Part 2 of Pierre's Pandemic Podcast features two guests from Episode 22 and some new guests discussing life during the coronavirus lockdown. Pierre checks in on the phone with two people who had Covid 19 and recovered, a doctor and a nurse practitioner working with patients in New York City, two musicians, a public defender, and someone living in Carriacou, a remote island in the Carribean. Don't miss this episode filled with tales of resilience, ordinary madness, quiet heroism, frustration and laughter in the face of unprecedented strangeness.
Guests:
1: Spider, nurse practitioner in Brooklyn, NY
2: Daria, musician in Beacon, New York
3: Sid, public defender in Brooklyn, NY
4: Genevieve, education administrator in Brooklyn, NY
5: Izzy, musician in Bushwick, NY
6: Wendy, retired in Carriacou, Grenada
7: Jonathan, cardiologist in New York, NY
Songs:
Merchandise, written by Fugazi, performed by Pierre de Gaillande. HIV by Ween. Pettin' in the Park by Daria Grace and the Prewar Ponies. Valley Winter Song by Fountains of Wayne. Still Ill by The Smiths. Biological Speculation by Parliament. Time to Get Ill by Beastie Boys. Come Sail Away by Styx. Four Senses on Alert by Pierre de Gaillande. Close to You by Karen Carpenter.
PIERRE PRESSURE PANDEMIC PLAYLIST is available for streaming on SPOTIFY.
Chris Wells is the founder of The Secret City, and he is a high priest of art. He's been known to tower over people in platform shoes, he leads a congregation of art worshippers, his performances make people feel high, and he was raised in the high desert of California. In this episode we discuss what it means to create transcendental, communal gatherings outside the umbrella of "church." We talk about the somatic response of fight, flight, or freeze, trying to heal the wounds of empire, gay politicians wearing "straight-face," people who let their dogs lick their face, and the performance of being a Reagan-loving, church-going young man. We also discuss Chris' journey into being a radical fairy, dissect the so-called Irish potato famine, queers in the woods, gay liberation not assimilation, and his ongoing mission to bring art-based, ecstatic spectacle to a divided world. A lot of ground is covered!
Composer-producer-frontman-wizard JG Thirlwell has been making astonishing, orchestral, bombastic music for decades. Born in Australia, he teamed up with Nick Cave and the Birthday Party, then joined Prag VEC, and soon formed his enduring solo project Foetus. Operating under plethora of pseudonyms and monikers meant to confuse, shock, and awe, Thirlwell continues to churn out an astounding amount of music and to perform as a frontman for his own projects, as well as a composer for animated series Venture Brothers, Archer, and Dicktown. We talked about his beginnings in London, moving to New York in the early 80s, starting out using 16 tracks of tape and an elaborate numerical system, his first time wearing "guy liner," the importance of remembering World War Two, his evolving theories on shock value and fear as a part of performance, and his changing relationship to his Australian roots as a citizen of the world.
Musician and visual artist Rick Froberg can't help it, he f*&#ing loves rock and roll. Throughout his career he has fronted loud, uncompromising, agressive, totally original and influential bands like Pitchfork, Drive Like Jehu, and Hot Snakes with his partner in crime John Reis as well as Obits, last of the Juanitas, and others. He continues to record and perform all over the world. Rick creates the album artwork for all of his projects, as well as working as a commercial artist. We talked about getting along with Satan, shitty gigs in front of the culchies, being at the same Fugazi show when someone drew blood, saying what you mean with lead and bludgeoning guitars, the wonders of the internet, cigarette Nazis in Australia, learning analog art design, and a whole lot more.
For this very special episode, we reach way back into the vault and present an interview Pierre did with The Breeders in 1992! We unearthed this cassette recording of an interview with all four members of this massively popular and influential mainstay of 90's alt-rock, the Breeders. Pierre called them from San Diego and interviewed them on the phone in their hometown of Dayton, Ohio, in advance of their concert in Tijuana, Mexico, at the legendary Iguana's. The year is 1992 and the Breeders are on the verge of superstardom. Pierre is a college student calling from San Diego and he's quite sleepy, but he's awake enough to ask some pretty incisive and trenchant questions, including "Who will play you in a movie of your life" and "Will Bill Clinton be elected?" Listen as young Pierre tries to play it cool on the phone with all four members of the Breeders; Jim McPherson, Josephine Wiggs, Kelly Deal, and Kim Deal.
Phil Manley is a west-coast based rock musician and producer. He runs El Studio in San Fransisco, and he handles the guitar, keyboards, bass, and vocals in bands Trans Am, Life Coach, Terry Gross, and Oneida among others. His band Trans Am spearheaded the Electroclash movement in the 90's and continues to melt faces around the world. We had very pleasant chit chat in his studio about recording very loud bands, Krautrock vs. punk rock, missing the "normal days" of Bush, touring in Europe with a Bush mask on, and how to sheild your kids from the apocalypse.
Episode sweet sixteen features Los Angeles-based activists, musicians, filmmakers, and educators Lisa Marr and Paolo Davanzo. They run a non-profit called the Echo Park Film Center, and they travel the world spreading their vison of inclusiveness, tolerance, creativity and artistic freedom through the medium of cinema. We spoke about both of their musical and artistic trajectories beginning in Canada and Italy, through the wilds of the Orange County punk MIASMA and the Canadian riot girl scene. We chatted about striving for socialist idealism in a capitalist world, the circus of American politics, the short life of the Sassy Pickles, the film mobile, bicycle-driven projection, cuddle core, and so much more.
Stew is a singer, musician, composer, playwright, and a powerhouse in the world of music and theater. For years he fronted the band Stew and the Negro Problem. He then went on to create and star in a play called Passing Strange which started off-Broadway and then went on to have a successful run on Broadway, where it garnered multiple Tonys and other awards, and was eventually turned into a feature film by Spike Lee. In all of Stew's work, he shines a bright light on what it means to be an African-American guy with a killer sense of humor and an acute sense of history and culture, in a world that wants to reduce everyone to stereotypes. Stew performed a live acoustic rendition of his song "Baldwin Country" and we spoke about "asshole-adjacent people," the role of comedy in music, the American vs European idea of freedom, what Reagan would say about today's mess, his ongoing collaboration with partner Heidi Rodewald, the audacity of craziness, and so much more. 
This episode features woodwind whiz, composer, arranger, and performer Ken Thomson. Ken plays all kinds of clarinets and saxophones (and anything else that sounds like an angry swan) in many amazing projects including but not limited to: Bang on a Can Orchestra, Gutbucket, Asphalt Orchestra, SlowFast, and Ken Thomson Sextet. I've had the pleasure of sharing stages and recording sessions over the years with Ken and he always amazes. We chit-chatted about his career as a hornist, perceptions of Americans touring abroad, adapting feedback and screaming for marching band, making couscous with your bandmates, and so much more.
Lucky number 13 is my good friend Dorit Chrysler, a theremin wizard from Austria. She came to New York in the 90's and was the singer-guitarist for the scorching art-rock band Halcion. She subsequently went on tho become one of the world's premiere theremin experts. She performs at festivals and concert venues around the world on a regular basis, and she was the co-founder of the New York Theremin Society. She has scored films and TV sows, including the upcoming German production "M." for Netflix. She will be performing this year with the San Francisco Symphony as well as Moogfest in Durham North Carolina in April. We spoke about the music scene in New York in the 90's,plasticc molds, the legacy of Austrian culture, the "bread and circus" of American politics, and she performed three live songs in the studio.