Won't you play me today?

Ty Segall was born and raised in Southern California, in a sunny, laid-back hippie town until Ty reached high school. He heard some mumblings of some classmates who were casted in a reality show, titled with the name of their hometown, Laguna Beach. After the show aired, his guitarist, Charlie Moothart said, who also grew up in the area, “Everybody wanted drama.” The romance of the tight-knit community had fled.​

The theme of nostalgia appears frequently in Ty Segall’s dreamy rock music. He sings of saying goodbye to the past in “Goodbye Bread”. His music is heavily influenced by 70’s rock ‘n’ roll and punk such as T. Rex and Iggy Pop. This year’s Hair, a collaboration with San Francisco’s White Fence, was also a recent product of the sounds of the past. The album is a delicious hazy 60’s inspired work, with lucid musical references to many psychedelic bands such as Magical Mystery Tour-era Beatles and grittier, quicker garage rock.

Ty Segall’s reminiscence may seem out of place in the electronic popular music of today. But Segall is well aware of this- “There are all these kids who are growing up on Skrillex and all this digital music. What are they gonna think when they hear rock ‘n’ roll?”

Read the Pitchfork cover story here.