The concept of the metaverse has grown in popularity over the past few years, with virtual worlds like Fortnite, Roblox, and The Sandbox garnering hundreds of millions of monthly users. Users hang out, attend virtual concerts, like the record-breaking Travis Scott show, and play games with each other. Just like how millennials might have gotten home from school and instantly logged onto MSN just a few decades ago, today, kids are logging onto Fortnite — with metaverse platforms giving young people a fresh, limitless, and customizable place to chill with their friends. 

And just like on MSN where you’d want the freshest emoticons, background, and winks, the new generation wants cool virtual clothing to show off in the metaverse. That’s where Gemma Sheppard comes in. The London-based, 47-year-old is a veteran of the fashion industry, with a background in IRL styling, working with titan brands like Alexander McQueen and Gucci, as well as being the stylist for British television shows like The X Factor, Britain’s Got Talent, and Strictly Come Dancing.

After a conversation with her goddaughter only three years ago, she realized how important style is in the metaverse — and had the vision to engage with an electrifying new chapter of fashion that still had yet to be explored. She contacted the leading metaverse studio, Dubit, which is responsible for creating worlds inside games such as Fortnite, Roblox, and The Sandbox and frequently collaborates with brands to create virtual hang-outs and digital products. Then later in 2020, Sheppard started working with Dubit as their Metaverse Global Fashion Director. In fact, she has been named “the first-ever stylist in the metaverse,” and already in her time at the studio, she has worked on projects with H&M and Kickers.

We spoke to Sheppard about her groundbreaking role, her fashion influences on and offline, and more.

How did you find out about the metaverse?

In the winter of 2020, my goddaughter asked for money to buy a pair of shoes for her Roblox avatar — they were more expensive than the ones on her real feet. She wasn’t a child who wanted a coloring book and crayons, and I’d never really seen her in a creative light until that point. She then showed me this whole world in the metaverse and I realized it really mattered to her. I saw a different kind of creativity in her that I’d never witnessed before. It was then that my interest in metaverse fashion was piqued.

How did you then get involved with Dubit?

When I went to bed that night, I felt energized by what I’d witnessed. By the summer of 2021, I reached out to Dubit to pitch my vision for how real-life fashion and the metaverse could meet. A key thing we discussed was how fashion can work, on a technical level, within Roblox, Fortnite, and other metaverse platforms. After that meeting, we started synthesizing real-life fashion into the endless possibilities of the metaverse.

Did you then go all in on the metaverse and leave your real-world styling behind?

Whenever something evolves or is created, people worry that it’ll replace what came before it — like when people thought the internet was going to ruin the high street. But it isn’t about this or that, it’s about this and that. When I entered the metaverse space, it wasn’t me trying to move away from in-real-life styling. It was me saying, “I feel this is a very big, powerful development in the fashion space and I want to be involved.”

Being a stylist is just like any business, you must move with the times. So, I became the first metaverse stylist while continuing to be a real-world stylist.

What does being a metaverse stylist really entail?

Dubit collaborates with established brands like Red Bull and Nickelodeon to create virtual worlds and games within the metaverses. It’s my role to style the characters and the virtual world they live in.

When I start a project, it begins very similarly to a real-world project. It starts with visualizing an outfit, then trying to turn that into a sketch, and finding reference images. This soon turns into a mood board full of all my ideas and thoughts. I often know what I want, but it’s hard for someone else to see inside my mind, so I share this ahead of a meeting with a client or internally with my team. In that meeting, I’ll break down each element of the concept — everything I do has a meaning. Sharing this information from the start makes the collaboration process effortless. 

Every collection I create is dependent on the brand we’re working with. When it comes to fashion brands, no one size fits all. It’s just like any marketing strategy. When we are talking about a strategy with a brand, it needs to be tailored to them and what they’re wanting to achieve. Do they want to be playful like Nickelodeon or glamorous like the Grammy Awards?

How long does that whole process take?

Each project is different, but from visualization to realization, the process can take three months to a year.

What is the difference between styling in real life compared to in the metaverse?

The main difference from real-life styling is that I can give characters auras and superpowers, like wings that float behind them, I love the limitlessness of it. 

Does your real-life styling influence your metaverse styling?

I base a lot of my work on my own archive and my influences. A lot of older fashion designers, like Paco Rabanne, already have collections that translate to virtual avatars quite well, such as enhanced shoulders, thigh boots, or cuff jewelry, which can be tried on and purchased virtually.

What about the other way around, do you think metaverse styling influences the real world?

A lot of brands are road-testing in the metaverse and then dropping them in bricks and mortar. Kickers launched a back-to-school campaign that led to 25 million virtual try-ons within a week. The metaverse is increasingly becoming a place for fashion brands to trial their products. 

Wow, that’s so cool! Do you think more aspiring stylists should start in the metaverse?

Yes! The metaverse is an excellent place for aspiring real-world designers to make a start. The average person coming out of design school, however talented, may not be able to afford to create a collection and get the momentum or capacity to make it grow. The metaverse gives you the power to get design experience now, in an affordable way. It’s a great place to test and learn. You’ve got nothing to lose.

While Snuffy is undoubtedly riding a massive career high and seems to be in touch with his emotions and communication skills with others just fine, he’s human just like the rest of us. After observing the modern, hyper-technological world we now live in, Snuffy admittedly felt a sense of burnout due to the addictive, isolating nature of social media and how it can effect your sense of purpose and community, and leave you overstimulated in unproductive ways. With no shortage of creative ideas, Snuffy began to develop the new Web3 project titled Looking In: To Know Yourself, an interactive and collaborative mental health platform that aims to utilize technology and social media in healthy, sustainable, and emotionally enriching ways. 

Read more: Meet So-Hee Woo, creator of the Kid LAROI’s metaverse set

With Looking In, users will first be prompted to answer a host of written and multiple choice questions from real clinical psychological studies to aid in their process of discovering who they truly are. From there, participants will be matched with their distinct personality trait and a handful of personality facets that define their true selves. Through this process, participants will be linked with other like-minded individuals to form their own “tribe” and collaborate on reflective exercises, as well as form bonds and communities through third-party apps such as Discord. Each participant will get a unique identification piece in the form of a tarot-card-style Venn diagram art piece that’s been hand-designed by Snuffy and can in turn be minted on the blockchain. 

Looking In: To Know Yourself is a testament to the power of utilizing technology for good and highlighting the importance of self-discovery and human connection in a world that has not necessarily had those ideas at the forefront of society as a whole. Snuffy spoke to us about creating the project.

What was it about social media and tech addiction that made you realize that healthy changes needed to be made both in your personal life and with society as a whole?

Where I found social media giving me difficulty was my ill-preparedness of seeing how good everyone’s lives are at all times when everything is filtered to show only the good stuff. Whoever is built for that, props to them, but I am not. The other part is that when I found success in my career, I became very accessible to people and how they thought they could approach me. I have this problem where I am a people pleaser and don’t want to let anyone down, so I feel obligated to always answer people [in my DMs] — this places a burden on me because it’s social etiquette to respond. 

However, as an artist, without social media as a tool, I would not have risen so quickly in my career. For that, I owe it a great debt, but with the way that these companies work, we are being trained to consume way too quickly. Leonardo Da Vinci painted 18 paintings in his whole life, but if you don’t put up 18 posts a week today, you’re fucked. What is a real artist who puts integrity and conviction into their work supposed to do besides screaming into the abyss? 

How did you begin creating Looking In: To Know Yourself? Did you source help from mental health professionals as well as experts in the tech and Web3 spaces? 

When I set out to tattoo people, I request that they write me a story beforehand, whether they are a celebrity, civilian, or anybody in between. You’re giving me a piece of you because I’m giving you a piece of me, and at that point, it’s not so much about getting paid as much as it’s about telling a story and sharing that with someone for the rest of their lives. When people come to me for a tattoo, they end up viewing the tattoo as a form of therapy. When I really sat down and analyzed my practice and took a step back, my unique value is not actually the tattoo. It’s the client’s own self-discovery. The tattoo is just the receipt of a cathartic experience.

I have a two-year waitlist for my tattoos, so I wanted to find a way to recreate this experience, therapy and catharsis for as many people as possible — this all led me to create Looking In. I have personally spent all last year analyzing personality facets, creating art and interpreting them visually in my style. 

What was the process of categorizing distinct personality traits and then pairing users together accordingly with the “Tribal” concept you have since developed with this platform? 

The clinical breakdown of this project is based on the big five personality traits with the acronym O.C.E.A.N.: openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Within each of those domains, there are six facets — so in total, there are 30 facets. What we have done is give people an output for their input on the five facets they skew the highest toward.

We built a function for you to discover who you think you are and see yourself and then you get to invite your close circle around you to take a test about you to see how others perceive you. I feel like there needs to be something engaging, and we need the fabric of communication, community and just being heard. [Eventually], you find out who you are, and you get this output of unique art that is related to who you are — you also get to connect with your close circle and these domains of people who you can connect with on Discord. 

Speaking of creating unique art, what goes into creating these distinct pieces? 

First, I will study a facet of a character trait or domain, and then in the same way that I design a tattoo, I will sit with what I have read and then hone in on a specific part. From there, I collage my art and blueprint it in Photoshop, and once I have that blueprint, I will draw them out, scan them in, and separate them into layers. In my fine art practice, it’s the same thing. Since there are 30 [total] facets, I wasn’t going to leave my artistic thumbprint up to a [computer] generative project. There is a balance to strike between the two where I can still have my DNA in a project that is still generative. To me, phase one of this project would have felt inauthentic to do it [computer generated]. All my artwork is intentional, there are 30 facets and 30 pieces of artwork. What becomes unique is your five combinations of art. All of the art is how I want it to be — there is no mismatch.

Nimbleness and curiosity are pivotal to all of Woo’s creative endeavors.

Read more: How Blazzy brought more awareness to the dangers of fentanyl with a T-shirt

“It can be horrible,” she says. “It can be the worst thing you’ve ever made. But just try. It expands your mind on how to do things.” 

As the current Head of XR Design at Encore, Woo makes “live music videos,” a hotly debated term that she personally loves to use to describe her mixed reality sets for artists’ virtual concerts. As the music industry inches toward acceptance of the metaverse as an extension of an artist’s identity, Woo likes to teach new converts and curious storytellers how to embrace the term. 

“Some people hate [the term] ‘live music videos’ because then it feels less live and more manufactured,” Woo explains. “I like it because how you imagine the medium feels more similar [to a music video]. It doesn’t have to be constrained to the physical world.”

[Photo via So-Hee Woo]

For Encore, an interactive live music streaming app co-founded by Kid Cudi, Woo has built mixed reality sets with artists such as the Kid LAROI, Trippie Redd, $NOT, KYLE and Oliver Tree for their virtual shows. Some of her most vibrant collaborative work to date required modeling 3D heads to float in outer space, designing a cartoonish hellscape that abruptly cuts to raining dollar bills and dressing an electroluminescent stage against an ‘80s “retro sunset”-inspired backdrop. The visuals evoke the energy of a Hype Williams house party set while still presenting a new way for artists to reinforce their taste and style. The best part of it all: Any artist can make one on their own in-app.

Though the experience is an exciting piece of the pie, it’s still many artists’ first time interacting with the metaverse when they step into Encore’s tiny green space to perform. As a result, what often happens is an “AR yard sale,” a term that Woo coined to describe all the littered design objects slapped onto an AR space when artists run amok with their new canvases. Yet augmented reality still abides by familiar visual principles: creating a background versus foreground, centering subjects for focus and having a purpose. Woo reminds artists of this as they start to build their sets.

“[Artists] have been creating digital stuff for a really long time with music and album covers and music videos,” Woo says. “In AR, the principles are still similar. It’s just expanding that a lot more.”

[Photo via So-Hee Woo]

Self-proclaimed to have been “super addicted” to the concept of physical goods, Woo thought she was going to make tangible products after she graduated with a major in industrial design. After a brief stint creating instruments for the medical industry, Woo attended graduate school to further study industrial design with a focus on speculative design, which taught her how to cast what she thinks the future might look like, then take steps to address the problems set in the future. Still, Woo was craving some utility in her work. 

“I needed a balance,” Woo says. “My grad program used to be problem-setting, but the industrial design mind in me focused on problem-solving. To me, just problem-setting was almost too emotional. Everything always feels broken.” 

During her thesis, Woo met with early innovators behind Encore and worked as a contractor to help them define their lane in extended realities. Inspired by the opportunity to expand on its use for the future, she took a position as the team’s first Head of XR Design to lead one-off video productions, tech research and development, and now the democratization of the digital tool in the music and creator industry.

[Photo via So-Hee Woo]

For as long as the metaverse needs an articulate definition, the job offers the balance that Woo was seeking through her academic pursuits.

“A lot of people think the metaverse is undefined because it’s not fully immersive yet,” Woo explains. “This is the problem-setting part. [The metaverse] is a concept we are trying to shape: What are we going to do between now and what it actually is? When we have defined that, we better have made some good decisions along the way.” 

In hopes of defining the future of the metaverse through a healthy and humane framework, Woo believes it is important to bring more laypeople, from musicians to other creators, into AR through accessible language — ultimately to teach them that anyone can do what she does. In her downtime, she enjoys creating “how-to” TikToks to give sneak peeks into the manageable, no-cost (outside of a smartphone) work that goes into building sets. She also makes videos to unpack the emotional and psychological facets of the metaverse.

“I offer a unique perspective because I am not that technical,” she says. “I am still a designer and artist. I still have my core beliefs and values of what I want to say, and AR just helps me show it.” 

Woo’s core piece of advice for anyone who wants to start? Ask yourself what is the easiest way to get motivated. 

“That’s more important than what type of software to use,” she says. “If you think it would be really funny to make an AR snail climb along your forehead and have him high-five you on the way down, you learn the technology that way, and that is so much more useful. That’s your first step to the next thing.”

The root of the word “philosophy” is philosophia, meaning “love of wisdom.” 

Is there a single sector of society that loves wisdom more than the internet? 

From finding the answer to all of life’s questions in seconds to memes that feel so broad yet oddly specific, and even consuming information you never wanted to about vaccines from the people you went to high school with — the internet is full of wisdom! 

In 1993, just over 14 million people used the internet across the 130 total registered websites. Today, nearly half of the world’s total population uses the internet at least once a week. 

The impact of the internet is undeniable — from interpersonal skill deficiencies to consumerism to content distribution, still, the paradigm shift is relatively indiscernible to most millennials and likely nonexistent to Gen Zers. 

Fleeting memories of dial-up tones, America Online and home phones are as few and far between as the feeling of abruptly snapping a flip phone or destroying servers with your partner in crime, LimeWire. 

Read more: How PRISM Collective is helping others feel like they belong in Web3

Experiences of culture changing in real-time are now consigned to oblivion. 

We are the generation of digitally driven lab rats: collectively adopting and intrinsically understanding the internet and lending our identities to corporations to inform their proprietary technology and increase their revenue.

This State of the Metaverse Address is an homage to the internet pioneers of the ’90s: us. 

We are the unequivocal revolutionaries that corporate tech giants such as Google, Apple and Facebook can’t continue to keep up with, let alone monopolize. 

Internet culture and popular culture are nearing collision at a rapid velocity. So, fasten your seatbelt, use Face ID to log in and upload your consciousness to the cloud. Next stop: crypto culture.

Welcome to the Wild, Wild West of Web3. 

Just beyond the giant bags of money, you’ll see Silicon Valley’s finest foaming at the mouth. 

Read more: What is the metaverse? A beginner’s guide to virtual worlds

On your left, the latest “BIG BRAND” board exec is seen begging their resident Gen-Z employee for a crumb of clarification on crypto colloquialisms. 

And just beyond an OpenSea of Dickbutts, Pickles, Pudgy Penguins and ’Sup Ducks, you’ll stumble across a population dubbed “DEGENS.” 

Contrary to mainstream belief, being a degen is not just “buy first, ask later” and seeing the world through “3D-colored glasses.”

For every degen daytrader YOLO-ing their networth on the promise of moonin’, there are twice as many degen disciples whose value is more than the sum of their Punks, Apes and Alt Coins. 

There are two things all divisions of degens have in common: 

We call it Web3 because we don’t go to bed until 3 a.m., and together, we are incubating an entirely new zeitgeist with its own intricate ecosystem of subcultures.

We occupy secret social spaces. We speak in foreign but familiar languages. We transact with pseudo-anonymity. We build community. We collect art. We define crypto culture. 

We are artists, gamers, influencers, devs, superstars, entrepreneurs, marketers, and, sure, some of us are gamblers, but what is more: We are the owners of our digital identity. 

We are trailblazers of the evolutionary philosophy known as Web3. 

We are building the future of the internet, with or without you.

DISCLAIMER: THIS IS NOT FINANCIAL ADVICE. Please do your own research and consult with professionals when making any investments.

One of the best explanations I learned from the clubhouse about music NFTs was this: If you started a band and only had 100 band T-shirts, when you create an NFT of that shirt, you could not celebrate giving something to your community with every tour drop. The very rare NFTs would belong to the people who owned the merch, and as time goes on, you can create different virtual gifts for different tour stops. The community enjoys a show and a way to show off their experience online.

Read more: How Scab Shop and Deadfellaz are bringing tattoo culture into the metaverse

Collecting is about our social DNA, whether it’s shoes or beating levels in a game. Everyone collects experiences, and now the blockchain has a way for artists and audiences to create an online community to extend the one-time interaction. Sure, this may sound like a glorified mail list, yet hear me out: If I take a photo of your car, that doesn’t mean I own it, right? I would need the deed to the car to be able to own the car and sell it. It’s the same with digital experiences; the fact that something occurs online doesn’t make it less valuable. Artists have struggled for years, digitally releasing music or 3D artists spending weeks on a creation to post it and be inactive while creating the next piece.

There are many great artists creating music NFTs. It took me a year before buying my first NFT. It’s OK to be unsure of this space and not knowing where to start as a founder. I think the best introduction to Web3 is by supporting projects you like or meeting founders who are applying new ways to solve problems in the music industry and engage with fans. I met GRL and Ren in the Loser Club NFT community. They introduced me to so many great artists through PRISM, the gallery they curated for NFT.NYC. Here’s how they got started with Web3, the importance of Black and queer spaces in the metaverse and their experience starting a business focused on music and blockchain technology.

How did you learn about Web3?

I learned through a music artist friend — we follow each other on Twitter. We have a lot of the same friends. I saw him posting on Twitter like, “I’m performing in the metaverse and with the rocky unicorns!” I was like, “Oh, what is the metaverse?” I had no idea. I’d never heard that word ever. I saw pictures of him performing there, and there were little avatar people dancing around at this virtual concert. I asked him, “What is this?” He was pretty deep into the NFT rabbit hole, and he had landed in the Sandbox. I had no idea what Sandbox was. That was my intro and becoming super curious about this metaverse space.

That’s interesting! That’s the power of Twitter, seeing what other people are up to and asking questions. Next thing you know, you’re being onboarded into the metaverse. What advice would you give to somebody who’s into music and wants to learn about NFTs?

If you’re interested in making an album as an NFT, really try to understand the technology. Learn how everything actually works, like the smart contracts and the blockchain. Learn before you start doing anything. I think there’s so much that you can do with NFTs and with the blockchain that is way beyond just dropping music. I think that you can drop music anywhere, yet there are new tools you can use for dropping your stuff. I wish I would have known this when I started.

You make a great point. Start by learning the tech, the smart contracts and overall what the blockchain helps us all advance what full ownership of your creative talent could look like. We now have platforms such as Audius, Sound.xyz and Zora that are doing a great job, teaching artists about music and technology. What’s a project that you’re proud of, and what have you started to accomplish in the NFT space so far?

I like building a community. I’m helping people get into this space. I started PRISM with my co-founder Ren. I randomly met Ren through the Loser Club [NFT]. We’re both nonbinary and Black. It’s nice having someone who can relate to you. We both saw the same problem in the space, and we had an idea to curate a gallery. We wanted to showcase our community that identify as BIPOC, queer, trans and help get some people’s work collected. NFT.NYC is the perfect place to make it happen.

We started from scratch, off good vibes from a community, wanting to make galleries exist featuring talent we have not seen get curated. I hope that this in turn grows the community and helps artists feel like they belong. Already everyone in PRISM has been very supportive, clear on the need of more diverse visibility in the NFT space, and overall, it’s becoming a diverse group of people all believing in one idea about starting a gallery. 

I’m sure you had a lot of examples of communities and gallery inspiration for starting PRISM. What does supporting your efforts to start a business and build community look like? How could someone get involved with bringing more diversity into the Web3 space?

I think that building and sharing your network really helps. If you can make an intro, help revise someone’s pitch deck or even point a founder toward resources they could use for funding, that could help. I think understanding funding and partnerships makes a big difference in how you can position your brand. If you are able to invest in someone in either time or money, that helps. Simply asking how you can support will lead to all kinds of ideas and solving ways to help people.

DISCLAIMER: THIS IS NOT FINANCIAL ADVICE. Please do your own research and consult with professionals when making any investments.

This story appeared in issue #407, available below.

The solution was the Scab Shop project. Founded alongside collaborator CTHDRL in 2022, the celebrated initiative saw the launch of 1/1 NFT artworks from a collective of celebrated artists, which also provided token holders with a real-world appointment to have their artwork inked on their skin.

Read more: Slipknot’s Clown breaks down Knotverse: “It’s a way for us to be as close to you as possible”

The initial root question that led Campbell to establish Scab Shop was also one that resided in the back of the mind of Betty, the co-founder of Deadfellaz, one of the Ethereum blockchain’s most heralded communities. The collision of these two leaders was as rapid as it was inevitable — leading to the official launch of the Deadfellaz x Scab Shop collaboration.

1 – DEADFELLAZ x Sean From Texas Alternative Press Magazine Issue #407.2

Kicking off with a launch event at the NFT.NYC conference June 21, where Scab Shop artists will be tattooing Deadfellaz-inspired designs on raffle ticket winners, in the coming months the partnership will release an official collaboration of 13 Deadfellaz characters interpreted by six Scab Shop artists in their own style, alongside flash sheets. Each Deadfellaz character interpretation comes with the ability to get that character rendered once on skin by the artist. Auction price will start at 1 ETH.

Read more: Inside Goth Girlfriends’ London takeover

Ahead of the collaboration’s launch, and to celebrate an exclusive Alternative Press cover image variant, which fronts our June issue, Campbell and Betty connected in conversation to discuss their respective projects’ origins, the white-knuckle-ride that is the ever-evolving Web3 space and the future possibilities of their collaboration…

SCOTT CAMPBELL: My world has traditionally been very analog. I knew as a visual artist that I would have to participate in this thing called the metaverse at some point. The internet for my whole life has been this thing that has made everything accessible to everyone. And what I pieced together is that with the invention or mechanism of NFT, the core of what it does is allow for there to be a unique thing in this landscape where everything is for everyone. With the possibility of uniqueness, there can now be singular editions, digital artworks that have collectible value.

But one thing that I didn’t anticipate that is undeniably the most powerful force within NFT culture is the token’s ability to build a community. I remember hearing about your project, hearing about the Deadfellaz and immediately being like, “I want to be in that club.” I was a little punk-rock skater kid, and any time I would travel to a new city, I’d first go to a skate park or a punk show and find a group of people that would take me in. That was where all the weirdos ended up, and that’s who I wanted be around. You made a community that I identified with and immediately felt at home in. I’m so curious as to how you got into it. 

BETTY: You hit the nail on the head, and you are picking up exactly what I’m putting down and have done so intentionally. So, I see NFTs in the same way. It’s punk rock, it’s rebellion, it’s counterculture. I think that within those spaces, there are pockets and different communities that have naturally formed, just as they always do within any space with a group of people with shared interests. But what’s interesting to me is how some projects, Deadfellaz included, have managed to create an entire culture around what they’ve done. I think that when you see what’s happening and you pick out that vibe, you do automatically feel attracted to it. It’s what I wanted to see when I entered NFTs.

We started — and I refer to me and my husband, Psych, who is the artist for Deadfellaz — in January 2021. He’s always been a digital artist. I’ve always been in creative production. We’ve run agencies, we’ve done community organizing, all kinds of things throughout our life. Being introduced to NFTs was immediately like the clouds parting; a hallelujah moment. It was something new and innovative and fun and exciting. We immediately started. He started making one-of-one art, and I was just heavy into research. I noticed the PFP movement start to pop up and become adopted — generative art that people will use as their profile picture on social media to represent them and express that they’re in that community.

I thought that idea of digital identity was a really interesting one. I’ve always been quite fascinated with identity and how we choose to communicate that to other people. I didn’t see anything that I liked. Nothing represented me. There were no traits that represented any sort of spectrum of gender — it was all mostly male, and there were a few typically female traits, but they were borderline stereotype offensive, so I just wasn’t into it. Deadfellaz was a lightning-bolt moment. It was like a zap of inspiration; Everything came fully formed, and it was just so fun. I brought it to Psych, and he was immediately on board as he is with all of my harebrained ideas. And we just got to work. We sat for a really long time, traversing the landscape of all of our favorite things. We were listening to all of our favorite music, looking at old fashion that we love, ’90s animation, skate culture and queer culture.

Read more: What is the metaverse? A beginner’s guide to virtual worlds

CAMPBELL: I always feel like the best-designed things are designed selfishly. You’re not creating something to accommodate an audience. You’re creating something that you want that doesn’t exist. And so you make it for yourself, and then you become a magnet for a whole like-minded community. 

BETTY: That’s a piece of advice I give to anyone that asks me, “How do I know what I should create? Where do you find the inspiration?” And I always say, “Look within yourself, and where do you see a hole that you wish to be filled? Where do you see a niche that’s not being met?” Things get hard in this space, and if you’re not passionate about it and that’s not what’s driving you, you are gonna quit. 

CAMPBELL: It can definitely be overwhelming. That’s when I found your project. I was like, “OK, this community is going to be my compass. This is real, and I trust this.”

BETTY: I felt the same way when I found Scab Shop. It was an answer to a question that I’ve been asking: “When are tattoos going to be in this space in a big way?” That was really cool to see that. I was so excited.

Read more: Women-led NFT gallery Vellum LA is transforming how we experience art

CAMPBELL: I’m obsessed now with bringing tattoo culture into Web3. For 25 years, I’ve helped people change who they are in the physical world and help make their physical selves feel more true to who they are inside. And now in the metaverse, it’s natural that it would carry over to that context as well. There’re so many parallels between tattoos and NFTs and the way we use both those things to decide how we want to be seen to the world, digitally and physically. But it’s crazy to hear you talking about launching so recently. One thing I’m fascinated by is that this whole space is so young, and you’re already a pillar of the community. I think it’s a testimony to how contagious and exciting what you’ve built is. 

BETTY: Thank you. I mean, we’ve only been around for less than nine months, but that’s ancient history in the NFT world right now, isn’t it? It’s breakneck. Launching a project is one thing, but running a project is an entirely different beast, and those skills just happen to be in our wheelhouse. It’s interesting being at the very forefront of something that’s completely new because we just don’t know what’s going to happen, and we have to be OK with that and adapt to that. It’s preempting a space that is at the very beginning of its life. We’re predicting the future. We’re innovating.

Read more: Surfbort coach Tony Hawk in new “Open Your Eyes” video—watch

CAMPBELL: I think about Tony Hawk a lot, you know? I love that he was so loyal to his love of skateboarding. He didn’t start skateboarding because he wanted to become rich and famous. He actually let go of all the traditional paths toward money and fame and just followed something he was passionate about. It’s like, “No, this is fucking powerful, and I have to go towards it,” and he ended up dragging the whole world with him.

I think for pioneers in this space, it’s a similar thing. There’s no roadmap, there’s no template, there’s no examples to follow. We’re defining what Web3 is. You’re obviously very loyal to your intuition and to your own curiosity. I think in any artist, when someone creates something and they have fun doing it, that fun and that curiosity is captured in that thing. If they make something out of stress and anxiety and pressure, you feel that stress and anxiety and pressure in the final product. When I see what you guys are doing, that just looks like a big punk-rock bouncy house that I want to get in and be a part of. 

BETTY: That is the vibe. To me, it’s like being a teenager and listening to Nirvana and hanging out with my friends at the skate park or going to my friend’s house. You know that feeling when you hear a new track or a new album or a new band and it makes you feel so excited and joyful? That’s what I felt like when we found NFTs, and that’s the feeling that I want to convey to people when they find Deadfellaz.

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CAMPBELL: What’s interesting is that, on the internet, there’s a lot of assholes out there. The people being negative and criticizing everything end up being the loudest voices we hear. I started to see the internet as this whirlwind of criticism and self-doubt, and it felt gross to put anything I cared about on the internet. What’s amazing about these token-gated communities is that it’s only people that want to be there and choose to be there. There are no haters because you have to put in effort to participate. It’s so positive and supportive of each other. It really has made my internet experience more human.

BETTY: It’s given us a platform to bring all of the best parts of the internet together. Everything comes back to us wanting to be a part of something and wanting to belong to something and to matter and to have an impact and to be seen and heard by other people. I honestly believe that is at the core of what we all need. And it gives us that space to do so, but it brings in the silly and the joyful and the playful. We’re all trying to communicate with each other: who we are, what we want, what we like. 

CAMPBELL: I don’t know how much you share about future projects or what’s coming down the line, but I feel like no Web3 article is complete without the phrase: “So what do you see as the future of NFTs?” Is there anything exciting that you see Deadfellaz, the community, evolving towards?

Read more: How to make NFTs—a guide to creating your own unique artworks

BETTY: We use the word interoperability a lot in the Web3 space. So far we don’t actually see that really at all. Deadfellaz is going to play a big part in introducing that to the space with what we’re building through meta apps and allowing people to shift and change into these various metaverse platforms, navigating where they’re going with the same digital identity, no matter what space they’re in. I really just want to see it progressing. I don’t want to see it stagnating or sitting still for too long. I don’t know where I see this space in however many years, but I think that the cultures that are being born right now will be pivotal as we move forward. Personally, I’m honestly just building to what I want to see in the world and to where I see Deadfellaz fitting into it, creating its own little pocket. I think it’s easy to look at the leaders of this space and think, “That’s how it should be done.” But the issue with that is there’s nothing before that. So if we stick to this path that’s so new, how do we know what else is possible? Having the guts to experiment and to really lean into creativity and innovation is how we’re going to move forward.

Read more: Charli XCX will perform her first metaverse concert on Roblox

CAMPBELL: You talk about interoperability, and I feel you on that with Scab Shop and bringing tattoos into the equation and exploring what that means — aside from just physical tattoos being represented as NFTs and people being able to own their tattoos in a new context. I want to see all that — I want to see whatever Scab Shop tattoos you have in your wallet on the avatars that you walk around in. Any manifestation of yourself digitally I want to see decorated with the same ideas that people would carve into their arms. I’ve had to take deep breaths and just be like, “I can’t build that technology.” Web3 is expanding in two directions: There’s the creative side and the community builders, and then there’s the tech side. I have to pace myself and wait for the nerds to build the road so that we can go down it. 

BETTY: God bless the nerds! 

CAMPBELL: I love the nerds! Whoever coined the phrase “The meek shall inherit the earth,” they were talking about Web3. It’s as if they prophesized a whole sea of underappreciated digital talent all of a sudden creating this new world for us.

Read more: What is the metaverse? A beginner’s guide to virtual worlds

BETTY: We saw you guys and immediately wanted to work together. Tattoos are beloved in our household in real life, but also by our community. The tattoo traits are some of the most popular; people love them, and for good reason. To me, every time I get a tattoo, no matter how random — in the moment or planned — I always feel more myself and more at home in my own body. I think that giving people that feeling when it comes to their avatars or to something that they use to represent themselves in the metaverse was something that I wanted to do. So that’s what I wanted to do with you guys.

CAMPBELL: I’ve definitely seen a lot of your Deadfellaz PFPs interpreted as tattoos, and it makes total sense — it becomes a character that you identify with, and you put your foot forward in the world as a representation of yourself. It’s really powerful. I’m excited to give people interpretations of those characters from the best tattoo artist in the world, doing their interpretations of Deadfellaz and seeing the world through the lens of their artwork. I’m excited to draw my versions of it and try to take what you’ve started and add my little magic sparkle dust onto it for the next chapter. 

Read more: LimeWire to make return as an NFT marketplace

BETTY: Like you said, some of the artists in Scab Shop are people that I have personally followed for many years. To be able to do something in collaboration with you guys as a whole is honestly an honor. Collaboration is a very big part of the NFT space; to be able to work in that way creatively, to have that mutual admiration for each other’s work, and then bring that to something that everyone else can enjoy, is very cool. So I’m really excited to see that project come to life and then move into the next part, which is bringing that into the physical world.

DISCLAIMER: THIS IS NOT FINANCIAL ADVICE. Please do your own research and consult with professionals when making any investments.

When it launches in 2023, Knotverse will bring the principles, spirit and community of their groundbreaking festival Knotfest to Web3, making it more accessible, more involved and more Slipknot than ever.

Read more: Slipknot, The Sandbox unleash new metaverse experience KNOTVERSE

Clown is still working out exactly what Knotverse will entail, but it’s more a case of figuring out what he wants to prioritize, rather than scratching about for good ideas. There’s talk of virtual concerts, creating digital art as a community and access to a library of Slipknot gigs from across the years.

“I don’t know how people will pay for it,” Clown admits. He believes it’ll likely be a subscription-based model, perhaps $20 a month, “but we’re not making that our top priority.” As with everything Slipknot have done over the years, art comes before profit. “What we’re going to offer is going to be mind-blowing. It’s going to be anything and everything you’ve ever wanted from Slipknot.”

So why now? “It’s time to reeducate all the humans and get them ready for the future because they’re not going to have a choice in the matter eventually,” he says. “It’s better for the culture to hear about it from us, than the opposition. The opposition makes things very boring.”

And when Clown talks about the opposition, he means the people “that want to get to you and your money first. That’s never cohesive with fun or fairness.”

Clown is approaching Knotverse “as a piece of digital art. Now’s a good time to get people on the same page, and we can figure this out together,” he says. “It’s time to take the power back into our own hands. We need to catch up to the wonderful abilities that are in front of us.”

First up, what do you want Knotverse to represent? 

I’m designing everything in a way that when you can’t be with us, you are with us. We want to provide a safe space that’s available 24 hours a day. What I do is God Music, which means I contribute to helping people. We’re making a world that’s my own Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, so when a fan, a Maggot, is depressed or has a rough day at work and needs a little Slipknot, they can come to Knotverse and be offered all kinds of new things. That’s what the metaverse is for me — a way to help my culture that’s also a lot of fun for everyone.

So it’s not going to replace the world of Knotfest you have already created?

This religion known as Slipknot is to be with you, using any tools we can. It doesn’t matter how advanced technology gets. It can’t replace the emotional, physical aspect of being at an actual show. We all know that, which means we’ll keep touring.

But what about when we can’t be together? There are people in the world who never got the chance to see [drummer] Joey Jordison, [bassist] Paul Gray or [percussionist] Chris Fehn play with Slipknot, and two of those gentlemen are no longer with us — rest in peace, brothers. We’ve never been to China. There are places in South Africa and the United States that Slipknot still hasn’t gotten to, and there are fans everywhere who have never been to a show because their reality doesn’t allow it — that could be religious reasons, work commitments, anything.

So Web3 and metaverses are a wonderful way of acting out reality as close as you can, in a digital world. Let’s say Knotfest is taking place in Palm Springs, which fans in Mexico City can’t physically attend — Knotverse could have a carnival arena with giant screens, broadcasting us playing live. You’d be surrounded by fans, all interacting with each other in real time. That’s a very real experience in a fake world. 

A digital world has got to offer up a lot of new avenues for an artist like you, right?

We’re in an era where technology means absolutely anything is possible. Do you know how many things I’ve come up with and wanted to do with Knotfest that we’ve not been able to? I’ll give you one example: Years ago, we had these cars that you could beat on with a stick. Well, on the day of the festival, I found out that we had to chain the sticks to the ground, which I thought was just cheesy and missed the mark. Then there are transport costs, storage costs. With the metaverse, I can come up with any concept and utilize it perfectly in a digital world.

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I don’t need to worry about sticks being stolen; I don’t need to worry about people being hurt. Instead, I can make it so in Knotverse, each strike of the bat makes a different note. Then maybe we organize a group of people, and we record this drum circle, turn it into an NFT, with 75% of the money going to charity. We can have digital meet and greets that are just us hanging out, talking about music or coffee or whatever. You can watch Sid [Wilson, DJ] scratching, knowing he’s doing it live from somewhere in the world. It’s fascinating. We can have guitar lessons, we can have performances, we can do interviews. It’s a way for us to be as close to you as possible.

People thought I was crazy when I spoke about creating a Slipknot museum as part of Knotfest, but there are so many artists involved in making one of our masks. I wanted to share that with the fans rather than just throwing it into a box. But even now, that museum doesn’t tell the whole story. With Knotverse, I can tell it all, and you can get involved in as much or as little as you want.

How will Knotverse shape the future of the band?

We’re putting out one more album, then we’re off the label [Roadrunner Records]. After that, I can start talking about the rest of my free life. Whether we go with another label or not just depends on who wants to work with Slipknot because we want to take things far. And the good news is, I’m not going to have a lot of naysayers around us telling me what I can and can’t do. Knotverse allows us to take back control. And I’m taking it all back for all of us because the opposition had their chance. They don’t deserve anything more from us.

Would you ever release music through the metaverse?

It depends on who wants to work with Slipknot, but it’s a new world out there for music right now. Wherever we live and whoever we live with, though, Knotverse is our platform to release everything as timely, efficiently and harmless as possible — cutting out all the middlemen. It’s a direct link between us and you. If we own our own music, and I don’t have to ask for permission, we don’t have to accommodate anyone else’s rules, which waters down what we do.

There’s a lot of new words floating around, but they’re just reflections of old words. It sounds scary to say you want to release an album through the metaverse, but really, that just means streaming something on the internet. Don’t be scared of this new technology. You have to go with change. Otherwise, you get left behind, and I don’t want that for our family. Knotverse is a fun new way of taking power into our own hands and being rulers of our own decisions.

How important is it that Knotverse is affordable?

Anything worth doing is worth doing for money, right? So when I got into this space and we started learning about crypto and NFTs, I spoke to a couple of people in our organization, and I made them promise me that we would always remember our culture, and we would make everything cost-effective for our culture. No one gets more embarrassed than me about making a profit. I do everything in my fucking power to be able to give back as much as I can.

If you want to talk about money, I see Knotverse as something you sign up for, and you get a lot. If you’re part of the religion, the culture, you come in to Knotverse and see people you know, and everyone artistically gets to show themselves. The metaverse is something that we need to be at forefront of — that’s going to benefit all of us. I want to give fans assets to make their own NFTs and make their own money because I want you to survive. I want you to make it in this world.

You’ve got big ambitions for Knotverse, then?

I want to be the biggest thought process in rock ’n’ roll ever. I’m not trying to take on the Beatles, Pink Floyd or Metallica. I’m just simply trying to be Slipknot and utilize everything artistically I was born with. Morbidly, I’m getting ready for the end game. I’m 52 and I’ve got friends dropping left and right around me. The world’s fucked up, and it feels like the end times, so I’m getting organized. And I’ll tell you what — organization means good things for the Maggots.

So as well as giving you control over the future of the band, Knotverse is also your way of securing your legacy?

I’m not going to be here forever, and I don’t want to leave it to someone else to tell our story when I already have the ability to paint it myself. I’ve been waiting for the ability to share intellectual property without the corporate world digging its knives and forks in and spreading it thin. Trust me, that’s already been a battle. I still want people to roll through a garage sale and find that first Slipknot album for 50 cents, and then negotiate it down to a quarter, because that’s real life. That’s pop culture. But I also want a space that tells our complete story, to the best of our abilities.

You won’t meet too many artists in bands that have more intellectual property than me. I used to film everything, and I only stopped a few years ago because no one could keep up with it. I’ve been waiting for things like metaverses, crypto and NFTs to take off. I’m from the generation that helped build them, and now I’m finally sitting at the right side of what we all wanted. Now I can organize and give all of you, everything. I can explain the story, and you can devour it on your own time. I’ve been doing this band for 25 years now. It’s time for us to do us.

Slipknot have a fanbase that really trusts your opinion on art, music and everything else. Does that add to the pressure of launching something like Knotverse?

No, because there’s no other band that can do it but us. No disrespect to anybody else, but we’re the band for this. There are several people in Slipknot that have been video gamers and coders from day one. This was made for us. It’s going to take a lot of hard work, but it’s great because I’ve waited my whole life, and I finally have everything I need to do it. We don’t want to use any templates, either. We’re building and designing everything ourselves, from the ground up. 

And by the way, the reason why it’s Knotverse and not Slipknotland is because Slipknot is Knotfest, but Slipknot has chosen to let Knotfest be for everyone — so that makes Knotverse that was as well. I could let another band do their album premiere in that space; I can stream other band’s gigs there. It’s not just selfishly motivated. The metaverse is bigger than all of us, and we’re just trying to do our bit.

Read more: HE Creative and 0xNoFace are making an inclusive NFT space with goth gfs

Their latest exhibition in London, England tells a story of how a small, long-held vision of creators tired or not seeing themselves in the NFT art world has created a community beyond anything they could have anticipated. 

“It’s surprising the avenues it can go to,” says the artistic wizards behind the art surrounding us in this decadent gallery, the HE Creative team. They’re no strangers to the alternative community, both coming up in the punk and hardcore scenes in their youth.  “It’s grown very organically,” they explain. “We often don’t stay involved with a project once the art is done, but with this, you’re held in high regard as the artist.” Alongside their Goth Girlfriends work, in this gallery we see tour admats and other work they’ve created for artists such as Phoebe Bridgers and Salem, including our very own Avenged Sevenfold Deathbats NFT magazine covers. 

Hunkered down in the basement of this intimate gallery to find some quiet in all the enthralling chaos, the DJ’s bass boosting through the ceiling while the sweet sting of a tattoo gun echos in the distance, one thing is evident: Goth Girlfriends’ NFTs are really only scratching the surface of what this project is, and the possibilities for alternative music in these spaces, especially when it comes to the diversification of these spaces through the lens of alternative culture.

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“Our main focus is to bring people together online and offline,” says Goth GF’s founder and genius hivemind behind all of this, NoFace. “The online stuff is so important,” they explain. “But it’s also just as important for the real life. Events like this show that we’re real; we’re a legitimate project. The fact that so many women are here is incredible. That is the biggest lack of diversity, especially in crypto and NFTs.” 

NoFace’s point is one that is painfully accurate but thankfully changing, thanks to communities like Goth Girlfriends. Alongside the spectacular art showcasing women from all backgrounds, all styles, and all walks of life, the Goth Girlfriends team have created spaces both online and in real life — at concerts, galleries and festivals — to elevate marginalized groups in the NFT and music space. 

With bigger musicians venturing into the Web3 universe every day, from BABYMETAL to Slipknot, Goth Girlfriends is leading by example of how artists can offer more than just the NFT and create unique experiences, online and in the real world. Their gallery is just the beginning, “we’ve been doing events recently with Creeper and Nova Twins. It’s so good to be back at events,” NoFace explains. Through the Goth Girlfriends community, you can access exclusive tickets, guest list spots and access to your favorite artists unlike before, as well as having your own NFT. They are strengthening an already growing bond between the Web3 world and alternative culture.

Superstar Galaxy allows players to explore, build and customize performance stages. You can check it out here.

Read more: Charli XCX releases “Used To Know Me” video from ‘CRASH’—watch

Player characters will each be equipped with a Galaxy Z Flip3 smartphone. The device will allow players to receive challenges, explore the Superstar Galaxy and receive tips from Charli XCX.

Additionally, players will be able to complete in-game challenges to earn points and climb the leaderboard ahead of Charli’s metaverse debut. The top players will join Charli XCX onstage at the virtual Samsung Arena within Roblox.

Superstar Galaxy on Roblox is available in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Germany, United Kingdom and additional countries worldwide.

Charli XCX has also joined Samsung’s Team Galaxy as an ambassador.

In case you need to catch up on her music before the concert, listen below.