Decided to hop on the phone with none other than 22 year old Canadian heart-throb Mac Demarco and chat with him about naked photos, karaoke, fighting Dent May and everything in between as he made his way from Washington DC to Durham. A tour that will eventually lead him to Atlanta as he plays at 529 in East Atlanta on March 8th.
Will: How you doing?
Mac Demarco: A little tired today, got trashed last night, but you know.
W: The last interview I conducted was with your buddy Dent May and he claimed to have some nude photos of you on a disposable camera of his.
MD: Yeah probably, we had that disposable in NYC and meant to take pictures with it, you know crazy stuff, go party, take photos. But we all kind of forgot about it until the last minute and then I think most of the photos were like pictures of each other wieners while they’re peeing and stuff. But we had a lot of fun with those boys that weekend, at CMJ, love Dent, love his crew. Good boys.
W: Is it strange to have this expectation that you will do something weird on stage [like the drumsticks, fingers and many other objects allegedly shoved where the sun don’t shine over the various Mac Demarco shows in the past]
MD: No, I mean, it’s nice when people expect anything of us. But yeah it’s kind of weird but it’s nice when people are genuinely excited. It’s kind of strange at the same time though because I’m used to playing shows where generally people don’t know what you’re going to sound like, and you kind of have to impress them but now it’s like you can go and blow out a real loud trumpet fart and they will blow up with applause.
W: Now that you are a fairly successful musician, do you feel pressure from outsiders to act a certain way, the way people think famous musicians should act? In other words, not like a 22 year old guy.
MD: Maybe that’s what they expect but I’m not really gonna do anything different. I don’t think so.
W: Did you ever expect it to get this big?
MD: Yeah I don’t know, I always hoped, but I didn’t think it would happen super fast, and we’re doing all this touring and people are getting into the music. It’s great, it’s just very strange it all worked out within a year-span.
W: Do you have a favorite karaoke song?
MD: Yeah I like to do “What A Fool Believes” by The Doobie Brothers.
W: I was sort of expecting some “Blue Suede Shoes” or “Hound Dog” or something by Elvis.
MD: Yeah well if I’m doing a sexy song, it would be “Just the Way You Want” by Billy Joel.
W: Do you think we’ll be seeing any Mac Demarco on karaoke anytime soon?
MD: Oh you mean like on bar karaoke? Man if I went into a bar and did my own songs that would be ego-tripping, I’ll tell you.
W: Are you tired of touring?
MD: No, I mean I’m excited. Obviously last night the show was kind of weird. So at some point I just decided to try and kill myself with alcohol so I’m feeling a little weird. But you know those things happen and hopefully today will be a little more light-hearted.
W: Were you worried about getting any flack for doing the Target Ad? [Mac Demarco sold his song “Baby’s Wearing Blue Jeans” to Target for a potential commercial spot]
MD: No, I haven’t really gotten any flack. People are kind of like, that’s weird man and I’m like yeah it is. I think people know how hard it is to make money as a musician these days so I mean in my personal opinion, it’s like, whatever, give me the cash.
W: Do you have a favorite cereal?
MD: Cinnamon Toast Crunch, it’s so good, the boxes are too small though. I need jumbo family size bags, twice as thick, but the cereal is so heavy that if you eat that much you get fat anyways. I’m a Shreddies man too, goota love the Shreddies.
W: If you and your band were to team up against Dent May and his band in a fist fight who do you think would come out on top?
MD: I don’t know, let me ask the guys. They’re saying us, but I think that maybe Dent May and his band would go crazy. My guitarist Peter though, he’d be pummeled, pummeled to death. I guess we can try, we’ll probably see them on this tour again, but I don’t want to fight Dent, he’s such a sweetheart.
W: Do you have any favorite venues you’ve been to on tour?
MD: We played Music Hall of Williamsburg a few nights ago, that was fun, but honestly most venues kind of blur together in my mind unless its kind of like a DIY spot or something strange.
W: At WUOG, we obviously appreciate the radio snippets in Rock and Roll Night Club and would like to offer you a full time position. What made you do that?
MD: I did it as a way to divide the album, because I had half an album of those rock songs and half an album of other sounding stuff and it seemed kind of weird to me to spilt down the middle and it doesn’t make sense. So I figured, eh, I could just put radio stations in between, it’s like you’re changing channels, so it sort of made sense.
W: If you want, there is always a spot open for you here at WUOG in Athens.
MD: You know maybe if I move to the States, I’ll move to Athens. I like that one guy and his band that we met down there, is it Quiet Hooves?
W: Yeah and you probably met Mercer West right? Everyone seems to know him.
MD: Mercer! Yeah he’s tight.
W: Are you guys excited for SXSW?
MD: Yeah, I’m a little bit worried because we’re playing at 3 in the day a couple of times, it’s going to be hard on my body but fuck it, you know.
Thanks to Mac for sitting down and talking to be me and be sure to catch Mac Demarco and the potential for his whacky antics at 529 in East Atlanta on March 8th!