St. Vincent Opens Up About Her Love For Metallica And Nine Inch Nails
By Katrina Nattress
July 11, 2021
For Record Store Day's upcoming drop, St. Vincent is releasing a special 7" that features covers of Nine Inch Nails' "Piggy" (featuring Dave Grohl on drums) and Metallica's "Sad But True." During a recent interview with NME, Annie Clark opened up about her love for both bands.
"Metallica to me are a bit more of a nostalgic love. I played bass in a metal band when I was 13 and always wanted to be the guitar player!" she divulged. "Bass was the only position that no one wanted. They have a very specific personality type. If you need a friend, then a bass player is always solid. You can’t really f**k around with drummers and lead guitars, but it’s in a bassist’s personality type to be deeply supportive and bring everyone together. Anyway, we played those songs at junior high talent shows."
"It was fun to get under the hood. You think you know a song, then you really play it and it’s so interesting. I really found that with ‘Piggy,’" Clark continued. “That’s one of the things that people forget about Nails. They’re not just culling from industrial beats – it’s a deep understanding of all kinds of rhythm filtered through that lens. ‘Piggy’ is like reggae.”
Clark then recalled bonding with a fan during a NIN festival set. “Look, if you’re talking about great songs, epic production and perfect f**king shows – there are only a few names and Trent Reznor is always in there!" she gushed. "You will never go to a Nails show and be disappointed. I was playing Roskilde a few years ago, got changed out of my latex stage gear and into more sensible festival clothing, went out and watched Nine Inch Nails from the crowd. This really sweet kid came up and told me he was a fan and we had a nice talk, then ‘March Of The Pigs’ came on and me this kid just started really raging and going for it! It’s inescapable, you can’t not be physically moved by Nine Inch Nails. Trent’s a genius and how many of those do we get?”
St. Vincent's 7" comes out on July 17. Get more info about the release here.