Richard Turgeon: Chasing Pavement

By now we’ve all heard the good news that Pavement is set to perform again later this summer at a pre-festival party for the Oakland, California-based weekend shindig Mosswood Meltdown alongside Wednesday and the recently reunited Vivian Girls.

But for those who simply cannot wait until July 17th to get your fix of the slacker icons or the idiosyncratic brilliance of their unique brand of rock ‘n’ roll, look no further than this faithful cover of their song “Date w/ IKEA” by San Francisco indie artist Richard Turgeon.

Written by guitarist Scott “Spiral Stairs” Kannberg for Pavement’s fourth album, 1997’s Brighten the Corners, it didn’t take long for Turgeon to realize the song was the right one for him to tackle after mulling the concept of doing the group’s breakout hit “Cut Your Hair” or the Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain B-side “Harness Your Hopes,” which found a second life as a momentary viral sensation on TikTok.

“There’s a certain combination of joy, craft, raw authenticity and intelligence at play underneath the lyrical and musical pathos,” Turgeon wrote in September as part of a lengthy and insightful blog post about the band on his website. “Several of their songs started to make me feel something pretty rare, like wanting to cry and deep, profound joy at the same time.

“Tracks like ‘Gold Soundz,’ ‘Date w/ IKEA,’ and ‘Spit on a Stranger’ to name a few. They’re not sentimental, mass-appeal emo-pop dreck like the kind that acts like Adele, U2 and Coldplay seem to specialize in; there’s something much deeper at play, at least for me. I get the same feeling when listening to tracks like ‘So Lonely’ by the Police, or ‘My Sister’ by Juliana Hatfield. 

“Some of these moments with Pavement just hit me like a bolt out of the blue — like listening to “Date w/ IKEA” for what might have been the first time, and I had to pull over my car (I emailed Spiral Stairs about this and he was kind enough to reply “It should’ve been a hit!” I agree, Spiral).”

Accompanying the song is a highly entertaining video — shot inside of an actual IKEA — that keenly keys into the sarcasm and humor imbued in the original tune, which you can check out below. 

Rock & Roll Globe was so tickled by Turgeon’s efforts we asked him all about it.

Richard’s latest EP of original material, Shungite, is out now.

 

This video is awesome. Which IKEA did you film in? Did they give you a hard time?

Thanks so much, I appreciate that. I’m super proud of how it turned out and am really grateful to have had the help of my friend and musical collaborator, Eric Salk. He shot any shots I’m in and did a great job getting what we needed while we filmed on the fly.

I filmed this in the closest IKEA to where I live in Marin County, Emeryville. I’ve got a soft spot for it since it’s 12 minutes from the legendary 924 Gilman Street venue where Green Day and other East Bay bands came up, and I bought most of my furniture there when I was suddenly single some 18 years ago.

They didn’t give me a hard time because I didn’t ask for permission. Everything was shot on my iPhone and we kept it very low key intentionally as I like to have things look as real and natural as possible. 

I did ask the cashier for permission to shoot her as we went through, and I briefly explained what situation we were shooting. She was a total champ and totally convincing; I owe her big-time. Eric did an awesome job getting multiple angles in a single take because we didn’t want to have to shoot it again and draw any attention, or get her in trouble.

What inspired the cover?

I’ve been a Pavement fan for a long time, but I recently got into them all over again, and on a much deeper level — to the point where I wrote a 12,000-word blog post about their mysterious breakup. Honestly it’s all I’ve been listening to for several months. 

All the listening led me to “Date w/ IKEA” on iTunes Essentials, and I hadn’t heard it until then. I know this sounds dramatic, but I liked the song so much, I recall pulling over my car to replay it, or rewind it, or whatever I was doing. I remember exactly where I was.

I knew I had to cover it, which for me is an infrequent labor of love and a way for me to just break a song apart and listen to it 1,000 times to practice, and during the recording and mixing process.

 

What are your thoughts on Brighten the Corners in general? Where does it rank on your list?

It’s probably a close tie with their second record, Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain. For me, these two records are Pavement at their most melodic, cohesive and accessible.

Brighten might come out on top by a very slim margin since it has “Stereo,” which is one of my favorite songs of all time. Plus it’s got “Shady Lane,” “Date w/ IKEA,” “Embassy Row” and “Passat Dream.”

Of course Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain has “Cut Your Hair,” “Unfair,” “Gold Soundz” and “Range Life,” so it’s very close. I love all of their albums, but these two are my favorite to listen to as collections… closely followed by the other three, which continue to grow on me in different ways.

 

When did you first get into Pavement?

I wish I could say it was in their heyday, but like most people they weren’t on my radar in a big way. I wasn’t that cool. I was also so into Nirvana at the time it’s almost like I didn’t think about too many other bands from that era. The irony is that ’92 was a good year for Pavement, and I was just starting my first indie rock band, called The Movies.

I recall getting more familiar with them when I got more officially active as a solo artist — much later than when I started out, but still many years ago. I was like, “Pavement was a cool band, I should write something that sounds like them, plus Dinosaur Jr.” The result was “Working for the Man,” which is pretty good, and ended up with some R.E.M. flavor in there as well for the bridge. Much more recent was “Fire Drill,” which again was my attempt at doing something more laconic and “lo-fi” like Pavement, with much better results IMO. The goal was never to sound like Pavement but rather just let their vibe influence those tunes.

My newest material is most heavily influenced by them, even though I don’t try to sound like them — I think that’s impossible. Stephen Malkmus is a genius songwriter and guitar player who I don’t think anyone can really emulate.

 

AUDIO: Pavement “Date w/ IKEA”

What feedback did you get from the band?

I sent my cover and blog post to Scott Kannberg, Pavement co-founder and guitarist, aka Spiral Stairs, and the songwriter/vocalist/primary guitarist on “IKEA.” He was nice enough to email back “This song is awesome!” and even sent some fact corrections to the post about their early days. 

Even though that was one of my proudest moments in my relatively unknown musical career, the greatness of the song is really what inspired my cover. It’s a sincere tribute to a band that’s meant a lot to me. And I thought I could do a good job putting my own little spin on it; otherwise I wouldn’t have gone there.

I haven’t heard from him about the video, but I hope he sees it and likes it. It would be cool if the band saw it, too. Maybe this interview will help with that…

What do you think it is about Pavement that makes them endure?

Their originality, creativity and artistic integrity. Ultimately the songs transcend time or nostalgia or the culture at the time. A lot of critics say Pavement was “the best band of the ’90s,” but to me they’re one of the best bands, ever, regardless of what time they were most active or whatever.

To expand on this a bit further, I think Stephen Malkmus collected the right bunch of guys to play with, and he is a very unique, once in a lifetime kind of songwriting talent. He’s one of very few songwriters I literally envy. With all of the research I’ve done, I also don’t think he gets enough credit for his guitar playing, which to me is more unique, cooler and more creative than much more technical guitarists who can shred and all of that.

I think Pavement lived their ethos that you don’t have to be a great MUSICIAN to make cool music. They dressed in jeans and T-shirts, they pushed against all the ’80s rock star bullshit and big hair at the time in a way that was real and authentic. They didn’t use much reverb, if any, they didn’t manufacture their image to an unreasonable degree. Nirvana had a similar effect on me and my friends — like, wow, these are just cool guys making great music. Weirdos like us. 

I’ve thought about how “Harness Your Hopes” found new life with today’s generation on TikTok in recent years, and I think their music still connects with people because the songs are like nothing else, they’re melodic, and they are perfect in execution. The records sound like dudes in a room playing their song. I think that approach of being real, having great songs, and recording them in a pretty pure, organic way that avoids sounding overproduced will stand the test of time.

 

What could young musicians learn from Pavement in your opinion and why?

Not everyone is destined to be a great artist, but the ethos of Pavement is that great music can come from anyone. Anyone can learn an instrument on a rudimentary level and start a band, or just record their own stuff.

Scott said in an obscure interview I found on YouTube something like “Don’t practice.” I don’t know if he feels that way today, but at the time I think he was trying to convey this ethos of you don’t have to be a GREAT PLAYER to make great music. Getting more technical and steeped in scales and theory and all that ruins the creativity. Stephen said something similar in a different interview where you don’t have to be GOOD to make cool music. This is what DIY/indie/punk rock is all about… creativity, originality, feel and a shitty duct-taped guitar over theory, proficiency and thousands of dollars worth of gear.

This is a big part of my own ethos and punk-ish/indie roots that informed my book Indie Rock 101, which I wrote as a starter guide of sorts for younger musicians.

I think younger musicians can also get inspired by Pavement’s DIY (Do It Yourself) approach to making music and running their band. Don’t worry about a manager, a label, a record deal and all of that. Of course that’s a worthy goal if that’s your thing, but Pavement booked their own tours early on, counted their money, put out their own records, created the cover art, recorded stuff and made some pretty awesome videos with low to no budget. This approach also helped them maintain creative ownership and get shit done. 

 

VIDEO: Richard Turgeon “Date w/IKEA”