I recently sat down with Bathgate-bred musician Dylan Fraser to discuss everything from his latest EP drop 2030 Revolution, to comfort foods (you’ll never guess!), to which musician he’d most like to have dinner with, and much much more. This rising Alt-Pop artist is not only making waves in the music industry, which counts Sir Elton John a fan having given him a spin on the Apple Show, but is also starting to dip his toes in fashion, having just joined us in Paris during Men’s Fashion Week to celebrate our 10th anniversary. With comparisons to Thom Yorke and inspiration from Lorde to Nine Inch Nails, it was time we explore the cohesively chaotic mind that is Dylan Fraser.

From your newest EP, Vampire with Alaska Reid just recently dropped – tell us the most exciting thing about dropping a single.
I think the most exciting thing is the unexpectedness of it. You spend so long making the music and prepping for the release, so the most exciting part is the fear of the unknown like “fuck, people could love this or they could hate it”. But either way, you’re putting out something that you love and just hope that it will be well received by people. So it’s just more like throwing something in the ocean and hoping it lands somewhere.

Do you check Instagram and your socials to look at people’s comments? I know some artists specifically choose not to do this.
I would love to be like I never look at my socials, but I see everything -laughs-. I’m just a control freak and I like being on top of everything. I grew up online and with social media so I’m just used to checking my social media regardless of whether or not I was doing music. And especially when you’re putting out something that you love, you wanna see if people like it, if they hate it, how they feel about it. You just wanna see the response it’s getting whether it’s good or bad. Even if it was all bad I’d want to see it.

A few words to describe yourself?
Cohesive chaos.

Is this different from how you’d describe your music would you say it’s the same?
I would also describe it as that. I’ve always had a clear vision in my head of what I want but it doesn’t always pan out that way and I think I can still make it work amidst the chaos. The chaos is also exciting.

How was PFW?
Very fun, not too many shows, but the photoshoot with Fucking Young was so cool. I randomly met Rick Owens on the side of the street and I spoke to him and Tyrone (Dylan Susman) for a bit. It was really lovely. That was only my second time in Paris, the first time was less than 24 hours.

Favorite brands at the moment?
Rick Owens – always my favorite brand, Alyx – Matthew Williams is one of my favorite designers recently, I love what he’s doing. Lueder – my friend Marie has a brand that she just debuted at London Fashion Week. I just went in to try some of it on and honestly I fucking love it.

What is your relationship to fashion?
I’ve always loved it! I’ve not always been good at it I don’t even know if I am good at it but I didn’t use to be. But I still used to wear sort of crazy things or things where other people might be like “oh that’s kind of weird”. I think more recently I’ve been diving into it. I just think it’s so interesting, the whole creative process of it and I love watching videos on youtube where designers are talking about how they make their collections. That’s why I love hanging with my friend Marie (Lueder) because I like knowing how she comes up with the concept and what her new collection means to her. Fashion for me is just another outlet for me to express myself. I get to do it within my music but I feel like I get to do it differently with fashion and I think you can build or narrate a story that helps uplift the music at the same time. I truly think that music and fashion go hand in hand.

Do you feel that fashion influences your music? Obviously, there’s your song Gucci Sweater, but is it an active thought process and relationship with fashion or does it just depend?
I think it’s the other way around. I think my music usually inspires my fashion. For example, I wrote a song on this recent EP – Apartment Complex on the Eastside, and in my head, the song is very concrete meets green. Like with an abandoned building where you see the green pushing through. That’s such an interesting texture to me and for the music video, I wanted the outfit to be distressed and scrappy and feel like that. I had this really cool designer, Emma Blythe, make me a distressed shirt with sleeves hanging off, etc. with this bright green color popping through. I’m always inspired by that. I had these trousers also made for me by this designer Marco Di Leo from Italy in a sort of grey, waterproof material with zips and green on the inside. I think for me, the music helps paint an image of my head of how I want it to look whether it be everyday wear or surrounding a music video. It brings fashion ideas to mind.

What do you do to unwind and disconnect when you’re stressed out?
I listen to music. I feel like my life honestly revolves around it. To unwind I sort of like to sit down with a friend and chat about random shit, or listen to music, or I’ll sit on my balcony and just stare out into nothing. I find that it relaxes me. I don’t find watching tv relaxing. Just get me a pack of rice cakes and I’ll sit on my balcony and eat them. Just a plain rice cake. It’s honestly my favorite thing. And maybe a smoothie to go along with it cause they’re sorta dry. I’ll probably order M&Ms with it too. But rice cakes have a special place in my heart.

You collaborated with the Edinburgh School of Art for one of your tracks – do you see yourself continuing to create collaborative opportunities for students or any other groups as you continue to grow as an artist?
Definitely. I think collaboration is something I want to explore more in the next few years of making music. It’s something that’s always inspired me. I’ve never had a group of friends that were into the same creative stuff. I was a bit of a loner here in Scotland and didn’t have that many friends in high school. I had loads of friends on the internet instead and that’s just where I found more people that I could relate to. And now that I’m living in London, and I sort of have my community, I’m able to do that more and I want to work more with new people. It also helps keep me inspired to see other people’s ideas and it helps you get a better end product when you have people bring other ideas to the table. It’s why I tend to get a lot of my clothes from up-and-coming designers because I think there are more unique and interesting ideas coming from those kinds of designers, whereas sometimes the big fashion houses do it well and other times they’re just stealing ideas from the young designers anyway.

How are you on vintage?
I’m more recently into it, but I wasn’t before. I struggle with vintage shopping a bit because I’d describe my style as being a little more futuristic with some techwear and so it’s a bit harder to find that type of thing in vintage shops. But I do have some recent finds, there’s this coat I was wearing in Paris that I got in a vintage shop with a few other pieces. I just hate going into shops. I hate having to go through all the rails. There’s something about shopping that is so embarrassing to me! Just for me, not anyone else, just me. I go in and I don’t know if it’s my anxiety but it feels like everyone’s looking at me or judging me. I feel like shopping is just a super traumatizing experience so I usually just shop online.

Do you have any internet friends that became IRL?
I don’t. I have internet friends that I haven’t met that hopefully one day I’ll be able to meet. But no, I don’t think I’ve met any of my internet friends IRL yet since they’re all over the place. It would be nice to be able to eventually though since I grew up with some of these people.

What’s your favorite comfort food?
My favorite comfort food is peanut M&Ms. I think anyone who gets the chocolate or crunchy ones is weird, you have to go for the classic peanut ones. I also always order this berry smoothie, rice cakes, this peanut butter and chocolate ice cream, and Haribo strawberries or something on one of the grocery apps. My snack drawer is always full.

Do you cook? If so, do you have a signature dish?
I do. I should cook more. I used to cook a lot when I was back in Scotland but since I moved to London it’s just been crazy.

My signature dish is a stir fry. I stir fry chicken, courgettes, mushrooms, onions, spring onions, tomatoes, a bunch of spices – like everything in my cupboard, Philadelphia, sriracha, and mix it up with rice. It’s so good.

How important is it for you to stay true to/show your Scottish roots?
I’m a little split on that. Obviously, I’m proud to be Scottish and happy about where I come from. But at the same time, I don’t think that where you’re from always defines what you become and what you do with your life, but obviously, I love being from Scotland. I wouldn’t say it influences the music I make now but being from a small town gave me the time and space to explore music.

If we were to visit your hometown, where would you take us out for a meal?
There’s this Chinese takeaway spot, it’s the best Chinese takeaway in Scotland for me – they have this chicken in oyster sauce that’s so good, I get that with fried rice and prawn crackers. There’s something about that chicken that’s unlike any other chicken in oyster sauce I’ve had!

What musician/band would you most love to sit down to dinner with – alive or dead?
Courtney Love – I love Hole and Nirvana, she’s such an interesting person and I feel like she’d just have such crazy stories to tell! I bet you it would be a great time. Whenever I watch documentaries of rockstars I always think, “they’re so misunderstood like me! I totally get it”. I do feel like Courtney Love is a wildly misunderstood person and people should dig into her story more, she’s always portrayed as a crazy woman which is what the press like to do to women. Make them the crazy ones in the situation but if you really understood her story, that’s not the case.

What is your biggest challenge at the moment?
Just trying to get my music out to as many people as I can. It’s just hard to reach people at the moment, but I’m trying! Just have to keep reaching people and different audiences.

Is there a song that you never get tired of covering?
I don’t cover songs that much anymore. But one I always go back to is Romance by X-Ray. One of my favorite songs ever.

Every artist has songs that can be “listen in the car songs”, “breakup songs”, “listen in the shower songs”, etc., if you had to pick one for your music, what would it be?
Mine would be “I’m having an existential crisis but I want to rage”. I want to get in my feels but I also want to dance.

Dylan Fraser Shot by Sebastien Pielles styled by Ridvan Cavus in Isnurh trousers and trench bt Svencum.