Gregg Gillis is a biomedical research engineer by training. He's also a musician, but not in the conventional sense. As Girl Talk, Mr. Gillis builds meticulous mashups--a track will start with samples from Lil Wayne and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, end with Huey and Journey, and layer dozens of other vocal and guitar tracks along the way. His latest effort, Feed the Animals, weaves samples from some 300 artists and was named one of Time Magazine's top 10 albums of 2008. His work has also been called a "lawsuit waiting to happen" by The New York Times. The Globe and Mail had a chance to speak with Mr. Gillis recently about his role in the burgeoning remix culture, his views on copyright and the art of appropriation, and how he got into "Napster bombing."
Mr. Gillis will be joined us to take questions from readers on his music, his impressions on the early days of file sharing and the future of digital music as an artform.
