













We get the feeling that Atlas Sound/Deerhunter mastermind Bradford Cox won’t be featured in the Indie Outing (the secret jambands roots indie rockers) blog on Relix anytime soon. At an Atlas Sound show on Friday night in Minneapolis the self-described punk rocker responded to an audience member’s request for My Sharona by inviting the opening bands up to help him with an hour-long freakout on The Knack’s 1979 smash. Cox, who took the stage wearing a ski mask, ranted about the death of folk music, simulated fellatio on one of the musicians, ordered an audience member to strip and told the crowd members to pick up their chairs above their heads and shake them by the time the song was through according to blogger Sally Hedberg of City Pages. Hedberg called it “an unending cover that length of a Phish concert,” to which Cox responded “I am terrified and horrified and shocked that anyone would mention Phish in any article related to me” as part of a lengthy diatribe to Pitchfork about the “incident.”

In fact, Cox thought the show went great and called it “one of the best performances I’ve done since Deerhunter started” during his incredibly entertaining chat with Pitchfork. “No one else fucking allows themselves to become unhinged. If it’s frightening to people, then those people seriously need to look at the mediocrity they subscribe to.” Bradford doesn’t seem to understand the stir he created. “It’s not like fucking Lana Del Rey carved an upside down cross on her cheek and defecated all over herself on stage at fucking Bonnaroo,” he told Pitchfork. The ironic part is that Cox was aiming to give attendees a spontaneous experience that goes beyond playing the same songs the same way night in and night out, the same thing Phish fans strive for from that band.

Here’s a playlist of My Sharona videos shot by someone Cox describes as a “narc”…