Mac McCaughan is a talented and influential songwriter, musician, and singer based in North Carolina. Renowned for his prolific output in bands like Superchunk and Portastatic, McCaughan also co-founded Merge Records, one of the world’s most resilient and tastemaking independent labels. In the face of Republican cuts to programs that cruelly impact women and other disenfranchised people, McCaughan and his bandmates in Superchunk just released a limited edition single called I Got Cut with all proceeds benefitting Planned Parenthood. They also worked with local visual artists who custom made artwork for a handful of singles that are up for auction until June 28 on the site, Paddle8.com. Again, all proceeds from the auction benefit Planned Parenthood. Mac and I recently had a conversation about what motivated this new single, the political landscape in North Carolina and how it relates to the rest of U.S., the state of progressivism, his early exposure to political punk and seeing Van Halen in the early 1980s, how his Merge Records partner and fellow Superchunk member Laura Ballance has been doing since leaving the road behind in 2013, Arcade Fire’s departure from Merge for Columbia Records, and much more. Sponsored by Pizza Trokadero, the Bookshelf, and Planet Bean Coffee.
