Mash-up DJ Girl Talk rolls into town to play a show at the Engine Room on Thursday night. Armed with his laptop and ready arsenal of body-thumping mixes, Girl Talk’s Gregg Gillis will make you move.
If you don’t know, now you know; less than two years ago, Gillis worked as a biomedical engineer by day-turned-mad scientist of beats and samples at night and on the weekends, mixing potent mash-ups and performing in front of booty-shaking crowds.
Then Girl Talk's latest album, Night Ripper, dropped. The schizophrenic and daring record blends 300 known classic rock, hip hop, and dance samples into a satisfying aural sugar rush. Night Ripper made Rolling Stone's top 50 albums list in 2006, and Blender described the record's sampling work as stunning and "exquisitely diverse." Gillis blew up, quit his day job, and is currently on a tour expected to run through the beginning of 2008.
Mp3: Girl Talk – Bounce That
Mp3: Girl Talk – Hold Up
And enjoy a free sampler from Girl Talk’s record label, Illegal Art, featuring other IA recording artists and a rare Girl Talk track
Houstonist talked to Girl Talk about his recent career transition, what he’s listening to at the moment, and his concerns about possible legal action over his sampling.
So we hear you quit your day job, cubicle dwellers salute you. What made you decide to make the switch to music full time?
When I had my day job, I was playing shows every Friday and Saturday. It was awesome but a little bit overwhelming. I couldn't keep up without going insane, so I quit the day job.
You've been touring non-stop in support of Night Ripper. We're not complaining, we'd love to see you live, but is there any chance of a break in your schedule soon?
I'm trying to free up some time to finish my next record. For most of my shows, I travel alone, and my only equipment is a couple laptops. That makes it easy to do one-offs. So even if I want to take a month off, it doesn't mean that I won't do a few random shows in there. I'm trying to dedicate some time in 2008 to touring Europe as well. I think my show schedule will slow down but not stop.
You recently performed in a concert with Tay Zonday of "Chocolate Rain" fame. How did that show come about?
I still don't know the details of that. I think my touring partner Dan Deacon really wanted him to play. I just got a call from saying "Do you want that 'Chocolate Rain' guy to play in Minneapolis?" I had heard of the song but didn't really know it was such a big deal. I said "Yeah" because Dan was pumped on it.
People get wild at your shows. Any crazy stories that stand out in particular?
On my last tour, we brought some inflatables out at each show. We had this
spider one that was like 8 feel tall. In Philly, the stage filled up with people, and a couple had sex behind the spider during the performance.
We think your work combining samples and loops is genius. Guessing what songs we know is only half the fun, your production is seamless. How do you put a song together and decide what goes with what?
It's a trial-and-error process for me. I isolate loops from songs and catalog them. In the program that I use to perform live, Audiomulch, you can match and time-stretch different samples. I go in there and try out many different combinations of material until I find something that Iike.
We know you love pop music on the radio, what have you been listening to lately?
The latest Bone Thugz & Harmony, the Zombies, the new Swizz Beatz, Gucci Mane's "Freaky Gurl," Madder Rose, Height, the Mevlins, Cassidy's "Drink & My Two Step," and Lionel Richie.
We read that your record label has prepared a Fair Use legal defense. Are you worried at all about possible legal action taken against you?
It's something you have to consider. I'm just rocking in the free world.
Girl Talk, with Busdriver and Daedalus
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Engine Room: 1515 Pease St. (@ LaBranch)
$10, All ages, 8pm
Ticketmaster
You can also catch Girl Talk at the Fun Fun Fun Festival in Austin this weekend
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