Meme king-turned-synth prince Clyde Webb reflects on an eventful year as the internet’s favorite musician/merch magician.
Photo by Garret Anderson
From frequenting the Chinese buffets of his hometown in rural Oregon to embracing the bright lights of Los Angeles, KornFan420 aka Clyde Webb has never relented on bringing his irreverent vision to life. Webb first rose to power through his popular Instagram meme page, which astutely captures the ethos of buying scratch-off tickets in Cookie Monster pajama pants. Somewhere in between surviving advanced interrogation taurine techniques and reviving HIM’s heartagram logo as a cultural icon, Webb has leveraged his notoriety to pursue his lifelong passion for music. His one-man synth-punk project Hot Leather retains his beloved sense of humor while also serving as a place in which he can emotionally confide.
2019 has been an especially prominent year for Hot Leather. In July, Webb saw his vision realized in the form of his full-length album, Brain Poison. A hyperactive sonic experience juxtaposed with crushing confessions and eclectic anecdotes makes for a project that keeps listeners on their toes. Such a tone translates flawlessly into the Greg Markman-directed visual for single “Bird,” which, in accordance with its name, features egregious, yet oddly satisfying abuses against Bird scooters. Most recently, Webb went from being Smrtdeath’s designated merch table magician to a fellow collaborator on the track “Back in the Same Place Again.”
On the heels of these accomplishments, Webb offers Underground Underdogs insights into his mirage-like imagination.
What is the name Brain Poison referring to, and why did you choose it as an encapsulation of the album?
I originally called it I Feel Truly Dead Inside to go along with the theme of lyrics that I think are cool from songs I’m listening to frequently while I’m recording. But then I was driving, and I saw a billboard that said Nicotine=Brain Poison and thought it was really cool. All my songs are short and catchy with very little substance and I think that could be considered Brain Poison.
Your production game is definitely stepped up on Brain Poison. Can you speak more about that process?
On all of my old songs, I would record every instrument from the sequencer at the same time, not on this album. I recorded each instrument track individually and focused on making sure each instrument was at a good volume and nothing would be too overbearing in the mix. I originally wanted to record everything to tape and have it sound really noisy and bad, but I couldn’t find a tape recorder that was cheap enough. Dylan Brady (shout-out 100 Gecs) recorded and engineered the vocals. I think that plays a big part in how good everything sounds.
You describe a lot of subtle love angst in your songs, with perhaps one of the best examples being “Toes.” What is it like to open up about these kinds of topics, and what role does comedy play in how you process them?
I like to write about stuff that I feel and experience in my life. I feel like lyrics that are really cryptic are always really annoying. It’s better to just write about what you’re truly feeling or going through. One of the songs on the album is about being rejected and not really caring about it happening which I think is cool. Some people will write about rejection and be like ‘something is wrong with me’ or ‘I hate this person now,’ but I just say in the song that I apologized for putting her in a weird place if she didn’t want to move past being just friends. Comedy definitely helps me with nearly anything in my life. I don’t really see a point in being alive if you’re not joking around and having a good time.
As for “Toes,” when I first hung out with my girlfriend, she gave me a couple of tattoos and I gave her a Hot Leather tattoo on her toes (Hot Leather is 10 letters, and everyone should get it tattooed on their toes). The chorus was really just a Saves the Day rip-off where he says really psycho stuff that sounds like poetry a disturbed teenager would write. “Toes,” to me, isn’t really that serious of a song but the cool thing about lyrics is that they can be interpreted any way you want. My interpretation of a song I write isn’t truer than someone else’s interpretation just because I wrote it.
What is a day in the life of Clyde like?
Typically, I’ll wake up around 10 or 11 a.m. and then hang out for a while until I start driving Lyft until 12 or 1 a.m., sometimes 2 or 3 [Editor’s Note: Webb has since left Lyft to pursue new opportunities]. I like driving at night a lot more than driving during the day because there’s way less traffic and it’s a lot more chill. On a day that I don’t work, I just watch Netflix or Hulu. I’ve been binge-watching Law & Order: SVU. I really like to go to Target and just walk around.
My friends have DJ nights at this bar in L.A. called the Cha Cha Lounge, which I go to usually. There’s a weekly/biweekly party that my friend does called Heav3n that I try to go to as much as possible. The song “Dance All Night” was going to be called “Heav3n” but I didn’t know if it would be hard for people to remember. I like to have song titles that are really easy to remember.
What are the pros and cons of your gig as a merch magician?
I actually only did that on one tour with Smrtdeath. I tried to do it this summer on the Afterlife tour, but I legitimately forgot so many tricks just because I never practiced. It was really fun to do. I wanted to try to become a magician at the Magic Castle in L.A., but I kind of just lost interest. It would still be fun to do though. I like card tricks way more than anything else. Street magic rules.
What’s your weirdest Lyft story?
I have a couple. Once I picked someone up and he kept having me drive around because he kept changing the destination. I don’t care if people change the destination once or twice but changing it a bunch is super annoying and then when I dropped him off he was getting angry that it wouldn’t let him change the destination again and told me to look up food for him to eat. I was like ‘I’m not a personal assistant,’ so I just drove off when he got out. I only made like $15 for an hour and a half of driving with him.
Another dude cracked a beer, chugged it and threw it out the window before I could say anything. Also, he asked if I could do a round trip and I didn’t really want to because he was a shitty passenger but then he started saying he was filming me because I didn’t want to do my job or something. It was confusing and weird. A woman in her 30s or 40s was really sexual towards me when I told her I make music as Hot Leather. Which was also really weird. But out of the 2,000 rides I’ve done there haven’t been too many weird or really bad ones.
You launched a new website where you can play games featuring your likeness. Clydesweeper is a great way to pass the time. What significance does Minesweeper hold in your heart?
I used to play Minesweeper a lot as a kid, but I mostly played solitaire when I was younger. I just chose Clydesweeper for the Hot Leather site because there was an easy way to do it. I also have a choose your own adventure game that’s a Hot Leather dating simulator and I also want to do a Tetris game (Clydetris), which I hope I’ll be able to have on the site soon.
Overall, how are you?
I’m really good. I’m really stoked about the way my life is going and the way Hot Leather is going. I’m just mostly excited about how my life will turn out.