In an ideal world, somewhere on the pop spectrum you would find dirty crackles of sound that seem like they’ve been dipped in wet gravel. Well, it seems that we do live in that ideal world, because WEBB’s latest EP, Take Away The Pain is, sonically, playing around in the dirt. The Toronto-based artist’s EP is a time capsule of the city’s current cultural state, full of guitar-heavy tracks and local features. It shoves your face right into the wet gutters of Dundas Street and gives you some makeshift Toronto pink eye. That’s a good thing. It’ll make you want to twerk your damn pad off. Read more about WEBB’s EP and listen to Take Away The Pain, below.
What the fuck does WEBB mean?
WEBB: Well, WEBB came out of the Covid era and was created out of bedroom demos after being isolated and getting into different music. I was in a band, Goodbye Honolulu, for years, almost ten years before this all started. I was going to name it some bizarre shit; I was actually going to call it Walker. I remember trying to find simple names, and my friend from LA, Brem, was hanging out, and he made me a playlist. We were talking about music and hitting it off, and he wrote “WEBB” for a playlist. I saw and went “of course.”
From bedroom demos to where you are now, what have you been releasing? I know you had a bunch of releases before the EP, Take Away The Pain, came out.
Everything before the EP were one-off singles; I did everything on GarageBand that I either worked on with roommates or friends. Everything was visually accompanied by music videos. I was trying to stray as far away from a normal release strategy as possible. WEBB always just started as a multimedia project. I wanted to do more than just drop songs or work towards an EP or an album. So, we did that for a couple of years.
I mean, yes, I slowly started gaining traction in Toronto, playing with bands like 9Million and eventually working with Prince Josh, who produced and wrote the EP with us. When we started working together with Young Clancy, I was showing them my GarageBand demo work, tweaking some stuff, and it was very natural. We worked on the EP for almost a year, and it was half bridging the live sound and weird pop. I always wanted to do pop, just weird shit, music you could play at parties. This EP had to be able to exist with DJs.
When listening to the EP, it had this staticky or crunchy-ness to it. Almost similar to Sleigh Bells’ Treats, where they have this low-res sound.
Yeah, exactly. That was purposeful, 100 percent. A lot of that was also because we were pulling from demos I had made with shitty gear and vocals that I was doing on GarageBand Auto-Tune. I realized I was doing everything wrong. I had started discovering I could change keys in GarageBand a good year into it. Looking back, we were like “oh, this is great,” but it was a bit like refining lo-fi sketchy sounds and making it great. Making it accessible, building on the idea of weird lo-fi pop to make it big and low-res, but also high-res.
Yeah, I mean, you can make your high-res intentionally low, which makes it so good.
The Sleigh Bells were huge for me, and always were a reference for WEBB. Their guitar work, especially. For WEBB, I wanted it to be guitar-heavy because that’s where my background is. Even the early work from Wavves, the first two albums, was so crunchy. I love that fuzzy sound, which was always a reference.
So, in terms of the EP—actually, I really want you to tell me the story about your fourth track on the EP, “Gas” and how that was made, because I’ve heard it involved beer in your throat.
Okay, so I had this demo from forever ago, maybe five years ago, that I made in my bedroom, and it was kind of funny. I was always referencing Butthole Surfers, this talking weird poetry. They were a freak rock band, experimental, kind of like a performance art band, but they’re crazy. Their lore goes deep. My parents had shown them for the first time. But yeah, the grovelly vocal on “Gas,” what I was trying to get wasn’t happening. Then, while Josh and Nate were recording it while I was chugging beer, I’d keep the beer in my throat to get sound.
Did you not choke?
No, I would keep it and hold it. We’ll get personal here, but it was some mucus that would really help out.
How did you set the mannequin on fire in the music video?
It was shot at an abandoned gas station, and I pretty much am just killing myself. I just light myself on fire, covering myself in gasoline. I didn’t actually do it. We set a mannequin on fire. We got this mannequin with a blonde wig, this might have been one of the sketchiest things we’ve ever done. I thought we were going to get arrested for arson. Actually, it was all VFX.
I feel like this EP is completely drenched in people from Toronto. Toronto producers, Toronto features.
That was also intentional. The early WEBB visuals were just of me alone, influenced by bands like Salem and Bladee. There are videos of me walking a horse through a field, walking covered in glowing pants, just me at the center of it. Solo videos that were because I was really trying to lean into the solo project after being in a band. But when we finished the EP, we realized it can’t be just me in the fucking woods. So for “10000%,” which I did with Jay Feelbender, we made a party video. It was very let’s show people the scene, let’s show people who are out all the time and are our friends.
Even with “Pop Song,” it was very tongue-in-cheek; how poppy can we get in the realm of WEBB? I remember driving home from Hamilton, thinking about what we needed. We needed kids, twins, sketchy adults. We were very conscious of what we wanted; we wanted it to be rough. Looking at The Dare, for example, what I don’t like about the [aesthetic] is that it's too cool. It was too hot. Everyone was hot. Everyone was perfect and tailored. So, with “Pop Song,” we wanted to share our world. We didn’t style anyone; it was a show up and do your thing. We had kids breakdancing, and our friend Kara’s mom and aunt were doing their thing. I’d rather it be endearing than cool.
I also think there’s this whole conversation, New York dirty versus Toronto dirty, do you think New York dirty is too tailored then?
Oh yeah, I’m sure I’ll get attacked for this, but it can be very rich kids, expensive brands in New York.
Even with you venturing into pop music and leaning into it, there is still this very dirty rock aesthetic you have. Like you said, weirdo pop kind of works well and leans away from the traditional perspective of pop.
The dirt rock thing also comes through just with me. I’m sure I’ve tried to get away from it, but no, it’s not going to get away from it. I had a friend once tell me, “dude, WEBB would be so much bigger if you were in skinny jeans.” I’m not fucking wearing skinny jeans. It’s this thing of keeping it dirty, keeping it grungy, but also the sound can be cleaner. With WEBB, it’s this dirty pop, raw sound.
It’s like a diva … dirty diva. You also end up working with Jay Feelbender, who was in Goodbye Honolulu with you. What was it like coming together again?
"1000%" was written years ago, before our band stopped working together. We always talked about doing side projects, and we had that song with us for so long. Also, those are still my best friends; they're basically my family. Fox plays guitar for WEBB. I asked him the second I started WEBB. Jacob and I did the song years ago, and I asked him if it would be cool to use it and obviously wanted him to be a part of it. He has his solo project, Jay Feelbender, which is more of an indie pop and folk sound. It’s always good to keep it in the family. I very much wanted to keep the friend close.
Which is kind of rare when you develop into solo work, yeah?
I never wanted to push them away and didn’t want to isolate anybody. When we started doing shows, it stemmed from me saying, “Fox, please play guitar with me.” It was this incredibly fun avenue. We always reference Sleigh Bells, and I remember seeing them and thinking, imagine one day if we had a band that was like that. I remember buying that at HMV on the Danforth. Saturated guitars, this poppy sound with heaviness to it.
Going back to Toronto people, what was it like working with Talvi?
I’ve known Talvi for years now, and I had this song sitting around on my laptop forever so I just sent it to her on a whim. It was violins and weird sounds, and I told her that I think she’d be great for it. To me, "Hounded" is one of my favorite songs and that’s the direction I would love to see WEBB go in. As much as I love the heaviness, there’s also something great about a more mature and mellow sound. Vocal and lyrical forward work, and her voice is so beautiful.
I remember seeing her play a few months ago; it’s angelic.
Yeah, she had the fan on her, and you can tell she really cares. We’re working on a video for that song.
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