How John Lennon Taught Mac DeMarco to Scream It Out

The indie superstar talks about his lifelong obsession with the Plastic Ono Band

In this edition of “WHAT’S IN YOUR TAPE DECK,” I talked to Mac DeMarco, who the New York Times called the “Laid-Back Prince of Indie Rock.” With albums like This Old Dog (2017) and Here Comes the Cowboy (2019), his mellow guitar pop—reminiscent of singer-songwriters like Harry Nilsson, Neil Young, and John Lennon—has been described as “blue wave” and “slacker rock,” or by DeMarco as “jizz jazz.” He’s going on global tour this August, and his next album, Guitar, is available everywhere on August 22nd.

Eric Spitznagel: You came from a family of musicians.

Mac DeMarco: I did. And because of that, as a kid, I rejected music a little bit. I was like, “I don’t want to do that, Grandma does that.” I was a nerdy little kid who liked video games and computers. 

ES: Did this horrify your parents?

MD: Well, my dad was never around, and my mom had enough to worry about trying to raise my brother and me. Another reason I didn’t get into music was my mom was going through a big pop-country phase in Canada when I was growing up. I was like, “I can’t do it.”

ES: What was she listening to?

MD: There was this singer named Duane Steele that she loved. He had songs like “Stuck on Your Love” and “Anita Got Married” that were popular in Canada, but they just hurt my brain. 

ES: What made you decide music wasn’t all awful pop-country?

MD: I wound up playing some video games with interesting soundtracks, which kind of pushed me in the direction of popular music. By thirteen or fourteen, I had my big “Oh man, the Beatles are the greatest band ever” moment. I went through all of their records. And then I found my way to their solo records, which was like a bonus.