Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks at Music Hall of Williamsburg
photo by P Squared

Stephen Malkmus talks The Fall & more in new interview, expands Jicks tour

While Stephen Malkmus‘ music may have more in common with the Grateful Dead these days, the spectre of The Fall — an undeniable influence on the sound and style of his old band Pavement — still looms large. In an interview with Guitar World where he answered readers’ questions, he addressed the subject, and late frontman Mark E Smith‘s dismissal of the band at the time:

Pavement made it pretty clear that the Fall had an enormous influence on them. Mark E. Smith, vocalist form the Fall, made no secret that he was unimpressed by the band. How was it to have Smith talking that way about you and the band? —Yolanda Lemos

It doesn’t hurt. It doesn’t make me think or feel less of myself. Not that I’m a total narcissist, but my ego is OK with discussion. I don’t take it personally. Acknowledgment of any sort—I’ll take it. He was forced to think about us, which is nice. Take what you can get from Mark E. Smith.

The feeling I get when I listen to the Fall is nostalgic at this point. It puts me in a specific time frame. Even though the band went on forever, my relationship with them is really kind of narrow, like 1985 to 1989, when I was listening to their older things and newer stuff. I felt, “This is really refreshing.” But I guess refreshing isn’t really a word you’d use for the Fall. Liberating, let’s say. They had an attitude of, “We don’t care. We’re the Fall; fuck you.” The Velvet Underground had a similar vibe. I related to that at that time in my life.

In the interview, Malkmus also talks Radiohead, guitar tunings and more.

Stephen and The Jicks just wrapped up their summer tour over the weekend, and will be back on the road this fall, including an appearance at Fort Wayne, IN’s Middle Waves fest in September, and a Los Angeles show with Courtney Barnett and Waxahatchee in October, and then a UK tour right after that. They’ve also just announced a new NYC show for early 2019: January 25 at Brooklyn Steel. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday, August 10 at noon with an AmEx presale beginning Wednesday (8/8) at noon.

All tour dates are listed, along with an acoustic performance video of “Solid Silk” off this year’s excellent Sparkle Hard, below.

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – 2018/2019 Tour Dates
SEP 15 Middle Waves Music Festival Fort Wayne, IN
OCT 05 Greek Theatre Los Angeles, CA
OCT 17 Albert Hall Manchester, United Kingdom
OCT 18 SWG3 Studio Warehouse Glasgow, United Kingdom
OCT 19 Vicar Street Dublin, Ireland
OCT 21 SWX Bristol, United Kingdom
OCT 22 The Asylum, Hockley Birmingham, United Kingdom
OCT 24 Hackney Arts Centre Camden, London, UNITED KINGDOM
OCT 25 Concorde 2 Brighton, United Kingdom
OCT 31 Melkweg Amsterdam, Netherlands
NOV 02 Trix Antwerp
JAN 25 Brooklyn Steel NYC