05. Gary Wilson

Home-recording legend Gary Wilson has been making music since the 1960s and is more active than ever today, releasing music through cutting edge indie labels like Feeding Tube, Forced Exposure, and Cleopatra Records. His music rides the fence that lies between lounge act and the avant-garde; fun to listen to and difficult to describe. He had made a handful of otherworldly albums in the 1970s and early 80s while living in Endicott, NY only to vanish into the ether until some fans tracked him down in San Diego in the early '00s playing lounge gigs and working at an adult video store. They decided to make a documentary about him. Speaking on the phone to Gary, guest panelists Leala, Tim, Susan and I pull back the curtain and dive into his mind, a place from which one can never return. He tells us all about his first band Lord Fuzz, his affinity for both the pop vocalist Dion and 20th century composer John Cage, recording at Bearsville Studios in the 1970s, his pet duck, being referenced in Beck's "Where It's At" ("Like my man Gary Wilson, I rock the most"), his "resurrection" that followed the release of the early 2000s documentary "You Think You Really Know Me," performance art, and his 2019 album "The King of Endicott." This is an updated radio edit of the interview. To hear the original (longer) edit which features a preliminary panel discussion, scroll down to the recommendations.

Recommendations:

This is "The King of Endicott," which Gary was promoting during this interview. Two albums have been released since then.

Gary's first full-length solo record, "You Think You Really Know Me" (1979) kicks off with a moody sci-fi soundtrack then jumps into high-energy, funky basement pop with forays into John Cage-inspired tape music. You can purchase a copy from Forced Exposure. Click the photo below.

Here's a video using 70s archived footage for that album's classic "6.4=Make Out"

This is from the beginning of his "resurrection period", 2004's "Gary's in the Park."

And here is the original party edit of this episode, with a full panel discussion before the interview.