Oliver Sickles has never been afraid to move. Since launching pilothead without telling anyone, he has steadily evolved from bedroom shoegaze to full band shows and touring the East Coast — all while teaching himself guitar, then drums, then production on the fly. It may sound exhausting to some, but for Oliver, that restlessness is the whole point.
With his debut album on the horizon this summer, he’s making his biggest leap yet. The record is a concept album told from the perspective of an ordinary person suddenly thrust into the life of a popstar. It’s a premise that Oliver wants to make autobiographical, from the perspective of having spent the last few years quietly figuring out what it means to make worlds with music. The lead single “FRACTION OF MYSELF” arrives as a bright, propulsive statement of intent: electronic and unguarded, miles from the guitar-driven indie rock of his recent past.
What’s something you’ve been listening to lately?
Oliver: My favorite band this year has been Frost Children. They dropped an album last year [Sister] that’s kind of electronic dance-y, but they also have one from two years before that’s more indie folk [Hearth Room]. They do a bunch of different stuff, but it’s all super fun. And of course Wednesday. They’re an awesome North Carolina band.
Who was the first artist you remember either discovering on your own or having someone introduce you to, that you just obsessed over and claimed as your favorite?
Oliver: It was Tyler, the Creator when I was in like middle school. That was the Flower Boy / Igor era. I was into rap music before then, but I wasn’t really looking too far into anything. Then I heard Tyler and it was just like I didn’t realize the worlds you could build with music. I got obsessed with him for a while. He was my first huge musical inspiration.
At what point did you make the transition from being a music fan to wanting to make music of your own?
Oliver: During COVID, I started messing around on my computer making random stuff on GarageBand. The next couple years were kind of the same, just making random beats, figuring it all out. Then around 2022, I wanted to actually learn instruments. So I picked up guitar, and then drums the year after. That’s when I started writing full songs and really putting stuff out.
When did you start putting out music or sharing it with people? Did you just throw it up on SoundCloud or Bandcamp?
Oliver: I was so scared to at first because I just didn’t believe in myself. It was scary to show people I knew, so I would throw stuff on SoundCloud and not tell anybody about it. That’s actually how Pilothead got started. I was like, “I’m just gonna make a random SoundCloud and not tell anybody.
So I picked the most random name I could think of and went from there. Eventually I started making stuff I was more proud of and more confident sharing. Now I love showing people my music. It’s such a fun thing to see people’s reactions.
Have you performed live?
Oliver: Yeah. I was in a band called Avalon’s Pearl for a couple years doing shoegaze stuff. That broke off when people went to college. Last year, I had two friends fill in on drums and second guitar, and we did some live shows locally in North Carolina, then went up the East Coast to Philly and New York. It was super fun.
What was that process like, going from writing songs on your own in this isolated way to bringing people in to learn the parts and then performing them live?
Oliver: I wrote all the parts on my own in my room, and then my friends Sam and Elijah filled in. I literally just sent them the songs, and they came to band practice the next week and had it all down. We barely had to practice.
It was so rewarding to make a song in my headphones all alone in my room, and then getting some people over and hearing it super loud. And then to go to a venue and play, and people are enjoying it. There’s nothing else like it.
You’ve put out a lot of music since December 2022. How would you describe the way your sound has developed over time? Setting aside your newest single, since that feels like the biggest jump in a different direction.
Oliver: I didn’t know what I was doing at first. I didn’t know how to make music, didn’t know how to play guitar, I was just strumming until stuff sounded kind of good and doing drums in Logic. It was enough to sound like a song, so I put it out there. Then the next year I got involved in bands and actually started to learn my instruments.
You can tell from 2023 to 2025, the progression of me getting better as a songwriter, as an instrumentalist, as a producer. I’ve been trying to delve more into electronic stuff, especially last year, trying to implement it into alternative or rock music. But recently, electronic music is just all I’ve been doing or thinking about or listening to, so I was like, “Why not just fully jump into a completely different genre?”
When you think about performing your new stuff live — the more electronic, almost club-ready direction — compared to the previous shows, is there a difference in how you prepare or how the sound is translated live?
Oliver: Oh yeah, completely. I think what fully let my brain switch to making electronic music was that my band members weren’t able to do any more shows because of their own life reasons. So I was like, “Well, I don’t really have a band anymore. Why not just make this music that I can go perform with a backing track?”
I have some shows brewing, and I’ve been getting the set prepped and practicing on my own, just having the instrumental backing track going. It’s a lot different because I have to maintain energy the whole time. Instead of having to keep up with playing an instrument, I have to keep up this high energy so I don’t just look like I’m standing there while hypey club music plays. It’s a different pressure.
I would like to get a guitarist to play with me live because the songs are very electronic and clubby, but they all have guitar on them. I start writing all of them on guitar, but I wouldn’t want to be playing guitar myself. I’d rather be putting energy out there and focusing on the vocals.
When you look back on the last year, what stands out as highlights or experiences you’d want to carry forward as you work on the full-length?
Oliver: I started last year with the pageflipper EP, which I think is really good. I listen back to it after not really liking it for a while and I’ve come around to it. That was a good experience of actually just releasing music. I kind of forced myself to put it out there.
Beyond that, my ability to push out music got a lot better last year, and I was really excited about that. And then I booked a tour and just figured out how to do all of it. That was one of the most fun experiences of my life, just me and a couple of friends just drove up the coast and played shows. It was such a great time.
Is there anything else when you look ahead to the rest of the year that feels like a goal or something you’d love to achieve?
Oliver: There are a bunch of shows, though I don’t know about a full tour just yet. I haven’t planned that out. I’m super proud of what I have so far for this album. I’m about halfway done and it’s just such a big switch-up, but it still feels like it has parts of my roots in it. The writing has been really fun. I’ve been getting more conceptual about it instead of just staying in my own point of view. I’m just so excited to let people hear it.
Who are some of your favorite local or North Carolina-specific artists?
Oliver: From Wilmington, my favorite band is probably Lady Die. They don’t play too many shows, but I wish they would. I’ve seen them once and it was by far the best-sounding show I’ve been to out of a local venue. They’re really sick.
I also saw Motocrossed recently, they were opening a Wednesday secret show. They have kind of that Wednesday indie twinkly vibe but a little more emo. They just put out an album a couple months ago [Motocrossed] and it’s so emotional, you can really feel it.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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