Unless you were born with one of those silver spoons, you likely work a day job, sneaking time for your own business when not taking care of someone else’s. Trust funds (and ma and pa) remain indie rock’s unspoken funding source. Or, a couple weeks ago Patti Smith came down on guitar-slinging slackers:
“When people come up to me and say, ‘Patti, nobody wants to hear my CD and I don’t have enough money for equipment,’ I say, ‘Well, get a job.’ You do babysitting jobs, you work in the factory, you work in the bookstore or become a pickpocket. Work is really good for an artist. Artists should work.”
All true, but plenty of musicians–people packing clubs and looking fabulous on your favorite web sites–punch the clock as fish mongers, dog walkers, temps, social workers and scientists.
This and that in mind, Quit Your Day Job–a new weekly column penned by Brandon Stosuy (Believer, Paper Thin Walls, Pitchfork)–is set to focus on those folks for whom “9 to 5″ evokes more than Dolly Parton, Lady Sov, and a hogtied Dabney Coleman. Fittingly, we decided to get the ball rolling with Gregg Gillis, aka Girl Talk, a man who’s overlapped the Ying Yang Twins and the Verge gloriously, and who could likely mash six different “9 to 5″‘s into the best workday anthem ever. Take it away, Brandon…
Girl Talk’s third album, Night Ripper, charted high on year-ends lists (#34 Pitchfork, #22 Rolling Stone, #27 Spin… #21 here at Stereogum). Nowadays, the ADD-style Pittsburgh DJ’s been remixing everyone from Beck and Good Charlotte to Grizzly Bear and Peter Bjorn and John. Coachella and SXSW gigs are great, but he heads to Vegas on Valentine’s Day for Fu-Sion, a two-day televised concert at the Aladdin Hotel and Casino, ringing in Chinese New Year with Kanye West, Gnarls Barkley and plenty of others who, unless they pull a Hammer, have managed escape the everyday job market.
I caught up with Gillis shortly after he returned home from a January 27th weekend warrior gig at Chop Suey in Seattle.
STEREOGUM: You’re a biomedical engineer. What does that mean exactly? Did you go to school for it?
GREGG GILLIS: I went to school for biomedical engineering, with a focus on tissue engineering. At my job, I have a biomedical engineer title, but my duties are unrelated to any tissue sciences. I do research and development on medical instrumentation. It’s kind of an experimental division, and we try to flesh out a bunch of weird, new-to-the-world devices. I hook other employees up with our devices and collect physiological information on them. Then, most of my time is spent sitting in a cubicle and analyzing data. There’s also a big chunk of time dedicated to answering Myspace messages.
STEREOGUM: Has the job influenced your listening habits or your approach to sound? Somehow, I imagine an especial connection to Matmos’ A Chance to Cut Is A Chance To Cure.
GG: Haha, yeah, I love that album. I don’t think there are any huge connections between my day job and my music. But, I think there is a general engineering mindset of approaching problems and tasks from the ground level up, just developing things from the basic building blocks. And with my work in Girl Talk, I use some older software and try to really approach constructing music from a similar mentality. Work is a great time for me to listen to music and figure out what I’m going to sample as well.
STEREOGUM: Are coworkers aware of Girl Talk?
GG: No. When I started working here about 2 years ago, there was really no need to tell them about my music. It’s a fairly conservative environment, and it just never came up. It’s only been the last 6 months or so that things have really exploded, and I’m in too deep to explain the situation now. Every Pittsburgh newspaper and magazine I’ve interacted with has agreed to not use my real name in interviews, just “Girl Talk,” and only publish this one picture of me with sunglasses and a scarf where you really can’t see my face.
STEREOGUM: Is it rough waking up and heading into work after one of those sweaty, raucous live shows?
GG: I am technically living a lie. I have jumped on a plane to do Friday and Saturday shows almost every weekend for the past 4 months now. It’s a little difficult to never talk about this in the work environment and to completely ignore the fact that I’m signing autographs and playing sold out shows when I’m not in my cubicle.
This past weekend was especially tough. I played Seattle on Saturday, and my flight to Pittsburgh on Sunday was delayed. I didn’t get home until 4:30 AM and had to be at work at 8:30 AM for a meeting. Airport security took my toothpaste, so I couldn’t brush my teeth in the morning.
STEREOGUM: Think you’ll quit anytime soon?
GG: Yeah, I’ve been thinking about it a lot recently. I like having to not depend on music for money and have it be exclusively my fun time, but simultaneously, I’m in my 20′s and it’d be great to have a year or two doing nothing but music. And that seems totally feasible right now. If work slows down at any point and I wouldn’t feel guilty ditching out on a project, then I’d seriously consider it.
Is your co-worker a rock star? E-mail tips at stereogum.com.
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Great new feature. I love it.
good stuff. there are way too many “artists” who live off their parents. i cant help but laugh at the poor folks in williamsburg.
This has definate potential.
I want to sex Gregg Gillis.
i’ve been working a (seemingly endless) temp job at one of the bigger NYC financial institutions, and while i definitely feel out of place most of the time, there have been a few instances when i’ve seen someone else in the elevator who clearly doesn’t fit the mold. usually there’s a little nod or smile involved that kind of acts as a secret handshake.
it’s comforting. my background is in creative fields, and while i’m trying to get back to that type of work, i like knowing that i’m not the only one who has to switch gears to pay the bills… even if i do have to listen to the guy in the cubicle next to mine talk about how cool the Eagles reunion is gonna be.
This is great! Can you do Andrew Bird next?
Well let’s face it, the Eagles reunion WILL be ultra-cool.
I don’t understand. Is this supposed to make me feel worse about my lame temp jobs? It’s working.
Just kidding, great new feature. Try more misery with the next one though.
Girl Talk is so hot. AND he’s a biomedical engineer? I’m going to go cry in a corner of my cubicle.
Try being a touring musician AND working at a record label! Talk about impossible to keep shit under wraps. I’m going to have a ball explaining things to my bosses at SXSW.
I had no idea he was so adorable!
This is awesome. And like jp, every now and then I’d meet somebody at work who liked real music and it would be the greatest thing ever. A work environment is better when the baseline is the Beatles instead of the Eagles.
AWESOME idea for a recurring column. i hope you keep it up.
wasn’t a very similar interview done by pitchfork a couple months ago? either way really interesting
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/37785/Interview_Interview_Girl_Talk
What a great idea for a column. Suggetion for the next Quit Your Day Job: The Wrens!
crazy…i read this same basic article on pitchfork last year (8/30/06)
Pitchfork: What’s your dayjob?
Greg Gillis: I do biomedical engineering work– I’m nerded out by day.
Pitchfork: What’s your day-to-day like at work?
GG: I’m in this experimental division where nobody knows what the hell is going on and we’re just trying out new ideas. I find out what’s not working about certain products and what can be better. Then I go ahead and recruit people from the office to come in and do tests on them. I’m not supposed to go into detail about the products we work on.
Pitchfork: Can you say what company you work for?
GG: No. I’d like to keep it under wraps.
Pitchfork: Very mysterious.
GG: [laughs]
Pitchfork: Do people at work know about Girl Talk?
GG: I actually don’t tell them for a few different reasons, one being that there are articles printed saying that I’m doing this illegal art form on this large scale. It’s funny, the day that Pitchfork review ran I got an e-mail from the Post Gazette– which is the main paper here in Pittsburgh– and they wanted to do a feature on me and I had to decline. It’s the first time I ever declined an interview because it was going to be too weird if people from work read it. The other element is whenever you see me live I’m often ripping off my shirt or screaming into the mic. It’s not like I’m playing drums in a band, so it’s hard to explain.
ETC, ETC, ETC…
c’mon guys!
jp, lighten up while you still can.
you go girl talk.
this is a RAD column.
holy shit…
all this time, i sort of had this odd sense that gg’s my alter self (but i’m a bit younger than he)! except my life’s a bit more hectic than his (i’m no biochem engineer, but i do work in the medical field in a similar position by day/music person by night)… and i have an incredibly fussy 17 month old boy to take care of! 3 full time jobs (considering a full time job consists of 8 grueling hours) in a 24 hour period = no sleep. anybody know of a good nanny in the sf bay area? god how i miss my sleep…
i am pleased with this feature
awesome. you made me feel better.
MORE FEATURES! MORE GRAPHICS!
i actually like the sound of this one though.. definitely do a wrens profile!
…hey wait; i’m a chemical engineer in Seattle who does mash-ups, doesn’t perform, and i’m not famous…damn you alternate universe!!
I love that Sid Vicious icon where you make him look like K-Fed. Now that’s punk rock.
Well, since Pitchfork sucks and I don’t read it, this is entirely new to me. I like it. Good job.
how weird is gillis’ situation?!?! what the fuck kind of complex does he have where he can’t say “oh yeah i dj sometimes” to the people he sees every day?!?!
Should do Tad Kubler, of the Hold Steady. Apparently he works on photo shoots for music magazines. How weird is that, being from Fallout Boy or whatever and seeing the Hold Steady guitarist holding the light. It’s a strange world.
BTW, Matthew, I’d like you to know that for being the first person to hate on Pitchfork, you are the coolest, most original, least knee-jerk backlashing person I know. Seriously. You truly are. Take that to the bank and pay your bills with it.
Great feature idea, looking forward to more of these.
As a Biomedical engineer graduate myself, I am down with Greg.
RU BME ’04
You’ll never run out of interesting stories, that’s for sure. Great feature. Can’t wait to read more.
Apparently many bootleggers have a day job, including me. I also have a mashup album out recently:
http://bootwards.boototom.info/
2 awesome.