STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS
Indie rock’s ageless slacker icon has got a brand new record and some slang to spread
Courtney Love once called Stephen Malkmus the “Grace Kelly of indie rock”. Sure, Malkmus will probably admit he’s has had his fair share of diva moments, but then again the man can also lay claim to some of the most seminal indie anthems of the last 20 years.
Pavement’s name will always be listed amongst the 1990s’ most credible and celebrated indie rock bands. Somehow though, as with so many bands favoured by critics and peers, they never really had massive hits. In fact, Pavement’s two best selling singles – Gold Soundz and Cut Your Hair – were buried from the mainstream beneath a slew of mostly malignant manufactured pop music.
Pavement parted ways in 1999 after frictions within the band saw Malkmus retreat into an uncooperative, frustrated state, seemingly with a complete disinterest in the continuation of the band. After releasing Terror Twilight, Pavement’s final album, Malkmus began playing solo shows and recruited a band called The Jicks, going on to accomplish the near unachievable task of proving worth beyond his former glory – despite dipping back into the world of Pavement for a brief, unlikely 2010 reunion. Since then The Jicks have released some truly outstanding records, so when we heard the news of a new one, Wig Out at Jagbags, and a forthcoming UK tour, we couldn’t resist interrupting Stephen’s lie-in in Portland, Oregon for an extremely accommodating chat about jagbags, Hull City F.C and … oh yeah, Travis.
Lyrics have always played a major role in your music, perhaps even more so with the Jicks. What was the idea behind the Lariat video [which features a young French lady roughly translating along to the song]?
We just wanted to turn the idea of the lyric video on its head, just make something a little bit different. Everyone likes a cute French girl. They just asked me to send the lyrics and then she translated them … sort of.
We really liked the loose translation.
It’s fine. I’m loose, so…
Why did you choose to do it in French?
As far as 99% of the world is probably concerned, that’s what my lyrics sound like in a different language. It’s just like if I listen to some hip-hop, I’m like ‘what are they on about?’. It’s almost as if they’re speaking to a different tribe or something.
In a way your lyrics are like that too, your rhymes are more like a cryptic hipster language …
I like the idea that when rappers go in they just step up to the mic and kinda go off the top of their head a little, not well prepared. They don’t sit in the library all day thinking about the rap. They’re living their life, they’re going out and doing glamourous hip-hop things and coming into the studio and laying down amazing lyrics, so you know, that kinda off- the-cuff the feel. In [Lariat] there are couple of parts that are definitely free-rhyming.
On your last record Mirror Traffic there were a couple of songs, like Senator, that took a slightly more political slant.
There were a couple tunes on there… I mean, even Senator’s kind of a lark. I came up with that first line “What the senator wants is a blow job” first and then built the song round it. I wasn’t trying to make a comment about political motives or anything. This record I think has more memorable one-liners than the last record.
The track Rumble at The Rainbo has a sample at the beginning, what is that?
It’s a band called Erazerhead, a kind of British Ramones-y sounding crusty punk band. It was kind of funny cause the song is about punk band reunions, about hardcore punk rockers getting older. It was just lucky that on the Erazerhead live album they had “This is for you Grandad!”, which then goes into this maelstrom of hardcore.
So, is The Rainbo a real place?
In Chicago it’s an indie rock bar that like, the guys on tour would hang out at. In the 90s it was this kind of scene bar, it would be like ‘we’ll go the Rainbo for one last beer and Johnny Machine from Tortoise will be there’, or something. So Rumble at the Rainbo … I was trying for this kind of 50s thing, like we’d all meet with our switchblades and have it out.
The album’s named Wig Out At Jagbags. Isn’t ‘jagbag’ Chicago slang?
Imagine you’re like, a Hull City Football Fan and you’re writing on the message board like “that jagbag was just talking trash…” or “We should replace the manager, he’s just a jagbag”. It’s kind of a thing you would use to call somebody, ‘a light hearted idiot’ or something. I think of it as a Midwestern term. Really, I just like the term, how our language digresses. It’s like a jack-off or a jerk or a windbag, and then someone finally said ‘jagbag’. I’m hoping more people will call people jagbags.
Is the name a direct reference to the Dag Nasty record Wig Out at Denko’s?
Well, Dag Nasty – that’s a name in itself – they were a first generation emo band. I always thought that title Wig Out at Denko’s was pretty hilarious, and in one of my spaced out times I sort of laid out Wig Out at Jagbags as a title. Dag Nasty are not close to my heart, I don’t like them or dislike them. I hope to hear from them, hopefully not in a bad way. They might be tough, I’m not much of a boxer. But they’re probably doctors and lawyers, they’re from D.C y’know, from these middle class homes. [laughs]
So, if you’re not listening to first wave emo, what music did influence the record?
Every song is a loving tribute to every song that has blown me away over the last 40 years. While we lived in Berlin I didn’t have my records, so that probably contributed to a sort of prism of memory. That’s a bad answer isn’t it? [laughs] Unfortunately I listen to a lot of pop radio. So I listen to Eminem, I don’t know what it’s called. It’s got Rihanna on it, like [singing] “I’ve got a monster inside of my head. Wah-oh. Wah-oh.” That’s one I hear a lot.
Do you have any long-term plans, maybe moving back to Berlin?
Well, we’re back in Portland now, but if we did move there it would be like a full-time commitment. We’re American, so we’d have to buy a house. Germans don’t necessarily care if they rent. You can live pretty well there, it’s cheap, it’s like the place to be. I know London is outrageous but I’m guessing the rent is pretty high in the rest of the country too. I don’t know where you live?
We’re based in Bristol.
I like Bristol! Bristol’s cool, there’s that girl Anika. She lives in Berlin and she’s from Bristol. She worked with the guy from Portishead anyway. I like Portishead and BEAK>. I never really got Massive Attack, British people love Massive Attack … I’m not saying it’s bad or anything, but it’s just not for me.
You mentioned Hull earlier – you’ll be pleased to know that Hull has been made capital of culture for 2017!
Wow! I’m glad to hear it. I hope it wasn’t just a gift, y’know, I hope they really earned it [laughs]. Philip Larkin was from there, and Loz from [90s indie band] Kingmaker, so that’s enough.
Have you ever been to Hull?
I’ve been there like five times, I should have been more, I feel like we’ve played there a few times and I’ve hung out with friends there. What can you say? It’s never dull in Hull. Or who knows, maybe it is? It doesn’t have the best reputation but the football team’s pretty good now, they’re in the top league.
Do you think you’d ever leave Portland for Hull?
I would go to mainland Europe more likely … I would visit though. What’s the massive band from Hull? North something … Your mom would like them …
Oh! The Beautiful South?
Yeah! Well my friend works for them, they’re really nice, they do friendly things for their crew. Like give the whole crew an E before the show. Really generous stuff. Keep the office rocking!
Speaking of E … How was the Berlin club culture?
I went out a few times, not as much as I could have but it was fun. They have lots of the mega ones like Berghain, but it’s all on the downlow, it’s just Berlin-style, no velvet ropes. It’s just beer and good soundsystems and probably drugs. Electronic music is massive there, the guitar’s not so big. But there’s so many ex-pats there, I’m sure if like Travis were to play in Berlin it would be half British people there.
Umm… Travis?
The singer Fran, he helped me out, I sang the vocals at his house ‘cause he lives in Berlin, like right by where I lived. He’s from Scotland and he’s this super awesome guy. He’s like “just come over and do it at my house”. I’ll never have anything bad to say about Travis!
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Wig Out at Jagbags is out now
Words: Billy Black
Photo: Leah Nash
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