photos by Tim Griffin

Mac DeMarco / getting close with a fan @ Mohawk, 4/13/2014





Fans have come to expect messy, raucous live shows, and the first 10 rows are often getting crazy before Mac even hits the stage. "Sometimes I'll kiss my bass player just to get a little giggle out of everybody but people come to our shows and it's out of my hands, essentially." Here, mention must be made of the drumsticks-up-the-bum incident. It occurred onstage in Montreal in 2012 and is to DeMarco as biting the head off a bat is to Ozzy Osbourne: a signature story of outrageousness that's too good to ever die. There's footage of it somewhere, in a dark corner of the internet. Which his mother happened to see.

"She was just like, 'What the fuck?' and a couple of other members of my family were like, 'What's wrong with you?' They were more concerned and confused than angry. As soon as I called them and was like, 'Hey guys, it's OK, I'm not smoking meth or anything,' it was OK."

He adds, frowning: "I don't really know why it happened... My girlfriend told me everyone had been saying, [he puts on a sulky voice] 'Man, Mac's shows aren't crazy any more.' The shows before that had been drunken, crazy stupid spectacles. So it was a reactionary thing to, 'They think I can't be crazy any more!'" Further amends were made with the song Freaking Out The Neighbourhood ("Sorry mama," he sang sweetly, "there are times I get carried away..."). - [The Guardian]