At the time, DeRobertis, 22, had been releasing music under the name Saint Pepsi for almost two years, and, despite picking up steam on the music blogosphere with a pair of pop songs called “Fiona Coyne” and “Fall Harder,” he said he never expected the soda corporation to notice him.
“I sort of figured that I was going to get away with being Saint Pepsi until I just stopped making music under the name,” he said. “It’s flattering to an extent to know I was on a big corporate radar, just a little blip.”
So DeRobertis changed his pseudonym to Skylar Spence, also the title of a song on his 2013 album “Hit Vibes.”
In September, he released “Prom King,” his first album under that name. He’s touring behind “Prom King” now, with a show scheduled for 9 p.m. Tuesday at the Bishop. Tickets are available online at thebishopbar.com or at the door for $15 the day of the show.
Though DeRobertis said he didn’t anticipate having to change his name last year, he said the transition came at an appropriate time, as he moved from the sample-based music of “Hit Vibes” and his other early work to pop songs featuring his own singing and guitar playing.
That musical shift also meant a change in Skylar Spence’s live performances, from DJ sets to shows with a full-band configuration.
DeRobertis said he was initially nervous fans of his music wouldn’t be the types to go to concerts — especially considering his early work built on the foundation of vaporwave, a genre featuring looped, stretched-out pop songs that exists almost only online.
“But once we started doing the festival circuits and stuff, it started with a couple of dozen people who would come up to us and say, ‘We only bought tickets to this festival to see you guys,’ and now we’re doing our first real headlining tour, and we played to like 350 people in Los Angeles,” he said. “I never would have guessed that coming from the Internet there would be so many people that would leave their house to come see us play, which has been kind of a dream come true.”
DeRobertis said he doesn’t necessarily think the live sets are more rewarding than DJ sets — different fans want different things, he said — but he feels more comfortable than ever on stage now.
DeRobertis said the live configuration and release of “Prom King” have given him a chance to sing and play guitar for audiences for the first time since he was in high school and to tour extensively.
Since “Prom King” released, he said he and the band have fed off the energy of crowds.
“People have the album now, and so it’s a lot cooler to see fans in the audience singing along,” he said.
For DeRobertis, there’s something gratifying about people wanting to hear his music, which draws from disco and 1980s new wave, genres he was raised on but that were considered terminally uncool as he grew up in the guitar-rock-heavy 2000s.
One of his favorite stories, he said, goes back to his middle school years.
A teacher gave him permission to bring in a boom box to play during downtime. But when he popped in a Duran Duran cassette tape, the rest of the class mocked the music, embarrassing him so much he put the boom box in his locker and never brought it to class again.
Now he said bands influenced by 80s outfits like Duran Duran and New Order — Chvrches, for example — are selling out arenas.
In September, DeRobertis took over the music website Gorilla vs. Bear for a day and posted some of his favorite songs. Lately, he said, people at shows walk up to him and thank him for exposing them to new music.
“I never really thought that people gave a shit about what I listened to, so it’s been nice to have people to trade recommendations with,” he said.
