New York City | Heartbreaking Bravery

July 30, 2015

Girlpool – Live at Baby’s All Right – 7/29/15 (Pictorial Review, Live Video)

Yesterday evening, one of Brooklyn’s finest venues- Baby’s All Right- opened its doors and ushered in an eclectic mix of people that tended to skew younger than older but still boasted a handful of patrons who could have grandchildren. It was a nice sight that was likely due to the wide-reaching appeal of both bands playing the early show: Florist and Girlpool.

Both acts have built up a quiet notoriety over the past few years, with the former being a staple of the revered arts collective The Epoch and the latter being one of 2014’s great word-of-mouth successes. The show had sold out before Baby’s opened its doors and the packed room left both bands unfazed. Florist started things off with a set of gentle songs that incorporated subtle, folk-inflected influences into devastating indie pop songs.

Each song kept the audience at a silenced hush as the room swelled to capacity. For the entirety of their set, Florist played in front of a static drumkit (one that would have otherwise been used by Felix Walworth, who’s currently on tour) in what seemed to be a gesture of heartfelt solidarity. By the time their set was drawing to a close, the audience was completely at their mercy, hanging onto every soft word and ambient flourish; it was almost as if Florist was the headlining act, a notion that was supported by the waves of applause following their final notes.

Ultimately, Florist’s set was a perfect lead-in to Girlpool, who wasted no time in launching into their set once they took the stage. Now, Girlpool’s been written about enough times here that it’d be easy to collect all of those pieces and fashion a small bible- but it still felt like they had something to prove an in-person live setting. The notion that they couldn’t was dismissed completely as soon as the duo (comprised of Cleo Tucker on guitar/vocals and Harmony Lebel-Tividad on bass/vocals) launched into their first harmony sequence.

Throughout their set, both Tucker and Lebel-Tividad were in high spirits, casually joking with each other while dealing with a guitar that kept stubbornly falling out of tune. Families, couples, and musicians all watched intently as Girlpool played cuts from their outstanding self-titled EP (one of 2014’s best) and this year’s superb Before The World Was Big, while making room for at least two new tunes.

No matter what the band did, there was a pervading sense of easy camaraderie that bled into a seemingly telepathic connection between the duo. As many others have noted, at times their voices adopt each others affections and become virtually indistinguishable. While that aspect of their music can certainly be heard on record (and in several performance captures), hearing it in person is spine-tingling.

Before anyone knew what was happening, the band had seemingly everyone held at rapt attention, suspended in a moment where time was irrelevant. A brief “this is our last song” brought reality crashing back down on the proceedings and the band finished their main set exhibiting the same flair and charisma that earned them their headliner status in the first place. The encore call was immediate and overwhelming.

After a brief attempt to lead a venue wide singalong of “Happy Birthday” for the girl who cried out that it was hers, the band sheepishly launched into the first song of their encore: “Plants and Worms“. Even in a still-young discography packed with incredible material, “Plants and Worms” stands out in their catalog- and not just because it was gifted one of the best music videos of 2014. It was one of the first glimpses at the band’s maturation level and the songwriting remains some of the most staggering they’ve committed to a recording.

Decidedly darker in tone than the rest of their material, “Plants and Worms” is immediately arresting and the audience was dead quiet throughout (with the exception of a delighted reaction to the Tucker aside about the attempted birthday song), completely engrossed in the performance at hand. The evening ended with a gripping rendition of “Dear Nora”, one of Before The World Was Big‘s most quiet, affecting, and personal songs. When it drew to its silent finish, the audience gave one last enthusiastic applause and got one last glimpse of the band, smiling and waving, in front of an iconic backdrop, left with one last reminder that even though they were making their stage exit, Girlpool aren’t anywhere close to calling it quits.

A photo gallery of the show can be seen below. Underneath the gallery, watch video captures of parts of both Florist’s and Girlpool’s set below. Each video set includes two new songs per artist. Florist’s also includes “1914” while Girlpool’s includes “Chinatown”, “Crowded Stranger”, “Pretty”, and “Plants and Worms”. Enjoy.

Florist

Girlpool

5 Comments

June 16, 2015

Exploding in Sound Northside Showcase 2015 (Pictorial Review, Live Video)

A few short days ago Aviv played host to one of Northside Festival’s most stacked showcases for one of Brooklyn’s most revered labels, Exploding in Sound, who were acting in collaboration with Gimme Tinnitus and Ipsum. Boasting no less than 10 bands, the showcase eventually transitioned into an endurance test that was made even more brutal by the severe humidity (as well as the seemingly continuous increase in attendance). Pairing those items with the fact that I hadn’t eaten all day meant- regrettably- being forced to miss the showcase’s latter half. All apologies to Wildhoney, Mannequin Pussy, Clean Girls, Sleepies, and Palm (each a fine band well worth seeking out).

While I didn’t stick the whole thing through my perseverance through the show’s first half was rewarded with strong sets from each band. Done and Nonsense immediately set about establishing a few of the lineup’s connecting threads, from off-kilter musicality to piercing volume to an unavoidable sense of subtle dread. Kindling (a band fronted by A Year’s Worth of Memories contributor Stephen Pierce) pushed the levels of deafening volume to their absolute limits during a gripping set that provided the perfect bridge between the first and last two acts of the showcase’s front half.

Both Kal Marks and Washer have received a fair amount of press from this site and were two of the showcase’s biggest draws. Neither disappointed. Kal Marks delivered a set that exhibited the band’s brutal strength and unfailingly bleak atmosphere- a very distinctive trait that remains unreasonably compelling. Deeply personal and deeply felt, their set was among the best I’ve seen this year. Not to be outdone, Washer came out of the gate swinging and had a neat trick up their sleeve. Frenetic and impassioned, their set was one highlight after the next, peaking with a surprise solo from Ovlov’s Steve Hartlett (Washer and Hartlett constitute the performing band for the latter’s current project, Stove).

Overall, the first half was an exceedingly impressive display for both the bands and the labels/publications involved in the showcase. By all accounts, the second half of the showcase kept the momentum’s pace surging forward. There’s no doubt in my mind that I’ll be taking advantage of future opportunities to cover each and every one of them at some point in the near future. Until then, enjoy a few photos and videos of Done, Nonsense, Kindling, Kal Marks, and Washer below.

Done

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Nonsense

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Kindling

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Kal Marks

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Washer

2 Comments

June 14, 2015

Introducing: Montana and the Marvelles

The past few days I’ve been adjusting to life in Brooklyn with DBTS (an acronym for David Blaine’s the Steakhouse) being kind enough to take me under their wings and ease me into the transition. Being introduced to a culture that I’d already been familiarized with via the magic of the internet and word-of-mouth was a memorable experience and nothing solidified that more than being on hand to witness the first-ever appearance of Brooklyn supergroup Montana and the Marvelles.

After multiple cleaning sweeps and a day of decorating, DBTS was ready to play host to an unofficial wedding ceremony. The bride and groom-to-be, friends of the DBTS tenants, will be officially wed at a small, private ceremony. With that being the case, they decided to throw a party where their friends could celebrate their marriage ahead of the more intimate event. Guests dressed to the nines, alcohol was free-flowing, root beer floats and tacos were at the ready, everyone was all smiles, spirits were high, and fond toasts were given. After all the personal stories had been told and all the noisemakers had been given out, a band took the floor: Montana and the Marvelles.

At the outset of Montana and the Marvelles, the band was uncertain whether or not their intended wedding project would be a one-off; the details were kept secret. Now, one gripping performance into what could be a very fulfilling path, the band’s made a commitment to playing more shows (and have graciously allowed me to offer their official introduction to the world at large).

Made up of members of several high-profile Brooklyn bands, including site favorites like LVL UP, Sharpless, and Painted Zeros (among others), the band’s more than likely to generate some interest. Unsurprisingly- especially with the caliber of talent involved- the band’s live show is stunning. Suave and genuinely finessed, they play as sharp as they look. As for the song selection- at least on this particular night- it’s just about flawless. Ranging from Etta James to Angel Olsen, it provides the band’s deeply charismatic vocalist and central character- Montana Elliot (of Sharpless)- a considerably impressive showcase.

Montana and the Marvelles were in fine form from the very beginning of the first song, catering perfectly to the crowd. As their set progressed, they made sure to include accommodations for their guests of honor; a first dance, a surprise performance that roped the groom into the band, and a few more twists were incorporated. Each new song (or surprise moment) continuously elevated the level of collective exuberance cultivated by the small (but enthusiastic) party. By the time all of the scene-stealing solos had been torn (courtesy of LVL UP‘s Nick Corbo), all of the showstopping vocals had been sung, and a particularly fierce rendition of “Dancing in the Dark” had been played to close out an incredibly spirited set, it was abundantly clear that Montana and the Marvelles had locked into something that transcends the typical wedding band.

Fortunately for all of us, they’re ready to keep going. If you’re in need of a band to play your wedding, bar mitzvah, bat mitzvah, commitment ceremony, prom, or nearly any other formal event, don’t hesitate to send a message their way; it’s already hard to imagine you could find anything better.

Enough small talk and exposition; it’s both an honor and a privilege to present Montana and the Marvelles to the world. Photos and videos of the band can be found below.

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5 Comments

June 12, 2015

Father/Daughter Records Northside Showcase 2015 (Pictorial Review, Live Video)

A lot of the coverage on this site is going to look a little different in the coming months. As much love as I have in my heart for Wisconsin, a change of scenery was necessary. After a long day of travel and some time to explore, a show felt necessary. One attended by a handful of contributors to last year’s A Year’s Worth of Memories series, thrown by one of this site’s most-covered labels, and headlined by the band that topped this site’s list of the best 2014 EP’s and “necessary” turned very quickly to catharsis. Shea Stadium packed in a reasonable crowd, each one seemingly devoted to either one or all of the bands, despite the considerable humidity essentially rendering the venue a sweatbox.

Pupppy, Rivergazer, Diet Cig, Attic Abasement, and Charly Bliss were all in fine form and there was a very palpable and genuine love running throughout each respective bands for the music they were making. Some opted for a more relaxed route (Rivergazer, Attic Abasement) without sacrificing any of their innate magnetism while others took a more frenzied approach (Diet Cig, Charly Bliss). Pupppy kicked things off by splitting the difference between the two extremes. The sound was incredible throughout, the crowd was dancing, and spirits were high. In all, it was a perfect jumping-off point for NYC coverage and a heartening reminder that all the ill-informed naysayers about Brooklyn’s DIY scene being dead are still completely, unequivocally wrong.

Scan through a photo set and video set containing pictures and clips of each band below.

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1. Pupppy – Outkast
2. Rivergazer – Lonely
3. Diet Cig – Dinner Date
4. Attic Abasement – Sorry About Your Dick
5. Charly Bliss – The Golden Age
6. Charly Bliss – Dairy Queen
7. Charly Bliss – Pacer

5 Comments

July 29, 2014

Watch This: Vol. 32

Well, festival coverage has officially ceased. This site will now be resuming its regular features. One of the few recurring segments, Watch This, was largely overlooked and sorely missed in the pursuit of getting as much NXNE and Pitchfork Festival material up as possible. That all changes today. This will be the first of several Watch This installments to go up in the very near future. With more than a month’s worth of material to look back on, there was a treasure trove of videos that couldn’t be whittled down to a definitive five. So, while some videos from outside forces that were connected to NXNE and Pitchfork will earn a few spots, the emphasis will be on the videos that left the deepest impression in this features absence. Now that all that’s been said, sit back, prepare for the best, and Watch This.

1. Cloud Nothings – Pattern Walks (Pitchfork)

Cloud Nothings’ set at the Pitchfork Festival was one of a staggering number of highlights. One of a very small number of bands that thrive on aggression to be featured in the lineup wound up working to their advantage and the crowd paid them back in full. It was a triumphant showcase for a band that continues to get better as a live act. Missing them whenever their close would be a major disservice.

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2. Courtney Barnett – Scotty Says (Chart Attack)

There were very few lower-key sets that stood out more than Courtney Barnett’s Sonic Boom appearance during NXNE and, thankfully, Chart Attack was on hand to capture a great performance of “Scotty Says” that’s intercut with a delightful mini-interview. The whole thing’s worth watching and can be chalked up to another emphatic mark in the win column for the emerging Australian songwriter.

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3. Flagland (BreakThruRadioTV)

Another strong entry in BreakThruRadioTV’s Serious Business series is this entry for New York City’s Flagland. Mixing performances with some raw live footage that culminated with a great performance of “Awesome Song Kerry Yawn”. From that alone, it’s easy to see why both Nirvana and Weezer are name-dropped in their introductory paragraph.

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4. Dinosaur Jr. – Freak Scene (unARTigNYC)

There’s not a lot to say about Dinosaur Jr. that hasn’t been said already. The trio’s one of the more influential bands of the past several decades and responsible for a handful of classic albums and singles. Among them is “Freak Scene”, which sounds as vital now as it did when it was first released.

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5. White Mystery – Good Girl / Smoke (Audiotree)

Chicago duo White Mystery has been flying just under the radar for what feels like years, despite appearances on late night talk shows and a healthy amount of critical acclaim. Over that amount of time, their reputation’s steadily grown and the band’s sharpened their live act considerably. Audiotree was wise enough to not overlook all of this and bring the band in for a feature performance. It’s hard to imagine anyone was disappointed.

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June 15, 2014

Watch This: Vol. 30

Well, it finally happened. Waatch This is officially back on track and back to its regular every-Sunday rotation- and this week was particularly stacked. There was an incredible Serious Business feature from BreakThruRadio on Hive Bent, a beautiful Allston Pudding session with Saintseneca, and Mansions turned in what was arguably their best performance for an absolutely incendiary run for Little Elephant. None of them made this week’s installment. There were various reasons that kept each of them out and what wound up being featured was a fairly eclectic mix of full sets, single songs, old favorites, and at least one face that’s completely new to this site. So, sit back, relax, continue on with some day drinking, and Watch This.

1. Bob Mould – I Don’t Know You Anymore (The Current)

Bob Mould should be a household name by now. One of the most influential and well-respected songwriters to emerge from the 80’s/90’s DIY punk/hardcore heyday, he’s already amassed an army of untouchable classics that have his name on them and he’s in the midst of a staggering resurgence that’s currently seeing him match his past glory. Beauty & Ruin is one of 2014’s best and isn’t in danger of losing that position by year’s end. It’s driven by gems like “I Don’t Know You Anymore” which Mould recently deliver a commanding solo performance of for Minneapolis’ 89.3 The Current. That can be seen below.

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2. Archie Powell & the Exports – Everything’s Fucked (Jam in the Van)

This isn’t the first time that this song’s appeared on this site and the feelings towards it haven’t changed. “Everything’s Fucked” is a song that aims to scorch the earth that surrounds it and shows a total disregard for anything attempting to get in its way. Here, the band delivers a fierce, ragged performance of it for Jam in the Van during their SXSW stay and hold absolutely nothing back. It’s a jolt of energy that’s strong enough to inject a jump-start into any dreary Sunday; keep it on file for those occasions.

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3. Hop Along (unARTigNYC)

unARTigNYC is back in a big way this week: this is the first of three videos the channel posted that will be featured as the extended closing sequence for this week’s Watch This. Now, this will come with a touch of Deja Vu for any longtime readers of the site as Vol. 15 also featured a full Hop Along set that was also posted by unARTigNYC that was also captured at Saint Vitus. Lightning can strike twice. The only real differences are the sets and the fact that this was a Pitchfork showcase that also featured Pleasure Leftists, Frankie Cosmos, and the band occupying this installment’s fifth slot All of the new material Hop Along has been playing out is pointing towards one thing; whenever that record drops, it’s going to be a big deal that a lot of people will be very passionate about. Expect to see a stream of praise coming from sites like this one the moment that happens. For now, just enjoy the fact there are things like this out there to keep everyone excited (and deeply impressed).

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4. Charles Bradley – The World Is Going Up In Flames (unARTigNYC)

Are there any stories in music from this decade more inspiring than the ascension of Charles Bradley? It’s sincerely doubtful. Plucked from obscurity during his days as a James Brown impersonator, he impressed all the right people and wound up signing a deal with Daptone Records, the most influential label in soul. Before that moment, and during the interim, the now-65 year old Bradley went through some extraordinarily harsh times. Almost dying and experiencing great personal tragedy didn’t deter him, though, and in 2011 his debut record No Time for Dreaming was met the same way his sophomore effort, 2013’s Victim of Love was: they both garnered immediate acclaimed and helped elevate Bradley to being one of the biggest names in his genre. Now affectionately known as “The Screaming Eagle of Soul”, Bradley has greeted any kind of interest with overwhelming appreciation and humility. If there’s one thing to feel good about in music, it’s his success- a success driven by charisma and raw natural talent.

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5. Perfect Pussy (unARTigNYC)

Perfect Pussy, the band whose name makes Hop Along’s Frances Quinlan blush every time she says it, headlined the recent Pitchfork showcase at Saint Vitus. They also now have a commanding lead as the band featured most on this site, which should mean that close to everything’s already been said about them here. While that might be the case, I’m not even close to done talking about Perfect Pussy and I doubt I’ll ever be. Part of the reason for this is their high-velocity live show. Each of their shows is its own beast, though they all seem to clock in at around 20 minutes, which are infused with the most blistering whirlwind of sound and unrepentant aggression anyone could imagine (this fact has caused a lot of confusion from people who aren’t familiar with hardcore and the people that don’t understand how quickly high-intensity physical exertion can lead to dangerous levels of exhaustion). Vocalist Meredith Graves greets the triviality of those complaints the only way she knows how: with a smile (for proof of this, check the :40 mark for a memorable quip). Her lyrics are some of the most unflinchingly honest I’ve ever encountered and, impossibly, stand as both a complement and contrast to the band’s performance. In prose, Perfect Pussy can come off as slightly withdrawn and full of guarded desperation- but even then, it’s so forward that it feels like that same gut-punch the live show so readily and consistently provides. Here, the band’s in fine form, Graves is the physical manifestation of an internal maelstrom or three; Shaun Sutkus project a steely, detached calm to provide some stability behind his setup of synths; the rhythm section of Greg Ambler and Garrett Koloski both make sure they’re as physically present as Graves is and guitarist Ray McAndrew keeps his head down while providing an additional thrashing body. If it sounds chaotic, it’s because it is- it’s also all so improbably controlled that it makes their sets unforgettable affairs- no matter how long or short they wind up being. Add all of these qualities to the fact that Graves is currently one of the most outspoken public figures in an ongoing fight against multiple kinds of oppression and Perfect Pussy winds up exactly where they should be: as one of the most important bands that we’ve got. See them (and support them) as soon as humanly possible.

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June 6, 2014

Parquet Courts – Black and White (Music Video)

Yes, Sunbathing Animal is as good as everyone says it is. No, the band’s not reinventing any wheels but they’re one of the best at fully committing to the mechanics behind what makes them spin. Their minimalism has always been one of their strongest appeals and the way they use restraint is aggressive to the point of being abrasive- but it works. Everything somehow clicks in to this chaos that feeds off its own energy, like something that’s constantly trying to hold on to whatever life remains in a death rattle that never really comes.

One of Sunbathing Animal’s best examples of this is the infectiously ragged “Black and White”. True to its name, the video the band’s released for it is presented in grainy black and white footage. There are several pieces of what are designed to appear (and one that may actually be) found footage of pedestrians walking away from the camera that trails them on the New York street where vocalist Andrew Savage resides. By having their videos central figures firmly rooted in anonymity it nicely contrasts the fact that this was an in-house production; band members Austin Brown and Johann Rashid directed the clip. When the video finally reaches a conclusion, in an appropriate bit of subtle continuity, it winds up right where the video for “Sunbathing Animal” took place. Nice touch.

Watch “Black and White” below and take a long walk sometime soon (preferably while blaring Sunbathing Animal).

2 Comments

June 5, 2014

Watch This: Vol. 28

Getting Watch This back on pace, admittedly, has been a bit of a struggle. The reasons for this have been exhaustively detailed over the last few but it’s still gratifying to know that consistency is within reach. This will (hopefully) be the last delayed Watch This for quite some time, as it brings the series back to its normal rotation. The series wouldn’t be where it is without some astoundingly great live captures and performances, though, and this 28th installment is no exception. Ranging from old favorites to newcomers to an encore performance from the band that capped off Vol. 27 in a searing blaze, this entry just feels right. So, sit down, relax, take a bite of a vegan-friendly muffin, and Watch This.

1. Emilyn Brodsky – Someone Belongs Here (TCGS)

There are certain artists that can feel like a refreshing breeze rolling off some unnamed ocean and Emilyn Brodsky is one of them. Here, Brodsky takes her ukelele, considerable lyrical talents, and an enviably arresting voice to The Chris Gethard Show for a performance of “Someone Belongs Here”. Apart from not falling neatly into any genre, it’s a powerhouse performance that sees Brodsky adding emphatic exclamation points wherever possible. It’s a startling introduction to an artist that looks to be more than worth keeping up with.

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2. Vertical Scratchers – Break the Truth (The Mug and Brush Sessions)

2014’s only half over but it’s already packed quite a few pleasant surprises. One of the most notable was the duo Vertical Scratchers, who had an insanely strong pedigree and debuted a record full of gnarled powerpop jams (Daughter of Everything) on Merge. Here, they take to The Mug and Brush Sessions studio to play through a praiseworthy rendition of “Break the Truth”. It’s a great reminder of an astonishingly good record and showcases the band’s admirable chops in their respective roles, more than earning it a rightful spot on this installment of Watch This.

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3. The Orwells – Let It Burn (The Live Room)

Now that everyone’s had time to weigh in on Disgraceland, The Orwells’ latest full-length, the attention can be placed back on what they’re best at: performing. While there’s certainly an apathetic, lethargic, and almost nihilistic quality to the performance of “Let It Burn” here, it somehow feeds into the song and winds up making this whole thing almost terrifyingly bleak but utterly compelling. This is the best version of a paradox imaginable.

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4. Wish – Nothing to Say (Exclaim!)

Wish have been a fairly difficult band to find great performance footage of but, recently, Exclaim! made that much easier. Here the band showcases their own brand of post-punk and shoegaze marriage with “Nothing to Say”. It’s a fairly gorgeous clip and the band confidently strides their way through the song leaving little doubt that they’re worthy of the acclaim that will no doubt be coming their way.

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5. Big Ups (BreakThruRadioTV)

Yes, they get the 5 slot again. Why? Because these guys seriously aren’t fucking around.

3 Comments

June 1, 2014

Swearin’ – Live at Memorial Union Terrace – 5/30/14 (Pictorial Review, Video)

There are very few bands that will warrant the subversion of this site’s manifest. One of the rules that this place tends to hold sacred is that the music in question is more important than an individual reaction to it (this eliminates the assumptions involved in writing from a first person perspective). That said, there are a few bands that have managed to flip that script based on the sheer reverence their music has earned. Perfect Pussy and Tenement are the most notable to have it done it so far but today Swearin’ joins their ranks. There’s just something about the band that resonates with me on a really intense personal level. It’s at the point where it’s impossible to distance or separate myself from that reaction. Taking myself out of the equation would, in some way, feel more dishonest than just trying to get across how this band affects me personally- because any time that happens it’s worth dissolving barriers for.

Some exposition: What A Dump, the band’s first demo cassette, is one of my favorite releases of all time. There’s literally nothing in my fairly expansive library that comes even remotely close to matching it for number of plays at this point. Swearin’, the band’s first full-length, is in the top ten of that particular list as well. Despite this being the case, up until last Friday night, I’d never seen the band play live. So, when the opportunity to see the band play for free on a terrace overlooking Lake Mendota came, I dropped everything and jumped at the chance. By the end of that night my enthusiasm and affection for the band and its members had only grown more emphatic. An additional bonus was the fact that the show gave me a chance to finally catch Pretty Pretty live as well, who lived up to their strong early reputation.

Both bands played shortly after the sun finally set on Madison with Pretty Pretty giving a commanding performance that emphasized their strengths as a live act. The Columbus trio”s punk-tinged powerpop never got tiresome and their set only got more impassioned as it went on, gaining a startling momentum until it finally got to a place where the only thing left to do was call it quits for the evening and let Swearin’ take over. Swearin’, for their part, commanded the hell out of their sizeable audience (it’s nice to see free music outdoors on a perfect night proving to be as big of a draw as it’s ever been) and lived up to every ridiculous, lofty expectation I’d been forming for years. A lot of their songs are practically sacred to me at this point and they only grew more vital in the live setting. When their discography spanning set came to a close, strings had been broken, feelings had been poured out, notes had been missed, beer had flowed frrely, an infinite amount of mosquitoes had been swatted, and everyone was all smiles. From “Here to Hear” to “Crashing” to “Dust in the Gold Sack” to “What A Dump” to “Kill ‘Em With Kindness” there was never a moment that felt less than incendiary. My friend Justin summed the whole thing up aptly and admiringly with a simple “Fuckin’ Swearin'”. How right he is.

A video of Swearin’ kicking off their set with “Here to Hear” can be seen below. Below that video is an extensive image gallery of the show. Take a look at both, then make sure to catch them in person whenever they’re in town. It’ll be worth it.

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3 Comments

November 18, 2013

INTERVIEW: Meredith Graves (Perfect Pussy)

Photograph by Ben Cleeton

Perfect Pussy’s I have lost all desire for feeling is a release that feels genuinely important. When a band breaks through as early on as Perfect Pussy did, especially on their respective circuit, it’s a rarity. One of Heartbreaking Bravery’s first posts was on the demo (technically an EP), so it made sense to catch up with band leader Meredith Graves for Heartbreaking Bravery’s first interview piece.

After a few cancellations and some rescheduling on both ends, we finally found time to sit down for a chat. What followed was a conversation with a lot of revealing information, a lot of laughter, and a sense of strange elation. Graves proved to be an excitable motor-mouth, formulating her ideas internally and then taking off with her explanations, frequently cutting ideas off at the head head to add in new information. With this constant circling her ideas managed to be fleshed out in full, even if they were presented in a fragmented fashion.

Graves was in high spirits throughout, endlessly gracious and absolutely charming. Whenever her answers turned more personal she would clutch her outer lay of clothing just a little tighter. When she talked about her bandmates, even if she was upset with them, it was with a great sense of pride and companionship. Graves uses words like bad and bitch as terms of endearment. She frequently emphasizes words and turns statements into questions. She’s proud of her friends and despises her shortcomings. She thinks literally everyone is cute and that everyone is her friend. She self-identifies as both a reformed “bad boyfriend” and a “grown-ass man.” She’s exceedingly winsome and personable. Just don’t fall in love with her after knowing her for four days.

For all of this conversation, important Perfect Pussy release news, a small window into the things the vocalist enjoys and has to confront, take some time out and read the full interview below.

HB: Has the recent attention Perfect Pussy’s been receiving caught you off guard?

MG: (Confident) Yes. (Pauses, laughter) Oh, did you want more of an answer? Yes, it’s the weirdest fucking thing in the world. It’s so fucking weird. I, most of the time, can’t keep track of the fact that it’s real. I frequently forget. My day-to-day life is already really strange and I have kind of had a really interesting and peculiar. I’m perpetually entertained, like, whatever I’m doing I’m really doing it all the time. I’m a really intense person and I do a lot of weird shit. So, for me, my life was like “Oh my God, I have this weird job and I have all these weird friends and I do all this weird shit all the time and I’m constantly doing all this…” I’m really involved all the time, so my life was really intense already.

Then, all of a sudden, people care about my band and it’s really weird. So, a lot of the time, it’s just like another weird thing, you know? But this time, it’s particularly weird because I’ll be doing one weird thing, like, there was one day a few weeks ago where I had the day off from work but I ran into work to pick up a bunch of gowns that I had to sew zippers into because I’m a seamstress. I had to go pick up these dresses that I had to put these zippers into and I ended up at this thrift store and I got this couch and I was on my way to a restaurant opening for a restaurant that I was helping open and then I got the call that my Pitchfork interview went up and I was just like (jaw drops, expression turns stunned) “this is real life.” Every once in a while, I just have to look at myself and what I’m doing and be like (pauses, expression turns stunned again) “how?!”, you know? So, yes, it’s fucking weird. I don’t trust it, I don’t trust it all. It happened so suddenly that it could easily go away just as fast. Yes, it’s really fun and I haven’t said that yet. It’s the coolest thing that’s ever happened to me and I’m so grateful because it’s just one of those experiences that I’m going to have that a lot of other people are never going to get to have so I’m trying to really appreciate it in a very full and true sense… but it is fucking weird (laughter). I hope that’s the right answer? It’s weird!

HB: Perfect Pussy seems to fall in line nicely with where Shoppers left off. Where do the two bands differ in approach?

MG: They are totally different. None of the same people except me are in either band. Shoppers was the first band I wasn’t playing drums in. I played drums when I was in high school, like, a little. So, I was drumming in surf rock bands and then I was playing music for myself for a really long time, making and recording sort of folk-jazz music a lot when I was in college and when I was travelling. Then I was in Shoppers because I was dating someone that was in bands and was really, really, really involved in the hardcore scene and he met me and he hated the acoustic music I was making- but then he found out about all the music that I listened to and was like, “Wait, why aren’t you in hardcore bands?” and I never really felt like I could.So, Shoppers was the band that actually got me to realize that I could play the music I listened to. I had loved hardcore and grown up listening to punk and hardcore and I’d been going to shows since I was 13 and playing in bands since high school and whatever- but I had never done a real hardcore band where I was writing music. So I said to myself “Yeah, I’m gonna try” for this guy and for our friends, even if we just do it for fun. So that band, since I had never played hardcore before, was me taking a guitar and trying to write hardcore songs and what came out wasn’t what I had really originally intended but that band was still really interesting to be in.

The thing about that band is that it ended up being an extremely unhealthy emotional situation for me. I was in a relationship with the drummer of that band and he was… I was really fucked up. I was smoking a lot of pot and I was drinking a lot and I was kind of a bitch but he’s insane and a real trashy dude and we ended up having a really bad relationship.When our relationship broke up, thank Christ, the band broke up. So, the biggest difference for me, between the two bands that I’ve done, is that this band is an extremely healthy emotional environment for me. This is a band that I’m in with four very, very, very good friends of mine. One of the people in my band is my best friend, my best best friend. So, I’m in a band right now with my best friend and three other really close friends of mine. It’s a very supportive and healthy environment where they encourage- they’ve never told me not to do something- where, as in Shoppers, there was this very restrictive quality. It was like: We need to be a hardcore band and we need to be perceived as a hardcore band and we can only play with other hardcore bands and if you do this or if you wear this or if you act this way or if you continue doing this then that’s fucked up and no one’s gonna think we’re punk. So it was like, Okay, well, that’s nice, whatever, that’s nice, dear.

So doing this band it was really this exercise in ‘how free can we be?’ A bunch of people who came from other scenes and who were coming from- well, okay, so there’s this idea that I really like that I heard a few years ago and ever since then, I’ve really been taking it to heart and keeping it in mind as sort of a practice, and that is that you are the composite image of the five people you spend the most time with. The five people you spend the most time with? That’s who you are. If you take the five people you’re around most, and it doesn’t matter if it’s your fucking boss, if it’s your friends, if it’s your mom, no matter who it is, whether you like them or not, you’re a composite of the five people you spend the most time with. It’s always true, at least for me, I mean, when I do the math and average it out, that’s true. There have been times in my life where I’ve been surrounded by some extremely unhealthy people and that was what made me who I was then. Right now, being in this band, I’m surrounded by some extremely secure, happy, excellent, upright, moral, talented, fucking creative, dope dudes (laughter).

So, when I go to practice- like I just got a call- we’re having practice at three o’clock! And I’m like, this is my first day off in a week and I was really into this folding laundry thing that I was doing but now I’m like “I get to go to practice! Do you know what that means? That means I get to scream and that means I get to eat tacos with my friends.” So, that’s the difference between that band and this band. That band we would get home from tour and I would stay in bed for a fucking week because I would be so depressed and this band I’m like “I’m gonna ride my bike to practice and eat fucking tacos! It’s gonna be awesome!” I’m constantly excited about being in this band, everything I do with this band is really fun. It’s an emotional difference between the two bands, it’s not like a visceral, physical, palpable difference because it’s still me and I only know how to be one way. I’m not different. This band is fun, that’s what’s different.

HB: Both Shoppers and Perfect Pussy both utilized very lo-fi recordings. Was that decision an aesthetic one or was it something born out of necessity?

MG: Cheap recordings, sludgy guitar tones, you know? We’re all from the same city and sometimes cities get a sound. There’s something to be said for exhibiting the aesthetic and audio qualities that come from where you are. There’s something about sounding like home that you can’t really avoid. The story of Syracuse hardcore for the last X amount of years has been this really grimy unintelligible crapfest. Some people took it to that mysterious guy hardcore thing and that was just not for me. The thing with me is that I don’t like my voice. I like singing in bands because it’s fun and it feels good but I don’t really like the way I sound. So, the burying of my voice on both records is a really- I am the worst bitch when I’m in a mixing situation because I’m always like “drop me, drop me, drop me, drop me, drop me, I don’t want to hear me in the mix, I don’t want to hear me, bury me in the mix, bury it, bury it, bury it.” So the only reason is sounds anything alike is because I’m the HBIC and I’m at the soundboard saying “turn it down, turn it down, make me sound worse, make me sound like shit, bury me, bury me” because I don’t want to hear myself. So, that’s that.

HB: Over the past few years, your songs have been titled with Roman Numerals. What’s the reason behind that?

MG: It’s not intentional, everybody asks me that, I just don’t like coming up with titles for songs. Plus, especially in this band- so, all the Perfect Pussy songs have names. Greg was rushing to get the tapes out because we hadn’t done shit as a band, like, we hadn’t done anything. So he’s like “Okay, we’ve been sitting on this tape forever and we need to just put it out.” So, he kind of just went ahead and did it when I hadn’t come up with all the titles for the songs yet and automatically everyone associated it with Shoppers. With Shoppers it was actually conscious, in Shoppers I didn’t want to fuck with it- but most of the songs have names and on the record we’re about to start recording all the songs have names.

But, get this, so I go so far as to come up with names for all the songs and at practice we’ll work on a new song, I’ll show up, I’ll have my lyrics, everything will be cool, we’ll do it and I’ll be like “this song is called this“, like we have a song called “Bells” and I’ll be like, okay, this song is going to be on the setlist as “Bells”, don’t forget that, this is what the song is about, this is what it’s like. We’ll be at practice and I’ll say “What are we going to do next? Wanna play Bells?” Ten seconds of- I’ll look around the room and all of the boys are like (expression goes blank), just frozen with panic. Then someone will be like “Oh, is that the one that starts with the really thrashy part? Oh, that’s the third song. Okay.” Then I’ll just be like “I go to these lengths for you and you do nothing for me”, like, c’mon, I’m naming the fucking songs so we don’t play these games all the time and you guys can’t even remember what the fucking songs are called. So, whatever, that’s what I’m up against. That’s why I do the roman numeral things because everyone in the band’s a fucking idiot (laughter). We know what we’re playing maybe a third of the time, like, maybe a third of the time we do.

HB: Do you have any plans for an LP?

MG: Yeah. We’re gonna start recording on Tuesday. Everything is written now, so… Yeah, I’m really nervous (laughter). I’m really excited but I’m really scared too. It’s weird… it’s different. I’m really proud of it, though. I’m proud of just being- I would be proud of any band I was in with my friends. I’m just happy we’re doing it, you know? It’s going to be good to me no matter if it sounds like shit or not. I’m not worried- but I am- but I’m not (laughter). …but I am. I don’t get worried, I don’t get worried anymore and I don’t get sad. I used to be really emotionally erratic and then I realized a few months ago that usually when that happens I’m just hungry (laughter). So, I just need to eat a lot and then I don’t get depressed, ever.

HB: Do you think part of the reason you tend to bury your vocals in the mix is the extremely personal nature of the lyrics?

MG: No, not at all. Ever since I was a little kid I’ve constantly gotten in trouble for talking too much and for not ever saying the thing that I’m supposed to say. Oh, hold on, you’re not going to believe this… (pauses to take a brief call from her father, checking up on a license plate registration issue). So, okay, you asked about personal. It’s funny that we were talking about that and my dad just called. Ever since I was a kid, like I said, I’ve gotten in trouble for being a loud-mouthed bitch and being willing- not willing to say the thing’s that no one else wants to say, because that makes me sound like I’m a rebel and it’s conscious- it’s more like shit just comes out of my mouth and I have no filter because I’m usually so over-excited. If I didn’t know better I’d think I had ADD and I don’t because I’m actually capable of this incredible clarity of mind and focus when it comes down to like- I could work really, really well in a factory on an assembly line because if you ask me to put my mind to one task that’s like sorting out the blue M&M’s from the red M&M’s, I will do it for 18 fucking hours. I will not sleep. Like sewing, that’s why I’m such a good seamstress is because you rip a foot of sequins off a dress and I sit there and I just do it for hours. I’m capable of this incredible focus- but most of the time, especially when I’m talking to people, shit just comes out of my mouth. I have no idea, no idea what I’m saying.

So, I’ve been doing these interviews lately because the band has been getting bigger and, of course, just because people are paying attention to my band doesn’t mean that I’m any different than I was three months ago. So, people will ask me shit, they’ll ask me pretty open-ended questions about “What’s the scene like in Syracuse?” and I’ll be like “FUCK EVERYBODY! THEY’RE ALL BALL SACKS! Fuck this guy, fuck that guy, fuck you, this guy sucks, fuck him, she’s a cunt, fuck YOU.” and I probably shouldn’t be saying shit like that anymore but at the same time I’m no different than I was.

So, when I get up on stage and I’m singing about personal stuff and really, what it amounts to, is a big flowery dance around “fuck that guy”, I don’t care. What are you gonna do, punch me? I will say whatever I want.So, now I’m having this problem in interviews where I will say “fuck you, you’re a cunt- that guy, this guy” and my dad called me (laughter). He was like, “Yo, can you do me a favor?” and my dad’s an old punk, he’s the smartest guy you’ll ever meet in your life, so there’s nothing in the world that I can say that will actually piss my dad off but he read my Pitchfork interview and he’s like “just to save me from your mother, can you not say ‘blowjob’ in an interview ever again?” I thought about it for a minute, then I’m like, “Dad, I am a grown-ass man and if I want to say blowjob in an interview, I’m going to say blowjob. I’m sorry, I’m gonna say a lot of nice things too, I’m gonna say some mean things, and maybe I’m gonna say some rude words, but this is what I’m doing right now so you just don’t read them, okay?” He was just like “Oh my God, blowjob, who says that?” So, no, I don’t have any interest in burying my voice because of what I’m saying. I am perfectly willing to say whatever. I’m not very easily embarrassed and I don’t get stage fright… ever. Any sort of nervousness I have is a deep inner personal nervousness, it doesn’t have to do with performing and it doesn’t have to do with what I’m saying and if I write it, then I must be okay with saying it. It’s actually like the quality of my voice, like, the sound of my own voice drives me nuts. Have you ever listened to your own voicemail on your fucking cell phone? It’s the same thing! If you played me this video back after you recorded it, I’d be like “Oh my God, I have to turn this off.” I can’t stand the sound of my own voice. I think most people are like that, you know? It’s like how you don’t like seeing pictures of yourself. To a point you just have to get over it.

HB: So it’s easier for you to draw from personal experience for your lyrics rather than just creating something?

MG: Yeah, with Shoppers I was a little more creative and a lot of what I wrote was more scene-based. I think a lot in terms of films because I’ve always really been into movies and shit, so I think about setting a scene and what the characters are doing and how they’d interact and I used to be able to use that to tell a message but with this band it’s really mantra-based and it’s really personal and it’s very derivative from my personal experience because I want to sing about politics. I want to keep being a politically-minded person and I want to engage with my sense of personal politics in what I’m doing creatively, especially if people are actually paying attention, and give voice to some ideas people may not have considered previously- but this band? I try to refuse to speak to other people’s personal experiences, so, yeah, it is kind of me singing about everyone I think is a dick.

That’s kind of what it is- or stuff I think is a dick also falls under that umbrella, like, stuff that sucks and is dumb, yeah. And happy things, sometimes I sing about nice things so there’s a couple songs on the new record that are about nice things.There’s a song that’s about fucking and I hadn’t done that yet.There’s a song about my ex-boyfriend, who I really like. I have this ex-boyfriend who I recently, recently broke up with just a few months ago and I have never had a good relationship in my life. I’ve dated a lot of extremely shitty people and I’ve been extremely shitty to a lot of people. I was a fucking bad boyfriend for a long time. I was shitty. I cheated on people. I would cheat on everyone I was ever with and I was a fucking liar and I was just insane for a really long time.

I almost didn’t trust myself to have normal relationships because people had been shitty to me for so long. So, this is the first relationship where I was just like “Oh my God, I’ve gotta man up and be cool and then maybe I’ll learn something” and I had this really intense relationship with this really cool guy for like a year and by the time we broke up we were both pretty bummed out about the way things were going but we felt so strongly about each other that we almost stayed together and we broke up for a good few months. We just started talking again, like, trying to hang out as friends so it’s a weird situation, but I wrote this song and it’s gonna be on the record, about- well, it’s basically just a really nice break-up song. Kind of like, “thank you for breaking up with me”, you know, “thank you for breaking up with me when I started to be shitty instead of waiting until things started getting really bad and awful like other shitty relationships”, you know? It’s a really grateful song. So, some things are good… sometimes things are good.Then there’s a song about not judging people for the ways that they want to have sex, that’s cool. That’s a cool song that we’re working on. Then there is a song about stuff that sucks that’s already done, for the record. There’s a song about why dating really sucks and how if you’re kind of weird, if you’re not- how do you put this without sounding like an asshole? It’s the idea that if you’re weird or you’re kind of crazy and you bounce off the walls and you don’t really care what people think of you and you’re willing to live in a way that kind of goes against the grain of what people want you to do, that you will be a target for certain types of people whose lives were very boring and are just like “Oh, you beautiful incredible flower, please fix my boring life!” and how people will fall in love with you after like a week. They’ll just be like “you changed my life, why don’t you wanna fuck me?!” You just have to be like “Because I’m… busy! Clipping my toenails! In the other room! Gotta go!” I’m a really unstable person, like, I’m happier right now than I’ve ever been but I am extremely unstable and I have only been good for a year and a half and I don’t know how long it’s gonna hold. I’m constantly waiting for the next thing to happen that’s going to send me spiraling back into bed.

Every day of my life is this constant push against the big bullshit sadness. So, when people come to me and they’re like, “you’re wonderful!” It’s like “No! No, I suck!” and fundamentally I’m extremely depressed and a really not nice person and I fuck with people and I’m mean. I yelled at my managed at work last night and I called her a ball sack and I told her that she was a joke… I don’t want to be that person anymore because sometimes I can be a total bitch and when people fall in love with you and try to tell you you’re so great and you’re this, and you’re that, and you’re that flower, it’s like “No man, you’ve never seen me without makeup on and I just called someone a ball sack! You don’t even know!” So I wrote a song about that, about how lame it is that over the course of my life so many people have vilified me for not wanting to fuck them when they feel like they’ve been so generous by falling in love with me after knowing them for four days. I’ve always had that frustration, that I can’t date normal people because the only people that are attracted to me are those people.

So, finally, after 27 years, wrote a song about that. It’s only been happening to me since I was fucking 12 and now comes this outpouring of feelings.So I think it’s a ratio, I think it’s a ratio of personal stuff that’s good and personal stuff that sucks. I’m never going to run out of stuff to talk about because people are always going to be crazy and, more important, I’m always going to be crazy. So, I’m never going to run out of stuff. Never… never.

HB: It seems like a mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship.

MG: Yeah, I’m like a leech. I’m like a leech on a dog’s back. Everyone is the dog. I’m just there.

HB: Do you have any sort of timetable for the upcoming LP? Have you received any interest from labels for its release?

MG: We’re talking to a few labels, which is really weird and I’m not really so sure how I feel about it- but the record’s gonna be recorded in just a couple weeks. Then, I guess if we don’t wanna go through a label, we can just give it to whoever the fuck we want in whatever format we want. I mean, we have friends that will go in on the record. We had this plan to put this record out as a collective entity. We’re like, you know, if the label’s interested in putting out the record, they can put in money. They can say “Okay, we believe in this record for- ten dollars!” and we’re like “thank you for your ten dollars, for your ten dollar gift you can be ten dollars worth of this record” and then we put in whatever we have and our friends who have labels. We’d basically be putting it out ourselves, not under a label, and if you gave us money towards the record, it bought you a certain percentage of the record to turn on your own and you can say “I helped release this.” If you owned a record store and you wanted to put in however much money, you get a certain amount of copies. You just basically bought the record in advance and what you get is copies of it if you somehow believe in it and what to distribute it or whatever. That seemed like the most logical thing to do and then… the maelstrom began.

We started to get coverage and labels started offering us money and that money- Okay, so there’s a ten year age gap in the band and I am smack-ass in the middle. There’s two people who are older than me and two people younger than me and they’re about five years older and five years younger on either end, so I’m the middle. I’m Malcom in the fucking middle here. So, most of us on the older end have been doing this for a minimum of ten years and we’ve been doing it like it’s our fucking life. Then us on the younger end- I’m definitely in both groups, I feel myself bouncing back and forth all the time- the younger kids still have a lot of energy and they’re still new enough to it that they just kinda wanna go, go, go all the time. The happy medium for us is that the labels that are interested- It’s not fucking Island Def Jam, I’m not gonna do an album with Timbaland anytime soon- the money is not Pimp My Crib money, it’s not that. It’s money that will help us fix our van and it’s money that means that we can put out 2,000 of this record instead of 500. It’s money that will let us do things on a scale that’s just big enough that we can take our younger members and whisk them off to see California, which is our plan, and we can take our older members and say “Okay, you’ve been working your ass off for fifteen years and this money means we can go on tour for the next six months.”

If you’re in your late twenties to early thirties and you’re still playing hardcore and you’re playing it with any sort of devotion, the likelihood is that you work a minimum wage job that is below your level of intellect because those are the only jobs that A) you can eventually quit and find another one if you have to and B) will afford you the time off, because a lot of people in those situations are creative and crazy.Every single person in our band works for a local small business in our hometown of Syracuse. Three of us work within eye-line of each other. My store is directly across the street from the restaurant where Ray works and directly across the street from the restaurant where Greg works.

At any point during the day, the three of us can walk to the sidewalk and yell to each other from across the street. We see each other- our community is this big- and we see each other all day, every day. Our bosses can call each other and be like “Hey, how do you feel about the fact that they’re going on tour?” It is so weird and so small. So, for us to actually have labels approaching us, it’s an honor because for Greg and for Shaun and I- Shaun is a little different because he’s a professional tour manager and sound guy, so he actually tours most of the year. Which is why so many people think we’re a four piece. It’s because Shaun’s never around, he’s always on tour with these other bands that he’s working with but he also records our records. He actually recorded the last Shoppers 7″. He’s recorded most of Greg’s bands. I believed he recorded the Sswampzz tape, which was Ray and Garrett’s band prior to this one. He’s a little different because he tours year round but for Greg and I, who have been doing this for upwards of ten years, for us it’s like “Oh my God, if people care about this band enough to give us money, it means that we can, for the first time ever, actually be in a band.” It’s amazing. It’s amazing the idea that I can just- okay, so I love my job but I hate it right now, like, I’m just exhausted and some of the people I work with are just really mean to me, so for me, it’s like I really, really, really just need a break from my job because I work so much. This band is going to be a fucking vacation. It’s going to be like going to DisneyWorld for me.

So, if someone wants to give us a little bit of money to help us put out more records and go on tour so we can actually do what we like, then yeah. At the same time, it’s this big stupid game and it’s really not fun to deal with the industry stuff and it’s not fun to have to think about press releases or working with people who are all industry-minded and shit. It’s a very new world for me. It’s a constant battle. I never know what’s right. I’m kind of just going with my gut. It’s a weird feeling. It’s a very weird feeling.

HB: Does all of this attention meant that Sswampzz is done?

MG: One of the guys in Sswampzz lives in Brooklyn now. We sleep in his apartment when we’re in New York. He’s awesome. If you look at the Pitchfork video– Pitchfork put up a really awful video of us. It’s a cool video, it looks beautiful, but we sound like shit. In that shitty shitty video, you can see him in the crowd. He looks like a supermodel. He has long black hair, his name is Ricky. He’s the other guy in Sswampzz. I don’t think they’re done because that band could never really be done. Ray, Ricky, and Garrett are all best friends, so there’s no point to having that band be done or gone. Once in a while I know they still play. I think for now- because I’m taking Garrett and Ray and I’m taking them to California for Christmas, come hell or high water- yeah, they’re done for now- but I want Ricky to come to Syracuse and play some shows because when Sswampzz were around, they were the most interesting band in Syracuse. Nobody gave a shit about them because they weren’t part of that dominant hardcore scene that I was talking about, they were from the fringes of the college community so nobody gave a shit about them and they were fucking awesome. They put out a tape called “Sleeper” and it’s fucking good. It is really good.

HB: On their bandcamp page, the tapes for “Sleeper” are almost sold out…

MG: That’s another thing we want to do when we get our shit together as a band is start putting out music. Just in our group of the people that do Pussy, we have people that do print-making, we have people that do graphic designing, we have recording engineers, we have people who have put out records for years. So, if we have our friends bands and we wanted to start releasing their music, that’s something we could realistically do. One thing I would be interested in doing is putting out the Sswampzz tape on a 7″ or something like that because I think that’s a band that’s definitely worth hearing and I’m hoping that if we even get a tiny little bit of press, that people will find Sswampzz through us because that tape kicks ass. It kicks much ass.

HB: What are the current tour plans?

MG: We’re touring all of December, we’re gonna be gone. We’re actually finishing editing a music video right now. We had friends who were like “We wanna make a music video!” We were like “That’s so weird, let’s do it, whatever.” So, we made this music video a few weeks ago and a very good new friend of mine- I have this new friend, who’s amazing, he’s so rad, he lives in New York- he’s editing it right now. It’s been complicated. It’s been weird because I’m super picky and I’m kind of being a bitch but, you know, we just want what we want. Why would you ever put something out into the world that you weren’t satisfied with, you know? So, we’re finishing the editing process and we’re going to put that online with the finalized tour dates and maybe an announcement about the label that we might be working with. If everything comes to pass, then all three of those things will be coming out at the same time- but we’re finalizing the tour dates today, that, at least, will be available soon.

Then, hopefully, if that tour goes well, which it will. Definitely will! Then when we get back in January, we’ll be going to the Midwest because we’re not really hitting the Midwest the first go, we’re gonna go South and then through Texas then up through Southern California and then back down the other way. I don’t know if you know anything about Syracuse but it is BALLS cold. It’s already, like, fucking negative 19 out there. So, I want to go to Texas! I want to go to California! I don’t want to be here so we are leaving. Then we’ll do the Midwest in January after the maelstrom of snow hits up here and then in the spring the plan is to maybe go overseas, which is already being talked about, so, I’m really excited because that’s cool.

HB: While I have you here are there are any other bands you’ve been really into lately and want to mention?

MG: I have a lot of other bands that I really like and if you’re going to let me name drop a lot of bands that I like then this is really cool. Greg, our bass player, who is also my best friend, is in a band called SoreXcuse and they are awesome. Jess, the singer of that band, is a bad bitch, she is so cool. So, I think SoreXcuse is another really cool band and they’re nothing like us, they’re super grindcore, super violent power violence. They are rad and they are really great and that’s really important. Then Greg is doing, and I promise I’m not going to just talk about bands that we’re doing, but Greg is doing a rock n’ roll band called (laughing) Beer Headquarters, which is a really long story. There’s this store over by Greg’s house that has a big sign out front that says “You’re Beer Headquarters”, with the o-u-apostrophe-r-e spelling, so it’s “you’re beer headquarters!” “No, you’re beer headquarters!” So he started this band called Beer Headquarters and Greg doesn’t drink, is the thing, so he’s got this empty beer and he’s Motley Crue-ing and grabbing his crotch and being disgusting (still laughing). So, that’s a new band with a couple friends of ours. I’m crying, I’m laughing so hard, I haven’t heard them yet but watch out for Beer Headquarters in 2014.

I’m actually doing another band. I have a couple of bands that I’m working on. One, if it comes to pass, and I don’t want it to be a thing because it’s not even a thing yet- but I think I’m doing another band with Kerry, who played bass in Shoppers. I think she’s moving back to Syracuse from Brooklyn and I think we’re gonna do a shoegaze band, so I’m really excited about that. Then, my little brother is a musician, I have a younger brother who is a shut-in, he never leaves his house because of a host of different conditions. He’s the smartest, coolest guy you will ever meet in your entire life and we are thinking about doing a pop record together. He makes beats, he DJ’s in his room. So, I think I’m going to let him make some beats for me and then we’re going to make some pop music because he can sing. So, that might be really fun.

Other bands that I really like right now- and I can kind of guess how you’re going to feel about this- but I think Tenement is the best band that has ever existed. I am obsessed with Tenement. I have said this to a million people. I think they are the best band ever. I know both of their big records by heart. Shoppers has played with them, now Pussy has played with them once, and every time I see them, I know I completely overwhelm them by trying to engulf them with hugs and praise. I’m pretty sure everyone in that band thinks I’m insane and doesn’t want me anywhere around them but I think they are the coolest band in America. I love Tenement. I really love Merchandise. Merchandise is an amazing band and very nice people as well, but mostly an amazing band. I like Big Eyes and I didn’t for a long time. When I heard them for the first time I thought they were piss-ass obnoxious and it really took that Back from the Moon 7″– and I heard that- it blew my mind. I was just, totally into it. I just got a copy of their record, their full-length from a couple years ago and I think it’s great, I think it’s great. I’m really into Big Eyes right now.

My problem is, I listen to a lot of very old music. Most of the music I listen to was made a very long time ago so I don’t really have reference points. So, in terms of what I’m listening to right now, I’m really listening to a lot of Sugarcubes. I really like Sugarcubes, which is that band that Bjork was in, in the early 80’s and I really like them. I really like, this is another current band that I can talk about, I love Joanna Gruesome. Have you heard Joanna Gruesome? They are fucking awesome, we played shows with them at CMJ and (gets excited, gasps) It’s on the books, I can say this now, I forgot! We are doing a split 7″ with Joanna Gruesome. Yes. We Are. I’m really excited about it because, you should’ve seen it, we were all in the same room and we were just like (gives a quizzical glance and point gesture). You have to admit, I mean, I wish I was as pretty as she was but we look a lot alike. We have short black hair and nose rings and we are the same height and we dress the same and we’re in the same room. So, it’s us and four boys and we’re just like (mimes hair, mimes nose ring, laughs), like, it’s weird! And we sound nothing alike, which is the best part but you can see how it gets a little funny at times. So, I love that band and I think when they come to the US next summer, we’re going to try to book a tour for them and do some shows. I think when we go to the UK next year, which is one of the places we’re planning on going, that we are going to do shows with them there. Hopefully. Hopefully, if they like us. For right now, it is like meeting a girl on the internet. It’s like “Yeah, we’ll definitely meet someday..” then, I don’t know. We are doing a split. I will say that much. I’ll say that because I want it to happen so bad. So, I really love Joanna Gruesome. I give so much of a fuck about Joanna Gruesome.

What else do I like right now? Actually, after our first show of CMJ at The Flat, which we played with Tweens, who is another band worth mentioning, talking about. Like I said, I’m really into pop stuff right now which isn’t usually how I am. Tweens is bitchin’ and LODRO, from Brooklyn, LODRO is very good. The lead singer of LODRO, Leslie, is one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen in my entire life and I talked to her outside a show. I was sober and it seemed like she may have had a couple beers and she was just complaining stuff, like expounding, and she is SO smart and the whole time I was just staring at her, I felt really stupid. The whole time I was just like “Oh my God, there’s a girl talking to me, g’duh.” After our first show of CMJ, which we played with Tweens and LODRO- and Total Slacker, who are amazing, also. Total Slacker’s really fucking good and Tassy’s such a nice guy. He’s fucking cool. He’s loaned me a lot of equipment when mine’s been broken. He is a nice fucking guy.

We played an afterparty, we didn’t play an afterparty we went to DJ an afterparty- so I’m very small town. I’m from a little city and I’ve lived on farms when I was in college and shit- so the Brooklyn thing, it’s not for me, it’s very not me- but I know what I think Brooklyn is. So, to be taken to a warehouse where there’s a lot of people doing hard drugs and DJ’s and shit and there’s a secret party, that’s what I imagine Brooklyn to be like. So it was surreal to actually go to that place that I’d never been to and there was a rapper who performed at this party who goes by Weekend Money. Weekend Money. He just did a single with that guy, Heems, who used to be in Das Racist, called “Yellow”. He didn’t premiere the song at that party, they’d been doing it for a while, but he was talking about how the video was just about to come out and now there’s a video on YouTube. It’s really fun. He’s extremely attractive, he’s a ridiculously good-looking man. He just got up on a chair, at this party, so he was just slightly above the crowd and he had his DJ playing behind him and he just went for 20-25 minutes. Everyone at the party was on drugs and they were dancing and shit and I think I’d had two beers and I was standing there, in awe, the entire time. It was so fucking cool. So, Weekend Money, he is from Brooklyn too, he is so great and a fucking babe. He’s a fucking super babe. Will that make it into print? Maybe he will let me look at him from a distance again sometime. Because… he hot. He’s hot. I’m like a big pervert but he’s hot, he’s really hot, so… I’m mostly concerned about how many people in a band I like are attractive. You have to be really cute- but the secret is that I think literally everyone is cute, so, I have a crush on everyone. Most people are cute.

Other bands I like? I could talk forever and ever. Permanent Ruin is great. Jail Solidarity is great, from DC. Sarongs was really great, they’re not really doing so much anymore. Sarongs was a band from Syracuse that, again, no one gave a fuck about and then someone in Greece just re-released their tape. I don’t even have a copy yet but Lindsey, who is one of the greatest people on the planet, writes for Vice now. She did a big interview with us that hasn’t gone up to print yet but she was the only person so far that’s gotten me to talk about extremely vulnerable and personal stuff. Having a friend that is on that level with me, who can talk about politics in the same way that I can because we have a similar frame of mind, and sing in this amazing band? So, there’s gonna be a reissue of the Sarongs tape on a label from Greece and that is very cool. That is very, very cool.

I like a lot of bands. Warthog is good! I like Warthog. Warthog is really good, I’m going to go see them tomorrow. Warthog is good, they’re very tough. They’re a tough band. They are tough guys, mean guys. I could go on literally forever. All I ever think about is bands and music and music and bands and bands and music. You would seriously have to get me talking about food in order to derail me from that because I fucking love food. I will talk about food, I will talk about cats, I will talk about people I have a crush on, I will talk about Magic: The Gathering, I will talk about paintings and outfits and those are all the things I like. Those are things I can talk about- but mostly bands. A lot of those bands I was introduced to when Shoppers were touring. Of course, it’s one thing to be like “I know people in this and this and this band and therefore I am cool.” In this case, it’s more like “I got to meet this person and they’re in the best band ever and I just really like them!”

So, functionally speaking- and I say this all the time and people really don’t believe me- just because I talk a lot, just because… I’m whatever- people don’t get that I’m actually really, really, really shy. I can talk forever about bands, about paintings, about food, about whatever, stuff I feel like people already know about myself? I can talk forever. When it comes down to my real feelings and how I am as a person, I am extremely shy. So, when it comes down to meeting people that I really admire or meeting people that make art that I really art and I really respect, I’m paralyzed. Paralyzed with fear, constantly. Paralyzed. Talking to people one-on-one? Scariest thing in the world to me. I can get on stage in front of 500 people and grab my crotch and scream until I puke and I literally don’t think. It doesn’t matter to me. It doesn’t affect me. I just do what I do and then I get offstage. If I was good at welding, I wouldn’t get nervous about welding. I don’t get nervous when I’m sewing. I don’t get nervous when I’m on the phone at work- so why would I get nervous on stage in front of 500 people? It’s just another thing I do. That doesn’t freak me out at all. Like in interviews, if people want to ask me a question, I’d be happy to answer your question. If anybody wants to talk to me, that’s a really nice thing. If somebody cares enough about that, of course I’ll sit here and talk to you for… 50 minutes and three seconds. That’s not hard for me, I can talk, I can talk just fine. Talking is one thing. Conversation? Getting to know someone? Developing a sense of intimacy? That’s totally different. That, to me, is balls terrifying.

So, when people are in good bands, I’m just like “l’guh, I can’t make sense of you, sorry.” It’s scary. It’s super scary. Oh well. You can’t be scared forever, eventually you have to start making friends or else you’re going to be bored. I just try to be friendly. I’m only one way. I’m only this way and I know there’s a good percentage of people that really like me and a lot of people that really think I suck. I’m just going to continue being who I am and trying my hardest to relate to people. I try to be a good friend and to be honest all the time and that’s what I’m gonna do and hopefully it works for me. That’s the best you can do, you know? That is the best you can do.

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Tag: New York City