Chuck Klosterman Wrote A Big Thing About The Pavement Reunion For GQ

​Here you go. Flew out to Portland to interview Stephen Malkmus and everything. There is the requisite fantasy-sports talk, a few theories Chuck's friends have on Pavement's appeal, some Vampire Weekend-ish stuff about whether Malkmus' family was "affluent" or "middle class," etc. But what's most remarkable here is the entirely appropriate but still hilarious total apathy with which these guys seem to be approaching their epochal reunion:

"I think people really want to do it. I... I want to do it. I mean, I don't want to be the person who only kind of wants to do it." Malkmus laughs. He knows he is not being particularly convincing. "Our booking agent had a lot to do with it. He's been pushing for it for a while. If we're going to do it, everyone says this is a good time. I suppose what I like about this whole reunion is the openness. Will it be fun for us? Will people in the audience have fun? Who knows? It's not like I'm gagging to get out there and play those songs, but I am curious to see what it will be like, and I'm curious to see the other guys and watch them play onstage again. I'm assuming it's going to be fun."

"I'm assuming it's going to fun": WORLD TOUR 2010. There's also some rad support quotes from bandmate/misanthrope Bob Nastanovich:

"Stephen is a pretty difficult guy to access," Nastanovich explains via telephone, calling from a racetrack in Illinois where he's working. "If you're not in the same town with him, you don't really hear from him. I've found that the easiest way to get in touch with him, even if it's about a Pavement-related issue, is to propose a trade in one of our fantasy leagues and attach my question in an e-mail memo . . . I have no idea why we're doing this now. I only talked to Stephen for about five or ten minutes about this reunion, and the only things he clarified was that I would need to be comfortable quitting my job, that I'd have to practice, and that I had to promise not to blow the money I made on horses."

Pavement will be playing every festival in every other major city on earth this year, and then eventually getting around to those Central Park shows. Pop quiz: Do you remember where you put your tickets?