What’s in your bag? is a recurring feature where we ask people to tell us a bit more about their everyday gadgets by opening their bags and hearts to us. This week, we’re featuring vocalist, producer, filmmaker, and professional scooter rider Oliver Tree.

When Oliver Tree walks into The Verge office, everyone snaps their head. It’s impossible to not notice his ostentatious presence: massively wide JNCO pants, a violet and fuchsia ’90s ski jacket, Gucci suitcase, and… a bowl haircut. Oh, and he’s got a Razor scooter with him too. It’s not unfair to say that Oliver Tree is a walking, talking meme. The visual schtick, along with accompanying deadpan humor persona, were deliberately crafted by Oliver Tree to appeal to a meme-friendly generation. And through that lens he serves up catchy, hip-hop infused pop with an electronic kick. Come for the memes, stay for the music.

This combination has been integral to Oliver Tree’s success. His single “When I’m Down” went viral in 2017, racking up tens of millions of plays online. He replicated the formula for “Alien Boy” and again with “Hurt,” nailing down a very specific vision that’s designed to cater to people’s eyes and ears. “Hurt” in particular was a flag plant for Oliver Tree’s ability to create infectious melodies — the song spent 16 weeks on Billboard’s Hot Rock Songs chart, peaking at position 12. Now, he’s released another new single, called “Fuck,” and is preparing for his full-length debut, which will be released this year. In the meantime, Oliver Tree treats us to a peek inside his world, which includes lots of scooter stories, a busted iPhone, and mountains of Cheetos.

First of all I really need to know about your pants because I had JNCO pants and you don’t see them very often.

These are JNCOs that are no longer for sale. JNCO shut down last year, but I was able to pick these pants up through a buddy who lives north of the Rockies, this guy Little Ricky. He’s a JNCO dealer and he has a warehouse with 300 pairs of JNCOs. He basically has every type ever made: khaki JNCOs, short JNCOs, leopard JNCOs, he has it all.

To be honest I was surprised that they lasted so long.

It’s kind of the end of an era.

Tell me about your style.

This outfit is made up from everything I really thought was cool as a child. So these were the pants I always wanted. These are the sunglasses I used to wear. This is the haircut I’ve had my entire life. I was too scared to get any other type of haircut. My mom picked it for me. The jacket I stole from my mom, but she wasn’t really using it so I don’t think she misses it too much. And then socks and sandals is just my favorite footwear combo.

Who do you think has the best style right now?

My biggest fashion inspiration is Lloyd Christmas from Dumb and Dumber. Solid. Him and my parents. My parents showed me how to really unharness my swagger.

Let’s move on to your bag.

This basically has my raw essentials. I take this everywhere I go. It’s a fake Gucci bag I got in China in the underground market. Well, I guess I should just show you.

Yeah! Let’s get into it. Your suitcase is filled with Cheetos?

I’m traveling a lot, so one of the main things I need is a source of energy. There’s not many great food options on the road. So I just bring my main food with me everywhere and my main energy source.

Do you have any favorite flavor?

Traditional hot. You can have one too. My treat. I’ve got plenty. I bring them to share.

How many Cheetos is a meal?

Well it depends if it’s the big bag or a little bag. If it’s a little bag I can do about 13, and if it’s a big bag I only need two. I also have one liter of Mountain Dew here.

So what if someone offers you a salad?

Sometimes I’m feeling healthy and I’ll take a salad and crumple up a couple of Cheetos on there. Usually I say flat out no though.

I can’t think of a more perfect substitute for any type of food. It’s perfect on any occasion for a meal. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I’m an intense energy person and these things really keep me on the edge. They keep me going and keep my chi really high. It’s basically the ultimate snack.

And then I have a portrait I painted of myself. I keep that with me just in case I ever lose touch with who I really am.

If you forget your passport just show that.

I pretty much use this as a legal form of identification.

Not a lot of people know this but I’m big into watercolors and pastels. I think this thing took me about a month to make. And I don’t have a house so I bring it everywhere.

The eyes are really intense.

That was based off of the music video where I died, and this is the white-eyed version of it. That’s my understanding. When I painted it though I was a bit drunk so I can’t remember. It’s an emotional piece and every time I look at it I just see so much of myself.

That’s from a newer music video, right?

The record is called “Hurt.” It’s a song I made about a scooter accident I had when I was 18. It was a semifinal run at a pro competition. I’m in this 20-foot roll in and out of nowhere this little pebble shows up. I hit this thing and just go flying — break my left wrist, break my right wrist, and break the joint that connects the thumb to the hand. At that point I had to start considering other career options because scootering was just not safe. I needed something that had a little bit more longevity for a career choice. So I started making a segue out of the professional scooter world and focused on this Oliver Tree project.

We went to Ukraine to film the music video for “Hurt,” and made that with a small loan of a million dollars. Atlantic Records supported us. I want to shout out Craig Kallman and Julie Greenwald – they were really the people who helped finance this and bring it to life. It took us two years to sort out the financial side, and I don’t think we could really be happier with the outcome.

What phone do you use?

This is an iPhone X. Let me turn it over because it’s busted and that’s even funnier. I was in Madrid, out clubbing and blogging and it fell off the stick. And I have a Juul. Strictly marijuana. There’s no tobacco in that.

How did you get the Solo cup design put on your clothing and the monster truck for “All That”?

From a legal standpoint, it was hell. And we’ve been asked to not use the logo anymore. We couldn’t use it in other videos. The whole coffin scene in “Hurt” was supposed to be Solo cup, but they were not too thrilled with the idea. After the last video they just said, “Please never use our stuff again.” But we don’t care because I already got to use it in the first video.

The original designer is a woman who basically got ripped off by the company. She worked for the distributor and submitted it for a company contest, but didn’t get any of the royalties from it. It ended up becoming a phenomenon, but they owned her design at that point. Her name is Gina Ekiss.

Are there other wheeled activities that you’re into?

I’m really big into scooters and electric scooters. I’ve got like, 13 pocket rockets. I drive monster trucks. I actually spent five months training for my first music video learning how to jump monster trucks. This guy only let one other person drive his monster truck, which was Jay Leno, so I’m very honored that he trusted me. It’s in the first music video for “Alien Boy.”

I was surprised that the guy would let me borrow this truck because these trucks are like, half a million dollars. It’s a huge liability. You have to be properly trained by a professional.

Do you record on the road?

We’re making films on the road. We’re working on a documentary. We’re doing half hour, 45-minute films on the trials and tribulations of what a starting out project looks like in all reality. The drama, the violence, the frustration, the suffering. We cover it all. We have already put on a couple videos. We did a behind the scenes for “Hurt.” It’s how to make a million-dollar music video.

What’s your songwriting process?

I don’t do any songwriting on the road because I’ll go live life for three months, and then I’ll go write music for two months straight and write every single story I have to tell. Once I get burnt out on it and start making the same songs, I go back on the road and experience life. If you don’t live enough experiences you have a limited spectrum of things you can write about, so it fuels the fire.

There’s a lot of hats artists have to wear nowadays. If you wear the same hat every day it gets really old. So it’s refreshing to be able to have it broken up into different parts of the year: This month we film, this month we tour, this month we make music.

I produce and write music with other producers, but with vocals I’m essentially improvising all of that, besides maybe a song or two here and there. I freestyle and see what comes out. If it doesn’t make total sense but I like the idea I’ll carve out and chop up all these little parts together and then I’ll rewrite lyrics to it. I would say about 85 percent of the lyrics are improvised.

So backing up to the bag…

Couldn’t afford the real one. I had a friend who told me about this market and was like, “You gotta go here, this is the best underground market in Shanghai.” So I went to check it out. It’s illegal to sell Gucci there because there’s actual Gucci stores. It’s really hush hush. They can sell all these other items like Supreme, because there’s no Supreme dealers there. But there’s tons of Gucci stores.

Because it’s sketchy for them you have to ask for Gucci and they’ll pull you to these back rooms, or take you to a whole different store a block away and into a little room covered in fake bags. Then they ask you to pay ridiculous prices for it, thinking you think it’s real, but all you have to do is negotiate. They really want to make a sale so they’re prepared to negotiate pretty heavily. I was able to negotiate a couple bags and this was the the real pride and joy and what I decided to take on the road with me.

The real reason I’m buying the fake stuff is because I love the idea that people think it’s so cool and it’s a $2 item. That’s why I bought tons of fake pairs of Yeezys. I would tell people that they’re fake and my fans thought it was hilarious. People like Yeezy Buster would try calling me out, saying, “This guy’s got fake shoes!” I loved it.

Photography by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

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For the past two decades, sculptor Sarah Sitkin has used materials like silicone and latex to play with hyperreal configurations of the human form. Some focus on absolute replication, while others play with abstract ideas and science fiction fantasy. Sitkin’s projects include commissions like a mask of Billie Eilish’s face split in half for the cover of Garage Magazine, an ear phone case, and grim sculptures for Syfy’s Channel Zero: No-End House.

Sitkin’s striking show and most recent body of work, Bodysuits, is now on tour at Superchief Gallery locations. The show started in LA last year and is currently on view in New York before it heads to Miami. Sitkin got on the phone with The Verge to talk about her molding process, finding body models, and rejecting mainstream beauty standards.

Content warning: This story contains photos of nude human body models.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.

In this show, you started working with the whole body rather than pieces sort of stacked together as in some of your previous work. It’s very related, but had a completely different feeling. Can you tell me about that thought process?

Previously, I would approach my artwork more in an intuitive kind of way. I would assemble things until the concept emerged, and then refine it. Whereas Bodysuits was a whole concept for the show — what I wanted to do and how I wanted them to look and feel was already engineered from the beginning. The blueprint was there. I knew exactly what size molds to make, what type of molds I had to make, and how much time I had to make them and the materials. It was a new way of creating for me, and it took a lot of discipline.

Bodysuits felt like the culmination of almost my whole life as an artist.

The show looks incredible. The first thing that I felt when I walked into this space is that in our culture, you don’t often see bodies in a non-sexual context. And that was really awesome.

Isn’t that so shocking! We’ve all had bodies for millennia, but there’s this huge point of controversy. So like, you’re kind of uncomfortable when you walk in a room and you see a bunch of just unclothed bodies. But it’s the most common thing that we all share, and that we all can relate to, but we’re all uncomfortable by it. It’s just wild to me how much controversy just a simple, unclothed body still holds in 2019.

Can you walk me through that planning process of creating the molds and finding your models?  

I knew that I wanted to make these pieces that were the husk of people. And after going through it in my mind, and knowing that there’d be so many different body shapes, and to make it be able to be a wearable garment, certain design choices had to be made. In a perfect world, I would’ve loved to have the suits be full all the way to the feet, and the whole head as well. But, obviously, those wouldn’t be wearable garments, so I had to just refine it down to the most necessary parts of the body, which would be the torso.

I made a prototype suit in October of 2017. Just as, like, a proof of concept. I had a bunch of friends come and try it on and talk to me about their experience. We started the process of making an open call for who wanted to participate in the show. And we got a lot of initial response from people who wanted to be a part of the Bodysuits project, but we had to narrow it down to people who were healthy enough to do the mold process, which is really demanding on your body. Because you have to hold perfectly still in a standing position for just about an hour. You have to shave your entire body, you can’t have any kind of allergies to materials latex or silicone. You can’t have any respiratory issues, you cannot be a smoker. From there, we had a core group, I think, of eight people that were up for the challenge.

We take a mold of the person in the studio, there’s a team of three people in a very choreographed and very quick action in which we cover the whole person’s body in silicone, and then we cover that silicone in plaster, and then we eventually separate it and cut them out of the piece. And from there, we assemble the mold back together. And we do many, many flush coats of thin layers of silicone until we filled up again.

The experience of the visitor is so intimate — not just viewing the work, but the experience of trying on these suits. I imagine it’s a very intimate process to create them.

It’s an extremely intimate experience. If you can imagine being completely naked and completely shaven in front of a team of three essentially strangers covering your body in a weird toothpaste consistency thing, you really get to know someone. You’re already forced into an intimate place, so you really start talking. You’re just immediately in a different, more vulnerable place. During the molding process, I get to know somebody and there are certain things that they tell me about their life, or certain feelings that they have about their bodies or insecurities, or to see them struggle with how their body has changed over time, or what they would like their ideal body to be. I keep note of all of those things. And those come into play in the more final stages of the mold.

Once I have the mold and a cast of the skin, I can add weighted pieces to the suit, like steel ball bearings or weights or sand. I can mix silicone very heavy and make it very squishy. I can customize silicone to feel and weigh and behave any way I want to. And so I made choices on the design for every unique suit on how I wanted the suit to feel, based on stuff I learned about them when we’re in the molding process.

Is this sort of model something you want to do again? Or do you feel like you’ve exhausted this way of molding?

The process of molding is an ancient practice, and I’ll never stop doing it. I grew up doing it in my bedroom, it feels almost like it’s a part of me and my existence in a way. I always catch myself like thinking about things in terms of molds and how they’re made. I’m always inspecting objects for where the mold seams are and how it’s fabricated. As far as the Bodysuits project is concerned, I would have loved to have a huge range of body types — a body suit for every archetype of human body that exists on Earth. But I think at some point, I would like to move on and see the next step in the evolution of my artistic practice.

One of the suits available to try on was a woman’s body who, I was told, was specifically requested to be made because it was the “average” American woman.

The show at Superchief Gallery, Los Angeles was really well received and it led to the Museum of Health and Medical Science (MoHS) bringing my exhibit to their museum.  

As part of the terms of the exhibit, they would commission two new bodysuits and would choose exactly what body. We did a very intense casting where we reached out to 300 applicants. MoHS really wanted the exact average American female from the most recent census, which was 2015. Thankfully, being in Los Angeles, there is a casting type for actors in which part of their resume includes all of their measurements. So it was very easy for us to find someone who had the exact measurements in every way of the average American woman, and she was extremely excited to be a part of the project.

About the male suit, can you talk a little bit about why that individual was chosen?

Yeah, these were chosen by the Museum of Health. They commissioned the suits, they got to make the decision about who was cast. A lot of the central theme of the museum at the time was about colon health. And so when we were casting, we really wanted the oldest person that could safely do the mold process, because it’s a very demanding process. We found this man and we didn’t even discover his beautiful scar until we were doing the mold and he was undressed. He’s a colon cancer survivor.

One of my favorites is the pregnant woman. It’s just so wonderful to see that included.

I was so excited when this woman wanted to do it. I was so scared. She was 38 weeks pregnant. And I was like, nothing can go wrong on this one. I mean, we need extra crew in here. We did this one a little different. We actually had her sitting. And that’s why her suit is cut so high. I was too nervous to have her stand. She wanted to, but I just couldn’t, I was too scared.

She was a trooper, she never once had any problem. She had said that the pregnancy was so difficult on her body and that she had learned to tolerate so much pain and discomfort that nothing could faze her.

I also really loved some of the details that you put on the inside of the suits that were really beautiful, too. It was like an extra little prize. If you turn around the suit there’s these little stories inside and you can imagine what they represent.

I think that was definitely one of my favorite parts of doing the interiors, because there’s so much discipline that goes into doing the silicone work with the chemistry and the timing. But with the interiors, I can approach this more free-form and sew things in by hand. And if I don’t like it, I could just cut it off and it’s no big deal. So doing the interiors was a lot of fun for me.

Your work is being picked up by some fashion entities like designer duo Fecal Matter. I would love to hear what you think about that.

Yeah, I’m kind of mystified and I’m thrilled that it’s resonating with people. I actually often work as a fabricator doing commission work for other artists, executing their ideas. I really loved working with Fecal Matter. We had a lot of conversations about how fucked up the fashion world is, and everyone’s relationship to the human body. And so I think everybody wants to almost eliminate their humanity from their body.

The body is such a point of contention and stress and anxiety and loathing for almost everybody. Especially people in the fashion world, who maybe understand that acutely more than most people do because they work specifically in that field shaping bodies.

I also loved the fashion shot where it’s this very calm, pretty scene and the model is holding a bunch of limbs.

That was a Gucci campaign. Yeah, that was rad. I’ve been working with this fabulous photographer named Petra Collins and we’ve been doing a lot of stuff together recently. And I love what she comes up with. That was Petra’s idea. We wanted to do something that was kind of an homage to a vintage horror movie, kind of behind-the-scenes type thing. So I brought the most obvious-looking props that I had in my shop. I love working with Petra, she’s fabulous.

I have read about your conscious avoidance / rejection of mainstream beauty standards, and the ways your work is a reaction to that, which really resonated with me.

I was raised in Los Angeles, which is an epicenter for the entertainment industry. There’s a lot of attitudes and cultural stigmas about bodies. It was an interesting time and place to be a young person coming into themselves because there were kind of two worlds: the kind of mainstream highly visible world of the entertainment industry, and then the other side, the punk, skate, counterculture movement that was going on, which I identified with so much more. It definitely shaped me a lot as an artist. I definitely developed a resentment toward the pressures that the world and that culture puts on having these idealized bodies.

I grew up working in an art store seeing the same celebrities come into the shop that I would see on-screen and in movies. So seeing these people in real life, versus like the airbrushed and Photoshopped version of them on billboards was such a huge divide. Like, some fantasy was lifted and I knew that it was all just a farce. Knowing that definitely is still a huge part of my work, my old work, my current work. The Bodysuit project definitely is wanting to lift the illusion. It’s a weird intersection to be in an artistic practice that is all about making illusion, but also wanting to use it to illustrate the illusion.

Bodysuits is on view at Superchief Gallery NY until May 5th. Contact the gallery Info@superchiefgallery.com  to make an appointment to try on a suit.

Photography by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

What’s in your bag? is a recurring feature where we ask people to tell us a bit more about their everyday gadgets by opening their bags and hearts to us. This week, we’re featuring English singer and songwriter Anne-Marie.

Anne-Marie has an impressive musical resume, with heaps of nominations and wins at awards shows around the world (including a recent nom as Best British Female Solo Artist at the 2019 Brit Awards), a long list of charting songs that float between the worlds of tropical pop and dance, like “2002,” and is just off a jaunt where she shared the stage with Ed Sheeran on his Divide Tour. Now, without a pause, she’s on her own headlining Speak Your Mind Tour. It’s quite a lot, but everything Anne-Marie does in life, she does with obsessive acceleration. Consider, for example, that before she was a singer touring around the globe, she was a karate world champion.

As Anne-Marie empties out her backpack for The Verge, it quickly becomes evident this tendency funnels its way down to her everyday items. From a book that convinced her that humans do, in fact, need to sleep, to scores of scrunchies, there’s no middle ground for Anne-Marie.

So tell me about your bag.

So, this is a backpack. I can’t just carry around a handbag because they’re too small for all the things I need. So I’m a backpack lover. I have so many backpacks because when I leave the hotel I don’t go back until the end of the day, so I need everything right with me that I could possibly need. This one is by Axel. My stylist got it for me. We work really closely together. I wouldn’t say I’ve always had an eye for style, or that I’m a fashionista, but I know what I feel comfortable with. It’s always been really hard working with a stylist, so it’s more like, I tell her what to get and she gets a better version of what I’ve told her to find.

This is really strange. But I have a razor with me. [Laughs] I shave my arms and legs at really weird times because I’ll forget and then I’m like, “Oh, I need to do something with my legs.” And face wipes, I need those to shave my legs with! So, that happens.

Yeah. That’s real life, folks.

Yes. Obviously dry shampoo and deodorant, which I think every girl needs. And then this is all my makeup and oh, here’s something I live by. You need some moisture in your face or things that are good for your skin overall. I love this stuff called Skin Food, which is why I’ve used it all up. I use it every morning and every night on my face. I can’t live without it. And then I have under-eye patches.

Do they work?

Yeah. Well, I don’t know. Maybe in my brain.

What kind of phone do you have?

I have an iPhone X. But I just cracked it the other day, so I’ve got to figure that out. Every time I go to a shop they’re like, “Truly, get the insurance just in case,” and I’m like, “No, I’ll never smash it,” and then this happens. My charger. I don’t know how many of those I’ve had over tour, but it’s the running joke that I have a new one every week. I bring a hat because I just love hats. Everywhere I go, to and from places, I always wear a hat and then take it off. This is one of my favorite hats because it’s got loads of different flags on it. I think I’ve had the most compliments on this hat from people.

What brand is it?

It’s just Topshop! Basically my whole clothing thing is menswear. I also have a jumper because my body temperature is like, three degrees lower than everyone else’s in the world. So I’m always cold. It’s from Urban Outfitters Men’s. A hairbrush, because my hair is a bitch. I have a book.

A real life book.

An actual book! It’s called Why We Sleep, because I don’t sleep and I keep trying to have an argument with everyone about how I think it’s just pointless and boring to me. I’ve started to read this book and now I realize it’s definitely not pointless and I definitely need it. [Laughs] So yeah.

And I have headphones. They’re one of my favorite things in the whole world.

These are Bose noise-canceling?

Yeah.

You have so many sunglasses.

I’m addicted to sunglasses. I have two pairs in here. Two for the price of one! And I have a third pair in the other room. This is a rare occasion for me to only have three with me today. I normally have, like, 10 in my bag just in case I decide to change up my outfit. I feel like sunglasses can change the whole look. And I love that. And then this is just extra jewelry. This is really cute because when I did a photo shoot once there’s a lady altering stuff because I always feel like I have to get bigger trousers to fit my hips. But then the waist is always too big so I have a lady there tightening the waist. And there was this particular top that had all this material left over. So she made a little bag from it!

That’s so cute!

It has loads of jewelry in it. I’m addicted to that as well. I like everything shiny.

Have you had time to go jewelry shopping on your tour?

No. When I was last here I found a little jewelry store at the corner of a road. It was a proper tiny one where you could find loads of beautiful things in. I was trying to search yesterday for that little shop and I couldn’t find it anywhere. But I found sunglasses on the way so it’s fine.

I’m addicted to scrunchies as well.

This is a proper ‘90s throwback.

Yeah. I’m an obsessive person. If I like something I have to get loads of it.

What model is your iPad?

It’s an old one. I’m not sure, I’d have to find out.

When you’re on the road how do you write songs?

I’m all in my phone really. On the recording app thing. So there’s just loads of little bits of recordings that have me going like, [sings] “When I see you.” [Laughs]

I mean if I have a pen and paper I write it down, but it’s mostly on my phone because you can get inspired at any moment. I actually find it easier to write when I’m not in the studio because it’s more freeing and there’s less pressure. So I take whatever’s on my phone into the studio and if it’s good enough, we’ll write to it.

Do you record mostly in a traditional studio or do you have a portable set up?

Always in a studio. I don’t have that kind of stuff with me so I always have to wait until I’m in a session with a producer where I can actually have a microphone.

So how long is this current tour going?

The Ed Sheeran tour has been going since the end of April and I finish at the end of September. The US tour has been going for nearly six weeks now and I’ve been doing my own one in between. I did a really bad thing where I packed all of my show outfits and forgot that I would have days where I’d need normal clothes.

So the whole time I’ve been going to Urban Outfitters every day and buying new T-shirts. It’s a long, long tour, but it’s been amazing, especially with doing my own one in between. It’s such a different experience from being in the stadium as a support act to doing your own headline in a really intimate venue. It’s crazy.

I so prefer the smaller venues.

The sound is better.

Oh, that’s interesting.

I mean from my point of view in a stadium, the sound kind of bounces back into my microphone. So then I’m hearing like, three instances of my voice with each song.

I’d love to know who could tell that this is my bag from just the pictures. I wonder who could guess that.

I bet your friends could for sure. Like, yep, I know those scrunchies.

Photography by Amelia Holowaty Krales

Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. For more information, see our ethics policy.

What’s in your bag? is a recurring feature where we ask people to tell us a bit more about their everyday gadgets by opening their bags and hearts to us. This week, we’re featuring tropical house and pop producer Matoma.

Norwegian artist Matoma, born Tom Lagergren, walks into The Verge offices with a bright, bouncy disposition that matches the music he crafts. Known for uplifting productions that blend together genres and dance across everything from hip-hop to funk to house, Lagergren’s not only seen commercial success with his original works, like recently released single “Sunday Morning,” but is often sought after to collaborate with heavy hitters such as Jennifer Lopez, Noah Cyrus, and Enrique Iglesias.

Growing up, Matoma had every intent of becoming a music teacher instead of a touring artist. He learned classical piano, moved to making music on his laptop, became a resident DJ at some venues in Norway, and then went to school to pursue a degree in music production. But once he started putting out remixes on SoundCloud, people flocked to his songs. Very quickly and unexpectedly, Lagergren had a fan base.

Now, Lagergren finds his days occupied by packed tour schedules and studio sessions with some of music’s biggest names. He’s currently in the middle of an international tour that wraps up at the end of March, and by now, the hectic tour schedule, which sometimes has him performing multiple shows a day, is second nature. We had Lagergren dump out his bag for us to get a peek at what’s necessary to maintain sanity when tour life is everyday life.

Have you been traveling a lot lately?

On this trip I’m away 12 days and I’m doing six shows, so it’s not too much. When I did my tour last year I did 48 shows in 52 days. Some days we did two shows per day. Summer was also insane with festivals. I think we did 80 concerts over a few months.

Well, I’m glad we got you on a relaxing day. This must be like a spa for you! So the first thing I’m curious about is where the name Matoma came from?

The name Matoma actually came from my brother. My brother and I lived together when we were both in college. He was writing his masters in chemistry and I was getting my bachelor’s degree in music production. We had this party after a Calvin Harris concert. All our friends came to the after party. We were drinking and having fun.

I had another name at the time and was starting to release remixes on SoundCloud. My brother came up to me and said, “Tom, your music is starting to sound really nice. But, I have to tell you this as your brother and out of love — your name is shit and you need to change it.”

I got a little upset and it started an argument. One of my friends misunderstood the conversation and went between us like, “Guys, can’t you take life easy like in The Lion King? Hakuna matata!” My brother gave me a hug but was a little drunk and said it wrong. He said “hakuna matoma.” And I was like, oh snap, Matoma, that’s sick. To make sure we wouldn’t forget it we found a marker and wrote it on the living room table. The next day when we woke up hungover, we went downstairs and on the living room table it said Matoma. That table was a gift from my parents when we moved in. [Laughs]

I wanted to talk about the single you worked on with Enrique Iglesias. That was on your bucket list, right?

Oh, the process was amazing. We were working on this song for a year and a half. I was in the studio with him in December of 2016. We just had such an amazing and fun three days in the studio. Afterward, we didn’t hear from him for a couple months. But then his camp and his team came back and they loved it. And his label, RCA, loved it. Then we tweaked the song to perfection. I was so lucky to have it as a single for myself, and to have him featured and collaborating on it. He wanted it for his album. For him it was a big decision and a big move to to give it to me as a single. He really trusted me in that process. And for that I’m grateful. He was such a kind person and included everybody in the room.

Let’s start looking through this bag. It’s amazing how nice and neat your cable organizer is. And here’s a Sony camera.

Yeah I got it for a really cheap price from my photographer. He was buying a new camera, and I told him that I wanted to buy his old one. He’s one of my best friends.

What do you like to shoot?

My girlfriend [laughs], nature, the traveling process. I also have a drone. When I was in Ireland, I loved shooting the cliffs and fields.

What are these earbuds?

These are the Sony WF1000X. I use those to talk on the phone and to listen to music. For me, Sony are the best traveling headphones just because of the quality of the sound. I think they are way better than the Bose headphones and the noise cancelling is about the same. Maybe Bose is about five percent better with noise cancelling, but it’s hard to hear the difference. But with the sound quality, the difference is easy to hear.

I use them when I work seriously. They also have Bluetooth so you can talk on the phone with them. And, they are easier to use when you’re walking around and don’t want to have big headphones on. And then I have these other Sony headphones for when I produce.

How many different kinds of headphones do you think you’ve gone through?

Oh I think maybe 20 different ones. I’m very particular with sound.

Okay. So the earbuds you use when you’re working and the over ear headphones are for when you’re producing stuff. Is that just on the road or anywhere?

No, just for on the road. I have my studio headphones at home. They are a little more expensive and by a brand called Audeze. They’re made of bamboo.

What phone do you have?

So this is the iPhone 8. I hate it. I’ve had an iPhone since the first one. They are just getting more and more terrible.

When you’re on the road and get inspired, how do you take down ideas?

I just keep it in my head. I’ve been very lucky, ever since I was a kid I’ve had photographic memory. So when I get melodies in my head they get stuck there.

I heard you collect sound bites though?

Yeah. When I was getting my bachelor’s in music technology and production I always had a microphone with me. Everywhere I went, if I heard a sound that was interesting I’d record it. I also recorded my own drum, piano, saxophone, guitar, and percussion libraries. So I have, like, a library of almost two terabytes of sounds I’ve recorded.

Are you playing all these instruments?

So when I was sampling instruments I was playing each and every note. I play the piano, so there I also recorded all scales and all sorts of different chords on a grand. All with different attacks and sustains. If I’m working on an airplane and I don’t want to write out all these notes, I can just grab these chords. I also made my own plug-ins for each instrument.

I also have a lot of nature sounds. I have a library of rock sounds. Birds, claps, cars, ambient noise, so many different things.

Are these samples in the cloud or on a thumb drive?

I use a 5 terabyte LaCie drive.

Why did you record all this stuff?

Five or six years ago, it wasn’t so easy to find samples online. So I did it all myself. But now there are sites, like Splice, where they have all the samples you would need and you can buy credits to download what you want. It’s like Spotify, but for samples.

I studied classical music when I was a kid, until I was 16. I had a scholarship, but at a certain point it wasn’t fun anymore to practice so much and to play other people’s music. So I stopped. Then I started recording, producing, and composing my own music.

Okay and then we have…

Herman the travel companion. He’s my little mascot. He’s a monkey and he’s always happy. So every time I’m sad when I miss my girlfriend, I just take out Herman and I look at him and I start smiling and thinking about her.

Herman is the most well traveled little stuffed monkey that ever was.

Yeah, I think I’ve been in 80 countries with him.

And then I have my glasses. Usually I don’t wear contact lenses. I wear glasses. But when I play shows and am on tour I wear contacts. Then I have another Tumi bag with cables. Eye shades for flying. Nose spray. Two pairs of sunglasses.

What are these cables for?

For my MIDI keyboard. The keyboard is too big, so that’s in my suitcase. I also have a portable charger and a USB cable for my phone. I would have my laptop but I had to leave it at the hotel because I was uploading some stems. It’s a MacBook Pro.

You also have a FitBit. What is your favorite thing about it?

I track steps, and it also gives me my messages. You can have a conversation with a person, get the message notification, and then look at the watch and read it fast. So I don’t have to take out my phone. It also has cool functions, like it shows your heart rate, and it tells you if you’ve been sitting too much.

I have to say I love that you have an actual book.

Yeah I usually bring them every time I travel. I always try to read one book.

What is it about?

It’s about a police officer that worked in the force for 30 years. He had a division where his team worked on fighting drug crime in Oslo. There was a big case on the news about him being corrupt. But basically it was set up by his own people and they turned him in. All the cases he was working on were reclassified so he couldn’t talk about them in court. He got 21 years in jail and he’s in his 50s. He dedicated his whole life to the police force, and the case he got jailed for was a case he was working on, but he couldn’t talk about it, because it was one of the biggest drug cases in Norway.

[Looks at phone] Oh wow, we’re number two on iTunes in Finland. Already!

That’s amazing. Congratulations!

The reaction so far on “I Don’t Dance (Without You)” has been incredible. It’s just mind blowing. When I showed it to my mom she said, “This is by far your best song Tom, and not just because of Enrique.” [laughs]

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Photography by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

What’s in your bag? is a recurring feature where we ask people to tell us a bit more about their everyday gadgets by opening their bags and hearts to us. This week, we’re featuring synth-pop artist Allie X.

It’s fair to call Allie X both a musical artist as well as a performance artist. Her sophomore EP, Super Sunset, was accompanied by three distinct personas to represent different parts of her artistic journey: the nun, the Hollywood starlet, and sci-fi girl. Today at The Verge, it’s sci-fi girl who sits in front of us. Sporting a severe bowl haircut and tiny sunglasses that barely cover Allie X’s slate-colored eyes, this is the final form of Allie X’s journey through Super Sunset. It’s the persona she feels is truest to her actual self because of the “emotional disconnect and the weirdness and the quirks” that come along with it.

To follow Super Sunset, Allie X has recently released Super Sunset Analog, a collection of live performances and synth-centric remakes of Super Sunset songs. These versions are stripped down, re-recorded with a live band and drum machines that impart some brasher sounds and a delightful sense of chaos. While the remakes can be streamed everywhere, it’s also, in keeping in form with the analog flavor, available to order as a cassette tape.

Below, Allie X speaks with The Verge about her Super Sunset personas, and the minimal contents of her bag.

Tell me about these personas that you’ve created for your most recent record.

The personas are all representations of parts of myself that I’ve become through my journey moving to Los Angeles and living in Los Angeles for the last five years. So, the first one is called the nun. She represents the rawness and the passion and spiritual side of being an artist and what gets you into it. That’s kind of how I kind of picture myself arriving to LA and stepping off the plane at LAX. Bright-eyed and nun-like.

I read something you said about the purity of creating the work.

Exactly. Purity is a word I forgot to say just now. She represents pure art. But then of course when you try to monetize something that comes from that and you put yourself into an industry built around it, it changes your perception of everything. And then that would take me to the Hollywood starlet. She’s… kind of delusional. She’s got that Hollywood Vaseline on the lens, like “I’m gonna be a big star” and takes it too far, almost into a grotesqueness. That represents all the fakeness when you’re trying to make it. And then the third persona is the one I’m dressed as today — sci-fi girl. She’s the one I think I relate the most to because she represents all the emotional disconnect and the weirdness and the quirks that I naturally have in myself that I’ve focused in on for the Allie X project.

What are your influences for sci-fi girl? And I’m glad that she’s with us today!

People always think about me that there’s this side I have within myself that’s… I don’t want to say otherworldly because it sounds too complimentary. It’s more just like I don’t know. Did you ever see David Bowie’s The Man Who Fell to Earth? It’s almost like that kind of a thing where something’s not quite connected or human.

What was the process like to write Super Sunset?

I wrote it really quickly. I think normally when I write it’s more abstract. It’s going into my unconscious mind and trying to dig up things from the past. This one was such a direct concept that it came together really quickly. It was nice writing from that perspective because I had a lot to get off my chest.

Well I’d love to see what’s in your bag!

Do you want this tea in it?

I kind of like that tea… yes, with your lipstick on it. So you work with Ableton and another song writing software, right?

MasterWriter.

So you’re truly self-contained on your computer.

Yeah, kind of. I think in my dream world I become such a proficient producer that I can do everything by myself, but these days it’s really a collaboration.

You have two main collaborators, is that correct?

Yeah. There’s one guy who finishes everything with me, and cleans up the mess that I make. And then there’s one guy who makes the mess with me for the record! With other ones it’s been different.

I’d love a shot of you up close. [Starts taking photos] Your eyebrows are perfect.

They’re half real and half blocked.

Okay, so first tell me about this Coach bag. Where did you get it?

I got it in Nordstrom… or was it in Macy’s? This is actually the first nice bag I’ve bought for myself. My mom is a purse person and a shoe person, and so historically I’ve always taken her bags and her shoes.

That’s a good move.

But I was at a Taylor Swift concert because my friend Troye Sivan was singing with her. It was a last minute thing. At the time I had this purse I got from my mom. It was backpack style, but as small as this. Troye was about to perform and I was like, “I have to get in, I’m his friend!” They said I couldn’t go in with a backpack. It’s a purse! We had this really heated argument and they said I could only come in if I emptied the contents. So I put everything — all the contents — in a Ziploc bag, hid the backpack behind the garbage, and hoped it would be there when I came back. And it wasn’t. Someone had thrown it out. So I thought, I’m a grown woman, I’m going to buy myself a designer bag for the first time. And that’s how I got this bag.

Congratulations, I think it’s a great moment when you purposefully buy a bag.

I feel like I’m like a lady now. I had so many years of being broke and now I can get by, so I celebrated with a nice bag.

I’m in love with this. [Picks up wallet]

It’s a really water-damaged wallet. And there’s a comb for the wig, some glasses, and an extra pair of glasses.

These are great. Let’s take some more things out.

Lipstick, pills, phone charger, a tampon.

And what kind of phone do you have?

I think this is a 6S? Is that right? It’s cracked. I need to get a new one.

And it doesn’t have a case. You’re a brave woman.

[Laughing] I know, I know. That’s why it’s cracked. I’m starting to analyze the contents of my purse and think about how people are going to interpret them. This wallet looked so much better when I got it. I think I’ve had too many things spill on it.

It’s well-loved.

It’s well-loved.

Where did you get it?

The wallet was a gift for my birthday a couple years ago from Jungle George.

Tell me a bit about your tour.

I guess the best thing to call them would be fan events. They’re very small, intimate shows where we will be playing through the record live. We do a Q&A, meet and greet, and it’s a chance for fans to hear the record before it all comes out and to officially start the journey of Super Sunset.

Have you always been an iPhone person?

For the last 10 years, maybe. Actually, less than that. It’s been maybe six or seven years. I think I got my first iPhone before I moved to LA.

Would you say the phone is your essential tech item?

That and my laptop. I’ve almost lost my laptop by leaving it in a restaurant two or three times and I really lose my shit. I really freak out because it has so many things that are valuable to me on it.

Do you utilize the cloud or external drives or anything like that?

I do. I back up on the cloud and then I have hard drives as well. I’m not as diligent about that as I should be, but back things up every few months.

I think a lot of us are like that. Good intentions, and as long as it’s happening occasionally it’s enough. What in particular do you carry on this drive?

I don’t even have anything too important on that. It’s more for when i’m in a room with a producer and they don’t have, for example, the right snare sound and I’m like, “Oh, I’ve got one on my computer, let me give it to you.” It’s a vehicle in sessions to get things from my computer to someone else or vice-versa.

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What’s in your bag? is a recurring feature where we ask people to tell us a bit more about their everyday gadgets by opening their bags and hearts to us. This week, we’re featuring rock and electropop band A R I Z O N A.

Zachary Charles, Nate Esquite, and David Labuguen technically have the day off, but that only means from touring. The three, known collectively as A R I Z O N A, are spending the afternoon at New York’s Quad Recording Studios working on a mixdown when The Verge arrives to shuffle through their things. A New Jersey-based band, Zach, Nate, and David started A R I Z O N A in 2015, as a last-ditch effort after years of trying to make it in music. “Fuck this, fuck music, fuck everybody, fuck the industry, everybody sucks, everybody’s terrible,” Zach says about his mentality at the time of the band’s creation. “But,” he proposed, “real quick before we go, do you guys want to make some songs just for fun?”

That decision to come together one last time wound up changing everything for the trio. Within a matter of months, the songs they made under the newly minted A R I Z O N A banner went viral online, they were discovered on Reddit by their current manager, and they signed a major label record deal. The day The Verge is with the band, they’re preparing to play iconic venue Madison Square Garden as part of the tour they just wrapped with Panic! at the Disco. That’s quite a trajectory.

To top things off, A R I Z O N A has just released a new EP titled COLD NIGHTS // SUMMER DAYS. It’s the breezy kind of infectious pop that hooked fans in the first place, with big, watery splashes of reverb, tropical guitar plucks, and a dash of ‘80s production vibes thrown in for good measure. Laissez faire seems to be the winning approach for these three, both in music and in their longtime friendships with each other. And it’s paid off.

Zach: Hey guys I’m Zach.

Nate: I’m Nate.

David: I’m David.

Nate: And with our powers combined, we are A R I Z O N A.

Zach: We literally just got off the bus this morning. The AC broke in the bus two days ago so we’re getting that fixed today, but we have a “day off” [makes quote signals]. We’re working today. We’re in the studio, at Quad.

David: This is where we’ve mixed every A R I Z O N A song.

Zach: Every single one has been mixed in this room right here at Quad.

Who wants to go first?

David: I will. This bag is a 5.11 RUSH 72-hour pack. We’re super into tactical gear, especially because we are on tour and how rugged it is. How long it lasts matters. This is definitely bigger than a regular EDC pack.

I’m sorry, a what?

David: Every day carry pack.

Oh okay.

David: It has everything I need just in case. It’s really cool. There’s three main pockets and there’s smaller pockets inside. I got it on Amazon, where I buy everything nowadays, including food. Zach’s bag is a cheaper version, but at a certain point we were like, we have to go for the real deal.

So let’s start here.

David: These are my life essentials. I’m happy, because everyone’s always like, “Why is your bag so heavy?” So now they’ll know. All that technology.

These USB things are iLok licensers for the software we use, which is why they’re always at the ready. That’s also why I have multiples. The LaCie is a little crap drive. I usually have a whole stack of them, but because we’re on tour I have them in a different case. What I do with the LaCie drives is open them, put an SSD in them, and then re-close them.

Okay, so what does that do?

David: Sometimes it just doesn’t come in the capacity that I want it to. So I’ll buy a Samsung SSD, pop open the LaCie, and put a bigger drive in. I’m just using the case, because it has thunderbolt. Then the black drive is a HGST Western Digital, and this other silver one is made by OWC. And then this is my transport drive which is why it’s green, because I want to know which one is the drive that has all the random stuff on it.

And this the same HGST Western Digital brand. You must like it.

David: Honestly, they were just on sale.

On all of our laptops, I upgraded the SSDs internally. But, because they’re Mac, you have to use a specific enclosure. This is just the backup to my touring rig. I keep it on my person so it’s separate from where the rig goes, because it’s our redundancy. Right now, this LaCie is half personal and half samples.

What kind of samples?

David: Samples for virtual instruments. So like, the piano I play on stage, the synths I play on stage, they’re all coming from my laptop.

Tell me about the earbuds.

David: They are custom molded JH Audio JH16s. Jerry Harvey is basically the guy that invented headphones for stage musicians. They’re just the best-sounding. There’s eight miniature speakers in each ear: four low, two mid, and two high.

Do you have any other headphones?

David: Those are the ones that I’m guaranteed to have on me, unfortunately. The pair of wireless headphones I have been rocking for general use are missing on the bus, but Zach has the same pair.

What kind of phone do you have?

David: I have an iPhone 8 Plus in a case I haven’t removed the backing from, and I stuff random documents in it. I think one is a letter from my girlfriend and the rest are receipts. [Continues removing items] There is another layer of stuff behind all this.

Zach: [shouts from background] That bag probably weighs as much as my dog.

What laptop do you have?

David: This is a third-generation 15-inch MacBook Pro Retina in a UAG Armor case. These cases are a lot of fun because they have these clicky, locky things going on. They won’t open on their own. And because we’re on the road, it’s essential to have protection…

[Shout from background] You can say that again.

David: … especially for production laptops. If it’s the money maker then it should be protected.

[Shout from background] You can say that again.

David: This is just an Amazon power strip I found. I don’t know if you want to photograph this spaghetti situation I have here [points to cables].

Yeah. This is some cord organizing. And looks like there’s dongles and an Anker hub?

David: No, that’s a multi-charger. It’s like, 10 ports because I need 10 ports [snorts]. I’m that guy on the road.

What do you film with the GoPro?

David: Right now, on tour, I’m filming our drummer because he is missing a couple dates. And so for whoever’s filling in, I want to make sure they get the parts nailed down exactly. So I’ve been using the GoPro to record his perspective from the show. We also are getting back into vlogging. We have a video guy on the road with us, but we love holding the GoPro. It’s so tiny and there’s just something fun about interacting with it rather than holding a bulky DSLR or a hardcore video camera.

David: And there’s a flashlight here that’s like, 2,000 lumens. So it’s pretty bright. It’s made by Fenix (PD35). Oh and there’s a Leatherman. And gloves. And a hat. And a water bottle. And that’s it. It’s everything I need.

You’re prepared.

David: Yes. And then over here is more health slash personal stuff. Jewelry. And Kiehl’s lip balm. The A R I Z O N A bracelet… our friend who is a barista at Starbucks makes jewelry and so she made a bunch for us. It’s our local Starbucks and when we walk in everyone says hi. We’re regulars. The Miansai bracelets are from my girlfriend. They latch really weird, and they’re just super cool. I always wear them on stage without fail.

There’s another glasses pocket with two things of lip balm, which are really important to me. And love letters. But we don’t have to show those.

I also have personalized Shinola notebooks. These are fresh books. It’s a pledge that I made to myself that I’m going to do more handwriting. I’m trying to wean off being on the phone so much, especially in the mornings. I feel like if I start my day on social media then I lose like, three hours of peak work time. I’m a morning person. I like to wake up at 6AM. I feel like I peak at 10AM and then I start losing steam around 1:30PM. And that’s the opposite of these guys. They love to be night owls. So, yeah. More analog. Just for the sake of easing my mind.

Then in the back pouch, I always carry a pair of flip flops. I’m Filipino and whenever I’m inside the bus or in a green room, I can’t wear shoes. I just don’t know how people bring shoes into their house. It freaks me out. You know how much stuff is on the street? That’s my Asian upbringing at its finest.

Do you like a particular brand of flip flops?

David: If they’re more than a dollar, they’re not worth it. If they come in a cool color, then they’re worth it.

I’d love to hear about your origin story.

David: Zach and I grew up together. We grew up in the same town. He was like, the other music kid.

We were frenemies. And then basically we ended up having the same mentor, this songwriter and producer named PJ Bianco. He had worked with Demi Lovato and The Jonas Brothers. He used to intern in this studio.

Zach: He was a local as well.

David: We learned how to produce when we were like, 13 or 14 years old. It was always a part of our lives. I ended up going to school in Boston, and Zach ended up in LA. But he would fly back and forth. And in Boston I met Nate, who went to Berkeley. We ended up being roommates and would make music for other people.

Eventually after college I ended up in advertising, working in visual media and post-production. These guys ended up in LA working on music with PJ. We all eventually got super burnt, but we were like, we still love music. A R I Z O N A was our last-ditch effort, where we thought if nobody cares, it’s cool, as long as we did it for ourselves. We never thought anyone would care. We never thought anyone would listen. And now here we are.

And how did you come up with the name A R I Z O N A? I personally find it a really inspiring place.

Zach: It is. But we didn’t know that.

We were in LA, and Dave was still on the East Coast and it was our last strung out era when we were like, cool. Fuck this, fuck music, fuck everybody, fuck the industry, everybody sucks, everybody’s terrible. I’m going to go and become a history teacher and I’m over this whole thing. I don’t give a shit. I need a real life. But real quick before we go, do you guys want to make some songs just for fun. And so we did.

Nate: We were on FaceTime.

Zach: Yeah, Nate and I were on FaceTime with Dave, who was back at home.

David: It was like, four in the morning in Boston. I was working in Avid and all my media went offline. So I’m sitting there and trying to reconnect everything because my deadline is the next morning. I get this FaceTime call. I’m like, ah whatever I’m up anyway. So I pick up and it’s Zach and Nate. They had sent me “Let Me Touch Your Fire.” And I was like, who’s this for, it sounds dope.

Zach: Nate and I had started this idea and it was fun. We all saw the bottom of the pit as we were falling, so we were like, well before we hit we might as well go out on our own way. So, let’s make some jams. During this conversation we decided yes, let’s make this a project. What are we going to call it, though? At the time, Nate was wearing an Arizona iced tea hat and Dave was like, “Dawg, I don’t know man, whatever, no one’s ever going to hear this or care about it. It doesn’t matter what we call it.” He pointed to Nate’s hat and said, “Uh call it Arizona.” He sent it to us in caps all spaced out and was like, “Dude, all these stupid hipster bands are doing this. It’s mad funny.”

In the moment, it was us making fun of musicians using Vs for As and removing vowels and all that dumb shit. When we got done joking around about it, we were sold on the idea of not thinking too much about it.

It’s not meaningful. I think that in itself is the meaning of it. The meaning is whatever comes out of you just let it be what it is and don’t think too much about it. Don’t try to refine it too much. The name, the logo, the whole ethos of what we do, I think, is whatever it is that feels good to us and it’s a thing with the homies. That’s good enough for us.

I love that story.

Zach: It’s funny. The SEO is kind of a similar take on our whole attitude to it because it’s like, how are you going to optimize searching A R I Z O N A? And it’s like, well I think our whole attitude going into A R I Z O N A is we’re either going to make billions of fucking dollars and be the biggest thing in the world, or we’re going to be broke in two years and I’m going to be a history teacher. There’s no middle way. There is no, yeah, we’re cool in 12 years touring in a van like, “We’re still going, dude!” Fuck that. A R I Z O N A is going to work or it’s not going to work. And if it works, trust me you’re going to be able to Google us. And if it doesn’t work, you won’t be able to Google us. And that’s the end of it.

So I think that’s the whole attitude. We’re having fun and having fun affords us the opportunity to do things that we love and that’s all that matters to us.

That’s an incredible goal.

Zach: We’re not really in it for any particular reason. We found out more reasons for it once it got started. When we started going on tour, we connected with individuals that have these stories about what the music does for them.

At the end of the day, I feel weird about it because I don’t want to take credit for that. What the music does for you is what the music does for me, too. The music is something that is a byproduct of all of our friendships and then we get to look at it just as third-person as the people that are consuming it. We are just the messengers, so to speak. When you see how it connects to the world and what it does to people in their lives, it’s not just a joke anymore.

And you included that idea in your video for “Electric Touch,” which was really beautiful.

Zach: Yeah, we wanted to bring attention to that. There are real people out there, going through real things just as we are. A R I Z O N A is about being. It’s okay to just be. It’s about accepting who you are and whatever it is you’re going through. We’re all people. And we were almost at the end of being not people when we started this. It was like, hey, we’re going to give up and be a statistic the rest of our lives. A R I Z O N A was us letting go of the concerns and the worries and trying to be something that let us be everything.

I’d love to hear more about when things started going nuts for you on streaming platforms. Was there a strategy?

Zach: Our manager would send 100 emails a day telling our story to these blogs. And a lot of them were YouTube channel curators. Every now and then, he would maybe get one email back out of 100. When we were ready to release the song “I Was Wrong” he got an email from a blog called MrSuicideSheep, which is one of the biggest YouTube channels for curating music. They decided they wanted to post us. So they did.

It got so big within a couple of days. And this was around the same time that Spotify was starting to have its big upswing. People would find the song on YouTube and all those people would then go and save it on Spotify. So I’m assuming all these saves created this big fat spike on Spotify. We just got a lot of love from streaming, particularly Spotify. Those numbers happened over the course of a couple months. We went from nothing to being signed at the end of the summer. It was weird to see that. Your mind doesn’t catch up to it until… I don’t even know if our minds have really caught up to it yet. Even this day now, doing exactly what we’re doing today is kind of surreal.

What’s your songwriting process?

Zach: It’s just us hanging as homies. We’ll be kicking it and then have a mini therapy session between us friends, catching up on each other’s lives. Out of that usually comes some pretty inspiring talk and then we’ll start jamming on some music. And then we’ll just write a song. It’s a big, long process because we do everything in-house. We do the production, the writing, the mixing, the videos, the branding.

Nate this plastic bag obviously isn’t your everyday bag, but it’s what you have with you right now.

Nate: I have a Pokemon bag. It’s great. It has Pikachu, Charmander, Squirtle, Bulbasaur, and Eevee on it. And I Sharpied glasses onto Squirtle. Normally I don’t even carry that much stuff so even if I had my bag with me, it would maybe be a change of clothes, a book, and a phone charger.

What book are you reading right now?

Nate: Currently I’m reading Useless Magic, which is Florence Welch’s collection of lyrics and poetry.

So here we have half of my beef and cheddar sandwich with roasted red peppers. It’s very good. That’s why I wanted to go next, so I can eat the other half. And these are some napkins so I can clean my hands [laughs], and some of my favorite gum flavor, Passionberry Twist.

I would guess that flavor is not easy to find.

Nate: I find it maybe three out of eight times. So today is a good day.

And then there’s your phone. What more do you need other than communication and food?

Nate: Yeah. That’s the iPhone 8 Plus. It’s good for texting and calling my mom.

And what bag is this?

Zach: So I have two main bags. My other main bag is the 5.11 RUSH24. This is the Reebow bag, which is the more economical version. This is a 48-hour bag? It’s a little bit bigger. I took the Reebow on the road because I haven’t gotten my larger 5.11 yet. This thing has been through every tour that I’ve ever been on in the past two years and it’s gotten beat up a lot and it’s still trucking, so not bad for the price point.

Zach: Mine’s not as organized as Dave’s. This is my headphone bag for these little guys here. These are the Sennheiser HD1s. They are Bluetooth noise-canceling headphones. They just sent us these and they’re literally the most amazing things ever.

Then there’s rope, batteries, and the compass necklace we used for the cover of GALLERY. It’s also an actual compass. There’s a little note songwriting pad. My passport with a J.Crew cover. And a Tile, to keep track of my bag.

How long have you used Tile?

Zach: About a year now. I have a bunch of them. I’m the worst, so I always have to check where stuff is.

Then there’s some instant coffee. That’s a big one. And this is sort of like a hygiene slash first aid kit with antacids and whatever. Deodorant. A flashlight. Hand sanitizer.

What’s in here?

Zach: Oh, cables and a USB hub.

What’s this thing? It’s by… Chicken? It’s called Fuse Chicken?

Zach: Yeah, it’s great. Our manager got it for me. It’s a metal charging cable. Then there’s an Apogee Duet. That’s our audio interface for the road. And Sharpies, Velcro cable ties, and an Anker battery pack.

What mouse is this?

Zach: That’s the Razer DeathAdder Elite. That goes with my gaming rig because I am a huge fucking gamer. I have these two laptops.

Let’s talk about your gaming laptop.

Zach: I just got it. It’s a custom-built Sager. I ordered it from Xotic PC, which is a third-party retailer, but they do commissioned custom builds. It’s a good build. It’s got the i7-8750H, the NVIDIA GTX 1070, 8GB of RAM, and 144Hz refresh rate. Shit’s pretty tight. A 15-inch screen so it’s nice and portable. I use it with the Razer DeathAdder Elite and Firefly hard mat. And I have a little lav mic so I can talk to my homies when I’m playing.

What’s your favorite game?

Zach: I play a lot of PUBG and Fortnite for casual stuff. I play a lot of Arma. Basically anything and everything. I like streaming a lot. We have a Twitch. It’s twitch.com/thebandnotthestate, so if anyone wants to watch me play some fucking Fortnite, I’m out here.

Then this is my 15-inch Macbook Pro, which is what we do most of our work stuff on, whether it’s music or media. This is an iPad with some of our original stickers on it. This is fan stuff that I got. One girl got me a box of Cheez-Its because she knows I love Cheez-Its. She wrote a note on the box. This was at a show in Boston sometime in the past two years.

What are your essentials in this bag?

Zach: You never know when you’re going to need Velcro and rope. But personally speaking, I think my gaming rig. And the HD1s.

[Voice shouting in background] Did you tell them about the Ace pads?

Zach: Oh yeah. I had a very special moment in my life involving the bar at the Ace Hotel in London. So the Ace Hotel notepads I have currently are from the one in LA because those were the ones readily available. But I just love the stationery and because of my experience, it’s one of my weird personal inspiration things. I like writing songs on the Ace Hotel stationary. They heard the story and sent us a bunch of it.

We have to look up the story now!

Zach: You’re not going to find the story. The answer is essentially why GALLERY got written.

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