LIL UGLY MANE - Interview

ETHEREAL.PRESS

Tell us about Lil Ugly Mane.

LIL UGLY MANE

Ugly Mane is a catch-all for whatever creative drainage leaks out of me. I think it's a dumb name that makes most people immediately write me off and not investigate what I do purely based on the preconception of how dumb the name is.

I like that.

I like throttling my career. I like turning people off.

I like that everyone that likes my shit has to sound stupid explaining to another person why “Lil Ugly Mane” is actually good.

ETHEREAL.PRESS

Talk to us about your 2021 project, 'VOLCANIC BIRD ENEMY AND THE VOICED CONCERN.'

LIL UGLY MANE

That record is probably my favourite thing I've ever done. It felt more intentional than anything I've done.

I wanted every minute of that record to sound exactly how it sounded. I hadn't sung before in that way before on a record and wanted to do something lackadaisical and bored. The criticism that I've got about my "vocal range" is funny to me because that record would SUCK if I was like "trying to sing" on any of those songs.

Velvet Underground would be horrible if Lou Reed could sing really well. Beat Happening would be such a boring band if Calvin Johnson sounded like John Cougar Mellencamp or something. I wanted to showcase imperfection as an example or something earnest.

ETHEREAL.PRESS

The album art for this project is so unique.

Tell us a bit about the concept for the album art and why you decided to use non-human entities as you have with other releases.

LIL UGLY MANE

I originally wanted to make it a photograph but ultimately decided that I was too picky about how I wanted the photo to look. I asked my friend Patrick Quinn to paint it because I knew he was up for the job and would accomplish exactly what I wanted.

The use of the duck and the cop puppet, and even my use of animatronics just has to do with what I've found fun about certain bands in the past.

Iconography adds mythology and creates a singular universe. Milo and the Descendants. The Misfits and the Crimson Ghost. Eddie and Iron Maiden. I want everything I do to feel like the listener is entering into a specific world.

I want there to be a narrative that gets written in the mind of the listener without having to actually spell it out.

ETHEREAL.PRESS

On your website, you decided to release a board game following the album.

Can you tell us a bit about this decision and what the game is about?

LIL UGLY MANE

I've always wanted to make a board game.

I don't have a competitive bone in my body and don't really like games but I've also always conceptually loved board games my entire life. I grew up in the late 80s and early 90s with D&D and magic the gathering and hero quest coming out and having all that compacted into that whole satanic panic craze, and it gave this allure and danger to the idea of these weird complex games.

I had always wanted to make one but thought it was maybe out of my pay grade, but honestly, just sitting down and writing the rulebook felt pretty natural. I Want people to be able to interface with my music and ideas in more tangible ways, and I think a board game is a good way to achieve that.

ETHEREAL.PRESS

One of your first full-length releases (2012), 'Mista Thug Isolation,' is stylistically reminiscent of the Memphis rap scene.

What inspires you about the sound?

LIL UGLY MANE

Memphis rap was so specific. It was so unique.

It was the antithesis of everything happening on the radio and the production values were so DIY. It was felt like the same "fuck you" I got from hardcore. It always felt like the same middle finger pointed at the industry screaming "we don't need you," and fluidly operating without the help of those pieces of shit.

Make a tape, pass it out, end of story.

ETHEREAL.PRESS

The GOAT (greatest of all time) question comes up in media a lot when discussing rap & hip-hop music. We think, in your case, with so much genre exploration, we should include all genres for this question.

Who are a couple of your favourite artists of all time?

LIL UGLY MANE

I love my friends music. I love seeing my friends create.

Obviously, I have shit like Magnetic Fields or Ten Yard Fight or Atrax Morgue or Beherit that I revisit all the time but at the end of the day my favorite bands are shit my friends make.

I'm so unbelievably aware and thankful to know and be a part of this community of talented people.

My friend Justice's projects angeldu$t and cold mega. Snooper from Nashville. My friend Flannery's new project F.G.S. Wiki, Denzel Curry, Diana Damewood, Chubby and the Gang, Section H8, Bugg, Narrowhead, Young Guv.

I just love hearing friends crush it.

ETHEREAL.PRESS

Tell us about your most recent single, 'Easy Prey.'

LIL UGLY MANE

'Easy Prey' is just a rock track. Idk. It makes me wanna wear a ringer tee and skateboard and be 13.

Idk.

ETHEREAL.PRESS

What's next for Lil Ugly Mane?

LIL UGLY MANE

Who fucking knows. I wanna do weird shit. I have no idea.