Nardwuar celebrates 30 years on-air at CiTR with marathon radio broadcast (from Thursday, Sept. 21, 9 p.m. to Friday, Sept. 22, 5 p.m.) followed by all-ages gig on Saturday, Sept. 23, 7:01 p.m. at The Hall (1739 Venables St.) with The Evaporators and Owl Empire. Tickets: $10 at nardwuar.com or at Red Cat, Zulu, Neptoon and Beatstreet Records.
Nardwuar the Human Serviette starts his interviews with a direct question: “Who are you?” or “Tell us the name of your band,” he might ask. The interviews always end – if it manages to get that far – with a more obtuse sign-off: “Doot Doola Doot Doo …” To which the subject being interviewed responds with an enthusiastic (or not), “Doot Doo!”
For those unfamiliar with Nardwuar’s brand of personally tailored, in-your-face music journalism, his approach to interviewing some of the world’s biggest names might appear eccentric, goofy and at times, just plain strange.
While meeting for an interview at Tomahawk Barbecue in North Vancouver, Nardwuar’s favourite local joint, the West Vancouver native is dressed in a colourful getup those who know of him wouldn’t be surprised to see: red checkered pants accompanied by a bright, multi-patterned shirt and his signature tartan tam.
In conversation, he’s enthusiastic and generous – he talks at length about the Tomahawk, a restaurant he has been frequenting for decades.
“The first time I came here, a waitress said, ‘You are too little to eat this Skookum Chief hamburger.’ I was like, ‘OK, I will have two of them then,’” he explains.
When as a teenager in the 1980s Nardwuar started interviewing bands and booking them to play the North Shore, Tomahawk also played a starring role.
“The first interview I did was in high school at Hillside Secondary School on Sept. 26, 1985, in the drama room,” he says with encyclopedic energy. “I did bring a lot of bands to the Tomahawk when I put on gigs on the North Shore for them. For instance, the rock ’n’ roll bands Thee Headcoats, The Gruesomes, Girl Trouble. … Tons of bands.”
Besides Tomahawk, his other main passion extends to his love of UBC’s CiTR radio station, where he has hosted a weekly radio show since 1987.
This week, CiTR and Nardwuar are celebrating his 30th year in the biz by hosting a 20-hour radio marathon of his interviews from throughout the decades.
It’s not a stretch to say that Nardwuar, 49, has interviewed the best of them. From rockers Sonic Youth, Nirvana, and Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, to former U.S. President Gerald Ford, pornographer Ron Jeremy, actor Seth Rogen – the list goes on and on … and on.
Nardwuar is best known for thoroughly researching his interview subjects. He’ll bring up bits and pieces from their past – a favourite restaurant, an inspiring mentor, a piece of seemingly trivial information – that they had either forgotten, or those around them were unfamiliar with.
When Nardwuar interviewed Pharrell Williams in 2008, the Human Serviette’s poignant, personal questions prompted Pharrell to state, “Your research is second to none. Second to none … You’re either psychic or like, I don’t know.”
Pharrell drifts off – amazed, infatuated, slightly weirded out. Possibly a combination of all three.
Nardwuar will often bring physical items or gifts to give his interview subjects, such as old vinyl records, as a way to connect with their past.
“For instance, when I interviewed Snoop Dogg one time, my friend said that Snoop loves the band Zapp,” Nardwuar explains. “Zapp uses a talk box. … I knew my friend had a talk box, but it was like on the other side of town and I knew I was talking to Snoop Dogg the next day. I drove to get the talk box and then I showed it to Snoop. I knew that would be a lot better than me going, ‘What do you think of the talk box?’ Just show him the talk box.”
With Nardwuar, it’s about taking the extra step and digging a little deeper to truly form a connection with those he interviews.
Sometimes it’s as simple as cutting his hair. In 1997, Nardwuar momentarily gussied up his appearance in a successful attempt to sneak into the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference that was being attended by former Canadian prime minister Jean Chrétien.
When Nardwuar asked the prime minister if he supported the pepper spraying of protesters outside the conference, a slightly confused Chrétien responded with what became the iconic phrase, “For me, pepper, I put it on my plate.”
Looking back, Nardwuar says that brief interaction with Chrétien was particularly memorable.
“That was something that stood out because the mainstream media picked it up. Before they thought I was a laughing stock – but they still accredited me.”
Nardwuar will essentially interview anyone – as long as there’s interest to be had, and connections to be made.
He says, for example, that he loves talking to hip-hop artists or garage rockers because he can make connections with music’s past.
“There’s a lot of connections between older music. Hip-hop samples a lot of older music, so it’s kind of cool how it all comes together. There’s a theme,” he says.
It’s the drive to uncover an artist’s inspiration – and the parts that make up their sound – that propel him to keep asking question after question.
“There are tons of people to talk to. I think as long as I can keep doing interviews, I will keep doing them.”
In 2015, the music world held a collective breath after learning Nardwuar had suffered a stroke. And 16 years earlier, he had been put out of commission after a brain hemorrhage. “That was kind of scary, and when that happened I kind of retreated.”
But four months later, there he was interviewing James Brown, and back in 2015 he ended up interviewing indie rocker Ty Segall a week after his stroke.
For someone so wired to want to keep pushing forward, it’s ironic when Nardwuar says he’s afraid to take chances after being asked why he still lives on the North Shore after all these years.
“A lot of people will move away and then change completely what they are doing,” he says. “It’s kind of the same thing over and over and over again. … I keep the same formula. It’s the same formula for Chrétien, it’s the same formula for Pharrell. It’s the same formula for when I do my band, The Evaporators.”
It’s true that Nardwuar has remained consistent throughout the years, his presence a source of comfort for those seeking a truly original Canadian voice. It feels inaccurate, however, to hear him speak of a fear of taking chances.
He relays a story from 1987 when, as a history student at UBC, he did a project about the Lions Gate Bridge.
“All I did was go to the library and Xeroxed all this information about the Lions Gate Bridge and I did a video,” he says.
Nardwuar shares the footage from that video, stored safely on his cell phone. It’s evident that his enthusiastic, unconventional persona was already well-established 30 years ago.
There’s even a brief clip of Nardwuar interviewing one of the Lions Gate’s original workers, a man he tracked down who helped build the bridge back in the late 1930s.
As Nardwuar starts to ask the bridge worker a series of questions in his signature energetic fashion, it’s clear that taking extra steps and bold chances has always been part of his repertoire.
“You can do the story of the bridge – but you might as well talk to the bridge worker,” he says.
