We've Got A Flyer On You: MC Lars Talks About Years Playing Mixed Bill Shows with Everyone from The Aquabats! to zebrahead (The Witzard Interview)
We've Got A Flyer On You will (hopefully!) be a new recurring column here at The Witzard. It's set to feature, examine, and re-visit mixed bill/genre, once-in-a-lifetime, iconic, and otherwise noteworthy Punk/Hardcore show flyers and their corresponding line-ups. As often as possible, we plan to speak directly with the promoters, bookers, flyer artists, soundmen/women, show attendees, and, most importantly, the artists themselves. If all goes well, we're even hoping to, eventually, cover a handful of shows we attended ourselves in years past, as well. For this slightly re-vamped edition of We've Got A Flyer On You, we'll be spotlighting a noteworthy musician, rather than a singular infamous show, for each installment.
For over 20 years, MC Lars has built a fanbase across The US, The UK and the rest of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. In addition to touring, he has performed at Carnegie Hall, at South By Southwest, San Diego Comic-Con, Slam Dunk Festival, Truck Festival, Orlando Nerd Fest, and as part of The Vans Warped Tour. He has performed on stage with numerous artists, including Bowling for Soup, MC Frontalot, Wheatus, Say Anything, Gym Class Heroes, Simple Plan, T-Pain, Snoop Dogg, Nas, and Koo Koo Kanga Roo. His work includes collaborations with a wide range of musicians—among them, "Weird Al" Yankovic, KRS-One, Sage Francis, Mega Ran, Jaret Reddick of Bowling for Soup, The Matches, The Dead Milkmen, Brett Anderson of The Donnas, Pierre Bouvier of Simple Plan, Kool Keith, mc chris, Gabe Saporta of Cobra Starship & Midtown, Parry Gripp of Nerf Herder, Roger Lima of Less Than Jake, Wheatus, and B. Dolan.
MC Lars created an album while in Lockdown largely about fatherhood, The Pandemic, and late-stage capitalism with the help from gracious backers on Kickstarter. Blockchain Planet is easily his most personal album to date. The record features insights on fatherhood, cryptocurrency, and speculations on what a post-COVID-19 world will feel like. Lars has surprisingly (even to himself!) been able to do this for a living since 2005. He says that "being amenable to teaming up with other acts of other genres is 100% the only reason why that happened." MC Lars' latest effort, Blockchain Plant, is now streaming exclusively on Bandcamp and drops everywhere tomorrow, Friday, December 17, 2021 on Horris Records. "Anyone could have made this record, now go make your own."
- Jello Biafra (Ex-Dead Kennedys)
I. What are some of the most varied mixed bill/genre show line-ups you were fortunate enough to partake in?
MC Lars: I think the Vans Warped Tour was incredibly eclectic. My first summer, we had Machine Gun Kelly, Paramore, Yelawolf, Less Than Jake, and Reel Big Fish, amongst others. That was 2011 and our stage had its first EDM act on Warped [Tour], Big Chocolate. It was a super-eclectic summer.
II. What were the circumstances behind (or leading up to?) the Good to Go Tour 2007 across The UK with Wheatus, Punchline & Army or Freshman?
Lars: I had toured with Bowling for Soup in 2005 after Jaret [Reddick] heard my demo from their A&R agent. Our friend, Ed Sellers, had worked with Bowling for Soup and Wheatus had opened for Bowling for Soup, too. Ed thought it would be a fun tour, as Army of Freshman had opened for us on our run and they invited Punchline, as well.
III. How did it feel being asked to play A Celebration of The Life of Brendon "Alias" Whitney & Benefit for His Family with sole, B. Dolan, Buck 65, Pictureplane, Dosh, ceschi, Spose, Astronautilus, PASSAGE, Lady Lamb, k-the-i???, Scott Matelic, Therese Workman, DJ Thanksgiving Brown, and Kirby Dominant?
Lars: I had always been a big anticon. fan, especially, growing up in The Bay Area. I had once called their offices asking for career advice and [Brendon "Alias"] Whitney had picked up and talked to me for a while. I Tweeted about this when I heard about his passing and the promoter reached out.
IV. From what I was able to find online, it looks like you may have, also, played shows with American Hi-Fi, The Aquabats!, Big D & The Kids Table, Bowling for Soup, The Dead Milkmen, Less Than Jake, The Matches, Okilly Dokilly, Simple Plan, ans zebrahead. Do you remember any specific details about any of the aforementioned gigs?
Lars: All of those shows were a lot of fun. I started out in Hardcore bands before I started rapping, so it's a natural fit. In the mid-2000's, being a "rapper with a laptop" was a bit of novelty and so, full bands would often invite me on the road, since my production was so minimal.
V. What were some of your personal favorite aspects about being able to play mixed bill/genre shows with so many different type of bands and musicians?
Lars: I love reaching an audience outside of the "Nerdcore niche," and networking with different people and hearing their stories as artists has always been [exciting to me].
VI. We aren't really talking about festivals much for this column because they're typically very "mixed bill" just by nature... but it should be worth noting you played various Warped Tours between 2011-19. What were some of the craziest things you experienced while traveling across the country getting "Warped" all those years?
Lars: Probably the time we almost got into a bus accident in Salt Lake City when someone tossed a frozen ice balloon through our windshield from an overpass! That was quite something!
VII. What would your dream mixed bill show line-up be? Let's just say, for argument's sake, it could, hypothetically, include any artists, bands, etc. dead or alive.
Lars: Robert Johnson, Nirvana, Boogie Down Productions, "Weird Al" Yankovic, Atom & His Package, and MC Lars.
VIII. What are you currently working on or preparing for release, if anything, in a musical capacity?
Lars: My new album, Blockchain Planet, comes out Friday 12/17! Thanks!
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