Getter, a young DJ/producer on Skrillex’s OWSLA label, turned heads last year when he released the video for “Head Splitter.” The clip starts ominously at a burger joint named Grim Jim’s, and as soon as the main character finishes his meal, his face dissolves into a cartoon smear of greens and purples. As he makes his way through L.A., he finds the same goo popping up all around him.
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That clip has already amassed close to three million views, and a follow-up arrived earlier this week. In the visual for “Rip N Dip,” Grim Jim’s has a “for sale” sign out front, but a brave youngster ventures inside anyway. He comes out with an entire tray of burgers — each dripping with animated sludge — returns to his friends, disperses the goodies, and madness ensues.
“Rip N Dip” appears on Getter’s Radical Dude! EP, which is out today. Billboard Dance caught up with the producer to discuss the new release and his unique approach to visuals.
When did you begin making electronic music?
“I basically started when I was 16. I was in a few bands before that; I was a drummer and a guitar player. I was a huge metal head and I loved rap like Mac Dre and Andre Nickatina. You could make electronic music by yourself, so that really attracted me towards it and made me want to do my own thing. On my 19th birthday, I saved up money and moved out to L.A. My friend had a room, so I grabbed it for a couple months before getting my own place. It went up from there — now I have a studio and a different apartment. I liked how most of the artists and people you meet in the scene have the same interests. Probably 80% of my friends in the EDM world are into the same kind of music and have the same kind of ideas but with a different twist. It’s cool to surround yourself with people that do stuff close to what you do. It’s cool to have the same energy around.”
How did you connect with OWSLA?
“There’s a DJ’s email thread where everybody sends each other songs. I would always send a pack on there. Skrillex got his hands on one of my older songs and was playing it out. He hit me up, told me he liked it, and then I put another one on the thread, and he wanted it for OWSLA. That was ‘Headsplitter;’ this was about two years ago. We just became friends from there; he introduced me to his team. Now we all work together, and they see what I’m trying to do, which is really cool, because they support it and have the resources to make it happen. Me and [Skrillex] have a super-similar taste in heavy bass music, so I’ll send him new tracks and new artists. We constantly have ammo for shows that we swap with each other on planes and stuff. I was a big fan of From First To Last [a band Skrillex played in during the ‘00s] so it’s cool to see it come full circle.”
This is your second EP; how does it connect to your first one?
“They’re closely related. This was advice from Skrillex: instead of keeping everything separate — because I have a bunch of side projects — showcase all my styles throughout. I have every genre I’m interested in and working on [on the EP]. I see it as a resume for my fans. They can see what I’m about. This is the kind of shit I’m going to be putting out over the next few years: every fucking style. It’s cool to give them a little piece of everything. There’s so much music coming out in the next year, so it’s a cool introduction.
Do you work differently when you’re collaborating with a vocalist then you do on the instrumental tracks?
In my own stuff, I focus on the sound design. Once you start playing shows, you notice what works. At the end of the day, EDM is meant to be played out — you can enjoy out on your headphones, but it needs to be played loud. With more melodic stuff, you need to make the melodies work well with the vocals. With hip-hop — I’ve been doing a lot more of that — at the end of the day, it’s all up to [the rapper]. I can make the coolest beat, but if they don’t have anything for it, it’s not going to work.
You have such a distinctive set of videos — how did you develop that approach?
Me and my director, Liam Underwood, worked together on both ‘Headsplitter’ and ‘Rip N Dip.’ I like stories, and I love art. I feel like they both work together to paint a picture of what’s going in someone’s brain. ‘Rip N Dip’ is a structurally weird track that explains my brain and the way it works. I’ll have really pretty thoughts — like the melodic intro — and then it’ll go into a more bass-heavy vibe. All the videos come from dreams I have. There’s an artist named Deladeso who we got to work on both videos. I’ll go to him with an idea; he’ll make something; he’ll throw it to Liam; then Liam will have an idea — it’s all teamwork. Now we’re telling stories. It was random at first, but now there’s an actual story behind every video.
Are you planning to continue the narrative of “Headsplitter” and “Rip N Dip” in subsequent clips?
The more heavy stuff will probably go to the trippier-feeling visuals. Melting faces and stuff — everybody likes that shit. I know we’re doing two more music videos, and I can’t talk much about them, but they’re two completely different styles. I want to tell more than one narrative. There’s a bunch of cool stories we’re writing for the next few videos. I’d like to tell a bunch of cool stories — I feel like that what’s music videos used to be, and now it’s all just the same shit.