Ty Segall has landed on Australian shores, set to play shows in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne starting from tonight. He chats with Music Feeds about his most recent album Goodbye Bread, currently out through Popfrenzy.
Music Feeds: So Ty, how ya doing?
Ty Segall: I’m doing great! We got in yesterday, waiting to play our first show tomorrow
MF: How’d it come about that you’re playing Australia?
TS: Well, it kind of started when I started working on the new record; I sent it to Drag City, they said let’s do this, to which I was like ‘amazing’, and then Chris from Pop Frenzy had heard of my stuff and he contacted Drag City wanting to license the record for Australia, and he said if they were going to license it then we’re going to make it happen and get us out to Australia, and here we are, it’s totally insane that were here!
MF: Cool! And you grew up in So-cal but you’re based in San Francisco, yeah?
TS: Yeah
MF: That whole San Fran garage scene, it’s pretty highly regarded, well, everywhere it seems to be a whole lot of great bands putting out consistently good records; how big is the actual group of people doing this? Is there say a few key people? Or is the scene just really strong in general?
TS: There’s definitely a strong scene, but it’s not like there’s 50 bands or something, there’s a really strong Oakland rock and roll scene, over there it’s bands like The Mummies, and The Flakes it’s like all his stuff from the 90s that’s lived in, it’s huge, 90s budget rock is still a huge, huge thing in the bay area, this band I was in that played a lot out there, we were like 100% for that, and into that budget rock stuff, but then you know, like a couple of years ago this psyche rock garage thing started happening with like the Oh Sees, and the Fresh & Onlys. Kelly Stoltz has been like, the god father, he’s been the dude over there for a long time. So there’s totally key players, but lots and lots of great bands. There’s these awesome characters that have been there for years that still make insane records, all the time, it’s like how many great records you guys gonna put out man? It’s endless!
MF: I’ve got a few of your records, but I was looking at the actual amount of releases you have, it’s pretty incredible, the sheer quantity of it. I know that’s common for garage bands, John Dwyer has a ton of releases, as does Kelly stoltz, Jay Retard seemed to release a 7” a week; is it something you keep in mind? Constantly having something new out, or do you just happen to write a lot and always have stuff to release?
TS: To be honest, when I first started putting out records it’s that kind of a thing, multiple labels would say “dude lets do a 7, or an LP” and I was always like “holy shit, lets do this thing”, you know. I’d kind of just say yes to everything and do everything I could, and I did that for a long time. Personally now, I’ve slowed down a lot and want to just focus on putting out the best stuff I can. I think when I was young, you know, I just wanted to put out as much stuff as I could, cause I didn’t really know how long I’d be able to put out records for.
MF: So your new album’s titled Good Bye Bread; where did you make it?
TS: I did it the same place I did the last record at, in my buddy’s basement. It’s a great place to record, and Eric and I are good, good buds, so it was really low key, totally relaxed, plus he’s a total wizard and has insane gear. He recorded it on a 16-track reel to reel.
MF: Is it that model Tascam reel to reel that apparently everyone owns or records with in San Fran?
TS: Actually it’s a different one! That Tascam you’re referring to is an 8 track, and I have one, John Dwyer has one, Kelly Stoltz has one, Sick alps, yeah, all these people have them. But we wanted to take it a bit more Hi-Fi and use this 16 track, and it was really cool, we got to take our time, we got to take 6 months and you know, really refine everything.
MF: Yeah well, it sounds good! So Ty, for us vinyl fiends, did you bring any specific tour 7”s or merch down on this tour?
TS: I didn’t actually bring any merch, cause I’ve heard they tax you very intensely…so…I was scared (laughs) but we’ll have (the new album) Goodbye Bread.
Ty Segall Australian Tour 2011
Thursday, July 7th Woodland, Brisbane
Friday, July 8th GoodGod Small Club, Sydney
Saturday, July 9th The Tote, Melbourne
