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Girl Talk gets ready to mash up Lollapalooza 2011

By Victoria Rodriguez, USA TODAY

Picture this: You’re digging around for some new tunes and come across something called Girl Talk. An image of hyper teenage girls chanting pop lyrics as they go through a coordinated dance routine in hot pink outfits immediately comes to mind. You’ve fallen right into the trap of Gregg Gillis’ genius mashups, a storm of toilet paper, lights, sweat and hundreds of song samples that make you want to get on that stage and sweat it out. The 29-year-old will make his second appearance at Lollapalooza this summer (playing Friday night during the event Aug. 5-7), where he’s sure to leave audiences believing his Saran-wrapped laptop is like Mary Poppins’ purse.

Q: When was the concept of Girl Talk born and what initially attracted you to mashups?

A: It started in 2000, right after I finished high school. I’d been in a few bands, and it was all very experimental, kind of fooling around with electronics. Stuff that was pretty abrasive, not very much melody, but we did do sampling. It was never on a computer, but it’d be like cutting up actual tapes and audio cassettes or dealing with skipping CDs — things like that. I was a fan of a lot of sample-based groups like Negativland, John Oswald and Evolution Control Committee. I finally got a laptop because I was heading to college and I was supposed to have a laptop for that. I thought it’d be interesting to have something entirely based around sampling other people’s music, but I wanted to work within the Top 40 spectrum.

Q: When did you realize that you were catching onto something that could take off?

A: I thought I was doing something unique, but I didn’t think that meant it would ever generate money. The heroes of mine (in this subculture) maybe still had day jobs and really weren’t touring and playing for large crowds or anything like that. Around 2004, I really thought I was doing well. I was able to travel and be able to draw 30 people to pay my gas money and that, to me, was a major success. So when things really took off in 2006, it was surreal. … The actual thought of potentially quitting my job came up, and that was crazy to me because all the projects I’ve ever done never really came close to making any money.

Q: Wow. You mentioned some of the people that you looked up to. Who were some of your inspirations?

A: Initially, before I ever even thought about sampling, I was a big fan of hip-hop, so that influence came out — from Public Enemy to NWA to De La Soul. Back then, I didn’t really think of it as ‘They’re sampling, this is cool’ — I thought of it as music. When I was 13 or 14, I got into college radio and discovered more underground sort of music, and the influence to really start making and performing music myself definitely came from the experimental music world. I always thought it was fun that you could make something that was very far-out and difficult to listen to but at the same time have some level of accessibility through the sampling. The earliest goal with Girl Talk was to make experimental music that even my friends who didn’t care about that style of music could be engaged by because of the pop references and the samples.

Q: There definitely seems to be a scientific and mathematical process that goes into making mashups. Can you elaborate on this process?

A: I’m not trained in music in a traditional sort of way. Figuring out how to make music was a scientific process. You have some software in front of you, but you have no idea how to make music. You have to come up with a solution based on these tools you have. It’s still trial and error, where I’ll come home and cut up a Tears for Fears song or cut up a Young Jeezy song. I’ll try hundreds of different combinations, and then some things work and some things don’t. A lot of the times, it is those small details that impact the much larger picture. Where you’re just pulling out this little two-second transition but it really impacts the music in a way that’s very important. The parallels are very strong with the engineering world.

Q: So it’s like experimenting …

A: Yeah. Some engineers enjoy that process, trying different things and spending a lot of time on details. And that’s why I enjoy making music in that way. Sometimes it’s like, all right, now it’s time to make the decisions for the album. That, to me, is a lot more grueling. I don’t want to say it’s therapeutic, but I enjoy sitting down for 10 hours just chopping up the samples and trying things out.

Q: So why do you call your project Girl Talk?

A: I understood that I would be playing with experimental electronic musicians and underground bands. I wanted to pick a name that felt like it was an outcast. I knew that when you show up in that environment and you’re remixing pop songs, some people aren’t going to be feeling that. I wanted to pick a name that looked like someone booked the wrong act, like someone booked a Disney girl group by accident. It was picking a name that would stand out as a sore thumb with the sort of shows I was playing.

Q: You performed at Lolla in 2008. Can you describe what the atmosphere was like?

A: It was a big deal for me because I went to Lollapalooza in 1995 and that was the only music festival I’d ever been to prior to the ones that I’ve played with Girl Talk. I remember that I couldn’t see the end of the crowd. We had some issues — we always have audience members dancing up there — but it was getting so rowdy that the stage was bouncing a lot, and they had to remove everyone from the stage by the end because they were worried about it actually collapsing. Which is kind of a negative thing for the show but it also is a compliment to me and the fans up there going that crazy.

I probably woke up two hours before I played. At the end of the show, they brought this raft out, and I jumped off the stage into the raft and queued up the loop of this Journey sample. I was able to crowd-surf back and forward the whole way as this loop was playing continuously for like five straight minutes. I made it back to the soundboard and was able to turn the sample off by hand. It was great, it was a show that stands out a lot.

Q: Would you say that performance affected your career?

A: That show really represented what was happening on a larger scale everywhere with the popularity of the project. Also, that was the first show that I ever had assistance on stage helping out with some physical props. Those people have gone on to do every single show with me. They help out with these homemade leaf blowers that shoot out toilet paper into the crowd, they have balloons and confetti, and that’s become a very important part of the show. That show in a lot of ways represents the beginning of the new era of touring for me where we paid attention to the production and tried to make it more of a spectacle.

Q: What are you looking forward to most at your performance this year?

A: I play all year-round at clubs, colleges and smaller venues, and then when I get to the festivals, they’re all about amplifying that whole experience. With every festival, we try to make it something unique, both on the musical end and visually. Music is competitive. You get motivated watching someone else do an amazing show, and you’re happy for them, but then you want to do something better. I love trying to have the set that’s going to leave its mark and people can leave remembering that particular moment.

Q: You’ve clearly experienced Lolla in different times. How would you say Lolla has evolved over the years?

A: It’s a lot bigger now. The core seed of the festival is still there — a festival based around a lot of different alternative styles of music — but trying to even put bands into genres (now) is difficult. It’s more of a gradient. … It’s like any business model. It grows, and you want to keep the original ideas there, but you want it to grow without compromising what it was originally about. It’s exciting that it still exists. If I could have a time machine when I was 14 and flash to the future, I’d tell myself this will be my second Lollapalooza I’ll be playing in 2011. It would be an insane thing to realize.

Q: How do you feel when you’re up there mashing live? Are the set lists predetermined? Whats the adrenaline like?

A: Every sample is triggered in real time. For an hour set, that might be like 400 or 500 samples. So if I’m sampling Elton John’s Tiny Dancer and you hear the piano loop from it and next you hear the piano with a bass line behind it, that’s me actually triggering those by hand. That being said, the sets are pretty well-rehearsed. I wouldn’t perform it well if I was just figuring it out on the fly. I’ve always prided myself on trying to be a performer. I’ve never played in a club tucked away in a DJ booth. I’ve always played with bands and, when you do that, you get on stage and you perform. I’m trying to be the sweatiest guy there, the guy who’s dancing the hardest, the guy going the craziest. I want to lead by example, I never want to be sitting up there just chilling out.

Q: Any surprises in store you want to let us in on?

A: Uh, no. Every night’s a surprise, and a lot of times I don’t even know what it’s going to be.

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Dubspot, a school for DJs has some advice for those looking to learn. A lot of this applies to performing mashup artists.

http://blog.dubspot.com/ten-tips-for-djs/

What makes a great DJ?  There is no single answer to this question.  At Dubspot, we want to help you figure out and achieve what great DJing means to you.   The goal of our DJ program is to make that choice as well-informed as possible.  The journey will be extremely rewarding.  We can’t wait to take it with you!  In the meantime, here are some tips from our talented instructors to get you started.

1. Thorough preparation is very valuable, especially with the constant barrage of new music DJs must face on a daily basis. I generally won’t play a track in a live set until I’ve: Beat Gridded it, Run it through Mixed In Key, Marked every key section of the song with Cue Points, Set strategic loops on cool parts and vocal phrases, Written appropriate notes in the comments field of my browser, and Organized it into all the appropriate playlists. This way even if a song is brand new, I can play it as if I’ve known it for years. - DJ Shiftee

2. If you are a warm up DJ don’t play banging stuff.  Warm up the crowd properly.  Nothing will get you not invited back worse than coming on to an empty room and playing every banging hit track.  It won’t work and you will piss off the promoter and the people playing afterward.  Feel it out and warm up to a peak.  The party will go well and people will want to book you again. - Matt Shadetek

3. Check out the latest evolution of DJ Technology with Traktor’s new Sample Decks. While it’s possible to drop your own loops and one shots into Traktor’s sample decks and play them in perfect sync with what your DJing, I find it most intriguing that you can actually create your OWN samples, grabbing the favorite parts of all of your tracks and building your own library of samples made out of tracks that you own. – DJ Endo

4. There are 2 kinds of DJ’s – Ones who take requests and ones who don’t. Be the latter.  Also: Practice without headphones and you can master beat matching. - Raz Mesiani / Badawi

5. If the DJ booth is visible to the crowd, you are performing whether you like it or not.  Visibly acting like you are enjoying/engaged with what youare doing goes a long way.  Energy is contagious. - DJ Shiftee

6. Always be prepared. Even if the spot claims to guarantee turntables, CDJs, controllers, slip mats, needles, and or built in interfaces… BRING YOUR OWN! You don’t want to be unpleasantly surprised at the venue. Also – always bring a line in cable. If everything is just plain wrong at the gig but you still have to play something… that line in will plug to your laptop, ipod or phone. That will be your gig saver. - Mike Rivera / OneMic

7. When blending tracks together, lower/cut the bass on one of the tracks to create room for the other track. If you cut the bass on the track you’re blending into, the vocals & other mid-range sounds will still be audible (but you’ll be hearing them with the old baseline!). if there’s vocals on the old track, consider lowering the mids to save sonic space for the new vocals. Alternately – if you cut the bass on the track you’re leaving, it creates a smoother transition to the new track because the heaviest elements of the old song will be gone drawing attention & emphasis to the new track. - Sean Clements

8. Develop a knowledge of tempo, especially if you play music within a wide range of genres. If you’re a digital DJ, make sure all your music is tagged with the accurate BPM. Even when you’re just doing recreational listening, make sure the BPM column in your iTunes (or other music library program) is visible, and make a mental note of the BPM of the song as you’re hearing it. You can go through each song and manually add the BPM, or use a program like Mixed in Key to analyze batches of music identifying BPM and key of songs (for harmonic mixing). If you’re using vinyl, use mailing labels or masking tape to make notes about BPM and breaks on the album sleeves of songs. - Martin Perna

9. Know your tunes. Develop your musical memory by playing tunes over and over, until you can sing them in your head. If you can hum the tune when you look at the album cover, it’s yours. - JP Solis

10. When you are performing live and find yourself confused in a mix – turn your headphones and monitor down to re-gain control of your ears (and the mix.) Your ears fatigue from high volume levels and you need to give them a break to perform well. Often when DJs feel “lost” in the mix it’s a matter of the headphones or monitor (or both) being too loud. Make a habit of turning down your headphones and monitor between mixes to give your ears a chance to bounce back and work properly. - Michael Walsh

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