Girls are Gross: At Home with Pink Nasty [Interview, Photo Shoot]
In possession of both ribald wit and potent songwriting skills, the music of Pink Nasty (or Sara Beck, if you’re not feeling, err, nasty) is both deeply approachable but bizarre at its core - like a really sophisticated poop joke, maybe, or a night of fine dining and drinking that nonetheless ends up with your hovering over the toilet. The third Pink Nasty record (out earlier this summer) is self-titled, and further explores the strangeness and sweetly satisfying hooks the Kansas-bred but Austin-based singer/songwriter gave listeners on her last record, Mold the Gold. With Austinist photographer Chad Wadsworth, we sat down with Beck in the impeccably clean kitchen of her Hyde Park home to talk about her album and other much less relevant subjects.
What have you been up to since your last album?
Beck: Well, it just came out, so, it’s been like forty days. I guess I should get back to work.
I meant the one before that.
Beck: Oh, Mold the Gold?
That came out, and then you were playing a lot of shows by yourself…
Beck: I play with myself…
…but now you have a new record out and a whole band again, right?
Beck: Mm Hmm. I haven’t been doing much. Just hanging out, in this house…with you guys. I’ve just been working on songs for the one I just did. It’s called Pink Nasty.
When I got the record, the name it had on there was You Make Me Mad. Was that the original title?
Beck: Yeah, that was the working title. The other cat, the black one? His name is Dubby. He’s pretty clumsy and he’s pretty stupid, and my brother and I would say, “Dubby, you make me so mad!” (in screechy, Cyndi Lauper-type voice). And then we thought “You Make Me Mad” would make a cute title, but I don’t know what happened. He quit making us mad.
A self-titled record…that’s a statement of purpose, a little bit. “That’s me.”
Beck: If you self-title it, it could be the very first record you did, or the second, so I’m trying to make Mule School - the one I did first - my latest album. And the Pink Nasty one can be my first one…so things got worse. I don’t think you’ve heard that one.
No.
Beck: Good.
You’re not thrilled about Mule School?
Beck: It’s okay. I was younger; it was like 2004. Different time.
Did your brother [musician Black Nasty] produce this record?
Beck: Sure. He likes to think that (sarcastically). So…I guess he did. He worked really hard on it, actually. He helped out a lot. (pause) He’s good at that. He’s helped with all three records.
And you, in turn, help him with the rap stuff he does.
Beck: I play bass in his live band, and I recorded his first record with him, AIDS Can’t Stop Me. And I played all of the instruments. Since then he’s found better musicians to work with, and I’ve kind of been shooed out.
Oh really? But you still play bass with him live?
Beck: Yeah…we’re playing Fun Fun Fest, I think. [12:55 at the Blue Stage, Sunday, November 7 - Ed.]
[long discussion of cats, relationships commences]
Chad Wadsworth: I really think as far as males are concerned, the best we can really hope for is to be tolerated by a female. Really - you start out with the best of intentions with relationships, and at the end it’s like, “Can she tolerate me?”
We have a lot more to lose, I think. More to…reveal, in a bad way.
Beck: I don’t know. Girls are gross.
You think so?
Beck: Yeah. We get fat if you date us too long, (laughs) and if you break up with us we have to lose all the weight again. It’s horrible. You know how in the beginning of the relationship girls are always like, “Yeah it’s cool, go out with your friends, go to a bar, do whatever you want…” and then you date a little bit longer, and it’s like “I don’t know about that…” and then you date a little bit longer and you can’t do anything.
Wadsworth: You’re on lock-down, brother.
Beck: Maybe that’s not true…I’ve seen it on TV.
Wadsworth: My ten-year anniversary with my wife is coming up. She just doesn’t care. “Oh, I’m going to Pink Nasty’s house.” “Oh, okay!” She doesn’t know who Pink Nasty is. You could be a porn star.
With that name…
Beck: I basically am. I basically am.
You’re pretty excited about this new album…
Beck: Do I look excited?
You don’t look too excited right now, but when I called you…
Beck: Oh, I had just had a Diet Coke.
Wadsworth: (referring to Beck’s two drinks) What’s the technique here?
Beck: I’m double-fisting a Diet Coke and mineral water (to cleanse the palate). And I’m chewing a piece of gum.
That’s a lot going on. And you haven’t slept yet.
Beck: No, we went to see Pavement up in Kansas City. We drove, and it probably took us thirteen hours. We left Kansas City around ten, and got home around one. I couldn’t even see that well - I felt bad, I had two bodies in the car, and I thought I was going to re-kill them or something. I couldn’t see. It was horrible.
You don’t play live as often as you used to…
Beck: Oh, really?
Is that not true?
Beck: I didn’t know that. I thought I played a lot, but I guess not. Because my grandma’s always like, “Are you playing this weekend? Are you playing every week?” And I’m like, “No, just like once a month, grandma." I don’t want the people of Austin to get burned out. I don’t want the five people who come see me play to get sick of the songs.
Wadsworth: You’ve got to keep playing until I show up.
Beck: That’s not going to happen.
Wadsworth: How do you feel about…
Beck: …and you want me to get in the tub?
Wadsworth: How do you feel about early Liz Phair?
Beck: How do you feel about my dad beating you up?
[and later…]
Beck: You have your name on your watch?
Wadsworth: Isn’t that awesome?
Beck: …that’s so dorky!
Wadsworth: It’s in case I get drunk or I hurt my head and forget who I am.
Beck: “I…AM…CHAD…” Is that a rape alarm on there?
Wadsworth: Listen to me…
Beck: Oh, it is!
[later still…]
Beck: I always make people I sit next to on airplanes hold my hand because I’m afraid to fly. It’s getting a little pathetic because I’m 28, and they’re just like, “You’re creepy,” and I’m like, “Hold my fucking hand, I’m scared. The plane is going to crash, even though [the flight] is twenty-nine minutes long.” It’s weird…do you guys do stuff like that?
