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If not a reaction to the missteps of the greedy and ignorant, than POS is nothing.  His lyrics are an endless discourse on existence - critical of the wicked, hopeful for the rest.  If the title of his breakout album, Never Better, sounds self-righteous, that’s because he is.  It’s that mentality, though, that puts him in a position to both enlighten listeners to their own possibilities while simultaneously telling them that their world is full of shit.
Surely it’s the passion in his prose that has him in the heights of underground hip-hop, because it’s not his image.  In contrast to his indie-rap peers, the man born Stephan Anderson is neither cartoonish nor over inflated with pride.  Instead, he comes off as what every artist professes to be: real.
I spoke with Anderson at Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin, Texas, just before he jumped into the crowd to deliver the most inspired hip-hop set of the day.  Talking to him, I soon realized the source of his inspiration was equally creation itself and the rejection of useless pursuits.

Interview by Kevin Madness

What’s the story on the follow up for Never Better?
I start recording in January.  I don’t know what it’s going to be called yet.  I have a few ideas, but I don’t want to say because all of them kind of represent totally different extremes and I’m sitting on three types of beats and seeing which way I’m going to run with it.  I have a foundation of incredibly solid Lazerbeak beats, I have a couple beats from Boys Noize and a couple from Patrick from Innerpartysystem.  There are a couple of turns I want to take, but basically push past what I’ve already done.

What are your favorite punk rock bands?
Minor Threat, all the fast Rancid records and, of course, Refused and At the Drive In.  I grew up on things that were fast and about unity instead of rap, which was often about killing people.

What made the change and got you into rap?
I didn’t want to have to be in a band where I had to wait for other people to work.  Then people went to college and I got bored with not having all the control over my songs.  Rapping seemed like the only necessary direction, the quickest easiest thing to do.

If you were to write and autobiography about yourself, what would you call it?
No Funeral.

The media seemed to really embrace Gayngs. What was your involvement in that project?
A lot of people played on it.  A lot of people sang on it, but it was mostly put together by Ryan Olson.  He organized it and produced it.  He’s lived in Minneapolis and I’ve been working with him for eight years.  He plays in Building Better Bombs with me and is one of my best friends.  It was his project I just contributed.  I just sang on one song.  

It’s music to make love to…
It’s adult contemporary.

Since we’re at Fun Fun Fun Fest, why don’t you tell us what do you do for fun?
Make music.  That’s really what I do.  I play music and then when I get bored I make a different kind of music.  I don’t stop.  I’m in five active bands right now.

What wisdom have you taken away from making so much music?
This is going to sound super existential, but I feel that the wisdom I have you can only get from having a job like this.  I have a lot of free time to think and read.  I think everybody should examine the rules and regulations that they grew up with and pick and choose which ones they are going to follow and live by.  I think a lot of people end up really depressed because they try to fit their life into a box that wasn’t made for them without any examination at all.  You have to ignore that shit and see what actually makes you happy.

Do you follow that?
I never tried to do anything else in my life other than make music because that’s all that makes me really happy.  I never really cared about having money. We need to get rid of the level of comfort that were so used to because if you’re not expecting to watch cable and sleep on the softest, biggest beds and make the most money, you can do a lot more shit.  You’ve got more time to think about what life is really about.