Best of 2014 The DIY List 2014: Pray for Mac DeMarco

Mac DeMarco features at #76 in The DIY List 2014, our round-up of the artists who defined the past year through albums, unforgettable shows and the unexpected. This interview is originally from the April 2014 issue of DIY.

The cult of Mac DeMarco is a real, terrifying thing. It manifests itself into kids sporting checkered shirts, pumping fists underneath armpits to make fart noises. Sometimes it’s funny, sometimes it’s a bit crass. Don’t blame the cult leader though. He feels the same. “People make assumptions about me, about [my girlfriend] Kiera,” he says, speaking from a bedroom in New York, suitably wearing nothing but his underpants, he’s keen to add. “Kids are asking ‘Yo, where’s Kiki?’ I’m like ‘She’s at home. Where the fuck do you think she is? I miss her. Get the fuck away from me.’”

Within two years plus of touring, Mac’s gotten himself into trouble on more than a couple of occasions. The reveal that ‘Freaking Out The Neighbourhood’ from previous album ‘2’ was a song about singing a U2 song with a drumstick up his backside? That raised a few eyebrows. He’s been accused of worse though. He makes out with bandmates on stage, pulls jokes about breaking wind. It’s never going to be to everybody’s taste. Mac’s also the first to admit that “it’s about learning what to hold back.”