{"id":379,"date":"2008-10-22T14:35:43","date_gmt":"2008-10-22T14:35:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wonderlandmagazine.com\/beta\/?p=379"},"modified":"2011-07-20T16:00:27","modified_gmt":"2011-07-20T16:00:27","slug":"mgmt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wonderlandmagazine.com\/2008\/10\/22\/mgmt\/","title":{"rendered":"MGMT"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Singer and guitarist Andrew VanWyngarden is an excitable puppy in human form. Bearded keyboard-player Ben Goldwasser is reserved. Sardonic, even. Together they are MGMT, pronounced \u2018management\u2019. The 25-year-olds met in 2002 on the campus of Wesleyan University in Connecticut. United by a love of mysticism, psyche-rock and Technicolor, they plugged in some computers, threw on some fluorescent tunics and started making \u201cstrange music to confuse people\u201d at college shows \u2013 one of which involved a 45-minute instrumental reworking of the<\/em> Ghostbusters theme. Now signed to Columbia and headlining tours, MGMT\u2019s anthemic power-pop is beginning to hit the big time. Happily the Brooklyn-based duo are showing no obvious signs of taking themselves seriously.<\/p>\n Andrew VanWyngarden:<\/strong> Bob Dylan is good as anti-groggy music. I don\u2019t like to listen to anything too energetic first thing.<\/p>\n Ben Goldwasser: <\/strong>I listen to Funkadelic\u2019s Maggot Brain album. The first song\u2019s not good for getting fired up to, but the rest of it is.<\/p>\n What music was playing in the house when you were kids?<\/strong><\/p>\n AVW:<\/strong> I listened to the stuff my sister was into. Pearl Jam, The Grateful Dead, Spiritualized, Smashing Pumpkins. I heard a lot of classic rock through my parents \u2013 Neil Young and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young\u2026 all that big stuff.<\/p>\n BG:<\/strong> Progressive rock like King Crimson and a little bit of Yes. Some jazz, like Charles Mingus. BG:<\/strong> When I was really young I was listening to Talking Heads\u2026<\/p>\n AVW: <\/strong>Talking Heads is great for kids.<\/p>\n BG:<\/strong> So is The Incredible String Band.<\/p>\n If you could teach the world to sing, what would you teach them?<\/strong><\/p>\n AVW:<\/strong> I think about this a lot. I have this weird dictator fetish. I\u2019d like to take a group of a hundred 50 to 75 year olds and trap them in a gymnasium until they learn every lyric to a Jay-Z album. I\u2019d have to be really mean \u2013 like starve them. I like Jay-Z but it wouldn\u2019t be pleasant for septuagenarians.<\/p>\n BG:<\/strong> Remember we saw that show on MTV where they were teaching a choir of old people to sing “Welcome To The Jungle”?<\/p>\n AVW: <\/strong>That was kind of similar\u2026 but it wasn\u2019t a torture thing. They were taking it pretty well.<\/p>\n Where would you be without music?<\/strong><\/p>\n BG:<\/strong> I\u2019d be living in the woods somewhere. Going feral.<\/p>\n AVW:<\/strong> I\u2019d be a Marine Biologist. That\u2019s what I wanted to be when I was a kid. It\u2019s still the coolest job. I\u2019d live by the ocean just researching squid or something. With a decent-looking wife and dog.<\/p>\n BG:<\/strong> You\u2019d be like that guy we saw on TV who was teaching seals how to paint at Colchester Zoo.<\/p>\n AVW:<\/strong> It\u2019d be awesome to teach some seals to play in the band.<\/p>\n BG:<\/strong> Dogs would be cool.<\/p>\n AVW: <\/strong>There was a Swedish prog-rock group from the late 60s who had a dog in the band. I don\u2019t know what instrument he played.<\/p>\n Photography: Ben Rayner A full version of this article first appeared in<\/em> Wonderland #15, October\/November, 2008<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Singer and guitarist Andrew VanWyngarden is an excitable puppy in human form. Bearded keyboard-player Ben Goldwasser is reserved. Sardonic, even. Together they are MGMT, pronounced \u2018management\u2019. The 25-year-olds met in 2002 on the campus of Wesleyan University in Connecticut. United by a love of mysticism, psyche-rock and Technicolor, they plugged in some computers, threw on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":382,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9419],"tags":[110,53,111,124,50,112,123],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nWhat do you listen to in the morning?<\/strong><\/p>\n
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\nAVW:<\/strong> You make it sound like you were six years old and listening to Charles Mingus!<\/p>\n
\nWords: Ben Cobb<\/p>\n