When You’re Not Excited, You’re Not a Fan: An Interview with Nardwuar the Human Serviette

Nardwuar: Okay cool! For instance, the Degrassi Kids interview that’s also on that DVD. People phoned in and asked questions. . . I guess my inspiration has been not so much really one person, like Hunter S. Thompson—I mean, I totally love those people, I love Lester Bangs and all those journalists—but it’s been more from the listeners of CITR that are phoning in and asking questions or they’re chastising me like, “Nardwuar, you have the Degrassi Kids on, this is boring!”

So I’m always feeling like I’m accountable to the listeners and they’re always dictating what I should do and make it interesting. Because the great thing about college radio is that people are not afraid to say what they want to say and the listeners aren’t afraid to phone in and say, “Man, you suck! This is boring!” I’m always living under that fear that I might be boring or that I should move on to the next thing. So those people are my inspiration, not particularly one person.

That being said, I do scan lots of magazines looking to see how other people conduct interviews. And I’ve said previously that one of my inspirations has been Arsenio Hall—

Popshifter: (laughs)

Nardwuar: —more than anything, because I saw a few interviews where Arsenio Hall interviewed Sharon Stone about her career in acting and she was talking about some movies she’d been in that she didn’t want to talk about and I knew exactly what movies. It was the Allan Quatermain series—

Popshifter: Oh, I remember those!

Nardwuar: Yeah, it was like a total Indiana Jones ripoff—

Popshifter: Yes!

Nardwuar: And the music was like, doo doo doo DOO! Where it was like, one note off—

Popshifter: (cracks up)

Nardwuar: And they were hilarious! Like I love those movies. And here’s Arsenio, interviewing Sharon Stone and she’s like, “Well, I don’t want to talk about those” and Arsenio just moved on. And I was like, “Arsenio, you should have asked!” So Arsenio inspired me there—

Popshifter: (laughs)

Nardwuar: —to try and get to the bottom of things, so he’s more of an inspiration than Hunter S. Thompson. Later on, though, I found out that Arsenio—I mean, I was kinda dissing him there—had tons and tons of cool rap bands on his show. In fact, on an appearance that MC Hammer had he handed out this tambourine to symbolize MC Hammer’s appearance on the Arsenio Hall Show and I was able to borrow that tambourine from a record store—

Popshifter: (amazed) Oh my god. . .

Nardwuar: —Beat Street in Vancouver, one of my favorite record stores in the whole world. Beat Street dot cee ay. And when I interviewed Flavor Flav I got Flavor Flav to do a freestyle rap banging that tambourine.

Popshifter: Oh my god!

Nardwuar: So it was all coming full circle. Of course, Flavor loves Arsenio because he had great rap on. . . I kinda dissed Arsenio Hall at first, but now I kinda realize the true genius. I think that’s really what it is, you look at something and say, “This person sucks” but if you really look deep down there is something interesting about everybody. I think that’s what I look for. So even if I may not be, per se, a fan right off the bat, the more you get into them you find out interesting facts and stuff to be excited about.

Popshifter: Right! You mentioned Lester Bangs which is funny because I had that written down to ask you. How did you get into him? Did you read his stuff in Creem? I know he died in 1982, but did you ever read any old issues or did you get into him later through the books that were compilations of individual pieces?

Nardwuar: Well, believe it or not, I got into him more after I interviewed a local band called the Nasty Ons from Vancouver—they had a song called “Lester Bangs” and it inspired me to get more into him. I had heard of him and I had read a bit but I got more into him via the band. Again, I was turned on by someone I had interviewed.

Popshifter: That’s cool.

Nardwuar: Basically when I approach interviews and stuff, I don’t really know anything; it’s like a complete blank slate. And then I just try to get all the information I can on that band before I do the interview. In fact, probably the less you know, the better. Because sometimes people are like, “Oh, I know this! I don’t have to do anything!” I think the less you know, makes you more scared! Like I mentioned the Degrassi Kids. . . “The Degrassi Kids are coming in! People are gonna be angry if I don’t ask the right questions!”

Popshifter: (laughs)

Nardwuar: On that DVD if you listen closely, one of the callers phones in and says, “What do you think about the idea of them doing Degrassi: The Next Generation. And this was in 1992, before they did The Next Generation.

Popshifter: Right!

Click to read more from Nardwuar on. . .

Inspirations and approaches to interviews
Music journalists and the early days
Can Rock and Chris Murphy of Sloan
Beck (Hansen) and Bach (Sebastian)
Digging into history and school dances
Redd Kross and Bill Bartell
Nardwuar’s fave fanzines, part one
Nardwuar’s fave fanzines, part two

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9