The Hot List : Rolling Stone

Hot Band Everyone Wants to Be In | MGMT

Photo: Maciek Kobielski

Andrew VanWyngarden doesn't want to talk about drugs. "Or partying," says the MGMT frontman, ordering a piece of cake in New York's Tribeca Grand Hotel. "Every article about us talks about drugs." It's the afternoon of Halloween, and the psychedelic-rock duo — VanWyngarden (left) and Ben Goldwasser — are recovering from a sold-out gig. Last night, MGMT dressed like mariachis and broke out a totally faithful cover of Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun." Inevitably, the afterparty stretched into the morning, and they're exhausted.

But minutes later, VanWyngarden happily launches into the story of the first time he ate 'shrooms with Goldwasser, at Connecticut's Wesleyan University in 2001. "It was a good bonding experience," he says. He even remembers the exact date: "It was September 27th." At Wesleyan, the two played in separate bands (VanWyngarden was the drummer in a 12-piece hair-metal cover act called Born to Kill) before forming MGMT their junior year. One of their first gigs was a 45-minute jam on the Ghostbusters theme. "We were thinking of ideas that were inherently obnoxious," says Goldwasser.

Before graduating, the duo recorded the electro-rock EP Time to Pretend, which eventually caught the attention of an A&R rep at Columbia Records, and scored them a slot opening for Of Montreal. Working with Flaming Lips producer David Fridmann, the pair recorded Oracular Spectacular — which has sold more than 225,000 copies since coming out in January. "We wanted the songs to be poppy to the point of being gross, with sarcastic lyrics," says VanWyngarden. (On their breakthrough single, "Time to Pretend," he sings, "Let's make some music/Make some money/Find some models for wives.")

The pair's videos have established MGMT as fashion It boys and psychedelic tricksters. In the Lord of the Flies-esque clip for "Time to Pretend," VanWyngarden (in hot-pink trunks) and Goldwasser (wrapped in animal skins) take tabs of acid and join a band of post-apocalyptic marauders. Even in street clothes — today VanWyngarden is wearing turquoise jeans — they are cool in a way that somehow seems calculated. "People assume that we're party dudes who care about our image, but we've always been about poking fun at that stuff," insists VanWyngarden.

It hasn't always been chocolate cake for the duo, though. "We had a month of debauchery," VanWyngarden says about their first big tour. "We lived the cliché, telling ourselves that it was ironic." Now, after nine months on the road, MGMT say they've mellowed out. "I have psoriasis, and it's gotten worse from the drinking and airplanes," says VanWyngarden. "It sucks." AUSTIN SCAGGS

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