Panthers lead man Jayson Green has a line that goes “Give me a book, and I'll read the shit out of it!” It's okay to giggle, but Green isn't kidding about his appetite for literature. And if you're familiar with the New York band's smoldering guitar solos and slightly unhinged live show, it might not come as a surprise that he counts intellectual pornographic stories among his favorite reads. Here, he shares with us three of the authors that inspire Panthers' brainier-than-you-thought art rock.
Georges Bataille “He started off his career with these weird stories. They're borderline pornographic, but not titillating so much as dark and disturbing. Unfortunately, I've got to read them in English instead of the original French. I took French classes for two years, but I'm definitely not fluent. It's kind of depressing because I'm told I'm missing out on a lot of the wordplay that doesn't really translate.”
Michel Foucault “I really like The History of Sexuality because he's one of those guys that I love to disagree with. He talks a lot about how relationships developed into monogamy and marriage and what cycles sexuality goes through. A lot of stuff on the new record is about my own experiences in relationships and trying to work through those ideas. People in the indie-rock community tend to be politically liberal but conservative when it comes to sexuality and relationships in general. There's never been much of a dialogue about alternatives. I mean, I've been in a relationship with somebody for four years, and it's never been monogamous. I don't really need to plant a flag in my girlfriend's butt. I just want her to get as much enjoyment as she can get because I know she loves and cares for me. If you think about it, most people compartmentalize their friends to get what they need from each relationship—like, I have friends that I like to get beers with and other friends that I talk about books with—why shouldn't we be able to compartmentalize our sexual relationships, too?”
Michel Houellebecq “He does a really good job of writing softly and simply. He alludes to more complicated ideas, and if you catch it—great. If you don't, it's not a big deal. I get the most enjoyment when I'm discovering things on my own and not being told what to discover.”
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