“It’ll be a no computer, lawless and DAW-less setup, Octatrack and Machinedrum. I’m gonna try to get people to dance… I’m gonna dance… Merriment will be had,” says Erin Hoagg, aka Rare DM, during a recent phone chat. We’re discussing her three-date East Coast jaunt set for this weekend, which wraps Sunday, March 9th, at MilkBoy and will have her double-headlining with Promiseland (multidisciplinary artist Johann Rashid, who’s signed to Julian Casablancas’ Cult Records), whose show she says is also not to be missed: “He’s really cool and he’s a crazy live act! He’ll find rafters to hang from if they’re there.”
Last month Rare DM premiered her latest single, “The Ring,” on Stereogum. The song is the follow-up to “Skater Hits Me Harder,” her first new music in well over a year, which came out last November. But Hoagg tells me that “Skater Hits Me Harder” has actually been in the works for a while. The demo was made back in 2020, written about the same person as the hit single “send nudes,” and embracing some of the elements of her go-to production style: dissonance, syncopation – lots of Casio vibraphone, Juno 60 arpeggiator, with some added touches from Ross Fish, aka Moffenzeef Modular, who mixed and mastered the track, notably a bassline that made it, “prettier and more melodic.”
Fish also mixed “The Ring,” which Hoagg tells me represents the next era of Rare DM. “That’s really new Rare DM. I wrote that last year and it’s very sophisticated and true to what I’m doing now,” she explains, going on to say that it proved to be a live highlight even before it was released: “‘The Ring’ is the live audience favorite. I did tour on it for all 2024, and audiences love to see my dancing and punching moves live.” She even tells me she had an especially moving experience playing the song last month at Grauzone Festival in The Netherlands (also pheaturing PHILTHY phriends ACTORS, Soft Blue Shimmer, Shilpa Ray, Anika, and Xeno & Oaklander, who closed out 2024 at MilkBoy themselves), which she posted on her Instagram account.
“I posted the video from Grauzone, where the venue was built like a lecture hall. All of the seats are higher than the stage, so people are looking down on you, a different experience then the usual being on stage above the crowd. I close with ‘The Ring,’ and before I started playing, I said, ‘Hey, so I usually do a little punching dance move – feel free to punch with me, just watch out for whoever is in front of you, haha!’ So I’m looking down at my setup before turning to the audience, but then when I look up, I see the entire room already punching! The whole audience was punching through the whole song, even though that dance is something I mostly do during the chorus. It was so cute and magical and supportive.”
In addition to Grauzone, February also had Rare DM playing a handful of additional dates alongside Xeno & Oaklander, who Hoagg’s previously toured with and counts as good friends, even going to Sean for advice on things like the best power supply for her European tour: “They’re the best! I always end up learning so much; they’re absolute synth wizards… I would be there in a second to support any Xeno & Oaklander tour!” Rare DM has shared stages with a number of heavy-hitters in the world of post-punk and darkwave (Molchat Doma, Mareux, Model/Actriz, and Drab Majesty), but Hoagg also admits that there is a certain mega-star that she thinks would be a great fit for Rare DM, as well.
“I would love to be on a bill with Charli xcx. She was actually at my record release show, but she missed my set. She was with Umru at the time. It was at a house show in Bushwick… It was not a good show. The sound guy was getting a back massage during my set, the PA wasn’t properly hooked up… So, that’s a good thing that she missed it, but someday she’ll see a good set if/when we’re on a bill together.”
The record release Hoagg’s referring to is for 2019’s Vanta Black, Rare DM’s first (and only released) full-length, which she has mixed feelings about. “The first record was in 2019, and I would just say I was really emotionally raw and hadn’t quite figured out my workflow, my production wasn’t as streamlined and true to me as it is now,” she tells me, before admitting, “The LP did well and got lots of great press, but people didn’t really connect with the songs, maybe because it’s so emo. I don’t blame them for not connecting with it, hopefully they don’t [laughs].” 2020 single “send nudes” proved to hit bigger, going viral on Tiktok from a bts video clip, the video racking up nearly 200k views, with praise from PAPER Magazine and BrooklynVegan, among others. Although the follow-up single “Rolex” also features an insanely cool music video (the latter directed by Lisa Saeboe and Jake Moore), it didn’t blow up like “send nudes” did.
“‘send nudes’ really connected with a lot of people because I think it’s something everyone can relate to, but ‘Rolex’ didn’t hit in the same way, and I think it had to do with the difference in lyrical content. With ‘send nudes,’ everyone can relate to feeling like, ‘Okay, if you don’t want me, someone else will,’ aka, ‘I can send my nudes to someone else.’ But ‘Rolex”s ‘seven digits in my paychecks,’ that was kind of cheeky, but I feel like the cheekiness didn’t land the way I’d thought it would… That’s the kind of song that I think will do better when I’m famous-famous, as opposed to whatever I am right now. I mean people recognize me on the street, so that already happens. But, like, Charli xcx could say those exact lyrics and no one would bat an eye. I think people weren’t taking those lyrics as manifesting seven digits or something, but rather they were like, ‘Hey we KNOW you don’t make those figures yet.’ Maybe they would like the song more if I was in that tax bracket. I’m still very proud of the release, regardless of streaming success or analytics, though.’”
While Hoagg admits that the lack of connection of “Rolex” – which she considered to be some of her best work – was a bit hard to take, she also seems to credit it with the development of her current live show, which has previously graced the stages of both MilkBoy and The Dolphin.
“I think I got a little demoralized. I already spent so much of my own money on that video, so then I didn’t have money for the longest time, or money to do videos for [2022’s] ‘Naomi’ and [2023’s] ‘Hotel Jacuzzi,’ so I got a bit discouraged and just focused on playing really good live gigs. I did some actual road-dogging and actual touring here and in Europe. I have way more fans in Europe actually, as far as top cities go. And Europe makes me feel really great; it breathes new life into me.”
In addition to the evolution of her live show, Hoagg tells me that she’s learned a few big things in recent years, and has gotten out of the idea of not “wasting an album” by releasing too many singles, something that previously kept her from releasing more than a single a year. She’s also excited to know how to do some additional things on her own: “Some things have changed. First of all, I know how to edit videos now, which is really fun [Erin edited her last video, “The Ring.”], so if need be, it saves me the step of having to find someone do that.” However, she also notes that recently getting a manager has helped with her output: “Having a manager, it’s really nice to have someone help crack the whip on the schedule.”
Erin admits that she’s a little bit surprised by how much people are loving certain aspects of her new music: “My friend Ross Fish doesn’t believe in Melodyne or any kind of pitch correction, so there’s no pitch correction on ‘Skater Hits Me Harder’ or ‘The Ring,’ which is a bit of an industry standard, so it’s interesting that people are really liking the vocals without it.” And Hoagg says that there’s definitely more of this new-new music to come from Rare DM in the near future:
“I’m extremely excited that there’s another video coming up… which is visually exciting as fuck! That’ll be late March/early April. And then, after that, there’ll be a longer, full form release from me soon. I’m kind of up for grabs with labels and bidding at the moment. And probably an EP on the way… I’m not gonna wait a year to release a single again.”
*Get your tickets here.
