In June, Gregg Gillis quit his job as a biomedical engineer.
Good thing he had a hobby to help him into early retirement.
"I don't know about early retirement," he said. "Basically, because I could make a living partying, I don't really like waking up or dealing with old people. I mean, it is hard to say. I don't even feel like it is a job. I'm just doing what I like, and sometimes a paycheck falls into my hand."
Gillis is otherwise known as Girl Talk, a laptop-toting DJ whose music is a mixture of various artists' melodies.
Girl Talk, who started his career performing for small groups, spends his time performing at large music festivals such as Coachella and Lollapalooza. He will perform at UNM for free Saturday.
"When I started, it was like raw experimental music - very avant-garde stuff," he said. "I'm still into it. My interest in that just faded a little bit. I wanted to make something a bit more accessible."
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Gillis said his musical pieces are "pop collages" or combinations of layered and manipulated music from the Top 40.
"I sample anything that I'm into," he said. "I feel like that with any music because I don't really play songs, so I feel like you could give me any song, and I could sample it. I feel like I could get something valuable. I sample things that I like, and it is a huge trial and error process, so pretty much whatever sounds good to my ear is what I will end up playing."
Since 2002, Gillis has released three albums.
Cate Wisdom, a member of Lobo Spirit, said Gillis has attracted a diverse following because he mixes varied types of music.
Wisdom, along with members of Student Special Events, have worked to bring Girl Talk to UNM as part of Fiestas 2008.
She said Girl Talk has the range and variety to please a diverse audience.
"He just puts music together that we all recognize and puts a new spin on it," she said. "You can recognize a song, and you can go with it, but he adds things to it that make it his own, and for me, that is why I really was drawn to it."
Paul Spella, executive director of Student Special Events, said Girl Talk is becoming more popular and is unlike any act that has performed at UNM.
"He kind of mixes things from all different genres," he said. "So, he will take in something old school like Pharcyde and then throw in some Ying Yang Twins and just create something that everyone can relate to."
Fiestas 2008
Johnson Field
Saturday, 8 p.m.
Free
