Taken from the spring/summer 2020 issue of Dazed. You can buy a copy of our latest issue here

On their debut album, 1000 gecs, Dylan Brady and Lauren Les stand facing a pine tree, with their backs to the camera. The unlikely site is now categorised as a historical landmark in Des Plaines, Illinois, and has inspired endless counts of fan art, with some people taking actual pilgrimages to the tree, while others have recreated the scene using the album’s fan-made Instagram filter. There’s even a petition on change.org to make it the eighth wonder of the world, but such is the URL mythology surrounding 100 gecs.

The pop-metal duo make music for the terminally online, complete with chiptuned vocals and all the teen angst of a breakup album on Myspace. They’ve often been likened to PC Music (Charli XCX and A.G. Cook have done remixes of “ringtone” and “money machine” respectively), whose nitrous oxide style draw parallels to the pair’s pitch-shifted vocals. But any strict comparisons would ignore 100 gecs’ wide-spanning sound that takes its cues from a vast mix of nightcore, crunkcore, deconstructed club, and more.

Tonight, the pair will host Square Garden, a digital festival taking place inside the game Minecraft, with a pretty massive lineup, including Charli XCX, A.G. Cook, Dorian Electra, Kero Kero Bonito, and Tommy Cash. For those of you not well-acquainted with the sandbox multi-player, you can stream the event on YouTube and the 100 gecs website. Below, we ask the pop-metal duo their five top tips for living a better life. Want more? You can read the full interview from the spring/summer 2020 issue of Dazed here.

UNDERSTANDING

Dylan Brady: Listening to others, learning and growing is vital.

Laura Les: You can miss so much shit by not thinking for two seconds. If you’re reading this, you are asleep. If you continue to dream, nobody can guarantee you will like what you see. (Could be
very, very cool, though)

CONSERVATION

Dylan Brady: Earth is our home and the best planet. We should take care of it.

Laura Les: We’ve gotta save the fucking Earth. Please. We have to do it.

RECYCLING

Dylan Brady: We need to move towards a zero-waste society.

Laura Les: Every idea I’ve ever had is recycled.

OPENNESS

Dylan Brady: It’s good to remain open. A lifetime of learning could pass you by (if you don’t).

Laura Les: You catch more flies with a really, really big net than an itsy-bitsy one (perhaps the width of a needle).

LOVE

Dylan Brady: All you need is love.

Laura Les: Music can’t save the world, but love can.