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Stay ConnectedHost Pierre de Gaillande interviews musicians and discusses their artistic trajectory, and the intersection of music, artistic expression and the idea of art as politics.
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Composer-producer-frontman-wizard JG Thirlwell has been making astonishing, orchestral, bombastic music for decades. Born in Australia, he teamed up with Nick Cave and the Birthday Party, then joined Prag VEC, and soon formed his enduring solo project Foetus. Operating under plethora of pseudonyms and monikers meant to confuse, shock, and awe, Thirlwell continues to churn out an astounding amount of music and to perform as a frontman for his own projects, as well as a composer for animated series Venture Brothers, Archer, and Dicktown. We talked about his beginnings in London, moving to New York in the early 80s, starting out using 16 tracks of tape and an elaborate numerical system, his first time wearing "guy liner," the importance of remembering World War Two, his evolving theories on shock value and fear as a part of performance, and his changing relationship to his Australian roots as a citizen of the world.
Musician and visual artist Rick Froberg can't help it, he f*&#ing loves rock and roll. Throughout his career he has fronted loud, uncompromising, aggressive, totally original and influential bands like Pitchfork, Drive Like Jehu, and Hot Snakes with his partner in crime John Reis as well as Obits, last of the Juanitas, and others. He continues to record and perform all over the world. Rick creates the album artwork for all of his projects, as well as working as a commercial artist. We talked about getting along with Satan, shitty gigs in front of the culchies, being at the same Fugazi show when someone drew blood, saying what you mean with lead and bludgeoning guitars, the wonders of the internet, cigarette Nazis in Australia, learning analog art design, and a whole lot more.
For this very special episode, we reach way back into the vault and present an interview Pierre did with The Breeders in 1992! We unearthed this cassette recording of an interview with all four members of this massively popular and influential mainstay of 90's alt-rock, the Breeders. Pierre called them from San Diego and interviewed them on the phone in their hometown of Dayton, Ohio, in advance of their concert in Tijuana, Mexico, at the legendary Iguana's. The year is 1992 and the Breeders are on the verge of superstardom. Pierre is a college student calling from San Diego and he's quite sleepy, but he's awake enough to ask some pretty incisive and trenchant questions, including "Who will play you in a movie of your life" and "Will Bill Clinton be elected?" Listen as young Pierre tries to play it cool on the phone with all four members of the Breeders; Jim McPherson, Josephine Wiggs, Kelly Deal, and Kim Deal.
Phil Manley is a west-coast based rock musician and producer. He runs El Studio in San Fransisco, and he handles the guitar, keyboards, bass, and vocals in bands Trans Am, Life Coach, Terry Gross, and Oneida among others. His band Trans Am spearheaded the Electroclash movement in the 90's and continues to melt faces around the world. We had very pleasant chit chat in his studio about recording very loud bands, Krautrock vs. punk rock, missing the "normal days" of Bush, touring in Europe with a Bush mask on, and how to sheild your kids from the apocalypse.
Episode sweet sixteen features Los Angeles-based activists, musicians, filmmakers, and educators Lisa Marr and Paolo Davanzo. They run a non-profit called the Echo Park Film Center, and they travel the world spreading their vison of inclusiveness, tolerance, creativity and artistic freedom through the medium of cinema. We spoke about both of their musical and artistic trajectories beginning in Canada and Italy, through the wilds of the Orange County punk MIASMA and the Canadian riot girl scene. We chatted about striving for socialist idealism in a capitalist world, the circus of American politics, the short life of the Sassy Pickles, the film mobile, bicycle-driven projection, cuddle core, and so much more.
Stew is a singer, musician, composer, playwright, and a powerhouse in the world of music and theater. For years he fronted the band Stew and the Negro Problem. He then went on to create and star in a play called Passing Strange which started off-Broadway and then went on to have a successful run on Broadway, where it garnered multiple Tonys and other awards, and was eventually turned into a feature film by Spike Lee. In all of Stew's work, he shines a bright light on what it means to be an African-American guy with a killer sense of humor and an acute sense of history and culture, in a world that wants to reduce everyone to stereotypes. Stew performed a live acoustic rendition of his song "Baldwin Country" and we spoke about "asshole-adjacent people," the role of comedy in music, the American vs European idea of freedom, what Reagan would say about today's mess, his ongoing collaboration with partner Heidi Rodewald, the audacity of craziness, and so much more. 
This episode features woodwind whiz, composer, arranger, and performer Ken Thomson. Ken plays all kinds of clarinets and saxophones (and anything else that sounds like an angry swan) in many amazing projects including but not limited to: Bang on a Can Orchestra, Gutbucket, Asphalt Orchestra, SlowFast, and Ken Thomson Sextet. I've had the pleasure of sharing stages and recording sessions over the years with Ken and he always amazes. We chit-chatted about his career as a hornist, perceptions of Americans touring abroad, adapting feedback and screaming for marching band, making couscous with your bandmates, and so much more.
Lucky number 13 is my good friend Dorit Chrysler, a theremin wizard from Austria. She came to New York in the 90's and was the singer-guitarist for the scorching art-rock band Halcion. She subsequently went on tho become one of the world's premiere theremin experts. She performs at festivals and concert venues around the world on a regular basis, and she was the co-founder of the New York Theremin Society. She has scored films and TV sows, including the upcoming German production "M." for Netflix. She will be performing this year with the San Francisco Symphony as well as Moogfest in Durham North Carolina in April. We spoke about the music scene in New York in the 90's,plasticc molds, the legacy of Austrian culture, the "bread and circus" of American politics, and she performed three live songs in the studio.
This episode is all about hip hop. Paul Womack, AKA Willie Green, is a New York-based hip hop producer specializing in "art-rap." He produces extremely imaginative, groundbreaking beats for hip hop and pop artists who are not afraid to break the rules and sound completely different. Operating out of his studio in Brooklyn, he works with a roster of super creative and outspoken artists like Quelle Chris, Premrock, Billy Woods, Henry Canyon, EllaMaeFlossy and many others under the label Backwoodz Studioz. We talked about good versus shitty sampling, the difference between studied and naive creativity, drumming with Uncle Dave, the hypocrisy of self-hating immigrants, armchair A&R, and a lot more. 
