1. Home
2. Blog
3. Interviews

Inside the World of ET Boys: From DIY Studio to Chart-Topping Success

ET Boys make hits with a decade-old laptop, a coat hanger mic, and zero budget—but millions of streams prove they don’t need fancy gear.

By Chris RoditisMusicngear Lead Editor

Genre-bending, video game-inspired, and unapologetically DIY, ET Boys have been making waves with their blend of Nu Alt Pop, melodic rap, and synth-driven beats.

In this interview, they talk dream collabs, time-traveling rockstar swaps, and why they really don’t want to represent Earth in an intergalactic battle of the bands. Plus, their unfiltered take on Spotify, live shows, and the struggles of making music across state lines.

Chris Roditis, Musicngear: Your sound blends video game-esque beats, synth work, and a mix of genres. Can you give us the rundown of the gear you use to create your music?

We have a bobo bedroom studio with very limited hardware. I have a laptop that is almost a decade old and a small MIDI keyboard. I make all of my stuff on FL Studio.

My brother has a microphone that he hangs off a coat hanger in his closet as a makeshift recording booth. Mind you it is a Neumann U87 ai! 

We've posted pictures of our setup on our Instagram... it is very budget friendly haha. Ever grateful for the gift of the Neumann mic.  

Musicngear: If you had an unlimited budget for gear, what’s the one dream piece of gear you’d add to your setup?

I'd get some nice speakers and to be honest I don't even know what I'd add. We've never had a budget to add crazy stuff to our setup. But I've always wanted some analog synths.

I've seen videos online of people making some pretty cool sounds with those analog synths from the 80's and 90's. I think that kind of stuff would go incredibly well with our style. 

Musicngear: If ET Boys were a video game, what kind of game would it be?

I think it would be an RPG. Nintendo 64/Playstation 1 style graphics. Lots of cool art, great soundtrack, and the story would be extremely convoluted. 

Musicngear: You've had multiple songs chart on the DRT Independent and Hip Hop charts, but every artist faces challenges along the way. What’s been the biggest obstacle in your career so far, and what advice would you give to artists dealing with similar struggles?

I would say the biggest challenge that we have faced is the fact that we are a long-distance band. When we are together, the ideas flow and we can create so much in just a single jam sesh. But most of the time we live in different states so we have to send ideas back and forth which really puts a wrench in our creative process.

I would tell any new group to make the most of the time you have when you are all together. 

Musicngear: Now that “Far Away” is out, what’s your next big goal? More streams? Booking live shows? Getting on major festival lineups? And how do you plan to make that happen?

I would love to do a live show one day, hopefully that is not too far in the future. But for now, I don't have any goals for stream counts, my goal is to just continue to make music consistently.

Life sucks most of the time and I just hope that I am able to make a few people feel good with my music.

Musicngear: If you had to swap lives with any musician from history for a day, who would it be and what’s the first thing you’d do?

I would swap lives with Tommy Lee, the drummer of Motley Crue at their prime. I’m not really a party guy but I think it would be cool to live the life of a rockstar for a day in the 80s. 

Musicngear: Artists you’d like to cooperate with? Also, venues or festivals you’d love to play?

I get inspiration from all kinds of genres so this collab list might look kind of weird. I'd love to collaborate with Chvrches, Phil Collins, Lil Wayne, Nobuo Uematsu, System of A Down, and Kavinsky.

Musicngear: Given that Spotify pays musicians mere pennies while raking in billions, do you believe the music industry would be better or worse off if the platform disappeared overnight? 

 Oh Great Spotify, I bow down to you. I will never speak ill of your name. I am eternally grateful for all you do for us. I am forever your humble servant. 

Musicngear: As the way people consume music visual content is changing, if from now on you had to choose only one format to release visuals for your music, what would that be? Official music videos or TikToks/Shorts/Reels? And why?

Music videos for sure. So much more room for creativity and expression. 

Musicngear: You wake up and realize the ET Boys have been chosen as Earth’s official representatives for the first-ever intergalactic battle of the bands. What song do you play to impress the aliens?

I would ask them to reconsider. There are countless better bands than us. That is also a butthole puckering amount of pressure that I would not ever want. But if we were forced into being the representatives I would probably just cover another band's hit to give us the best shot.

If we had to pick one of our current songs I'd pick our latest single Far Away. 

Connect with ET Boys
Facebook / X / Instagram / Spotify / YouTube / Website

About Chris Roditis

Chris Roditis has been an active musician since 1995 in various bands and projects across a variety of genres ranging from acoustic, electronic to nu metal, british rock and trip hop. He has extensive experience as a mixing engineer and producer and has built recording studios for most of the projects he has been involved with. His passion for music steered his entrepreneurial skills into founding MusicNGear in 2012.

Contact Chris Roditis at chrisroditis@kinkl.com

LinkedInTwitterFacebook