Their music is fun and care free. The line in Stereo about Geddy Lee puts a smile on my face every time so fkn random lol. These guys are relatable and just put me in a good mood. "Tell me off in the hotel lobby right in front of all the bellboys and the over friendly concierge " lol

okay why is stephen's fit so hard

I like how Stephen is real and describing how Pavement grew out of his life. It's another side of him that you wouldn't be able to get out of his music.

"Do you still consider yourself a guardian of art?" Who would have guessed the interviewer would be wittier than Malkmus?

Stephen is still the coolest guy ever.

This is one of the best interviews I've ever seen. Malkmus's personality comes out so well.

I love hearing malkmus talk.

your wrists are strong.... malkmus seems so delightfully comforable with himself and honest with the world around him

"people use the word 'indie', what do you think about that?" I laughed lmaoo

So many comments from people watching an interview of a musician they don't like. KZfaq at it's finest right here. I didn't hear Pavement until recently but to me they define the 90s. Their music takes me back to that awesome decade. I always say they are an easy band to hate and that's part of their charm to me. It's like they aren't even trying but it's real and honest and that's what good art is all about.

i think the interviewer is really good. asking interesting questions. being intellectual. getting malkmus to talk. and he does.

two weird dudes bein' weird

Soft Focus pretty much has my favorite handful of interviews. Ian's great. I can't understand people who would prefer fake, waste of time interviews

Sarcasm is not for everybody, malkmus is great and one of the most underrated artists cause he never pledge to the big shitty music industry machine, a pure punk-rock father.

"Do you see yourself as a guardian of Art?" Five stars right there.

13:50 "your just earning your check to go out and get st--... get a burrito afterwards"

YES to the Suede album shirt hahahaha

Back 8 years later and I'm so glad I'm seeing Malkmus in a different light now. I suppose we've both grown up.

Ian is the sassiest boy in america

His John Cale impression was short but damn funny lol

that interplay is freakin hilarious to me--"you know southern-- like lightning bugs, lightning--stuff we don't have out here..."

your reading comprehension skills are amazing.

I get what he's saying about post John Cale Velvets, it's very good stuff too, but his addition to the band was not crap, it was also very good.

Love that he knows about Suede, my favorit band of all time =)

actually a great interviewer

Ian Svenonius, is an excellent interviewer...seen many of his interviews and this one with Malkmus is great as well

Virginia has changed quite a bit since the 1860s Ian. Its certainly not dixie.

This is the greatest interview oh my god

Stephen has mentioned, over time, some of my favorites bands: Deerhoof My Bloddy Valentine Can Velvet Underground Pavement Makes sense that I dig his music.

I like the "Soft Focus theme song" mentioned in the credits. Link?

i love the satirical intro!

Malkmus's reading of the Velvet Underground has helped me understand why Pavement fell off a cliff once they parted ways with the experimental and embraced more formal song structures. His ambition all along perhaps? Were we were all trying to get to where he was leaving?

Bring back Soft Focus!

Gotta love the title :D

Hey! malkmus is my all-time favorite dude ever, too. then pollard. but definitely malkmus. i think you're probably right about scenonius. i'm really not too familiar with him and most of the great personalities have a bit of a learning curve to them.

Lol. Wtf is going on in the comments? Anyway, Malkmus is such a cool dude.

malkmus is thinking "I've been sitting here too long!!" (pavement reference)

UME was pretty under appreciated. First band since Pavement that got me going again! Then Built to Spill I guess!

16:51 Stephen's best Michael Winslow impression

Malkmus is so generous

Interviewer Ian is like is there a pure setting for music and Steve taps his nose

Also, Malkmus is my all-time favorite musician, so I wouldn't waste time defending Svenonius unless I thought he was worth it. I respect that you're put off by him, but I think he's just an acquired taste. I personally think he's a really smart, funny guy. And he kind of exemplifies all the things that make Malkmus so charming, but only if those things were exposed to radiation and then magnified under a microscope.

I lived in Northern Virginia, Stephen is right

I fear people don't grasp the underlying comedic intent of this interview

When one guy I like (Malkmus) belittles another guy I like (Cale) ... well, these are the unfathomable ways of RocknRoll I guess. Anyway a great interview with good questions!

"get a burrito" lmfao

It looked extremely rocky for the Mudville nine that day...

Stephen Malkmus is GREAT!

Dude it's Ian Svenonius from Nation of Ulysses and other great bands. He's just taking the piss with his character. Malkmus (and all the other guys he's interviewed) are friends with him

Bagdad Theatre!!

Ian is Not for Everyone.

10:06 is hilarious

KZfaq subtitles turned one of Malkmus' vocal guitar noises into "marijuana". 😂

What are you talking about? Malkmus is laughing when he says that, he clearly understands it's a joke and thinks it's funny. Go research who this interviewer is. He has more credentials than most interviewers, and this entire series is intended to be ironic. Imagine like an indie rock Ron Burgundy. That's basically what's going on here. Once you get past the facade, though, it's actually quite though-provoking.

Pigs they tend to wiggle when they walk.... Great interview...

@4:55 "What you don't understand..." Glad Malkmus took it in stride

He's right about Northern Virginia.

Oh dear God. I rewatched parts of this and, well, shit I must have been trolled by this show. After all, there's no way that anyone could have been serious with that intro. Right? Right?

Love Gary Jarman.

Ian was awesome in nation of ulysses.

Thanks for dressing up for the interview Malkmus.

10:23 - VELVET UNDERGROUND CONVO

He just throws out the Suede reference like anyone is going to get it haha, but damn is it true, that was my first thought.

these comments are really strange...

do you guys even know who the interviewer is? or where he's been and what he's done musically and artistically?

how highhhhhhhhh.... am i not.... I'm not high enough.

I think silver jews is his best band IMO

The introduction could be a Mr show skit about a pretensious and faux arty host who said so much, but somehow so little. When he slaps that goods train, I lost it

"It was kinda like a college town is what I'm saying".

It's by design my friend. Check out the Nation of Ulysses, Ian's former band.

How did this guy get his one show interviewing people??

what a beautiful man

i doubt malkmus or any of his fans see him as some sort of philosophical scholar. his subtlety IS what makes him cool, maybe even too cool for school. Take for instance, his reference to the pub owner with a kind word. Not saying much, but getting the point across.

You thought that was douchie? Wait till you check out his intro for the Henry Rollins interview; it's the height of douchieness. And by "douchieness," I mean awesomeness.

This guy's pompous insistence that Charlottesville Virginia is "Dixie" despite Malkmus' (correct) experience to the contrary is maddening.

Steven secretly wants to be John Cale

Malkmus had to pee the entire time..

odd question, but does anyone know what jacket stephen is wearing? its really cool looking

HELL.YES>

These comments are hilarious. Ian's character is satire and the two are friends.

"Stephen Malkmus submits to Ian's tender interrogation..."

Jeff Koons? I will try to unhear that.

What are the bands SM recalls?

The interviewer asked some really weird (maybe even stupid) questions that seemed based on assumptions that weren't even true, but it definitely got Malkmus to say some interesting things.

I like Pavement and SM & The Jicks. But there are some really dumb SM comments about VU here. Ridiculous dissing of John Cale and the first 2 VU albums. I mean, don't even try to compare anything Pavement or The Jicks have done to White Light/ White Heat or the VU debut in terms of energy, innovation and sheer brilliance-- to say nothing of historical influence on bands that influenced Malkmus himself. Then he goes on to praise the avant-garde Stockhausen-schooled experimentalism of Can. Thing is, Can were very open about acknowledging the influence of early VU albums. Also, Cale produced more than that Stooges album Malkmus mentioned. He also produced the debut albums of Modern Lovers, Patti Smith and several Nico albums on which he played and co-wrote. I remember catching a John Cale gig in NY in the late 70s, and man was he rocking! His gigs at CBGBs and elsewhere were legendary for their edgy intensity. Malkmus makes Cale sound like some academic avant-garde egg-head with no feel for rock&roll. He couldn't be more wrong.

Oh my God, 15 minutes in, but I hope that sometime in the last 10 minutes Malkmus asks him, "What the fuck do you mean by that ridiculous question?"

right

Everyone's bashing the interviewer in the comments here...I liked him and didn't think he was that bad at all but come on, holy shit, he was the singer for Nation of Ulysses and that alone makes him a really cool dude

I didn't know Peter Dinklage did interviews??

Is that Nardwuar? I always wanted Nardwuar to interview Pavement or the jicks, they're the best.

Just googled Steve Nash's favorite band, its Radiohead!!!

IAN SVENONIUS!!!!

to be perfectly honest warhol pretty much was the velvets backbone the velvets continued with andy's influence and artistic ideas and integrity. To say they were a better band after cale and andy is an opinion. but americans will often say that because mostly they hate looking at music as an art anyway, they just like to think of it as fun + entertainment, I think that's wrong, they're just afraid of looking pretentious but having something to say and being creative doesn't mean your pretentious

Portlandia, for real. S-C-A-R-Y!!!

He comes across like the David Spade of alternative rock.

sox cap. nifty.

What did he mean Bowie was an enemy of his? I have to know what that is all about..

frontman of the legendary indie rock band, pavement!! check em!

Stephen Malkmus's doppelgänger.

little Charlottesville reference there...