Since leaving indie-rock upstarts Tigers Jaw back in 2013, Adam McIlwee has spent most of his time on the internet. From trawling Tumblr for hours, to meticulously formatting tweets; its central purpose focused on developing a musical project – Wicca Phase Springs Eternal. A little under six years later, and he’s finding the gateway tool that’s got him, and Wicca Phase to this point, is now making things rather difficult.
“There are so many artists!” Adam declares over the phone. “There are so many people in this scene. I’ll look at flyers and be like, who are these people?! I’ll go on Spotify, and I’ll type in some random person that someone tweeted about, or my girlfriend’s younger brother told me about, and they have five times as many monthly listeners. And their songs have millions of plays, but it seems like they’ve been around for three months?! I don’t understand that phenomenon.”
Not only does this mean that he, as an artist in his own right has to fight to stay above the crowd, but also, “the quality of my stuff has to be so much higher to make this a lasting thing, [and] so people stay interested which is the competition aspect of it,” he reasons. “I’m so sceptical unless their songs are just undeniably good, and their talent is there their seemingly meteoric rise is justified. I think about this all the time!”
Before all of the talk of a bursting movement, things were simpler. While developing the idea for Wicca Phase, the main focus coming to life was aesthetic. This ran deep into the music that he came to make; emotionally charged and raw music. As he found this project developing, he also saw something else being born – a movement.
Alongside fellow like-minded creatives Cold Heart and Horsehead, he co-founded gothboiclique. Initially starting as a movement that’s steadily grown in size – even counting Lil Peep amongst its ranks at one point – it’s now a collective of artists who draw from similar emotional angles, and find their roots deep in rap, trap, electronic, emo, alternative and anything else that their musical output calls for.
