No Windows, No Doors: MC Lars & Schäffer The Darklord On “Dark” Disney & New Album 999 (The Witzard Interview)

MC Lars & Schäffer The Darklord together on vacation (CREDIT: unknown / SOURCE: Facebook)

What happens when two middle-aged men take a trip together to Disney World without their significant others? Well, they have a fantastic time together and make a Nerdcore/Indie Hip-Hop concept album centered around The Dark Side of Disney, of course! And you may be now asking yourself, “what exactly is The Dark Side of Disney,” otherwise known as “Dark Disney?” We’ve been told it’s, basically, anything Disney-related that primarily focuses on and/or veers into the occult, creepy, spooky, and generally less whimsical side of The Most Magical Place On Earth. So, all of that collectively brings us here to MC Lars & Schäffer The Darklord’s Kickstarter-funded new collaborative album, 999. It’s centered around the aforementioned “Dark” Disney properties, including, but not entirely limited to The Haunted Mansion, The Black Cauldron, Phantom Manor, and Journey Into (Your) Imagination/with Figment. MC Lars is an old friend, long-time supporter, and frequent interview subject here at The Witzard. So, we linked up once more (this time, with his latest partner in rhyme and long-time touring cohort, Schäffer The Darklord) for a special Zoom interview conducted earlier this winter. Lars, Schäffer, and I talked about everything from 999 and The Haunted Mansion ride(s)/movie(s) to Hemlock Ernst & Height Keech’s The Fall Collection throughout our sprawling conversation. Check it out below in all of its glory! It’s been lightly edited for general clarity, but, trust me, I kept all of the meat and potatoes in there. MC Lars & Schäffer The Darklord’s 999 is available today on streaming platforms through Lars’ own Horris Records.

Matt, The Witzard: Alright. So, I just had some questions to start off with a little bit of background. We'll talk about the project and whatever else you guys wanna get into with it. So, I wrote down some notes and we'll just start with where it began... How long have you guys known each other for?

Schäffer The Darklord: We met in we determined it was March of 2007 is when we met. Is that what you said, Andrew [MC Lars]?

MC Lars: Yeah, [but] I was wrong. It was April 2007.

Schäffer: April 2007. Well, still I kept, I've always thought it was 2006, but… who cares? It was 2007. MC Lars & MC Frontalot were playing a show in Boston and they reached out to me and asked me to open the show because we didn't know each other, obviously, but they, also, thought that I lived in Boston. So, they thought I was a local act and I wasn't, I was just psyched that I got asked to do a show. So, I took the bus up to Boston and played the show and they didn't find out until I think after it was over. They're like, “no, I have to go home. I live in New York. I don't even live here.” And that was the first of many, many shows that we've done together.

The Witz: Cool. And you guys have done a couple of albums in the past together and some projects and all that, too, right?

Lars: We did, like, a compilation [called The Friendalorians] for our tour right before COVID and it was, like, a bunch of songs we did together that we'd never put in one place. So, yeah, we've collaborated a lot. We've been on each other's records and, uh, I slept on his couch under the giant raven on his wall. Stuff like that, you know?

The Witz: So, the project 999 is what we're talking about. It's about “Dark Disney,” you guys kinda said. So, what really qualifies as “Dark Disney?”

Schäffer: Specifically, it was we looked at a lot of classic Disney properties and looked at things that had supernatural elements or kind of “dark” elements—things that were less than shiny and sparkly Magic Kingdom stuff. If the movies had witches or ghosts or sorcerers in them, then, they became fodder for material for this record and as we found out, as we started researching for it, it's not hard. It's not hard to find occult stuff in Disney's catalog. There's a lot of, there's a lot of supernatural and spooky stuff kinda scattered throughout everything.

The Witz: Cool. It's not the first time I've heard of a project with “Dark Disney” stuff. I don't know if you guys know dj BC. He did the Beastie Boys & Beatles mash-ups. He has a whole Haunted Mansion project and stuff. So that was cool.

Lars: Oh, sh*t! He did?

The Witz: He did. Yeah. I've talked to him over the years. So, he's. like, a big Beastie Boys fan, which I am, too. And he did a whole thing about, I think it was, The Haunted Mansion, I believe. I'll have to look it up and send it to you guys.

Lars: You kinda know everyone.

The Witz: Well, I’ve been doing this for a long time and know all kinds of people from all across The Internet, yeah.

Lars: [Pulls up and shares dj BC In The Haunted Mansion Print (Amy Cinnamon) Limited to 100] Is this it, dj BC In The Haunted Mansion?

The Witz: I think that's it, yeah.

Lars: Freakin’ dope as Hell.

The Witz: Yeah, it's cool. He did, like, limited-press vinyl and stuff with it. And, yep, it's probably on YouTube somewhere, I think, honestly. Alright. So, let me see… since we're talking kind of “Dark Disney” stuff. What are some of your favorite Disney or “Dark Disney” projects, movies, or shows, personally?

Lars: I’ll go! I’ll say! I’ll go! I’ll say! I love The Black Cauldron. It was based on Lloyd Alexander's books—who lived near you [Matt]! He, actually, lived near you in [New] Jersey or Pennsylvania. He wrote these books. They're kinda like [The] Lord of The Rings, but they take place in Wales. And Disney made a movie about it called The Black Cauldron that was like a spectacular bomb because it just was… they tried to do too much. And we wrote a song about it called “Rivers of Avren.” And it's a spooky story and it's scary and it's, actually, rated PG because it's too scary for children.

The Witz: Oh, wow. Cool!

Lars: It’s that spooky!

The Witz: So, what made you decide to get together to make this album, 999, finally after all your favorite “Dark Disney” properties?

Lars: Daaaaang! Good question!

Schäffer: I got you. So, Lars & I had done a tour together that ended in February of 2020—right before COVID started—and we ended the tour in Orlando and Lars suggested to celebrate the end of a successful tour that we go to Disney World. I'd never been to a Disney park, at that point and he had. He knew all of the things that we needed to check out, if we only [had] one day at Disney. So, we went on The Haunted Mansion and even as a middle-aged man who'd never been to a Disney park before, I loved it. I had so much fun. And as COVID started stretching on, Lars at some point had floated the idea that we do a concept album based on The Haunted Mansion and broken it down into what parts of The Haunted Mansion mythology we were going to translate into Rap songs. As we continued talking about it, we decided to expand that idea a little bit more broad and take on just sort of supernatural/“occult” elements in a number of other Disney projects. But the first song that we wrote for it was our Haunted Mansion song, which was the single that we released, [“No Windows, No Doors.”]

The Witz: That was my next question, actually… what can you tell us about “No Windows, No Doors?”

Lars: Ooh! Um, you know, Haunted Mansion lore, Matt, The Witzard. It goes so deep. And there's different versions of, like, the story, and there's all [of these] different characters because each park has a different take on it. So, the first song on the album is about the one that's in Disneyland. And, then, the last one is about the one in Paris, Disney, which is like slightly different—The Haunted Mansion over there. So, we were, basically, connecting the stories and, yeah, I always loved that ride because… I love when something is scary and funny at the same time. That's why I love [Insane Clown Posse] (I.C.P.) so much because they're scary and funny at the same time. That's why I love [Who Framed] Roger Rabbit because it's scary and funny at the same time. That's why I love all of Schaffer’s records because they're scary and funny. And so, the song is about, like we we're talking about in the last interview we did it's about, in a way, about depression, like, you can't escape, but, eventually, you do finish it; either you die in life or you heal and there's… it doesn't last forever. So, The Haunted Mansion is just, like, what you don't, yeah, a place you don't want to be. COVID felt like that, trapped in a haunted mansion, you know? So…

Schäffer: Except we were the ghosts!

The Witz: What did you guys think of that new Haunted Mansion movie? Did you see that on Disney+ with the LaKeith Stanfield and stuff?

Lars: I didn't see it.

Schäffer: I haven't seen it yet either.

Lars: Is it dope?

The Witz: I watched it over Halloween. Me and my wife watched it for Halloween. It's got Danny DeVito in it, Owen Wilson. Just like a weird mix of people, but a pretty cool re-telling. I've never been on the ride either. I’ve only ever been to Disney parks on the East Coast, never been on the West Coast, but I've heard plenty about the ride the lore behind it. And the movie was was pretty cool. You should definitely check it out, if you're into all this, obviously.

Schäffer: When we were early working on the record over the summer, I was starting to count down the days until that version, that movie was released on Disney+ because I was so excited to see it. Because I saw the other things; I saw the Eddie Murphy one, I watched The Muppets’ one, I watched whatever I could to get as much backstory as I could for all the songs on this album. But I think it was by the time it dropped on Disney+, we had finished writing all of the lyrics for the album. And, at that point, I [had] spent, like, all summer just using every cent of my Disney+ subscription because I was watching so many classic Disney movies and, then, re-watching them to take notes. And I think that by the time we finished writing all of the songs, I was a little Disney+’ed out. I'm having reactions now even when I, like, hover over the app icon on my PlayStation. But I will, eventually, get around to watching it.

Lars: I would say you were Disney-!

Schäffer: Yeah. Oooh…

The Witz: So, how was the album made? Do you guys make it in-person together or do you, like, send files back-and-forth digitally? I’m always intrigued by makings-of albums and stuff.

Lars: That's a good question! We just did back-and-forth in the studio and, then, our friend, Richard, mixed it and produced most of the beats. Um, you know, when I did the record with Mega Ran [The Dewey Decibel System,] we did it in the studio, which was fun, but it's a lot easier, quicker to not do that. And if you're in your comfort zone, you know what I mean, like, it's when you're comfortable, you get your best natural takes, but, then, sometimes, being out of your comfort zone is good. I mean, we were just really quick back-and-forth. Then, I wrote some of Schaffer's lyrics. He wrote some of mine, so it kinda was real smooth.

The Witz: That’s cool! And you said your friend, Rich, produced a lot of the music on it, too?

Lars: Rich Matthew!

Schäffer: Yep, that’s our dude.

Lars: Got to give him a shout-out.

The Witz: Did you produce any stuff on there, Lars? I know you’ve been dabbling in production over the years a little bit, too.

Lars: Did I? No, no beats on this record.

The Witz: Next one, I guess…

Lars: Well, actually, no, I produced one, “Rivers of Avren!”

Schäffer: Oh, yeah, you did. That's true, you did. Yeah, we engineered our own vocal recordings, obviously, because we were recording remotely. And I played drums on one song.

Lars: Oh, yeah! Schäffer’s a good drummer. He's a good person.

The Witz: Cool. I'm always intrigued by when life-long rappers get into producing stuff. Like, forget about guys like Kanye West, but I'm a real big fan of Guilty Simpson. I've interviewed him, like, five times, I think, and he just started producing his beats. He's been rapping for, like, 30-40 years and he's just now making his own beats, which is just mind-boggling to me because he's rapped on people's beats for decades and, now, finally, got into production. It's really cool, though. It's just a whole different face: the rapper/producer, as opposed to “just” being a rapper, I guess.

Lars: Yeah, to, actually, have talent.

The Witz: Yeah, could you imagine: to not “just” be a one-trick pony, like, a writer or something? Like, it's crazy.

Lars: What did Jerry Garcia say? Mega Ran posted a thing where Jerry Garcia… where, like, “rappers are not musicians. They just are rhythmic.” It's an interesting thing because, like, there's a certain subsect of legendary auteurs, like [Dr.] Dre, who can rap and produce. Kanye, even though he's kinda canceled, he can rap and produce. Like, Eminem can produce, but it's a very special thing to be amazing at both. Yeah, I'm trying to think… [MC] Frontalot does some of his beats. He loops some drums and stuff, but he organizes his beats. So, that's fun.

The Witz: Do you guys know Darko The Super from Philly?

Lars: You know everyone. I don't. I've never heard [of] any of the people you mentioned.

The Witz: Darko The Super. He's a producer. Homeboy Sandman is kinda, like, the connect between the two of them, I think.

Lars: Oh, [Darko]. I'm looking him up. He's got Donnie Darko on there.

The Witz: He's got TONS of music... an excess of music released at a rapid pace. It's crazy!

Lars: Dude, but is it better to put out tons of stuff that's “bad” or one thing that's “great?”

The Witz: I don't know. It's tough, like, quantity over quality, sometimes, I think? I don't know.

Lars: Hold on… just as we're talking about this, look. Look at his stuff, Schäffer, look.

Schäffer: Oh, we're now into the screen-sharing portion.

Lars: [Parodies of/homages to] Daniel Johnson, Daniel Johnson, Nirvana’s [Nevermind]. Just his, like, weird bootleg.

The Witz: Frank Zappa haha.

Lars: Where's the Frank Zappa?

The Witz: It’s, um, The Beatles’ [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band] and Frank Zappa [The Mothers of Invention’s We're Only In It for The Money] kinda.

Lars: I saw, oh yeah, Frank Zappa. Now, we're sharing the screen. So anyway, Darko The Super.

The Witz: There's a lot of music to look into. He's a good rapper. Good dude!

Lars: What's this a parody of? Oh, Biz Markie’s [The Biz Never Sleeps?]. I'm glad we looked at that.

The Witz: He's real tight with Height Keech, my other favorite producer/rapper. I love Height Keech! Oh, my God.

Lars: You know Height Keech? You must love Grand Buffet. Lord Grunge put out his record, Winterize The Game, in June of 2006 on Grand Man Records.

The Witz: Love that record. So good. Oh, my God.

Lars: Have you interviewed Grand Buffet?

The Witz: I have not. Nah, I've interviewed premiered music from Height and Shark Tank, his group for a while. I'm trying to think who was in that. Mickey Free, um…

Lars: B-Rich!

The Witz: Yep, B-Rich. That was cool. They're great dudes.

Lars: Height came to my show when I was in Baltimore with Wheatus and he was so sweet. He was in the front row; real sweet, real wonderful. And do you know him, Schäffer?

Schäffer: Who?

Lars: Height Keech from Baltimore? He's friends with Michael Kill, but he did the Grand Buffet, like, one of their first tours. He toured with them forever before anyone heard of them. So, his podcast he just he has lots of great interviews with Lord Grunge.

Schäffer: Oh, great. No, I'm not familiar.

Lars: I thought I'd mentioned him…

The Witz: He just dropped a record with Hemlock Ernst, who is Sam Herring from Future Islands.

Lars: Dang!

The Witz: He’s not a rapper, typically, but tears sh*t up on this new record they have together, [The Fall Collection.] Oh, my God, it's insane.

Lars: Everything about you, Matt, is just tight.

The Witz: Oh, thank you. I feel the same. You guys have some great back catalogs of music and I've enjoyed it for tons of years. It's wild. It's crazy.

Lars: Stop it! You're sweet.

Schäffer: Thank you.

The Witz: Oh, thank you.

Lars: That's nice.

The Witz: So, this album is on Kickstarter for the campaign, correct? How's that going, so far?

Lars: Here's what's up: we raised the money for it. Campaign was tight and the record's gonna be in the Kickstarter people's hands as soon as we get the files from our boy and in everyone else's hands in The New Year. So, shout-out to our supporters.

The Witz: What are some of your exclusive or kinda “sick” rewards? Anything special, interesting, or different? Just for the rewards for Kickstarter, like, do you guys do campaigns like that?

Lars: OK, Schäffer, mention some of the tight ones.

Schäffer: We've got, well, we've got some of the standard ones that people could expect: exclusive tees and posters and vinyl pressing, but the tees and posters I'm really excited about because they have it'll have the album cover on it, which is this pretty incredible painting that we commissioned from... can we spoil this, Lars? Is this a secret?

Lars: No, we can spoil the Hell out of it.

Schäffer: Oh, great! We commissioned this incredible cover art from Tom Wood.

The Witz: Oh, cool!

Lars: Do you know him, Matt?

The Witz: I do not, but it's cool regardless.

Lars: He did the… he does [Insane Clow Posse] (I.C.P.)’s stuff.

The Witz: OK, so I know that kind of style. It's an interesting, unique look to stuff. That's cool. Nice.

Lars: He's tight as Hell. That'll be awesome.

MC Lars & Schäffer The Darklord’s 999 album cover image (ART CREDIT: Tom Wood)

Schäffer: For the highest Kickstarter backer, I have signed an oath that when I die, I will haunt their house.

The Witz: Oh, wow.

Schäffer: And that's a new Kickstarter reward that not done previous campaigns because you can only really pick one person for that. As we know, if you're going to haunt something, you don't get to move around. You got to, you're pretty much stuck there for eternity. So, congratulations.

The Witz: Is that more of a “blessing” or a “curse?” I don't know.

Schäffer: Oh, I think it'd be terrible. I think it would be horrible to spend an attorney eternity with my cranky spirit.

The Witz: Oh, stop! You're sweet, too. So, any features across the record or is it just kinda two rappers back-and-forth?

Lars: OK, we got two… three guest rappers. Can you guess who they are?

The Witz: Uh, Mega Ran?

Lars: No, well, we said, “no rappers who’ve been on our other albums.”

The Witz: OK, well… I don’t know. That’s tough!

Lars: I think that's sweet you guessed Mega Ran. He's tight, though.

The Witz: I love Mega Ran! He's a great dude. He's fantastic.

Lars: Yeah, he's great. He's talented and we love him! J.T. Music, have you heard of [them]… have you heard of that group? They're, like, YouTubers.

The Witz: I don't think so.

Lars: The Stupendium and, then, MC Snax, who hosts the I.C.P. history [podcast] show [Hatchet Chat] with me. It's funny how some Nerdcore rappers are so beloved and rich, they have, like, millions of Followers. And, so, they were nice enough to give us some shine—not that we need it, but—it's nice to feature people who are, like, different and who have a lot of Followers—not that we need it, but—we love it, you know?

Schäffer: But, also, just to work with some like different rappers because I feel like both of us, like, most of the records that I put out have had an MC Lars feature. For example, I will tend to continue working with my favorite collaborators because they're reliable and because I love their stuff. And, so, this time, we just worked with… yeah, the songs are predominantly just the two of us trading bars back-and-forth. But for the guest emcees, to have some new people that neither of us worked with was fun. And, then also, instead of just having a feature with MC Lars, to collaborate and do a whole album together for once was, also, an absolute delight.

The Witz: Is it wild to be able to embrace and be collaborating with a second generation of Nerdcore rappers? Like, isn't that, is that insane? To think about that, really?

Lars: Yeah, it's dope. It's cool that people took this term that all references on The Internet point to [MC] Frontalot for inventing. And Frontalot will remind you that he invented it, if you Tweet that he didn't. I'm just saying. And he'll text you and you’ll get a bunch of angry texts. I'm just saying. That didn't happen, but…

Schäffer: But it did! But, anyway… so, Happy Birthday, MC Frontalot!

Lars: But my point is, it's so cool. The genre’s continued and we love Frontalot for inventing it. And we want to shout-out Daddy for creating a sub-genre for us. You know what I'm saying? It's just cool, Matt. It's like when—I don't want to compare us to this—but it's like when someone old heard someone new do something tight in some certain thing that was somehow, like, connected to them, whether the new people had heard of them or not.

The Witz: The iGeneration, right? [Editor’s Note: MC Lars helped coin and popularize the phrase “iGeneration” with his song of the same name in 2004!]

Schäffer: WOAH!

Lars: Yeah, but Frontalot did invent Nerdcore. So, that's what's up.

The Witz: Alright, so… what would you say is the best part of doing a two-emcee kind of back-and-forth tag-team record vs. just doing your solo stuff?

Schäffer: It’s great to have… because I do all of so much of my stuff in isolation and alone and without, you know, “bandmates.” So, it's nice to have a collaborator to bounce ideas off of. And it's, also, nice to have a collaborator who will come up with ideas that you wouldn't have come up with on your own. But it's, also, to go from working so diligently solo for so long to doing a fully collaborative thing with somebody, it's nice to work with a peer who we have, like, history collaborating. So, we've already learned how to communicate with one another musically. Like, we've made so much music together that it was really easy for us to do this, but I think the greatest benefit was just to have another pair of ears to listen to something, so I could, actually, say, “hey, is this a bad idea?” And get that feedback before I put in the hours of producing and polishing something and, then, releasing it only to realize, “oh, wait! You know what? I could have used a second opinion on some of these tracks.

Lars: Well, I would say Schäffer, then, we worked quickly on this, you know? Artists, especially, when you're an artist who has a big back catalog, it's very easy to take forever on something because you want it to compare it to your old stuff. But, sometimes, people forget their old stuff that people love, they made quickly. So, I love that we were accountable for trying to hit our deadline. That was something I loved because every day, I'd open my email and there'd be something from Schäffer or he'd open his email and there'd be a 20-page essay on The Black Cauldron from me that he had to read. Homework, you know? Matt, because, like, you do a lot of writing, right?

The Witz: I do, yeah.

Lars: Do you ever collaborate with people?

The Witz: Um, I have, but it's mostly Internet-based, obviously, but I've gotten some commissioned features I give to people or I get them to for me. So, it's fun to, like, work with somebody else. It's not just yourself… late at night… in a dark room… just typing away the keyboard. So, I get the camaraderie. It's fantastic! Yeah, when it happens, like, it's not often, but I enjoy it. I can appreciate that aspect of not doing stuff by yourself.

Lars: Yeah, because Rap is, by nature, Hip-Hop, is, like very collaborative. It's supposed… it's gotta be. I mean, there's very few Rap… I can't think of any classic Rap records that have no guest verses. I'm sure there are some by one emcee? I'm trying to… are there? I'm trying to… are there? I'm trying to… are there? I'm trying to… are there? You know what I'm saying?

The Witz: Yeah. It doesn't happen often, I don't think, no. Did you guys… I just thought this as a question, too… did you guys incorporate, like, soundbites or samples of the reference material? Or were you not really allowed to do that?

Schäffer: We did not. And that's a great question. I'm proud of us for not because that temptation was so strong on almost working on almost every single track. Just wanting to steal, like… just wanting to, like, you get so invested in, especially, after you've watched the same movie on Disney+, like, for the third time and you've written these notes and you start hearing these little bits of score that kind of loop in your head. And you're like, “oh, that little musical cue would really sell this change in the story of the song that I'm writing” or “this little soundbite of this character would really work to punctuate this particular bridge or chorus.” And we were really careful to not do that. And it was REEAAALY difficult to resist many times, but, no, we didn't… we lifted no music and no samples. So, we dare Disney come after us for treading on their [intellectual property] (I.P.)!

The Witz: That’s awesome! It's cool you can convey what you're trying to convey without having to emulate it with the audio, which is awesome. Yes, that's great. I've heard the EP [Proof of Death], which was the five tracks, which was great. I'm looking forward to hearing the whole record, too.

Lars: You're so sweet, Matt!

The Witz: Well, I had to listen to it before I did the interview. I didn't want to not check out the music and be in here, like, “what's this? How is this? What's this sound like?” I mean, you have to hear your source material, if you can. And when's the record dropping? You said early next year, I guess?

Lars: Yeah, we're gonna do the singles. The Kickstarter people will get it really soon. I mean, I'm hoping, I don't know, I guess early next year. Probably January, if not February. We're just trying to make sure the singles come out, like, one at a time… what, like, how many singles should a band put out a month, Matt? How much is ridiculous? Four?

The Witz: Four a month?

Lars: Yeah, is that insane?

The Witz: That's enough. I mean, I kinda… I have no preference, but sometimes, if you've heard before the record drops, heard half the record. It's kinda tough. You only have half left to hear. So, like, I know a band that I love (friends’ band of mine) that dropped six singles, but I think it's a little bit of overkill because you've already heard half the record before it even drops. So, to me, like, the whole piece of work as a whole for people who are “purists” and don't listen to singles. Like, that was a thing back in the day on the (scratch out his name, but) Kanye West forums, to not listen to the leaks and singles and just hear the whole album as one piece of music, which is cool, I think, but…

Lars: Maybe, that's what we do, Schäffer? Maybe, we don't do a bunch of singles? Oh, wait, we're doing art for all the singles, though. Shoot!

The Witz: Singles are good. Like, people don’t listen to whole albums, like guys like us do, I don't really feel like anymore. It's all about EP’s and singles and more short-form music, which sucks, but…

Lars: You know what it’s about? It's about doing a funny dance that goes viral on TikTok to two seconds of the song. That's how you freakin’ get your music out there. You make it short!

The Witz: Do that! Do The Haunted Manion Dance or something.

Lars: I don’t really think dancing's tight.

The Witz: It’s different. Hip-Hop's changed a lot over the years, which either you have to go with it or don’t, I guess.

Lars: Or be a sad loser. You can't be, like, “ooh, MF DOOM’s Operation: Doomsday was the best Rap record ever because I had no guests.” Get out of here, old man! No one cares about you’re… or, “ooh, Del The Funky Homosapien’s Both Sides of The Brain solo album with no guest verses or Infinite by Eminem.” Get out of here! You know? Matt, I'm excited for your last question because your questions are so good. I know this last one's going to be dope!

The Witz: Oh, thank you. This is my end-all, be-all, I think! What are your all-time favorite singles or releases from each other? Like, what's Lar's favorite Schäffer or Schäffer’s favorite Lars and vice versa?

Schäffer: Woooow, that's a great question! Nobody's ever asked us that. Uh, I think it's hard to say. And I don't want to, like… it's hard to say because I don't want to pick things that are, like, “iconic” and, like, “definitive” of MC Lars that everybody would say is their favorite songs… but, I think, like, one of my absolute favorite songs of Lar's that doesn't get the same kind of attention that I think it should is “Dragon Blood.”

Lars: Oh!

Schäffer: I love that song SO MUCH! I feel like there was at least one time at a merch table at some show, I “bullied” you into adding it into your set because I wanted to hear it. ‘cause you were torn between a couple of songs and I was like, “oh, yeah, do “Dragon Blood.’” I love that song so much and I've never watched Game of Thrones and I still, that song goes so hard!

Lars: Thanks!

Schäffer: And I love This Gigantic Robot Kills. I think I love a song with a narrative and, like, a three-act narrative and that song's got a great story and it's got great production.

Lars: Thanks! That's a sweet guy to say that.

Schäffer: I mean, I think a lot of people really like This Gigantic Robot Kills, but I… that's one of them. It is one of them and just… even just as a song by itself, that's one of my absolute favorites.

Lars: That's nice as Heck. Thank you. I like Schäffer 's song with, like, “eff that s***, I'm goin’ to space. Try to throw… when I'm trying to… when I'm trying to do Jack, I get a King and an Ace.”

Schäffer: Yeah, that's alright.

Lars: That sounds cool. What's the line? “When I'm trying…”

Schäffer: “When I hold at 17, they hit a 10 and an Ace?”

Lars: Haha that’s so funny! So sad.

Schäffer: That song's called “Going to Space.”

Lars: And at the beginning of it, he's, like, “I don't want to go to space.” He's stuck in the freaking… um, yeah.

The Witz: Anything else you guys want to add that I, like, may have missed or not mentioned or anything else you want to kinda, like, share about the record, your other solo stuff? anything else you kinda wanna, like, drop in this space?

Lars: I would say your passion for music is INFECTIOUS, Matt! I don't know anyone who emails me faster back when I send them something. And it's so cool ‘cause you're just passionate. And I love talking to you ‘cause you're so cool. And you're so passionate.

The Witz: It’s so great to talk to MC Lars! Like, I can't believe this still has happened. This is insane.

Lars: ‘cause you’re just a good person, Matt.

The Witz: Like, not all people think that, but I'm glad that you do.

Schäffer: Haha. aww!

Lars: Well, you're honest and you're tight. And when you like something, you say it's tight, that's what's up!

The Witz: Thanks. I appreciate it.

Lars: You got good morals. Thanks, buddy!

The Witz: Thank you, guys! Great to meet you, Mark [Schäffer The Darklord]!

Schäffer: Yeah, nice meeting you! Thank you so much for having us.

The Witz: Thanks again, Andrew [MC Lars]! It was great!

Lars: Glad to have met you! Bye!

The Witz: Happy holidays, guys! See ya.

Schäffer & Lars: Yeah, happy holidays. Bye!