produced and mixed by me. Then it was mixed by Nick Cavalieri, who is one of my best friends that I make music with. I also added on production with Joe Spinelli. Those are two people that I credit a lot with my sound but everything is self-produced and self-written by myself. Once I get to a certain point, I send it out to Nick to just put the icing on the cake, and then I have Joe put some sprinkles on it. I feel like in that record I was just trying to get a more serious, but fun aesthetic all while giving off a vibe that I'm here to stay.

What outside elements helped you shape the entire production of the song? In other words, what was the process behind creating the beats and lyrics?

I pretty much had the whole record done already and the song came pretty fast. I might have recorded a record in about 15 to 20 minutes. I was just waiting for God to give me the words and inspiration to do it. Once I felt it in my gut to sit down and record it, I sat down and recorded it and I was able to get it out fast, which was a blessing. Once I had the record at a certain point I added more effects and accents to it before sending it off to Nick to mix it.

So Nick usually just brings my mixing to a whole other professional level and he’s a very known engineer in New York right now. He's worked with P and B rock, Mac Miller and he's big in the Brooklyn drill scene right now. From him, I was introduced to Joe Spinelli who is a great producer and he’s trained in classical and jazz music and he’s a drummer as well. So anything that I might not be hearing, Joe might be able to add something that I haven’t heard before, but usually, I come to Joe with an idea and he’s able to expand on that, and take it to another height that I probably wouldn't have. So Joe can just add little touches into stuff.

Yeah, that's awesome and I love the collaborative effort between all of you.

Yeah, even when the record's already done, I always have them evaluate it and I always take it to them and see what they could do to it. Even though I know it's done on my part, I always see if we could take it up a notch. But yeah, It's just what I was feeling at that time, you know, and I just feel like the authenticity in the record can express myself as naturally as I can.

I guess my last question to you would be, what do you have planned for the rest of 2021? What can you tell us about your future projects?

I have a lot of songs that I've been working on. We’re still working with this one track that explains the transition from producer to artist. All I want is for people to respect me, know me more as an artist than the producer. So for the future, we're probably gonna put out a couple of more singles depending on how we feel, but we have an EP leading up that should be coming out sometime in November and then an album dropping towards the end of the year. We want to keep the momentum going with new singles and projects. I think it's gonna be something special and right now I’m more on acting out at the moment and just letting it happen naturally.

My upcoming EP tells my story and the lyrics. A lot of the records are to my beats and It highlights the rollercoaster of my life experience. My thoughts and my transition from producer to artist and some of the things that I've been dealing with throughout the industry and dealing with personal life and industry life. I think what people could expect on the EP is that not every song sounds the same. So, you know, there's, there's a song on there that each person could vibe and connect with. I’m just letting people understand that I'm not a rapper, I'm a recording artist and I don’t want to be placed in a box. I'm not trying to be anything more or less than what I am and who I am. I think my music means a lot to me because it's really about how I felt at that moment. I think I've accomplished what I set out to do. You know, if somebody else can feel something, when they listen to my music, I think that solidifies me doing my job and I'm not trying to be anybody that I'm not.

Music

Jesse Jo Stark Is in a Genre of Her Own

April 19, 2024

In the midst of a total solar eclipse, I got the chance to talk about music and style with Jesse Jo Stark.

As I’m on the phone with her from New York, Stark is on a tour bus with The Veronicas, driving through the Colorado mountains to enjoy some time off in between shows. The Veronicas have just started their Gothic Summer North American Tour, and Stark is opening the show. What’s special about this tour for the lifelong music obsessive is the sense of powerful feminine energy encapsulating the tour. “We just started [tour], but it’s been really lovely. I’m obsessed with the fact that we’re all women — it feels like a very powerful crew. The Veronicas are lovely, the crowds have been so fun, and the venues are beautiful. It’s gonna be a good month.”

Photography Sophia-Liv Maguire
Styling Marc Eram
Interview Angelina Hazzouri
Talent Jesse Jo Stark
Hair Antoine Martinez with PARADIS using Roz Hair
Makeup Sydney Szramowski
Photo Assistants Mia O’Neal, Rashaun Richardson
BTS Ms Josephine
Creative Producer Olivia Roper-Caldbeck

This is Stark’s second time touring since the release of her full-length debut album DOOMED in late 2022, which was very well received and led to Stark’s first sold-out international headlining tour on behalf of the album. Previous to her solo tour, she’s opened for various notable acts, such as Guns N’ Roses and Jane’s Addiction. I asked Stark, who’s been writing and playing music since age 11, what it was like to prepare for her first sold-out headlining tour. Unsurprisingly, before any tour, Stark goes into what she describes as “bootcamp mode” — dancing every day, vocal training, rehearsing with her band, and of course, working on her outfits. “That’s the sort of homework I love,” she says, smiling. (Even though we’re on the phone, I can tell she’s smiling when she talks about the outfit part. I’d smile too if I had her tour closet.)

What’s unique about Stark as a musician is that she has ultimately created her own universe by embracing every aspect of her creative upbringing, her raw talent, her fascinating influences, and her unwavering beliefs in not needing to fit into a certain box when it comes to her art. She creative-directs and styles all her own looks, referencing an ever-evolving list of influences that range from Vegas showgirls to Halloween to old films to her parents in the 90s. “I think when I was younger, I had this rebellion against what I was made from,” she tells me, “but now it’s just my blood. I constantly reflect on my childhood and everything I was taught and everything I saw. My brother and sister and I are constantly pulling influences from our parents from the past. I think, more than ever, I’m heavily influenced by them.”

Stark, the daughter of founders and owners of the self-made American fashion brand Chrome Hearts, and now its creative director and designer, is someone who always knew what she liked, but as she describes it, had to ‘go through the motions’ that come with growing up and knowing one’s identity. Today, her self-efficacy is palpable — and it’s inspiring.

...when I was younger, I had this rebellion against what I was made from, but now it’s just my blood.

When she’s on tour, Stark is growing with herself and with her art — she’s not afraid to take life as it comes and learn through the process. With every show, regardless of whether it was on her DOOMED tour or this tour with The Veronicas, Stark understands the importance of human connection through music. Seeing faces of music lovers like herself, meeting those who have traveled to see her, and visiting familiar and unfamiliar cities has reminded her that she loves being on the road. “The growth that happens on tour is so important to me as an artist.” Sometimes we have to leave behind what’s familiar in order to rediscover what’s important, and Stark is a proponent of this growth mindset.

Growth doesn’t just happen on tour with Stark — this evolution of herself happens within genre as well, and for Stark there’s no such thing. Since her first release Driftwood in 2017, the artist’s sound has shifted year after year, but in a harmonious way that still feels central to her gothic Americana roots. When asked if she’ll experiment with genre in the future, Stark confidently answers, “I think I’ve only experimented with genre. I don’t think anyone knows what genre I am.” (She calls herself a “horrific hillbilly” — a perfect descriptor.) Steadfast in her belief that we as humans can constantly evolve in our work, Stark thinks it’s antiquated to fit yourself into a certain box and focus on one specific trade in order to succeed. “If you look at us as people, we’re seasoned. We change all the time. I want to experience different things.”

Since Driftwood, a two-song EP rooted in rock and country, Stark has experimented with more robust beats and 808s on DOOMED, and her most recent single “skeleton” features a softer, grungier punk sound. Without fitting into a specific genre, Stark’s music is undoubtedly and wholeheartedly her own, transcending the boundaries of what many artists struggle with when finding their sound. “I don’t think we should have to label ourselves in any way, shape, or form; so I’m not going to. I will continue to make all types of different music.” Fuck yeah.

If you look at us as people, we’re seasoned. We change all the time.

This goes beyond just music — in terms of her personal style, the same mentality applies. We discuss the idea that clothing and dressing is a sort of playground, and personal style comes from within. Stark isn’t about following trends, but rather, she thinks it’s important to tap into different stylistic elements that amplify who we are at our cores. On her DOOMED tour, Stark wore a lot of leather and stuck to a fairly dark color palette. Right now, she’s into more bourgeois satin and lace, experimenting with different textures and wearing things that feel slightly daintier and more delicate. On this current tour with the Veronicas, Stark is making it more of a point to take everything in — absorbing inspiration from every city, writing songs on the road, recording video on a friend’s super 8 camera, styling and wearing new outfits, learning and performing new covers — ultimately growing through the whole experience.

It’s endearing and inspiring how well Stark knows herself. A Los Angeles native, she proudly tells me that the tour finishes on May 5 in her hometown, a show that she’s especially excited for. While we can’t predict what thoughtfully-curated outfit she’ll wear or what songs will be performed, with new music already underway, one thing is clear: Jesse Jo Stark is just getting started.

Music

9lives' Latest Single Continues to Push Sigilkore

April 19, 2024

The versatile artist, producer, and pioneer of the sigilkore genre, 9lives, has recently unveiled his latest single "CANADA" featuring jnhygs. In less than two years since his emergence onto the music scene, 9lives has carved out an impressive niche for himself as a prominent figure within the digitally-driven sigilkore movement. "CANADA" sees him teaming up once again with experimental dance artist jnhygs, following their successful collaboration on "XTAYALIVE".

With aspirations to establish himself within the mainstream arena of experimental music production and artistry, 9lives is blending his distinct dark production style with collaborations with a diverse array of influential artists who trust him to create innovative sonic landscapes. "CANADA" marks his second release of 2024, as 9lives continues to champion the burgeoning sigilkore movement, pushing the boundaries of genre, evolving into a multifaceted artist, and solidifying his status as a rising star with an expanding audience.

Image by Connor Pritchard

Reflecting on their latest project, 9lives shares, “In early 2023 jnhygs found my music and we started chatting through TikTok, releasing our first song together called "XTAYALIVE"." He adds, We’ve been friends since this song had a viral moment, and fans have been heavily requesting for us to work together again all over our videos.” Describing their creative process, he explains, “I sent a bunch of new ideas to jnhygs via Discord and she sent back vocals to “CANADA”, which I then used to create melodic layers and extra percussion to complete the song.

Music

Eclipsed at Vampire Weekend

April 16, 2024

It had been about a week since the goosebump-inducing communal howls at the moon, as it covered the sun through a cloudy Austin, Texas sky, left me needing to take a seat—suspended in awe of the totality of the event and the synergistic break from routine. I overheard someone say, “I mean, it feels like we’re all going to die, but in a way that’s okay, you know?" under the shadow of the eclipse's peak, ceremoniously brought in as the band performed “Jonathan Low,” (in Vampire Weekend's familiar ironic hue) a track they wrote for the third movie in the Twilight series, Eclipse.

It had been five years since the band had released an album. In celebration of their latest album, "Only God Was Above Us," ticket holders wrapped the streets in blocks outside the venue for the band’s first Stateside show in about two years. Event managers searched to replenish the venue’s stock of eclipse glasses, while the band prepped a show reminiscent of 'getting the boys back together again'.

Words and photography by Rianne Akindele

In between newly released songs like “Classical” and “Capricorn”, the boys filled the almost two-hour-long show with old favorites like “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa”, “Diane Young” and a genre evolved rendition of “Sunflower” as the crowd danced barefoot feeling the Earth’s energy intertwined with their own and the vibrations from the amps on stage. People stole glances at the imminently darkening sky, artists doodled, friends grabbed onto each other to scream the lyrics in each other’s faces, and onlookers from the highest level of the parking garage across the street cheered on in a symphony of nostalgia and anticipation.

Adding to the layers of the celestial afternoon, the band invited to the stage the likes of Thomas Mars from Phoenix, Dave 1 from Chromeo, and guitarist Brian Robert Jones, inducing further levels of indie revival euphoria.

As the show drew to its close, and the zydeco/country-rock “Cocaine Cowboys” medley fiddled through the air, a conversation could be picked up between two sisters in search of their Lyft driver through closed-off streets,

“I wish this happened more often.”
“Eclipses or shows like this?”
“Both.”

It’s moments like these that remind us of our shared humanity and the power of collective experiences; a gathering of souls under the same sky, sharing the joy of music and a wonder of the stars above. Perhaps it’s the rarity that allowed such transcendence, reverence, and gratitude to be felt. Either way, what a beautiful moment in time it was.

Here are a few shots from the Monday afternoon: