A lot has changed for FIDLAR since they released their self-titled debut album back in 2013. The California skate-punk foursome will release their sophomore album Too this fall and, importantly, frontman Zac Carper has gotten clean. In a new interview with our friends at Stereogum, Carper talked about where the band is going with their second LP, and how kicking his addictions to crack, heroin, and meth helped shape their music.
The way that I look at it is through the whole first FIDLAR album cycle and the tour, I was basically this crazy person on drugs. On this new record, I’m just a crazy person. I stopped doing heroin, I stopped doing meth, I stopped smoking crack, so now all I’m left is with is just being this crazy person who’s trying to deal with it … and the way that I dealt with it was writing songs.
“‘I liked them better when they didn’t sell out. I liked them better when he was on drugs’ There’s always going to be people saying that sh–t,” Carper continued. “When I was a f–king teenager I was the one saying that s–t. You’ve just got to roll with it. I’m not going to let that f–k me up and run my life.”
He also shared a new track, a wiry pop-punk number called “Leave Me Alone” that Carper said was inspired by his intervention. “It’s a pretty f–ked-up tune,” he said. “It’s just about telling people to leave you alone … and then, if you tell people that enough, eventually they will leave you alone. Then you’re alone.”
Stream “Leave Me Alone” and read the whole interview at Stereogum, and look for Too on September 14 via Mom + Pop Music
