All the rage, all onstage: Girl Talk at the Fillmore. All photos by Lisa Weiss.
By Michelle Broder Van Dyke
We met up with Girl Talk, ne Gregg Gillis, before his second sold-out performance at the Fillmore on Oct. 28. We’d later witness him rising into the audience as he abandoned his Saran-wrapped laptop, plunged off the stage, and crowd surfed above sweaty bouncy bodies. He was followed by an entourage of party-throwers dressed in shirts adorned with glow sticks. If you must speak only one truth about Girl Talk, you must say that he breaks the mold of arms-crossed hipster shows and gets people pumped and partying. He also recommends throwing parties with babies.
SFBG: What did you do differently in preparing the Night Ripper vs. Feed the Animals?
Girl Talk: I think on the new one I had a lot more music prepared beforehand, and I had played a lot more shows. After Night Ripper’s release, I started playing a ton of shows, and the way I try out material is in the live setting. If I don’t have shows for a month, I might relax and not work that hard. But over the two years between [the albums] I played close to 100 shows, which is kinda like constantly working on stuff. I think even approaching Feed the Animals I had a lot more ideas set, so I could pick and pull. So I didn’t have to use everything.
