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After two electric sets at FME 2026 and a chance meeting at Bar Pazzo, haha Laughing had us charmed. The charismatic pair wielded chaos on stage and exuded friendly Texan vibes when off. Aby Oviedo and Jay Dilick are each rockstar multi-instrumentalists, warping genre and theatricality into a performance style totally their own. Romantic partners first, the love between the pair on stage is clear even amongst their trademark “noisy rap shit.”
Noticing their many lyrical references to annoying band behaviour and misconduct, such as on “ROACHEZ AND MOSQUITOZ,” we wanted to get the lowdown on the Austin scene and how, haha Laughing had been received in the milieu.
“Sometimes, in the Austin scene, people just fucking suck and they still get to do their thing,” says Dillick. “There’s so much stupid high school bullshit drama that happens with people’s egos being way bigger than they should be.”
“The thing that frustrates me is that the Austin scene is very much not pretentious. So for someone to come in with that energy, I’m like, ‘this isn’t fucking LA,’” says Oviedo.
Though “ROACHEZ AND MOSQUITOZ” is inspired by run-ins with irritating band boys and clout chasers, Dilick clarifies that it’s not all metaphor. “It’s also about how there’s a fucking goddamn huge amount of roaches all the time. But they gave us the catalyst to write a song. It stemmed from Aby fucking around on a keyboard when we were recording the vocals for the last record, and I chopped it up.”
haha Laughing at FME
haha Laughing’s consistently updated catalogue of EPs is something to behold in the modern world of independent music, where so often artists are hindered by the devil’s bargain of creative control that quickly spills into maladaptive perfectionism. We were curious to know how haha Laughing cracked the code with their unique integration of influences and instruments, including guitars, live drums, saxophone, and countless illegal samples.
“I make all the beats for the most part,” says Dilick. “Then we write all the lyrics, and then we go and record them at this studio that’s right by my house.”
Oviedo clarifies that the ‘studio’ is a shed in some old lady’s yard, where Jay used to record with his old punk bands. But for the bulk of the production, Dilick prefers taking his work on the road.
“I do a lot of it in my car on my break at work, or I go to this bar, Tweety’s in Austin, all the time, and sit on the computer and make shit.”
“He’s always making shit,” says Oviedo. “Sometimes I have to be like, ‘can you slow down on making shit?’”
haha Laughing has come a long way from being Dilick’s pandemic-era solo project. Now, writing is much more collaborative between the pair, with songs like “SLIVERZ OF SKIN” and “DEATH SPIRAL 3” stemming from jams and writing sessions. The duo also loves picking up inspiration from unlikely (and uncleared) sources.
“I love “Wait (The Whisper Song)” by the Ying Yang Twins,” says Dilick. “And that turned into “NO SUDDEN DEATHS.” They don’t sound anything alike, but that came from the tempo and the vibe.”
“We love media. That’s our biggest influence,” says Oviedo. They take musical cues from video games, movies, music, and random snippets of dialogue on TV, including a crazy-sounding ‘yeah’ off Even Stevens.
“I haven’t cleared anything. Ever,” says Dilick. “I don’t think it matters.”
“Not yet,” says Oviedo. “One day we’ll get sued. Probably by Disney.”
On the live instrument side, we were curious to know how Oviedo ended up being the band’s occasional brass player. “I always loved the saxophone. I always thought it was so sexy and honestly, there was a long part of my life where I was like, ‘whoever I fall in love with, I’m gonna make sure they’re a saxophone player.’”
“You never told me that,” pokes Dilick.
“And then one day I was like, ‘wait, I can be the saxophone player,’” continues Oviedo. “So I literally went on Craigslist and found this saxophone. I wasn’t a band kid.”
Oviedo made their onstage sax debut playing a “Funkytown” cover with one of Dilick’s bands at the time. “I was like, ‘yeah I can figure it out,’” they said. “That’s how it’s always been with music for me. I have no formal training. I just figure it out. That’s how I started playing bass, and then I did the same thing with drums.”
The Craigslist saxophone would later be lost when Dilick’s car was broken into, along with an old guitar and a computer with the only up-to-date mixes of haha Laughing’s 2023 EP, POST_MANIC_MIGRAINE_MUSIC. Looking back at it now, Dilick says being left with earlier drafts helped him let go of the project, set perfection aside, and finally put it out.
These days, Oviedo’s saxophone is less funk-infused and more freakout free jazz, adding aggression and sharp edges to the amped up, breakneck setlist. But after a relentless deluge of sweaty bangers, “LADYBUG NECKLACE” was a standout in both of haha Laughing’s sets. The sonic and emotional shift hits square in the chest, reminiscent of Yung Lean’s uncanny ability to take one from raging like it’s the end of the world to softly weeping.
“We like ending with a chill instrumental thing after yelling on some shit,” says Dilick. “The guitar on the beat is that Duster song “Gold Dust,” tuned down. The keyboard line is from a Little Uzi Vert-type beat YouTube video that I downloaded and chopped up. It felt like the universe was like, ‘this shit will actually work,’ because I did that shit in like 30 minutes.”
“I wrote all those lyrics going on walks and feeling out of place. And there are all these dead cicada shells on the ground. I was trying to find that line of being emo, but not too corny about it.”
“It is kind of corny,” says Oviedo. “But I feel goosebumps when I listen to it or perform it. Something about that song makes me cry.”
Dilick lets his guard down a little further. “I was kind of shy to put that one out,” he says.
“It’s raw emotion,” says Oviedo. “It’s about trying to keep your head up, despite everything. We’re trying to tug at heartstrings, whether it’s through us being silly, or screaming, or being vulnerable. That’s the kind of art I want to make.”
This is the compelling duality that looms so large in haha Laughing’s performance style. They are precise in their chaotic execution, their absurd, vulgar words perfectly audible and spoken with great intention. They don’t miss a beat moving between instruments. With the presence of a classically trained Shakespearean actor, Aby steps into their alter ego to scream soliloquies. Simultaneously, chaos flows through and around them. It’s complicité.
Having been together for over five years, the two naturally have a strong foundation of trust, and it’s clear to see onstage. It’s also what’s gotten them through tough tours, rough gigs, and the pre-show jitters.
“We don’t always practice before sets,” admits Dilick. “Yesterday, we went over the lyrics in the green room before. We’re hiding in the chaos a bit.”
“But I think the lack of presentation makes it more raw,” says Oviedo. “It doesn’t seem so manicured.”
According to Oviedo, the magnetic, fearsome theatricality we saw has never come naturally. “I used to have really bad stage fright,” they say. “I literally couldn’t play a show without wearing sunglasses. The thing that got me through was creating an alter ego for myself.
“BB BASCO is what I tap into when we’re recording, when I’m writing stuff, when I’m performing. Because I’m very social as Aby, but I’m also very shy. BB BASCO is me with the confidence turned up, and the rage actually out. I’m gonna look at you in your eyes. And, yeah, I’m fucking mad and, yeah, I’m fucking crazy. I’m actually letting that out and being okay with that. It’s felt really good to tap into that part of myself. I feel like it’s done a lot for my confidence outside of the band.”
As Oviedo continues to develop the BB BASCO persona, they credit those who came before. “I just wanted to be like all the badass women and femmes that I saw on stages when I was younger in Austin. Their confidence is where a lot of my inspiration comes from.”
Sat perched on a concrete road divider on the edge of Rouyn-Noranda, 2,000 miles from their hometown of Austin, Texas, there’s a deep sense of ease between the two. One that is only forged through facing the mundane difficulties of real life and the extraordinary challenges of life on the road. Dilick can feel how much they’ve both grown, shaping one another, making each other better, both inside the project and in the rest of their lives together.
“In a relationship, obviously you have to communicate,” says Oviedo.
“It’s like a mirror. So much of the stuff with communication mirrors the band.”
“When you’re working in a creative environment, that’s a different type of communication,” says Oviedo. “It’s a lot more sensitive. We’ve learned to be more sensitive of each other.”
Sometimes, Dilick says, the best thing for the couple is to forget the band altogether for a day or two. “We live together, we’re in a band together, we’ve been dating for five years.”
“We’re best friends,” adds Oviedo.
“I can’t always be like Ari Gold on the Blackberry. I’m trying to chill out and watch Entourage with my baby.”
Of course, watching the pair onstage, you wouldn’t know they have downtime at all. Between the raucous beats, in-your-face delivery, and hyped up lyricism across the whole thing, you’d assume they would be devil-may-care, nonstop party animals. But talk to them for just a few minutes, and you can see the care, patience, and thought that both Dilick and Oviedo pay to each other, and how inextricable their bond is from haha Laughing’s momentum.
Their crazy, avant-garde concoction of screamo, hyperpop, and noisy party rap isn’t (solely) built upon years of hardcore raging down south. It’s a matter of trust, connection, and love, even when the going gets tough.
“The conflicts and challenges you have creating stuff in a band are different,” says Oviedo. “Getting through those conflicts together makes us stronger in our relationship, and as bandmates. I feel like that’s why we work together so well. No matter what happens, we know how to talk through it, sort it out, and see what we’re gonna do better next time.”
haha Laughing will be returning to Quebec on September 24th for POP Montréal at Casa del Popolo. Until then, we’ll be bumping their latest release, BIG WHATEVER.
