Pitchfork Music Festival 2007: Sunday
From Slint to Sonic Youth, the Twilight Sad to Yoko Ono, Deerhunter to De La Soul-- and despite a few more sound problems then we'd have liked-- the event once again proved momentous, and we couldn't have done it without all of you. Thanks to everyone who came to the 2007 Pitchfork Music Festival. We hope you had a weekend to remember, and we look forward to seeing you again next year.
Thanks also once again to our Friday night partners in crime, Barry Hogan and All Tomorrow's Parties (and their Don't Look Back series), as well as all the sponsors, vendors, and volunteers whose tireless efforts and contributions help keep this festival pretty ridiculously cheap. Thanks to our photographers as well-- Jason Bergman, Jana Green, Leigh Ann Hines, Karra McDonald, Joseph Mohan, Akmal Naim, Jen Reel, Nolan Wells, and Kathryn Yu-- whose shots you'll see below.
And for even more multimedia festival coverage, check out the official Pitchfork Music Festival podcast,
featuring interviews with Sonic Youth, Stephen Malkmus, Slint, Clipse,
Dan Deacon, Klaxons, the Cool Kids, ATP's Barry Hogan, and Pitchfork's
Ryan Schreiber. Thanks to Anders Lindall for his work on this and the
all the previous Backline podcasts.
Finally, our hats go off to Mike Reed and the fine people at At Pluto and Pitchfork's associate publisher Chris Kaskie for orchestrating another landmark Pitchfork Music Festival.
For coverage of Friday, click here. For Saturday, click here.
Sunday, July 15
Deerhunter [Connector Stage; 1 p.m.]
Photo 1 by Jason Bergman; photos 2-3 by Jen Reel
Interview: Bradford Cox of Deerhunter| [Interview by Paul Thompson]
Pitchfork: When Deerhunter took the stage today, you guys were introduced as Deerhoof. Why was that?
Bradford Cox: Because I told them to!
Pitchfork: You joker. You seemed a little nonplussed about your set.
BC: First of all, the stage was like 250 degrees. I couldn't stand anywhere because I was barefoot, and it was on a black stage, so it was literally like walking on hot coals. I kept thinking of going offstage and getting my shoes, but they wouldn't have matched the dress. And I'd rather be in pain than not coordinate. And we're not a daytime band! We're children of the night. Or something.
Pitchfork: Have you seen anybody good so far?
BC: My favorite's been Beach House, Grizzly Bear, the Ponys. Girl Talk was amazing, Dan Deacon was amazing. I haven't seen anything that I didn't like so far. Every single band I saw yesterday was awesome, and I like them as people.
Pitchfork: I saw you onstage during Girl Talk with the dudes from Grizzly Bear.
BC: Yeah, I got a text from Ed Droste [from Grizzly Bear] that said, "Come to the Balance stage, we're gonna sing 'Knife'." It was originally going to be me and Ed and Victoria from Beach House, but it was nuts, pandemonium. [Girl Talk's] really insane, amazingly good. I've seen him a couple times, but I've never seen him with all this energy. The shows I've seen were more club.
Pitchfork: I hear you met Clipse.
BC: So I'm walking around with Daniel and Ed from Grizzly Bear and Victoria from Beach House, and they were talking about how Clipse and Beach House were sharing a trailer. And I was like, "No shit, I wanna meet Clipse, I really wanna hang out with Clipse." And Victoria was like, "No no no, he's got his girl in there, he's got a bottle of Hennessey, he's just trying to chill out."
So finally I convince Victoria to take me in there. I say [affects high voice], "Hi Mr. Clipse, can I have your picture?' So I had a picture with Clipse. And he [Pusha T - Ed.] was the coolest fucking guy! He was so awesome! And he let me touch his diamond necklace. It said "Clipse." I lifted it, and it weighed five or six pounds. That was real shit! Five pounds of real shit. Crystal and diamonds. And he's walking around with it. If I walked around like that, I'd be hunched over! He was so cool. He was one of the coolest people I've ever met. So chill. He was really nice.
Pitchfork: I hear you met Thurston, too.
BC: Yeah, Thurston was funny. I enjoyed my experience with Thurston. I was in the catering room getting a bottle of water, and this tall figure comes next to me. I didn't actually look at him, because I was digging [in the bucket of ice]. He reaches in and grabs this Rehab with his giant hand. I didn't know who it was because I didn't look up, and I hear this booming voice go, "Huh huh huh, Rehab, funny name for an energy drink." I look up, and he snaps open the lid, and he drinks the entire Rehab in one gulp, with his giant larynx fluctuating.
Fred Lonberg-Holm's Lightbox Orchestra [Balance Stage; 1 p.m.]
Photos 1-3 by Jason Bergman; photos 4-5 by Jen Reel
The Ponys [Aluminum Stage; 1:30 p.m.]
Photos by Jason Bergman
Recreation
Photos by Jason Bergman
Menomena [Connector Stage; 2 p.m.]
Photos 1 and 2 by Kathryn Yu; photos 3 and 4 by Jason Bergman
Interview: Menomena
|
[Interview by Tyler Grisham]
Pitchfork: When
did you get in?
Danny Seim: We
got in from New York on Saturday around four. So we got to see a few
bands. We saw Yoko and Mastodon-- Clipse was good. It was fun, and
we've just been kind of taking it easy.
Pitchfork:
What's your favorite show been so far?
DS: That's a
good question. [pause] I'll think of something [laughs].
I think Yoko Ono. I just didn't know what to expect. I think it
was great that she played some of her older stuff, the Rising
stuff.
Justin Harris:
Considering I only saw one and a half bands, I'd have to say De La
Soul [laughs]. They were crazy. I missed all of yesterday and
most of today. I was tired.
Pitchfork: Well,
you guys have been touring for a while. Where are you going next?
DS: Home. We're
going straight back to Portland. It's been a while. This has been our
longest tour, our longest time away from home. By the time we get
home it will be pretty darn close to two months. We played the
states, and then we played Europe for the first time. We actually
drove to Chicago, we toured the first three weeks through the States,
parked our van in Chicago and flew to Europe for the first time and
played for two weeks.
Pitchfork: How
were the European crowds?
DS: They were
great. I'd actually never been to Europe; I didn't know what to
expect. But everybody was really nice. Some cities got a little
rough; there was a little pressure. But it was a good time.
Pitchfork: What
did you think about the festival crowd?
DS: I've never been a huge fan of festivals, just because of the logistics going into them, usually no sound checks...if a set goes too long, you get rushed, and if you slow down, you can screw up the rest of the festival. So going into this I had my reservations, but this has been really good. It has renewed my faith in huge, teeming throngs of people.
Brightblack Morning Light [Balance Stage; 2 p.m.]
Photos by Jason Bergman
Fans
Photos 1 and 3 by Joseph Mohan; photo 2 by Jen Reel
Photo 1 by Kathryn Yu; photos 2 and 3 by Jason Bergman
Nomo [Balance Stage; 3:10 p.m.]
Photo 1 by Jason Bergman; photos 2-3 by Karra McDonald
Flatstock 13 Poster Convention
Photo 1 by Joseph Mohan; photo 2 by Jana Green
The Sea and Cake [Connector Stage; 4 p.m.]
Photos 1-2 by Jason Bergman; photo 3 by Jen Reel
Interview: Sam Prekop of The Sea and Cake | [Interview by Dave Maher]
Pitchfork: Is there an ideal setting for the Sea and Cake's music to be played, whether live or on record?
Sam Prekop: What's happened to me is I really just started driving a year ago, which is unusual, I realize, at my age. And of course I've heard other music in people's cars and stuff, but of my own power, I've been listening to not my own records but other records, and they do wield a whole different personality in a car. There's something I think will forever be intriguing and mysterious about moving landscape and sounds simultaneously. So I'll encourage people to try our stuff in a car.
Pitchfork: Do you ever intentionally craft songs to have that sort of movement or forward motion?
SP: I haven't, but I feel like I've heard people say things like that. "This stuff is great on the Sunday afternoon drive."
Pitchfork: There's definitely a summery, sunshine-y vibe to all of the stuff you guys do.
SP: I was pleased that today was so pleasant, weather-wise. I admit that we've [only] played outdoors a handful of times. This was really nice.
Pitchfork: Is there anyone else you've seen here that impressed you?
SP: I really liked Beach House. I also caught a little bit of Brightblack Morning Light. That was nice. I saw Clipse. I was right next to the stage, and that was really quite excellent.
Pitchfork: Are you a Clipse fan?
SP: I don't actually have their records, but I feel like I've heard a few tracks I liked.
Pitchfork: Are you a hip-hop fan at all?
SP: Yeah. I mean, casually. I'm no expert.
Pitchfork: What's your favorite hip-hop record?
SP: Well of course one of my earliest favorites is De La Soul's 3 Feet High and Rising. It was my introduction to hip-hop.
Pitchfork: Since you're a Chicago resident, Cubs or Sox?
SP: I grew up as a Cubs fan. I'm quite fairweather though.
Pitchfork: Where did you grow up?
SP: Sort of near Humboldt Park, a bit west. Armitage and Pulaski. So as a kid I went to Wrigley, fairly often, by bus. It was like $1.50 in the afternoon. Now I live on the South Side, and I'm somewhat irritated by the perception-- you know, the Cubs lose and people are still much more interested in the Cubs than the Sox, who win the World Series and they get no respect. I have to get behind the Sox, I think, just because they're underdogs even though they win.
Craig Taborn's Junk Magic [Balance Stage; 4:15 p.m.]
Photos 1-3 by Jason Bergman; photo 4 by Karra McDonald
Beer Tent
Photo by Joseph Mohan
Jamie Lidell [Aluminum Stage; 5 p.m.]
Photos by Jason Bergman
Interview: Jamie Lidell | [Interview by Dave Maher]
Pitchfork: What did you do last night?
Jamie Lidell: I raved until about seven in the morning. Got a few prostitutes, male and female, watched them doing loads of things.
Pitchfork: You just sort of sit back and pay them to do things?
JL: Yeah, pretty much. Through a smoky, two-way mirror kind of thing. I definitely did that and didn't go back to my hotel and sleep like a good boy.
Pitchfork: That's the best way for you to prepare for a set?
JL: Oh yeah, sure... voyeuristic pleasures. No, I just turned on the telly. I didn't even do that. I just went home and slept. I was fucking exhausted. I saw Yoko, and I thought that was it. That was all I needed. I love festivals, but it's sensory overload. You see one thing, and then on top of that, piles of more sound and vision, and then on top of that, a load more. The whole thing blurs into kind of a weird dream.
Pitchfork: How do you navigate?
JL: Navigate the dream?
Pitchfork: Yeah, how do you enjoy the experience?
JL: A dreamcatcher. I place ones around my sort of third eye. I don't know how you enjoy it. You just let it in, don't you? My memory is pretty bad.
Pitchfork: What made you realize that?
JL: Well it's quite easy to notice that you don't remember things. That's not true, actually. See, memory is a funny thing, isn't it? It's not like you have bad memory; it's more like the things you choose to remember perhaps aren't socially relevant.
Pitchfork: And you can remember things, but later, your new experiences taint the old memories.
JL: That should be it. Tainted memory... I like it. It's something like that. I don't know. I like to limit my experience is what I'm saying. Once I saw Yoko, I didn't really want to get prostitutes. I'm not that kind of freak. Not yet.
Pitchfork: Did you enjoy Yoko's set?
JL: I did. I loved it. I was loving the fact that all those people would listen to Yoko go right out there and just generally show people there's a lot more to expression than just writing a verse, chorus, verse, chorus. And it opens up everything for artists who want to step outside of the confines of regular pop nuggets, so I was loving her. Aside from the fact that she's this awesome presence. She's like a zen master, zen in her posture, zen in her manner, and zen in the way she was just fucking unpredictable.
Pitchfork: Is there anything else you're looking forward to?
JL: There's plenty of stuff going on today. I've never seen Klaxons, so I'm happy about that, representing for the UK. I always get a little bit weird before my shows.
Pitchfork: Is it nervousness?
JL: It's a kind of quiet I go into. I notice it's like [motions to chest] "restrict." I don't go out and rave crazily until my show, so I'm just in that kind of moment, so I probably won't check anything before the show. It's more about what happens after. Grab a drink, and see what comes into the head.
Pitchfork: Do you have anything special planned for your set?
JL: I'm cracking out some new songs today. I was contemplating it today. It's hard for me because I'm not really in a gig head. I've been just recording new album stuff.
Pitchfork: Is the new stuff like Multiply at all?
JL: I don't want to give too much away at this stage. I think people will appreciate the songwriting. I've got all my energy into that, and I'm not finished yet, so I don't even know myself if it will keep on that course or it will deviate wildly. I just concentrate on writing the songs, which I'm pretty content are really solid. I will play some today.
I've realized along with the memory thing that I'm pretty bad at multi-tasking; I've either got to do one thing or another. I've either got to do the album or do the gigs. Doing this is kind of going against my principles.
Pitchfork: Well we appreciate you breaking your principles for us.
JL: No, I'm really happy to be here, and I just hope it's gonna rock.
Fans
Photos by Joseph Mohan
Photos 1-3 by Karra McDonald; photos 4 and 5 by Jason Bergman
Stephen Malkmus [ft. Bob Nastanovich] [Connector Stage; 6 p.m.]
Photos 1 and 2 by Jason Bergman; photo 3 by Rob Brookman; photo 4 by Jen Reel
Interview: Stephen Malkmus | [Interview by Bradford Cox of Deerhunter]
Bradford Cox: Are you on tour right now?
Stephen Malkmus: No, I'm on vacation. I came with my family here. My wife's daddy is from Chicago, but he retired to Indiana Dunes. I don't know if you're familiar with the neighborhood but there's a town, Michigan City. That's why I'm kinda tan.
BC: You are tan! You've always been kind of an alpha male. When I was 10 or 11 years old, Crooked Rain came out, and I didn't know if I was sexually attracted to you at 11, because my balls hadn't even dropped yet, but I think that my major fantasy would be that you'd marry my sister so we would be brothers-in-law. And that didn't work out.
SM: Did she marry?
BC: Yeah, she married.
SM: We have similar builds ... maybe you saw some of yourself in me.
BC: No. What it is is an alpha male thing. You serve as an alpha male for this particular culture. Is that a burden?
SM: No, it's not much of a burden, 'cause it's a pretty benign culture, 'cause nobody's gunning for me. Lou Barlow's not over there going, "Oh, man."
BC: But it's the same way that Kim Deal is like the alpha female! Did you ever think of marrying Kim Deal?
SM: No, but I met her. She's my same astrological sign.
BC: What is that sign?
SM: Gemini.
BC: I'm Taurus.
SM: I wouldn't have married her. She's a trashy, tough-talkin' kind of gal.
BC: I love that!
SM: Me too! It's tough, though. You're from Atlanta, right?
BC: Yeah.
SM: Did you see Pavement when we played at that S&M dungeon or whatever? Masquerade?
BC: The Masquerade is haunted! And no I didn't, 'cause I must've been twelve [years old]. I'm from Athens originally; I was born in Athens in 1982, the same time that Murmur was recorded. I know that you've been an R.E.M. fan in the past.
SM: I'm a big fan of that album, yeah.
BC: But, yeah, there's a limit to how far you can go with R.E.M.
SM: Basically Fables of the Reconstruction. There's still individual tracks. Some of their singles are good. I like "Fall on Me", that's a good song. Even Automatic for the People has got its way.
BC: Back in Stockton [California] when you were young, did you ever have any homoerotic experiences?
SM: Not really. On a train to New York from Chicago, this guy groped me once. I was asleep basically and this guy was over me with his hands on me on an overnight train. And I was like, "What the fuck?" It was kind of more like a morbid dream than it really happened.
BC: The progression of your music from the primitive early Pavement stuff-- it seems like you've been moving in your own direction. Not in an offensive way, but it seems very self-indulgent. It seems like you're doing exactly what you want to do. Which means guitar solos a lot. Your solo records have gone in so many collage-like directions. But it seems like it's going towards more of a progressive thing.
SM: Maybe. There's more parts, it's true. It's kind of the people I'm playing with, too. The early days, you don't know what you're doing, and that's nice. Everything's new, so you do stuff, and you think it's great without questioning it as much. I miss that. After some of my records-- Wowee Zowee or something-- the era was over.
BC: With Pavement and your solo records, you've always had such great B-sides. Like that song "Cherry Area", what is that song about?
SM: Well, I don't know. We just made it up at the time. "Cherry Area" would be, like, a sexual area.
BC: That's what I thought! Dennis Cooper recently published a list on his blog of his favorite gay love songs of all time, and "Cherry Area" was on the list. I don't know why, but it definitely has a sexual energy. Maybe it's the higher vocals.
SM: I just made that up with Dave Berman [of Silver Jews]. We were drinking.
BC: You and Dave Berman never had a homoerotic energy?
SM: No, I don't think so. Competitive, in a way. Kind of like, "You can do this, I can do that." Maybe he's had more of a burden of influence than me because I came before him in music, and people know Pavement. So people always thought, "This is a Pavement side project, what are you doing?" So that's irritating, 'cause he has a big ego. But he's over it now.
BC: If it wasn't for you, I never would've known about him, or found out about Actual Air, which is my favorite book of all time. Your lyrics have changed in scope-- in Pavement, they were very collaged, absurdist. Now they seem to be a lot more direct.
SM: I think so. I'm more direct. You get a lot more direct when you're older. You probably know, talking to your dad, he's probably pretty direct. He might not've been so direct when he was walking around like a dumbshit.
Cadence Weapon [Balance Stage; 6:15 p.m.]
Photos 1-2 by Jason Bergman; photos 3-4 by Karra McDonald
Of Montreal [Aluminum Stage; 7 p.m.]
Photos 1-3 by Jason Bergman; photos 4 and 5 by Jessica Solarski; photos 6, 15, and 16 by Jen Reel; photos 7-10 and 12-13 by Jana Green; photos 11 and 14 by Leigh Ann Hines
Interview: Of
Montreal |
[Interview by Julian Hattem]
Pitchfork: You
guys are kind of known for the costumes and the extravagance, and I
actually saw someone afterwards give you a card for corsets, but how
do you get most of your costumes? Do you ever make any yourself?
Kevin Barnes:
Yeah, back in the early days we would put them together ourselves,
just go to thrift stores and grab whatever looked funny or weird. Now
I have a couple people that make them for me. There's a woman out of
Brooklyn, called Rebecca Turbow, her line is called Safe-- that's
what I'm wearing right now. It's very cool, it's very like
futuristic, kind of like a 60s mod futuristic thing, like something
that you'd see in a 60s sci-fi movie. When I saw her stuff I was like
"Holy shit, that's exactly what I'm looking for." And so
she makes these just special for me, which is really cool because it
means you'll never see anybody walking around with this shirt or
these pants.
Pitchfork: You
don't make any clothes yourself now, though?
KB: No, I don't.
Pitchfork: Do
you consider yourself anything of a seamster?
KB: No, I'm
pretty much one-dimensional. I'm only capable of making music. If I
ever try to do anything outside of music it ends up in disaster.
Pitchfork: Well,
at least you do music very well. Did you have a chance to check out
any of the other bands at the festival today or yesterday?
KB: Yesterday I
saw Girl Talk, which was amazing, and a little bit of Dan Deacon
until he was shut down.
Pitchfork: Yeah,
that was crazy.
KB: Yeah, we
love Dan Deacon so it was cool. And I saw a little bit of Cat Power,
that was really cool. I didn't really see that many because we had a
photo shoot on Saturday for most of the evening so I didn't get to
the festival until later.
Pitchfork: The album you're working on, I've heard you say you're abandoning the traditional three-minute songs and you
want the entire album to be one whole song with a bunch of movements.
Can you tell me about that?
KB: Yeah, it's
coming together. So basically, I'll write maybe a one-minute song-- a
one-minute little pop song-- and normally I'd think "Okay, now I
gotta make a chorus or I need to make a second part to that song,"
instead of thinking, "Okay, how am I going to create something
that has continuity that follows the feeling of the first part?"
I want to use that somehow as the impetus for another part but not
necessarily have them make sense together. It could be in another key
or it could be in another tempo and it could have a very different
quality to it. And that's kind of what I'm going for, so it has this
very sort of schizophrenic quality. Everything is sort of fragmented
and pieced together in a seemingly chaotic sort of way but in my mind
it will hopefully make sense. And hopefully it will make sense to
other people and it won't hurt your head to listen to it.
Pitchfork: How
far are you along? What stage are you in?
KB: I've got
about 30 minutes of material. And I'm still kind of tweaking things
and moving things around and experimenting with it. I'm not in any
hurry; I have a long time before I need to submit a new record, so
I'm just having fun and not really putting any restrictions or
deadlines or anything like that on it; just trying to get into the
spirit of creation and just have fun with it.
Pitchfork: The
new song you played today...
KB: "Softcore".
Pitchfork: Yeah,
"Softcore", that seemed to go over pretty well.
KB: Yeah...this whole show was a bit of flying by the seat of our pants because we didn't have much time to rehearse and our bass player quit-- well, he quit/got fired-- a couple days before the show, and so we had to figure out what we were going to do without a bass player. And so the guy who had been doing guitar tech for us stepped in on a couple different songs and Nina, my wife, who used to play bass with us, played on a song, and then we used some bass on the backing tracks. And then our CD player-- the thing we use to play the backing tracks for us-- wasn't programmed correctly so it kept skipping to the next song.
So we had a lot of
technical issues we were dealing with [laughs], but we didn't
really care because we had so much theatrical stuff planned that we
knew, "Well, it's going to be chaos, and that's okay."
Because it's part of what we learned from playing at the Coachella
festival: we were very serious and we were very uptight like "Okay,
we're going to play in front of this really big audience, it's a
really great opportunity. We gotta just be great and be a great
band." But it turned out it's not fun to try to be a good band;
it's fun to be a sloppy interesting band [laughs]. It's more
rewarding in a way, because if you've finished the show and you didn't
really have fun but you played your parts perfectly, you didn't
really get anything out of it. But if your brother is walking around
like a ninja on your shoulders and everything is just kind of chaos
on stage, it's really fun.
Pitchfork: I wanted to ask you about the Girl Talk remix of "Gronlandic
Edit". Have you heard that at all?
KB: Yeah, I
actually heard it last night for the first time live.
Pitchfork: Oh
yeah? I only just caught the tail end of his set so I don't think I
heard it.
KB: Yeah, I
think it was somewhere in the middle. It was so exciting to hear, I
was just kind of rocking out and I was like "I know that-- what
is that? Oh that's my song!" [laughs]. That was really
exciting. I'm a Girl Talk fan.
Pitchfork: You had Darth Vader on stage. Are you a big Star Wars
fan? And who is your favorite Star Wars character?
KB: Probably
when I was a kid I really liked Boba Fett. I thought he was awesome,
I thought it was so cheap the way he died. I can't really get into
the prequels or whatever, I think those are kind of boring, but the
first two, and even actually a lot of people hated Return of the
Jedi because they thought it was too cutesy, but I was at the
right age where I actually liked Ewoks. I thought they were fun and I
loved the forest they lived in.
Pitchfork: On
Endor?
KB: Yeah. I
still love the story and I think it's exciting, all the weird
characters that came in toward the end at the fight at the Death
Star. They all have these weird ethnic qualities, like the one guy's
like an Asian guy, one of them kind of looks like an African guy--
they almost look like caricatures, in a weird way. Maybe somebody
would be offended, but when you're a kid you don't care. I love the--
I could go on about this forever, but I'll stop [laughs].
Pitchfork:
Anything else you want to get out there?
KB: Not really, other than I had a great time tonight and this was one of the greatest live experiences I've ever had.
<!--pagebreak-->The Field [Balance Stage; 7:15 p.m.]
Photos 1-2 by Jason Bergman; photo 3 by Karra McDonald
The New Pornographers [Connector Stage; 8 p.m.]
Photos 1-3 by Jason Bergman; photos 4.1, 4.2, and 5 by Kathryn Yu
Interview: Carl Newman of the New Pornographers | [Interview by Paul Thompson]
Pitchfork: So have you been around the festival grounds yet?
Carl Newman: I've only been around [backstage]. I can't get over the Chipotle line [in the VIP area]! In the real world, would you line up for Chipotle for even a second?
Pitchfork: I have a colleague who's possibly the world's biggest Chiptole fan. For some people it's the bee's knees. So am I holding you from back getting out there and experiencing the festival?
CN: Yeah, right after this interview, that's when we're gonna make our first journey to the other side. Actually, I played here two years ago for my solo album, but I don't think I ever really made the journey, that I remember. It's so hard, you know, when you've got the backstage area with the food and the free drinks. You're gonna come outside when you've got this nice shady area for standing in? Let the record show that we're in a beautiful parkland. This is actually one of the best festival backstages because of that, because it's just like a nice little park.
Pitchfork: Any bands you're going to be able to see?
CN: I doubt it. Actually, the big people I wanted to see were yesterday-- Grizzly Bear and Battles.
Pitchfork: Those sets were very good, not to rub it in.
CN: That's the great thing about living in New York now. Whenever I miss a band, I'm like, "They'll be back." Shit, Grizzly Bear are from there! So what am I worried about?
Pitchfork: Tell me a little bit about putting the New Pornographers record out the way you have, with the Buy Early Get Now Program. It's interesting, and it's also really smart.
CN: It's good! Who knows what the proper way to put out a record is these days? You try to give people extra. Things are changing, the roadmap is different.
Pitchfork: How's the response been?
CN: It's been really good. I'm trying not to pay attention to it, and trying to be very zen about it. If you're happy because people love you or sad because people don't love you, they're both equally unhealthy. I think it's important to just put out the record and let it do its thing and go out and play shows to support it and not worry about all the other bullshit.
Pitchfork: That does sound healthy.
CN: It is very healthy! Let's see if I can stick to it. I think I can. It's like kicking coffee or any other drug. Kicking OxyContin.
Pitchfork: Was that hard for you? Kicking that OxyContin?
CN: It was!
Pitchfork: I heard you were at 100 mg a day. I don't even know if that's a lot.
CN: 100, 150. Whatever it takes, to paraphrase Mr. Mom.
Pitchfork: I'm not sure that we can textually indicate sarcasm sufficiently in this transcript. I have to assume you've never had a problem with OxyContin. Maybe I'm wrong?
CN: I only know it because of Rush Limbaugh, to be honest. He's a dick!
Pitchfork: You said it.
CN: Let the record show Carl wasn't sarcastic when he said Rush Limbaugh was a dick. I guess that's kind of public knowledge. Like saying the sun is shiny.
Pitchfork: Have you done anything else in Chicago while you've been here?
CN: Actually, my fiancée and I went shopping at Bloomingdale's and Barney's. Because we're punk. Let the record show Carl is sarcastic when he says he's punk. He means it ironically. Actually, shopping at Bloomingdale's and Barney's isn't very punk at all. He makes a joke about it.
Pitchfork: This might be the best interview of all time.
CN: Is that sarcasm?
Pitchfork: I can't tell. So, you have many labelmates here.
CN: Yeah, I was just talking to Stephen [Malkmus].
Pitchfork: He's a nice guy.
CN: He is nice! Starting out as such a huge indie rock fan for a long time, it's weird when these people who you were such a big fan of become your peers or acquaintances. It never ceases to strike me as weird, leaving the backstage area and going "Hey Steve, how's it going?" Or shooting the shit with him, "Well, I'll see you later, huh?" Like, that guy's from Pavement! I feel the same way with Georgia and Ira and James from Yo La Tengo. I mean, you guys are from Yo La Tengo, and I count as an acquaintance? It's always weird for me. Even though I'm in a band, I never shake being a fan. Whenever I think a band is really great, I'm still a fan.
Pitchfork: Do you have anything in particular planned for the New Pornographers set, or are you just kicking out the jams?
CN: Do we have to do anything? Do we have to put on stilts?
Pitchfork: Well, you are going on after Of Montreal, and I saw one of their dudes with a Darth Vader mask on.
CN: Hey, if people don't like us 'cause we don't have stilts, I guess they never really liked us. Anyway, Of Montreal aren't really in a position to be all high and mighty considering that Outback Steakhouse commercial.
Pitchfork: [laughs] I hear you have beef with them.
CN: No, but I'm trying to start a beef with them.
Pitchfork: Seems like that would be a very pleasant beef. You might exchange some letters or something.
CN: It is pleasant! It's important to only start a beef with a guy you think you could take in a fight. I'm not a big guy or particularly aggressive, but I think I would do some serious damage to Kevin Barnes if it came down to it. Let the record show that Carl is referring to a made-up feud between the New Pornographers and Of Montreal that actually, as some bloggers thought, might've been started by the last interview in Pitchfork.
Pitchfork: Let the record show that Pitchfork had no interest in starting a feud between two of its favorite bands.
CN: Let the record show that we agree. We're nodding.
Pitchfork: This is turning out like the Nixon tapes.
WLUW Record Fair and Vendors
Photo 1 by Jason Bergman; photo 2 by Joseph Mohan
Klaxons [Balance Stage; 8:30 p.m.]
Photos by Karra McDonald
Interview: Klaxons
|
[Interview by Tyler Grisham]
Pitchfork: How
did the show go?
Simon Taylor-Davis: We were surprisingly really humbled. I think we weren't really sure what to expect. We're huge fans of the website; I've been reading it for years, back when it was just a little blog. Back in England, whenever we would check out the American blogs, we'd check out Pitchfork. I've always been a fan of it, and then I turned everyone onto it a few years ago, and they've been reading since. So it's a really, really big deal for us to play here. And before we played, we were slightly concerned, because we were playing, like, a gazebo. We're used to playing in venues, and this was a gazebo.
But it was
absolutely incredible. The sound on the stage was absolutely
horrific, but that's, like, that's something new to us for a
while...the minute something confuses us, we get really excited.
I think that's the first time we've been confused for a few weeks.
And for us, that's always a big element: if something makes us feel
weird, or we get confused by it, we get quite excited by that. And
the sound was-- there were no monitors on stage, and we were like,
"Oh, Jesus, that hasn't happened for a while." But it was
just incredible. The crowd were nuts, and we weren't expecting that.
I think we played really well, and we just thoroughly enjoyed it. The
whole reason we came to America was to see the Pitchfork Festival;
we've done a few dates on the side, but that was the real reason.
We've been over here five days, and we haven't had a day off in three
weeks. We're going to Minneapolis tomorrow, and then to Australia.
Pitchfork: How
long will you be on the road?
ST: We'll be going about three weeks, and then we're going to start resting, and start writing our next record. I think it's hard for British bands-- I think we're one of the only British bands playing the Pitchfork Festival, and it's a massive honor for us. We're all huge fans of the site. And I think for any British band coming to America, it's about that balance between, when do you stop and when do you start. And in England, it seems like it's stopping, it seems like the album is starting to wind down. We toured in December, so the whole album is winding down to a close, and we're happy about that, because we've gotten a lot of attention in England, some of it not necessarily for good reason [laughs]. But obviously in America, it's just starting.
So it's that weird space, like in a game, you draw a line, and where do you stop and where do you start? We're coming back in September for a month, and we're all just very excited about the next record. We wrote our debut album in about a week, and we've only been a band for about a year and a half, so for us it's a big deal to start making the next one happen and start collecting ideas and building it.
De La Soul [Aluminum Stage; 9 p.m.]
Photos 1-3 by Jason Bergman; photos 4-7 by Jen Reel
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