Joe Jack Talcum of The Dead Milkmen comes to Pittsburgh

“Interview with Joe Jack Talcum”

Rex Theatre, 1602 E. Carson St.

Thursday, Sept…. “Interview with Joe Jack Talcum”

Rex Theatre, 1602 E. Carson St.

Thursday, Sept. 10

Tickets: $8

Performance begins at 10 p.m.

There are stage names, and there are bizarre stage names. Then, there are stage names inspired by baby powder.

Guess into which category Joe Jack Talcum falls?

The frontman of the ’80s punk-rock band The Dead Milkmen chose to shed the moniker Joe Genaro in favor of something a little more eclectic when he was developing The Dead Milkmen in high school.

“I needed some random last name for the character, and I saw some baby powder and thought, ‘Hey, how about Talcum?’ People took weird last names then. You had to pick a stupid, kooky one,” he said.

The name stuck when it came time to release The Dead Milkmen’s first album and has since appeared on Talcum’s multitudes of recording projects.

In his current acoustic solo act, Talcum is touring with The Bassturd, whom he described as a “one man hip-hop electronic extravaganza,” and Samuel Locke-Ward vs. Darren Brown, which is a singer-songwriter performance art duo.

All three acts will make appearances at Pittsburgh’s Rex Theatre Sept. 10.

Talcum is currently promoting his most recent album, Live in the Studio, a tribute to live performance.

“We brought in a small audience to the studio so we could record in a more pristine environment than a club but still have that live feel,” he said.

The 14-track album includes some new material, as well as several Dead Milkmen songs rearranged as acoustic, including one of its most popular songs: “Punk Rock Girl.”

Talcum said he enjoyed rearranging his older music, especially tracks for which he wrote the music but didn’t sing. The remixes are popular and have been well received by audiences.

“People who know The Dead Milkmen would know these songs, but a lot of people who come to shows don’t know them at all and still enjoy them,” he said.

Dead Milkmen fans will be excited to know that the band has reunited and is working on new material, which Talcum said will be available soon.

Although he always tends to have a few songs he’s working on, Talcum said he no longer writes on a regular basis like he did in the ’80s and ’90s.

“I used to sit down and think that I’d better have a song by the end of the day or I won’t feel like I’ve accomplished anything,” he said. “I’d use gimmicks, like taking a chord structure from other songs and changing the rhythm — anything to meet album deadlines and spur the creative juices.”

Writing and performing as a solo artist made Talcum’s compositions more self-sufficient.

He said that when he was writing and performing with The Dead Milkmen, he would “leave holes, knowing that the bass would do something here or that there might be keyboard to fill it out, and then I’d see if the vocal parts would change it. I’d know it could take any number of twists and turns with other collaborative input.”

Of his recent Alaskan tour “North to the Future,” Talcum said, “It was so much fun! It feels like music is a huge part of Alaskan lives, because winters are so long and there’s nothing to do when it’s dark all the time. So they pick up violins or mandolins or whatever. They have a mean acoustic music scene, and Sarah Palin is right on the money when she talks about how beautiful it is there.”

The Rex Theatre performance will be presented in coordination with a screening of “Let Them Know,” a documentary on BYO Records and the band Youth Brigade. Talcum was not involved with the film, but said, “I was into the whole indie punk rock scene in the early ’80s. I think it will be interesting. I’m excited to see it.”

The movie will run from 7:30 to 9 p.m., and those who bring a ticket stub with them will be charged a $5 cover for the concert instead of $8.