07: Mark Glick
The AJJ cellist and solo artist discusses making incremental improvements in both music and running and how he's found motivation after Arizona summers.
I’m Arielle Gordon, a music journalist and (very) amateur runner. Running Up That Hill is a newsletter in which I try to connect those two things by interviewing folks in the broader music world about their running habits, tips, and tricks.
Mark Glick has lived many lives, both with the Phoenix-based folk punk pioneers AJJ and as a solo artist. Starting out, as he put it, as a “tour manage-ish” and merch coordinator, he soon became enmeshed in their musical dynamic as well, joining them officially for their excellent 2011 record Knife Man. But outside of AJJ, he explores a more electronic and softer side to the cello as anxiety machine. The ambient project might surprise listeners used to the brash immediacy of AJJ, but he clearly approaches his solo work with a similar sense of humor: he titled his 2020 record “selected idiot works,” a self-deprecating play on Aphex Twin’s selected ambient works. He spoke to Running Up That Hill about cancelling his gym membership, running to doom metal, and why he’d love to go on a run with Xiu Xiu.
When did you get into running?
Around the summer of 2018, I started running on a treadmill at the gym, and did that until the pandemic, when I cancelled my gym membership and started running outdoors.
Can you describe a typical (or average) running schedule for you in a given week?
This year I’ve been going out 6 days a week.
Do you try to run on tour? What’s that like?
I try and squeeze exercise in when I can, but since I do a bunch of things (merch, tour manage-ish, and play) I don’t really have much downtime until the show is over, so I have to hope the hotel has a fitness center as well as our drive the next day allowing me time to sleep. Sometimes I’ll try to wake up early enough to get a run in. I stick to treadmills on tour.
As a musician, do you find that knowledge of music theory, meter, or measure helps at all with keeping a pace while you run?
I’ve noticed lately that I have an easier time when I am listening to music, but I don’t know if that’s because I’m a musician or if that’s a general thing.
What’s the longest distance you’ve run?
5 miles. I’m working up to longer but no specific goal.
What’s the run you’re proudest of?
That 5 mile run recently. I just kept going! Wow!
Do you have any running goals?
Keep going. Cancelling my gym membership coupled with the Arizona summer broke my habits for months and I didn’t get back into the swing until November.
What, if anything, do you listen to when you run?
I have a few podcasts I listen to, and lately I’ve been sticking with a few records. I like podcasts because I don’t necessarily ENJOY running, and if it’s an engaging topic it can serve as a distraction from what I’m physically doing. Various music nerd podcasts depending on the guest. Lately for running music, I’ve been listening to Dakim’s youstandit, Daedalus’ What Wands Won’t Break, and The Body’s I’ve Seen All I Need To See. The first two are good tempo instrumental beat/electronic records that can help with zoning out, and the latter is such a cathartic record that I push really hard.
What, if anything, do you think about while you run?
I try not to. That’s when I get my best ideas.
If you could go on a run with any musician, dead or alive, who would it be?
I don’t think I’d be able to have any sort of conversations the way I go at it, but if we get to hang out afterward for a coffee or something, I’d love to embarrass myself in front of someone like Daedelus (who seems like a very thoughtful conversationalist & great inspiration) or Jamie Stewart from Xiu Xiu (who I was going to hang out on tour until covid whoops!)
How has the pandemic changed your running habits?
I had trouble keeping up with it during the summer because I couldn’t go to the gym, due to The Virus and all, so my habits were thrown out of whack. Now that I’m back in the swing of things, honestly the pandemic has made me run more often and more regularly than ever before.
Do your runs change depending on the type of music you’re working on at the time? Are your runs more aggressive if you’re working on folk punk vs more ambient music?
I try to work on anxiety machine stuff every day, and that music serves as an outlet to deal with a lot of stuff, so I wouldn’t be shocked if my more aggressive days are coupled with more productivity on that front. I don’t consciously change anything, but I do have the same practice for both: try to do a little better than the last time you did it.
Follow Mark Glick on Twitter.