Through the low-resolution video call, we can hardly make out the silhouette of a man standing outside in the dark. The father of freestyle himself, Mud Digger, greets us and pans the camera around, welcoming us to Mud Ranch.
Since 2022, he’s been slowly crafting a unique sonic landscape of monster trucks; heavy guitar riffs; and everything red, white, and blue. His first single, the self-titled “Mud Digger,” is a braggadocious trap anthem infused with the soul of smalltown southern America. Digger’s melodic performance is underscored by the snarling drawl of Duff, his equally mysterious counterpart.
Following the release of two more singles, “White Deer” and “The Boss”, discourse around the duo’s unconventional sound was at times controversial, but the one thing fans knew was that they wanted more.
His debut album “Bad to the Bone” released in April of 2024, with nine total tracks, sporting six Duff features. The album circulated through underground hip-hop communities online. Though many attempted to understand Digger, very little information is publicly available. The world was eager to know more.
As such, LCD reached out to Digger to break down what it takes to craft a modern American Classic.
LCD: Can I ask what beer you’re drinking?
DIGGER: Oh, it’s some shitty beer from the local store. It’s not, it’s not even, like, a brand. It’s not even a brand. It’s just beer. It’s like, yeah.
But, shitty beers tend to be not as bad. You know? For the price, it’s a good deal. You know? It’s a good deal.
Who is Digger?
I mean, I’m just a guy who likes making music, who’s leaning more into this, like, nature vibe and kind of foresty, spirit. You know? But I’m also never limiting myself, just one kind of genre or something.
I like making all kinds of music. All kinds of music that sometimes [doesn’t] even get out. It doesn’t even get released. But this genre or whatever it is, this vibe, it has a, like, a special place, for me
That was the question that I kinda knew I would get, but was too lazy to, like, prepare for, you know, and think about
What made you start making music as Digger?
I guess there was a turning point for me where I said to myself, okay, I wanna make something out of this influence that I got. And, the time I’m talking about, I was, like, super heavy into Sematary, yeah, which is, I don’t know, kind of funny.
[I was] super into Sematary, in, like, 2020. I think I found him when Grave House was out, but I wasn’t listening to him at that point, I think. I really got into him when Hundred Acre Wrist [came out.]
LCD (E): I definitely heard a Hundred Acre Wrist influence when first listening to the album
Yeah, that’s probably my favourite project of his, with DJ Sorrow and shit. I could talk about that project for hours. It’s really fucking amazing.
I see all kinds of people now on the Internet talking about Sematary, and a lot of people even kind of mentioning him in a bad light, but I don’t know. From my experience, I really saw something special in that moment. You know? I really appreciate what he’s done musically. The projects were fucking bangers.
LCD: Does it bother you that so much of the Digger commentary online is just comparing your work to Sematary/Haunted Mound?
DIGGER: I don’t think I would say it bothers me. That whole first single was recognized in the Sematary community and, yeah, a lot of people were, like, fucking hating on it. I think it kind of helped the project to just grow, because if nobody was talking about it, that would be even worse.
LCD: I think what people online are saying, and what we feel too, is that you’ve done a unique enough spin on that “Sematary sound” that it’s worth listening to.
DIGGER: People were divided. [There were] people like you who said that the project was interesting, and people who, you know, didn’t accept it. I guess over time, we figured out what really works for us – what we should draw from, and what kind of sound [we want to make.] It’s not just Sematary. You know?
LCD: Your subject matter is about very American stuff, but you yourself are not an American. What country are you actually from?
DIGGER: I’m from Slovenia, but right now – this ranch – is like, an hour of driving from my place, at home in Slovenia. It’s actually on the Croatian side of the border.
LCD: What could possibly compel someone living on a small eastern European ranch to produce such a great American classic?
DIGGER: Let me think about that. Hearing questions like this for the first time, I’m kind of touching on the subject myself, you know? I’m answering these questions even to myself, in the process.
Probably my Dad, also. He’s a very, like, tough guy kind of Dad. He always rode Harleys, or choppers in general – driving jeeps. He had a lot of cars before. That’s something I didn’t think about from the start, but that’s something I remembered a year ago and was really thinking about. I started thinking “Why did we even start listening to stuff like ACDC.” and it always came back to my Dad having this CD in his car. He also drove those cars. He was a reseller. He bought cars – like a labour man – he made them fucking look good, and then he would sell them.
When you say Digger – I think my Dad is the real fucking Digger. If you saw him, just wearing his sunglasses and never letting anybody fuck with his kids. He has this American vibe to him, and all these extra objects – the cars, and the music – it went with it, but even without it he’s fucking badass, you know?
Now I can answer the last question because when you asked me what America represents to me, in the moment the thoughts just [didn’t] come to me. Aside from the materialistic stuff and everything, I think America is just my Dad.
Fucking tough man. Would not let anybody him. It’s not always fucking roses and shit – having a dad that’s tough has its own pros and cons. Aside from the music, he’s also a big part of this.
LCD (B): I’m glad you’d bring it around to something familial because I know what that’s like. My Dad is a really tough working man. He always had tools and he operates heavy machines for a living. I grew up riding dirt bikes on trails here in British Columbia. A big part of my view on masculinity is very tied to my dad’s working manship, so I definitely relate to what you’re saying.
LCD: What does America mean to you?
DIGGER: It really reminds me of my childhood. We were in a band in primary school, even Duff was in the band, and we would play everything like Green Day, Avenge Sevenfold… And in those years, we were just, fucking hanging out and listening to a bunch of music, which included, like, Pantera, Metallica, fucking Megadeath. I think if we didn’t, this stuff wouldn’t come as naturally as it did to me. Like, these fucking southern, riffs, you know, Fucking, heavy American badass, bass drums. You know? And, I think that’s where, I connect all of this the most
LCD: A lot of the influences you cite are rock/metal bands. Why do you then choose to rap about this American stuff instead of taking a more traditional rock and roll approach?
DIGGER: It’s not, necessarily pinpointed to, like, America. It’s just, in general, woods, hunting, nature. I think it also kind of makes sense, even in this scenario just to, like, use some of that American influence.
I make my own guitars for this stuff. So when I’m recording, I always hear, like, fucking, bald eagles screaming on that shit. So even when it’s not [rock], even when it’s something more like, neo folk, it always kind of comes back to fucking American riffs. I don’t know. It just goes fucking well together, I guess.
LCD: Bringing it back around to rap and America, there’s one song on the album that sort of screams at you when you hear it for the first time: Real USA Rap Shit.
DIGGER: Hell yeah, Real USA Rap Shit
LCD: What, in your eyes, defines “Real USA Rap Shit?” When you say “That’s that Real USA Rap Shit,” what is that?
DIGGER: The track is like, you know, like, fucking paying homage to this shit, a fucking tribute. And when you put it like that, yeah, fucking lifted trucks, fucking Pantera playing out of that shit, That just screams, Real USA Rap Shit, and it’s something it’s unique. You know? There’s not something, else that I think, could replicate, this kind of, feeling.
DIGGER: Yeah I totally get you. Even when you [mentioned] riding the trails in Canada. Canada always seemed to me like really similar to Slovenia. It kinda has the same energy, just a lot of countryside if I’m correct.
LCD: Yeah we have a lot of bigger cities, but then in between is just vast open countryscape – mountains, hills and trees. That’s an interesting observation, comparing Canada to Slovenia. You’ve already sort of answered this question, but we want to know: who is Duff and what role does he play in your life and Bad to the Bone?
DIGGER: He’s a childhood friend. We’ve known each other for a fucking long time. We were playing together – he was playing drums, I was playing guitar and singing. And I guess out of all four or five guys in our band, Duff was the one that I stayed in contact with, and kept on making shit with. It was always – I mean, not always. We hang a lot, and then we don’t see each other for half a year, but it’s nothing negative. Just him working on his stuff, me working on my stuff. There’s always a time when we come back together and make some stuff again. He’s always here and we’re always in touch.
He’s just been working jobs. He’s been looking into buying a home for quite some years now. He’s working towards his goal to buy a house near the alps in Slovenia.
LCD: Slovenia is a big place. You guys have a lot of tall mountains and plenty of skiing don’t you?
DIGGER: We do. We have a lot of ski resorts, and this part of the alps divided between Slovenia, Italy, Austria, France… But we have a smaller chunk of those alps. There’s a video, Autumn 2022, on the Digger YouTube channel. That footage is from the alps. You can get the feeling of what Duff wants to live, and it’s fucking great and awesome.
LCD: Back to the album, what were the visual inspirations behind album cover and the single covers before it?
DIGGER: Probably like trap mixtapes, like Gucci Mane, which is also kind of a Sematary thing, I guess. For Bad to the Bone, I didn’t wanna make it sloppy. I wanted to make the collage type cover, and I love to edit in Photoshop and make stuff like that. With this one I just took my time with it, sitting at my PC for a long time, but I’m fucking satisfied with it.
I don’t know if that’s the direction I want to go in for future releases, but for Bad to the Bone, it did the job. I tried to just put everything that made this project until now on the cover. The Jeep – which is also here parked outside – just put that in there. Put the shovel, you know, just everything mentioned in the lyrics to match the energy of the songs.
I think for the text I used Adobe Illustrator because that’s where I’m kind of more natural. I think it has some default effects to make it look 3D just to get that Gucci Mane type feeling.
LCD: Is Gucci Mane a big inspiration to you in rap?
DIGGER: I just listened to him a little bit, but I couldn’t say it had so much influence on me. I wouldn’t say I’m a diehard fan or anything.
LCD: You talked about DJ Sorrow on 100 Acre Wrist, and you have a sort of DJ of your own on this album giving commentary throughout. What can you tell us about that?
DIGGER: We didn’t think of that guy as any kind of character in this universe, not like DJ Sorrow. In Sematary’s case, when I saw DJ Sorrow, I kind of saw a character in my mind, you know? I thought like, oh shit that’s a third guy. I dont think thats the case [for us.]
I don’t think in the further releases if that’s something I want to keep because it’s such a Sematary thing to do, and I wanna lean toward my thing and not just do something that somebody else does. For this project, it made sense, so I’m not regretting it. For the future, I’m not sure. I guess we’ll see.
LCD: Who actually voices the DJ?
DIGGER: We found someone from the Internet. The classic stuff. It’s not like anyone from our group or something.
LCD: Next up is the Lightning Round.
DIGGER: Okay.
LCD: Top 3 Americans
DIGGER: Goddamn Matthew McConaughey. He’s American right? Fucking Chief Keef, and Sematary.
LCD: Favourite Beer?
DIGGER: I dont drink anything special. Something light, cheap, from the local shop. Cheap shit.
LCD: Favourite Cigarette?
DIGGER: I’m on and off with cigarettes. Lately i’ve been trying to be more healthy like working out. I’m in the phase now where it’s not really a thing for me, so I guess I don’t really have one.
LCD: Favourite Truck?
DIGGER: The Jeep Cherokee was always a fucking sick car to me, but now that I have it, I could probably say Jeep Grand Cherokee because that’s something I wanna upgrade it to. All blacked out, lifted, Jeep Grand Cherokee.
LCD: Best State in America?
DIGGER: Could I just say the whole fucking US? All 50 of them.
LCD: Best Gun?
DIGGER: Probably the Scar. The stuff they use in the military. That stuff is like, destroying shit, so probably that. I like vintage guns also, but the military high-tech stuff is fucking based.
LCD: Best American TV Show?
DIGGER: True Detective.
LCD: Greatest American Musician?
DIGGER: It’s a battle between Pantera and Chief Keef.
LCD: Back to the regular questions. We asked a lot about major musical influences, but do you have any dream musicians you’d want to collaborate with?
DIGGER: Lana Del Rey or Salem. I had this period where I was listening to Salem for like a year or two straight, and when I stopped listening to them, what other artists could I get into? They left this void that I had to fill with other music, but there wasn’t anything else out there that would scratch that itch. Then I found Elusin. She gave me those Salem vibes, but also brought something original and new.
Probably Elusin. I’ve been fucking with her for so long, and it always evoked something special in me. I think she makes her own beats. That always hits different when someone’s putting effort to make the sonical part of the fucking mixtape and the lyrics and everything.
LCD: You have so much Americana in your work. What are the chances that Digger will perform live in the United States or even Canada?
DIGGER: That would be fucking insane, but It has to come to that point naturally. It’s not even something I should plan because why put some high expectations on myself for this project? If you put these expectations for yourself, it kills the joy because it becomes more of a pressure type of thing. If you don’t get to that goal, then you’re disappointed. I’m not trying to set any goals for this project, but I’m just willing to work to make it go further. If it comes to that point it just has to come naturally.
LCD: Is there another Digger project in the works?
DIGGER: I was working on a song for Digger yesterday. I was working until late, and then I didn’t get enough sleep, but I’m happy and feeling accomplished because I did a lot. I finished the beat, and I almost finished the lyrics. With the leaves falling off the trees, I’m feeling a fall vibe. Fall is always a really inspiring season to me. I feel more inspired to make music in the fall, or even the winter. I guess the closest track I have out that has this vibe is White Deer, but it’s not a trap thing. If White Deer was more of a ballad or just kinda acoustic type shit. Combine that with Neo-Folk. I think it will fit very nicely with everything I do.
A lot of the stuff I make doesn’t even come out, but this track, I love it so much, so I feel like it has to come out. So probably in the fall if everything goes to plan. It’s just one track, not a whole EP.
LCD: Speaking of White Deer, we think it’s the perfect penultimate track – something of a ballad – just before the laid-back Thank God For My Reefer to close off the album. The way that the project is structured all the way through is just perfect.
DIGGER: Yeah that’s fucking great to hear. I thought about everything, really, like positioning and stuff because if you’re making a project, put everything, all your effort, into it and go into every detail. But it’s also a curse because if you’re thinking too much about details, then you’re just then you worry a lot, and maybe you feel discouraged to drop stuff. So I guess the best way is to just balance it and, care about the details, but not so much that it just stops you from expressing yourself and releasing.
LCD: For a debut project, you’re doing pretty decent numbers, selling merch too. It’s pretty impressive. We’re curious how you can market something this niche, especially being that you do not actually live in America.
DIGGER: I think that’s my weakest point, when it comes to music, just promoting it. I think the first thing that I released got into some algorithms on SoundCloud, so people were finding it from there. But then moving on, I didn’t really have a plan for marketing.
The only thing was, “okay, just try to be consistent,” which I wasn’t, until now. And even now, I’m kind of getting into it, as it’s becoming a bit more serious. I’m feeling the vibe, and I love working on it lately. You know? But I was always kinda lacking in this sense of just kinda promoting my music. The only thing I’m doing now is making more content. I dropped a video for Four Wheel Season, and we shot another video for The Boss, which should also come out soon. I think that track needed the fucking video. I love that track, that fucking video.
I guess I’m trying lately to do more content, do more videos and stuff, but also not trying to make it too much of a business thing. Just trying to enjoy the process. You know?
That’s a strange moment in music when you have to convert from, like, doing this because you love it and doing stuff because you have to make [it a business]. So it’s still like, I wanna make more, but I still try to enjoy the whole process.
You know? Have fun with it. Make it genuine, and it also radiates this energy. When I saw the footage of The Boss, it’s kind of just us hanging around. It’s funny. I’ll send you some [footage.]
LCD: Have you ever been to the United States?
DIGGER: No. I’ve never been to the USA. It would be crazy if the first time I come to the USA would be, like, going on tour or something.
LCD: Is there anywhere in the United States that you’d be interested in visiting?
DIGGER: If I’m going to the USA, I think my main goal wouldn’t be to see the big cities. I’d like to explore the suburbs and shit. It seems like I can enjoy that more. I love the American suburbs scenery – the countryside. When you just drive and there’s nothing on the left, nothing on the right. That kind of existential sense, but in a comforting kind of Salem way. I’d definitely want to explore that part of America.
LCD: We can probably assume you’ve never been here either, but do you have any thoughts about Canada?
DIGGER: You’re a kind people, you know? That’s what everybody says, but I don’t know if it’s true because I’ve never been.
LCD: People can be very kind here. One thing about where we’re from, Vancouver, is that everybody is super private. We like to keep to ourselves. Sometimes it can be hard to meet new people in Vancouver.
DIGGER: You know what’s kind of funny? From everything you’ve described about Canada, people being friendly, but also closed off and private. It really feels like you’re describing Slovenia. It just confirms my idea that our countries are very alike.
LCD: Maybe you’d feel right at home here in Vancouver
DIGGER: Maybe I’d do better in Canada. I used to listen to one artist from Winnipeg back when I used to listen to Ghostemane and Lil Peep. He’s called Smrtdeath. It’s like a similar style to the guitars and trap beats. He was poppin at one time.
LCD: Starting to wind down a bit. We have a few more big questions, so just to close it off. You’ve never been to America, but you’re fascinated by American ideas. Does Digger believe in the American Dream?
DIGGER: That’s a good question. I think that Digger would have his own idea of the American Dream. Not the classical American Dream that they will push upon you, this agenda, you know? It’s too much of a tactic to push people into this state where they don’t have power. I think Digger would go against it, even. Just following his own American Dream. To rebel against all the politics and not letting any agenda or tactics get to him.
The American Dream is a kind of reverse psychology. You have to find your own American Dream.
LCD: We’re glad to hear that the American Dream is alive and well in Slovenia.
DIGGER: It’s the mentality, you know? Wherever you are, it’s just the mindset. Like I said before, a lot of those things just remind me of my Dad. I’m glad I remembered it and talked about it because it’s definitely something I should be thinking about more. For the sake of me, and for the project. It’s the mentality. It’s what you do. No matter where you are, it’s just this mindset. I don’t know what this thing is called, but whatever my Dad has – that’s the American Dream.
LCD: Obviously you’ve been making music for a long time. Do you have any long-term goals as a musician?
DIGGER: Shit I would just be so fucking happy if this art gets to the point where I can live off it. That would be enough for me.
Like I said before, if I give myself a goal that is unreachable, then I’ll be disappointed in the end. I’ve been thinking of those things recently and trying to create a healthier mindset [for myself.] How far I wanna go with it.
LCD: One last question, and it’s more of a deep question. What do you want young people to take away from your art?
DIGGER: Maybe the biggest part is the DIY stuff. All the music I make, I make it in my room on my PC. I’ve noticed that people appreciate that, and admire that. It sometimes even makes them believe in themselves making music. It makes them take their first steps. I’m happy to be in a position where everything related to my music right now, I can make it in my room. Maybe that inspires someone.
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