My Old Kentucky Blog Interviews Girl Talk

(photo : dave d. evans)

MOKB was on hand to catch the second coming of Girl Talk in Bloomington, Indiana last Friday at Jake’s Nightclub, a place that is typically your average hot spot for frat boys with hard-on’s, but one that has also been known to play host to shows for the likes of Jens Lekman and Sharon Jones. While Girl Talk concerts tend to bring out the hippest of the hip, the crowd here seemed to be a blend of people from all walks of life, which leads me to believe that, for better or worse, this music is finally connecting with the mainstream - at least in good ol’ Indiana. Beer and mixed drinks flowed, the bathroom floor apparently replaced the porcelain urinals, and, as I waited patiently at one of the four bars in the sold-out venue for a drink of my own, I was approached randomly by a drunken male fan who asked, "Have you ever seen Girl Talk before?!" Just as I began to speak, he interrupted me and, I shit you not, said, "Seeing Girl Talk is like riding Dumbo into Disneyland or getting a handjob from Anderson Cooper!" Knowing that there was no possible way that I could ever respond with anything more epically absurd, I wandered into the masses to dance my ass off (aka flail around unintelligibly), become a landing spot for spilt beer, and have one of the best nights that I’ll ever not remember.

Before my blackout began, however, I was able to catch up with Girl Talk (aka Gregg Gillis) as he Saran Wrapped his laptop in preparation for the night’s inevitable spills and pouring sweat. We sat near the merch booth, filled with new t-shirt’s for sale that clearly read, "I’m Not A DJ," and discussed how it felt to be back in this college town, his love for Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and the Isley Brothers, and his hometown, Super Bowl-bound Pittsburgh Steelers.

Girl Talk - Hands In The Air

MOKB: Unless I’m mistaken, this show tonight will be your first of the tour?

Girl Talk: Not really. I’ve been touring straight for two years so it might be my 200th show of the tour. For most of the year, I do weekend shows. I actually played a show yesterday. I have shows Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday - now I have a few days off and go somewhere else, a few days off and go somewhere else - so it kind of hasn’t really ended for a little while.

Read the rest of the interview AFTER THE JUMP…

(photo : dave d. evans)

MOKB: So you never really consider yourself to be on a break?

Girl Talk: Right. I mean, I did have a break around Christmas time. I had two and a half weeks off. So other than that, you know, pretty steady. Usually about three shows a week, minimally, which I like to just keep busy.

MOKB: You played a fashion show the last time you were in Bloomington. How does it feel to be back, doing your own thing this time?

Girl Talk: Man, that show - there were a lot of technical issues. I felt bad about that one. I thought the crowd was great. People were really cool and nice but yeah, that was one of my least favorites in a while. We had a whole bunch of issues with controlling the crowd that we don’t normally have. And it wasn’t their fault - just the venue wasn’t ready and then I don’t think the sound people necessarily knew where it was going to go - just a lot of small issues like that. I’m excited to get back and redeem myself a little bit.


(photo : dave d. evans)

MOKB: Do you have anything lined up for this…well, continuous part of your tour? Any special surprises?

Girl Talk: Yeah man, the show is always evolving. When I’m on a steady tour, I like to bring a bunch of friends to help out with visuals and stuff. This, technically, is more of a weekend where I would fly into, so it’s harder to do that. Yeah, this particular show, there’s actually some extra special stuff going down visually and, musically, the set’s kind of always evolving so every night’s something a bit different than the night before.

Girl Talk - Set It Off

MOKB: Are you able to create new material while you’re on the road?

Girl Talk: When I do the weekend shows I can, because it’s a bit more time to myself. I feel like when I’m playing shows every day for a month or something like that, it’s difficult because I like to spend every waking minute trying to rest and chill out. But yeah, these weekend things - a lot of times just little things in the airport, fiddling around here and there backstage or something like that. But mainly, when I’m home, I have entire days just dedicated to getting some rest.


(photo : dave d. evans)

MOKB: Do you prefer to save the new material to work more on when you get home, or are you open to testing it out on the road?

Girl Talk: Yeah, I do it immediately if I find something I like. It’s a lot of swapping of material so I kind of know the length of what I’m playing. If I find something I really like, I’ll go to that BPM range, that sample range, and explore there and see if there’s anything that’s grown a little old or anything I’ve played too much - anything I would like to substitute out. Sometimes I like it the way it is. Other times it’s like, "I’ve played it so much. I want to try something else." I’ll swap things in immediately. Sometimes it falls very flat when I drop it and I need to work on it or get rid of it. And other times it goes over, so it’s constantly give and take. So, for me, I look forward to a specific five minutes every night on set where the mood is right, just to see how it’s going to go.

MOKB: I caught your set at the Pitchfork Music Festival a couple years ago and loved that Ed Droste of Grizzly Bear joined you on stage to sing his part of Knife. Are live collaborations like that, with artists from your samples, something you would ever consider doing on a larger scale?

Girl Talk: Yeah, I would be down with it. I wanted to get Clipse up there as well. It was just too last minute. The Grizzly Bear thing, I mean, I talked to Ed and he asked me to do that remix way back when and, you know, kind of go back on e-mail a little bit. So there I was just like, "If you can just sing the one line live, it’d be really easy like that. I’ll just start you off with the backing track and I’ll drop it and you just sing it." So that was very easy, whereas the Clipse thing was just a bit more complicated to be like, "Look, you’re going to come in and rap at this particular time." But yeah, I’d be totally down with that. I like the way the show is, just a sample base, and I feel it has a certain aesthetic. I am removed from the artists I sample. I definitely feel connected to those people but I feel like I’m in another world from a lot of them. Bringing someone on stage might even bring a whole different vibe to the show. But yeah, I’d be down for collaborations and shit - more hip hop-based artists. I would love to just do a cool mix tape or something and have them rap over a bunch of collage stuff. That’d be real cool.


(photo : dave d. evans)

MOKB: Who would you ideally like to work with the most?

Girl Talk: I would love to do a mix tape for Bone Thugs-N-Harmony in the style of Paul’s Boutique or something. It would be sort of Girl Talky. Heavily sample-based. They sample a little bit but not much. They sampled Fleetwood Mac on their last record. But I think that would just be really weird and amazing. I’m a huge fan. It’s all a lot of just mainstream hip hop. I feel like I’d fit in with a lot of it if we actually just went at it and attempted to do it.

MOKB: A lot of your fans will remember your Nirvana cover, where you actually sang the words to Scentless Apprentice live. Are covers something you would consider doing more of?

Girl Talk: I kind of wanted to for a while and I always really loved doing that Nirvana cover. I liked to make a show out of it and get an audience to get involved. It’s tough when you have to be doing stuff on the computer the entire set so the Nirvana thing was a great opportunity for me. It was nice to just be able to be free of everything and just get out there. I could just unleash for those four minutes. For a while I wanted to do a different cover, but anymore I feel like the shows have a nice dramatic arc to the way they’ve been going. Enough so that I stopped doing the Nirvana thing. It’d almost just be a downer after where the shows have ended, especially on the last tour up until now - it just peaks out at the end. It’s a very dancing, physical thing. I feel like the Nirvana cover is valid but it’s more of a stand still watch or mosh sort of thing. That used to be the peak but I feel like now there’s a different vibe of where the peak is at. But maybe if I did a cover of like, Shout - Isley Brothers - that would be cool. I’ve been jamming that a lot lately. Something on that level. If I was able to do a full, legit cover of that, I think it’d be a bit more fitting.


(photo : dave d. evans)

MOKB: Yeah, that would definitely be the encore to end all encore’s.

Girl Talk: Right, right. I’ve been experimenting with Shout recently in a lot of the shows. I’ve occasionally done remixes on the fly, which I’ve been really pumped about. It’s that quintessential party song.


(photo : dave d. evans)

MOKB: In what ways do you feel you challenge yourself artistically?

Girl Talk: I’m really critical of what I do. I kind of create music in this sort of roundabout way. When you’re playing a keyboard or a guitar it’s very direct. You can play a chord and sing. What I do is so trial and error that I feel like I’m constantly trying to make this evolve into something else and I want it to exist in a world of its own. I think that’s kind of where it’s at for me. I don’t want to dwell on any particular idea, even if I’m staying, stylistically, in the same arena. I still want to make it progress. All my albums I’ve tried to make an album like something that’s never really been heard before. It’s obviously a lot of things that come before me - a lot of contemporaries. But, like any musician, I just want to make that classic album - written in the history books as this classic thing that came out.


(photo : dave d. evans)

MOKB: What does the future look like for Girl Talk? Anything that you’re really looking forward to in 2009? Any goals that you’ve set for yourself?

Girl Talk: The new Jay-Z. Busta Rhymes. Those should be really good. I mean, as far as myself, I never really have a goal. I work every day on something. No big plans. I kind of stay away from doing remix work for people a little bit these days because it just slows me down a bit. I look forward to every day - every week, really - but, outside of that, I just want to keep busy as much as possible. I really can honestly say I don’t know where I’m going. I never do. It just kind of gets there eventually.


(photo : dave d. evans)

MOKB: I can’t help but notice you’ve got a Steelers stocking cap on. They’re favored to win it all this year. How are you feeling about your team?

Girl Talk: Yes! It’s slightly bittersweet. I’m a hardcore Steelers fan and I’m looking forward to it but I’m going to be out of the country during the Super Bowl this year, which is a slight bummer. I’m going to be in Australia - in Melbourne. It’s going to be 10 am on Monday when the Super Bowl starts and I have that day off. I know I can probably watch it somewhere. But last time the Steelers were in the Super Bowl, when they won it a few years back, I was in Pittsburgh and it was one of the most magical days for me - one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. The camaraderie in the city was insane. It was just a beautiful day. It’s funny though because it’s a very different vibe than the last run. They were chronic underdogs. The last time they won it they won three games on the road building up to it, whereas this year they’re favorites at every game. It’s just a crazy year. I’m hoping it’s going to be the Eagles and Pittsburgh. A little Pennsylvania Super Bowl going on.

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