Interview with Pynchon-influenced musician Tris McCall

[Allen Ruch]

I only came across Tris McCall because of the Pynchon connection, but I’ve since bought all four of his albums on Bandcamp. They are very good, and available as a “pay what you want” model.

https://trismccall.bandcamp.com

“Shoot Out at the Sugar Factory” is my favorite. And I agree with Arthur—Gaddis really is “unsung.” I was surprised when McCall talked about his attempts to, well, “sing” him a bit; I really can’t think of many other musicians influenced by Gaddis. (Though James Murphy of Six Finger Satellite and LCD Soundsystem is an avowed Gaddis fan.)

Anyway, I am currently working on more Pynchon/Music interviews, one with composer Steven Ricks and one with Sam Shalabi of “Land of Kush.” I’ll post links to the interviews here again as they are completed. Much thanks to Christian Hänggi for turning me onto both Ricks and Shalabi. (And Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf, too.)

—Quail




From: Arthur Fuller <fuller.artful at gmail.com>
Date: Sunday, January 2, 2022 at 9:02 PM
To: Hübschräuber <huebschraeuber at protonmail.com>
Cc: Allen Ruch <quail at shipwrecklibrary.com>, The Whole Sick Crew <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Subject: Re: Interview with Pynchon-influenced musician Tris McCall

I don't yet know his music, but the interview certainly revealed that he is a well-read man. I especially liked his references to William Gaddis, in my opinion one of America's unsung novelists. I fell in love with  JR first, and only subsequently found The Recognitions, and after that read everything else he wrote. As for Pynchon, I began with V., and fell in love at once. Since then I've read everything else. Perhaps Gravity's Rainbow is my favorite. Occasionally a book comes to me with such impact that I can quote its first paragraph verbatim. GR was one such. So was Albert Camus's The Rebel. A while back, it somehow cae up in conversation, and I quotes iys first paragraph verbatim; I hadn't read it in at least 20 years, but knew it inside out. The woman I was talking with, my best friend Audra, plucked it from the shelf and opened it and read the first paragraph, the slammed it shut and said nothing. not a compliment to me, but to Camus.

On Sun, Jan 2, 2022 at 5:05 PM Hübschräuber via Pynchon-l <pynchon-l at waste.org<mailto:pynchon-l at waste.org>> wrote:
A wonderful and very interesting interview (and I don't say this just because McCall mentioned Hüsker Dü). Questions I had with regard to The Insect Trust and "Eyes of a New York Woman" are answered in the interview. Will check out blog and music. Thank you.

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--
Arthur