First in a series of exclusive interviews for Mutant Zones, I'm pleased to share my conversation with Pharmacist below. We're talking about his early teenage years as a witchhouse prodigy, present day collaboration with Three Wishes, inspirations, and what the future may hold for his project. To fully immerse yourself in this interview I recommend re-visiting his latest album "The Things Only I Know", which you can also buy here.
Mutant Zones: You’ve just released “The Things Only I Know” with Three Wishes. Before we cover that, I actually want to take you back to the hazy days of April 2010 and your feature on the cult NY website DIS, where you released your debut mixtape “Sun In My Eyes” as Indigochild. How did that happen, you were like 15 at the time, right?
Pharmacist: I was! I don’t remember how I got it, but I found Patrik Sandberg’s AIM screen name and would randomly send him messages. I’d always be bugging people all over the internet for Salem demos, anyone I could find. He thought my story was cool and extended this offer to me to do that mix. I threw together the best witch house mix I could do at the time. It definitely set a tone for my musicianship a bit. I did the entire thing in Audacity, pretty sure.Yeah, Patrik called you the SALEM's #1 superfan. Hoarding rare and unreleased SALEM demos was peak early-witchhouse craze, I remember people would gatekeep their collections on Soulseek and demand trades via blogs. How did this teenage SALEM crush start? Have you managed to meet them or developed an online relationship? Were they the reason you started to make music as Indigochild, or were you making something before that mix?
I remember finding them through Merok Records’ MySpace page, which I found through Crystal Castles, and the rest is history. John would have his phone number on their page so sometimes I would text them as well as Jack and Heather through Facebook. I was nuts! They were definitely central to my musical identity but I think the real reason I started to make music was my friend, Doss, who I also met through being a teenage freak hunting for peoples’ contact info. I swear I’ve changed my ways!Wait, is that the Doss who also released on Acéphale?
Yes, that’s the one. Her newer stuff is sick, too.Later on in 2010 you got picked by French label SVN SNS who paired you with Holy Other on a split tape. How did that come to be?
Once I started getting involved in music I just wanted to share experiences with anyone I could. I met Holy Other when we both had like, 20 listeners. I wish I could see those exchanges because I don’t exactly remember how the relationship began with SVN SNS, but I wish I had picked different songs for that tape!That split tape is one of my fav artefacts from that first WH wave, I bought it when it came out. Did you show it to your parents back then? (if so how did they react?)
I actually don’t think I ever have! I remember showing my dad some witch house once when we painted my room, I think he was sort of into it. He likes some darker stuff, non-screamo metal and like, Black Sabbath. My mom would probably be taken back a bit, she’s more into Johnny Cash.
The release of that cassette also marks the time when you almost disappeared from the internet, at least from my radar. It wasn't until 2015, when you posted "Finite" on Bandcamp, that I re-discovered you again. What were you doing during that period? Did you follow the witch house scene during that time?
I was graduating high school, smoking weed all the time and working at a local fast food joint and kind of just turned away from it for awhile. Once I got to college I was distracted with sudden adulthood, being a gay person with freedom, living in a new place that wasn’t my hometown, making friends, deciding what to do with my future. I listened to a lot of pop music around that time, and also used that opportunity to dig into the roots of the music I loved which was very fruitful. Lots of early experimental electronic music as well as essential classics that have clearly influenced a lot of what I do without me realizing. I got really into ambient techno and Throbbing Gristle and stuff. Outside of whatever White Ring and oOoOO, who I love, were doing, I didn't pay much attention to witch house during that time.That takes us to the release of your album "x X x" in 2016. I know "Arson" was lifted from the split with Holy Other, how about the rest of the tracks? When were they made? What was your set up at the time?
I made all of those tracks from 2010-2012, it was more of a collection of songs than anything else. I don’t know why it took me so long to put them up, but I had figured that I might as well just do it.Well I'm glad you did, it's an awesome time capsule and holds up really well today. The one and only feature you had on "xXx" was ❖. I was quite surprised to see him there tbh, but it also made sense since he was close to SALEM, running their website. Do you have any other collabs from that time?
Thank you - that is kind to say. I feel so distant from that version of myself but in a way they are from a purer version of myself. Did he really? I must have wiped that from my brain. I did make a handful of songs with my friends from high school, they’re goofy pop songs we’d make for fun, but not much else other than that. I wish I had done more collaboration back then, but I’ve been doing more of that now, like with Three Wishes as well as my friend Vexe, and hopefully some more stuff soon.Why did Indigochild cease to exist and Pharmacist was born? Is there a deeper meaning behind your current name?
I felt like I needed to shed my skin from that project. It had been so long so I felt like starting a new thing. A few songs bridged the gap between the two projects like Nothing in this Whole World and Blight. Pharmacist just felt like the right name, it presented itself to me and I didn’t overthink it.How does your creative process look like today, and where do you draw your inspirations from - both when it comes to the music and lyrics?
I make songs because I feel like I need to to get by sometimes. I write about my life. The people around me inspire me; my friends and community are all so creative and doing amazing things.You’re currently based in Chicago, do you feel like there’s a local music scene that you gravitate towards? Or do you prefer to build online relationships?
There is so much amazing music here. I have a million friends who make music, lots of DJs doing different styles of techno, house, and hard-hitting electronic stuff which is so much fun. Beau Wanzer lives here and throws the sickest events. I don’t necessarily fully identify with anyone on a musical level but that isn’t a bad thing at all, it’s great to be doing my own thing and bringing that to the scene. This city is a hub for every kind of electronic music. As far as online relationships, that’s where I really connect with people who are more on my page - I’ll always be doing that.
Tell me more about All Blurred Out and how you became a part of it?
Three Wishes and I met all those guys on a Salem Discord, actually. One day a few people were like, we’re gonna make a compilation series! And then we just sort of went for it. It was really nice to have that kind of new collective there when I got back into this whole thing again.How did you meet Three Wishes?
We met through an old friend! We haven’t met in person yet. We just started making stuff together and I thought it would be cool if we did a project together.What was the concept behind your collaborative EP?
People don’t really do split releases like this anymore so it felt like it would be a fun way to release some of our work together. Eventually the right songs came together in a way that we really like. We approach music from a similar angle and have similar influences so it was mostly a fun time to collaborate.I love how you process your vocals, making them sound murky and almost incomprehensible. That makes them feel like a separate instrument that flows alongside the main composition. Are you planning to add lyrics to your Bandcamp at some point?
Maybe. It’s not intentionally top secret, but more about how I mix my voice.All your singles' artworks have a very distinct, lo-fi (for the lack of a better word) aesthetic. How do you choose the visuals for your music?
I do a lot of Google Images deep dives. I’ll screen cap video stills that I scroll past day to day. Some of the images I’ve taken myself. I guess the decision making process just comes from a gut feeling or inner vision about my work and what I want my art to feel like.What are your plans for the future?
I really need to put together a proper music video. Hopefully another project later this year. I come to music when I need it so things aren’t always scheduled out but I do try.Any shout-outs?
My boyfriend, Owen. He’s primary_orifice on Instagram :-)Thank you!
Thank you, friend.Make sure to follow Pharmacist on Instagram @pharmacist11111111111111111111, Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/pharmacist1 and Bandcamp: pharmacist1.bandcamp.com