A Conversation With Bryce Bishop

Get Familiar with the genre-hopping therapist crafting emo-tinged anti-pop anthems

Blending the electronic alternative r&b percussion and melodies of the growing anti-pop wave with the guitar lines and vocal stylings of sensitive Midwest emo, Bryce Bishop’s signature post-genre approach and unapologetic integration of a variety of genres put him on the map. With his newest song, “You,” he pushes it further than ever before, integrating the sampling and production of his friends within the anti-pop social scene while adding guitar patterns derived from Midwest emo artists and drums inspired by the synthesized percussion of hip-hop. I sat down to speak with him about the production and background of “You” in addition to his work as a therapist for children with autism, his approach to musical collaboration, his plans for the future and more.

Under The Rug: What was your earliest exposure to music as something that you really cared about?

Bryce Bishop: I wasn’t exposed to many records as a kid, but I was always obsessed with music. At home, my parents had small collections of CDs and cassettes, but they never really listened to them. Even in the car, my sister and I would always fight to be able to listen to music on the radio instead of the news my parents usually listened to. Since we lived in Monterey, a smallish town of about 30k people, there were only two or three music stations that had modern music and then, they were almost entirely pop. Even so, I loved combing through all our records and finding nuggets like an orange cassette tape of Changes by David Bowie or Midnight Oil’s greatest hits. The biggest shift in how I viewed music, however, came when my friend introduced me to Green Day when we were in third grade. I went to Boarders with my dad and showed him the American Idiot record. Somehow, the political message trumped all the swearing and talk of drug addiction, and he bought it for me. From then on, I would obsess over bands, but I would listen to one band for years at a time. When I started learning guitar, Green Day happened to be a great starting point since all their songs are so easy to learn. With the newfound knowledge of 3 chord songs, I started writing my own music. So, I basically have Green Day to thank for everything.

I understand you balance music with being a children’s therapist. What can you tell us about that?

Although I love music, I’ve never been one to do one thing and one thing only. I’ve always loved splitting my time and having balance in my life. That being said, working with kids and making music are the two things that I’ve consistently loved. I got this job as a Behavior Technician for kids with autism (it’s basically tutoring but with extra steps) towards the end of my second year at university. My first year at university was one of the lowest I’ve had, as I found studying made me feel empty and self-centered. This job, on the other hand, gave me hope that I was actually doing something to help people and some semblance of self-worth. Back then, music was just a cathartic release — which was important — but now I’ve realized music can be just as helpful for people to listen to as it is for me to make. If I can spend my life helping people navigate life more easily, whether that’s done through music or my job, then that’s a life I’ll be happy with.

I know you started out playing songs on the guitar, how did you decide to pick up hip-hop percussion?

Using hip hop percussion came a while after I first started writing music. I had enjoyed some hip hop here and there throughout life but mainly in the mainstream — artists like Young Money and The Black Eyed Peas etc. I only started listening to hip hop consistently in 2018 when Drake released Views. Until then, hip hop had been music I listened to as a way to get amped up, but Views presented a more emotional side of the genre that I hadn’t seen before. Then, DAMN came out with songs like LOVE being absolute sad-boi bangers, and suddenly I was listening to hip-hop for an emotional release more than any other genre. The nail in the coffin, though, was the release of Stoney by Post Malone. That album made it clear to me that you could mix emotional guitar music with hip hop beats without making it sound like a Frankenstein of a song. Towards the end of that year, I started producing songs I wrote on guitar and finished my first attempt at writing hip hop — the Poison Oak EP which released in March of 2018.

You self-describe as being part of the anti-pop genre, what does that mean to you?

I originally came across this term through a Spotify playlist of the same name that I found listening to Aries, and I think the title describes exactly what I’m trying to make. I’ve always been conscious of how my music would sound to other people; even when I had no intention of showing anyone, I would be asking myself “would people think this is good?” That’s the pop side. But on the other hand, I no longer have a specific genre in mind when I’m making music. My purpose is to communicate my thoughts and feelings through story, and whatever that ends up sounding like is a by-product of that process. Which, in my eyes, pushes it into the genre of anti-pop. Also, genres can be confusing and limiting now that everyone is listening to everything and are, therefore, influenced by everyone else. So, I think anti-pop is a nice umbrella term for “I don’t know what this is but people like it sometimes.”

How did you decide that you wanted to make anti-pop?

There was never a distinct decision to make anti-pop. I was deliberate with Poison Oak in the fact that I wanted to try to make some form of hip hop, but everything after that has been me trying to communicate thoughts, feelings, and emotions effectively with music. Whatever genre those songs came together to be was just a means to the end of telling the story I wanted to tell.

“Whatever genre those songs came together to be was just a means to the end of telling the story I wanted to tell.”

You’ve expressed admiration for Brakence, are there any other artists you’ve been listening to frequently?

So many. I feel like I’m going through my own golden age of discovery right now. This is a playlist of artists that inspire me one way or another and generally deserve more recognition.

I have feelings and an FL Studio crack: (Featuring: Elroy, 50landing, Monto, Brakence, Chase Laser, Login, Ty Lorenzo, OMFGALEX, Aries and more…)

More generally, these bands always come back into rotation: The Story So Far, Modern Baseball, Drake, Kendrick, My Chemical Romance, and Slaughter Beach, Dog.

So far, you haven’t seemed to collaborate super frequently, is there any artist you really want on one of your tracks?

I have a love-hate relationship with collaborating. It’s awesome when it comes together, but there’s already so many variables in producing that adding another human can be intimidating. That being said, I have a few songs in the works with artists I really respect which should be rolling out over the next few months. In terms of artists I’d like to work with, there are too many. Brakence of course, Zac Greer has been a long-time love of mine, and Elroy is just so good and a homie. One day I’d love to sit down, take an enormous amount of time, and make something together with him.

You recently dropped a new song, titled “You,” were there any events in your life that drove the songwriting for the track?

“You” was an experience to make. I was coming off the back of Winter and Como doing well on the Spotify algorithms and had zero song ideas. I knew I wanted to make something completely different from those two songs, and I knew I wanted it to have a similar emotional trajectory of You’ve Been Getting Better. I started writing “You” in mid-February. I sat on the floor of my room, played a shitty emo guitar line, and came up with the line “You remind me of her and I’m starting to hate it”. This sentiment came from realizing that I had recently been trying to compare people I cared about. The rest of the song developed from delving deeper into this and sorting through other qualities I don’t like within myself. The past couple years have been made up of experiences where I feel like I’ve been clueless enough to make mistakes, but self-aware enough to realize I hate the way I’m acting. Writing this song and putting some of the thoughts and feelings I didn’t fully understand into words, ended up being surprisingly helpful with trying to sort myself out. That and therapy. Therapy is wonderful, I highly recommend it.

Featuring both live guitars blended with more electronic percussion, what inspired the musical composition of “You?”

In a similar way that writing the lyrics helped me sort through new emotions, producing this song helped me iron out how I like to make music and felt like a culmination of years of effort and influences. During the whole process, I tried to employ as many different techniques, tropes, and sounds that I liked as I could. When I make a new song, I like to try something I’ve never done before, and “You” was the furthest I’d taken that. I had recently started talking to more artists I really admire, as people and as musicians, and had been learning so much from them. I took a lot of sound selection and sampling techniques from Elroy, and sound design, especially in the last bass, from Brakence and 50landing. The composition of the song, the way it builds and lulls and climaxes, was heavily influenced by Midwest Emo like Modern Baseball, and the way there are big hits every quarter note during the outro comes straight from Sorority Noise. I wanted to mash everything I liked into one song and then “You” happened.

I understand you’ve previously released two other singles, is there a project in the works? If so, is there anything you can tell us about that?

The singles were an excuse to try many different things — musically and in the business side as well — in a shorter span of time than releasing EPs would have allowed. I’ve always preferred working on larger projects, as they are a more comprehensive medium to tell stories. That being said, it’ll be a while before my next project comes out. I want to get better at collaborating beforehand, and I want to make sure the project provides something to the community that is truly valuable. I’m aiming to have something like that done later in the year.

Anything else you’d like to add?

I just want to thank everyone who’s helped me with this weird and wonderful undertaking. Although Bryce Bishop is a solo project, there’s no way the music could get made without the support of friends, family, and fans irl and online (specifically Chase, Rede, Cole, Monto, Alex, Elroy, and Ty). I still have a long way to go and it hasn’t been easy, so thank you. Lastly, thank you to UTR for being interested enough in my bullshit to do this interview with me. This was a super cool experience, and I’ve learned a lot. I truly appreciate it.