Ty Segall is a machine.
He began sowing his rock 'n' roll seeds in SoCal in 2008, and we've seen his limbs grow rapidly across genres as he collaborated with like-minded artists. Amazingly, in those few years, he has churned out dozens of concept albums, EPs, and splits with the same ease as a master handing out notes.
Segall has outshone his peers with his seventh solo attempt.handler, proving that you can not only produce lo-fi garage rock on the fly, but also invest time in a polished 17-track collection of songs that take you to the next level of design; the silver-lipped conductor. We chat with Ty Segall in front of his Show at The Mohawk this Fridayto find out more about the new album, inspirations, collaborations and the cue of your dreams.
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Do512:They're playing the Mohawk in Austin this Friday. you've done it before. Is there a specific place you absolutely must visit when in Austin?
Type:Torchys. We have been going to Austin for a long time. One of the first places I went to play from California was Austin. It was always a great time and we always had great shows and great people; a lot of music people. I love the city; The city itself is great.
Do512:Remember when you were playing at the Old Emo's Hall a few years ago and someone tried to run out of the club with your guitar?
Type:Yes, I remember. And they had to have that person followed by security. It's crazy.
Do512:Does this crazy shit happen all the time?
Type:you know, not like that. I mean, this particular thing happened to me two more times where I had to go, "Are you seriously going to grab my guitar and try to quit the show?" What do you think? It's really weird. Nothing too crazy ever happened; I mean, people got hurt at our shows and I got hurt or something, it's the craziest thing that's ever happened. Like falling into the crowd and breaking someone's nose, which is a shame, but you're trying to tell people to be respectful.
Do512:Do you have a favorite music festival that you have played at?
Type:Pickathon is my favorite so far. He looks great. He's in the woods and outside of Portland, Oregon, and you hang out in the woods. What strange settings in the middle of this wooded scene; Very cool. Everyone camps there and it's a fantastic place. If you ever get a chance to go, you must go. I got to see X playing acoustically, which was cool.
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Do512:Let's go back to Torchy's for a second. Since it's all about the tacos, what would a Ty Segall Taco be?
Type:Well I'm a big fan of fish tacos. So it could be a fish taco. Okay, it would be an open cue, it wouldn't be closed; you wouldn't pick it up. That would come later. I like the way the cheese is grilled like a quesadilla between two tortillas, but it's very, very thin on corn tortillas. Then you have the fish in small pieces, not as a fillet or large piece; Small parts. Grill extra crispy, put it on top, add some onions, cilantro, some salsa, pico, a dollop of sour cream, no guacamole, just avocado. Then put a tomato on top, sliced.Astomato slice. Then you put a bunch of green sauce and a bunch of red sauce on top. Then put some of the pickled jalapenos and carrots on top. And I think this is it? And all you need is one because you're going to have a lot of stacks stacked up.
Do512:It gets messy.
Type:And then fries! I like to make the chips and the salsa is the taco until I'm little enough to pick it up and eat it.
Do512:I think we need to submit a new menu item to Torchy's.
Type:An open faced cue, they'll never do that! That's crazy!
Photo by Denee Petracek
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Do512:Your seventh solo album just got released and you had onequitemonth to knock this one out. What are you most proud of on the album?
Type: I dont even know.[laughs]more proud? I'm not sure. All I can say is that I'm happy with how it all ended.[laughs]I'm glad we got to spend a month on this. I don't think there's anything I'm more proud of; I'm going to say the whole thing.
Do512:that has been saidTwinsit had an "Evil Space Rock" vibe to it, so there's a certain vibe that you feelhandler¿sombrero?
Type:You know, that's pretty hard to make up for on a record; I just wanted to focus on the songs. It wasn't really a thematic or stylistic thing between the songs, but more to focus on the songs and absorb them as much as possible. There was no such thing as "Oh, we're not going to make a proto-soft record" or "We're not trying to make a punk record." It was about having a little bit of everything, you know?
Do512:Something that felt a bit calculated, and I think it's brilliant, is that every song has character. So are these real people you've met in your life, or kind of regular people you'd potentially meet in the industry?
Type:Yeah, these are just people you might meet. They are all made up, they are not people I know or based on anyone. I mean obviously I'm learning these characters or some of them. But obviously they are not based on anyone.
Do512:Do you have a favorite character?
Type:I mean, I like The Manipulator. He's some kind of weird Cheshire cat, a cute freak who will manipulate you. I don't know, he seems cool. I like to imagine this character better. I like The Tracker; I mean, I like them all because they're like these cartoon characters in my head, or like a Ralph Steadman drawing, or like a Monty Python animation in my head, or whatever, so it's fun to imagine what they would look like. this characters. . All of them are great when you see them, you know?
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Do512:You have brought much of your creativity into the world. What do you want to do next?
Type:There is so much music to make. I love working with people. I have lots of ideas of what I want to do, but I'm in no rush. Somehow I want to make a movie some day; a very funny movie.
Do512:Do you have a dream collaboration?
Type:I mean working with someone like Devo would be crazy, but I've never really thought about it because I don't really think there's a way.
But if,[laughs], Devo! That would be great. Have some crazy fucking drinks with Devo.
Do512:Why do you think that is not a possibility?
Type:I mean I don't know because it's Devo.[laughs]
Do512:What albums are listened to the most on the road?Type:It's always changing for us as we are all music fans. Maybe David Bowie's "The Man Who Sold the World"? Yeah, I'm throwing this out there.
Do512:What were some of the first songs you learned on the guitar?
Type:Technically I was a bass and learned songs by Black Sabbath, Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. I think I just wanted one for my birthday. Yeah, I was 12 and when I was 13 I asked for a guitar because I wanted to play Black Flag songs. That was really the band that got me playing guitar, Black Flag.
Do512:Which tattoo of yours is your favourite?
Type:I have a rabbit on my arm and under the rabbit it says "Neil". So I almost accidentally named my rabbit Neil. I think this is my favorite tattoo.
Do512:N-e-a-l or N-e-i-l?
Type:N-e-i-l. It's for Mr. Young.
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You can choose the new Ty Segall album,handler, indraw city records. There are still tickets available for him.Show at The Mohawk this Friday, with the support of Wand and Thinknothink. For more information, seety-segall.com.
Contributed by Courtney Goforth