The Simps Discuss Their Upcoming Debut Album, Videos, Collaborating, and More

Hot upon the heels of our in-depth Eyedress interview earlier this year, we were exceedingly eager to jump straight into an extensive conversation with The Simps as soon as the opportunity presented itself. Lucky for us, we didn’t have to wait long, and were recently able to sit down with both Zzzahara and Eyedress, who collaborate under moniker The Simps.

As gracious as they are prolific, The Simps talked about collaboration, their upcoming 2021 debut album, and more. Our illuminating socially distanced discussion was an inspirational pick-me-up during the ongoing pandemic, and we are delighted to share that conversation with you here. Included with our interview is a new and exclusive Simps photo set by Cameron Murray.

Bobby Weirdo: You perform together onstage for Eyedress shows. You’ve also performed together as The Simps…

Eyedress: We’ve only incorporated two or three Simps songs at Eyedress shows, but yeah – it’s just us. Now that the [Simps] album is done, we’ll do both. We’re just going to have to practice more.

BW: Zzzahara, do you have preferred pronouns?

Zzzahara: “They/them,” after giving it much thought. My friends can call me whatever, because they’ve known me so long, but I feel like being a girl in the music industry is really hard. And not only that, I don’t identify with a lot of things under the “girl” gender norm. I don’t want my gender to be incorporated into my music, and I also don’t want to bank off being non-binary. I just want to be a person who makes music.

*The Simps, 2021. Photo: Cameron Murray for WMF*

BW: What’s the background to The Simps’ name?

E: The Tay-K song “The Race”.

Z: Yeah – it’s just about simping and being sensitive. We’re not ashamed to put it out there. Usually “simp” is used in a negative way, but we just own it. It’s OK to be sensitive and write about the things you want to…

E: And be vulnerable. Yeah, that’s our songwriting. We would call it “simping.”

BW: And Zzzahara, you released a 2020 EP titled Simp.WAV, and it was recorded during the lockdown, right?

Z: Yeah – I was like, “Ableton…what?” But I figured it out, and [wanted to] put out something that I learned. I produced the whole thing. It was kind of a test to see what I could put together, so I made an electronic rock album.

BW: Eyedress, you’ve mentioned to me before that Zzzahara is always up for recording. When you’re working on Simps tracks together, are you always in the same room, or do you send files back and forth?

E: The album we’re going to release was mostly recorded in the Future Classic studio in Frogtown, and some of it was done in Zzzahara’s garage.

Z: My garage, your old condo...[Future Classic] had all the cool instruments and keyboards.

E: The Juno-60, [Yamaha] DX-7…it’s a cool studio. I think it’s mostly for electronic artists. Who’s recorded there?

Z: Flume is the only person I know – I love Flume.

BW: Most Simps tracks don’t have live drums, right?

E: It’s a TR-505.

BW: Do you build Simps tracks by laying down drums first?

Z: We program the drums first; he does it really well. Then we’ll just start playing stuff over it.

BW: What do you each feel the other brings to the table, writing-wise?

E: For me, it’s an emotion, or vibe.

Z: Yeah…

E: Say Z’s happy – whatever she’s going to play on guitar or keys is going to sound super stoked. If we’re sad, sad riffs come out.

Z: If I start singing or playing something, Eyedress knows how to complement it. Or he’ll come up with something, and I know how to complement it. I just feel like we have really good musical chemistry, and since we’re already friends, nothing is forced. It’s what’s coming off the top of our heads – what we’re feeling, and [it’s] authentic.

BW: What’s the common thread running through The Simps? Is it this chemistry you’re describing, or is it a shared taste in music?

E: We definitely have similar music taste. We’re both Filipino, but I don’t think that has anything to do with it. That just made us feel safe being friends, because I feel like we both have the same kind of family upbringing. Our families doubted the path we both pursued, but it worked out.

BW: The Simps’ album is going to have nineteen songs…

E: We might cut it down, but right now we have nineteen. It reflects a period in time.

BW: And you’ve put out two songs so far: “On Fye”, which has the video we’ve talked about earlier, and also “Miss Fortunate”.

E: That was the first song we ever recorded and released.

Z: We recorded it in my garage.

E: My friend Lee [Canham] was here from Amsterdam, and wanted to film a video for me, so I said, “why don’t we make a video for this song?” He’s great.

BW: Zzzahara, you were in the Eyedress “Jealous” video, and have called that video shoot “the most epic day.” What was so epic about it – that there were so many people and friends in the same place?

E: Damn, it’s so different now when I think about it, because we can’t do stuff like that anymore.

Z: Dan [Horitz] – our A&R at the label – came out from London, which was special. Kane [Caples] is in the video, which is super cool. We were just messing around the whole day being bros, and it was a funny day.

We were cracking up because everyone was watching us do this video, busking. We got on top of the Ferris wheel to record [one] part, and we were rocking out…it was a funny experience.

E: I was embarrassed the whole time. Good thing I wear shades; I don’t have to feel the eyes on me. We had the little Orange amp, and it was loud as fuck. I was like, “why am I attracting attention? This is not my style!” But it was fun – it wasn’t a hard day or anything. We went to Venice Beach, and Santa Monica at the end.

Z: It was a long day. So long, and so funny.

BW: Zzzzahara, you’re also in the Eyedress “Let’s Skip to the Wedding” video.

E: That was a long-ass day, too...two days! We filmed one day, and Kobe [Bryant] died the next day, so we canceled filming out of respect and filmed the day after.

Z: Kobe dying was an indicator that 2020 was going to be bad. That’s when Coronavirus was in China, and you would see it in the news, but people weren’t that scared that it would travel here.

But it was a fun day; it looked like Eyedress and Elvia got married. I put a photo on my Instagram saying they got married, and all these people were saying congratulations.

E: But my girl was really pregnant and in her puking phase, so shooting that was really tough. She was not feeling well, but was down.

BW: Where did you shoot that?

E: Simi Valley…

Z: Koreatown…

E: Hollywood...

Z: We were everywhere.

BW: Did you clear it with the liquor store before you shot that segment in there?

Z: We spoke with them, and asked if we could film and buy stuff. We said we were a bunch of students, and they were nice.

BW: Zzzahara, you went to a magnet program at Franklin High School. What was the focus of that program?

Z: Math and science.

BW: So you’re a math and science person?

Z: Science – not math. I went up to statistics, but never calculus.

BW: On another note, you just got a new guitar pedal.

Z: Yeah, I was really broke in 2018 and 2019. I sold my Vox AC30, my Fender Deville, a bunch of guitars, and all the pedals I owned: my Fulltone Overdrive, my Super Chorus pedal…everything just to make ends meet. Now that I’m finally under Lex Records and getting paid, I’m going to start building up a pedal board again.

E: I might get a pedal board now…I’ve never really fucked with pedals.

BW: You use plugins instead?

E: Yeah, I use Abelton. I used to use amps when I was in a band – I’d put two amps on top of each other, and then turn on the reverb on both amps. It sounded sick.

Z: Super, super reverb!

BW: Zzzaraha has a story in a 2018 Complex article about Andre 3000 going to an Eyedress show…

E: At The Smell!

BW: If I were playing a show at The Smell, and saw someone who I thought was Andre 3000, I would doubt myself, and think it couldn’t really be him. Were you positive right away that it was Andre 3000?

E: I was positive right away. I was playing like a 90s rock-sounding song, as was like, “Fuck – I wish I was playing an Andre 3000-type song right now and impressing this guy!” I wanted to play [material from] Sensitive G, and we were getting toward the end of the set, which is all the heavy shit. I was like, “Fuck – I want to bust out!” but nope – too late!

I didn’t even get to say what’s up to him, because we had to pack our stuff up. I remember all our friends got photos with him, but I was in the back sweating, packing my laptop away.

Z: I remember [Andre 3000] was in a trench coat, and everybody got pics with [him]. I just got to grab my guitar and look at him. I wanted to say hi so bad, because Outkast was the shit when I was growing up – their music videos were everywhere.

BW: There’s an Eyedress European tour in October/November that Zzzahara will be on. As of now, are those the next live dates scheduled for either The Simps or Eyedress?

E: Yeah – it’s booked, and there are posters. I hope it goes through. It was booked earlier this year, and when it got closer, they [had to reschedule].

BW: Speaking of posters, you have a Nick Cave poster above your bed at home, Zzzahara. Is he especially important to you?

Z: No, my favorite song by The Birthday Party [The Boys Next Door] is “Shivers”, which is a cover of the original written by [Rowland Stuart Howard]. That music video captivated me, so when I saw the Nick Cave poster, I was like, “I want that early Nick Cave poster. This shit is badass”. I love his outfit and hair – it’s just so postpunk and goth. I’ve listened to some Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds records, and I’m not 100% a fan, because it’s just too slow for me.

BW: Zzzahara, did you use to work within mental health?

Z: I used to be a mental health worker; I would go to people’s houses. I just always wanted to be a health care worker – any little thing I could do to make somebody’s life a little bit easier.

BW: And you’re doing it with music now.

Z: Yeah! If you’re sad, I hope I can help you. That’s how I got into music. I just listened to music to escape.

BW: You were able to do the “On Fye” video during COVID…

Z: Yeah, we all got tested.

BW: Do you think you’ll be doing videos for upcoming Simps tracks?

Z: We want to, but we’d rather be safe than sorry, so we’ll see.

BW: So there’s going to be an album coming out this year along with touring, if all goes well…

E: I really hope so.

BW: Anything else coming up in 2021 for The Simps?

E: Merch. We have an album done, and we just have to make vids, so hopefully the world will let us. I want to be respectful about the pandemic. Before, we would just shoot anything, and we wanted people to know. That spirit is still there, but I don’t want to be insensitive.

Z: If it weren’t for the pandemic, we’d be playing shows, recording in the studio 24 hours [at a time], I’d be working on his music, and we’d be going to events.

BW: You’re on Lex Records for both The Simps and Eyedress, but there’s always Team Loyal as your own world with Eyedress, The Simps, Zzzahara, and Elvia going on alongside that.

E: Yeah, it’s not like we’re not going to deliver albums [to the label] and it’s nice to have our own thing, so we don’t feel tied down.

Z: I feel like Eyedress is a cool artist because he collabs with everyone. Growing up, I wished other artists would do that more. Like Robert Smith did collabs with Crystal Castles and Gorillaz, and it’s pretty interesting when two different worlds come together.

Eyedress is doing collabs with Yungmorpheus, King Krule, and Dent May, and that’s exciting for us as a whole group, because we get to interact with others, and other people can listen to the music. It brings in more fans, and more mixtures of music.

BW: I’m excited about The Simps album, and I love the tracks I’ve heard so far.

Z: Yeah, it’s going to be sick!