A couple of weeks ago I got the pleasure of interviewing Mac DeMarco. Even though some people may question his being vaulted to international stardumb, Mac’s music has seemed to strike an artistic vein within the populous and at the right time too. For me, he hit an artery connected to my heart and whatever is connected to me wanting to streak through the streets naked. Is Mac an auteur? Or does he place somewhere else on a spectrum of misrepresentation? Find out what he likes in music videos, rock, and his new album Salad Days.
Apt613: You are playing in a small town outside of Ottawa.
MDM: We heard it was a famous venue.
Do you have a video art background? I’ve seen some of your performance work and the internet leads to me to believe that you have some sort of a relationship with the camera.
Sort of, but I’m less of a behind the camera kind of guy. I work with some friends who I work with on the videos.
What’s your favourite video aesthetic right now?
I like the video styles of the late 90s early 2000s when people still had money to make music videos and it wasn’t like a hot chick in a tootoo walking around in a forest.
My favourite is “My kind of Woman.” It is a short film to me and when I saw your “Ode to Viceroy” music video I was like yeah, totally. People were making these super low-fi music videos, trying to find pneumatic tape, VHS recorders, in garbage cans, convert to digital, give it a wave.
It’s cheap to make videos like that and they look cool. It’s cool to shoot on film sometimes too. But whatever we got the means to do. I like music videos that aren’t cheezy crap. I always like Blur’s music videos. Video’s a hard thing to do.
Still from Mac DeMarco’s “My Kind of Woman.” Directed by Alex Lill.
I like the way you play the guitar. There is a quality to your music and specifically your guitar work that I could argue is the same reason I yell at the radio while listening to Randy Bachman‘s Vinyl Tap on CBC1. That noodley pre-programmed “weeedly weedle… and I was on tour with the Bee Gees…” your clangy guitar sound.
Yeah my cheese dick riffs.
On your new album, Salad Days, you take a pretty consistent step for a third release, some slow sexy jams about love and loneliness, no real deviation from Rock N’Roll Nightclub and 2. “Passing Out Your Pieces” gets a little Sgt. Pepper-y at times, “Chamber of Reflection” has the repeating…. “alone again, alone again,” the tragic riffs in “Treat Her Better.” I’m not a big fan of cheese rock like Steely Dan or Jimmy Buffet but I feel like I can imagine what it would have been like to listen to that music for the first time 30 years ago. Are you engaging with this, is it self-referential?
I think it’s a reference. I used to play music very differently. Say on Rock N’Rock Nightclub, I decided to use two guitars, which I had never done before. I had never written a solo or anything like that. The idea of writing a solo, that’s hilarious to me. It’s like classic rock. Like, who the fuck writes a guitar solo? That’s insane so, for me, it’s kind of tongue and cheek. Like weird music at a wedding, I enjoy doing it. And it’s all about the dad rock; it’s exactly how I feel about guys like Steely Dan. There’s something funny about them and they kind of rock. You’re enjoying something but kind of laughing at it too, which I enjoy a lot.
It’s also kind of melancholic too. It’s tragic dad, maybe drunk dad.
yeah
Your music also has a coastal vibe, like it sounds like you’re close to the ocean. Do you feel that?
….
What do you think about surf rock?
….
What about hitting that wave?
….
Hello?… Hello? … Fuck.
~Ring Ring Ring~
Hello.
Surf rock?
Yeah, I definitely listen to a lot of surf guitar stuff especially when I was learning to play guitar like The Ventures and stuff and it kind of bleeds in. Something about water, I always kind of liked to keep close.
Beautiful.
Listen to Mac DeMarco’s new single, “Brother”, off Salad Days below:
Mac DeMarco’s show at the Black Sheep on April 4 is completely sold out. You can follow Les666 on her tumblr or Twitter.
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