ARTIST INTERVIEW: Fat, Evil Children

Truman Sinclair (guitar), Sebastian Peters (bass), Diego Fernandez (drum), Nic Skrabak (vocals, guitar)

A couple weeks ago I had the chance to sit around with Fat, Evil Children to talk about their new record, their friendship, and their candid process.

I walked up to find the four bandmates sitting on a porch and passing a guitar around. I was surprised by their collective deftness with the guitar, which I learned was just a lay example of their instrumental ease and collaborative process. All four bandmates played guitar on “Fooled,” the first single off their upcoming LP.  The fourth and final single, “Running” came out last Friday (April 26), and the group’s fourteen-track, debut LP, F is for FEC, is out independently on May 31.

Though they wouldn’t call themselves a USC band, the four bandmates (Nic Skrabak, Truman Sinclair, Sebastian Peters, and Diego Fernandez) are all students here at USC, and for 3/4 of them, this is their final semester. They started recording at the beginning of the semester, and the project will be released just shortly after the pomp and circumstance of it all.

Whether intentional or not, this record is the representation of closing one chapter to open another: the speed in producing the record is only an effort to capture the fleetingness of the end of college and the prod of an imminent debut. They recorded on the Sundays and Tuesdays of the past four months in a studio behind the porch where we chatted. Truman, who produced F is for FEC, described it as equally challenging and fun. Many – most – of the recordings are live takes. The process was candid, not expedited, and it’s in part to what Truman describes as recording “based on instinct.” When I asked more about the collaborative process, they all spelled out to me in different ways how much their process is based on trust. The four of them kept saying that they would make decisions about what “felt right for the record” or “for the interest of the record.” No one person had a domain over a particular instrument or sound. Arguments? Resolved by a piece of Truman’s advice: “The argument is once, the song is forever.”

It’s charming, and even moreso true, that the band’s friendship is the principle dynamic for their collaborative process. When Nic, who writes and sings the band’s songs, brings an idea to the group, he often just sits and sings. His vulnerability is honored by the rest, and they run with it to make something that sounds as much like “FEC” as any of the instruments or individuals who actualize the song. Diego and Sebastian, (drum and bass, respectively) who worked closely to produce and record the EP (self-titled, released in January 2024), told me about an early session where Nic wrote out all of his song lyrics on individual pieces of paper and literally laid them all out on the floor. They all were able to comb through the material and start to form the projects. Diego invested in a pedal steel guitar so they might find the exact sound they collectively felt in Nic’s lyrics.

Nic fronts the band, writes the songs, and sings. His songs are honest and sweet, punctuated with darker moments, and support the idea that Fat, Evil Children is equally thoughtful and capricious. Truman produces, taking the work in stride, because it’s “just so fucking fun.” Diego mixes and masters the tracks. They all write and record collaboratively, simultaneously. Their manager, Autry Jesperson, is their biggest supporter. He knows he talks about “FEC” too much, but he just “loves those boys”. He believes in them and he wants to see them through the fleetingness of being a college band. Everything is “in-house”; that’s how they feel so sure about what they’re putting out there.

When I asked them what they wanted to say to the world before this record comes out, or if they simply wanted the music to speak for itself, Nic shared that this record is about sharing how the music was made: it was important to capture the music as it happened, D.I.Y. at its purest. They surely have a grasp on sounding organic and having fun; lucky me, it’s not an anomaly to sit around with FEC on a Friday night, listening to music and drinking beer. In the few hours where we sat around and talked, I took notes, and we made our way about 2/3 of the way through a thirty-rack. They care about the music and each other and the community the music lives in, I’m grateful to be so close to it all.

If they were able to do one thing, hopefully it’s capturing the fun that Fat, Evil Children had while recording this project. Not for a lack of depth, but an attention to the present. The fact that the thematic tie of this album is the process itself, is earnest enough to discern that F is for FEC is probably worth a listen.

You can catch them here and there over the next few months, and listen here for the newest single. 

F is for FEC out May 31.
 

My favorite track: "Sitting Thinking"
 

Xoxo, DJ Palindromeda AKA Ava Kalenze