Vocalo Radio P.O.S and Sims of Doomtree Make Bangers as Shredders
Written by Vocalo Radio on October 31, 2019
Shredders is the newest offshoot of Minneapolis-based label and hip-hop collective Doomtree.
The group is comprised of rappers P.O.S and Sims, and producers Lazerbeak and Paper Tiger. Shredders is currently on tour in support of their second album Great Hits. The new release certainly lives up to its name with all seven tracks packed with hard hitting beats, traces of punk, drum ‘n’ bass, and relentlessly catchy and edgy bars.
Jill Hopkins spoke with P.O.S about the new album and what makes the project so fun.
What was behind the decision to form Shredders as a smaller group within the larger seven-member Doomtree collective?
It was around 2015 when Doomtree finished touring on our record. We checked in about how everyone is doing, and everybody had their own directions they wanted to go. Cecil Otter had some life things to deal with. Dessa started writing a book. And the four of us basically just went for it. We immediately started making music.
Is it easier to create with a smaller group of people? Is it a different process for the four of you as opposed to the seven?
I wouldn’t say easier is the right word but if it’s just me and Sims working on lyrics, the songs might get done faster. Dessa writes a lot slower than Sims does, for example. I write slower than Sims does, too. In Doomtree, everyone has their own speed. Shredders is just a totally different kind of group. We decided right off the bat that we wanted to make short, fun bangers. It’s just rapping!
Sims has said that starting Shredders was a nice break, and that’s a nice thing to say about a new project because sometimes starting something new feels like extra work…
Yeah, Shredders is just all of us at our peak fun!
The older you get, do you find that you prioritize that kind of thing in your work, having fun?
I think that I’ve always been like that. Making solo records is incredibly hard. You have to be more introspective and there are a lot less people to bounce your vibes off of. But with Shredders, we get this crazy beat, and we just smash out the best bars we can. It’s like the weight of the world is not there as much as it is on a Doomtree record or a solo record. It’s very much just cutting loose.
I love the title Great Hits because that implies that your greatest is yet to come but these songs are dope and you know it. What are you exploring on this album that is different from the first one?
Well, for Shredders, the vibe is very much about the hubris. Doomtree is largely about humility and the team, and everybody pulling through; where as, Shredders it’s more about ‘oh man, we just fucking rule.’ That kind of tongue-in-cheek braggadocio is a through line between both records. But since this is the second record, we wanted to make sure that people know that it is a serious band. Every song is a serious song, and that’s what we’re trying to do with Shredders.
Follow Shredders here.
Photography by Zoe Prinds-Flash, courtesy of the band.
Audio produced by Fyodor Sakhnovski
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