The jump from experimental producer to pop star is a gutsy jump for any artist to make, but Skylar Spence has all but stuck the landing. Ryan DeRobertis, a Long Island native, took advantage from signing to Carpark Records to leave his past as vaporwave producer, Saint Pepsi. Under his new moniker, DeRobertis crafted nu-disco tracks the old-fashioned way, recording each instrument one by one, thus leading to a full band being a part of his tour.
Ahead of his show at Valley Bar on Oct. 25, he opened up his schedule to talk about the transition from producer to pop star, a special star in his music video and "The Gremlins."
You’re on tour with a full band right now, which is a huge change from DJing and producing as Saint Pepsi. Was that always the plan?
I don’t know if it was a plan from Saint Pepsi to have this career spiral into what it is now. I think it just, after I signed to Carpark Records, that I talked to them about singing over my tracks and they were really into the idea. It just made sense from there to bring a full band.
The shift from the vaporwave material to being a nu-disco pop artist was really wild. How would you classify yourself?
If I had to describe myself, I’d go with pretty damn weird. I just try to make music for whatever I feel at the moment. I might end having record come out that sounds like Oasis if that’s where life directs me. Music has always been a gateway to discovery for me in paying tribute to other genres or artists.
For describing yourself as weird, do you have anything in your room that fits the bill?
This thing I got from a couple of fans in Detroit, I got a doll of Gizmo from the movie "Gremlins." They gave it to me when I was still doing DJ sets, saying “If it gets lonely on tour.” It was one of the sweetest things I’ve ever got.
You make a point to be reflective in your music. Sometimes it comes off like a jab back toward the Saint Pepsi material.
I meant it more as wink than as a jab. I was dealing with a lot of depression when I was Boston College my freshman year. My parents were really frustrated with the fact I could make a record but couldn’t get my shit together for school. They didn’t really get the music I was making also and they always referred to it as “slowing music down.” It has nothing to with how feel about vaporwave. Some people take it more seriously than I thought they would.
Speaking of the video “Can’t You See” which has that line, how did you get Coconut Head (Rob Pinkston) from Ned’s Declassified for the music video?
The director of the video Tim Hendrix had worked with Carpark before. He sent over a treatment for the video, one of the slides said he had a friend who was a Skylar Spence fan who also happened to be Pinkston. It’s just a small world where that just falls into my lap.
Make sure to catch Skylar Spence on tour Sunday, Oct. 25 at Valley Bar. You can purchase tickets here.
Reach the reporter at dloche@asu.edu or follow @DMLoche on Twitter.
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