Getter has been paving the way for not only ‘electronic’ music for 8 years, but also from his own releases to starting his clothing brand Trippy Burger to his most recent initiative Shred Collective. Ā Getter has also started his alter ego Terror Reid which combines old school hip hop and the ‘Getter attitude’ of shocking lyrics.
Interview and photography: Lauren Engel
So you were born in San Jose, California. What were you like as a kid growing up?
I was loud as fuck but also quiet. I was loud with my friends but also quiet in public. I loved legos and shit and I like to cook. I like to organize shit. I was never active so my dad had to pay me $30 a week to do cross country. Was cool, some good money, bought some more legos. I was 14/15 some shit.
Where do you get your energy from?
Adderall and a lot of water (laughs). I donāt do drugs anymore and I rarely drink. Go to bed, wake up early, drink hella water and Iām energy.
Are your parents super energetic also?
Yah my dad. Heās 5ā8 and super hyper. Heās hilarious and my mom is kind of laid back.
So you got your sense of humor from your dad then?
Yah, iād say so, maybe somewhat.
Do you have siblings?
I got a little brother whose a dope skater who lives in Oregon. My older brother is a good skater slash biker slash inventor. He just does everything heās in Oregon too and he has a wife named Kylie. Older brotherās name is Dylan, older brotherās name is Brody. Theyāre my dogs.
What do your parents do?
My mom is into fitness and nutrition. My dad used to work at Cisco but he moved companies I donāt know where he works now. Itās an important manager of some shit though.
Where do you think you got your creative side though. Mostly your mom?
Yah I think my momās side like my uncle. My momās Uncle John is one of the only musicians in our family. He plays guitar. He used to play for Charlie Musselwhite now he plays for some dude from Vegas. He lives in Vegas and performs there. Thatās where my mom tells me I get my music from.
Did he help you out or mentor you in a certain way?
Not really. When I was younger he taught me how to play some songs on the acoustic guitar. Smoke in the water and Iron man. I know where he and my mom came from and it wasnāt shitty but that kind of inspired me to do my thing to.
Other than music what kind of hobbies or subjects were you into?
I loved to skate but I fucked up my Achilles tendon so I stopped and I did more music so it was good. I like interior designing but I never really pursued it I just organized rooms and shit. I like the make shit on Photoshop, I like to design clothes, I like to make food, I like cars I have an R8. Just been suiting it up since I got it.
In one of your recent interviews on Soundcloud you said that your momās gay?
My momās gay sheās been gay forever and she broke us the news as she says when we were younger but it wasnāt a bit deal to us because they raised us like everyoneās equal. I was around ten or eleven. Honestly I was more tripping about my dad smoking cigarettes than my mom being gay. The only thing we tripped about when she told us was that they lied to us that their divorce was for a different reason but yah my moms gay sheās super happy and dope and Iām happy that sheās cool and gay.
Do you feel that youāve grown closer to her now that sheās open up to you and tells you about herself and relationships?
Yah totally. I would live a week with her a week with my dad on and off with my brothers. Her friends were gay and they were always the nicest people ever and wouldnāt hurt a fly. I remember the day she told us she was breaking down and we were like yo its cool weāre not assholes weāre kids. We kind of donāt get it but we kind of do. Iām glad itās cool. Iām glad sheās happy with herself and that Iām happy for that.
When you moved to LA you were 19. Were they skeptical or what was it like for them?
Well it got to the point where I got out of high school and started doing music, doing shows. I got a job at a smoke shop and I was going to community college that my dad was paying for because I didnāt want to go so I didnāt want to pay. I wanted to do music so they put me in a music program which was cool but then there were five bullshit classes that I didnāt go to. My dad was basically paying for me to not go to school and I was just not going for the longest time and one day I was just like you know I donāt want to do this. This is lame. Iām making stacks at shows Iām making music. I want to go to LA. They were iffy about it first and then I just bought a car and was like hey on this day and drove down with all my shit. Yah just started going but I think they were worried at first.
Do you regret that?
No I donāt fucking like school. Iām not a fan of school I mean I get it. I know why people go. If you want to be a doctor or thereapist, schools for you but like if youāre creative schools a devil because you canāt go to school. You canāt teach art. Youāre either born with to or your not and you can explore it. You can learn shit on the way, you can learn how to paint you can try different strokes, how to blend shit better, different tools to use but no ones going to teach you how to paint. It should be programmed in your body. Thatās what I believe. Iām not a fan of school, especially high school. Fuck high school. Go for your parents and thatās it. Doesnāt matter you will never use any knowledge from high school ever.
When you were starting out did you have someone guide you?
Ya Datsik. He was like my fucking idol. He ended up releasing my new music on his label and put me on tour. I was just with him the other day and I still remember the first day I stepped on his bus and theyāre all watching TV and I was like never met this dude Iām fangirling Iām freaking out. I was 18 or 19. Was cool, he definitely helped me along the way and pointed me. Helped a lot with getting everything in my brain out in the open which was really cool.
Were your parents supportive or how did you gain their support?
No they were supportive. I think it was weird at first because they donāt know much about it. Itās kind of new, itās still new. It wasnāt like oh Iām going to be a rapper, Iām going to be in a band. It was like hey Iām going to press play for a bunch of kids so they were iffy but they were definitely supportive. My dad comes to all my Vegas shows. Itās super fun. I had metal bands and shit with my friends but it was nothing serious. Like my dad let us set up a thing in the back garage pool house area and would jam all the time.
Do you think there are any disadvantages to social media? Like any music people or labels donāt take you as seriously?
Yah for sure. Thereās different parts of it because like making electronic dance music has gotten itself such a bad rep in all the other markets because itās like oh you make music on the computer, oh ok, you press play, you donāt play an instrument. All this shit. That affects if I want to work with any hip hop people. It gets to the point where like the only people I can work with are personal homies or somebody I met because if I hit somebody up and tell them to work theyāre like youāre edm, no. But then itās the same with the social media. Iāve been doing music almost eight years and Iām fucking good at it and I know Iām good at it but no one will take you seriously if they know you from Vine or YouTube. I would do vlogs and vining and all this shit and I would put my heart into a song and people would just be on it talking about suh dude, talking about funny shit. I get it, as long as they know the name right. Iād appreciate them to appreciate the music more.
A lot of people who go to your shows are your fans from social media was it hard to make the bridge?
I donāt really pay attention to what my followersā¦obviously I pay attention to what they say. I fucking roast people on the daily. I donāt really care what they listen to of mine just because I make everything now and as long as theyāre there and theyāre open and paying attention to me and hearing what Iām playing or listening to me on their phone I donāt really care if Iām converting them to comedy or to this because if they fuck with me theyāll fuck with what Iām making.
For the “Trippy Burger” stuff when you first started out there werenāt too many artists making their own clothing right?
Yah we did it just for a quick bucks. Was like yo we need to put Suh Dude shirts out and did make us quite a few quick bucks. It was my managerās idea. He actually did the suh dude thing. Suh dude was a year before it blew up. My manager blew it up by posting it on my Facebook then was like okay now we make shirts so it came together. Then I put out the head splitter video. That was either before or after and that was where the Trippy Burger name came from because in that video I eat a burger and trip balls. Now itās in Zumies and I also have the Shred clothing which is going to be more of the shit I wear. Trippy Burger is more of the funny cool artsy shit.
For the artsy stuff do you have an artist you look up to or inspired by?
Yah I literally the other day unfollowed everyone on every social media platform except for visual artists because Iām so obsessed with art. Iām an artist too I can draw shit. But Iām not as good as these other guys so Iām literally follow around 80 to 90 number like that. I hit them up individually and be like dude name a price I donāt give a fuck, your shit is awesome and it properly represents what Iām doing in peopleās headphones and if we can do it musicians and visuals the same lets do it.
Do you have any shirts right now that you drew yourself?
No not really. I do a few but I donāt say like yo I made this. I got an iPad with procreate so I just draw shit on there. Thatās the new shit for shred it will just be like quick shit. Kind of like Supreme because Iām obsessed with Supreme since I was 16.
For your Shred Collective your main ideaāyou donāt want rich by yourself you want everyone to have a fair share. Where did that mentality come from?
Everybodyās been down in the dumps. Doesnāt matter if you have or you havenāt but sometimes you got to sell shit to pay rent. Sometimes you go to do this blablabla. But at the same time people who call themselves your best friendsā¦not saying that best friends give you handouts all the time but they see what youāre going through and donāt even offer to help. I feel like instead of it being a business or record label or this or that or this person makes this money. If you make a song and you like it and you want to put it out to the audience, weāll put it out and you get all the money because thatās fair and it will put some money into your pocket. We do these sample pack deals and I give all the money to who I do the sample pack with. I feel like if I had a bunch of money but my best friend was broke I would spend all my money trying to make them be by including them in shit like yo lets go to six flags, I got you on the ticket. Why not just meet them in the middle and be like hey Iām going to make you money so we can go to six flags at the same time. I donāt have to buy you a ticket. Call it karma call it whatever but everyone deserves a slice of the pie.
Did you get this idea yourself or was it something you saw online that inspired it?
I write a bunch of shit down on my computer and my phone and I would just like jot down notes of ideas or songs or lyrics or whatever. That was one of them and I kind of built off it. Iāve always wanted to use a word called shred because thatās fucking dup.
You want to open a store for it down the road?
Weāre going to do pop up stores hopefully different spots on my tour. Big Mouth tour, get your fucking tickets. Do some popup shops, have some guests but we want to open up a retail store in 2018 permanently. But I want to do it in a different area because everyones on Fairfax and Melrose. We want a block. We want to have everyone there chilling kind of like an office. Upstairs will be an office and sell some clothes, meet some peeps, it will be fun.
I love your Terror Reid stuff. Is rapping a recent thing?
I remember I was in the studio with my homie and Andy Milonakis as weird as that sounds. My friend was friends with him and rapped and I was like oh Iāll write you something. I wrote it and was like wait that was kind of tight. That was a couple of years ago. And then I started to kind of do it myself. Then when I met Pouya and Fat Nick and all those guys. I was always in the studio with them recording and see how they work and how they would like loop the beat. Listen to it, get the flow down before the words and all the stuff. I started to do that and I put out one song as Terror Reid as a joke. I say as a joke loosely because it was serious but it wasnāt. Then it started to stack up and then I was like damn I know how to do this better than any of these motherfuckers and thatāt not me being a dick thatās just like Iām confident in what I do. I mean Iām not better than Pouya. All the guys I work with are way better than me. I want to be in an interview with Joe Budden and kill him in a freestyle. It kind of just blossomed. Actually Who Dat wasnāt supposed to come out because I didnāt like it. I still donāt like it that much. The wordplay just isnāt what I want it to be. It was originally just a beat for someone but we just wanted to put a song out. We being me and my manager. Next year is going to be a a bunch of Terror Reid stuff.
What was the reason being not putting that out as Getter?
Everyone knows Getter for edm and comedy. Iām proud of that and itās cool but I donāt want to bring that energy into hip hop because I donāt want some more fake wack shit or fans thinking they like something when in reality they like the other thing that this dudes doing. Itās originally supposed to be me in a ski mask and anytime I get fucked up..because I like to shock rap stuff. Like oh fuck he just said that?! Itās supposed to be like I drink bleach and I turn into Terror Reid. We did it for a while and it was cool and after a bit Iām like dude I want people to see my face and the expressions Iām doing when Iām saying all this fucked up shit. I can see hip hop more long term than edm. I would be more happy with it because itās got replay value and people would listen to it more. Putting out an EP, having people listen to it for a week and ask you whatās next. Kind of keeping it close. I donāt think we are going to do the mask thing anymore.
What was the original idea behind the mask?
I was self conscious about rapping and stuff because like it wasnāt where I wanted to be yet. So I put it on to speed things up. I actually made custom makes but then Futureās got the mask off, thereās Ski Mask the Slump god, thereās Little Toe who wears a ski mask. All these people wearing ski masks I donāt want to blend in with the crowd. I was like fuck it Iāll just be another white kid with tattoos that raps.
The lyrics you want you want to do more of the old style hip hop lyrics right?
Yah I want to make the old dude sound new and the new dude sound old. I just want to bring it back to the good shit. The new shits cool but itās not hip hop itās rap. Thatās cool whatever rap about your lean and your fucking Xanax and how much money you get but in the end of the day I want to make the shit I want to hear. I want to make some violent shit, I want to make some shit that makes people talk like I fucking huff donkey shit or snort anthrax shit like that. Itās way more unbelievable. It like the difference between Michael Moore and Michael Bay. Michael Moore is basic, sticking to the guidelines. Itās not crazy out of this world but Michael Bay youāre like fuck thereās so many explosions. So Iām Michael Bay.
And you want to get into making movies right? Like you wake up in the middle of the night and have some dreams and write them down.
Yah, I said that in an interview a while ago and I kind of stopped doing it for a while because my mind started getting so all over the place. I just do so much shit at the same time that I go crazy and then lock myself away and finish everything and come out and Iām born again. That was one of the things I started to do. Itās starting to happen again. If Iām working on a song all day everyday. By the end of the day thatās all thats in my head. Iāll go to bed with it in my head still. So Iāll usually dream about it then Iāll have ideas for music videos and movies. Like what Tyler the Creator does itās so cool because he does exactly what he wants, doesnāt give a fuck what anyone says. But itās all dope because he knocked off the whole people are going to like this. Heās just like I like this Iām putting it out. I want to do that kind of shit. I have over thirty music video ideas that were definitely going to do. I would love to do movies. Iām sure everybody would say comedy. But I would love to be behind this scenes. Me and my homie were talking about making a movie. He said you can be one of the actors and Iām like Iāll write some of it, I can write jokes. Everybody mistakes me for the guy that wants to be all the attention and centre of everything but like that was a mistake, the best possible mistake. Now that I got everything that I want and Iām doing more but I like being behind the scenes. I want to be the guy making beats for people and just getting money. More money than other people would because Iām doing what I like. With the Terror Reid thing I want to push a wave and start people doing that style then Iāll just be like alright Iāll make all the beats now. I would love to direct and write.
You tweeted more you wanted to get out of the electronic scene. Can you elaborate that?
There are some people who have fucked me in this industry and Iām sure lots of people get fucked by lots of people. Iām not going to say who because they know what they did. Itās no use calling them out. Iām kind of emo on the internet because I want people to know what Iām going through. Iām vocal about it but I make it simple. That whole thing came from for the longest time like I make music and it takes forever and I put it out and people give a fuck then donāt give a fuck then itās like Iām not a clothing brand I donāt just drop shit I gotta work. I started getting tired of people underappreciating my shit. And I started to think about how I make that kind of music for a certain scenario because if you listen to that on headphones it sure isnāt good as it is playing live. I make everything so now itās like okay I either can do this edm thing and make a bunch of money or make pointless fucking music and will be hot for a little bit or I can take that energy and combine it with this better energy making the shit that I like to call real music because it makes you think a little bit more and itās about certain shit. You can cry to it, you can laugh to it. All these people are bummed saying Iām quitting and all this stuff. Iām not quitting, I worded it wrong. Iām just changing and moving on. Iām still going to make party shit but itās not top priority. In two, three EPs maybe youāl see a couple of singles but the rest of it is like you can listen to it anywhere. You donāt need to be at a party. You can bike and listen to it. You can shit and listen to it. I just want people to know that I am here and that Iām staying but Iām not like doing what everyone wants me to do. If I lose everything I donāt care because itās what I want to do.
What do you want to be remembered for?
I want to be that guy who made every kind of music, made beats for everyone. I just want to be the shit. I just want everyone to be like yo, I want to be a legend. I want to be all these guys who made an imprint. Youāll never forget them. People forget EDM artists real quick because Iāve been doing this shit 8 years so I know. I donāt want to be forgotten. I want to be that dude, I want to be that boy.
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