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J. Tillman currently rocking dunce cap, somewhat aware of the problem

by Vijith Assar
music-jtillmanWhat you talkin’ ’bout, Tillman?
PHOTO BY KYLE JOHNSON

Shortly after this week’s interview with Fleet Foxes drummer J. Tillman went live on our web site on Monday, the Seattle songwriter posted an amusing blog entry on MySpace expressing extreme displeasure with the doofy persona he put across in the article. Quoted here in full, since these things have a tendency to disappear:

A Word Concerning Interviews

While I realize that addressing this makes it obvious that I have been reading my own interviews, I am willing to divulge that particular piece of embarrassing information in order to ask of you: please do not read any interviews that I have conducted in the past however many months. When I read the words of the version of myself presented in interviews, I want to strangle his stupid cliche-beard neck. The liberties taken by journalists (aka college students, interns, illiterates) defy reality as I know it. Case in point: “In three years when all this folk shit is over, I’ll still be rocking the beard.” [The Hook] The use of the word “rocking” as a synonym for “wearing” makes me want to vomit, and I go to great lengths to never speak with anyone who talks that way.

I don’t really know what the best way to go about doing interviews is quite yet, but until then, please ignore any press about me and please don’t come to my shows or buy my records.

Smooches!
JT
2:13am on Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Reality as this particular beard-rocking rocker knows it would seem to include statements made on the record during a scheduled interview being discarded by the press in service of his public image; that’s not a newspaper, it’s a publicity firm. But he has one of those too, and since his complaints against the writer here are too vague to be of much use — not too surprising given that with the rest he’s essentially complaining about his own inability to communicate — we contacted Tell All your Friends PR to ask what on earth he was talking about. Their helpful response, also quoted in full: “Don’t ask.”

On a related note, we were caught a little off guard by the news that folk music will be dead in just three years, presumably because everything else will also be destroyed due to the end of the Mayan calendar. Meanwhile, please remember that you can pass the time by reading the doofy interview he so hates here, and also that the best bit of Tillman-related commentary on our site between now and Sunday night will win a free pair of tickets to his November 19 show at the UVA chapel.

  • paul November 11th, 2009 | 6:16pm

    I always wondered if that band was put together by some executives who one day decided “My Morning Jacket meets N Sync! We’ll make a killin!”

  • not paul November 14th, 2009 | 7:27am

    Paul. Really? Are you that bitter? The FF are great and you know it… Don’t be so boring. No one likes a “they-suck-because-they’re-popular” type of dude. And they don’t even sound like MMJ if you’re versed in either artist. Robin certainly shares some vocal similarities with Jim, but in no way is it a copy. Robin also stated he barely knew MMJ’s music.

    Why be bitter over success? It’s like Coldplay for me… not my favorite by a long shot, but they are certainly good.

  • Vijith Assar November 14th, 2009 | 8:26pm

    So Josh has deleted the blog entry, replacing it with the phrase “Dissonance realized,” and wrote in to make nice and apologize. No hard feelings, my man. Smooches!

  • [...] yeah, even though Fleet Fox J. Tillman and his indie-rock whiskers were this whole big thing when he played at the UVA Chapel a while back, the truth is that gentle folk balladeer Sam Beam is [...]

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  • [...] we’ll archive it here for posterity since as we’ve seen before these things sometimes disappear. FLAME WAR ON FOR COMPARATIVE ANATOMY After what was easily the WORST show we have ever played, [...]

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