Recently I was able to schedule an interview with M.A.G.S. to discuss his newly announced new LP, Destroyer, that will release via Smartpunk Records on August 4th. In this interview, I asked Elliott about his recent tours of crowd-testing the new material, the writing process that went into his latest record, as well as how he measures his success as an artist. M.A.G.S. will also be on tour this summer at a few select venues.
With your most recent tour, you tested out some of the new material for this new album, called Destroyer. So can you tell me the audience reaction to the new material?
Man…Yeah, that was honestly, it was kind of a trip. We did eight shows on the West Coast. And I remember the first show was in San Diego, and I’ve had kind of rough experiences playing in San Diego before…But when we pulled up, there was already a line around the building. And I never headlined in San Diego either. So I was very, very surprised to see a full house. I think that was just sort of an indication that people are curious about what’s coming up next. But yeah, we played the new material and the crowd response to the new songs was, I could see people trying to sing along, I can see people trying to learn it, and trying to be a part of it. So that was really, really exciting. It’s also the first tour, where I didn’t play guitar, and all I had to do was just singing, and being able to interact with the audience more. And being a frontman versus the singer who plays guitar…that was a big. I think it kind of elevated the whole experience for me, and for everybody.
That’s great. I’m glad everybody was engaged with the new material! It sounds incredible from the advance copy that I got. After the critical success of your sophomore album, Say Things That Matter, how motivated were you to write these new songs that would become your forthcoming new record, called Destroyer?
Motivated…I don’t know if that’s the word I would use. I think what I typically do is I just write songs, I just have this huge backlog of songs. Whether it be on my iPhone, or just on various hard drives. And sometimes, what will happen is, I’ll just get inspired by maybe something old that I made. In this instance, I was going through some old demos, and I found this one called “Sins.” And I ended up hitting up the engineer that I had made those songs with originally, because I made “Sins” back in 2015. And I hit him up, and I asked if he had the stems for that one. So there were like three or four songs that I recorded with him, but he sent them all over. And I said to listen to my manager, and I was like, this is an old song, and she’s like, “Are you going to release this? It’s my favorite thing that you’ve made so far!” And that was kind of like the jumping off point for the next one, honestly. And when I made that song, particularly, I thought this isn’t quite the direction I want to go right now. I think I had intended to go more in the Indie-pop direction back in 2015. But now I think I’m less afraid to just do the things that I want to do, and do the things that sound good to me. I think trying to not be actively influenced by what people expect of you…you’re really safe. I can kind of just feel like I can kind of just do what I want to do. And with this album, it just kind of came together. I wanted to make something kind of intricate and dark. And make something with a little bit more weight, I guess. A lot of my music does have weight to it. But this one, this new album particularly, I think, is probably my heaviest, both sonically and lyrically.
Definitely! And you mentioned “Sins.” That’s gonna be the second single to be released from the set, right? And also, can you tell me why you chose to title this album, Destroyer?
Yeah, that’s actually a funny question. When I first named the album, I had a song and I was calling it “Destroyer” as like a working title, and I had about five songs that I was going to make into what was going to be the “Destroyer EP,” and I think I kind of just took it as an opportunity to strip back everything that I had known about myself, and everything I know about making music, and kind of started from the ground zero. And when I started to make the most of the album, I got these visuals, in my head of the end of the world. Like this sort of post-apocalyptic, dystopian, not too distant future kind of thing. And that was kind of what made me excited about the project, was the idea that the songs kind of match up with these really visceral images. I’ve always been really interested in natural disasters, like tornadoes, earthquakes, tsunamis and stuff like that. I spend a lot of my time on YouTube, just looking at destruction. Really, I don’t know what that’s all about, but it’s always been sort of fascinating to me that the earth just kind of does this on its own. And we’re here and it affects thousands of people. People die, and it’s really fucked up. But at the end of the day, it’s doing what it does. And with the title itself, for me, it’s kind of been this ever-evolving thing. Last year, around this time, I was going through some pretty significant life changes, and was staying with some friends. And not really sure what my next move was. And I wrote a lot of those songs about during the time where I was kind of in between apartments and trying to get my life together. And I knew from the moment that I left my last place that I was about to embark on this kind of wild journey. I essentially had to start from square one with my life. And it was the same thing with my songwriting process…I kind of stripped everything back and had to take a really hard look at myself and start working through some of the stuff that I’ve been either putting off or realizing things that I wasn’t even aware of that I was depressing. Destroyer is very much in the sense that it’s kind of about destroying the thing that you know about yourself and learning new things.
So you’re kind of rebuilding at this point to be learning about yourself as a musician, an artist, etc. Where are you located currently?
Right now, I still live in Los Angeles.
Oh, nice! So the last time we chatted, you mentioned your love for bands like Underoath and other key scene bands. Is there anything you’ve listened to recently that either struck a chord with you, or felt like either the artist was doing something pretty important to the music scene?
That’s a good question. Lately, the band I’ve listened to the most recently is Unknown Mortal Orchestra. Ruben Nielsen, I think he’s kind of like the brainchild of the whole project, but he just put out his fifth record. And I think it’s just called Five. And it just came out like a few weeks ago, but I’ve been keeping up with the singles and there really aren’t too many bands, I’m like very tapped into, honestly. But one of the things I like about Ruben specifically is I view him as like a “true artist” where he goes away and he takes time with his art. He’s not constantly posting updates, or whatever. He kind of just disappears, and spends as much time as he can making sure that he has everything the way he wants it to be. And then when it’s time to release it, he’s just kind of like, here it is. Here’s everything I have for you. I’m in New York right now, and he’s at Webster Hall on the 16th. I thought I was gonna go too, but I think that what he does is he is able to mix jazz and pop music with experimental music and Soul and R&B sometimes. It reminds me a bit of Motown. I mean, he’s just got all these different influences, and he’s able to marry them all together to create something. That’s just him. And I can relate really heavily to that. I think that’s my goal. To take all the things that I am influenced by and make something that is at least unique. I don’t necessarily believe in originality at this point. But uniqueness and authenticity to me are the only things that are really important to me.
Yeah, and that artist, in particular, really works a lot with reinvention, too. They don’t do the same thing over and over again, and they’re learning as they go. What do you find to be the major differences between opening a show like you will be with Sleeping with Sirens, versus headlining, which you’ve done back in February?
Um, it’s just a different headspace. I think when you’re headlining, people are there to see you, and those are your fans, so I can be a little bit more myself, and be a little bit more relaxed and not feel like I have to rush when I’m on stage. I think there are definitely pros and cons to both. I think the benefits of opening are you can kind of just go out there, put on the best show you possibly can, and then you’re done. You might gain some new fans. And you might just blow people’s minds. And that’s what I always try to do. If I’m opening, I just act like I’m the headliner, but there’s no pressure to play for an hour and a half, or whatever it is. And this past tour was my first headliner. I did lose my voice on that run. That was something I learned…Vocal health is a necessity.
Is there anything you did during that period of time to kind of prevent the long-term damage or any other tips of the road?
Yeah, I’ve been taking vocal lessons. And my vocal instructor has given me a bunch of tips and just sort of standard things that I can do to preserve my voice. Some of it’s just like don’t talk, or be on vocal rest. And ginger or honey type of stuff. Also whispering, apparently, is really bad for you. If your voice is damaged you’re not supposed to whisper at all. And then also, making sure that I’m not talking too loud, or talking too much after the shows. It’s bad to be screaming over the house music at shows.
That’s interesting. But at least you still get those positive fan interactions from time to time too. Let’s talk a little bit more about the new album. It features a great new single called “Elephant.” So what went into writing for this new record, and what did you find different about mapping out the song structures compared to your last album?
So when I was working on this one, after I did Say Things, I became very aware of my songwriting formula. I think every good songwriter kind of has like a formula, a path or a roadmap…
Or even like a comfort zone too…
Yeah, exactly.And I think with this new album, I became aware of that after making the last one. And I was like, I’m gonna keep elements of the past album, but I want to do stuff that is a little bit outside of what I normally do. You can hear that, especially with some of the different time signature changes, and even just the tone too, in general. I think they lend themselves a little bit more to like, just like a different sound overall than I think my previous albums. Sonically, the sound has been a lot more immediate and everything is right in your face all the time. And on Destroyer, there’s layers. Working with Jay Moss, the producer who worked on this record, we actually did “Elephant” first. And that was sort of a testament because we weren’t at that point even planning on doing an album. And honestly, it was just going to be a single, because he has a new program that he just recently launched. It’s a mentorship program where he’s walking people through how he does his mixes, and how he sets up his sessions, and his reasoning for using different techniques and what have you. So, he used my song as an example for that.
I guess it’s cool to be the Guinea Pig from time to time, right?
Yeah, exactly. And we filmed a bunch of content around it as well, that he’s been releasing. But by doing that, we realized that we worked really well together. Like really well together. So we did that back last July. And then I was back in September and I cut a few more songs with him. And then I went back after a tour in October and made some more songs with them. So we ended up on about nine songs. And honestly, I think working with him was the biggest difference between this album and the previous ones. I’ve never had any external feedback or assistance on the other records. With this one, I had all the songs pretty much prepared and ready to go when I went in. And then he and I would sort of workshop certain parts. And we collaborated a lot on different ideas that we would both have. It wasn’t all just my ideas. There’s a song later in the record called “Red Sky,” and that song was pretty much done from start to finish, but we felt like when we were getting to that second verse, it felt a little repetitive. And he was like, I have an idea for a guitar part. And he kind of just roughly explained what he was thinking…and then I just wrote these chords, and he’s like, that’s exactly what I was looking for! I just made something up, and it was perfect.
It must be so nice to have that trusted voice in the room to kind of push you as an artist too!
Definitely, yeah. It was nice to honestly just kind of be the musician versus having to be the musician and the producer at the same time. You know?
Yeah. So, we talked a little bit about what keeps you motivated as an artist, but what do you think about success? How do you measure that?
That’s a great question, and it’s something that I had been thinking about a lot lately. Particularly since the beginning of this year, kind of going through a lot of personal stuff, and trying to figure out what I want. And I think success is definitely one of those things that’s subjective, you know what I mean? I think that based on where I’m at now, my 16 year old self sees myself as extremely successful. I think I’ve gone much further past the point than I thought I was going into in a lot of ways…I am successful. But at the same time, I feel as though I have so much further to go. In some ways, I feel like I’m still at the beginning of my career and my artistic expression. I’m just scratching the surface of what I think I can do. So, I am successful, but I’m also still learning what success means and ultimately, I think what I want is to just have sustainability. To me, art’s all about being able to continue making it. Finding a way of being able to do what you love to do, and not have to sort of bend the knee to a corporation.
Yeah, it definitely sounds like you got the right mindset. And I think a lot of people are interested to hear what you have to say on this next album. So with Destroyer being released in full this August, what do you think people will find most surprising about these songs?
I think I pushed myself into almost a progressive rock territory. I think people who are musicians are going to hear that some of the songs are in 6/4 time or 7/4 time…
Ah, the “math rock” kind of thing!
Yeah, and you can handle being around lots of lots of the album, there’s never a point where things feel too glitchy. It’s uncomfortable to listen to. I like listening to certain music that makes me feel uncomfortable. But I think with mine, I want to have those elements in there that make me excited as a musician, but I want it to be listened to by people across the board. I want it to be able to play after like a scissor track. And I think I’ve been talking a lot about sonics, just because I’m an engineer and producer first. But the difference is in the quality of the sound. This is kinda my first real studio album. My previous albums have been more DIY, where I’ve done them in my house. This one, I did in a proper studio. And Jay mixed it, and it is the first album I made without doing all the mixing myself either. So I think I’ve pushed myself sonically to a different territory. And there are people who are gonna say, “Okay, it sounds good, with all these different elements.” I think anybody can sort of find something to like about it.
Yeah. And it’s not one of those albums you just throw on and you forget about it…You’re gonna keep coming back to it. There’s things that are going to reward the listener for deeper dives. There’s the math rock elements and things like that. I think there’s a lot for all sorts of music fans to really enjoy. So congrats on the new record! It strikes a great balance between the pop elements found on Say Things That Matter, and the guitar-driven groove that really accentuates your growth as a musician and an artist. Are there certain songs found on Destroyer that you think you’re most proud of?
Yeah, I think the fifth song is called “Wednesday.” And I think that’s, to me, really weird. It’s really weird, because I kind of have this kind of atmospheric, almost dream pop verse and chorus. And then the bridge and the ending are almost straight like primal and I think being able to mash those two things together in a way where it doesn’t feel awkward, I think that I was pretty proud of being able to accomplish that. And Jay added a lot to that one too, because when I originally did the demo for that song there were some percussion elements and some weird stuff I had in the background, and he kind of went in and did some stuff with the vocals and turned them into making sense. It made these kinds of washy, atmospheric parts. So, in the bridge, you’ve got that juxtaposition of like the dreamy, kind of eerie stuff, but then also the guitars kind of fight with the drums, but it all kind of blends together as well.
But hey, you really pulled it off! So the last question I have for you is, as you look back on this time, of the Destroyer-era…What are you most proud of, and what are you looking most forward too?
I think that based on where I’m at with my life, this album feels sort of like a reflection of the period of my life. I’m 31 now and I’m having to sort of really address some of the things that I went through as a teenager and as a kid, and certain things about my upbringing that I’m having to unlearn. It’s all kind of hitting me at this time when I’m about to put out this album, I’m still working through those things, and they’re things that I think a lot of people can relate to. And so I think I’m most looking forward to being able to put visuals to the album. And I think there’s a whole kind of story that goes with this project. I want to be able to tell that story. And for people to be able to hear it and internalize, but also see it. And ultimately, when I make my art, I just want people that have their own kind of interpretations, for the most part. But I think being able to represent the things that I see and feel in the product as well are also valuable and important.
That’s great. It was so nice to reconnect with you again, Elliott! And I hope to see you in Silver Spring, when you play with Sleeping With Sirens. I’m really looking forward to it!
Likewise! Thanks, Adam!
