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Dec 17, 2010 Gayngs By Under the Radar Staff

For Under the Radar’s 8th annual Artist Survey we emailed some of our favorite artists a few questions relating to 2010. However our printed pages weren’t enough to hold all the great responses we got. Pick up a copy of Under the Radar’s Year End issue for interviews with: The Antlers, Bon Iver, Caribou, Club 8, Delphic, Rose Elinor Dougall, Gayngs, Hot Chip, Lost in the Trees, Love is All, The Love Language, Mogwai, of Montreal, Okkervil River,Yoko Ono, Owen Pallett, Plants and Animals, Mark Ronson, Superchunk, Tame Impala, Vampire Weekend, Sharon Van Etten, and Vivian Girls. Then check here for bonus responses not found in the magazine. Here are additional answers from Ryan Olson of Gayngs.

What are your hopes and plans for 2011?

To make it never stop.

What are your thoughts on President Obama’s job performance in the last year? Has your optimism, if you were an Obama supporter, waned?

I don’t care about that. It’s all so fucked.

What are your thoughts on the Tea Party movement?

I am pro-abortion because of people like that. Mandatory.

With the Internet making every artist’s music potentially available to a wide audience, is it now easier to find listeners or more difficult because you have to compete with so many other musicians?

I’m all about people getting the option to hear tons of music. Whatever about competing with other musicians.

Who would you rather listen to—a totally original musician whose compositions are groundbreaking but difficult to listen to or a musician whose songs are immediately enjoyable but derivative? Why?

There are a billion reasons that neither of those things matter. But if something is difficult to enjoy, why try? There are plenty of instantly enjoyable original musicians out there.

What’s the strangest fan encounter you’ve ever had?

I don’t think I’ve encountered a fan.

Who was your first love and do you still keep in touch with them?

This one lady, yes.

Have you ever been starstruck when meeting another musician? If so, by who?

Not just a musician, but this artist Michael Gaughan. I had a hard time not being nervous as hell around him the first few times we met. He is a dreamboat.

What’s the weirdest thing that’s ever happened to you?

DMT.

What was the moment you realized you wanted to be a musician? What was the moment you realized that you were a musician?

Prolly 12 or 24…? I don’t know if I am really.

In 2010, what was the best movie you saw, book you read, comic book you read, video game you played, and/or TV show you watched?

I haven’t seen much this year, but the VBS.TV documentaries have all been fantastic, the Liberia one will fuck you up.

What’s the most embarrassing thing to happen to you in the last year?

When my dick fell off on the subway.

What or whom do you miss most when you’re touring?

Recording.

(www.gayngs.net)