Nostalgia & Noise: Backstage with Eera

Eera’s sound, an era’s echo — where a subtle yet unmistakable digital hum arises, shaped by both the pulse of the internet and the flow of his emotions. Nodding to the gamers in the crowd, Eera’s video game visuals during his set last month at Melkweg carried a nostalgic charm, amplifying the immersive pull of his already captivating soundscape (My uneducated guess is Zelda???). As a producer, DJ, and co-founder of the label-meets-collective Surf Gang, Eera’s influence transcends just the music itself — his imprint has reshaped what it means to be an artist in our digital age. The story of Surf Gang began in 2018 with a chance encounter in a New York studio, where the three founding fathers — Eera, Evilgiane, and Harrison — crossed paths for the first time. As their shared vision took shape, the group quickly transformed into the driving force behind a nationwide phenomenon. Speed-running their way from underground collective to contributing to major productions for artists like Kendrick Lamar, PinkPantheress, Valee and Black Kray.

Eera’s production credits equally span a wide spectrum of talent, from Bladee to Babyxsosa. With such a foundation, his future in music production and the collective he’s nurtured is one of innovation and boundless potential. We had the chance to catch him backstage on his European tour with Surf Gang signees Snow Strippers, where he broke down the formative moments of his career and took us deep into the iceberg of niche music.

How are you feeling today? 
I’m feeling good. I’m excited to be back on the road with my friends and to keep playing shows. Europe’s been really good to me, so I’m just excited to be back.

How has the tour been going so far?
Honestly, it’s been amazing. The crowds have all been really good. I’ve visited places I never imagined I’d see—like Basel in Switzerland. I was surprised because it turned out to be one of the loudest, most energetic crowds we’ve had. I had never been out there, it was fucking crazy.

So great to hear cause I’m actually from Switzerland myself!
Nice, it was totally a surprise. Graham and Tati would tell you the same thing.

Now if we go back in time, can you tell me about your first contact with music and how you were pulled into this world? Was there a moment that sealed the deal for you? 
It’s a long story, but I started playing instruments at a pretty young age because my mom was a competitive pianist when she was growing up. My mom grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania and participated in all these piano competitions. So when I was a kid, my parents were like, “You have to play an instrument.”

Around ninth grade, Shlohmo and the guys from WEDIDIT became popular, especially in West L.A., where we are all from. A lot of people I knew were into it. One of my friends, Nick Vernet—he’s a creative director now and works with people like The Kid LAROI—was as well. I can’t remember if I went to a WEDIDIT show with him or if he just knew those guys, but he was also making music on his computer.

At the time, I was writing shoegaze songs and putting them on SoundCloud, so I asked him how he made music on a computer because I’d never seen that before. He explained it to me, and the more I went on SoundCloud, I had this realisation: most of the music I grew up listening to — there was this whole other person behind it doing the production. That wasn’t common knowledge, at least, it wasn’t back then. I was already playing instruments, but I didn’t like singing, so I thought, “Maybe I could do that.” I started experimenting with my computer. This was around 2013 or 2014, and beat-making wasn’t what it is now. There weren’t YouTube tutorials or anything like that. I was just figuring things out on my own, screwing around on my computer. That’s how I got started.

Sweet, and what would you say inspires your music the most? It can be a place, a person, or a feeling? 
I think it’s changed a lot for me. But usually, I’m not really good with writing or words. When I first started making music — playing the guitar — I was really into bands like My Bloody Valentine and Duster. But I had a hard time making any kind of emotional expression with words. So, for a while, I was just making beats. It wasn’t really until a couple of years ago that I started doing my own thing, working on my own projects. I was just trying to figure out how I could authentically communicate my emotions—like, with the computer.

You’re kind of speaking through your computer essentially
Yeah, because, I mean, I’m a big computer guy — anybody who’s a fan of mine knows that. I’m into internet stuff and all that. At first, I just wanted to find a way to materialise how I was feeling without having to sing or write lyrics. Like, the main idea was to make music where, if someone was going through something, they could connect to it. A lot of my music, especially at the beginning, had a lot of melancholy. Not so much now, but that’s a whole other thing I could talk about. Because when you’re just making beats for other people all the time, there’s self-expression to a degree — you’ve got your style — but at the end of the day, it’s their song. It’s not yours. So, I wanted to have something of my own that really embodies me and the feel I want to give to music.

I read somewhere that your music was classified as“Internet native”, how do you feel about that?
Yeah, it definitely is. I mean, the people who gravitate toward my music are also people who spend a lot of time on the internet. I’m not sure it’s the right term, but I guess it makes sense.

I wanted to ask a question about Surf Gang. How has that relationship shaped you as a musician? And I believe you’re also a co-founder? 
I was already doing music before I met Giane. But meeting him and creating Surf Gang — that’s what really made me who I am now. Before that, I was working on stuff, sure, but the impact wasn’t the same. Growing up, there just wasn’t really anyone my age doing what I was doing and there’s only so far you can push yourself when you’re working alone. There are exceptions, of course, but in my opinion, collaboration takes things further. Then I moved to New York for university. That’s where I met Giane and Harrison — on day one. I was with them every single day for forever. My relationship with them, with Surf Gang, and the direction we all took — shaped everything for me.

You have such a beautiful synergy, I feel like you complete each other. Also, I picked up on a bit of sampling in your work, what’s that process like for you?
There are basically two types of sampling I’ve done, for example, with this Bladee song, I sampled Smashing Pumpkins. It’s one of my favourite songs ever, and I always knew I wanted to make something out of it and then that just happened that way. But most of the time, especially recently, it’s different. I’ll be making something — either with someone else or on my own — and I’ll just hear in my head another song I know layered on top of what I’m working on. Then it’s like, “What if I just put it on?” Like the most recent track I put out, do you remember Boys Like Girls?

Yeah!
I used the vocals from Hero/Heroine from Boys Like Girls. 

True it had such a familiar tone to it. This ties into my next question do you have any musical recommendations for us? What have you been listening to lately?
I’ve been listening to a lot of Japanese music. There’s this one band called the cabs, from the early 2010s—an emo rock indie type of group. Their first two albums are perfect, front to back. There’s also a bunch of Russian bands I like. I try to make an effort to seek out weird, unique stuff. I really look on YouTube — I had this phase where I was trying to find global examples of music styles I like. I was looking up Korean post-punk in different time frames, and I found a bunch of cool bands that I posted on my stories. I played one of these in LA, during a set. In the middle of all the dance music, I played this acoustic cover by a Korean band of a metal song by another Korean band. A bunch of people in the crowd were like, “What is this song?” It only has 27 streams or something.

Can you give us the name? 
Yeah, the song is called Flowers in the Sand by The Apop.

That is so fun. I was just saying with some friends the other day, how you have certain people that don’t look like the kind of music they listen to and how fun that is.
Definitely, yeah. I mostly listen to music my friends make, outside of this random selection — they’re all really talented so I’m usually just listening to what they’re making.

This brings me to my last question, what’s on the horizon for you? Anything you’re manifesting? 
My goal is to keep creating in a way that feels authentic to myself. Whether that’s my own project or just supporting and helping the people I care about and want to see succeed, I can’t say for sure. There’s going to be another project next year, 100%. I just don’t know what that’s going to look like yet. I’m trying my hardest to balance creating emotional tracks and tracks that are able to make people feel energized in a live setting, it can be difficult.

Looking forward to your performance tonight.
Yeah, it’s going to be great.