Interview with Pynchon-influenced musician Tris McCall

[Allen Ruch]

In case anyone is curious, I just interviewed Tris McCall. He’s a New Jersey rocker, journalist, and novelist; some of you may know him because his 90s group, the Favorite Color, set “The Eyes of a New York Woman” to music as the song “V. In Love,” as originally featured by Larry Daw in the SL-version of “Pynchon On Record Vol. 2.” (The album was called “Color Out of Space.”)

McCall speaks eloquently about the influence of Thomas Pynchon and William Gaddis on his music, and on the parallels between literature and music in general. There’s much talk of Pynchon, as one might expect! The interview is here:

http://shipwrecklibrary.com/the-modern-word/sl-interview-tris-mccall/

And just to add, McCall’s solo albums are quite good, available to hear/download from his Bandcamp page. He’s a very literate rock storyteller; critically-acclaimed, but sadly not as widely known as he deserves to be. The interview above contains links to hos music, the MP3 of “V, In Love,” and links to the revised “Color Out of Space” feature.

Anyway, this is one of what will hopefully be a series of interviews with musicians influenced by Thomas Pynchon.

—Quail