I wanted to first talk a little bit about your old day job as an engineer. Was there a certain moment or event that triggered something in your brain to just say, "Forget it, I'll just do music for the rest of my life?"

It was definitely very slow, it was just kind of handed to me. I mean, I've always been into music, like a band in high school. It was always the type of thing that was obscure enough that there was never any goal to make money off it. So, that's kind of how I understood being in a band. The Girl Talk project it had existed for six years and basically I was playing small shows and putting out albums, which was cool without being very successful at it. In the summer of 2006, my third album came out and it started to take off and the shows grew bigger and I started selling out shows for the first time. And it just got to the point where the last year of my job, I played close to 100 shows that year, so it was just like shows every single weekend. In 2007, I used up all of my 10 vacation days by March and I had, like, a shrillion plans for the end of the year and some European shows. I just had shows booked far enough in advance where it was like, "I know I can live off of this for at least a year. I need to do something, I need to quit music or quit the job." So, the obvious answer was just to quit the engineering job. It took me a long time to just come to ... [pause] ... I mean, I knew I could live off it but it took me a long time to, like, mentally grasp the fact that I was actually living off music.

So was that a challenge for you to grasp that concept?

Yeah, it was just something so different than the way I understood the project of Girl Talk. Even when the shows were selling out and I was making money, I understood that; but at the same time, it was like, "This still can't be my career." My whole life I just understood music as something I would do in my free time and I was gonna go to school and do something else as a profession. So when those plans were kind of flipped, it was very cool and exciting but it was weird and hard for me to come to that realization.

So it's 2008 now and you're getting a lot more popular. Is it getting easier for you to accept that this is your livelihood now?

Yeah, I think once I actually quit and did the shows for a living, it was very easy to fade into it. I thought I would have a bit more vacation time or relaxation time but I just keep up with the music angle and since I quit the job, I've played a lot more shows. It's something now where I understand I'm living off it and it's fantastic and it's a dream come true but simultaneously I don't feel like I have a job still. I just feel like I have to be doing this thing I love and it's something I've always been doing and somehow bills get paid, somehow a check gets laid in my hand at the end of the night. So it's something I really don't think about in career terms, I would be cool whether it was making money or not.

When did you first become interested in music production and remixing and, basically music technology in general?

When I was like, 15, I discovered college radio in Pittsburgh and through that discovered a lot of underground music. It was the first time I started to hear experimental, electronic music and it became interesting to me. I was always excited about the potential of musicians who aren't traditionally trained in anything, just making it happen. And that was kind of the world of weird, experimental music to me. Then as soon as I heard that stuff and I heard, like, noise and straight up just crazy electronic stuff, I decided to start a band so I started fiddling around and got some friends together and we were just messing around with synthesizers and children's toys and started playing shows and getting crazy with it. Back then, it was kind of baby steps with getting involved with sample based productions, just working with like skipping CDs and very off-the-wall stuff and that was what I was really into in high school and the band did pretty well, but that was definitely the introduction to this style of music. I got a laptop in the year 2000 to go to college and started the Girl Talk project with the idea of being entirely based around reworking top 40 music.

What college did you go to?

I went to Case Western in Cleveland, Ohio.

Was there an audio engineering or music technology program at your school?

Yeah, one of my best friends did audio engineering and he's actually ... He does a variety of things. He's mastered all of my albums and he also, oftentimes, comes on tour with me and he's my official sound guy.

How do you feel knowing that you might be leading kids who are hearing your records and go, "Whoa, this is cool, I want to get into this" and start fiddling around with music production?

Right, I think it's great. I think getting into music behind any motivation, like if you wanna fiddle around and have fun with it, that's cool, or if you can make a profession out of it, that's cool. For me, it's just become such an important part of my life, most of my friends are involved in it, you know I'm just surrounded by musicians and people involved with music. When I was young I saw certain bands play that lead me down the path I'm at now, so to be a part of that history or lineage with anyone else, gets me totally psyched.

I recently saw your "I'm a PC" ad with Microsoft. How did that opportunity come about?

They just reached out, ya know, I had some other sponsorship opportunities in the past and none of them really seemed that fitting. I mean, I'm open to the idea of doing that with anyone but the others just seemed bit weird and it's something where ... [pause] ... the programs I use have always been PC-based and the program I use to perform live, which is called Audiomulch, is PC only right now. So, something that people made a big deal about over the years is people noticing I'm using a PC instead of a Mac which is not typically the case in the art/music field. So, they reached out and I thought it was fitting since it has been an issue in the past and, for me, it was just kind of funny, ya know what I mean? Where everything exists right now is a big surprise to me in the fact that I got this big that, to be potentially be featured on TV in an actual advertisement, is just hilarious. So that's basically why I did it. I was psyched that they reached out but also just excited at the possibility for my parents to see my face on TV.

You said there were some weird sponsorship opportunities presented to you?

I don't want to drop any names because then it would [laughs] be like telling you that I didn't do their thing. But I've had a couple different shoe companies, sunglasses, things like that. I wouldn't say weird, just surprising because of where the sponsor came from that anyone would want to do that. But in the past people have been worried to be affiliated with me just based on the copyright stuff. Microsoft was just completely cool with the renegade style of this project and the way it's been perceived publicly and they weren't worried about that or approaching me. That was cool.

When you released Feed the Animals, you not only let people set their own price but you also gave a list of reasons for people to choose from if they decided to pay nothing. I'm wondering what was the motivation behind that?

It was definitely Illegal Art's idea. They passed it by me and I thought it was funny. We're a pretty DIY operation and when you pay for yourself, there's no market goal, we're not expecting any number of downloads or money, it's more or less just a social experiment and that's where we were both kind of at with it. So, we wanted to throw that out there because it was a novel idea for us and I know people have done it prior to us. Just as far as doing it, it was exciting to be a part of this new idea, so we wanted to implement that and get feedback and just get a gauge of why people weren't paying, not that either of us thought there was anything wrong with that we just wanted to get an idea of where people were at and understand people's reasoning behind any decision of paying $10 or zero dollars or whatever.

So do you have all the data from that experiment calculated yet?

I don't have the stats in front of me and I haven't seen them in a while because they're always coming in, but I know in the first few weeks the primary response for the reason for not paying was one of two. It was "I don't have the money right now" or "I'm going to pay later," which I think both of those answers are valuable and I'm sure they're serious for some people. But it's funny because those also seem like the most kind of bullshit answers that people are trying to clear their conscience with and be cool with it. Not that I think there's anything wrong with that, it just seems like ... I think a lot of people who put down "I'll pay later" are probably lying and the "I don't have money" ones are probably lying, too. Again, not that there's anything wrong with that, I just thought it was an interesting side note.

I've read in various interviews that you cite fair use as your defense against people who say that you could be sued for what you do-

Yeah.

But have any artists you've sampled in you work ever kicked up a fuss or have any of them reached you personally and commended you for your work?

Yeah, I've never had problems thus far, but we have had some people reach out to say what's up. I've had recently one of the ladies from Yo Majesty who I sampled on my last album reach out to me via MySpace to say what's up and that she liked my album and eventually wanted to collaborate in the future. I heard from Sophie B. Hawkins' manager, who was talking about a collaboration as well. I heard from a songwriter for the guy Donnie Iris, who's a Pittsburgh-based artist who I've sampled a couple times. Big Boi from OutKast came out to a show of mine in Atlanta and hung out after the show to catch up a little bit. He told me he'd seen a show of mine in Las Vegas before and was familiar with what I do and he was down with it. I met Thurston Moore from Sonic Youth one time who was I explained to him what I do and he got see me perform but he was unfamiliar with it prior to that. I told him I've released albums with samples of his band on it and he was theoretically cool with it without even hearing it. So, yeah, there's been a handful of run-ins with people and in every case they've been really open-minded to it.

Being in this line of work, have you kind of found yourself becoming an expert of sorts in 1st Amendment and copyright law?

[laughs] A bit, I don't know if I'd call myself an expert, but definitely more well versed in it. Ya know when I got started in this style of music, I was definitely influenced by people like Negativland and John Oswald who have had issues with copyright prior to then and I understood their side of the argument and where they were coming from. But when I started doing this style of music, it definitely wasn't really on my mind. And slowly, I had a general idea that I believe you can make transformative music out of samples and it's as valuable as any form of music and that's just where I stood. And over the years, just from doing interviews and meeting various people involved with the music industry and the law industry, just found myself becoming a lot more interested in it and surrounded by it. Even through the course of being interviewed so many times and looking into it and saying my ideas out loud and kind of just getting them formulated in very specific ways I feel like, ya know, definitely a lot more educated on the issue than even five years ago.

Have you heard about this whole Coldplay, Joe Satriani controversy? (Joe Satriani is suing Coldplay for lifting a melody from his song "If I Could Fly" and using it in "Viva La Vida")

Yeah, yeah, I just saw the Youtube where they, like, compare the two and then overlap them. I thought it sounded great, I was actually just jamming that melody in my head. The combination, I thought too, sounded hilarious and awesome.

What do you think? Do you think Coldplay is screwed?

Um, I don't know, ya know, I don't know what their defense is going to be. I believe that ... [pause] ... I think if they were really smart they could probably go through the history of music and find various examples of that exact chord progression and variations of it, just like any music, ya know, the rhythm and- Any music you're going to be able to find something similar. Rhythmically it sounds so on point, ya know what I mean? It sounds so similar, but I think you can always make the argument that you can take an element of someone else's music and then build upon that and make something new that's not really creating competition for the source material. It's kind of doing something new with it. And especially with guitar-based music and doing pop, again, I think if their lawyers are on top of it, they would just go through the history of music and they could probably find something with a very similar chord progression. That's where music progress, you know? I don't really believe in the idea of someone really biting or ripping someone off. I think you can just do something new with it, ya know, like an extension of sampling.

You're from Pittsburgh which is around 3 hours from State College, PA. I was wondering have you ever been around these parts before?

When I was young, my sister looked at the school -- she's four years older than me -- so I rolled up there then but other than that, I've never been up there which is kind of surprising, just because I have some friends who went there as well as my brother-in-law and my cousin went to Penn State. It's definitely in the family.

I'm not sure if you know about the details of the show on Thursday but the organizers for this show are an organization of students called SOMA, who basically organize shows and any events that are related to art, like open mics and stuff like that. You've also obviously played colleges before where the main organizers are probably students, as well. My question is how does it feel to know that college kids who, some aren't even old enough to go to a bar and drink and who have finals just around the corner and are dealing with their future careers are working, like, to the bone to bring you to their campus?

I think it's fantastic. I have a very solid idea of where this can go. I've spent so many years playing shows to nobody and basically begging people to come out and having horrible show after horrible show, ya know, I've been around that a lot so when I get to play a college and the shows sell out and there's a lot of people putting in the effort to come out, you know, it always means a lot to me. Just because I definitely have a good idea of all sides of this basic thing, just how dark and crazy and shitty it can get, and also how awesome it can be. So yeah, it's definitely an honor.

You've made it necessary that fans be able to get on stage with you while you perform. Why is this such an important element for your shows?

It's just something that slowly evolved over the years, it was never an idea that came out one day. It was something where back in the day, I played many venues without stages where you were just automatically with the people and I played lots of house parties where I'd be out in the middle of the crowd. It's something where I always wanted to make a performance out of it and never really played with DJs or dance clubs, I've always played on the performance end of things as a live act. And with that I always want to present something that's entertaining to watch as well as be a part of. So going back to the early days up until the last shows, I always liked to get in the crowd, get people onstage, just get people involved. I'd like people to be able to watch it as a show but also I love to just break down that barrier and have people be apart of it. My favorite shows are when I go and I just feel like I'm a part of the show; I'm not watching it, I'm in it. So over the years when the popularity began to grow a little bit with the project, I would invite people onstage and maybe half the time it would go down. A lot of photos came out and Youtubes of people getting onstage and it just slowly evolved to be the etiquette. You know even without me making that decision, it just became the norm. It spread so much that now regardless of where I go, whether it be Penn State or Australia or Europe or whatever, when I play I think people are kind of expecting that aspect. Almost like you go to a punk rock show and you know there's going to be moshing or you go to a dance club you know there's gonna be dancing. So, yeah, at this point I like to make that possible. I'm comfortable on stage alone and I've played that many times but with the shows a lot of people like to be involved and I like to get them involved. I like to make it a celebration and a party; I want to be a part of that rather be conducting it.

Now that you're more and more popular, do you worry about people who might copy your style or would you maybe be intrigued by that sort of challenge?

I'm pretty excited about that. When I started out I felt like I was copying some people's style, maybe not even copying, just being heavily influenced. I know with my first record and some of my early material it was definitely heavily influenced by the work of Kid606 and a lot of stuff released on his label, Tigerbeat6 and that was my early inspiration. That went on to evolve and just take it somewhere else so, yeah, I'm excited for anyone to, ya know, bite my style or take it somewhere else or do anything with it. I don't really view this as any sort of competition. I'm excited for some 12-year-old to come out and wipe me off the map and make a great album.

I've noticed that your earlier work seems to be more glitchy as opposed to now where it seems to be a bit more accessible. Was that a conscious effort for you or was it a natural evolution?

I think it was definitely natural. When I made my first record I was 18 or 19 and I'm 27 now. So I'm not saying one style is more mature or right or wrong, but I think just my general interest in music has changed. I think in the early days, the initial goal of the music was to make experimental music out of pop and that's what I was mainly into. I was into a lot of very avant garde, far out stuff and over of the years I just slowly grew more obsessed with it to the point where I wanted to make pop out of pop. So, yeah, I think it's partially that I got a little better with the tools and I think the music is a little better but also my interest in music and what I listen to now versus eight years ago is very different and I think that's just a reflection of what I'm making.

During your live shows do you make an effort to play songs off of your albums or are you constantly making new mash-ups to play live?

It's kind of a constantly changing thing. The way I do the sets is I never really "play" a song, it's all live sample triggering, so even if you're hearing elements from an album, the execution of it might be different from the album. And with the show I like to do re-interpretations. Like, with the past two albums, I'm sure people are fairly familiar with them, so I like to take elements from those albums and do remixes of those remixes. Take a vocal line people are familiar with from my album and add a new beat or new music to it or even mash-up elements from both of the albums together. We're constantly working on new stuff and anytime I have a new idea that works well, I'll introduce it and I would just go back to what I do. It's a constantly evolving piece of music and the live show is just a big chunk of music that changes up every weekend. It's never really the same and I do my best to play some elements as straight up as possible from the album just because I know people wanna hear that, but I think that's definitely a minimal aspect of the show. I think in general what I play is mostly new interpretations of old material and just straight up new stuff.

So, when you release an album are you trying to make a statement or accomplish something that you might not be able to accomplish at a show?

Yeah, definitely. For me, the album and the shows influence each other, but they're definitely different worlds. With an album, I wanna, like any musician, make the best album I can. Ideally I would make something that could last over time, something where people can sit down and potentially party with their friends to but also just listen to on their headphones. I think because of that, that's why I'm so meticulous and specific. I don't really need them to be functional. I don't necessarily need to them to be a dance album or a party album. The ultimate goal is to just make an album that people can enjoy on a musical level whereas, I think the shows are a bit more functional and, with the sample triggering, it's more loose. It's more about the celebration and partying and not about sitting down and trying to process this album and having an impact on you while you're sitting there. I think it's just different applications of similar techniques.

What are your future plans? Have you ever considered something besides mash-ups?

Yeah, at this point I don't know. I feel like with sample-based music you can go a variety of directions. I definitely think the first record and even the second one, I wouldn't consider mash-up records. When you're doing stuff with samples, it's as versatile as any instrument if not more so. I think you can make an experimental record or a hip-hop record or a rock record or a punk record or whatever, out of samples. So, at this point, I never really have long term goals with the project, I kind of always just work on small little elements, try to incorporate this and see where that goes. So that's where I'm at now, I finished up my last album a few months ago so I'm constantly working on stuff but no real goal with it. I imagine music will eventually develop and change to where it sounds nothing like it does now but I will most likely stick with the sample medium.

How do you respond to critics of this whole genre of mash-up artists?

I think any form of music is based on influence and everything comes from something and everything is derivative of something. For me, I've never even considered myself a DJ in the traditional sense. Not that there's anything right or wrong with DJ'ing, there's a value in both things, it's just...For me, I want to make music that references the past and you can hear that in the samples, but is transformative enough that it becomes a new entity. And I think that's the goal of any musician whether you're doing classical music or reggae or whatever, it's all about taking these preexisting ideas and re-contextualizing them and hopefully putting them in a new light enough so that they seem original and new. I think that's a foundation of all art and music.

This is my last question for you and hopefully it's pretty simple, but I was wondering what are your top albums of 2008?

Oh, man! I don't even ... Can I hit you up on e-mail on that? I can't do it off the top of my head.

Oh, yeah, of course.

Actually, can I just give you a handful of ones that I like instead of 10?

Totally, man.

I really like the Lil Wayne album, the Beyoncé album, the Killer Mike album, the Bun B album, the Of Montreal album, the MGMT album ... uh ... the new Grand Buffet album, I'm a big fan of ... uh ... let me think, what else did I like? Hm, I really like the new Squarepusher album, um, yeah. Those are my favs, I guess.

Have you checked out the Fuck Buttons album?

Oh, I do like the Fuck Buttons' album, absolutely. I haven't heard the full album though. I know before that album came out, I heard a bit of their stuff but I'm a big fan of their style.

Yeah, I always knew about noise music but I never really found any I enjoyed, but then I heard them and made me look at noise music totally differently.

Yeah, they do a good job of appropriating that noise style and placing it in a kind of rock-based format. I think my favorite, in a similar vein but very different style, is Wolf Eyes who do noise but very rock and roll based. It's dark and crazy but also something you can bob your head to.