When we reported that Chad VanGaalen's fourth LP, Diaper Island, was due this month, we had a bit of a larf, as we imagine you did, over seemingly irreverent song names like "Shave My Pussy" and the album title itself. As it turns out, there's a lot more to those titles than meets the eye, as VanGaalen explains that both reflect his disdain for North American consumerism and superficiality.
"It's kind of a metaphor for life. It could have been garbage island; I feel like it's the quintessential metaphor for North American life, like 'Hey, I'm just going to put this in a plastic bag and then give it to somebody to throw away,'" VanGaalen tells Exclaim! of album title Diaper Island. "The weird thing is, we're not staring directly at the garbage unless there's a garbage strike. I feel like it's this abstract place: 'Where does that stuff go?' 'It goes to Diaper Island.'"
He continues: "Put it on a barge, float it out to somewhere where the people are so poor -- they'll sift through our waste. We're definitely going to crash into it one of these days, and get a noseful of our own shit."
As it turns out, the lyrics to "Shave My Pussy" are equally meaningful. When asked about the song's lyrics, VanGaalen maintains they are about superficiality.
The track -- featuring the chorus "Maybe if I shave my pussy / Then you'll love me / Baby will you love me? / I'm really feeling ugly" -- "was just me, waiting in a grocery story lineup feeling disgusted and insanely depressed, listening to Celine Dion and watching this woman struggle with life amidst the tabloids and collagen-injections, and photography around her, just wanting people to chill the fuck out," according to VanGaalen.
"It's this sad realization that you can maybe transform yourself somehow, and then fit yourself into some sort of box, so that you can work within that. Think about how crazy and abstract it all is, and how we move through it without thinking, like, 'Yeah! Seedless watermelon, fuckin' A, man! Why's there need to be seeds, right? They're annoying!'"
So VanGaalan is frustrated by First World problems, then? "Exactly," he says.
Diaper Island is out now via Flemish Eye in Canada and Sub Pop in the U.S. Read a review and interview here.
"It's kind of a metaphor for life. It could have been garbage island; I feel like it's the quintessential metaphor for North American life, like 'Hey, I'm just going to put this in a plastic bag and then give it to somebody to throw away,'" VanGaalen tells Exclaim! of album title Diaper Island. "The weird thing is, we're not staring directly at the garbage unless there's a garbage strike. I feel like it's this abstract place: 'Where does that stuff go?' 'It goes to Diaper Island.'"
He continues: "Put it on a barge, float it out to somewhere where the people are so poor -- they'll sift through our waste. We're definitely going to crash into it one of these days, and get a noseful of our own shit."
As it turns out, the lyrics to "Shave My Pussy" are equally meaningful. When asked about the song's lyrics, VanGaalen maintains they are about superficiality.
The track -- featuring the chorus "Maybe if I shave my pussy / Then you'll love me / Baby will you love me? / I'm really feeling ugly" -- "was just me, waiting in a grocery story lineup feeling disgusted and insanely depressed, listening to Celine Dion and watching this woman struggle with life amidst the tabloids and collagen-injections, and photography around her, just wanting people to chill the fuck out," according to VanGaalen.
"It's this sad realization that you can maybe transform yourself somehow, and then fit yourself into some sort of box, so that you can work within that. Think about how crazy and abstract it all is, and how we move through it without thinking, like, 'Yeah! Seedless watermelon, fuckin' A, man! Why's there need to be seeds, right? They're annoying!'"
So VanGaalan is frustrated by First World problems, then? "Exactly," he says.
Diaper Island is out now via Flemish Eye in Canada and Sub Pop in the U.S. Read a review and interview here.
