Interview with Beck @ Bumbershoot 2008

By JIM BECKMANN | Published: SEPTEMBER 9, 2008

interview by Jim Beckmann
photos by Dan Muller

In 1997, Beck Hansen last played Seattle’s Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival. Back then, in the time before mainstage wristbands, thousands of fans flooded into the Memorial Stadium, packing it so tightly that many of us stragglers were unable to squeeze in. Fortunately, since thenBeck has played several different venues in the Seattle area — sometimes with marionettes — and has released six more full-length albums, from the frenetic Midnight Vultures to the twangySea Change. This summer, he released his eighth studio album, Modern Guilt, produced by Danger Mouse, which he is currently supporting with a world-wide tour.

Beck has also been busy with his family. On the continuing leg of his US tour, he will perform at the Hollywood Bowl in a couple of weeks, reportedly playing his biggest hometown headline show ever. More importantly, though, he’ll be joined by his dad, David Campbell, who will conduct the accompanying orchestra. Additionally, for the 2008 Fall Collection by Whitley Kros, a label co-owned by his actress/designer wife, Marissa Ribisi, Beck played DJ and later created a mix now playing on the label’s website. Somehow, on top of everything he’s been doing, he managed to find the time to father two children of his own.

Beck - Sexx laws

interview with Beck

Beck

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by Dave Maher, posted September 2, 2008

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Beck started his career as a chameleon, inhabiting then abandoning personas and genres as routinely as a snake sheds its skin. Eventually, the shifts from folkie to bluesman to alt-rocker to rapper to funked up sex crooner and beyond gave way to a steady stream of albums offering variations on a similar theme: the kinda folky, kinda blues-y, kinda funky, kinda rockin' singer/songwriter record. When asked about this shift in sound, Beck's answer was complicated. Not only does he think he took critiques of his early irreverent approach as being ironic "too much to heart," but he revealed that "what comes out on the album doesn't necessarily represent what I've been working on in the studio for the past few years."

With the release of his newest album, Modern Guilt, behind him, I spoke to Beck the day after an earthquake hit his hometown of Los Angeles. In addition to explaining his post-Sea Change transformation, he talked about working with Jamie Lidell, how "Loser" was a side project, and why he avoided traditional singer/songwriter material in the first place.

Pitchfork: How are you doing? Did you suffer any damage from the earthquake?

Beck - Loser

Beck

Beck Hansen (born Bek David Campbell, July 8, 1970) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Beck’s music is known for its pop-junk culture collage of musical styles, ironic lyrics, samples, drum machines, live instrumentation and heady sound effects.

Beck was born in Los Angeles, California, to David Campbell (a musician and son of a Presbyterian minister) and Bibbe Hansen (a former dancer for The Velvet Underground, founding member of the satirical band Black Fag, and visual artist). When his parents separated, Beck stayed with his mother and brother in Los Angeles, where he was influenced by that city’s diverse musical offerings—everything from hip-hop to latin music—and his mother’s art scene – all of which would later reappear in his recorded and published work.

Although Beck’s work defies easy description, his eclecticism and genre experiments have sparked comparisons with Prince, though Beck was undoubtedly a less prolific artist, and drew on an absurdist, free-flowing lyrical style totally original when first exposed to mainstream audiences (indeed, some critics labeled him and his breakthrough single Loser as novelties - see below). Despite this individualism, Beck’s music was very much a product of the 90s and the media age in general, with hip hop, indie/underground rock, electronic music and genre-benders like the Beastie Boys as notable touchstones; in addition, some critics could not resist likening his head-spinning lyrical aesthetic to a post-modern Bob Dylan sensibility.