What is your name?

Marc Schuster

Where are you located?

Delco, PA. I actually want to start a band called the DelCopas, mainly because the merch is already out there. I see tee shirts and flags that say DelCo Pa all the time. Delco is Delaware County, in case anyone's wondering.

How long have you been writing music?

I tried writing something in the style of the Dead Milkmen back in 1986 or so. The first two lines were "Let's sail away on my yacht. I have a lot of money here in my pocket." The joke was that I pronounced "yacht" wrong so that it rhymed with "pocket." I would have been about twelve or thirteen at the time.

What inspired you to start playing and making music?

So many things! My family used to listen to the Beatles' White Album when I was really young. It was pretty much the only thing we played whenever we had to drive anywhere. I loved that album and still do. To my mind, it was their "greatest hits" because they were the only Beatles songs I knew, and they were all amazing.

How would you describe your style of music?

Eclectic. When I record under my own name, the music comes across as a blend of Elvis Costello and Belle & Sebastian. With the Star Crumbles, we have more of an 80s new wave sound. I also record with my friend Tim Simmons as Simmons and Schuster; so far, it's all been instrumental music with a heavy Brian Eno influence. The same can be said for my other solo project, Android Invasion.

How is your personality reflected in your work?

I'm endlessly curious and always trying to learn something new. Plus I have a very short attention-span. As a result of both, I'm constantly moving from one thing to the next, grabbing ideas from here and there and trying to cobble them all together in one way or another.

Describe your creative process when you write new music.

Most of the time, I'll start with a groove–maybe playing bass or guitar along to a drum-track–and it will grow from there. I really struggle, though, when it comes to writing lyrics. Phrases sometimes come to me early in the morning when I'm making coffee, and I'll write them down on scraps of paper. I have dozens of New Yorker and Wired subscription cards with weird little phrases scribbled on them like, "Nothing will ever be clean again." Then I try to mix and match them until something sensible starts to come together.

What is the name of your latest release?

Factory Seconds

What was the inspiration for that release?

I had just read a book about Elvis Costello – Complicated Shadows by Graham Thomson – and it reminded me how much I love his more stripped-down rock records like My Aim Is True and Blood and Chocolate. I suppose it awoke my inner angsty angry young man, which is never very far from the surface.

What do you do to promote your music?

I think of music promotion as Whack-a-Mole in reverse. You're the mole–one in a field of millions–and you're trying to get someone to notice you. So you pop your head up and try to be the one mole that someone notices. One thing I realized, though, is that if your message is "Hey! Look at me!" you're saying the same thing as 99% of the other moles out there. So I started saying, "Hey! Look at that band!" and "Hey! Look at that artist!" It makes a bigger target – you and the other artist.

What are you currently working on?

I have a few things going on right now. I just recorded a track for a Failure tribute compilation that will be coming out later this year or early next, and I played drums on a track that Quizboy recorded for it. I also contributed a song to a compilation of thirty-second songs that the band BEES! is putting together. Plus I'm really excited about playing bass with Scoopski. And I have a weekly radio show called the #Tweetcore Radio Hour where I play indie music–a lot of which I've been discovering here on GetMusic.FM. And a weekly blog where I interview indie bands as well.

How can folks get in contact with you (socials / email / websites etc.)

My website is https://www.marcschuster.com/. There's a contact form at the bottom of the page if anyone is looking for an interview on my blog or they'd like me to play their music on my show. My blog is called Abominations: https://marcschuster.wordpress.com/. There's a contact form there as well. The #Tweetcore Radio Hour is on AMS Radio every Wednesday night at 7PM EST: https://live365.com/station/AMS-Radio-a15527. And Spreaker is probably the best place to find the podcast, though it's on pretty much all the podcast platforms: https://www.spreaker.com/show/tweetcore-radio-hour_1. For social media, I'm usually on Twitter: https://twitter.com/marc_schuster.