Interviewed March 1998 at Paradiso in Amsterdam.

For years David Grubbs was one half of Gastr Del Sol. Together with Jim O’Rourke he made four albums and some singles, but after the last one ‘Camofleur’ they both decided to call it a day and go their seperate ways. So now David is on his own, touring around by train, taking with him only a guitar, a CD-player, a keyboard and some clothes, sometimes playing with other people like Mayo Thompson. It was his decision to be on his own.

‘It’s my choice not to put together another band. After doing the last Gastr del Sol record Jim said “no more”. And that was fine with me, because I was on the verge of saying “no more” myself. So no regrets, no hard feeling about that. We just had personal differences, not astetic, not artistic, just personal. It’s my decision to be alone by myself, hit the road by myself, playing by myself, release the solo-record on the Table of Elements label. It’s weird I come from this punk-rock background where people are afraid to put their own names on things and do things like call the group “milkbottles” or something although it’s just this one person. With the first record I felt I had to do something all by myself, including the packaging, like this was the only way to justify a record under my own name, it still feels a bit strange. But I’m working on a solo-record right now that a whole bunch of people are playing on like John McEntire plays on it and Tony Cameron plays on it. These people are doing fantastic things, but it still is going to be under my own name. It feels weird, but I just have to get over this “former fanzine editor” false modesty.’

Making music is not David’s only profession. ‘I’ve never been a fulltime musician, and that’s been by choice not to do that. I’ve mainly been a student and I still am technically a undergraduate for seven or eight years now, studying literature and I’m not sure if I’m going to finish. Mainly because the things most rewarding for me are making music and teaching, which hasn’t anyhing to do with literature. I teach sound production, music classes and music history, it’s kind of an ideal environment to be teaching. Three subway stops away from my house. And if I would get my degree I probably wind up in South-Carolina or North-Dakota. I’d much rather stay in Chicago or just a large city.’

David is from Louisville Kentucky originally. He was once the main man in a band called Squirrel Bait which is now seen as a startingpoint for any guitarband that became known from Louisville, like Slint and Rodan. People who grew up back then are still making music now. ‘It’s all they know how to do. I don’t know. I have this discussion with Mayo Thompson all the time. He’s fifty-three in real dispair he sometimes throws the guitar down and cries out “why am I a musician”. There are definitely these competing senses of “why do I do this”. Well, I do this because I’ve done it most of my life and this is what I know how to do. Is this representitive of what I want to be doing? Does this satisfy the desire to communicate with other people? All of these things. But for most people it’s like the path of least resistance. It’s what you started doing when you were fifteen years old. I’ve always been able to get a decent living out of doing this and teaching and stuff. It even pays better than teaching, well compared to parttime teaching that is. And I do hope I get more money out of doing this, but I don’t realisticly expect that to happen. I didn’t start this and don’t continue doing this for the purpose of making money. But it’s so far beyond my imagination that people are listening to my music at home. More than ever I do make the music in view of people actually listening to it, but I have to say that I’m the prime benificiary of that.’ Ah, but most musicians say that. ‘No, I would disagree I know a lot of musicians who are very synical about it and say it’s just a job and stuff like that. But I’m not really in that category. I’m not a particular synical person.’