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Mac DeMarco
Photo: Laura Lynn Petrick
Photo: Laura Lynn Petrick

Mac DeMarco interview

Five things you didn't know about the 'slacker rock' musician from Canada

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Mac DeMarco was plucked from obscurity in 2012, when his exceptional debut LP, '2', introduced the world to his breezy jangle-pop adroitness, perceptive songwriting and irreverent onstage antics. Two years on and back with follow-up record 'Salad Days', the 24-year-old multi-instrumentalist, who delivered a rambunctiously entertaining set at The Bee Publika last December, dished out some of his dirtiest little secrets to us.

He got into music to get a girlfriend.
'The kids in my junior high school who could play "Back in Black" on guitar got all the girls. Chicks love that shit. I was into programming computers at the time. How are you going to get a girlfriend when you're sitting in a bedroom in your underwear all the time? I learned to play the guitar pretty quickly and it turned out that I was better than most of those jokers anyway.'

He'd like to be in the music business for life.
'I'm going to try to do music for the rest of my life, but that's just trying. Maybe it's not going to work out. Who knows? If it doesn't work out, I'll probably have to find another job or be a music industry dick eventually. I'll probably have to open a recording studio at some point because I won't be able to pay the bills.'

He's not fond of being an interviewer.
'[The stint on MTV Hive's 'Weird Vibes' at Pitchfork Festival 2013] was really weird. As soon as people saw me with a microphone, they wanted to turn and run away. Maybe they knew I was doing "Weird Vibes". My friends were like, "You're not going to make an idiot out of me." You should have seen the things that didn't make the cut though. I'm not the best interviewer in town, believe it or not. What the fuck do you ask people? What the fuck do I give a shit about what the fuck you do?'

He sees a silver lining in death by touring.
'We drink and smoke a lot [on tour]. For now, we're okay, but if we keep touring for another year, we'd probably end up in the hospital. That's when the record really starts selling, no? When you're dead.'

His dream is to meet...
'...more celebrities, some big fucking celebrities. I would love to smell Jennifer Lawrence. I bet she smells good. She's confused too. I've looked up some of her interviews - she gets asked which bands she listens to and she's saying shit like White Stripes and Black Keys. Come on Jen, spend an afternoon with me and you'll know who you really love. I'm going to change her life and make her fall in love with me eventually. But I have to meet her first. Hopefully she reads this.'

'Salad Days' is out now

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