Welcome to Spike Carter, USA
Photography by Alexander Jibaja
Spike Carter is a fun-going boy band who personify late night drink specials, regretful texts to your ex (you’re secretly glad you sent), and that extra shot of Malort you knew you should’ve passed on more than they fit the traditional “I want it that way” Backstreet Boys template (although their single “Shake” could give anything Max Martin has written a run for its money). If any group embodies Chicago’s welcoming and easy-going attitude, it’d be Spike Carter.
The group consists of Chicago rap scene veteran Jommis, who’s released projects under previous groups such as Supreme Regime and Beach Jesus; rapper and producer Judy, who’s 2020 mixtape Ard Bet became one of the hottest tapes of the summer; and multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and producer Etzkorn Wong who only recently started releasing music. Although their experiences in music and navigating the local scene have varied greatly, one would think they came up together after hearing their music for the first time.
The group released their first-ever single, “Beetlejuice,” in April of 2022 and followed up with their debut mixtape After Everything in November. They recently released their newest single “PBR” in March and have been regularly playing shows across some of the city’s most treasured local venues.
I’ve been a friend and fan of both Jommis and Judy for some years now, so when they first told me they were working on new stuff I immediately wanted to know what that shit was sounding like. I was unfamiliar with Etzkorn until Spike Carter came into existence but figured if both Jommis and Judy were working with him then he had to be cool, and his shit probably sounded tight. This turned out to be true as Etzkorn was just as heartwarming and welcoming as a person as he was as talented and original as a musician. Judy’s loose and nonchalant yet still poignant articulation of rhymes, Jommis’s Midwest emo pop-esque vocal cadence while maneuvering his emotions through bridges and choruses, and Etzkorn’s melodically heavy approach to vocals and production all cohesively intertwined into the type of music that can only be described as what a heartbroken ode written by the Midwest to the rest of the world would sound like. Like exploring the city through different L-lines on the CTA until reaching State and Lake, each member takes you on a different ride with unique twists and turns, zooming past their own distinctive landmarks along the way but ultimately all arriving at the same beautiful destination that feels like home regardless of how you got there –Spike Carter, USA.
I know you guys have all worked on your own projects in the past, what made you guys start Spike Carter?
Judy: Lewis [Etzkorn]. Me and Jesse [Jommis] have been making music for a long time together. Jesse has probably been making music for longer than both of us and then he got me into it, and we worked on my initial project together. One day Lewis hit me up and said he liked my music and that we should work on something together. He came over to the studio and brought something different we never had before. He played like mad instruments and his production style is different from mine. We hit it off from the first session and we never looked back.
Etzkorn: Yeah, I think the chemistry. When I came to the first studio session, I wasn’t expecting for it to be a group. But after like one or two sessions where we made a song that was so fresh and effortless to us, I realized this could be a thing.
Jesse, I know you’ve been part of different rap groups before. Did you first start making music collaboratively?
Jommis: So initially, when I first started, it was just high school and shit, like, just freestyling. Then the guys that I would be with, shout out Supreme Regime, there was this artist called Loud Mouth and we would just freestyle and shit at parties. We’d just write verses to different songs and then perform together in rooms like this. It’d be like, “Oh, I have a verse for the ‘Change Clothes’ beat by Pharrell” and then one day he was like, “Why don’t we just go to the studio with this?” So, he booked studio time with someone off Craigslist. We had to bring him Backwoods and shit. It was a unique experience, but it made sense. Then Supreme Regime was formed. I did work with them and various other people like Mulatto Beats, Smoko Ono, and Qari. So basically I’ve always been in a group. Did some solo shit here and there, like one-offs and shit but never really got into pursuing solo music before. I was going to drop a solo mixtape called Cakemix which might still happen.
Judy: He’s got some solo shit now that isn’t out!
Jommis: Yeah, I got some solo shit now —and I’m in a different head space. But when Supreme Regime disbanded, I was like, “I’m never making music again.” I was depressed, like, fuck this!
Judy: And then what? It was Beach Jesus and then Natural State?
Jommis: Yeah, and then basically going to, I guess, just how we started. Socially, I’m either going out to get drunk or I’m going to the studio. I’m addicted to recording, so anytime I can record within my proximity, I’ll link with people and form a project in the space that I’m working at. It’s always been collaborative. But with us, this is the most clear space that I’ve been in. Its let me do solo projects. I can do music just with Lewis and music just with Julian and can also help with their solo projects. All that has been huge.
You guys just dropped your first album, is that what you’re trying to build your sound off of or there’s new things you guys want to try?
Judy: I think we have a lot of ideas and I think we all still plan on making solo music. Me and Jesse released an EP in 2018 called Super Strength and now we’re working on Super Strength 2, but I do expect there will be some more Spike Carter coming out. We got some songs we want to release already and it’s always back to the drawing board you know, just always wanting to try something new.
Where do you guys see yourselves among the Chicago Landscape of music?
Judy: Kings. At the top.
We all laughed together but at the same time understood the seriousness in Judy’s response. Although the group has only recently started releasing music together, those in tune with the city’s music scene know Jommis and Judy’s previous music has not fully received the flowers the work has deserved. Jommis’s history with Supreme Regime is one that was seen too many times by those who kept up with the scene during rap’s blog era. The group whose talent was once among the same conversation as notable acts who reached national stardom like, Chance and Saba, ended up disbanding. Their members would go on to delve into different endeavors and release other projects throughout the years, but the same type of momentum and support the city was giving to everyone at the time was never quite obtained again. With life still moving forward and the support to push those in the local scene up to the heights they deserved remaining stagnant, its former members would eventually have to put other responsibilities that come with living in a major city, such as employment and having a place to live, ahead of their art. Judy who’s debut solo mixtape Ard Bet came out in 2020 in the midst of the COVID pandemic and Chicago’s civil unrest, after issues such as police brutality and disproportional enforcement of policies in black and brown communities sparked a series of rallies and protests, was one of few projects that still managed to receive attention during that time. It made it on all the city’s local blog sites and quickly established Judy as a force in Chicago’s rap scene, but as time went on the coverage and support seemed to slowly wind down
Hell yeah. The reason I ask that is because I know you guys have already done music before, how long has that been?
Etzkorn: I actually just started putting stuff out. I put out my first project last August. I barely started releasing stuff.
Judy, you started on SoundCloud with Feed the Big Man?
Judy: With Baby Ju The Mixtape! [laughs]
Jesse: There’s like a hidden mixtape by him out there.
Judy: Yup, I put something out in 2016.
Oh shit, I didn’t even know about that shit. Jommis, you’ve been in this the longest right?
Jommis: Yup, since like 2011 or 2012 I’ve been putting shit out. Mostly SoundCloud. No Supreme Regime is on DSPs just SoundCloud, Bandcamp, and YouTube. But as for the future of Spike, we obviously as a group know it’s sometime difficult to work as a group. We have ups and downs and some days we’re like maybe we should reevaluate everything we’re doing and then some days it’s like man this is so crazy and awesome. As far as the sound, I don’t think our next efforts are going to correlate with After Everything. I don’t think that sonically it’s necessary going to be similar, but It’ll have the DNA of all of us. I think the sound there is going to stay where it’s at and our next thing is going to be significantly different.
Etzkorn: I think something about our sound is that when we got together and made After Everything in the last year is that it was very organic. We just got together and made what felt like the natural intersection of what all our sounds were. I think for future Spike music we all want to push ourselves into different directions and actually have an uncomfortable process where we try to make stuff that feels out of our comfort zone and just bring a lot more different ideas to the table.
Word, I noticed After Everything has no features, is that something you guys want to stick with? Are you guys trying to work with other people?
Jommis: In my head, I don’t have a next project set as the tangible goal, but I want to put ourselves in different rooms and different studios with different artists. That will dictate the next stuff.
You keep talking about studios and new workspaces. I know Etzkorn and Judy make beats and produce, did you start producing on Spike Carter as well?
Jommis: Umm. [laughs]
Judy: He’s tried!
Jommis: I mean, I can dictate things. Like can you do this then I’ll sing a little melody
Judy: Nah but he did get on the computer and tried to make an actual beat though
Yeah!? How was it?
Judy: That shit was traassshh!
Once again, we broke into laughter. Like their music, the three never lose their sense of playfulness. Anyone who has ever attended a Spike Carter show knows that their sets are filled with just as much back-and-forth wise-guy banter between the three and the crowd as they are with raps. It was at their Cali Clipper show where I learned Jommis’ dad was a “certified drinker” after Judy made sure to make that announcement between songs while thanking him for his attendance. If there’s one thing you’d assume these dudes were aside from artists after striking a conversation with them, it’d be the type of person you know grabbing a drink with would never feel boring.
Jommis: Nah. [laughs] It was definitely good. I sampled like a panda screaming. I’m, like, technologically fucked up dude.
Judy: He doesn’t know how to use a computer. Nah, but he definitely does production in the sense of he’ll tell us how to arrange things. He’s really good at articulating how he wants things to sound.
That’s sick. How do you think everyone being involved with production affects your guy’s workflow? Is it one of those things where everyone has to be in the room together when you guys make music, or you guys just bounce files back-and-forth?
Judy: I say I’ll mainly start production in a session. I like to start the beat and then Lewis will come and add something to the beat. We’ll write to it and then Lewis will take it home and add to it just cus Lewis likes to work like that. So we do it a couple different ways, but I definitely like to do stuff on site.
Jommis, how do you like to do it?
Jommis: I mean, I want to hear about your workflow Lewis because it is different. Especially with the last album and our process.
Etzkorn: I would say for me it’s half-and-half. The identity of all the songs on the album and the stuff we’ve been working on that’s unreleased was created in the sessions when it’s all three of us together, but I think a lot of the polish gets added on afterward. And that’s sometimes during sessions where we’ll sit together and suggest stuff like add this or add that but some of it is done when I just take things home and add to the session alone. I’ll sit with it for like a week and just keep trying to crack the code. I’ll be like, “How do I add different things to this song that will add complimentary things to its identity but not disrupt it?” Like how can I add things but still use restraint while I do so it doesn’t mess with what the song originally was.
Judy: Yeah, that’s like the source of a lot of our high-spirited debates. [laughs]
I know those moments can be what ruin collaborations a lot of times, how do you guys end up agreeing?
Judy: We don’t a lot of the time. A lot of it is just going with it, you know?
Etzkorn: I think at the end we always find the middle ground. Even if it’s not a full agreement. I think our communication is really good. Sometimes I’ll send over a draft of something I’ve revamped. In my head, I think I’m making it better but I know it’s not right. It’s not what it wants to be. So, I’ll send it to Judy and Jommis and at first they’ll be jarred because sometimes it’s almost like a different song because of what I’ve changed. But then we’ll give each other feedback and say what elements we think add to what or say what we think distracts something from what the original idea was. Maybe one element is too much of a certain color and I think we eventually get to a point where it’s agreed.
Judy: Yeah, I think we eventually got to that point, but it took us a long time. Early on, there was a point where I would just be like, “You fucked it bro.” But then it’s all good. Then Lew would just ask what specifically and then we’d just go from there and we got really good at communicating what we like and what we don’t.
Jommis, do you feel that’s different from other groups you’ve worked with?
Jommis: Definitely, even the production in Spike. It’s just so much more intentional and everything might start off on impulse or feelings first, but we’ll sit with it and take it to where it actually needs to be while we’re all part of the process. My process before Spike was pretty much to just go in and record my part and then the final product would just be like ok that’s cool as long my part is there. With Spike, everything is like our baby. We all helped sculpt from top to bottom.
One cool thing about Spike is that you guys all have different lives outside of music. I know Jommis has worked a lot of service industry jobs. Lewis, you‘ve worked at a bar. Have you had a service job before Judy?
Judy: Nah, I mean when I was in college. I worked at this pizza restaurant that was on campus but only for like two weeks and then I quit.
Jommis: Wait, I didn’t even know this.
[Laughs] Why’d you quit?
Judy: I didn’t like it. On Sundays, I would be hungry but would spend my day giving other people pizza. I was like, “Yeah, nah.” Then Mondays I would have an early class and I would just think, “This is not my life.” I didn’t like it.
Crazy, didn’t know you’ve worked in pizza. Do you guys feel your experiences outside of music are things you bring to the music in Spike Carter. I know you guys are all friends outside of music, does that translate in the music or is Spike a whole different entity from who you guys are in real life?
Etzkorn: Ooh that’s a good question.
Judy: I feel like whatever I’m doing has to be true self-expression and be honest, so everything that I write and produce comes from my real life. A lot of it is about romantic relationships and just relationships in general, like friendships. All of that is coming out once I start working on music.
Etzkorn: I think for me it’s half and half. In one sense I bring a lot of who I am to Spike Carter and how I live my personal life is what forms me. I’m a caregiver for my mom, my mom is disabled, so there are a lot of elements in my family life that if I don’t have those things in order I can’t bring the right energy to the music. Having everything in harmony is something that guides my life. That’s something I bring to Spike Carter. Then, on the other hand, Spike Carter gives me that space where I don’t have to be that person. It’s a different identity, it’s more cool of a project. With my own music and my own projects, I’m more introverted as a person so I would say it’s half and half for me.
Jommis: I think a big part of our energy is performance and I think our truest self really just shows from always being in the studio together, rehearsals, singing shit together is a huge part. I definitely dive deep sometimes, but I kind of treat Spike Carter like a pop project where I try to catch the melody that will stick where our vocals would be. My personal music is more serious.
Judy: We got “PBR.”
Jommis: haha yeah, ummm that’s one song. But like when I’m writing at home my beat selection would be different. I wouldn’t seek the Spike Carter sound, I wouldn’t be like “Spike Carter type beat” Wait, maybe I would. That would be cool, I can’t wait until we’re at that point. But my personal stuff is more rap oriented. I think Spike has less rapping, even though it’s got the identity of rap music. It’s not bullshit, totally not shallow bullshit but it is more surface level than some of my personal stuff.
I love that you brought up performance because at the last show you guys did at the Clipper you guys all brought your own different friend groups. It was awesome seeing three different identities of people just be under the same roof but then everyone just rocking with it and rocking with each other once you guys started playing. That made me wonder when you guys make your music if you guys have your friend groups in mind or if you guys just want to reach everyone.
Etzkorn: I would say both. A huge reason why I make music is because it attracts energies into my life that I didn’t even know I needed. Some of my favorite people, Jesse and Judy included, that are in my life right now I met through music. I love making music for those people and I love finding more of those people in the world who just naturally gravitate towards what we’re doing and the energy we’re putting out.
Judy: I think that’s something we were all excited about when we first started working together. We’re about to merge all these different fan bases and friend groups together.
Jesse: I think for me it starts with these two in the room. I want to make something that’s going to impress them. It starts there and ends there however it gets out into the world. If I make something that they fuck with, then we’re moving somewhere positive.
Judy: Yeah, and I just want to acknowledge you asked us about how personal we are with the music and I said fully personal, Lewis said 50-50, and Jommis said surface level. That’s a perfect illustration of how the chemistry is and how we are. We’re all so different, but it all kind of just perfectly balances each other out.
Are there any shows or upcoming events you want people to know about? Any big plans for 2023?
Jommis: Yeah, for sure. At this point we’re kind of averaging a show a month but definitely want to do more and want to expand to other types of fan bases. We want to open for larger, more established acts. Talking to the current generation of people who are coming up and seeing where they’re at. Understanding them and taking space, but still not trying to take up too much space and respect them. We got shows coming up, content we want to do, and more of this type of stuff. The music stuff we have on lock, but I think it’s about putting ourselves in new situations now. Just trying to get more eyes on us.
Judy: Right now, we have shows lined up for the next few months. I just want to keep working, keep collaborating, put out a Judy solo project. I just want to play as many shows as possible and have as much fun as possible.
Later that day, I visited the boys in their Wicker Park home studio. It was no surprise to me that their new music sounded nothing like what was on After Everything. I was able to sit in on their creative process, drinks were poured, squares were lit, and everything felt like an ongoing dialogue between friends rather than collaborators. From time to time someone would leave as another member continued working on an idea, but input was always given by all three of the members upon everyone’s return. While there, I was able to see them start three new tracks which all had a different vibe. One felt more like psychedelic rock than it did hip-hop as Etzkorn demonstrated his guitar playing skills to get things going, another resembled new school RnB as Jommis mumbled a verse over the chords Etzkorn laid down. Judy got on the production chair after getting back from a grocery run with Jommis and quickly laid out the backbone of a beat that sounded more New York drill than any other of Spike’s work. Etzkorn added his melodic touch using one of my favorite analog synths I had brought to the session so the boys could experience what working with hardware felt like, and all three members laid down a couple takes before some quick arrangement. In a matter of minutes, the crew came up with the first version of their still unreleased single “c-chromatic” which still continues to play in my head ever since I left their studio that night.