Wavves On How They Managed To Get Kicked Out Of Both The VMAs and Lil Wayne's Afterparty

Emily Torem

We <3 Alex Mack: Wavves' Nathan Williams and Stephen Pope

In next week's print edition we hang loose with scuzzed-out surf rockers Wavves -- look for it in the just-renamed West Coast Sound page! (It used to be called Page Two.)

For the piece, we journeyed to frontman Nathan Williams' Eagle Rock abode to talk about Wavves' forthcoming EP, Life Sux, and what his girlfriend Bethany Cosentino won't let him put on the walls.

But ahead of the band's benefit gig at the Troubadour tomorrow night supporting the Fender Music Foundation, we're giving you a few teaser outtakes. Behold, as Williams and bassist Stephen Pope weigh in on approaching strippers, approaching Dave Grohl, and how they managed to get kicked out of both the VMAs and Lil Wayne's afterparty.

On getting kicked out of the VMAs:
SP: I was drunk and trying to sneak in champagne and weed...
NW: We had 15 joints.

They don't let that kind of thing slide for the artists?
NW: Nobody knew who the fuck we were.
SP: I tried to bring in the champagne three times and then they ripped up my ticket. Apparently they had champagne for us inside, but I didn't know that, so I was trying to sneak in my own. And then there was free champagne right across the entrance line.
NW: We had bought really nice champagne, to be fair.

On the rest of the night:
NW: I definitely don't remember the tail end of it. By the time that Tyler won, I was a space cadet. I don't remember Lil Wayne performing, I think when that happened I left. I was hanging out with Eric Warheim at some point. And then we were at Lil Wayne's party. Then we got thrown out.
SP: I tried to talk to a stripper.
NW: Yes, you did.
SP: I don't ever try to talk to any girl!
NW: But that's not why we got kicked out. I got us all kicked out because I was on acid and actin' a fool. Then we came back to my house and hung out with Unknown Mortal Orchestra and started betting our limo driver to shotgun beers. He took us up on it.

On collaborating with Fucked Up's Damian Abraham:
NW: I fully take credit for getting Damian to start smoking weed.

On collaborating with GZA:
NW: He was really shy, I was surprised. Really reserved and grateful.
SP: I asked him if he wanted to smoke weed. That's all I could manage to say. He said, 'No I smoked a blunt on the way over here.'
NW: He was also with his wife and kids, so, you know.
SP: But his kid was really cool.