URY’s former Music Editor, Q Cummins, interviews the elusive Mindsalad about her musical influences, creative process and plans for the future.
The artist known as Mindsalad first rose to Soundcloud relevancy via her debut track AIRPOD SHAWTY — MINDSALAD REMIX, swifty followed by the Lofi version known as D00MER.
These were just the first in a stream of Soundcloud-based musical hits to defy conventional genres, paving the way to a more experimental and futuristic sound that feels like the natural progression to Gen Z’s hyperpop explosion. Recently, I was fortunate enough to be invited for an interview with the artist herself inside her infamous recording shed, where we discussed everything from musical influences to Scratch projects.
At first glance, Mindsalad’s shed is unremarkable. It’s a small, wooden building identical to those found in hundreds of suburban gardens nationwide. Aside from the used crockery outside the door it’s difficult to know if the building is inhabited at all. Yet once inside the place is undeniably full of character. A mixture of painted murals and posters for movies (all from seemingly around 2012) adorn the walls, while broken glass, empty bottles and old Wotsit packets coat the floor. I was incredibly thankful for having had the foresight to pack thick-soled shoes, save my feet being torn to shreds mid-interview by all the debris.
Just about visible under the flickering fairy lights stuck to the ceiling is a beat-up looking laptop. The amount of cables running through seems somewhat excessive and bordering on an alarming fire hazard.
In such a chaotic environment, it takes me a good while to locate Mindsalad herself. Though with her fondness for early 2000s Scene fashion; purple and black raccoon-tail hair dye, kandi bracelets and, in a more modern twist, an Among Us tattoo…I assume this issue is not one many struggle with in a more mediocre environment, such as in a local Tesco (other shops are available).
As the interview began, I couldn’t help but ask the question that immediately comes to mind to everyone who encounters the artist in the flesh, “Where exactly does a name like Mindsalad come from?”
Mindsalad responds professionally with a slightly detached air, clearly used to being asked this regularly. Her gaze is unblinking and unrelenting in nature.
“As I say in my song POS3R ‘they call me Mindsalad because I’m in your head, and I’m good for you.’ There’s more to it than that because my persona is inspired by Salad Fingers, who like me lives in a shed. It’s a combination of living by yourself in a shed and being on the internet every day — the mind is the internet and the salad is the shed.”
The 2007 YouTube series Salad Fingers is a recurring theme throughout our discussion, with Mindsalad going on to address the creator directly. “David Firth, if you’re reading this get in touch……I would love to collaborate”. In a live action remake, she elaborates, not only would Mindsalad happily provide a musical score, she would also play Hubert Cumberdale, one of the main characters within the series.
Yet this is not the only influence when it comes to Mindsalad’s unmistakable sound. When it comes to her favourite artists she says “I have a lot of favourite musicians”, citing Charli XCX’s cover of Don’t Delete the Kisses as another significant presence.
“Charli XCX is definitely very influential to me. When I first heard her cover of Don’t Delete the Kisses by Wolf Alice I hated it, because she was using so much autotune and she was also looking at the lyrics on her phone. Then a couple of years later I watched it again and thought you know what this is fantastic, this is the best thing i’ve ever seen. I love autotune and I love looking at the lyrics on your phone. In the music industry people should embrace being digital, instead of just saying that great music was all in the olden days. Because you know what, The Beatles? Suck. I hate the beatles.”
Other musicians Mindsalad recommends are 100 gecs, death grips and furries.
“I’m very heavily influenced by…the furry music scene. I myself am not a furry but there’s a big furry music scene, especially in terms of breakcore and hyperpop that is thriving. We have to thank furries really, we owe a lot to the furry community. ”
Naturally this led to my next question, “if hypothetically you were a furry, what type would you be?” The answer comes with steadfast certainty.
“I would be a Jerboa — you know those mice with stupid long legs and they jump around like Kangaroos? They have no arms, Google it. ‘ Cause I’m always jumping around from place to place. Yesterday I was in Brazil, today I’m in York and tomorrow I’m going to Alaska. On my twitter every day I have people telling me to come to Brazil so I caved in, I went to Brazil.”
When questioned further on this breakneck tour speed and how she copes with it, Mindsalad states that she simply doesn’t leave the shed outside of performing.
“Besides my tour? No. I just stay in the shed. The shed has everything I need. I don’t pay rent because the owner died years ago so it’s all good. ”
This apparently has been the case for several years, with Mindsalad attributing her lifestyle to a stranger who found her after a “fall from Space”, at around the age of twelve.
“I came from Space, and I was transferred to the shed by the person who found me….They didn’t want anything to do with me so they put me here, and I’ve lived my entire life here since then. It’s pretty nice,can’t complain really. It’s nice weather, it’s a nice place. I have everything I need for making music and I can play Among Us which is all I need really. ”
Fans of the Mindsalad discography will, of course, link this to the aforementioned AIRPOD SHAWTY. With its iconic lyrics such as:
“I can beat yo momma at Among Us (yo momma!) /
I’m the best imposter, yeah I’m so sus (sussy)”
Mindsalad herself still seems to consider the track a surprise hit that exceeded expectations. Though fans will be interested to know that when it comes to the game itself she is an “orange main”.
“If you had told me three years ago that when I wrote AIRPOD SHAWTY it would have 5 million streams on Spotify per day, I wouldn’t have believed you. And that’s because…that’s not true. But 300 Soundcloud streams? Honestly I wasn’t expecting that, I’m pretty sure it’s because there is another song called Airpod Shawty and people are searching for that and getting mine. Which is awesome because that means that tons of people now know about Mindsalad. It’s by far my most successful song and I have a lot to thank Among Us for in that respect.”
Prior to AIRPOD SHAWTY the works of Mindsalad are elusive. A mystery the artist was more than happy to solve for me by reflecting on her creative journey. Beginning when, around age 13, someone left a guitar outside the shed alongside her daily rations, typically consisting of vodka (in a saucer) and a loaf of bread.
“The mindsalad brand has been around for over five years, previously I was performing..basically awful guitar songs. The worst guitar songs you’ve ever heard in your life. This was before I knew how to use GarageBand or Audacity — Audacity is a superior music making tool. Anyone who wants to make music should use [Audacity] as it has a very very easy user interface and many capabilities..from there I graduated to GarageBand with all their inbuilt drum machines etc. I’m still figuring it out, I’m currently experimenting with distortion and reverb to see how much you can make a song sound like you’re hearing it inside a blender.”
The influence of these experiments in distortion and reverb can already be found on the most recent Mindsalad track to date, SHAKIRA SHAKIRA. With its synth heavy bassline and muffled vocals, the track emulates all the chaos of a club bathroom.
Yet despite Mindsalad’s discography being primarily on Soundcloud, it was Scratch where she started out.
“The first time I ever posted music online, I posted it on Scratch. I got a pretty good response because everyone on Scratch is pretty much the same as me, we all had the same mindset so I would post my guitar songs and people would say ‘this is amazing!’. There was a scratch urban legend called Sam…..he would remix people’s projects and add a picture called sam.png to them. One of my songs was remixed by Sam so then that project got a lot of attention.”
“You got Sam’d”
“Yeah I got Sam’d, that was literally what people called it. So then people would check out my original project to check out what the fuss was about. My song..was..about the Creepypasta “The Russian Sleep Experiment” that I made when I was 13.”
Though the medium may have changed, the core elements of Mindsalad’s discography stay the same. On the topic of her distinctive sound she states, “I want my music to sound like a 13 year olds sparkledog OC, and if you don’t know what those words mean — then my music isn’t for you. That’s my manifesto as a songwriter.”
Another recent project that embodies this aesthetic, currently unfinished, is her covers of Hospice by The Antlers. Currently on hiatus; “I stopped because I got bored”. While the Hospice covers may be on pause, thoughts surrounding the project certainly continue. When asked what Mindsalad song would be the best for an Antlers cover, the answer is obvious. “Probably AIRPOD SHAWTY, there could be a very good shoegaze acoustic cover of AIRPOD SHAWTY by The Antlers. Antlers..if you’re out there get in touch I’d love to work with you.”
This would not be the first time AIRPOD SHAWTY has defied genres, as mentioned before D00MER takes the song to new Lofi audiences, displaying its versatility as a track. While the release of AIRPOD SHAWTY (202)2 with its new additional verses shows that the track’s potential is far from exhausted.
Such versatility can be found not only in the many covers of both her own music and that of others produced by Mindsalad but also her process. Skilled in Guitar Bass and “sort of the drums” Mindsalad often utilises a self-described “stuff-on-stuff” method to produce her music.
“by playing the drums I mean I find whatever I have at my disposal, whether it be a spoon, or a knife, or a piece of paper. And I can hit it against whatever I have, usually a wall. Then I make a beat from that….I record myself hitting things in rhythm and then I run it through GarageBand with drum synthesisers and delete the original — so what you end up hearing is the stuff-on-stuff method, which I think everyone should use…It’s very easy to do and doesn’t cost any money.”
This line of questioning seems to prompt a more introspective look at what defines Mindsalad’s career. Analysing her own work, she states that her greatest strength is simply not caring. “I know that my music is bad and that is my entire selling point. My music is both the worst music in the world and the best music in the world, and if you don’t understand that then leave.”
Naturally, this led to a discussion of greatest weaknesses. To which Mindsalad replied, “too many to count really. Maybe that I refuse to work with other artists anymore”. Upon further questioning she explained, “the reason is..this artist called Cedar Day has been trying to work with me and I just don’t want anything to do with them.” Mindsalad was animated in her rebuking of Cedar Day, clearly passionate on the topic as she continued. “I think Cedar Day is trash...Cedar Day is weak because they only use Audacity. Their music gives off the impression that they died in 1999 and have not listened to anything since. So yeah, that’s my thoughts on the matter, my 2 cents #my2cents.”
Due to such a strong reaction I had no choice but to press the matter further on the topic of this elusive Cedar Day and ask for clarification.
“So who exactly is cedar day?”
“Cedar Day is an inferior musician who has for the past couple of years been stealing my body so that they can produce music. And by that I mean that sometimes I will become Cedar Day without my knowledge and I will release a song or an album, an entire album, that is not made by mindsalad at all. I’m pretty sure that cedar day is a ghost that died in some kind of event, because that seems to be what all their songs are about.”
“So you’re being haunted?”
“Yeah I’m being possessed, I’m being haunted and it’s not fun. But I’m pretty sure Cedar Day might’ve lived in the same shed as me at some point so that might be why.”
Despite this alleged haunting, Mindsalad rejects the notions of spirituality. Stating “I would like to not believe in Cedar Day, but Cedar Day exists. I’m spiritual in the sense that I believe in the power of an awesome GarageBand beat.”
After this interview and many hours of strenuous research into the depths of the Internet I was able to confirm the existence of Cedar Day for myself, though I would hesitate to agree with Mindsalad’s opinions on their music. Cedar Day currently boasts several albums and EPs on BandCamp, the most recent one being BATHROOM FLOOR.
Overall, the tale of Mindsalad’s career is one of overcoming the odds to surprising victory. She’s proud of the fact “that sometimes I send my songs to people and they think that the production on them is kinda good, which is not what I intended. If people can enjoy my songs when I didn’t intend for them to then that’s great.”
Looking forward, Mindsalad promises more music in the future. “There will be new music. I’ve got a lot of beats in GarageBand, I just have to come up with words for them. There are currently about 5 new songs that I’m working on.” Though the aim in ten years time is still to be touring. Only with Billie Elish as a support act and a position secured on the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. When it comes to branding Mindsalad has her sights set firmly on the McDonald’s M. “More people would know Mindsalad than McDonald’s. The yellow M will be for Mindsalad. And I’ll have earned enough money that they won’t be able to sue me for it because it’ll do nothing to me.”
As for parting words, Mindsalad had one thing to say to anyone interested in looking further into her discography after this interview.
“Don’t do it?” -this was followed by laughter. “-No. I think anyone who is listening to my music has some real questions to ask themselves, such as ‘Could I be the next Mindsalad?’ In which case, you could and should. Get on GarageBand, get drunk and something could come out of it. I really want to start an entirely new genre of music that is coming from people who have no idea how to make music. So y’know, if you’re listening to me you have to make a song of your own, that’s kind of the rule. Also play Among Us, all the time. That’s my other rule. ”
When not making music, Mindsalad enjoys mixing cocktails, where she swears by apple juice as a key ingredient in making anything taste “amazing”. Painting organic murals on the shed walls, though some of them she disregards as Cedar Day’s work. (One such piece being a large cat’s head which dominates one wall, followed by the word “Soon” which Mindsalad claims no recollection of.) And finally, talking to herself. “I can have some really engaging conversations with myself. Such as talking about how Mindsalad is awesome, which is great because I tend to agree with myself on that one.”
While Mindsalad declined the opportunity for a photo, she did send me an image of a Jerboa which I have attached below.
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