In an interview, the thoughtful Atlanta based artist speaks on where his growth may take him
Sitting in his North Atlanta apartment, Shrimp displays a wide grin through the camera of his MacBook. Decorated with messy hair, circular rimmed glasses and a blue button up featuring the Incredible Hulk, he looks about as normal as it gets. However, beneath his perhaps mundane features exists an abstract mind that flows through multiple forms of media.
Born as Tommy Lloyd, Shrimp had an early start with music. At the age of 9, Shrimp was introduced to the guitar and in his teenage years, he drifted through various rock bands. However, his experience in these groups culminated when he came to the realization that he worked best independently.
During his senior year of high school, Tommy felt a wave of dissatisfaction with his music; the bands that he was playing in had no direction and he was unsatisfied with the songs. These feelings of frustration were what pushed Tommy to create the persona of Shrimp. Combining his production abilities from his producer alter ego Txmmy+ and his band experience, Tommy decided to create Shrimp “just for himself.”
“When we were in high school, my friends and I were really high in the basement and my friends were roasting each other and eventually the statement, “boy you look like a little ugly ass shrimp man” was thrown around and after that moment Shrimp became a word that carries sentimental value to me”
Filling his songs with airy synths, usually self-played guitar, hi-hats, as well as a combination of trap and acoustic sounds, Shrimp’s style came to be a perfect example of what someone with traditional and beat-making music experience could accomplish. Through his career as Shrimp, he’s released numerous singles and two projects titled “Attack Anxiety” and “The Shrimp Tape”. As he progressed through his music with the singles and projects, Shrimp has managed to create a discernible sound and a loyal cult following to his melancholy anthems.
“My music is hopeful, a lot of my lyrics are recognizing my flaws and knowing I can get out of it; I feel like my production compliments it in a sense that it’s sad but has bright elements too”
Although Shrimp has had managed to find a considerable amount of success with his music, some may find that his stream of music lacks consistency. According to Shrimp, in his current state with music, he feels a sense of dissatisfaction with his sound and is currently working on pushing his boundaries to create the best possible music that he can. After catching his listeners off guard with his latest indie infused release “Doll,” it seems like the delay leading to the next release has now become an unexpected way for Shrimp to garner hype for his latest installment, whenever it may release.
Despite the fact that Shrimp has numerous accomplishments as a musician, he expresses that he wants to be recognized as an overall artist and not just a musician. His involvement in other artistic endeavors has deepened this idea.
Satiating his growing artistic appetite, Shrimp works through “Shrimpvision” for visual arts, his history podcast with his sister “At The End Of The Day”, and the collective “THTCRM”.
On Shrimpvision, he simply states; “I came across this Twitch streamer using this 3D animation program called “Blender” and then I thought to myself damn I want to learn that shit so I sat at my computer all night and eventually I was able to make characters with it.” Using the software, Shrimp manages to create numerous unique and wacky characters from scratch. Some of his characters include “Ford Tough”; a cowboy who loves cigarettes but doesn’t enjoy smoking, “Dogen Boole;” a lobotomy patient who has “the ability to blow up people’s heads,” and “Clown Brown V2,” who descends from the original Clown Brown that “lost his life in a fatal computer crash.”
Alongside friends and collaborators Fair, Jacob, Clance, And Hanzo, Shrimp is apart of the artistic collective “THTCRM”. Starting as a creatively driven group of friends, THTCRM was a way for the group to pursue their artistic interests collectively. Whether it was throwing shows, making music or designing clothes, through THTCRM the group found companionship as they journeyed through the arts. Although most of the members went on separate paths with music, school, and work, THTCRM is kept alive by Clance. Organizing the “Attack Anxiety” clothing line that serves as the namesake to Shrimp’s album “Attack Anxiety,” and setting up numerous pop-up shops at different events and shows, Clance is thought of to be the backbone of the group, and is the sole reason it lives today.
When questioned what messages he would like to give his supporters Shrimp states that he had only two, “I wanna say thank you to everyone who reaches out and supports me and everyone who cares even though I don’t provide anything in return, but I will soon. I’m also excited to continue to branch out into new art forms and I hope my supporters are excited too”. To most people, Shrimp is just a musician but many are starting to catch on to his depth. Shrimp is a growing artistic mind waiting to plant his roots into the world.
Even though there is no sign of a new release from Shrimp, he expresses that he is working diligently on both music and other forms of media and that he hopes that his supporters can stay patient for what he will release in the near future. In the meantime stream his new music video for “Doll” below.