SCAD Radio: First question, what kind of music do you prefer to listen to in your classroom as opposed to in your free time?

Dove McHargue: Wow! That’s a good question. Well, I think what I picked up for the class is stuff that, obviously, I don’t detest so it’s similar stuff I might listen to outside of class, except, as you can maybe testify to this, but sometimes music is such a personal for people that, you know, it can start arguments, it can start crazy debates. In class, I used to, when I first started teaching, allow students to make suggestions and then I just stopped and if you hate it, you can just be mad at me. Hopefully a little cooler than elevator music, but it’s kind of that vibe where it’s just meant to be something that everybody can kind of agree that there’s sound happening and it’s not horrible and it’s fine.

Radio: There is sound happening.

McHargue: But I liked to hear music, most of the time, honestly, in my personal life too I tend to like female singers and I just always have, for some reason, like you know, like Aurora–I don’t know if you know Aurora. I mean a lot, I think a lot of people know her. It’s not too dissimilar from what I listened to.

That’s not true, let me rephrase that. When I was a little kid I always enjoyed Funk. I was a big Funk/R&B guy. And I don’t know why I went that way. It wasn’t like my parents were listening to Marvin Gaye and Prince all the time. What was hot on the radio was Earth, Wind, and Fire and Cool and the Gang and all these are like old Funk bands.

And I discovered Prince, and then it was game over from there, I was like THIS, THIS is the one artist that I most resonate with. So in my normal life I might listen to that stuff a little bit more, but I don’t listen to that necessarily in class.

Radio: And in that sense, growing up listening to the radio, do you have a preferred way to listen to music now?

McHargue: Well, fortunately or unfortunately, it’s just an iPod, or like your phone, just iTunes or whatever. I don’t have spotify. iTunes tends to be the way that I listen to music, but I do miss the ritual, sometimes, of putting in a CD or putting on a record. You know the intentional choice of ‘I’m going to put the needle right here and listen to the song’, or whatever. You know, nowadays music has kind of become almost like a filler and it’s not quite as important as it used to be. My son’s I have, I have three boys, they don’t really get into music the way I did when I was a kid. The pop figures in music were maybe a little bit more important because there weren’t video games like there are now. There weren’t all these other ways to be distracted so music was one of the main distractions in entertainment. For people born in the 70s like I was.

Radio: In the art Community, there have been a lot of professors, even at SCAD, who say that listening to music or a podcast or TV (in the background) can be a distraction from your art and it shouldn’t be practiced. What’s your opinion on that?

You get them us in this meditative state with the music going that I would not have gotten into without the music.

McHargue: I don’t know if I agree with that, I mean, I get the spirit of what they’re saying and I can’t imagine having a TV show or video and audio playing somewhere simultaneously because I would absolutely turn around and look. I would watch it, I would hear something even in the movie I’ve seen 1000 times and I would want to see it, so I would turn–I get distracted. And then you know I get into it, sit down, and then I’m watching this movie or TV show, but I definitely listen to spoken word. I listen to podcasts or people talking on the radio. Music too. I mean, when I was in Lacoste, I did a lot of painting in my little place where I was living, and I would put on this super chill beat. You get them us in this meditative state with the music going that I would not have gotten into without the music. So, I disagree with that. For me, personally I really need something. You’re probably like me because you’re a musician as well.

If there’s silence it’s a little maddening like I need some sound happening.

Radio: Yes, I totally agree with you.

You said that you listen to podcasts–what kind of podcasts do you listen to?

McHargue: Honestly, what I’ll the end up doing is dropping down into random podcast app suggestions, sometimes I will let those roll. I like a comedy show. I like listening to a stand up show because that’s something that most of the time you can absorb without seeing anything. Occasionally, there’s a sight gag but, for the most part, you can just listen to it without having to hear it. I also like educational podcasts. I occasionally listen to people who make props. People who will make like objects, I really enjoy making props and things. I like to listen to people talk about ways of finishing and painting and stuff like that. Really kind of boring stuff.

Radio: Would you say that your specific field of art has a music taste like a certain genre or feel to it?

McHargue: That’s a good question. You can attest to the wide variety of genre and style in comics you know. You know, I think it probably would go along with whatever music was hip or not hip at the time, like if you went to a mini comics thing, it’s kind of artsy. I would expect to see some Mumford and Sons kind of music, you know, or you go to like a standard comic Convention there’s probably some sort of  rock sounding music going out over the Convention. I think it just probably nods to the style of music that the fan who likes that particular thing would like. If you’re big Marvel fan there’s something about your personality that I could guess kind of what music you might like.

I don’t think it’s intricately linked and it was funny when I was a kid I was insist I was going to be a musician. Early on I liked music, I thought it would be cool to actually make soundtracks for some of my favorite comics. Like, Electric Assassin was the comics I liked a lot as a kid and it’s this kind of bizarre. I thought it would be cool if comics had soundtracks. Do you know Chynna Clugston? She did a book called Blue Monday and it’s really fascinating because when she was starting a new scene, she would actually write soundtrack suggestions, like, you know, ‘hit play on the Clash “London Calling” here’. Then you can flip a couple pages and it’d be like ‘hit play on The Cure’, you know, whatever so it kind of set the scene musically for her scenes in the book, which I thought was really cool.

Radio: You also make your own music. One which song is about the “Supraclavicular notch”.

McHargue: Yeah! This happy magical fairy village.

Radio: I practiced how to say it for a while before the interview.

McHargue: That’s hilarious. I did it actually because normally when people hear it [the song], it’s usually because I’m forcing them to listen to it, and I can kind of explain the ridiculousness of this like ren faire setting. Going into this Judas priest rock band fantasy kind of thing. So, hopefully that made sense to you. Did it make sense when you listened to it without me standing there telling it to you? 

Radio: It definitely has a very strong Renaissance faire vibe.

If you can bridge all of those together when you’re trying to learn something it’s massive.

McHargue: I wanted all of the different types of learning that you can have–you know kinesthetic which is doing video, which is seeing, and then auditory which is hearing. If you can bridge all of those together when you’re trying to learn something it’s massive. When you sing a song to try and learn all the capitals of states it’s a hugely powerful, so I thought, ‘you know what? I’m going to start doing some music.’ I’m glad you enjoyed that it’s kind of bizarre.

Radio: Absolutely! Probably my favorite outside of the whole Prince soundtrack.

McHargue: I should let you actually hear the sad sketchbook one. Leaving your lonely sketchbook. Sorry, what were you gonna say.

Radio: Oh, that was just all the questions that I had written down.

McHargue: You know me. As a teacher, you know I’m used to talking for two hours so, like be careful what you wish for sometimes you know we won’t shut up we just ‘blah blah blah blah blah blah blah’. So ridiculous, yeah, so there’s more where that came from.

Radio: Other than your bandcamp is there any other like things you’d like me to plug in the article? 

McHargue: Just just my albums that are on you know iTunes and Spotify or whatever.