Ty Segall

Segall began his recording career as a part-time musician in various underground bands in Orange County and the San Francisco Bay Area including Epsilons and Evil Robots, before beginning a solo career in 2008. Segall's first solo release was the cassette Horn The Unicorn released on the Wizard Mountain label (later re-released by HBSP-2X on vinyl record). Around the same time, Wizard Mountain also released a split cassette featuring Segall and the band Superstitions entitled Halfnonagon.

After Segall befriended John Dwyer, of Thee Oh Sees and Coachwhips, Dwyer offered to release Segall's debut solo album, Ty Segall (2008), on his label, Castle Face Records. The two became firm friends, with Segall noting: "The music community is amazing here, super-tight, and John Dwyer's like the Mayor of San Francisco. Come down here, you'll see him riding his bike, drinking a beer, and he'll probably take you out to get a taco. He's the nicest guy in the world.".[10] In a recent interview, Larry Hardy, creator of In The Red Records, talked about the possibility of a band with Segall and Dwyer.[11]

Ty Segall was followed by a string of limited 7" singles and a split LP with the band Black Time. In 2009, Lemons was released by Goner Records to positive reviews.[12] This release was followed by another string of successful and limited 7" singles and the LP Reverse Shark Attack, an album with longtime collaborator Mikal Cronin.[13] The studio albums Melted and Goodbye Bread followed in 2010 and 2011 respectively.

2012 saw the release of three full-length albums by Segall: Hair, with White Fence, released in April; Slaughterhouse, recorded with his touring band and released June 26;[14] as well as one solo album, Twins, released on October 9.[15][16][17][18] This last album spawned two singles: "The Hill" and "Would You Be My Love?" When questioned about his LP Twins, Segall stated; "I want to do a total glam Stooges-meets-Hawkwind or Sabbath, something like that. I think that would be super fun. I want to throw people off. I want to make a really heavy record: evil, evil space rock. Put a little Satan in space and you got the sound."[19]

Segall performing with Fuzz in 2015.

In 2013, Segall, bandmate Charles Moothart and Roland Cosio formed a new hard rock outfit called Fuzz, releasing three 7" singles. A full-length album, titled Fuzz, was recorded in May and released on October 1, 2013.[20] Previous to this release, Segall released a primarily acoustic solo album, Sleeper, in August. Largely influenced by the death of his father and subsequent estrangement from his mother, Sleeper received positive reviews from such media outlets as Pitchfork and Consequence of Sound.[21] In November/December 2013, Segall performed at the final "holiday camp" edition of the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in Camber Sands, England, UK.[22]

In 2014, Segall released Manipulator, his first to integrate some psych music.[23] Segall toured in support of the release, with support from Wand, whom he had signed to his label

In 2015, Segall produced the debut album by Peacers, featuring his former Sic Alps bandmate Mike Donovan.[24] A new EP, Mr. Face, was released on Famous Class, and a second Fuzz album, II, was released in October 2015.

In November 2015, Segall announced a new studio album, Emotional Mugger, by sending a VHS tape to Pitchfork.[25] Subsequently a website was also created, www.emotionalmugger.com, that would feature a short video of Segall explaining the concept of emotional mugging and a video of Segall and his band wearing baby masks and playing a live version of a song from the new album. This latter video also offered a hotline number to call. The number, 1-800-281-2968, features a brief message from Segall. The video also introduces The Muggers,[25] which, upon the album's release, Segall formed as a backing band. The band consisted of Mikal Cronin (bass, sax), Kyle Thomas (guitar), Emmett Kelly (guitar), and Wand's Cory Hanson (keyboards, guitar) and Evan Burrows (drums). During live performances, Segall adopted the name of Sloppo while wearing a baby mask.[26] Still in Rock described this LP as being Segall's first experimental rock album.[27]

Segall performing with the Freedom Band in 2021

In November 2016, Segall announced the release of his ninth studio album, Ty Segall. The album was to be his second self-titled release, following the release of his eponymously titled debut album in 2008.[28] It was preceded by the release of the single "Orange Color Queen" in November 2016.[29] Later, the song "Break A Guitar" was released to streaming platforms on January 19, 2017.[30] Also following the album's release, Segall began touring with the backing band that recorded the album, which was now named The Freedom Band.[31]

In the album, Segall displays his ability to play the full repertoire of rock; in one album he goes from T. Rex style glam rock, to Bob Dylan-esque country rock, to the breadth and social commentary of Pink Floyd, to hardcore punk, to a jam band sound.[32] Segall describes the record as a "song album"—one without a singular concept or sound.[32] The ten-minute-long centerpiece of the album is "Warm Hands (Freedom Returned)", which starts with Segall's characteristic punk-inspired thrashing guitar, but becomes open and spacey around the five-minute mark, before reprising the melody from "Freedom" (the second track on the album).[33] Comparisons have been drawn between this most recent album and Segall's 2012 release Twins, which was also a compilation of Segall's various influences and styles up to that point in his career.[34] Segall released the album Freedom's Goblin on January 26, 2018.[35]

In August 2019, Segall released his twelfth studio album, First Taste, consisting of songs recorded without the use of guitars. Segall and the Freedom Band played the album on full on its accompanying tour, alongside 'full album' performances of several previous releases.

Segall also composed the theme music for three Comedy Central television programs, The Opposition with Jordan Klepper (2017), and Corporate (2018), and Klepper.[36]

At the outset of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic outbreak in the United States and Canada, Segall released Segall Smeagol, a set of covers of six tracks from Harry Nilsson's groundbreaking album Nilsson Schmilsson, on Bandcamp. The album is free of charge to download.

Segall surprise-released his thirteenth studio album, Harmonizer on August 3, 2021. Co-produced by Cooper Crain, the album featured performances from the Freedom Band and Segall's wife, Denée Segall. In early 2022, he released a soundtrack album to the film, Whirlybird, which had previously competed in the US Documentary category at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.

Recorded at Segall's home studio, his fourteenth studio album, "Hello, Hi", was released on July 22, 2022. The album's press release noted: "Hello, Hi is expansively rendered by Ty, mostly by himself, at home. The isolation suits the songs: you’re only ever as 'at home' as you are with yourself in the mirror."