At this year’s Slam Dunk I had the the chance to have a catch up with the lovely Andrew Nielsen aka MC Lars. He’s one of those guys that are just always surrounded by people; He’s hands on with his fans and spent most of Sunday at Hatfield hanging out at his merch stall talking to fans and posing for pictures. You won’t catch him hiding out back all day in catering propping up the free bar and snubbing fans which might be why he’s got some pretty hardcore fans.
A three week UK tour with Weerd Science, MC Chris and Akira the Don preceded this year’s Slam Dunk festival shows where he’s been showcasing tracks from the new record, Lars Attacks (“It should be out next month” Lars claims). The record has been funded entirely through a Kickstarter project where he raised over $23,000.
Judging from the songs that have been played so far - from Venomous Box Jellyfish to title track Lars Attacks - the sound seems to have taken on somewhat darker vibe, yet still with that unique MC Lars lip-hop twist. “The difference from the last album is that the beats are harder; it’s less pop punk fusion. It’s more industrial, kind of like electronic.” says Lars. In the past MC Lars has featured all manner of artists from ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic to Ill Bill, but what can we expect in the way of collaborations this time around? “I have worked with a bunch of different people, some of which are Weerd Science’s production team. Also a lot of great MCs - Weerd Science, KRS-One, Sage Francis. I’m really happy with it.”
With MC Lars’ solid catalog of tunes ripe to get people on their feet and dancing his set at Slam Dunk was a party. (Hell, even I was busting a move to a spot of iGeneration and Mr Raven despite it being full sunlight!) I asked Lars how does he go about writing those songs that we all love so much. “Well for me, personally, I like to start with a beat.” he explains, “Then if the beat’s good I think of a concept. I try to make sure it fits thematically with the music and then I write, flow. Then I do the demo and then I do the final performance and then we mix it.”
MC Chris is not the only one who’s appealing to the children’s market, with rumors of a kids album in the pipeline “My dream is to do a kids TV show hip hop theme, like what The Aquabats did with Yo Gabba Gabba.” explains Lars. “I think there’s a big market for educational music that’s fun that parents want to listen to; that kids want to listen to. So in the fall I'm gonna start writing a bunch of kids songs and pitch a kids TV show. So that’s gonna be really cool.”
This summer Lars hits the road once again with Horris Records’ newest signing, Weerd Science but he insists he’s looking forward to yet more touring. “Warped tour is a great opportunity for both of us to really promote our albums. It’s a real blessing to be on it.We’re happy. Even though Warped tour is really hard and it’s nice to be out making money and people care”.
In the mean time keep your eyes peeled for the new album and catch MC Lars on the Warped tour all summer long with Weerd Science. ‘This Giant Robot Kills’ is out now on Horris Records/Crappy Records.
http://www.mclars.com/
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