Wicca Phase Springs Eternal
Adam McIlwee
March 11, 1989
Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Musician
Vocals, guitar, keyboards
2005–present
Run for Cover, Dark Medicine, Summersteps, Prison Jazz
- Tigers Jaw
- Thraxxhouse
Early life[edit]
McIlwee grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania. His maternal grandparents owned a funeral home. The death of his maternal grandfather led McIlwee's father to begin attending mortuary school and begin working at the funeral home. When McIlwee was ten, his father developed a substance abuse problem, which led to him often being booked into drug rehabilitation centres up until the time McIlwee turned eighteen. When McIlwee was twelve, one of his aunts died by suicide. From the age of thirteen he was a frequent user of the internet, often spending his time on anime and wrestling message boards.[1]
Musical style and influence[edit]
He has cited influence including the Streets, Das Racist, Twin Shadow, Blink-182, Gucci Mane, Salem, Ferrari Boyz, Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen and Phil Elverum.[11]
The Chicago Reader wrote that his music "threads together emo, trap beats, and occultism"[44] and DIY stated that his music "mixes blackened, acoustic guitar-led cuts with those signature 808s, creating an intoxicating, truly modern hybrid that foregoes preconceptions, genre boundaries and artistic limitations."[25]
Both McIlwee's solo music and work with GothBoiClique had a massive impact on the SoundCloud rap scene,[12] with NME describing him as "the figurehead of rap’s gothic reinvention".[20] His music has been cited as an influence by musicians including Lil Lotus,[45] Cold Hart,[46] Lil Peep[47] and Lil Tracy.[14]