“I get very ritualistic with mushrooms”: I See Stars’ Devin Oliver’s five favourite things

Your favourite bands all have favourite things, so we got nosey and demanded to know what they are. Enter I See Stars singer Devin Oliver, to talk about music, parents, and trying to find the inner workings of your mind…

“I have to say my dad, Jim. He's the reason I play music. He's a singer, but he's also multi-talented. He plays the piano, the guitar, the ukulele… He's been such a big inspiration for me. I grew up watching him play in his band, which is like a doo-wop group, so I learned how to sing to that. It's not easy, because it's a bunch of singers all doing harmonies, so you have to be amazing. So, yeah, I gotta give it up for the Pops.”

“If you were talking to me last month, I would have said coffee, but I stopped drinking coffee, and it's been really difficult. I've replaced it. Coffee is my ex, and my new love is matcha. It's a type of tea, and I've gotten really ritualistic with it. I have the bamboo whisk and the bowl and everything to prepare it. I spend way too long making it in the morning. You have the leaves themselves, and I have the uji matcha, which is considered the purest, first harvest ceremonial matcha. My tip for making the best matcha is to strain it before you mix it, because it won’t clump up that way. Also, keep the temperature of the water just a little bit down – you don't want to burn the matcha.”

“I figure I needed to say something more saucy than tea. Mushrooms have expanded my mind and changed me as an artist forever. It's something that I don't do often, but I try to do it once a year, and I become very ritualistic with it. It's a nice reset. It's a reminder that we're alive and we're happy to be here, and a little kiss of death to wake you up and to make you grateful for the things you have.

“This is so weird, but I love being in water when I trip. I'll find somewhere with a swimming pool or a Jacuzzi or something, because I just like to float. Our bodies can be a distraction, so I like to float and forget about the distraction of the vessel, and tap more into the deeper mind and consciousness. The thing that makes the greatest trip is having an intention. You can't control the trip, so it might not always be focused on your intention, but somewhere in the trip, you'll land back on it. And then everything else, even if you're having a bad trip, will make a little bit of sense.

“Music-wise, I like soundbath-style music, keeping it simple, not giving yourself a reason to distract yourself. I love people that can listen to their favourite artists when they're tripping, but I'm an artist, so I can get really analytical with it if I'm listening to other artists. So I need something that I'm almost disconnected from, like a drone – something that won't put me on a weird path.”

“Me and all my friends, we really love to find ourselves in situations where we can dance and not worry about who's watching. It's great when you can lose yourself and connect with your body, connect with rhythm. I feel very free in that moment. It could be like a church, a worship experience, if you lose yourself enough. There's a lot of really cool Detroit events where people think of it as their form of worship. They're not necessarily religious people, but dancing is a religion, you know? I'll stumble into those parties and start to understand what dancing like no-one's watching really means. I'm trying to get closer to that as I get older. But it's a mindset, and it's a lack of mindset, I think, to get there.”

“It's an obvious one, but it's my longest relationship, and my most successful relationship. It's tested me, it's moulded me, and it continues to humble me. It's the thing that, every time I think I want to quit, something in the universe reminds me why I love it in the first place. So, I know it sounds very generic, but I gotta throw music out there.”

I See Stars play Rock Am Ring and Rock Im Park June 6 – 8

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