Stepping into the World of Anonymous Club
On AC’s debut album, SCREENSAVERS VOL. 1, they created songs like “Ketamean” and “Pavement,” propelling the listener into “Leave Out,” the ultimate song of the summer. The project blares hellish horns in the intro of “Bitch U Basic,” a track that features the likes of Hook and Chicken. Over the past month, AC has released visuals for “Bleedinout” and “Permission,” the project’s standout songs. Each melody embodies a sound that inspires us to dig deep and bring fun and fabness into every environment we enter.
Throughout this whole process, they ki’d and communed, facilitating a familial spirit at all times. Each member maintains a power that gives them the ability to illuminate the room and elevate the spaces they comprise. Together, they sustain their energy and hone in on the community they’ve built.
Check out the full interview below.
I’m obsessed with “Leave Out.” It’s giving song of the summer.
IZZY: I remember when I was just banging the demo. It sounded like one of those car accident commercials on the radio.
Tell me about the song, “Loosen Up.”
Tama: It is kinda about sex, but it's also just saying, like, ‘Have fun. Don't be so stuck up.’ We was channeling Ri so we was like, ‘We need some type of Island track,’ especially since I'm Jamaican. That's how it kind of came to be. It started off very, very bare. I always asked, ‘What does this make you feel like? What is it giving to you?’ Shayne was like, ‘Loosen up.’ He said those reference words so I kind of wrote around it. In maybe five minutes, the song was already made. I came back again, maybe two weeks later. He and Isaiah was there and we went through some harmony options for the track.
What intention did you carry into the studio while creating, “Pavement?”
Santiago: The lyrics pertain to my childhood and how violent it was. I care about my craft so I try to incorporate the way I grew up in any way I can.
Tell me about y’all’s studio sessions.
Santiago: We were bouncing ideas off of each other. Shayne had pulled up with this blonde wig and we were all laughing about it. It was definitely giving Hannah Montana.
What was the first day in the studio like?
Tama: The first day in the studio, I wouldn't necessarily say that I was nervous. I just didn't know exactly what to expect. You can go to a studio at some point, and there'll be 50 people in the room or there'll be one person in there. So the first time in the studio was great. It was just me, Shayne, and Nick. So many ideas were flowing right off the bat. It was such a good atmosphere. There were so many instruments in that room and I was kind of mesmerized. It was a bunch of synths, a piano, [and] things covering the entire wall. Very intimate, but cute.
When did you first feel accepted by your family?
IZZY: When [I] turned 17, I came out of the closet. I wasn't kicked out of my house, [but] it was just so much pressure so I dipped. I met one of my best friends and we kind of became like family. A couple of weeks later, we're in this house where everyone is practicing for Ballroom. I'm looking around like, ‘What the fuck is going on?’ Everyone's living together in this one-bedroom apartment. There are six people sleeping in the bed [and] on the floor. Then I met my gay dad who wasn't in the Ballroom scene. He took me in and changed my life. That’s when I felt accepted.
Tell me about the sense of family that has branched from the collective, Anonymous Club.
IZZY: Shayne has this way about him that is very motherly. When I was 21, I kind of got put off of making music because of one bad show. It wasn't even that bad, but I put music on the back burner for a long time. It wasn't ‘till I got to the studio with Shayne that kind of pulled it out and made me feel so comfortable. He just has this genuine vibe and is like this glue that sticks people together. Before meeting him, I didn't know any of the other residents. Since then, you know, we're all pretty close. I just feel like Shayne brings creative minds together. I think that's the reason everybody's having a good time. Everybody's just open.
It feels like you got all the girls in the industry and just decided to carry. What was the inspo behind this project?
LEECH: SCREENSAVERS VOL. 1 came out of trying to figure out a way to be less about fashion. I've been having plans of relaunching HBA which is obviously still happening. But with new partners and a new sort of trajectory, I wanted to leave that in its own space, so that it could grow on its own. I started to create demos and work with people that I felt comfortable with and held secrets with. Then I began to reach out to people through doing parties within the city. While I was doing that, I was working on demos with Nick and sending out stuff to kids. Then COVID began to happen. I was like, ‘Okay, I'm gonna keep it even more local.’ This is also around the same time Thugpop was beginning to hang out with Izzy and we were all clicking together. Then it became even more family-oriented. We were kind of quarantining together. Then the writing sessions began, and it was a way for us to build a world that now is blossoming outside of COVID while things are coming back to life. Within that moment, I met the boys who worked on the sound. I started working with Nick and then met with Gabe and Pablo. Sabrina was living in Europe and was only here in spurts. Tama has so many songs because they were just so around. The process was based on trying to organically get back to that place that I felt connected to within New York, and then it grew into a new family.
I loved the song “Ketamean.” What’s been your experience with ketamine?
LEECH: In New York, drugs and that subculture come in so many different waves. I had been out of the loop on that for a long time because I've been in London. I came back to New York and I didn't really feel the vibe of the going out thing. Like, ‘How do I do this?’ Then I discovered the idea of ketamine in London. That got me back into the idea of being comfortable again. It was like a social anxiety relief system. Mistervacation would come over and I began having more insular events. Ketamine can make the smallest room the largest club. You can edit the extreme personalities in and out of situations when you're experiencing that drug. I didn't even do much, but I love how it was easy to make decisions. It was like, ‘Oh, this personality when I'm on this is a very triggering thing. This thing is a very smooth and easy relationship.’ I had a session with Sabrina and she got it immediately. I gave her two different lines because in my version of “Ketamean,” the demo was wavy and all about the mood of creating. She added the structure and stuff like that. I just love that I could relate to the way that a substance makes me feel. The kids just want to connect and that's why they're doing substances in public with each other so that they can become friends easily, you know?
It’s like they’re finding ways to heal. How has this project healed you?
LEECH: When I first started doing music with Arca, it was very healing for me because I had come out of a very tumultuous situation via Ghetto Gothic. With GG, it was the same family situation. It was a rude awakening of like, ‘Okay, at night in this specific situation, we're all really close.’ Then right after that, I started working on music for the HBA projects. You have to create support for yourself, so when I was doing the album, I came off of such a marathon of dealing with fashion as a job, you know. I needed to figure out how to begin to enjoy my creativity again. What I do is pretty emo, at least the beginning of this one was super emo because I was almost needing to be confident. Alejandra, when we first started working on HBA music, was like the healer. Coming from GG to HBA, I was needing healing. This was like a healing situation.
What did this healing process feel like?
LEECH: It felt very, very empty. At the time, I was doing it on my own, by choice. So it was me kind of forcing myself to be even more alone. I leaned way more into the weirdness and it was almost like being in an isolation tank. I could feel the world moving around me, but inside was very cold and I liked that. That part of it was very healing. Then I could add the warmth back. I can add the connections [and] the relationships back. It created a new balance for me. I feel so guru’d not because I'm doing this to be one, but because of the steps that it took to get through it. I feel a new form of Buddhism or something is arising from this sort of process for myself.
Thoughts on fabulosity?
LEECH: It’s about the internal part. Everyone thinks that it’s about you projecting and making everyone feel like you’re the bomb. When you get to that place where you can let it all out, it’s so internal, actually. I’m getting to the place where I’m doing all the artwork for LEECH and I’m just feeling fab in that moment. It’s so amazing to get in your zone and get in your shit. There is no substance or influence that makes you feel fab. It’s definitely a divine connection. You have to get into that headspace and channel what you’re feeling. Christen Mooney is so that. She so has that down. It’s all about the internal sense. You can’t really be fab if the internal zen’s off. Same thing with Alejandra, too. It’s like the internal zen. It is on. That’s what I’m getting back to too.
