Toilet paper, beach balls, giant balloons filled with fake money and a guy in red sweat pants, headbanging behind his saran-wrapped computer. That’s what madness takes place in a Girl Talk show. At the Wanderlust Festival in Squaw Valley on Saturday, July 25, the show rallied the troops amidst a relatively quiet festival.
Who is Girl Talk? It’s Gregg Gillis – the dance-party mastermind crouched behind his laptop and surrounded by sweaty fans dancing like there’s no tomorrow. He’s an artist who gets the crowd pumped with 300-plus samples mashed into a two-hour show. Van Halen’s ‘Jump,’ Journey, Khia, Michael Jackson and MGMT were just a handful of the artists Gillis threw into Saturday night’s mix. When Kelly Clarkson’s ‘Since U Been Gone’ hit the speakers, the crowd exploded, singing along at the top of their lungs. All in all, the show was lit with energy and the crowd danced feverishly until the clock chimed midnight. ‘I kind of had a sense that people would feel loose and just get insane,’ Gillis told me after his show.
Playing under the mountain stars with Squaw Valley’s tram face looming overhead, Gillis isn’t exactly the typical artist you’d expect at a yoga festival. While many festival-goers spent their days at Wanderlust in pursuit of mindfulness through breathing and deep stretches, those in the Girl Talk crowd also achieved an elevated state of mind – one that comes from rocking your inner-heart out.
‘I love to be a part of things where you can be an outcast,’ Gillis said. ‘Kind of bring something a little bit different. Those are always my favorite shows.’ One definitive element to any Girl Talk show is the crowd that surrounds Gillis. Sweaty fans with arms waving in the air danced up next to Gillis, who said he’s most comfortable when in the middle of it all. I guess that happens when you come from club shows in small venues that feature a two-inch stage, or no stage at all. ‘I always make a point to get people on stage,’ Gillis said. ‘The people on stage are a fundamental part of (the show) … they get me absolutely pumped.’
Gregg Gillis’ career exploded when he released his 2006 album, ‘Night Ripper.’ Girl Talk’s more recent album, ‘Feed the Animals,’ has only increased his popularity. Today he’s playing at sold-out venues and traveling across the country. But this Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-native’s music started out as a love he pursued in his spare time. A biomedical engineer by day and DJ by night, Gillis said he was happy when his first shows saw some 40 people in the crowd. Gillis has since quit his day job. ‘When (Girl Talk) started to get popular and venues started selling out, it was truly just mind-blowing,’ Gillis said. ‘There was really no precedent.’
Listening to Girl Talk is like traveling through time. Every 30 seconds transport you to a different decade or another musical style. Then he’ll throw in a classic, a song that everyone can sing along to at the top of their lungs. It may seem like his music is all over the place, but Gillis is truly meticulous about his work. ‘It’s a very calculated randomness,’ he said. ‘I’m very much neurotic about it.’
Of Girl Talk’s massive library of samples, only a fifth of the material will make it into any given show, Gillis said. And of that, only a quarter will go into an album. Now considering that most, if not all, of Girl Talk’s material is based off of other people’s music, it’s not surprising that he’s raised some controversy among the music executives about copyright. ‘I believe in copyright,’ Gillis said. ‘I love buying CDs.’
While Gillis appreciates a new CD in his hands, to look at the artwork on the album cover while listening to the music, he also says that he has a right to sample other people’s songs. Much like a guitar player influenced by Nirvana can take chords from a song and change them around, Gillis said he takes the notes, beats and clips from the songs he is influenced by and essentially does the same thing – transforms a song into a new product. ‘I want to take something familiar to people and make something new,’ he said. ‘And ideally, it’s going to be something fun.’
With the evolution of the internet, sampling – a relatively new art form born with the cassette tape – is being completely reconstructed and growing more mainstream, Gillis said. And while today some love it and others hate it, Gillis said in 30 years people will likely look back and see sampling as an established style and just another step in the progression of music.
From the smaller crowds Gillis saw at his first shows to the hundreds that packed the venue at Squaw Valley, Gillis is living in
the surreal moment of his career. Near the end of his set, Gillis dove head first into the audience and let the crowd catch him.
‘You have goals in music,’ he told me later. ‘Everything that’s happened has exceeded those goals. It’s a very weird thing.’
For info about Girl Talk’s music and Gregg Gillis, visit myspace.com/girltalk.
