Our interview series Icebreaker features artists talking about things—some strange, some amusing, some meaningful—that just might reveal their true selves. This edition stars Sean Yeaton of Parquet Courts, whose new album Human Performance is out now via Rough Trade. At one point, the discussion turned to Prince, who died 10 days after this conversation took place.
Pitchfork: Which YouTube video have you watched the most times?
Sean Yeaton: It's gotta be the Prince guitar solo during my "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004. It's so good 'cause, first of all, Prince doesn't give a *fuck—*his solo is longer than the rest of the song leading up to it. Somebody probably tried to light up a sign that said "please stop," and Prince probably winked at that person—and they were never to be seen again. He's just shredding like a fucking maniac.
And at one point, he has a shadowy figure hold him up, like a stage lean thing. Upon further research, I found out that Prince has a guy who has to pick him up when he leans off the stage. Just some dude. His name is, like, Jerry. He waits for Prince to wink at him, runs over, and holds him up while he shreds.
The best part is at the end of the song, when Prince hurls his guitar into the air and you never see it again. Turns out there's another guy whose job it is to catch his fucking guitar when he throws it up into the air, which he does regularly. That is so fucking cool. I heard that Prince just pops in like a purple cloud at venues in Minneapolis and decides if he wants to jam with the band. He'll just be ready to go, no questions asked—Prince could go onstage and just shred along to "Stoned and Starving" by Parquet Courts. That would never happen but it would be fuckin' badass.
What is your life motto?
Something that people would get tattooed on their body, how about: "Life is like a box of chocolates. I can't believe I'm having a panic attack."
Do you believe in ghosts?
Sure. They're around, fuckin' bastards. Maybe some are nice. I think it's everybody's dream to be able to haunt someone. Maybe not everyone, but I like to know that I will be able to come back in some capacity and be able to haunt. What's funny to me is you never hear about a ghost that is able to haunt really well. Elvis isn't just up onstage singing a tune as a ghost—but maybe somehow sauce will spill on your table if you call him "fat ass." Is that all he can do? Fuck. I want to be able to do something crazy. Not mean, but a spectacle.
What's your favorite joke?
A robot and a lawyer walk into a bar. The bartender says, "Hey, we don't serve robots." The robot replies, "Oh, but you will one day."
__If you could be a member of any band ever, which would it be? __
I would want to be Wes Borland from Limp Bizkit. Imagine that life. At a festival last summer, we played the same stage as American Football and Limp Bizkit, and my 7th grade brain was just bleeding all over the fucking floor—I loved those bands. I had to go up to both bands at some point and say, "Listen, this is a big deal for me—this would be my Make-A-Wish." Wes Borland is in pretty good shape. Also, they make so much money.
I ran into Fred Durst at that festival—he was wearing a sweatshirt that said Limp Bizkit on it. I can't not go up to him, you know? I watched this man blow up a boat on MTV's Spring Break in '98. I was so nervous. At the time, I had turned my Facebook page into a TV channel, so I went up to him and got Fred Durst to do the weather. It was a great day for me.
What is the most recent song that made you believe in the power of music?
Kurt Vile's "That's Life, tho (almost hate to say)." I've always loved his records, even before I got to know him a little bit. He's really going for it. He's one of the last examples of a rock'n'roll frontiersman who's just going to be famous. He's like the Mars 1 mission: "Just get to Mars—it doesn't matter that we're going to die there." He's going to be as big as Bruce Springsteen, and I think that's the point. But there's a lot of vulnerability in his songs.
With a song like this, he's so candid and he just puts it all out there for you to understand. There's a line about him taking pills when he goes to see people, and it struck me as being really meaningful and evidence of that power music has to keep us grounded and make us think about what the fuck is going on here. It's a privilege that we get to do this. It's privilege that I get to talk to you on the phone about this stuff right now—I know that I'll see it on the internet, and next week you'll get Buckethead and mine will immediately be erased. But it's such a hard thing to balance the difference between being "human guy" and "rock'n'roll guy." And sometimes you have to find that strange, steady balance. So it's nice to hear lyrics by a friend that draws attention to how fragile our minds can really be. Music is a great way to start to deal with those things.
What are you most vain about?
I've always been the guy who wants to shed a few pounds whenever I see a picture of myself where I look like a "Dilbert" cartoon. It's difficult for me to lose weight rapidly, whereas somebody like Max [Savage] in Parquet Courts is just lithe. You can fit his entire body through a coat-hanger, but he eats exclusively garbage. We'll stop at a gas station, and I'll have a Smartwater and unsalted almonds and a cigarette to speed up the metabolism, and he gets a huge Dr. Pepper, five hot dogs, and a slice of gas station pizza—but he never even gains a pound. It's fucking bullshit.
What's the last TV show that you binge watched?
"You're the Worst." This show seemed like it was written via text, so I don't know how it reflects upon me that I ultimately think it's fucking brilliant.
Who would play you in a movie about your life?
David Duchovny. That'd be good, right? I'm going to tweet at him.
