I think people do expect something a little weird to happen. Maybe they've seen something I did once on the Internet and expect that I'm gonna do that every night.

Mac DeMarco

Categorized in : Thinking People Night

I'm not really good at writing sad sappy ballads. In terms of the lyrics not matching the vibe of the music, that's kind of the way my career has gone; everyone is a little confused about it all the time.

confused careers writing

You kind of have to be like " What have you been working the last five years for? Why are you complaining?" It's essentially me talking myself out of being a crybaby indie rock butthead.

rocks talking years

Neil Young is the prime example, the grand goal, if you will. He's still shredding, and he never lost his credibility.

example goal lost

Usually when festivals are really huge it's kind of weird. It's totally fun for me and my band to play in front of a crowd that doesn't necessarily know who we are, but festivals get pretty impersonal when they get super large.

band play fun

I hate living in a really small apartment, living in a shoebox, not being able to play the drums, not having space. It sucks.

hate space play

It's so crazy with the Internet and being able to play shows to people who are actually interested in you. I feel so lucky when that happens.

crazy play people

I don't think anybody has a choice. Everybody has to kind of interact with all the craziness right now. I don't like to engage - a lot of people made a point of doing the social media thing, and I think that social media is complete trash, so I treat it like that. I like Instagram. I like the funny photos. Other than that, it's not for me.

choices people thinking

Going on tour, you don't have a lot of time to mull things over. You're just kind of, "Another beer, another show, another song."

over-you beer song

When we were in Beijing, they were all "it's an honor, you're playing at the oldest rock club in Beijing". And I was all "oh crazy how old is it?" And then were all: "5 years old."Asia is just very different.

rocks crazy years

[Making music] only turned into this weird job in the last year or so. Once I figured that out, I was having a blast.

lasts jobs years

I'm not very good at playing piano, so I usually hit chords with my right hand. And those chords came, and I was just singing a little bit.

piano singing hands

I lived in Brooklyn for a year and I moved out to Rockaway Beach. I've been living here for two years now. I put my address on the album, so I have a lot of visitors all the time.

beach two years

Connan Mockasin from New Zealand. I met him a little while ago, I... by Mac DeMarco

Connan Mockasin from New Zealand. I met him a little while ago, I love his music.

new-zealand mets littles

That's kind of the weird thing about Salad Days. I had to block time off from touring and tell my management and label like no press, no nothing. Let me make an album. You guys are running me dead.

block guy running

I do get labeled as a guitar band, but the only reason is that's the instrument I know how to play. The guitar is serving the song I'm writing. But I'm learning how to play keyboard better now so that'll start serving the song as well; it'll be another flavor. I'm not going to switch it up with big, fat drum machine beats and real swoopy synths, but yeah...

real writing song

It was weird [touring with them]. It felt more like we were playing for Phoenix. They asked us because they're fans of what we do.

phoenix touring fans

If I feel like I'm going too far in one direction, I just can it. It's a weird thing. Some of my songs might be cheesy; I try and keep it light. It's hard to explain.

one-direction light song

I thought I knew Elton John, but then it was like, "Woah, Elton's a pimp! He's really amazing." And since Billy and Elton are homies, I'm finally getting it - the two piano boys.

piano boys two

I've recorded at home since I was a teenager, and I'm able to sit here in my underwear and keep trying different things until something works. I think if I did that in a studio the engineer would be like, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

teenager home thinking

I never liked living in Montreal. And I don't really like the music scene there. It was never my cup of tea, and I never felt like I ever fit in.

cups fit tea