Mac DeMarco is no longer blasting cigs

Indie songwriter veteran and iconic cigarette smoker Mac DeMarco has been off nicotine for "a little over a year now,” he told the Associated Press in a recent interview spotted by Stereogum.

DeMarco quit smoking over the course of the North American road trip during which he recorded his 2023 project Five Easy Hot Dogs. "It was a horrible drive," DeMarco said. "It’s not about being ‘straight,’ it’s about being free." He also claims to have cut out caffeine and cold water, the latter of which was at the recommendation of an acupuncturist.

“I’m not the most ‘sober guy’ sober guy," DeMarco said, "but I think I don’t like being beholden to things like that. As humans, what are we? We gotta have water, you gotta have shelter, you gotta have food — that’s enough things to be trapped by. I don’t want to be trapped by alcohol, I don’t want to be trapped by cigarettes.”

Prior to the cig talk, DeMarco spoke about his recent 199-song project One Wayne G. "When you're making music all the time, you make certain stuff and it sits there and it kind of percolates for months and months and months. But it's always there and it's always going 'Don't forget about me? When are you going to put me on an album?'... The 199 thing was a way to be like 'I like this stuff, I'd like to share it, I don't really know how, I might as well just give it all at the same time.'"

Thumbnail photo by Kiera McNally