After catching his set at Mamby, Carolyn and I had the chance to meet Joseph Chilliams and talk about his latest project The Plastics.
Joseph Chilliams *wearing a Paramore shirt*
Paul: First of all, sick shirt. What do you like about Paramore so much?
JC: Definitely Hayley Williams. She’s a force to be reckoned with. She’s been my dream girl since I discovered her. Her voice is amazing she’s cool, her music is tight. I’ve been a fan of them since their first album.
Carolyn: You just had an EP come out a couple of weeks ago. What are your plans for this year?
JC: This year? Well, Mamby was my biggest plan. I did that. Now my plan is to find another tour and work on the album. I wanna get right back to it. After this show, I have free time to actually just create. Touring takes a lot out of you, especially your creative juices. It feels like months since I’ve made anything for real, so I’m excited to get back to making music.
Paul: On your set you had your good friend Saba join you in front of a hometown Chicago crowd, how do you feel about that?
JC: I feel great about it. Saba is always around. When I have a show, he has a show, and the other way around. We’ve kept our energy our whole careers and I don’t see that stopping. It’s really nice to share that with him because normally, he’s the one who’s at the festival and I’m comin out on stage to support him. This was my first festival that I’ve ever done, so it was cool to have him there to share the moment with me.
Carolyn: What’s been your favorite part of today?
JC: Just being able to be here at a festival and play. It’s so different from a normal show. People just walk up to the stage and hear you. It’s not like everyone came to see you. People hear what’s goin’ on and then they come. It was cool to see that. I was really excited to cover Spongebob “I ripped my pants” song. I was on the beach I think of Spongebob. He ripped his pants on the beach, so I’m glad I didn’t.
Paul: During your set, you had a lot of tribute to Mean Girls, the movie. What about that movie really strikes you as an inspiration to your songwriting?
JC: So, the last EP that I just put out was entirely inspired by the Mean Girls movie, it’s even called “The Plastics”. I guess what inspires that is how relatable it is to virtually everyone I know. Like, everyone has a “Mean Girls” story, their favorite character and all these conversations I have with these people constantly inspire me to write about something I really love that I hope connects with people.
Carolyn: Yeah, I heard that movie was based off of a High School in Wilmette.
JC: Yeah, there’s a part where the principle goes, “I did not leave the South Side for this.” he was talking about the South Side of Chicago. You know how people from the suburbs always claim that they live in Chicago? I’m claiming that movie.
Carolyn: So, one more question; what do you have against Bow Wow?
JC: What do I have against Bow Wow? I mean, a fan once explained it to me better than I ever could. Some people were asking him what my gripe with Bow Wow was and he said “there is no beef with Bow Wow, just f**k Bow Wow.”
Carolyn: Well, is there anything you’d like the listeners to know?
JC: I literally made a whole rap project about the Mean Girls, and if you haven’t heard it yet, you really should listen to it. I feel like there’s nothing out there that even comes close to this, and you’re going to have a good time listening to it.