John Vanderslice at KZSU, recap, photos, exclusive mp3s, set list, lyric/ chord sheets
As I mentioned earlier, I had an hour yesterday with John Vanderslice on KZSU during which he did a few songs and we chatted a bit. I asked him about the blog videos and the title of “nicest guy in indie rock”. I’m not sure how interesting an interview it was for everyone else—it felt more like JV and I were just talking and it happened to be over the radio than anything else—but I sure had fun.
I’ve know JV for a while, going back to his last appearance on KZSU and we hang out enough that we’re friends, but I didn’t expect him to pull out so many stops as far as the music goes. I’d talked to him just a few hours earlier and had some requests for songs, some of them he hardly ever plays. He seemed reluctant on a couple because he didn’t know how to play them and I told him I understood.
Well, by the time he got down to the studio (literally about 5 hours later) he’d learned both “Peacocks in the Video Rain” and “Dead Slate Pacific”, writing the chords out on his lyric sheets (which is what those links go to). I had asked for “Pale Horse” because I love that song, especially when he does it live with people clapping along, and he brought a never-before-played b-side from Emerald City. (We were walking into the station. “Hey, I brought this Emerald b-side. Would you want to play it?” “YES!”)
Here’s what he played:
- John Vanderslice - Numbered Lithograph (Live at KZSU) (mp3, exclusive)
- John Vanderslice - Peacocks in the Video Rain (Live at KZSU) (mp3, exclusive)
- John Vanderslice - Dead Slate Pacific (Live at KZSU) (mp3, exclusive)
- Holland (world premier Emerald City B-side)
- John Vanderslice - Pale Horse (with KZSU Clapping Ensemble) (Live at KZSU)[1] (mp3, exclusive)
- John Vanderslice - Trance Manual (Live at KZSU) (mp3, exclusive)
All of these tracks were engineered by Smurph, so thanks to him for that.
JV pretending to play guitar for the camera
And one photo from Jin: here is on with the clappers on “Pale Horse”; check out Jin’s photo set for more great photos.
Stay tuned for a transcription of the interview portion!
All of JV’s releases, including Emerald City available at Barsuk.
[1] The KZSU Clapping Ensemble included me, Isa (John’s girlfriend), Scott and two of Scott’s friends that came down to the studio to watch the in-studio performance called Stuart and Dan.
July 26th, 2007 at 1:58 pm
Fantastic, what a great artist JV is. Like your blog btw.
July 26th, 2007 at 4:40 pm
“…I didn’t expect him to pull out so many stops as far as the music goes.”
so, basically, what you are saying is that he /is/ in fact the nicest guy in indie rock!
I thought the interview was interesting not in spite of but because it was just the two of you chatting like friends. So often interviewers don’t really know who they are talking to and the dialog ends up sounding forced. That was not the case in this interview with JV. It reveals how laid-back and kind and well read and curious he is. It was more like being able to have a conversation with him than listening to an interview. Very cool!
July 27th, 2007 at 7:13 am
[…] Adrian (me): John Vanderslice - Numbered Lithograph (mp3) (buy) With him coming down do an in-studio with me this week, there was a lot of listening to Vanderslice’s new album, both because it was new, good and exciting and for “preparation”. I was liking the shear weirdness of the sounds on this one anyway, but he also played it live and I got to hear it stripped down; the songwriting is solid on it as well. f […]
July 27th, 2007 at 7:58 am
[…] Here’s this week’s installment of Song Obsessions from a great blog called I Pick My Nose. Make sure to check out his studio session with John Vanderslice. […]
July 28th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
[…] With all the hubbub surrounding John Vanderslice’s appearance on KZSU on Wednesday, I didn’t want to distract everyone with my radio show playlist. […]
July 28th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
that was a sweet show…thanks for letting us clap!
July 30th, 2007 at 9:24 am
… wow, and KZSU haven’t changed their studio panelling since the 80s, when I used to DJ there!
Lovely music blog… I’m getting all homesick for the Bay Area.
July 31st, 2007 at 6:55 pm
Sorry I didn’t ask before posting them, I was just trying to save you some bandwith, instead of everyone clogging yours up.
July 31st, 2007 at 8:08 pm
Clyde, I have no problems with bandwidth, so you can just redirect people to this page.
September 29th, 2007 at 8:21 am
[…] Also, I know John Vanderslice’s thoughts on David Bowie. He may bring it up like he did down at KZSU back in July (click here if you really want to hear that part of the interivew), but if he doesn’t you don’t need to. […]
November 23rd, 2007 at 7:27 pm
[…] Tomorrow I’ll post the full and unedited interview (and mp3s of the in-studio performance) I did with John Vanderslice back in July on the air at KZSU, but for now, here are some excerpts: the best of, so to speak. If you want to read the last interview I did with him, head here. […]
December 3rd, 2007 at 6:24 am
[…] John Vanderslice @ Tiny Telephone, SF, CA, 5/24 (original post; @ KZSU, Stanford, CA, 7/25 (original post) -> I managed, somehow, to get a couple private performances from JV, filled with excellent music, even some seldom heard requests. It’s hard to beat that.[1] […]
September 29th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
[…] did an interview with John Vanderslice back in July on the air at KZSU. Below is the full, unedited, linked/ annotated and with mp3s of his in-studio […]