Load Game: an interview with My Sister’s Fugazi Shirt
Nautilus III has just launched, closing out the first of four planned trilogies. I had a chance to catch up with My Sister’s Fugazi Shirt to chat about the future of Nautilus and other interests and influences on his work.
maki: So for starters, you're coming off of two successful releases, with Devil's Cartridge and Nautilus III selling out their physicals pretty quickly. I'm big on heavy theming so I had to snag Devil's Cartridge right away. You guys covered a bit on the collaboration in the Anomaly Index interview, but was there anything you think worked particularly well between you two during the process of building Devil's Cartridge?
My Sister’s Fugazi Shirt: Devil's Cartridge came together surprisingly easy considering its length and scope. We both had a very open, trusting work ethic with collaborating where we never really told the other person what to do with a track, just sent a part over and let the other one do what they wanted with it. There really was never any time where something didn't work or we had to go "oh you know maybe let's not do that.”
m: Nice. I think that open-mindedness is one of the best characteristics of the vaporwave scene as a whole. I think I saw some concepts for the artwork early on and was very curious to see what would come of it. I sure wasn't thinking of Donburi Ramen! Did the backstory get crafted in a similar fashion?
MSFS: The backstory came together quite easily too. We came up with a general plot outline and bullet points for what story beats we wanted to hit, i.e. how many dungeons and battle themes and save rooms/menu music. The whole thing was very 50/50 in how we split the ideas. Frogmore did all the art so I can't take credit for that though.
m: I love it, it's like some hipster version of Dethklok.
MSFS: Oh wow that’s a great compliment!
m: Ha, I feel like Adult Swim is one of those common threads among vaporwave fans. Moving on (and sort of backwards), it always seems to be the case that vaporwave producers are into many other genres of music before reaching vaporwave. Care to share a bit of backstory on that?
MSFS: Yeah, I'm a massive music nerd so to say. I've been collecting vinyl for over fifteen years and I’m a big supporter of physical media. Before vaporwave, I dabbled in indie-lofi bedroom rock type music as a solo project. I've played in tons of bands previously as well ranging from noise, shoegaze and even a ska band (haha!). As far as personal tastes I listen to a variety of stuff. I have a soft spot for classic emo circa mid to late 90s but I also really enjoy experimental music and black metal.
m: Ah, you've hit all the scenes! Thinking back, I want to say the first I’d heard of your work on Twitter or something was maybe last year? What led to the transition into vaporwave?
MSFS: Yeah, it was about a year ago exactly from now. Being in lockdown and stuck indoors definitely pushed the transition. Playing loads of video games especially and the recent Final Fantasy VII Remake brought out all this nostalgia and I started just messing around with tracks and it just clicked.
m: They just put the remake out for free on PS Plus, can’t wait to sit down with it. While we’re on the topic, which is your favorite Final Fantasy game?
MSFS: Favorite would have to be either VI or XIII. I know XIII is a weird pick but I love the setting and the battle system even though the game itself is linear.
m: The last one I played before falling away from the series was XII. Not to say it was bad, just couldn’t sink time into something like that at that time. However, VI is far and away my favorite too! For my money, FF6, Chrono Trigger, and Earthbound are the peak trinity of that era of JRPGs.
MSFS: Ahh yes those three truly are the pinnacle of JRPG of that era for sure!
m: Getting back to the project, I remember seeing the cover of Nautilus I, and immediately was like "Final Fantasy font, cherry blossoms, this is gonna be something I'll get into." Each track really is a glimpse into a different world. I wasn't surprised it caught on, but was shocked when the megalixir vinyl showed up!
MSFS: The megalixir vinyl was a ton of fun. I really wish I could've done more copies of it! I've always wanted to own a liquid-filled vinyl but never got the chance to buy one so this was my way of getting one.
m: I knew it was going to be out of my range at the time; definitely a collector's piece! Moving on, I feel like God's in His Heaven really kick-started things for you, and you've really kept the momentum going since then, which can be hard to do. As an aside, did you preorder the Eva soundtrack that just got pressed?
MSFS: I did get the soundtrack! God’s In His Heaven was exciting because I didn’t do anything different promo-wise compared to my other albums, and it took off pretty well. I guess because of the Eva name being attached! I made it during a rewatch last summer, it was my wife’s first time watching it too so it made it special. For that one I definitely set out to kind of soundtrack the show along as I watched it and I think it fits really well.
m: I enjoyed it; should have grabbed the tape so I can zone out like Shinji with his headphones. What do you think about the rebuilds?
MSFS: I like them. Not as much as the original but they’re pretty good. I’m excited to see the last one, and have avoided spoilers luckily!
m: Once I knew there was going to be the massive wait for 3.0 + 1.0 I just sort of forgot about it. But I remember watching the first one thinking "well they just powered through nearly everything, where do we go from here?" I like the reboots, but am partial to the series as well. However, I don’t know what it is, but that episode where they have to dive deep into the ocean for that one angel always puts me to sleep, so I consider it a low point of the series. What are your favorite and least favorite bits of the series?
MSFS: Ah, “Magma Diver?” Yeah, that one always feels long. I love the beginning of the series and build up, especially right when Asuka shows up. Best episode is the dance synchro one (“Moment and Heart Together” - ed). I don’t really have any low points except for how the Netflix version took out “Fly Me To The Moon,” and how they say Nerv like “Nervffv.”
OG dub is the king.
m: The series does start strong; it’s great how you just kind of get thrown into all this, parallel to Shinji’s situation I suppose. That dance episode was definitely a high point! I was sad to see no Pen Pen in the reboots though. I haven’t watched them on Netflix but I can’t do dubs - any foreign media I gotta go with subtitles. American voice acting is, by and large, horrible.
MSFS: Ah yeah I miss Pen Pen for sure. I usually prefer dubbed animation but subtitles for live action. I watch a lot of foreign films so I’m used to it. And live action dubs are the worst.
m: Yes, I've seen your "weekend movie board" posts. I have been so out of the loop with movies. What are a few great ones in recent memory?
MSFS: I haven’t seen too many recent movies as in new releases. Unfortunately I feel it’s so dull with everything being remakes or superhero movies. Good Time was very good. That’s a recent one that’s definitely worth a watch.
m: I did see Uncut Gems but not Good Time. Any films that inspire your music as video games do?
MSFS: Yes, a lot do in fact. Lots of anime plus films like Her, Lost In Translation, Scott Pilgrim, Before Sunrise have definitely inspired certain tracks.
m: I still haven’t seen any of Linklater’s Before trilogy. They’ve been on the list for ages!
Back to Nautilus, you've mentioned that III closed the first of four trilogies. Looking at the descriptions of I and II, they seem more exploratory, whereas III, even explicitly in the description, seems very "let me paint a picture."
MSFS: Nautilus I especially was very much like “let’s make a bunch of tracks that kinda feel different but fit as a collection” I wanted it to be like each track was a different area of a world or map in a game. For Nautilus II, I went into it with that same idea, trying to get variety but cohesion. By Nautilus III I really knew the story I wanted it to tell and made the tracks to fit the narrative. That’s why it’s more thematic. I kind of had to go back and write the beginning of the story based around the existing tracks but it ended up not being too difficult.
m: You did also mention a ‘zine on Twitter. There’s definitely a lot of potential when you’re building a world across different media. So at this point, do you have a plan sketched out for the rest of the Nautilus series?
MSFS: The ‘zine will be coming out with the vinyl repress of Nautilus I in early April. It’s a track by track story of the first three. About twenty five pages long so it’s like a little novella. I have a basic plan sketched out. Especially for the next two or three. I don’t know how it’s going to end yet though.
m: Will the ‘zine be a separate item or as part of a bundle?
MSFS: I’ll have it as a bundle and a separate item. It’ll basically be made-to-order and self assembled. Frogmore, who I worked with on Devil Cartridge, will be doing illustrations of characters for it.
m: That was going to be my next question, if there were any collaborators. When I was young, I really did love looking through the instruction manuals and strategy guides for games. I obviously love Amano and Toriyama. Are those going to be fully handmade then?
MSFS: I totally miss the physical game manuals, I loved those as a kid too. They’ll be professionally printed but hand assembled. Full color cover and standard black and white interior.
m: Can’t wait to check it out! Did you want to give any sort of preview to the story or leave it a bit of a mystery?
MSFS: It covers a lot of standard JRPG tropes. A world at war between different regions fighting over elemental energy as well as a royal family’s conflict. Lots of Final Fantasy inspiration.
m: Regarding your process, obviously you are using samples (I like that you list some of them in the Bandcamp descriptions), but did you want to share anything about your creative process overall, how do you build a track?
MSFS: I work quite fast on a track. If it's not coming together right away I tend to throw it away. I'll usually start with a melody I like and then build from there, adding drums next. My favorite thing is to layer melodies on top of one another which you can hear a lot on Nautilus III with a lot of the piano-based tracks.
m: I will say, all the piano on that album really gets me thinking of Chrono Trigger, especially coupled with the album description. What’s your hardware/software setup?
MSFS: I use a Macbook Air with Logic Pro. Slate Digital plug-ins. A basic 24-key midi controller and that’s about it. Sometimes I'll run a guitar through an interface as well.
m: It always amazes me what people can do with a minimal setup, the democratization of creation is wonderful. Which is why I think vaporwave has such an abundance of producers in general. What’s your take on that?
MSFS: There’s good and bad about it I feel. The access to make music being so easy is wonderful of course but I do feel the scene can get quite crowded and overwhelming at times. That’s sort of why I’ve moved away from working with labels as I feel releases get lost in the shuffle sometimes, with the abundance of stuff coming out.
m: You’ve done fine self releasing, so I’d stick with what works! What’s your end-goal for your music? Quit your day job, keep as a fun side hustle, etc?
MSFS: I wish I could quit my day job and do music. I work in healthcare so I don’t think that will ever be an option really (too many student loans), but my previous goal was to release an album on vinyl, so I met that and that was a huge accomplishment. At this point music helps as a great side hustle and it’s something I really love doing so if I can keep it growing even slightly I’ll be grateful.
m: I feel like one has to be of a particular mindset and circumstance to be able to pull off full time art. That and a bit of luck and fortunate timing. Those student loans can be a killer, though!
Going back to your process, you said you toss ideas out if things don’t really gel quickly. So there’s no “b-sides” or outtakes to speak of? You just let the ideas go?
MSFS: Most of the time, yes. I really only have a handful of b-sides and they’re more unfinished tracks than anything. I don’t really have anything fully fleshed out that isn’t released. Sometimes there’ll be a nice melody or beat that I just can’t quite figure out a transition to and I’ll leave it go. So I have some short little minute-long tracks unused but that’s it. Now unreleased projects are a whole other topic! I have three completed albums just waiting to release.
m: Are any those part of the Nautilus story?
MSFS: No, these three are all separate. Nautilus IV is in early stages right now. Of those other three I have a follow up to God’s In His Heaven, a new classic vaporwave album that’s sample-free, and a seapunk/hyperpop type thing based on old PlayStation menu music.
m: Sounds like a lot of good stuff waiting in the wings. Once we get back to “normal life,” any intention of performing live?
MSFS: Yes for sure, I’d love to play live. Haven’t quite figured out the logistics of it yet but it’s definitely something I want to try out.
m: There’s a great scene out on the East Coast, surely you’d be able to do it! Maybe you could charge just $5 or $10, just like Fugazi did back in the day. Speaking of which, can’t recall if this has been asked or answered anywhere, but does your sister actually have a Fugazi shirt?
MSFS: Philly has a great music scene and lots of options for shows for sure. I don’t have a sister or a Fugazi shirt. There’s a method to the madness behind the name!
m: An Easter egg hidden within the Nautilus?
MSFS: That’s a good idea! All I can say is that it’s a deep obscure pop culture reference that I didn’t think anyone would figure out but a few have.
m: Sounds like I’m gonna need a bigger boat!
___________
You can find all of My Sister’s Fugazi Shirt’s music on bandcamp, and follow them on Twitter!
