{"id":526081,"date":"2026-07-05T08:24:32","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T08:24:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/526081\/"},"modified":"2026-07-05T08:24:32","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T08:24:32","slug":"jenkem-mix-165-pavement-jenkem-magazine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/526081\/","title":{"rendered":"JENKEM MIX 165: PAVEMENT – Jenkem Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

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As the yellowed credits of Dan Wolfe\u2019s 1993 Eastern Exposure<\/a> flicker by, the now iconic opening to Pavement\u2019s<\/a> \u201cIn The Mouth, A Desert\u201d builds. A song that sounds like it just woke up and is sleepily describing a dream, it introduced skateboarders everywhere to the young indie band.<\/p>\n

32 years later, Pavement\u2019s musings continue to soundtrack top tier skateboarding<\/a>. Often credited as pioneering the \u201cslacker\u201d sound we all know and love, we\u2019re delighted to bring you Pavement\u2019s very own Jenkem mix. <\/p>\n

Organized by longtime multi-instrumentalist and resident \u201cscreamer\u201d (his words, not ours) Bob Nastanovich<\/a>, the mix features psychedelic Korean rock, classic English punk, and Zambia\u2019s unique Zamrock sound.<\/p>\n

A listening experience that feels like getting lost in a dusty record store with no concept of time, Mix 165 is a true treat. Throw it on, check out our short conversation with Bob, and if you want to experience the band IRL, catch them at Mosswood Meltdown<\/a> next month. <\/p>\n

As always, download HERE<\/a> or forever hold your peace. Peace!<\/p>\n

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I read in an interview that Pavement is fundamentally about winging it. Is that still true?
We were winging it all the time in the 90s. Back then we wanted to be good, but we couldn\u2019t pull it off [laughs].<\/p>\n

These days, we have to be more put together. We\u2019re playing on big stages in front of large crowds. People aren\u2019t paying $8 to see us anymore, they\u2019re paying god knows, triple figures. You can\u2019t get up there and look over a crowd of 1,800 people who paid $100 to see you and do a shitty gig. We care too much about the people who like our band. They deserve a good show.<\/p>\n

Do fans miss that unpolished, DIY feeling that the band and the music was built on?
I think there will always be some songs that sound unpolished because they are primitive songs. But a lot of people probably have always wanted us to sound more polished, to sound better. People want to hear the music the way it was meant to be played, so yes we had that whole diamond in the rough unpolished approach to music in the nineties, but we have fans that saw us in the nineties and have seen us now and they tell us this version is so much better. <\/p>\n

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Before we get too far, what can you tell me about your relationship to skateboarding?
My relationship with skateboarding is that when I was 11 or 12, maybe 1978, me and my sister got a skateboard for Christmas. We got really into it, but for whatever reason they got left behind in the garage. Mark Ibold, who grew up in Pennsylvania, was really into it. He made several trips out to California to all the famous skateparks back then. He\u2019s the only real skateboarder in the band. <\/p>\n

I will say, growing up in a punk rock scene like Richmond, Virginia, there were skateboarders all over the place. Louisville had a really cool skatepark, so you\u2019re surrounded by people who skate. That World Industries shirt, for example, some of the aesthetics of skateboarding were very appealing to me, so I liked the logo, I liked the t-shirt, and skateboarding was cool to me. I\u2019ve worn that shirt for years. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn The Mouth, A Desert\u201d was used in a skateboard video in 1993 and then again in 2020, which I thought was pretty wild. That\u2019s spanning 27 years. What about Pavement\u2019s music do you think continues to relate to skateboarders?
Everything Pavement is based in, generally speaking, is punk rock, and when I think about skateboard culture I think about punk. When you take a song like \u201cIn The Mouth, A Desert\u201d I can see why it appeals to skaters. <\/p>\n

Is there a Pavement song you could point to as being perfect for a skate video?
\u201cTransport is Arranged.\u201d It\u2019s got really, really smooth elegant parts. And then it\u2019s got some hard rock parts. It\u2019s skateboarding, so transport is arranged [laughs]. <\/p>\n

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Stephen [Malkmus] said not long ago that recording new music for Pavement would be totally cringe. You don\u2019t agree with that?
He could be right [laughs]. But I can tell you this much, if it\u2019s total cringe it\u2019s not coming out. At this point Stephen has his solo stuff and the quartet. He\u2019s the kind of guy that has between ten and fifty song ideas on his computer that he\u2019s fleshing out at any given time, so I wouldn\u2019t rule out anything. And I think he in particular enjoys playing in Pavement now more than he ever did in the nineties.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve heard you say you\u2019re the one that makes things fun in the band. Has it always been that way?
I\u2019m not as anchored by a guitar or a drum set like the others are, so I can just wander around and do what I want. Say we play 25 songs, a third of those I have significant musical responsibility, but there\u2019s another third that if I wasn\u2019t there, I don\u2019t think it would sound that much different. So my job is to engage the audience and have fun. I try not to make an ass out of myself, but you want people to have a good time. <\/p>\n

What\u2019s a Pavement crowd like these days?
You get a lot of people in their late thirties, early forties that are longtime fans but never had the chance to see us in the nineties. And then you\u2019ve got a lot of these kids that come now mostly because they heard \u201cHarness Your Hopes\u201d on TikTok or whatever. That\u2019s why you see so many bands in our age group on the road, it\u2019s this interest from new fans. <\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure you get this question all the time, but what are your thoughts on the term \u201cslacker\u201d rock?
I think they always got us wrong calling us slackers. I wouldn\u2019t call us cheap, but we never overspent on recording studios. I mean, I think we probably had the lowest music video budget in the history of music [laughs]. We also didn\u2019t really change with the times, in terms of recording and tools used to make the record, and therefore we had rougher edges. But if the songs are good, the songs are good. <\/p>\n

We tried to make a \u201cmodern\u201d record with Terror Twilight in 1999, and it sort of worked and sort of didn\u2019t. I think it made us realize, Stephen in particular, that it\u2019s time to do something else. We might have made a sixth record and tarnished the whole thing. <\/p>\n

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So that\u2019s why a sixth album never came?
Well, Stephen was also sick of working with a bunch of people who didn\u2019t live anywhere near him. He was living in Oregon, and I think he thought he was doing all the work, writing most of the songs at home and then presenting them to us like we were some sort of princely court of music receivers. I think it just got frustrating for him and it felt like the rest of us weren\u2019t contributing enough. And I can\u2019t argue with him. He wanted to be in his definition of a normal band, where you play with good musicians with similar tastes in the town you live in. <\/p>\n

Most of the members still play in bands outside of Pavement regularly too. Scott [Kannberg] makes solo stuff. Steve West plays in a couple of little bands where he lives. Mark Ibold will do things on and off in New York. I don\u2019t because what the hell would I do? Sometimes people will meet me and say, \u201cI heard you are a rock star?\u201d and depending on who it is I\u2019ll say, \u201cI play a bunch of children\u2019s toys and scream [laughs].\u201d <\/p>\n

I know Pavement had some mainstream success, but do you ever wish the band went bigger?
We\u2019re way bigger than I ever thought we\u2019d be. In the nineties the only people who felt like we were unsuccessful were the people who made an investment in us, whether it be a record label or a booking agency that booked us and overpaid us thinking that we\u2019d be the next Nirvana. <\/p>\n

But do you think we ever expected to play in Helsinki or Japan? All the places that we went and played there\u2019d be at least a few hundred people excited to hear us. That\u2019s success. We got to do all those weird late night television shows and the record sold enough. I mean, I can\u2019t imagine a more exciting way to go through your twenties. <\/p>\n

Intro and Interview by: Ben Komins<\/a>
Header Photo by: Gail Butensky<\/a>
Scroll to the bone Instagram<\/a> and Twitter<\/a>
Post your fav track on Facebook<\/a>
Ah geez, follow us on TikTok<\/a> too<\/p>\n