Mixin’ and mashin’ with Girl Talk

(Credit: Andrew Strasser)

The concept behind the mash-up—take two or more disparate songs, preferably from different genres, and then layer them on top of each other—has become so commonplace, it's easy to forget that the form is just a few years old. But for Gregg Gillis, a.k.a. Girl Talk, it's become a passion.

An obscure Pittsburgh DJ just a few years ago, Girl Talk became an underground sensation in 2006 thanks to the album “Night Ripper,” on which he pulled not just two or three songs into a track, but as many as 20, working multiple samples into remarkably cohesive units. On his latest disc, “Feed the Animals,” Gillis ups the ante, using over 300 samples on just 14 tracks for a veritable Cliff’s Notes of the last 25 years of pop music. Due for a physical release this fall, the album was originally offered online in a Radiohead-style, pay-what-you-want model—a fittingly renegade approach, since for years Gillis had trouble getting the clearances he'd need to make his music legal.

We got Gillis on the phone to talk a bit about quitting his day job, what he's actually doing onstage, and whether he has a secret love of jam bands.

You were still working as a biomedical engineer while you were touring behind “Night Ripper.” Do you still have to lie to your bosses about what you're doing on weekends?
No; in 2007 I'd used up all my vacation days by, like, February, so I decided to do music full-time. I don't miss it—I mean, it wasn’t like a bad job or anything, and I enjoyed it, but it was a job. I don’t really like waking up early or you know, being forced to deal with people you wouldn’t typically deal with. Right now, I feel like I don’t really have a job—I’m just doing what I would be doing typically, but happen to be making some money off of it.

You've gained a rep as a great live act, thanks in part to you inviting attractive girls to dance on stage with you at festivals. Do they all understand what you do? Do you ever get requests?
Yeah, I mean it comes with the turf. Sometimes it can be annoying. A couple weekends ago I was playing in Colorado and I played a show in Aspen and this girl jumped on stage. I was literally in minute number two of the set and some girl’s in my face: “Play some Chicago rap music!” But I like the raw, punk rock, house party energy. If everyone got on stage and was very well behaved, it wouldn’t be as exciting. 

It's got to be a bit dangerous, too.
I got a tooth knocked out a year ago in Pittsburgh. I was actually playing a show and my parents were there; I jumped up on stage, over my dad’s head, and hit my face off of my best friend’s shoulder, got up, and my tooth was missing. And my mom screamed; it was really dramatic and funny.

So did you call your mom to tell her you were putting it under your pillow for the tooth fairy?
I called my mom the next day and asked if she thought it’d be an OK idea to perform without a tooth and she gave me the go-ahead.

So much of what you do is working with songs other people might think are not so good. Is any song so bad that you wouldn't touch it?
Not really; I feel like I can transform anything into something that I will like. It’s almost like asking a musician if there’s any instrument that they would never use. There’s always a drum fill or, you know, one small part that’s cool. And in general…it’s hard for me to find a song I straight-up don’t like. The only one I can really think of off top of my head is the Eagles’ “Hotel California,” even though I like a lot of Eagles music.

I heard a rumor that you post on Phish's online message boards under a different name, and have even put together a Phish remix album.
I wish that was me, man. I’m trying to get into them. I like the Dead, but I've never seen Phish; I've never really listened to them. I have a lot of friends that have dabbled in that, but it's something I want to explore.  

Like Phish, you've got a rep as a great live act, but be honest: aren't you just getting onstage and pushing “play”?
[Laughs] I wish it was like that. No, it’s all live editing. I'll have high hats and drums, and kick drums and snares and vocals and melodies; it’s pretty much me triggering them in real time. Here's an example: when you hear “Tiny Dancer,” it hooks up with piano and then moves to piano with a bass drum behind it and moves on to the chorus of “Juicy.” Each of those changes, that’s not like one long sample—that’s three separate samples that I play. I’ll prep them beforehand, but how I actually execute is kind of just different every night. Kind of like a Phish show.