After nearly a half-century
of evolution, modern garage rock comes in many shapes and sizes. Pop-influenced
girl groups are all the rage right now. Lo-fi fuzz aficionados and psychedelic
acid noodlers will always appeal to the druggies among us. And blues-based head
stompers will forever remain a favorite of more straightforward rock ‘n’
rollers. But 24-year-old Californian Ty Segall is a refreshing figure in this
discombobulated genre, as his far-flung sound touches on everything from
rockabilly to proto-punk to catchy piano- and flute-tinged classic rock. Plus,
the San Francisco fixture is a hardworking, humble, and extremely amiable guy,
a lifelong laid-back surfer who cooks pasta alfredo for his publicist yet has still
found time to pump out four self-recorded full-lengths over the last few years.
Ty chatted with Eastern Surf about
his one-man band roots, his focus on production and songcraft, the dirty
underside of Orange County, and his first visit to Florida.
ESM: People automatically lump you in with the garage rock crowd, but your songs
show a lot more breadth than some of your more psychedelic peers. What
influences have been most important to you?
Ty Segall: My
influences are all over the place. I’ve always been super into punk, but I like
everything that has happened in the ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s with rock ‘n’ roll,
soul, noise, punk… all that stuff. Lately I’m more into psychedelic music,
weirder stuff like Michael Yonkers or Red Krayola. But it’s totally all over
the board.
ESM: You
performed strictly as a one-man band for a while. Was that out of necessity, or
simply to hone the live show to your exacting standards?
TS: It was
really out of necessity. I didn’t particularly have an extreme admiration towards
it; it’s actually really intense and makes you stress more. You have to really
work for the show, and you can’t be lazy, which means that now it’s fun to play
with a full band.
ESM: A lot
of people give you credit for injecting some much-needed melody into your
otherwise lo-fi jams. How important is production value versus songcraft, and
how deliberate is the sloppiness inherent in your music?
TS: Well,
I handle all the production — I’m back behind the board a lot, making
sure the sound of each record is just as important as the tunes. I also record
all the instruments myself but have a regular lineup that tours with me. So
yeah, everything we do is pretty much intentional.
ESM: You’re
an integral part of the San Francisco scene, but you actually grew up in sunny
Southern California. How did that region’s overwhelming surf culture affect
your musical upbringing?
TS: In
Southern California, surf culture is way more a part of everyday life,
especially with music. Like, one of my friend’s dad’s knew the drummer for The
Surfaris, who did “Wipeout.” I grew up in Laguna Beach, which is a huge surfing
spot where Bruce Brown filmed a lot of his early movies and Timothy Leary’s
crew hung out in the late ‘60s. There’s all these weird acid-burner old-dude artists
mixed in with the rich right-wing business heads that just moved down to Laguna
because it’s beautiful and lush and affluent. So it was weird for me growing up
there: you had a police force and school administration controlled by the
moneyed conservative folks, but then you had burner dudes at the beach telling
you all these weird stories about how the ‘50s, ‘60s, and ‘70s were like
paradise for an artist.
ESM: Sounds
like Laguna might have more in common with San Francisco. Do you like it better
in NorCal?
TS: Yeah,
but I didn’t even really get that until I left and came back. And I’m gonna
stick around SF for a while. We’re the luckiest — it’s such a small city,
but everybody’s playing in good bands, influencing and pushing each other. I’m
talking about starting another band with my bud Charlie who plays guitar with
me right now. It think it’s gonna be stoner metal, so I’m pretty excited.
ESM: Do
you get to surf much up in SF? I lived there for a short time and it’s much
colder, bigger, and heavier than Southern California.
TS: Totally
— if you can surf in SF, you’re diehard, because it’s not just like, “I’m
a weekend warrior!” You get up at 6:00 a.m., you freeze, you go to bed at 9:00
p.m., wake up at 6:00 a.m. again… it’s like a religion. It’s like that in SoCal
in some aspects, but it’s just physically easier to surf in SoCal, because the
waves are less gnarly and the weather is way warmer. So there’s a toughness
that comes with surfing in San Francisco, which is pretty cool. But I don’t get
to surf that much here because I actually don’t have any of my stuff right now.
ESM: Well,
you’re too busy attracting attention for your music — 2010’s “Melted”
garnered heaps of solid reviews and now you’re on a massive nationwide tour.
TS: Yes
sir, I’m a very lucky guy, although not in a ridiculously affluent manner. But
that doesn’t matter to me as long as I can pay my rent. I never thought that
any of this stuff would happen — all I wanted to do was put out a record.
Everything else is gravy.
ESM: Are you
planning on putting out another album in 2011?
TS: I just
finished a record a few weeks ago. It’s all done, and I’m pretty excited… that
one should be out in June. But I’m not allowed to say anything else about it;
we’re keeping that stuff on the DL. [Editor’s
Note: On February 28th, vaunted independent label Drag City announced that
they’d be releasing Segall’s Goodbye Bread on June 21st.]
ESM: On
your current tour, you’re also hitting Florida for the first time. Are you
excited about the mix of opening gigs, headlining performances, and of course
the Bruise Cruise out of Miami with Black Lips and Vivian Girls?
TS: Yeah,
I’ve never toured in Florida before, and as a total beach and ocean dude I’m
very excited because I’ve heard it’s like the Southern California of the South.
And the Bruise Cruise was great — honestly, I was just stoked to go on a
cruise. It was an awesome opportunity to do something weird, and we’re always
down to do something weird and strange and fun.
UPCOMING TY SEGALL TOUR DATES:
3/1 Orpheum………………………………………….. Tampa, FL
3/2 Ring Of
Fire………………………………………. St. Augustine, FL
3/3 Vertical House Records…………………………. Huntsville, AL
3/4 The Earl…………………………………………… Atlanta, GA
3/5 The End…………………………………………….Nashville,
TN
3/6 Kings Barcade……………………………………. Raleigh, NC
3/7 Strange
Matter……………………………………. Richmond, VA
3/8 Mercury Lounge………………………………….. New York, NY
3/11 Club Lambi………………………………………... Montreal, QC
3/12 Wrong Bar………………………………………… Toronto, ON
3/13 The Strutt………………………………………….. Kalamazoo, MI
3/14 Empty Bottle………………………………………. Chicago, IL
3/15 Jack Pot Saloon…………………………………... Lawrence, KS
3/18 SXSW – Goner Party @ Beerland……………… Austin, TX
3/19 SXSW
– Panache Showcase @ Mohawk……… Austin, TX
For all things Ty Segal, visit
www.myspace.com/TySegall
