Hopefully you've gotten your ticket to check out John Vanderslice at the Independent tonight as part of the Noise Pop festivities. If not.... get it now. To help remind you of why you fell in love Vanderslice (or maybe convert you if you don't already) we're re-running an interview he did with SFist a year and a half ago. Enjoy.

JOHN VANDERSLICE
with: Damien Jurado, The Submarines, Black Fiction
THE INDEPENDENT
7:30pm/8pm $14 21+

The best things in life really are free. Free shows at Amoeba fall into the category of one of the reasons that living in San Francisco is totally awesome. Tomorrow (Tues.) the day that John Vanderslice’s new album, The Pixel Revolt, is released, you can hear him perform a stripped down version of some of the songs at Amoeba. Busy though he is, what with the new album and all, John acquiesced to, and completed the SFist interview process more quickly than any other interview we’ve done. SFist also managed to get our greasy little hands on a promo copy of the Pixel revolt and have had it in rotation for the last month. The fact that some of the songs are about our beloved city just make it even ever so much awesome. Go buy the album!

Is in your music been inspired by San Francisco?
Oh yeah, there are three songs on my new record specifically about San Francisco: "New Zealand Pines" takes place in the Strybing Arboretum "Dead Slate Pacific" is about the Bay and "Golden Gate" wonders why we have the world's leading suicide location.

Best venue in the city?
Great American Music Hall, Bimbo's, Independent, Fillmore

Advice for other musicians here?
Oh man, the musicians I know here are pretty damn savvy. One thing I could say with certainty: musicians need to be a lot more involved and cynical about the recording process. Anything you can buy at Guitar Center probably sucks. There is a nefarious and all-powerful digital lobby that's pushing you to buy new, disposable recording equipment that's the aural equivalent of fast food.

What do you like best about the new album?
That the nine months Scott Solter and I spent making it are over! Touring on a record is the payoff pitch.
Picture by Peter Hughes