Scott Lapatine and Joe Mande of Stereogum interviewed Ben Gibbard at SXSW, feigning that they mistook him for Beth Gibbons, the lead singer of Portishead. The interviewers play the situation as if they really have no idea who Gibbard really is. There’s a brief and tragic attempt at covering Phil Collins’ “Against All Odds” and even a bit of non-sequitor holocaust humor at the expense of Anne Frank. Gibbard plays it completely straight. Zoey’s talents must be rubbing off; Clearly his acting skills have improved since “Brief Interviews with Hideous Men.”
I’m happy to see that he’s got a more tamed ‘do and the crazy mutton chop sideburns are history. Maybe someone gave him a makeover? Given all the straight faced silliness, the one question that remains is, “Can it really be true that Ben Gibbard doesn’t know who Justin Bieber is?” We can only wish.
