Girl Talk talks pop, Pittsburgh

Girl…Girl Talk Friday, May 9, 8 p.m. Mr. Smalls Funhouse, Millvale Sold Out

For a successful underground-music act, Girl Talk (aka Gregg Gillis) doesn’t write too much music. In fact, he doesn’t write any. He leaves that job up to his favorite pop stars, rappers, rockers or pretty much anyone with a hot beat. You see, Pittsburgh-native Gillis is a disc jockey in the most advanced sense of the word – and he’s the best at what he does. Girl Talk is a much-buzzed-about master of the mashup, meaning he takes elements of different songs (a guitar line, a beat, a vocal part) and threads them together with others – literally, hundreds of others – to make a new song entirely.

If you ever wanted to hear The Verve’s “Bittersweet Symphony,” Eminem’s “Ass Like That,” Ciara’s “Goodies” and Oasis’ “Wonderwall” mixed into one song (and who hasn’t?), then Girl Talk is your man. Yes, he is that good.

Gillis took time out of making beats to talk to The Pitt News. Here’s what he had to say.

The Pitt News: For someone who’s never heard of you or mashups at all, how would you explain what you do? Girl Talk: On a surface level, it’s just a sound collage. I focus mainly on Top 40 music, from the 1960s until now. It’s layering and cutting up previous songs and manipulating them, trying to make new songs.

TPN: Now tell me about the actual process you go through from hearing a song to creating a mashup. GT: I use computer programs – I’ve never spun records. It’s always been a laptop-based project. I use a sound editor where I can isolate individual parts of a song and basically copy and paste the music however I want. From that, I make loops and samples organized into different elements. Live, I use a program that lets you sequence the loops. It lets you mix and mess around with different arrangements.

The albums are almost an afterthought. I’m always developing new material for live shows, so there are a whole bunch of samples that I substitute for others on top of templates I’ve been using for years – if I don’t want to use this beat, I can switch to this one. It’s this big template of hundreds and hundreds of samples where I can take out and put in elements, figuring out what works and what doesn’t. Once I sit down to do an album, I have a couple years worth of live shows to look back on, and I can compile my favorite ideas. TPN: What do you look for in a sample? GT: On a very simplified level, it’s isolated parts. If the song’s just a great song with singing and heavy instrumentation, sometimes it’s hard to combine that with other elements. But if there’s some guitar solo or a breakdown where I could add something to it – that always stands out in my mind. But really, you could put any song in front of me, and I could probably find something to sample from it to use. The process is very trial and error. Oftentimes I won’t find the perfect place for a sample until three years down the road.

TPN: Some laptop artists don’t seem too excited when they play live. They’re just pressing buttons. But for you, is it more exciting because you don’t know what’s going to happen? GT: I go into a show with ideas and samples all set up, but I do actually perform the loops live. I jump around and freestyle a little bit, but for the most part I don’t base the show on improvisation. Live, there’s always three to 10 layers going on at any time. I really have to be there clicking the mouse every second. I come from a background of performance – seeing shows and being in rap groups – rather than a DJ context, so I always want to be interactive with the audience and make a connection with people.

TPN: You’ve called yourself a pop-music enthusiast. Do you find more merit in a good pop song on the radio than in some indie band that everyone is blogging about? GT: I don’t really compare the two. I think music relates to people on different levels and everyone can relate somehow, so I would never judge one versus the other. For me, I’m interested in the idea of songs the whole world can recognize and the insane art of putting together a piece of music that everyone can know and love and hate and recognize. I don’t follow underground music like I used to, even though I am a part of it. But on a personal level, I’m more interested in things that have a huge cultural impact.

TPN: You could probably dwell on this, but tell me what pops into your mind first. What’s the best pop song ever? GT: Oh, you’re putting me on the spot. For me, the most significant pop song of my life would be “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”

TPN: Thinking about the type of music that you create, would you call yourself more of a musician or an architect? GT: I don’t, in a traditional sense, have any musical background. I don’t play an instrument. But the goal has always been to make music. I think it’s getting to that point where when I put out an album, people don’t view it as a DJ mix but as an album. When I play a show, kids don’t request songs, like Justin Timberlake’s blah-blah-blah. Instead, they request one of my songs. My goal is to be a musician, but it’s subjective to the listener. I want people to understand the idea of Girl Talk – making new music.

TPN: Finally, why is it good to be Gregg Gillis right now? GT: Typically, Monday through Thursday I’m in Pittsburgh working on music. I quit my day job about a year ago. It’s good to be Gregg Gillis right now because I woke up at 3 o’clock today, I’ll be hanging out making beats all day until I go to sleep, then I’ll wake up at 3 and do it all again.