The Observer, August 31, 2007
Volume XL, Issue 1
Case alum mixes his way to musical fame
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Imagine: One weekend, 100 degree weather, 80,000 fans, and one massive music festival held at the Pimlico horse racing track in Baltimore, Maryland. Now, jam-pack that weekend with some serious frolicking, unbelievable tunes, and a dash of inspiration, and you have one incredible event that just happens to showcase one of Case's very own.
Gregg Gillis '04, a Pittsburgh native, recently gave up his 9-to-5 biomedical engineering position to follow his dreams of musical stardom. Gregg's band Girl Talk drew hundreds of fans at Pimlico's race track Aug 5. Girl Talk mixes dozens of samplings from popular songs with acoustic elements to create a unique and eclectic sound. In 2006, Gregg released his third album, entitled Night Ripper, on the record label Illegal Art. He performs live across the country to pumped audiences, including this year's Virgin Mobile Music Festival crowd. Playing along huge musical names such as The Police, Smashing Pumpkins, Incubus, Interpol, Ben Harper, and Matisyahu, it is easy to see that this Case graduate has already hit the big time.
Gregg started creating music at the age of 15 and continued while at Case, even releasing his first album in 2002. In college he played local house parties and hot spots like the Grog Shop. Seeking input from his college friends about their favorite music samples, Gregg was able to compile and create his earliest work. Perhaps this college atmosphere was also the breeding ground for Gregg's signature wild stage antics. Disrobing and busting out dance skills are commonplace at Gregg's performances, and the Virgin Mobile Music Festival was no different. Gregg appeared on stage at 12:30 p.m., decked out in a black suit with a yellow tie. By the end of the show, his suit jacket was off, his shirt almost completely torn open, and his yellow tie adorned his forehead. All of this managed to happen while he showcased not only his set, but his dance skills.
To add to the excitement, this year's festival show included some completely new sets, which have been rumored to be making an upcoming appearance on his new album scheduled to be released in the next year. Amazingly, during 40 short minutes, these converted, layered, popular sound bites reached all types of people, ranging from bubblegum teens to stoned college students, nerdy computer geeks, and music-loving hippies. After watching the enthusiasm of the Virgin Fest crowd, there is no question that in a few years, Girl Talk has a very real possibility of being a household name.
I was lucky enough to sit down and talk with this rising star, and this is what he had to say about his music, his future, and his advice to Case kids:
HH: This article will be published in the Observer, which may reach people
detached from the music scene… So, for those individuals, how would you
sum up your music?
GG: I cut up Top 40 music and rearrange it to make new pop music. It's
similar to the genre known as "mashups," where a vocal track of one
song is laid over the instrumental of another song, but my material is
a bit quicker-paced and utilizes more samples.
HH: You utilize dozens of samplings from songs, and acoustic elements to
put together a unique and eclectic sound – what do you draw from as an
inspiration and how do you decide which elements will fit best
together?
GG: I sample any songs I'm into. It's pretty simple like that. It helps
if the source material is recognizable by the audience, so I tend to
stay on the Top 40 side of things. The decision – making process for
live shows and on CD is mostly trial and error. I sit down and try
out many different combinations of material. I try to keep the genres
of material varied, but other than that, I play whatever
juxtapositions sound the best to me.
HH: You sample from hundreds of artists and were recently featured in an
article in Newsweek, focusing on the legality issues associated with
your music. How do you deal with these issues and is it a real threat
to future endeavors?
GG: There's a doctrine in the United States copyright law called "Fair Use"
that allows people to sample music without asking permission if it
fits a certain criteria. It's subjective, and it looks at whether the
work is transformative and how the new work affects the sampled
artists. We've had no legal problems thus far with the release of my
three albums.
HH: For a while you were working as a biomedical engineer by day and
musician by night. Has your training as an engineer affected your
music? Or, did your music help you in your 9-to-5 job?
GG: I think my engineering studies and work forced me to be
detail-oriented. My music style is somewhat meticulous, so I think
it's related to some degree.
HH: How much of your music came out of Case and did your experiences at
Case help develop some of your musical style?
GG: I started doing jams as Girl Talk just before I started Case. My
first two albums were completely made while in school. My four years
in Cleveland definitely helped to shape everything I'm doing now. The
majority of my shows were house parties in University Circle, so I was
always trying to make new material that my friends would lose their
minds to. The people attending those parties, from Case and C.I.A.,
molded my performance style and source material choices during that
era.
HH: How exactly did you get into making this kind of music? When you were
in high school you were in a small band called the Joysticks, and you
also did some remixes, have you ever considered branching out into
other forms of artistic expression?
GG: I found out about noise and avant-garde music through college radio in
Pittsburgh when I was about 15 years old. It blew my mind, so I
started a noise band with some friends. It wasn't really
sample-based, but we were into artists like John Oswald, Kid 606, and
Negativland. We did some work with tape collages and manipulated
CD's – very experimental forms of musical appropriation. That band had
to break up when we finished high school. I got a laptop for college.
So I just started doing solo material, completely based around cutting
up other peoples' stuff.
HH: People really get into your shows, do you ever experience any crazed
fans or interesting moments?
GG: Many of the shows get really sweaty. People take off clothes. It can
get extreme. I've had some shows shut down prematurely because it was
too out of control. I also lost my left front tooth at a Pittsburgh
show earlier this year.
HH: What is it like playing huge music festivals, like the Virgin Mobile
Festival with musical icons like The Police, Smashing Pumpkins, etc..?
Do you ever get to check out some of your favorites while on tour?
GG: It's insane to me. You usually get all-access passes when you play
these sorts of things. It's amazing to go say hi to Wu-Tang Clan after
they get off stage or go eat some cheesecake next to Scott Weiland. I
usually try to bring a bunch of friends out, lie to the fests and tell
them they are part of my "crew," and then house the free booze.
HH: So as a student at Case did you ever dream this is where you would be today?
GG: Definitely not. I've never been career-minded about music. It
honestly happened out of nowhere.
HH: Do you have any advice for aspiring artist or students in general from
Case, as we enter the "real" world?
GG: Don't listen to anyone older than you.
