Q&A: ALLERGi Chases That First Bong Rip Feeling, Triangl Bikinis, and Seapunk Edits with New Single “Highway”
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY FAITH LUEVANOS ☆
2015 TUMBLR EDM MEETS DRAIN GANG IN NEW SINGLE FROM ALLERGI—“Highway,” out everywhere now. Alex and Chrome are an LA-based duo who are determined to create a space for the music that they were obsessed with growing up, this time on their own terms. ALLERGi is the Coachella flower crown era, the slept-in mascara makeup looks and the overwhelming desire to curate and be understood, not for the modern influencer-isms, but for the way OG internet intended, as a form of sharing the inner mind.
Their latest single “Highway” feels like a perfect time capsule that captures the essence of the short-lived time period that everyone continues to chase. It’s the feeling of seeing Lana Del Rey and A$AP Rocky together for the first time in the “National Anthem” music video. ALLERGi is for those who blast Lorde’s Pure Heroine before going to sit in someone’s backyard to rip a bong on a Friday night.
Each song in their discography is a high worth chasing, and each lyric feels like a memory that remains tucked away in a heart-shaped locket. Luna caught up with Chrome to dive deeper into the 2015 nostalgia, making an album in 24 hours, her different personas and more. Read the full interview below.
LUNA: For our readers who may be discovering your music for the first time, how would you describe it?
CHROME: Definitely 2015 EDM vibes and cloud rap. I really just want to embrace the Tumblr girl in me that I feel like I was ashamed of back in 2015, so I’m trying to reclaim it now. There’s definitely a lot of Lana [Del Rey] influence with the EDM that my friends would make fun of me for listening to at the time, and Alex was listening to a bunch of Black Kray, so we play with both of those worlds from that era.
LUNA: What inspired you to pursue music?
CHROME: I was always around music as a kid, and I always say that taste is like nepotism. It’s really a luxury to have good taste around you. Growing up, my parents had amazing taste and I feel like I was exposed to so many genres. I never really had the patience to learn an instrument or take classes, so when I started getting connected with my partner Alex and other people who actually made music, it was really cool because I just got to fuck around and there were no consequences.
LUNA: Something that really stood out to me when we first got connected was your visual identity. I immediately thought of the classic Lana Del Rey and A$ap Rocky photos from Tumblr. What’s something that we lost as a society from that era that you think we need to bring back?
CHROME: Yes! The first thing that comes to mind is the feeling that Tumblr gave you; it was just a feeling and a personal archive of your mind and inner expression. There aren’t really a lot of spaces we can do that now, and it would be cool to have that back. Whether it’s on the internet or IRL, I think we need that feeling of, this is where everything exists that’s in my mind, and other people get to see it.
LUNA: Your new single “Highway” is officially out, which is super exciting. What was the inspiration for the track?
CHROME: I feel like I’m totally just embracing [that feeling] outward and inward. I write a lot from a place of nostalgia. Where I grew up, I spent a lot of time driving on random cornfield roads and parking the car in the middle of nowhere and spending hours just doing nothing with my friends. I miss that feeling.
LUNA: When you go to make a song like this, what does your environment look like? What’s your ideal setting to make music in?
CHROME: I feel like the ideal setting doesn’t usually happen. I remember one time when my partner and I first started making music, I had this idea to start to make an album in 24 hours. I think Charli xcx did something very similar, but I had no idea. That feeling of making music for 24 hours straight is my ideal scenario, because there’s this weird liminalness you get after the eighth hour. It’s cool because you feel like you’ve taken yourself out of the world a little bit, and it’s funny because it fits in with the nostalgia, the escapism of it all.
LUNA: For that 24-hour process, what would you say is your favorite part about the process after that eight-hour mark?
CHROME: I’m a night owl, so I think that helps. Being up at 3 a.m. and being like, “Okay, let’s work on the fifth track,” and you’re starting a song fresh at that hour. It’s pretty cool because it doesn’t really feel like there’s anything that you’re bound to when you’re making it.
LUNA: Speaking of late hours, I loved the visualizer you created for “Highway.” It really captured that nostalgic feeling, too. Did you go into it knowing what you wanted to make, or was it more of a press record and see what comes of it?
CHROME: I always try and do a moodboard, but it never actually comes out anything like it. But I do think it’s nice to have at least some sort of starting point, but it really is exactly how it looks. It’s just us filming in our neighborhood and seeing what happens. It does have that feeling of innocence and hanging out with your friends and vibing.
LUNA: From your first release to “Highway,” do you feel like they’re intertwined spiritually at all, or do you feel like they represent different parts of you?
CHROME: I think they’re intertwined in the sense that I like to play with personas and world-building and narratives, and the fact that the first release and now this are in such contrasting worlds is fun in its own way. It speaks to how much it matters to me to create a vision around the song. I really like to world-build.
LUNA: How do you feel that creating those personas enhances the story behind the music?
CHROME: It allows me to tap into different parts of myself. I think a lot of people get really nervous about the idea of a persona, especially when you talk about displaying your art, because I think some people read it like you’re not being authentic, but it’s really the opposite. It’s a way to be more tapped in with different versions of yourself.
LUNA: Any final messages you’d like to share with your fans and our readers?
CHROME: I hope you keep having fun and finding people to have fun with because that’s the reason why I do this. There’s definitely some fun collaborations coming up, so stay tuned for that. We also have more visualizers coming out.
