Dirty Pop: An Interview with Miss Persia and Daddie$ Pla$tik

Persia: It all started as a joke. San Cha: She just wanted a song about rum and diet. [laughs] Persia: 'Cause that's my drink! A rum and diet. And it all started with a rum and diet and now we have Google Google Apps Apps [people laugh] It is kind of crazy! Yeah, all her fault, San Chas. [musical interlude] Welcome to We Want the Airwaves, my name is Nia King. This week I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Daddie$ Pla$tik and Miss Persia. Daddie$ Pla$tik is a multimedia performance art collaborative consisting of Vain Hein, San Cha, and Tyler Holmes. Miss Persia is a local drag queen who more recently has started performing with them. They recently released a video for their song Google Google Apps Apps, and its just been exploding all over the place. Its been picked up by Colorlines, by BuzzFeed, and more recently by an Italian publication. Its really going viral, and for good reason. If you havent seen it you should check it out right now, Ill wait. The interview went long and so Im releasing it in two parts. In the first part we talk about their recent success and in the second part we get more into their back stories. I hope that you will stay tuned and be sure to check out San Chas EP release party on the 27th. Ill be sure to include the link to that on the website. Without further ado, heres Miss Persia and Daddie$ Pla$tik. [musical interlude] Tyler Holmes: I'm Tyler Holmes and I'm a performer, I guess? I do a lot of different things. Experimental performance, visual multi-media performance like with our group. I performed at a lot of strange happenings and weird events, in the Bay Area, like, Portland, a lot. And I'm very interested in feminism - like, destroying the plutocracy, spreading queer positivity stuff like that. Nia King: Awesome. San Cha: I'm San Cha. I'm a part of Daddie$ Pla$tik. Im also part of Black Glitter and we're actually all part of Black Glitter. Um, Me, Vain and Tyler are Daddie$ Pla$tik. Persia is our daddy. [laughs] We're also part of Dark Room. Me, Vain and Taylor are all musicians, producers, singers, song-writers, performers That's about it. [laughs] Persia: I'm Persia. I guess I'm just a plain ol' drag queen. [everyone laughs] Um, you know ... San Cha: You're a host. [to Persia] Persia: Yes. I host parties. All kinds of parties. [laughs] San Cha: And now she's a singer! Persia: And now I'm a pretend singer and I love it. [everyone laughs]

Nia: Awesome. Vain Hein: I'm Vain Hein ... as we've said before - I'm part of Daddie$ Pla$tik - I would say, I'm a multi-media conceptual artist. Just recently producing my own stuff, thanks to these guys. They're teaching me a lot. Im singing, again. It's been a while. Nia King: I hadn't realized before that, you all are performers in your own right - that have been performing long since - I don't know how long Daddie$ Pla$tik has been around Tyler: It's fairly new. [laughs] Its a 6 month old baby. Nia King: And so, how long are your individual careers? Like, how long before this creative collaboration came about were you sort of doing what you do? Vain Hein: For me, it's been kind of a journey. I moved to SF for school. I went to the SF Art Institute and while I was there, I had my own struggles with, you know, the institution of art. Struggled with that. But just decided that I might as well finish school, but immediately after that - I graduated in 2011 in May - I started sort of doing things outside of that context in more, like, low brow scenes, like in bars. I was playing with drag in my artwork before that, but started doing drag as a means to sort of get my name out there and get some more confidence, but I always knew that I wanted to sing and make my own music. I just ... it was ... I sort of had a traumatizing thing in my childhood that prevents me from being able to do that, but ... so I'd say it's been about 2 years since I've been doing this project full blown. Nia King: This project being... Vain Hein: Vain Hein as a performer, as a character ... some sort of ... iconic sort of self-made ... made up creature. Nia King: But it's not just drag, right? (5:50) Vain Hein: No ... I mean, it's playing with drag as a medium, mainly as an aesthetic sort of thing, to play with imagery and gender and to draw people in. Just purely from an aesthetic point of view but the concepts and everything else is much deeper from that point. Nia King: Cool. Vain Hein: Yeah, 2 years. Persia: I've been doing drag since ... oooh, good Lord!! [laughs] Since ... 2000 and ... I don't know! I think at least 6 years. I've performed all over the Bay and I've performed in L.A. and Puerto Vallarta. And just recently - well not so recently, like 2 years ago I guess, 4 years ago - I started experimenting with music because of San Cha and an old coworker. He is the producer of most of my music and... all of it. [Engineer] I'm so new at the whole music thing so ... pardon my ignorance. [everyone laughs] But, yeah! San Cha: She's the pop star! [laughs] Persia: It all started as a joke. San Cha: She just wanted a song about rum and diet. [laughs]

Persia: 'Cause that's my drink! A rum and diet. And it all started with a rum and diet and now we have Google Google Apps Apps [people laughs] It is kind of crazy! Yes, all her fault, San Chas. San Cha: Well, I've been - I started with open mics and singing at school 'cause I used to go to St. Mary's College and I left the house at 17 to go to study music at school. I was taking like voice lessons and those kind of learning music theory and whatnot in 2005? But I didn't become San Cha until, like, 2008 or 2009 when I started performing at my own open mics and stuff and I used to do it with guitar. And then had a band but the band wanted - was really straight, so I was playing with a bunch of straight dudes and they wanted to sound like Creed. [people laugh] Persia: (starts singing Creed) Can you take me higher? [people laugh] San Cha: Some, somehow I knew that that wasn't me! [laughs] [people laugh] So I started renting a practice space in West Oakland and my dream was to be, like, nomadic and not live anywhere and live out of a suitcase, but you know you can't really do that when you're poor. [laughs] Tyler: You did a good job of it for a second. San Cha: Kind of! [laughs] I was couchsurfing on their couches. I started doing everything electronically and people started teaching me how to use Reason and things like that and how to make my own beats. And, and I started discovering that I could do - write songs on my own and write the music and do it all myself. I started doing San Cha then and then I met this one in, I don't know, like ... 3 or 2 years ago? I don't know. As soon as I met this one [Persia], it all, like, kind of like, all started coming together and then I started meeting Tyler Holmes and then Vain Hein and now it feels like a community of musicians and, like, a place where I need to be - or drag queens! [laughs] Persia: We're everywhere. [laughs] Vain Hein: I don't feel like we - It's hard to label ourselves because, like, I literally can't label myself and I don't prefer to be labeled either. [laughs] Tyler Holmes: I started manipulating sound and experimenting with sound in a computer fashion when I was in high school because I was very much engaged - knowing that I had this secret urge to be like Karen O. or David Bowie, but was not like there, socially, to be able to be that outgoing or whatever. I wanted to be a visual artist and I would experiment with sound and do a lot of, like, sound collages. I couldn't get it - I got into a bunch of art schools but I couldn't afford to go, so when that crushing thing happened to me, I just decided to start performing. And I worked in a video store and couple other places and I started performing in 2008 with my friend Karen. We had a band called Oblio. And then she moved to Mexico shortly after that - maybe like 20 performances or something. And as soon as she moved away, I started performing as Tyler Holmes because without a band mate, I felt no need to have sobriquet and I just felt like more honest being me. I didn't have like a character. I just wanted to - you know, share my experience, sort of. And I did this very acoustic singer/song-writer thing for a while. But, I had already made an electronic album and then I made a hip hop album - actually with my brother called Black Jews. And then I started to get back more into what made Tyler Holmes, Tyler

Holmes, and started doing more experimental, electronic pop music. Made a couple albums and performed here and there. And then I met San Cha and we started doing a lot of shows together and for one another a lot and we met this one day that was like, very much kismet, where like a bunch of brown artists who make electronic music were scheduled to play - it was like 4 or 5 brown artists on the bill that was spooky and dark - and we were like, this is the clique right here! And we really hit it off. I feel like we both were had the urge to be around one another but mostly the urge to make art and get it done. So we started performing a lot together and since then - it's been - the lines between what is a Vain Hein performance or Tyler Holmes or San Cha has become blurrier and blurrier. Its usually all 3 of us on stage anyway! [people laugh] San Cha: Exactly - backup singers for everybody! Nia King: I feel like becoming aware of your music has started, um, letting me in on a scene that I didn't know anything about before. I mean, I don't know - do you feel like you're part of - it sounds like you're part of a larger scene and community around the kind of art that you're doing and around being people of color in that community. Is that accurate? San Cha: I think its a very inclusive community 'cause we do - we are with a lot of - I mean, this is really the community and then everybody around us - we have so many different friends and everything - not necessarily all people of color or anything, but those issues always come up. Its always like, whether we're partying, whether we're just, like, chilling, all the issues are coming up and we're like, calling each other out and everything. But yeah, I think we're - we are part of a scene? Vain Hein: I mean - I wouldn't say, necessarily, I remember specifically feeling - like when I started performing in San Francisco - that there were all of these sort of ... bubbles? Sort of scenes happening? And everybody seemed really welcoming to ... to the exterior point of view, but at the end of the day, they had their families and you weren't really let in. And so its taken me a while to feel like that and... that's how I feel. Everybody here, and with Black Glitter. We really formed our family and... no, but the thing I feel about it is not - its - I feel like we're very welcoming to having people in it. 'Cause I don't, I don't appreciate having - feeling that way with other people. Feeling like, "Oh, here's our, like, little more beautiful world. You can look at it but you can't come in." San Cha: But, you're not allowed. Yeah. Persia: We love everyone. [laughs] Vain Hein: We love the haters too! We've been counting the dislikes on the videos. We get sooo excited every time we see a dislike. [people laugh] Yeahh!! Persia: It went from 19 to 42. Yeeeessss! [people cheer] [people laugh]

Nia King: That's interesting. I would love to talk to you about your aesthetic because its very interesting. [people laugh] I think you used the term that you want to pull people in with the makeup and the costumes and everything. And I feel like, in some ways, it is very intriguing, but it also - I feel like is also pulling right? Vain Hein: Oh, it also pushes people away. Nia King: So connecting that to what you said about haters paying your bills and getting really excited about the dislikes. I mean, are you trying to appeal to everyone? Because I don't get that impression. Vain Hein: Its impossible to do that. I just think that, like, I know, aesthetically, what interests me and that's what I do and I know that it can be jarring but San Cha just had this interview where she states thatthe way that she dresses, it, it, it expresses, like, who she is and her, like, intense sexuality but at the same time, there's the same amount of people who would be drawn to that that are pushed away by it, too. And I think that's, that's San Cha: The goal is to make people uncomfortable, also.) - Yeah. San Cha: And make people think about things, because it is ... you have to, you have to - the point is to make a statement. Whatever that statement is ... but it is to awaken people, really. To tell - because a lot of us are very conforming. We're always - we're not thinking about anything outside of our world. Nia King: Who is the "us"? Um, all of us. All of us! Everybody. Persia: I mean. What I'm really enjoying about the explosion of, of our video is the fact that people know gentrification is happening. There's all these issues that are happening, but... it seems like... no one is really engaging in that, you know? In that conversation. Last night, when I was at my party [laughs] I was reading some of the comments and... it was just interesting to see how some people really dislike the video and they're calling us white haters - not white haters but, I think that's what they mean. Vain Hein: Some of us are white, too. I mean Im mostly white, Im mixed-race. And Tyler is also mixed. Nia King: Yeah. Me too. Are you actually Black and Jewish? Tyler Holmes: I am Black, White and Jewish. Yeah. Nia King: Yeah, me too. Tyler Holmes: Oh, cool! Yeah! [cheers]

Persia: Damn, there are a lot of ya'll! I didn't know! [people laughs] Nia King: So you were saying that the point is to make a statement. What do you feel - I feel like the gentrification song is fairly clear, but I was listening to some of your other songs as individual artists and they didn't seem as overtly political to me. I don't know if maybe I was just missing the message. San Cha: I think that was - that's actually why we started Daddies Plastik, was because we're very - with our own music, we're very internal. And a lot of things are between the lines. Whereas, it is not easy when you're making music by yourself to be so outwardly political. Because everything is political but its always at this, like, lower level and with the whole concept and everything. With Google Google Apps Apps and having Persia to help us, it was very much simple, simple, simple, catchy and that's it. Let's throw it out there. It took us like what? 3 hours to do this song? (18:11) Vain Hein: Yeah. San Cha: Yeah. Vain Hein: And when nobody, like - on our own, we take a little bit more time than that. But it was really great to work that way. [San Cha: Yeah. It's a good release.] And with Daddies Plastik - love this song - just singing, literally, it on the fly, allows you to get things out in a less, hidden, maybe poetic way that we tend to fall into in our own work. There's nothing wrong with either. But, um... its refreshing to be able to do that. Nia King: Yeah. I think that's interesting that you said it's easy to be more overtly political when you're working together than when you're working alone. Why do you think that is? San Cha: The power of collaboration is really powerful. Vain Hein: But also, like, finding people who... share the same, you know, sort of... interests and struggles and... views on things. I think you just naturally tend to kind of have a conversation about it even if we're not really realizing it. Tyler Holmes: And we're in general, like, rebellious is kind of a not-so-cute word [laughs] but between us, the main things that joins us together is the refusal to go with things that don't make sense or to... or things that are inhumane or not nice, we can't really like - like a lot of San Cha's imagery is very religious and we all have very dogmatic, religious upbringings, so it put us in this sort of mindset where we're not going to put up with bullshit that doesn't make sense unless you can argue your point in a rational way, you're not going to win. Nia King: That's really funny to hear you say, because some people would maybe not look at Google, Google, Apps, Apps as arguing your point in a rational way but its effective! Tyler Holmes: Hm. Nia King: I'm sorry, I cut you off. Tyler Holmes: I feel like it might seem kind of irrational because its kind of wonky or whatever, but when people are saying they didn't understand it, like, at first to us, we're like, what don't

they understand?? [laughs] Its kind of straight forward, but I think, like, with that - its interesting because we're trying to get something very specific across in a very, like, simple way and its interesting to see the receivers confused. I think that sort of reminds me of what you were saying about, like, our looks being off-putting. A lot of what we put out there is normal to us or makes sense to us. [laughs] It just comes out of us. San Cha: And we also didn't think it wasn't going to be that big of a deal because we just thought, like, people are going to think it is this cute song about gentrification. [people laugh] Like we're pissed and everything. Vain Hein: And I think about timing and ... its so - for me - its so poignant right now. It is really out of control. Nia King: Its true, but it feels like its been that way for a long time. Persia: But I feel like now, within these last couple of months, its been rough for all of us. And yes, we know it, its been happening since the 90's, I guess you could say - since the dotcom stuff - but it is now in our face and it was - and we had to have, you know ... we were all dealing with stuff or our hours were being cut, we were losing jobs, our landlord was being crazy ... Just everything! Everything! Everything was just happening all at once. I just... you know... I got fed up. And... and that's how, sort of, Google Apps happened, where it comes back to Esta Noche where something was something was going down, I wasn't aware and it really upset me that the owners didn't come to me about the whole, you know, Esta Noche losing its license and blah, blah, blah, and instead they went out, through a third party. Which is great, you know, but I thought, this is my drag home and why aren't you talking to me and blah, blah, blah? It's my job! Like, I'm the one thats going to be losing my job! So I was really upset... and I was like, I need to write a song about this! I didn't think about it at first, but then I saw them perform at The Eagle and I had a few drinks [laughs] and I was so upset that day - it was a Thursday - and I was like, Oh my God! And then ... other stuff went down with my other drag queen coworkers and they were upset with me so it was just such a hooorrible day. My boyfriend was mad at me. Just everyone was mad at me. And so I'm watching them perform and they're doing these songs that I had never heard and they were soooo good and I was like, Oh my God, they're so good! You know what, Fuck this shit! I need to write a motherfucking song! Like, I'm gonna go now and I was just writing things down and the first thing that popped in my head was about Google and apps and Twitter and Facebook and I'm like writing all these things down. So they're doing their last number and I'm like, writing things down. And they're done and I was like, Oh girls, you were amazing! And blah, blah, blah, by the way - you're helping me write this song! Vain Hein: And we were down immediately. Persia: So we were busy the whole weekend because we were performing, etc., but then come Monday, they, they worked on the beat and then I gave them what I have. 'Cause, you know, I'm not a musician... San Cha: Well, it wasn't like you went there and you gave us things. You went there and we collaborated? Persia: No, no, totally. No. But, I had the, you know, the -

San Cha: She had her ideas. Persia: And I was like, Ya'll know how to make me a singer? Yeahhhh. We have to do this. We have to. And so we all worked together. We wrote certain things. San Cha: We did it exactly how I usually do it with Persia and her songs. We make a beat. We, um... we then take what she's saying or what Daniel is saying - her boyfriend - or somebody else could come up with a catchy line and you just put it into pop music format and its just taking your ideas and collaborating and putting it together. Nia King: Yeah. The song is insanely catchy. Probably why its so effective! [people laugh] San Cha: That's what you do with a very straight forward song. Its like, you say the word, you say them literally, you say them again and again. You repeat them at certain points. You have the chorus. You have a bridge. And then you tie it all together, so there's a formula to writing a pop song. Nia King: Did you study pop in school or are you just sort of picking it up from listening to it? Vain Hein: No, no. Its so seeped into us! [laughs] Its our culture! Its so hard to not have that influence what we do. Yeah. San Cha: I studied classical music and jazz. [people laughs] Nia King: That makes more sense. I don't know if anybody really studies pop. San Cha: I think there could be some classes. There ... there are some classes that you go to, like, a certificate program in L.A. or a certification? I don't know. For pop music. Its a whole science. [people laughs] Vain Hein: No seriously. When I hear a good pop song, I think, this is science. Yeah. This is science. There's like a chemical equation, you know, where my brains gonna react and know how my bodys gonna react. Its some mad scientists out there seducing us and brainwashing us with their sounds. Tyler Holmes: Its like the drugs in KFC. They're hidden in there to make you want more. Nia King: Wait, whats in KFC? Tyler Holmes: Its like an urban legend and chips have an addictive substance and so, like, with chips, you can't - like, you can't eat one. Nia King: I think its just salt and fat. [people laugh] Vain Hein: The power of salt and fat! [people laugh] Nia King: No, its true! I don't know. I feel that your music is so much better than that. I mean, I ... lately, I feel like I didn't - I don't like the fact that I can't listen to the radio without getting angry, but I really can't. Vain Hein: No, I haven't listened to the radio since middle school.

Tyler Holmes: Its the messages! Like the words, we all do the same thing: when the radio comes on, a song will be on - this just happened in the car ride - it will be on for 5 minutes or 2 minutes or whatever - (and we're just ripping it to shreds) - noooo! Like, all the RnB songs telling you to love your man even if he's cheating on you - just like, get out of my head! San Cha: Thats all we do when the radio comes on. Vain Hein: Critique everything. [people laugh] San Cha: Except this one, because she loves, Belinda. Tyler Holmes: Me too, because I don't know what you're saying! [people laugh] Persia: No, Belinda's new album is just about her being horny, okay? [people laugh] San Cha: She's a funny one. [people laugh] Nia King: Well, its cool that you're using the addictive pop formula to actually push out a social message. Do you think you're going to continue making political music? San Cha: We didn't come up here for that. Or like... we didn't come up with the intent to make political music. Its political no matter what, though. Tyler Holmes: Because of who we are. Its gonna happen. People see us as political. Its like - oh my god, you're doing drag, you're making a political statement about gender and its like - I want to wear a wig! Shut up! Persia: Yeah. Someone was saying that to me on Saturday. They're like, yeah, like now you guys are political. Now you have a responsibility. I was like, Noooooo! I don't want this responsibility! Its just like, yeah, it is political, but its our lives. And so we're talking about our lives. Our experience. We're not doing things to be political. We're just talking about our experiences. That's... that's what we do. Tyler Holmes: And the things that I think affect all of us together tend to be more political than specific, 'cause like, they affect our daily lives. Being poor. Being brown. Being queer. Those affect us every day and those are the things we share over the dinner table. Nia King: Yeah! Well, 3 of you live together, right? Vain Hain: Yes, yes. San Cha I share a room. [people laugh] We're married. San Cha: All 3 of us. [people laugh] Vain Hein: Polygamy! Nia King: West Oakland is going through gentrification right now, as well. Group: We're it! Vain Hain: Yeah, that's another thing thats interesting to talk about. We are a part of that, too! And its, um ... its just part of the cycle. Its really eff'd up.

Nia King: Well, thats an interesting thing point. Do you feel you can be a gentrifier and you don't have money and you're not white? [people make "mmmm" noises] Tyler Holmes: I don't know. I didn't study that in school. [people laughs] I think maybe being, not necessarily a gentrifier - but part of what the, like, essential problem that we see, yeah. Its none of our fault - its all about money and I, I'm from Marin and I had to move - like I was looking at where to move. And I was like, Oh, maybe I'll move to San Francisco because I perform there so much! Not going to happen. I moved to Oakland. San Cha: I think what the issue - like, we're not being gentrification bad or gentrification good. Like, thats not what the point of this is about. Its that there's so much money coming from Silicon Valley to San Francisco - and that none of it is trickling down to like BART or to anything the public uses. City College is closing. The fees at the bridge keep getting higher and higher. Vain Hein: Muni prices are going up. BART prices are going up. Tyler Holmes: You can't get over the bridge without FasTrak, which you can't really use, unless you have $100 in the bank all the time. Nia King: You can't get over the bridge without FasTrak? Tyler Holmes: The San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge - it is easiest to use a FasTrak otherwise you have to like call and pay for it ahead of time and if you don't do it, they charge you a fee within 48 hours. Nia King: Thats bullshit! Is that new? Yeah, its new. San Cha: There's some ridiculous things going down. And like, I used to live with a Google employee, so, um. Nia King: Yeah, I currently live with a Google employee. [people laugh] San Cha: This was in San Francisco and I lived in a Victorian flat and I lived in the room that wasn't a room. Its called the mud room. [people laugh] Its right by the back door. Its like when you dust your feet right before coming in. Vain Hein: That's where you belong! [people laugh] San Cha: Sectioned off by a curtain and everything, but I paid $500. The entire place was $2,600. Nia King: That's insane. Vain Hein: Yeah. I've lived in closets, like. Literally.

San Cha: Each of my roommates paid $1,100. They both had their own room. But the Google employee, as soon as she came in, she was like daddy's girl from like Marin County and went to UCLA somehow and graduated somehow and got a job at Google. And her whole was lavish. Like, I had never seen such elegance like that. Such like bratty-ness to, like. It was crazy how she dealt with her parents. Everything. It was so weird for me not to be able to afford a piece of bread and for her to be, like, throwing all her food away in front of me. And I was like, uhh ... something is off, here. And she's getting shuttled to Google every day when I can't even take Muni. I had to walk my ass to work from Golden Gate and Divis to 23rd and Mission every morning. Like an hour walk. 'Cause sometimes I couldn't afford Muni. And those people are always getting bused over there and have everything? And I was like, Eww, why would I take a job over there? That would never be my goal. Especially as a musician. But, you don't make a living as a musician. Nia King: So what are your day jobs? [people laugh] San Cha: You first? (32:26) Tyler Holmes: I work for a non-profit, um. I ... [laughs] I will work for a non-profit for maybe 2 more months. My positions being, uh, leveled. [laughs] But I am an academic case manager. I work with a cohort of students helping like navigating the process for young, lower-income students of color, to learn about and maybe eventually access secondary education San Cha: I work at SF Jazz, which is a non-profit jazz organization and now has a new building on Fell and Franklin. So I work at the Box Office selling people tickets. Persia: I used to work at SF MoMA until they closed it June 2nd. I was there for 6 years. Nia King: Oh, wow! Did they just lay everybody off? Persia: They were gonna lay off, like, a whole bunch of people but somehow they were able to save most jobs, except for 35 of us. And those 35 were, or maybe 55, I can't remember - but they were all frontline staff. I used to work at the Museum Store there. And then they were trying to screw us over with our severance pay. And then... sometime in May, they decided they were going to open up a temporary store over on Yerba Buena Land by the Jewish Museum, but then they were like, Oh, we're gonna break your contract. And if you wanna work for us again, you have to re-apply, but if you get the job, then you won't get your severance, even though we're breaking your contract. So I don't know - a whole bunch of B.S. My last day there was June 2nd. So anyway, I worked there but I also at SF Jazz, I usher there. And so now... I'm unemployed technically because as an usher you only work 3 hours a week. I'm trying to get unemployment but that takes forever. But starting August, I'll be a T.A. for 4th graders in an after schools art program called Casa over in Twin Peaks. Nia King: Cool. Are you excited about it? Persia: Yes! Because I used to work with kids before I became a drag queen, so its been a while, but I am really excited. Its nice to boss little kids around. [laughs]

Vain Hein. Oh, and I'm a whore. No, Im just kidding. [laughs] I serve - I work at a brunch and coffee restaurant during the day. And I had drama there, too. New management all of the sudden popped in without any sort of, like - discussion. There's still been no discussion of it. We just have a new manager. And he decided to sort of run things a new way and, cut hours without notification, but it, its working itself out. I'm working less hours but its good because we're doing more things. And, it was kind of a blessing but I'm really, really, like, pushing it every month. In terms of money. Yeah, no. Serving food to people who work downtown and who are a part of all of this - I literally work catty corner from Twitter. I serve people - Twitter people - all day. So that's been interesting too! I get to, like, really see them face-to-face and be a part of that. San Cha: And working in Hayes Valley, too, which used to be the ghetto. And now its like the ritziest area ever. Tyler: Its hip! San Cha: I know - its so hip! With all the - I think its all the ballet and opera and now the jazz and everything. Tyler Holmes: How cultured. San Cha: I know. [laughs] Nia King: So what do you think is next for you all? For Daddie$ Pla$tik and Black Glitter? San Cha: Hopefully touring. We really want to tour. Vain Hein: A record label and a production studio off the ground. Um. San Cha: We want to be official as like a - because we're already a non-official, kind of, team and, and, production house, really, just with all of us as individuals and working together. Vain Hein: I just think that in general, all of our visions are a lot grander than, um, what we're able to do by ourselves. So its been really great to have a team of people and my dream is to not only get our dreams to those points, but I want to have us all be able to help other, younger artists grow their dreams, bigger. For the video, we got to work with this really great, talented photographer - Sloane Kanter - uh, and it just, it felt really amazing to work with her and to see a shining bright new start. To be able to do a project that she might not have been able to, you know, figure out on her own, so. That kind of stuff. San Cha: I have an album coming out the 27th, which has been in the making. And for me, myself, its been in the making for 4 or something years. But... like, thats the things that no one sees but with producers ... 2 or 3 at this point? Yeah. I used to do it with a back track and used to perform with back tracks. Now, we've been working as a band with Daddie$ Pla$tik. These two are now synth players and singers. Vain Hein: All of the sudden, I'm playing synth and singing at the same time. [laughs] Something I never thought I could do, ever. San Cha: And this one is playing the bass. Tyler plays the bass now. We have a drummer and bassist and guitarist. So its going to be a whole live band, yeah, at Caf du Nord on the 27th. Its

all my dreams come true, ever. And, and we really wanna tour and make this happen and make it a household name, or like, a really world-, or at least US-wide name. Vain Hein: Dream big! [people laugh] International! [laughs] San Cha: Mexico! [laughs] Vain Hein: I want to be wide - worldwide! [people laugh] San Cha:We doooo. Tyler Holmes: We have to get Beyonce level so Obama will let us go to Cuba. [people laugh] We're also working on a split E.P. with Persia. Theres going to be... 2 more new tracks. San Cha: 2 or 3? Tyler Holmes: 2 or 3 and some remixes. Other than that ... San Cha: And we do our Daddie$ Pla$tik stuff as Daddie$ Pla$tik. Vain Hein: And then I'm working on trying to get an E.P. out - either by the end of the year or the beginning of next year. San Cha: And Tyler Holmes also has his own projects lined up. Tyler Holmes: I just finished an album I want to do some videos. Nia King: Awesome. It seems like you all have been able to do a lot with not very much - in terms of money. [laughs] Vain Hein: Well, yeah. We had to! That video was made on zero budget. Persia: We have no choice. Vain Hein: Yeah, we have no choice. Its really amazing to see what can happen with that. I just ... I can only imagine what we'd be capable of doing if we had money. [people laugh] Seriously! If we can do that on no budget in what, a week? Less than week? San Cha: The real reason we made Google, Google, Apps, Apps is for Google to give us money. [people laugh]