Arrow De Wilde: Introvert Turned Rockstar
Photo Credit: Cameron McCool
LF: What if your inspiration behind the music you create, because it's very specific? what kind of impacted you to start making music?
AD: I don't know! I know every song is different, but like what inspired me to first start making music was definitely like--- I don't know just discovering records that inspire me like, Ozzy, and The Runaways, and Kiss. Those were the first bands that really made me want to start a band, and then from there my inspiration kind of grew. For individual songs, they kind of get inspired by like--real things that happen in our lives, or people on the street. Like Los Angeles is very inspiring to me just seeing like weirdos on the street and making up stories about them and stuff like that. It’s kind of all over the place.
LF: What is a time you’ve used L.A. as an inspiration for a song?
AD: I mean obviously “I Love LA”, but “Chicken Woman” is another one. Me and Henry went to school downtown like near Chinatown. There used to be this old Chinese woman. She would wear all black everyday. She would walk down to Chinatown to-- I don't know where she was going, but she had a shopping cart filled with chickens. I assume she either would take them to a slaughterhouse, or like a restaurant or something but she looked so goth. Like, shopping cart full of chickens, and all-black clothing. She just looked so cool, so we made up like like a scary story about it… Our songs either have a real life story, like something that happened to us, or we find inspiration from something and make up an entire story about it.
LF: I was wondering about the way that you perform. There’s a very artistic and wacky side to it.
AD: It was something I had really wanted to do, because I saw Gene Simmons. He would spit blood, but it would be like an endless fountain of blood, and I thought it looked really cool. But I didn’t wanna directly copy that, so like, at first I really wanted people to be scared, and think it was real. That's why it was fun for me because it wasn't just like Gwar where it was obviously just fake. Just blood pouring out n’ stuff. It would look real at first because it looked like I was coughing up blood, and I would just play into it. People would call up a medic and stuff and I love that. I just love scaring people. And then the blood capsules I used, the people that make them or the company like changed the formula. So like when I first started spitting them they looked really real and like dark red like it looked like how blood looks, like kinda clotty and stuff. And then they changed them and they look more like magenta, I don't know. I haven't actually been spitting blood in a while even since pre-covid like the last couple tours. I just got a little bored because people were expecting it and it kind of took the fun out of it for me. I liked making people think it was real. I don't really like it being like-- someone would be like, “Are going to do blood tonight?” and it would make me not want to do it… But then for me it got a little boring, a little routine. I'm just trying to start phasing it out a little bit. There’s only so long you can--- you know Bowie had his different phases of his character, you know. I think if you stick with the same character you just kind of end up like fat Marilyn Manson that’s just not impactful. It’s just not cool anymore.
LF: So, are you gonna change up the character?
AD: I mean not too drastically, but definitely like-- I guess “change”is a bad word. But more like, evolve. I kinda want to, I don't know, grow as a stage performer and not just stay in the same exact place cuz there’s only so long that can last.
LF: How much do live performances add to your whole thing? Does it add to the whole Starcrawler experience?
AD: From the start I always thought I'd be cool to treat shows almost like like you're stepping into this bands world. It's like your kind of escaping normal life for a night and just like--I want it to be a cool experience. I guess like how a lot of those older rock bands would do it. Like Kiss-- they did like crazy over-the-top like pyrone stuff that isn’t allowed now and is really expensive. I like how those bands would kind of make those shows like their own world, and it's like the fans would like, dress up--kind of forget about normal struggles for a night kind, and be in this other “dimension” kind of. Instead of it as being like the band standing there and sing their songs and between their songs, be like, “If you wanna buy our merch at the merch table--” I don’t know! I feel like when you listen to a record-- I don't know I can't speak for everyone, but when I listen to record I visualize like the kind of imagery that this band is kind of putting out through their music. Like you can listen to The Cure or something and visualize the kind of world that they make you feel like they’re in. If you go to see a band like that live and it doesn’t feel like that, I feel like it takes the magic out. You don’t have to do crazy shit or anything… but I do feel like it’s cool when bands kind of bring you into their own like-- make you feel like you’re apart of their world I guess. I also feel like it’s so easy, as a new band, and a young band to be forgotten about really fast. So, when we were first playing shows, I was like, “I don’t wanna peak for a second and then be forgotten about.” I just feel like with the live shows, like even if you hated us, you wouldn’t forget us! Like you would remember that show, even if you were like, “That band sucked!” It’s something that’s always gonna stay in your mind. It’s like worse almost to me to just be like, “Oh yeah I forgot about them!” as opposed to “Oh yeah, I don’t really like them.”
LF: That makes sense! It’s like the idea of “all press is good press.” Your biggest hater could actually be your biggest fan because they talk about you so much.
AD: Yeah they are thinking about you so much and they are telling other people about how much you suck and that just spreads the word because other people may or may not agree with them. Either way they’ll look us up, and like give us more views and listen, so that only helps us.
LF: Well, what about music videos? That’s usually a time where you can really do everything you wanna do and show your performance so how you go about making music video?
AD: Usually, I mean the thing is for every song, every song we've written, whether or not we plan on making a video I picture one in my head and like, write it out. Like every song that’s out of ours, I’ve written a music video for. But they're expensive. It's like you can't just make a video for every song and have it be good, you know. When there’s a single and they’re like, “We need a video, I usually already have somewhat of an idea in my head or at least like a certain aesthetic or vibe I have that I want. And then I only trust very few people with like, photos and directing so most of our videos are directed by my boyfriend, Gilbert, or my mom. Yeah, someone close like that, and same for photos. When it comes to visual stuff, I trust very few people to understand what I want. It's pretty fun and easy that way because there’s no one arguing with me about what the vibe should be or what it should be about because I already know. I’m not very good at compromising.
LF: When it comes to music industry, what were your expectations, and what have you found as the reality? Is there anything you would change?
AD: If I could change how things worked in the industry, it would definitely be like, I don’t know. The internet. The internet helps us a lot more in having people be able to find you and things like that. I love it for that reason, but also, because of it-- there’s just like so many bands, which is like cool, but because you can just look up and like find literally anything, it's like there's no real famous people anymore. It's like everyone is famous. It can be like, “Do you know this chick blah blah blah?” and you’re like, “No, I’ve never heard of them in my life” and neither has most people. But then somehow they have like four million followers. It’s like everyone's a celebrity therefore celebrities don’t exist anymore. Before the internet, I feel like there was like everyone knew about the same like ten bands, and the same forty actresses. You know what I mean? It’s so much, in a way, like easier to be successful. I feel like because there is so much less -- not competition, I don’t know how to explain what I mean. The industry is kind of dead in a way, especially with streaming and stuff. People don't buy records anymore, so there’s no way to really like… make it. Like how it… used to be.
LF: Would you say that that’s a negative thing or a positive thing?
AD: I think it’s both. Cuz it's cool that people can literally just make money off of like posting shit on Instagram and stuff. And it's cool that bands can get attention easier in some ways I guess. I don't know! It depends though because it's easy to get attention because you have the whole world at your fingertips, but at the same time there's so many people trying to do the same thing that it's so easy to just get lost in the abyss of like, shit. It's like it's both good and bad. It's like major labels used to-- you know there's no internet so they would sign a band and see if it worked if it didn't they would like drop them and if it did they became famous. But now it’s like, you can still do that and still like, nobody knows who you are. Somehow everyone knows who you are and nobody does at same time. It trips me out! It's weird. Just like celebrities like rock stars don't exist because you can't really be a rockstar and then be posting dumb shit on Instagram; you know what I mean? it's okay, but it's just like we're in a new world and it’s just different.
LF: Do you think that you are only known by the people that actively seek out your music? Like if they are looking for rock music, they are gonna find you, but if they aren’t actively seeking it, then they wouldn’t know about you.
AD: Yeah pretty much, because now there's so many niche genres where it’s like you can be really big in the like, I don’t know-- surf scene. Outside of that you’re just another kind of schmuck. Whereas before I feel like it was like, “Here are all the famous people that everyone knows. This one's rock, this one's a rapper, this one's you know--whatever.” It used to be like there were these genres. But like even if you don't like rock, you still knew who Aerosmith was or something. Now it’s like, if you never grew up listening to that now [people] don't even know who The Beatles are and stuff. So it's weird because with the internet you can literally find anything. So it’s weird when you think that that’s how it works, because you’d think it would be the opposite, like you think it would be easier to know what's going on and like, who’s who and what’s what. But at the same time it’s harder. It's like if you only listen to hip-hop or rap or whatever, like you only really care and know about those artists. Before, it was like, “I hate rock,” but you still knew who the popular rock bands were. You still knew who they were [even] if you didn’t like them. It’s like everyone’s into a different, weird genre. It’s both cool and bad at the same time. It’s cool that you can just have those fans and make your living that way. But at the same time, I kind of want to gain more fans than just rock people, you know what I mean? Not that I want to make pop music or anything like that, but it would be cool if like you know people that listen to other types of music that isn't rock would still be interested in us or something… I think you get pigeon-holed if you only try to cater to a certain type of person. I like the idea of Starcrawler kind of being open to whoever’s down. It’s fine if you don’t like the music,but if you do, you don't have to be a fuckin’ rock person. Like you can listen to Billie Eilish or some shit you know what I mean?
LF: How do you experiment with your style and your clothing when you're onstage or videos or even your Instagram? Even with your merch, it’s very creative. Just the actual clothing piece itself.
AD: Well with the merch thing, that was actually a really new thought I had. Normally we make most of our merch on the roads. You just make like whatever, like a new t-shirt for that tour. Every now and then we make a little thing. Normally, we honestly didn’t put a lot of thought into our merch. And then recently, since it's been quarantine (whatever that means now). I kind of was thinking I want to treat our merch like a clothing line. I just kind of got sick of them. Just like I think it’s still cool to make T-shirts because people want them but at the same time, I noticed that a lot of younger fans don't really wear band shirts as much just out on the daily and I kind of would like our merch to be stuff that you could wear out on the daily. I thought it would be more unique, and it is just like a clothing line. Like crop top just a cute little design. Just trying to think of other ways to get our name out there and make some money. But when it comes to stage clothing, that’s usually very thought-out and I have the specific way that I need it to be where I can still perform in it. I have this woman Jessica Owens. She makes all our costumes now. Like me and Henry both design the shit and then she’ll make it. I used to go scour and try to find stuff, but it's hard because I don't want to wear anything on stage that someone else owns. It feels weird, I know it sounds kind of shitty of me to say, but sometimes I’ll see a band, and the singer will be wearing something and I’m like, “Oh, I’ve seen that at like, Topshop before.” And it takes away the whole like, Mystique of them. For some reason for me I feel like as the lead singer, you almost need to, it sounds really cocky, but it's true. You need to think of yourself as [if] you're higher above than the audience. You don't want to just being another audience member on stage because that's what the audience wants. They want to watch you because they think that you're higher than them. I feel like you sould dress like a fucking god because that’s what you’re pretending to be when you’re on stage. Even though you are just another schmuck, you want people to think you’re on another plane or something. So like I just want the shit that I wear to look like shit that no one else has and you can tell that it was made for me if that makes sense. It’s kind of like the “fake it till you make it” type of thing. I stick with a certain color scheme I like wearing white and accents of other colors with that, but I don't know-- white-- it just makes me feel like I'm a fucking Greek god or something. I guess it's different if you’re into garage rock, then like that doesn't really make sense. But like, even when you see like, mainstream, like pop artists and rappers, they do the same thing you know? Like they need to think they are on a higher plane than the audience, period. And it’s like a weird mystique. You wouldn’t realize, but if you were to see-- like, say you went to a Cardi B show, and you’re like super stoked, because you’re excited to see her wear her fucking like lingerie on stage and stuff, and then she shows up in likee sweatpants or normal clothes. You’d be bummed. You know what I mean? You need the band and especially the singer to be like, above you. It sounds weird but it's true. Otherwise, it just takes away from what you like about them in a way. At least in my opinion. I just think that people think that that stuff doesn’t matter, but it really does. The music is most important, but the visuals are almost equally as important. They come hand in hand. Obviously, if you look really good the music sucks then it’s not gonna go that far at least you look good, you know. But I really think that if your music is good and then the visuals aren't up to par, then it's not going to work out. Especially now with the internet, people need to see the music they listen to. Before they could just listen to a record and kind of imagine what the band is like, or what the artist is like and stuff. But now it's like the song comes out, like the video needs to be with it, because people need to like see the fucking music to like realize it's good. It’s just what it is now, so I think it’s really important.
LF: I have a really weird question. I was listening to Devour You, and I heard a lot of kid-ish stuff, like there's children's voices in the background. and like I thought it was such an interesting choice. So, how did you make the choice to do that?
AD: So, we had an idea for the very last on that album, “Call Me Baby”, we wanted like, you know, that fucking Pink Floyd song where the kids are singing. I didn’t wanna get a choir. I wanted to just sound like when kids try to sing them like they kind of suck. It’s like they are all singing together, but they don’t actually know how to sing. And so our manager's daughter, I don't know if she still is, but she was a girl scout. And so I was like, “Oh my God like we need the whole-- it’s like troupe Hollywood Hills or something-- we need them to sing on it. That’ll be so cool.” So, they came to the studio in their girl scout uniform.It was hard, because they were kinda all nervous, but they were really cute. They had kind of like a sugra break, cuz they were all kind of crashing, so we fed them some candy and stuff. And then we were in the control room and they were just going crazy. They were all super hyper now, like screaming and stuff.
We were like, “Yo, record this!” So we were just staying in another room so they wouldn't get freaked out, and they were just talking amongst themselves and screaming and stuff. We put that at the beginning of the first song on the album at the beginning of the first song on the album. Because that first song, “Lizzy,” is about my elementary school bully, so it fit in perfectly! It just sounded so good. And this one girl, she was like super hyper and, I don't know what she was talking about but she said, “I'm going to kill you!” or something like that. And that’s how we started the song. It’s really fucking funny. Them talking, that’s all real. They didn’t even know they were being recorded at the time. It wasn’t really planned.Only, like I said, the last song we knew we wanted kids to sing at the end of it. But it just kind of worked out perfectly that the album both started and ended with them. I was proud of that. A lot of the songs are about being a kid, so it just kinda works.
LF: What’s some advice you’d give to your teenage self or younger self now?
AD: As a little kid like in elementary school I was very-- I mean even in middle school, that's when I started to find myself.I was very shy and kind of scared of everything. Like life and other kids especially. I only really got along with adults. I only had like two friends, and other than that I would just hang out with my parents’ friends and stuff, cuz kids--I thought they were gross. I guess what I would say to my elementary school self like, not be so afraid of people because eventually, they're going to be kissing your ass. I feel like almost every kid that feels like the outcast or the nerd,
like the ugly one or whatever it is, like those are the kids that end up like doing cool shit and becoming something hot later in life. The kids at school that are cool, they peak in school, like I never realized it at the time,but that’s really sad. They graduate and then they just end up having kids, or like you know doing kind of nothing with their lives. They work at afucking Guitar Center or some shit… I don’t know… because there’s nothing really you can say,but just to be like, “Everything that you're doing right now doesn't matter like school, like who we are at school you know popularity-wise or whatever really doesn't matter. Really none of those people matter at all, and soon they’ll wanna be your friend, but you won’t wanna be their friend. That's the advice I’d give to most kids I guess. That feel like they're, you know, not cool or something.
LF: When did you start getting into music?
AD: When I was little, everyone would ask me if I was going to be a musician like my dad and I would always be like, “No!” I didn't want to honestly like it's weird because I would listen to a song I would picture-- I visualized me performing that song in front of the stage but for some reason I never thought I would be able to do that.
Photo Credit: Cameron McCool
I always secretly wanted to, but I just didn't grow up when I was little like, singing or playing instruments or anything. I wasn’t interested. I thought I wanted to be a makeup artist or something. I don't even know. And then, once I got a bit older and realized that all the people I thought were cool are in bands, and then I wanted to start a band just for fun. I didn't really think of it as a career choice but I was like, “I wanna be in a band! That sounds fun!” Those are the people I wanna be around too. Once I had that thought, Iws like, “Ok, I need to be a musician.” I thought at first that I wanted to be a drummer, so I took drum lessons for like 3 or 4 years.And then I did play drums for a second in a band, and realized I didn't want to do that because, one: I wanted more attention. Two: It’s too much work. You carry like the most shit. Playing drums is really fun, but I didn't want to be in the back. And then I was like, “Well fuck. I kinda suck at singing.” So then, I took voice lessons before I even started to try to form a band or anything. I took voice lessons for 4 to 5 years, and still continued drum lessons just for the fuck of it. And then I dropped drums, and I just took voice and guitar. And then I was in another band with my friends at the time, and they kicked me out and got a different singer and then I was so angry that I started Starcrawler. Their band didn't go anywhere and mine did!
I feel like a lot of kids that are afraid to start bands but it's like there's this weird... I feel like things that people tell us as musicians that you can only play music if you were born with it, if you like I've been doing it since you're little and you’re naturally good. That’s the case for a lot of people. Like Henry the guitar player is like that. He's naturally super gifted. He was like one of those kids that would pick up a guitar and would start playing it and stuff. And I was not like that. I was very introverted, like the opposite. I didn't believe I could really do anything. I feel like music is kind of like anything else, I mean if you don’t have natural rhythm it might take longer to learn an instrument, you know what I mean. If you don't have a naturally good voice, it's just going to take longer, but you can still do it like you just have to put in the time and really want to do it. So, I guess it’s like anything.
LF: How old were you when you started Starcrawler.
AD: 15. And Henry was 14 turning 15. We didn’t play our first show until I was 16 and he was 15. We formed and wrote like a whole set list of songs and got good at playing the, so that was like a year in the making.