Uncooked Cereal Interview: Fostering ‘Unprocessed Creativity’

Anders Rahm fell in love with stage design and the aesthetics of stay efficiency as a younger child. Whereas others have been saving up for PlayStations or basketball jerseys, Rahm, who co-founded inventive design firm Uncooked Cereal, was counting pennies in hopes of catching his favourite teams on tour.

“I used to say that my financial savings account was in a stack of live performance tickets,” he explains to Uproxx with a chuckle.

Although his coronary heart has all the time been in stay music, Rahm took a circuitous path to the place he’s right now: creating pageant rigs and tour designs for artists like Fred Once more.., Calvin Harris, Duke Dumont, and extra. He went to varsity with hopes of being a chef, however by his mid-20s, he had deserted that dream and acquired employed at a inventive company.

After years of hustling, he despatched a “future resume” to Baz Halpin, who led design for Taylor Swift’s 1989 tour, amongst others, together with his firm Silent Home. (Silent Home’s work on Tyler The Creator’s 2023 Camp Flog Gnaw set simply gained the Sound + Imaginative and prescient award for Finest Stage Present Design.) Halpin launched Rahm to a few of his collaborators, and he shortly discovered himself on set of his first gig as a contract stage designer: Aiding the 2018 Tremendous Bowl Halftime Present with Justin Timberlake.

When Rahm began Uncooked Cereal, he started following a easy tenet: He wished his firm’s work to signify “unprocessed creativity.” Now, as a go-to collaborator for EDM superstars throughout the globe, Rahm and Uncooked Cereal are increasing their scope as they proceed to excellent the craft of creating each live performance an unforgettable, charged expertise.

What have been your introductions to the artwork and music worlds as a child?

I simply actually cherished music. My dad gave me a stack of information after I was 10 or 11, and it was proper across the time that my dad and mom had a visitor room and we acquired our personal rooms. My dad gave me the brand new room and he gave me a turntable receiver, two audio system, and a few crates of information. I simply actually acquired into rock and roll, soul, and funk music. After I was a bit older, I began going to reveals and festivals. I used to be simply hooked on stay music.

What did you go to high school for?

I truly went to high school to cook dinner. I discovered rather a lot from that, actually. I nonetheless have a look at what we do right now as an identical course of. Operating a kitchen is not any completely different from operating a inventive companies firm. We’ve acquired specialised groups that concentrate on specialised issues, and with a purpose to run an excellent restaurant, it’s the identical as operating a stable operation.

I took an apprenticeship, which was actually key for me. I spotted that I discovered from individuals versus from lecture rooms. From there, I spotted I may simply discover lecturers and attain out to individuals I wished to study from. I discovered that as a rule, they have been completely prepared to help me in that. I began in my early 20s, and I left cooking and in my mid-20s.

I ended up at a inventive company, and thru that inventive company, I met Baz Halpin. I used to be in Milwaukee on the time. He was in LA operating Silent Home. He had carried out Taylor Swift’s 1989 tour and led Katy Perry’s tour — all the most important on this planet. I had met him as a result of he employed us to do a few of his video edits.

Years later, I used to be residing in Austin, and Baz was nonetheless reaching out to me fairly persistently for assist with presentation. I assumed to myself, “I like what he does and I actually wish to do what he does.” I reached out to him and gave him a future resume, the place I wrote what I want to have carried out and what I would really like my job to be. He mentioned, “I may help you with that.” He hooked me up with a few of his companions and I moved to LA with the hopes of working with them.

They gave me an opportunity and as an intern, my first present with that group was the Tremendous Bowl Halftime Present with Justin Timberlake [in 2018]. It kicked off fairly shortly that yr. They allowed me to assist undertaking handle the graphics for Taylor Swift’s Popularity tour. I used to be a producer on Beyoncé’s On The Run tour and her Coachella present. From there, my freelance profession was off, after which I continued on into beginning Uncooked Cereal just a few years in the past.

What makes Uncooked Cereal completely different from every other firm in your sphere?

Oftentimes, we are saying our inside be aware is, “We’re right here to assist.” We’re actually a service-focused firm, and I believe our outward tagline is “unprocessed creativity.” There are a number of people actually centered on telling tales. Whereas we do inform some nice tales, typically issues get convoluted, they usually get misplaced within the try to inform a narrative in an summary house. Loads of occasions, we’re in a position to assist construct a unfastened narrative that permits for extra of a centered good time, versus making an attempt to observe alongside in a convoluted means. We’re making an attempt to simply convey emotion versus direct consideration.

How do you make sure that issues go off with no hitch once you’re working with somebody like Calvin Harris on his Ibiza reveals?

I am going: That’s how we do it. We will’t all the time go if there’s overlap, however now we have sufficient nice individuals to the place typically, we simply say, ‘Hey, you’re going over right here. I’m going over right here.’ We attempt to be collectively as a lot as potential, but it surely doesn’t all the time work. With Calvin Harris particularly, I spent near a month on the market in Ibiza and onwards into a few of his European festivals. We go to rehearsals, now we have inventive conferences prior, after which we attempt to be there as a lot as potential. I’m on a number of planes. After we’ve acquired back-to-back reveals, it’s back-to-back journey. We wish to be there. Hope doesn’t work on this trade. We’ve acquired to go there and ensure it goes properly.

How did you start shifting into the world of EDM?

We’ve been speaking about working in EDM since forming Uncooked Cereal. Good work begets extra work. After we do an excellent job, individuals find yourself calling us. Our work in EDM actually began with HiJinx Music Competition. We’re the designers and manufacturing leads for HiJinx Music Competition, and we get a number of connections by means of that. That was what sort of began it. We had a lot enjoyable doing that. We wished to do extra.

Finally, Fred Once more..’s staff referred to as they usually’re like, “Hey, who can actually make this occur and pull it collectively?” They’d an enormous ask with a really customized request. We turn out to be the fixers in sure eventualities, the place individuals are struggling they usually’re saying, “Nicely, we’ve acquired one thing actually large on our fingers. Who’re the individuals that may are available and actually do that, and who’s going to place within the effort and time to actually determine it out?” So far as Calvin Harris is anxious, he noticed our work and we despatched him a deck and he mentioned, “These guys have it. That is what I would like.”

What’s the five-year plan for Uncooked Cereal?

We’re aiming for longer-term initiatives, particularly within the EDM house. We love dance music and we wish to be concerned additional. Which means venues, it means golf equipment, it means installations, it means worldwide. I had constructed a membership in Asia with XiteLabs at one level in my profession, and I’d spent a good period of time wanting on the Asian membership scene. We’re engaged on some hospitality membership design with some companions out of Europe, after which initiatives within the Center East. We’re making an attempt to department out from the USA and department out from touring reveals, taking what we all know and constructing new groups that may actually put some longevity into the scene, and hopefully encourage generations of extra reveals. That’s an enormous focus for us. Live performance touring and pageant design installations in EDM, rock, pop, and hip-hop will all the time be a staple of ours: It’s what we’re constructed on. We’re simply excited to take that into hospitality, venue, and model design. We’re simply wanting outwards and upwards.

Does having a venue or a hard and fast location give you extra versatility?

It does and it doesn’t. What’s enjoyable concerning the touring present is that you simply’ve acquired all types of one-off toys that you may play with. You’ve acquired vehicles shifting them round and bringing them in. With venue design, you’ve acquired to suppose a bit bit longer-term. The builds are a bit bit tougher, and also you even have to permit room for individuals to usher in manufacturing. Whereas we doubtlessly may go all out and simply completely blow an area out of the water, we additionally must suppose, “Nicely, when Fred comes, he’s going to want room for this, this, and this.” After we’re venue house, we’re actually pondering how we will align with constant updates to design issues extra modular and accessible for artists which are coming in.

You by no means wish to have an artist say they’ll’t play at your venue as a result of there’s not house for his or her design.

That’s precisely it. It’s like shifting right into a furnished home once you’ve acquired all of your stuff within the truck. What’s the purpose of shopping for all this for those who can’t use it?