He used to have to strip down to near nudity in a small room full of uninterested audience members to prove he was more than just a guy with a laptop. Now, he plays for sold-out concert venues across the country. But he still strips. Out of habit.
Gregg Gillis, better known by his stage name Girl Talk, will bring his pop-infused, dance party-inducing, remixing skills to Ackerman Grand Ballroom tonight for a free-for-students show put on by the Campus Events Commission and the Student Committee for the Arts.
He’s become a favorite at many high-profile music festivals like Coachella and most recently Sasquatch!, but Gillis still found time to fit in a college tour this past month that consisted of about 25 stops. After all, it was during his own undergraduate experience that Girl Talk was born.
It was the summer of 2000, just before his freshman year at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, when Gillis, with the help of his parents, got his first personal computer. He took this and his fascination with electronic music and made the move from Pittsburgh to pursue two very different interests.
When Gillis wasn’t participating in the Cleveland music scene, he was in the library studying for his classes in biomedical engineering.
“I had the best time of my life in college,” Gillis said. “But on the academic side, (it was) overwhelming.”
Constantly fearing he was going to fail his classes, Gillis fully devoted himself to both pursuits, which caused him to lead a sort of double life. “I was definitely nerding it out by day,” Gillis said. “But I also feel I raged harder during those four years than I had ever raged before.”
Keeping up this work-hard, play-hard ethic throughout his college career, Gillis not only earned his degree but also put out two albums and toured every winter and summer break. Even after college, he was working as an engineer and playing weekend shows until one life took over the other. The growing success of Girl Talk led Gillis to give up his day job in what history has shown was a wise choice.
He chose his stage name after attending too many shows where the performers just stared angrily at their computer screens for their entire sets. Gillis decided he wanted to stir things up. He decided on Girl Talk because, according to him, “that (name) was the exact opposite of a guy playing a computer.”
He’s put out four albums under this name, the most recent of which, “Feed the Animals,” is still available for pay-what-you-want download. Fans of the arrangements on these albums, however, shouldn’t expect to hear them in identical fashion. Every Girl Talk show is unique whether it’s because Gillis throws in a new song he hears that day or because he rearranges old favorites to make new ones. Since he’s literally remixing the samples on the spot at every show, he said it’s impossible to replicate his set.
Another factor that makes his shows different than other concerts is that he’s admittedly more reliant on the audience than most performers. This gives him a hint at what to expect from tonight’s show.
“I feel at most college shows, kids are there to get nuts,” Gillis said.
Harry Tannenbaum hopes Gillis is right. A second-year economics student and part of the CEC music staff, Tannenbaum said it has been his and CEC’s goal to bring Girl Talk to UCLA for the past two years with a consistent motive in mind.
“It’s been a while since everybody was really mobilized ““ really juiced for a concert,” Tannenbaum said. “I feel like the school needs a big party really bad.”
The party will definitely be big: Tickets ran out after only three hours of availability, but limited standby room is still offered for non-ticket holders. Gillis’ audience has significantly grown over these nine years of Girl Talk both in size and enthusiasm, but he hasn’t forgotten the early days of driving across the country only to be unplugged in the middle of his set.
A lot has changed since then, but he’s still the guy who likes to bring the unexpected. Tonight’s audience can expect at least one thing from Gillis, proving that some things just don’t change.
“I’ll be there,” Gillis said. “I’ll be the sweaty guy with my shirt off.”