Interview: Jae Tyler

This week tune into your inner trailer trash turned fitness guru self, as you listen to “Exercise” the new single from our local glam hero, Jae Tyler. “Exercise. Every time you feel like you wanna die. Learn to breath. You’re alive. Gotta get out of the house and exercise” is a prog wave, athletic pop anthem inspiring people to learn how to fight depression and anxiety through cardiovascular exercise. We had a chat with Jae ahead of his release show at Loophole and found out how he managed to turn his white trash genetics into Euro trash aesthetics…

Hi Jae, your new single “Exercise” feels like a motivational synth-pop anthem, where did you write the single and what inspired you to write it?

I came up with the concept for Exercise whilst running one day. I thought to myself, “I like exercising, and so how neat would it be to write a song in roughly the same tempo that may encourage others to exercise as well!” Seemed like a nice idea at the time. I wrote the first draft of the lyrics when I was kinda drunk at a bar, feeling depressed around my friends, longing for the elated feeling I get after a run. I wanted it to be a creepy work out anthem about using cardiovascular health to fight depression and anxiety.

You are born and bred in Kanas but are currently based in Berlin – how did you end up in Berlin?

Since leaving high school I’ve done a lot of roaming around. I explored a lot of places in the US but eventually just got tired of it all and decided to move out. I met my extra special wife Silla in Iceland and she wanted to move here so I went along with it. My best friend/Street Pulsator® (aka Street Pulse record label creator) Kari was/is living here as well so it made it easier to be excited.

Take us through what a day in the studio looked like when you were recording Exercise…

It basically consisted of me hunched over my computer (recording) and singing/playing the same thing over and over and over again until I felt it to be as perfect as possible, eventually realising it never would be. Towards the end of the process I found myself at Street Pulse® Studios with my mixing engineer/friend/co producer Ådne Meisfjord putting the finishing little doodas and whirligigs on it, making Exercise the dilectable little pop nugget it is.

What’s one weird or defining thing that only where you are from has?

Grass. Endless grass+Tornadoes.

What’s on your “recently played” list in Spotify?

My wife and I share a spotify account, so currently it’s Mariah Carey, Robyn, Arian Grande, and a “Very Best of Prince” playlist, along with some YMO and a Ren & Stimpy playlist.