Wanderlust is just 9 days away | Girl Talk Interview

It has been almost too long since Squaw Valley raged. Thankfully Wanderlust Festival takes place in Squaw Valley from July 28th through the 31st. A very unique yoga retreat / music festival that brings together many like minded yoga teachers as well as meditative teachers, Wanderlust will be an amazing weekend in the valley. With headliners like Michael Franti, Girl Talk, the Wailers and more this years festival is sure to draw crowds of fun from all around.

A contest has been announced to win backstage tickets to Girl Talk. All you have to do is come up with an all time mash-up of songs. For more info go to WanderlustFestival.com

Image by Tinywater

In a recent interview posted at WanderlustFestival.com, Greg Gillis (aka Girl Talk) discusses his interests in Yoga, eco-friendly living, music and other things.

You performed at our inaugural Wanderlust festival in 2009. We’re psyched to have you back this year! What’s your most fond memory from that experience?
I had a good time! The Fire and Ice Dinner was fantastic. I love doing festivals where I feel like a slight outsider in some way…when there’s not so much electronic music it’s always exciting, and a challenge. It was perfect on that level, where I felt I stood out, and the crowd was open minded enough to get it. It was really refreshing.

Awesome! So would you say that you are a yogi?
I wouldn’t say so. Theoretically I am into it, but I just haven’t gotten there. My tour manager does it a bit and so do some of my friends, but I haven’t quite ventured into it yet.

Maybe you can drop into a class this year! Nature is also a huge part of Wanderlust. Actually, your hometown, Pittsburgh, has more trees per capita than any other major city in the world! Do you feel any sort of close connection with nature?
Really? That’s interesting. I live right outside of the city and it can feel like you’re in the middle of a forest. I always loved that about Pittsburgh – it’s very nice hybrid. I was just talking about that with some friends recently. There are so many great parks, and it’s cool to take my dog out to run around. I grew up in the South Hills, where it’s more suburban. I consider myself more of a city person though; I don’t go hiking or do outdoorsy things really, but I definitely appreciate nature.

I understand while your music was starting to become popular, you were working full time as a biomedical engineer. What was it like balancing such a drastically different double life?
And how did you break the news to your boss when you eventually quit to focus on music?
Well there was definitely a big jump there. I had been making music since 2000, and started working that job in 2006. At the time, music was just a hobby for me. Doing shows was always just something fun; I put time and energy into it, but never considered it a job or career. When I got that job, I would do one show a month or so – not too far (from Pittsburgh); I’d play New York or Cincinnati, smaller shows that friends put on. It wasn’t a big deal at all.

Then in the summer of 2006, things started to pick up when I put out a record and people really took to it. People on the internet started to talk… Before I knew it I had a booking agent and my weekends started to fill up. And then there would be checks for me. When I started to get paid for these shows, it seemed like nothing to go out and play every weekend.