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Trippple Nippples

Wednesday, January 11th, 2012

Tripple Nipples is dressed and ready to hit the world stage, watch out for the flying chunks of hot dog

Words: Sasha Hecht
Photos: Rafael Rios

As unfortunate and unfair as it may be, in the Western world, contemporary Asian culture is often viewed as little more than a grab bag of cutesy quirks and WTFs. Think the immaculately groomed K-pop boy toy superstars that put the Biebs to shame; the school girls decked out in Hello Kitty packs, pleated skirts, and peace fingers; and the controversial fetishization of Gwen Stefani’s Harajuku Girls. But there’s a Godzilla tearing through Tokyo’s music scene—a three-headed, cloth diaper-wearing, hot dog-spewing behemoth. It’s a force to be reckoned with, a force to be taken seriously, and its name is Trippple Nippples.

Unsurprisingly, the story behind Trippple Nippple’s inception is something of a puzzler. Yuka Nippple, Qrea Nippple, and Nabe Nippple—frontwomen of the eponymously-named project (for some reason, we doubt these are the names that appear on their birth certificates)—are all “kind of step-sisters,” while Joseph Lamont, James Masheder, and Elliott Hasiuk—the group’s instrumentalists and testosterone trio—are all step-cousins. Oh, and Yuka and Elliott’s grandparents might have had a threesome or something like that.

The Trippp Nippps ladies met as teens and quickly went about hashing out their shared dream of making it as musicians. Though each Nippple brought to the table a wide breadth of influences, the trio decidedly sunk their claws into one particular inspiration. “We wanted to become Destiny’s Child.” Can you blame them? “But it didn’t turn out that way.”

Anyone who has seen Trippple Nippples in action or has listened to more than four seconds of any track on their Soundcloud will agree resoundingly with this statement, but what did result from the teaming together of these petite firestarters is something more heart-pounding than “Independent Women” ever was (forgive us, B. Congrats on Purple Fern!). To call Trippple Nippples “noise pop” would be to understate this jaw-dropping, head-spinning, Tazmanian devil of a band. Trippple Nipples is, as they’ve been called by music blog Too Many Sebastians, “brain-damage pop.” Trippple Nippples will make your eardrums burst and the capillaries in your eyes pop. But what really hooks Trip Nips fans is that they’re fun.

Where Trippple Nippples really comes alive is onstage; come for the music, stay for the performance art/DIY fashion/all-around shitshow. Without giving too much away (the oh-my-god-I-can’t-believe-I’m-watching-this factor is really something to savor), the 45 minutes or so following the band’s emergence onto the stage is a whirlwind of noise, limbs, hair, and unadulterated energy. Tonight, at Glasslands in Brooklyn, the ladies are wearing fabric pinned into makeshift diapers, nipple (rather, “nippple”) tape, and woven fabric headdresses, while the men sport togas and something that looks like a hedgehog strapped to their foreheads. Everyone is wearing facepaint, because why the hell not. The Nippples girls don a new anomalous ensemble at almost every show, most likely because anything within their proximity gets destroyed (yes, we once witnessed them actually dance a diaper off) or otherwise soiled. While burning through outfits could easily rack up costs (a cancer for almost any struggling independent artists), the Nippples girls have creatively subverted their financial woes and tactfully played into their inner recessionistas. “We are very poor—we can’t even afford to get material—so we go to the dollar shop. [What we’re wearing tonight] is actually a mat for a kitchen sink. We ripped it and then we weaved it together. It ended up costing about three dollars.” Where they get the inspiration for these outfits that looked like they were designed after accidentally reaching for Nyquil in the morning, we can’t be sure, but maybe a foray into their newest track “LSD” might crop up some answers.

Much like the vision behind their style, questions about the philosophy behind any of their creative work are met with similarly enigmatic responses: giggles, sideways glances, and more giggles. Sure, part of this is probably to do with the language barrier and the intrinsic silliness of piling nine people into a storage closet of a music venue for an interview to avoid noise pollution from the set in progress, but maybe it’s also because there is no grand “philosophy.” Maybe the presumptuous “artist’s statement” we’ve come to expect, isn’t present here. Maybe Trippple Nippples is just about wearing crazy outfits, playing loud music, and having an amazing time. It’s pretty rare that we come across a band whose main focus is smacking a smile on a new fan’s face rather than an album on a Pitchfork “best of” list, and when we do, it’s surprising but incredibly refreshing. The world could definitely use a little more silliness, and a lot more screaming, flailing, Japanese pop stars.

So what’s next for this unstoppable force of sound, shock, and awe? Having already earned themselves a respectable fan base back home in Japan, Trippple Nippples’ next big step is to crack the States; with a co-sign from Pharrell, a sponsorship from Palladium shoes, a mini East Coast tour, and four dates with Devo under their belt,  it can’t be too long before we’ll be able to see  Trippple Nippples force feeding each other strawberries topless on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (okay, so maybe American television viewers aren’t quite ready for that just yet, but we can dream). All that’s left now is to sit patiently and wait for these girls to drop a full-length that will blow us away. Tripple Nippples is a barreling train that’s only picking up speed, and if you think you know “bizarre” now, hang on tight for what’s to come. “Last year, our goal was to be the most famous band in Japan. This year, our goal is to become the weirdest band on the planet!” Well guys, we have all the faith in the world in you.

Watch Trippple Nippples live in action here. Trust us, you don’t want to miss this.

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Yukimi of Little Dragon

Monday, June 6th, 2011

Set to release their third studio album this summer, Little Dragon’s lead singer Yukimi’s roar will be anything but little

The idea of “home” can change quickly. Fall in love with a new city, fall in love with a new partner, fall in love with a new apartment, and what you once considered home may become something very different. Despite moving around a lot when she was younger, Yukimi Nagano, the lead singer of electronic band Little Dragon, has always felt at home where she was born. Growing up, Yukimi lived in Sendai, Japan, Anaheim, California and Gothenburg, Sweden–her birthplace and also where she has spent the majority of her time.  “Gothenburg has always been were I feel most at home. I have a lot of great memories of Swedish summers,” Yukimi says.

Currently based in the place she feels most comfortable, Little Dragon—named after her outbursts of frustration in the studio—is like the dream we all had in high school. Start a band with your friends, get famous, tour the world. After releasing a double A-side 7″ single, titled Twice and Test (Off The Wall 2006), they signed with, Peacefrog Records, and in 2007 released their debut self-titled album. Cue the fantasy. Machine Dreams was their second album, released in 2009. This summer, Little Dragon will release their third studio album, Ritual Union on July 26.

Born to an American mother, and a Japanese father, Yukimi tries to bring a piece of herself to her work. For Little Dragon’s first album they used her father’s artwork. “The picture we used was a piece he had made in the 70s, so I grew up looking at that picture and was always very fascinated and drawn to it,” Yukimi says. But, even though it was her father’s, securing the rights weren’t easy. “It was hard at first to get him to allow us to use it, but I think once he got a lot of appreciation for it he felt more okay with it and eventually learned to love the picture.”

Though Yukimi traveled a lot as a kid, being part of a band often means being on the road. From recording to playing to touring, Yukimi is constantly surrounded by her band members (who happen to all be male). She even lived with her band in their studio at one point. Yukimi says they’re like family. “It’s like we are best friends in each others eyes and somehow gender is kind of erased.”

As much as you were probably excited to move out of the studio are there aspects of living there you miss?

Not really because the space is still our studio and we see each other everyday anyway. I don’t really miss never going out and being in that bubble—it was a bit like a escape from the outer world.

Most of the band met in high school, what were each of you like back then?

I guess we were all trying to find ourselves. I was a bit gothic for a second, Eric was very much lost in his headphones when not playing the drums Fred (bass) was taking off from school to go to film festivals and smoking cigars and Håkan (keys) had serious plans of getting into music university with his synths.

Bands can have trouble staying together, do you think your past together has helped you?

We have been through a lot already, so I think we know that it takes an effort to stick together, and at this point we are so close and quite inseparable despite our quarrels.

Do you fight like siblings?

Definitely, we are like a family. We know how to press each-others buttons and make each other mad if we want to. As long as its not serious fighting it’s quite alright.

What role (not musically but position wise like mother, organizer) does each member play in the band?

Generally I lose my stuff everywhere, so I feel like I have three extra parents that remind me to not forget my things when we travel. Still it shifts like Erik can be the mother hen but also annoying little brother, me and Fred are like teenage siblings and Håkan the fragile but stubborn little baby who sometimes acts like the wisest soul of us all.

You grew up listening to American folk music. Who are some of your favorite folk musicians?

I grew up listening to a lot of Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen plus my Dad is a serious Bob Dylan fan. I guess folk music, when it first came, was more of a movement than what it is now. But there is a lot of great new folk music out there and Sweden has a lot of talented melancholic girls and boys with guitars.

Was there a large American music influence in Sweden?

My mother is American so I think I grew up listening to different music from your typical Swedish home. But generally, American music has been and still is extremely influential on Swedish culture. Almost all Swedish bands sing in English it’s a second language for most Swedes.

What was it like growing up in Sweden?

It was wonderful many times, I think the dramatic long winters really effected my mother negatively, she is from California and not used to that darkness and sometimes introverted Swedish culture so growing up I recall alot of complaining about Sweden. I moved around quite a bit as a child lived in Sendai Japan at one point then moved to Anaheim California but Gothenburg has always been were I feel most at home and I have a lot of great memories of Swedish summers.

Your mother is Swedish and your father is Japanese. What aspects of each culture do you think are a part of you now?

There is a modesty about the Japanese culture and a work ethic that my Dad has influenced me a lot by, a kind of mantra like–no matter what you always work hard don’t give up and do your best. I think I have that in the back of my head. My mother was always telling me that I could be anything I wanted which I think is a quite American philosophy.

What’s your favorite city in the world?

Tokyo

I read the band was named after times when you would loose your temper in the studio out of pure creative frustration for various reasons. Do you still loose your temper easily?

Well, I’m a lot better than what I used to be. I don’t think loosing your temper is a healthy thing but sometimes it happens yes…working on it.

Do you think it has led to greater accomplishment creatively?

No not necessarily, more frustration. I think we are all trying to learn how to disagree about big things be honest without breaking down.

You’ve worn some pretty awesome outfits on stage. Do you put a lot of thought into what you wear?

Sometimes. Depends on my mood. I love fashion and I’ve been inspired by a lot of Belgian designers lately, like Jean Paul Knott and Cathy Pill and also Japanese designers Tsumori Chisato, and Migh-T. I have always loved dressing up since I was a little. But sometimes you can’t be bothered and want people to close their eyes and just listen with their ears, so you can jump around in floaty flowery pajamas.

Are you nervous before you step on stage?

Depends, like getting on stage with the Gorillaz at Glastonbury was a bit nerve racking because sound was mad and you don’t really have a clue. But generally I feel pretty okay and not too nervous, just enough to be pepped.

Three words you would use to describe yourself:

Butterfly, lightning ,water-puddle at night.

Three words, others would use to describe you:

Caterpillar, thunder, snow flakes on nose.

Where’s your heart at?

In your hands.

For more Little Dragon, listen to their new single Nightlight from their upcoming album, Ritual Union here.

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Posted in Back Issue, Features, Issue 9, The Cover Story | 10 Comments »

Nina Sky: Cosmic Connection

Friday, October 22nd, 2010

Interview: Hana May
Photos: John Roman
Styling: Julie Clark

Nina Sky have come a long way, from writing lyrics on their stoop as little girls to touring the world.

Some twins are competitive with one another, and some are close for life. Nina Sky, Puerto Rican identical twins hailing from Queens, New York, fall into the latter category. Since the womb Nicole and Natalie Albino have pretty much been inseparable. “I mean, we were born together,” Natalie jokes. “We always played together. It was always the only friend we always had around, so.” Nicole chimes in “We’re best friends.”

As talented as they are beautiful, Nicole and Natalie have music running through their veins. After their foray into songwriting on their stoop (their version of the Brill Building) and recording sessions on their brother’s cassette player, Nicole learned how to DJ. Probably one of the youngest female DJs around, she was mixing at the age of 13. “By the time I was 15, I was DJing in like clubs and lounges around, in small clubs and lounges in New York—places that I couldn’t even get in to because I didn’t drink. I was 15.” And even though the two have now performed as Nina Sky around the world—they recently performing on the Ivory Coast and their favorite place to play is now Zagreb, Croatia—this year Natalie has joined her sister behind the tables. “Nicole taught me—like, I actually paid attention and I’m okay. I made my debut—we did a pride party.” Nicole backs her sister up. “Natalie’s a better DJ than a lot of the DJs that claim to be DJs.”

The twins continued living together after leaving their parents’ nest. That is, until Nicole got annoyed by Natalie’s new friend. “Natalie got a dog, and I got really annoyed,” Nicole says. So Natalie moved out. But being twins, it wouldn’t take long for their interests to realign. “A few months later, I got my own dog.” When asked the twins if they miss living together, the answer is simple and the same from both of them. “Nope.”

Though they’re no longer roommates, the two girls get along tremendously. They do all the things you would expect of two people that are as close they are: they finish each other’s sentences, laugh at each other’s jokes, tell the other one honestly when something doesn’t look good, but that doesn’t mean they always agree. “We disagree about everything!” Nicole says. “I mean, we’re not the same person. We have different ideas, you know. Different ideas of how things should be, but we compromise a lot.”

Nevertheless, they say twins can have a cosmic connection with one another—like when one gets hurt, the other can feel it, and so on. “When I’m sick, Nicole can tell,” Natalie says as she recounts a story from when she was in college. “She called me and she just knew something was wrong and she started crying and I started crying. I was like, ‘Wah, I’m in the hospital,’ and she was like, ‘Ah, I’m so sad I can’t be there with you. I knew something was wrong.’”

Musically, it’s hard to pinpoint Nina Sky’s sound or categorize them “We’ve collaborated with people like Diplo. We’ve collaborated with Sean Paul. Aventura, who’s a Bachata group. We just love music that much,” Nicole says. “If we like something, it doesn’t matter if it’s hip-hop, reggae, R&B, jazz, opera, whatever—we’re gonna do it.” But what direction is their music headed now? “We went through a period of time where we were just making, like, real hard, like, not happy music. So I think this time around, we’re in a better place. We’re writing all our own music, co-producing it. So it definitely is fun, happier music than we’ve made,” Natalie says.

By that “period,” they may or may not be referring to a time earlier this year, when Nina Sky had some problems with their record label, Polo Grounds Music. “We finished an album, and we were under the impression it was gonna be released, and it never was released, so we got kind of upset about that because, when it came to communicating, we didn’t feel like they were communicating that they weren’t gonna release the album.” Instead of lying down, Nina Sky took their issue to the fans. “We vented out on the Internet, and it kinda like got out of hand,” Nicole says.

Social media—you know, Facebook, Twitter and the like—can spur a movement, and even though the album has yet to be released, Nina Sky did rally their troops in support of their cause, garnering much press in the process. This may have given them the confidence to keep it moving. Nina Sky kept making music, releasing an EP, The Other Side, this past August.

And Nina Sky likes that with social media, they can connect. “I feel like it’s the most direct contact we have with our fans, and they’re the ones who make us Nina Sky,” Nicole says. Natalie adds, “It’s really important that everything that comes from Nina Sky, comes from Nina Sky. Like, even if it’s just a simple ‘Good morning’ on Twitter, we’re writing it. Or, ‘Hey, check this out,’ it’s really us asking you to check it out. It’s not label stuff.”

Like their music, the girls’ fashion sense is hard to place. From long hair to short dos. From more of a hip hop look to New York City eclectic. “We first came out when we were 19. We’re 26 now. It’s been a while. If I looked the same way I did when I was 19, people would be like, Oh my god, those girls,” Natalie says. “Traveling the world, you’re influenced by everywhere you go. You see people rocking something, you’re like, that’s cool, or, like, it doesn’t even have to be someone wearing something. You’re inspired by everything. We’ve just grown.” Nicole says.

But unlike some musical acts that have become glorified clotheshorse shows, these girls never let their clothes wear them. “If people like it, we think that’s cool, but we’re not trying to wear what’s dope—it’s, like, what’s comfortable,” Natalie says. Natalie and Nicole like to stick to the basics. Nicole says, “For some people that’s their whole jam, like that’s their whole focus, like, ‘I’m a fashion icon and I put everything together.” “They have a huge influence on what’s going on in fashion, not only music anymore,” Natalie says. “But I mean, we’re not trying to do that. If people like what we wear that’s cool.” Nicole adds to Natalie’s sentiment. “I would much rather someone appreciate our music first.”

Near the end of the interview I ask Nicole and Natalie, where their hearts are at. The two ladies give similar responses. “My family comes first before everything,” Natalie says. “Music is cool. You know, music is amazing. But my heart is also with my family.”

“Yeah, I’m just gonna take your answer,” Nicole says. “Since we’re twins!” They laugh. “There you go. You know, that cosmic thing you were talking about.”

Clothing provided by: Electric Feathers and Bodkin
Shoes by: Robert Clergerie

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Posted in Back Issue, Features, Issue 9, The Cover Story | 6 Comments »

YACHT: See the Light

Monday, April 26th, 2010

Photos: Gordon Ball
Styling: Charlotte Eedson

Claire, the leading lady of Yacht, says her heart is in “outer space” and for the past two years she has read exclusively science fiction novels. We caught up with her while she was home in Portland to talk all things Yacht.

Everything about the new indie dance commotion, YACHT, is calculated. They only wear black and white in their publicity image, their tweets are formulated to all look the same, and their preferred nomenclature is Y∆CHT. Control freaks that they are, they’re probably scrutinizing this article right now.

“We’re very vigilant. We look at everything that’s written about us,” Claire says over the phone. “And try to get a sense if what people are thinking is true about us and try to correct that if possible.”

YACHT engages in what a lot of celebrities and musicians shy from—constant communication with their fans, and more importantly communication with the people who critique them. “People never think about the fact that the band might actually see what they say about them and question that.” YACHT sees criticism as an open forum for communication, an opportunity to discuss and address misconceptions about the band. This means YACHT’s required reading ranges from write-ups in The New Yorker to Rolling Stone Magazine to Pitchfork, all of whom seem to have nice things to say. Needles to say, the “damage control,” as YACHT calls it internally, conducted by the YACHTrust (a group of friends that help them manage the task), is, at this point, probably pretty limited.

YACHT is co-captained by Jona Bechtolt and Claire L. Evans. Both grew up in Portland Oregon, but the pair didn’t meet until 2004. “People always say the cool thing about Portland is the weather,” explains Claire. “[It] is always so miserable that everyone is so creative, and there’s no way of making it through the winter if you don’t hunker down and have band practice.” So Claire and Jona hunkered down. Perfected their sound. Perfected their look. Their hair, cropped short, rests upon lean, androgynous bodies, giving Claire and Jona an interchangeability they embrace. One of their MySpace photos, for instance, shows boyish Claire in a cut-off t-shirt with her arm slung around a rather delicate-looking Jona, his pout enhanced with bright red lipstick.

Yacht recorded their recent album, See Mystery Lights, in Marfa, Texas, home of the eerie Marfa lights phenomenon–mysterious, persistent glowing orbs with no apparent source. Coincidentally both YACHT and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, (with whom YACHT spent last summer touring) spent the beginning of 2008 recording their respective albums a mere 2 hours away from each other in the Chihuahuan desert surrounding Marfa. Claire believes the bands have a cosmic relationship, but it seems they are star-crossed, as Claire and Jona initially missed a connection by staying home on the one night the Yeah Yeahs Yeahs went out on the town in Marfa.  “There was already sort of this weird psychic connection between us and we always thought, ‘Oh man we could have met the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and we never did.’ And then of course we were in Marfa again last year just visiting our friends on vacation and we got the call to do the tour with them like the week afterwords so we feel like we have kind of a weird sort of long standing cosmic connection with those guys,” Claire says. “We have kind of the same things going on in our brains; they’re really cool and nice people.” Her admiration is palpable. “Everybody on their staff, everybody that they tour with, all their managers and their roadies they’re all cool and helpful and nice. It’s so great to see people that are successful like that that haven’t lost whatever the essential humanity of being a person in a band.”

Most bands on tour will recycle the same material for a while. If Milwaukee hasn’t seen it, they haven’t seen it and the band has no problem going through the motions. But YACHT doesn’t rehash. “Jona and I both have this thing if we do the same thing for too long it feels inauthentic, it’s really difficult to keep that level of enthusiasm and energy up for a long time and still feel like you’re doing something that’s real and fresh, especially if you’re doing it every night.” So they recently welcomed three new members to the band for the “live incarnation” of YACHT. Rob “Bobby Birdman” Kieswetter, Jeffrey “Jerusalem” Brodsky, and D. Reuben Snyder, of Rob Walmart. They new members as a collective are called, The Straight Gaze (intentionally meant to sound like “straight gays”).

All five are currently on tour with LCD Soundsystem, hitting spots like Paris, London and Los Angeles, spreading the YACHT messages. “Accordingly, YACHT is and always will be what YACHT is when YACHT is standing before you; YACHT believes that to all people have a right to Free thought, Free expression, to write their opinions freely and to counter, utter, and write upon the opinions of others; and YACHT believes “Free Wi Fi” is not an advertisement of services, but a political statement.” You can even join the team. But don’t confuse YACHT with a cult. Something their website makes clear. Claire says, “We don’t want people to think that it’s a gimmick and we don’t want people to think that it’s a cult or something. It’s more about providing an alternative community that is meaningful to people and you can take it how you want to take it.”

There’s a very visual component to a YACHT show. They consider it 50% of the performance. “People love seeing something that has theatrical element to it; it’s the whole point really.” Claire and Jona have a unique chemistry on stage—everything seems to be in sync. But Claire swears the routines aren’t choreographed. “There’s no dance practice. Everything that we do on stage is kind of spontaneous direct channeling of what’s going on with the music. We don’t have band practice at all.”

Claire lets me know she and Jona live together. When I ask if it’s tough touring with someone and then coming home and living together nonchalantly she says, “It’s been a cool experiment in how well you can know another person.” But it’s not until 20 minutes later when I ask if it was awkward that they made out for a half an hour in a video does she inform me that the are a couple–something they haven’t found necessary to advertise like Sunny and Cher.

This summer Yacht is going to take a break and record the next record. The new members will probably play on the album but as far as input into the production, that’s still up in the air. “I don’t know Jonah and I are pretty intense about making everything ourselves. I don’t if were emotionally ready to let new people in to that part of the process.” They’re deciding on a location, Portland, Los Angeles and even the desert were thrown around as considerations.

Jona and Claire believe they “live in an era of great access to tools, we have an ability to make our identity exactly the way we want it to be.” They have an easy time making their websites and staying in control of their images because their hobbies and passions are complementary. With Claire’s writing background (she used to be a journalist), Jonah’s passion for design and video and a select group to back them up, they’ve kept this identity focused. And even though they run a tight ship, you’re welcome to put in your two cents. “We try and communicate with people as much as possible. Our email address is out there and totally available. People write us and we try and write back to as many people as possible in a thoughtful way, because we try and make YACHT much more of a community or a culture than just a band.”

Clothing credits:
Jona in Acne and Flippa K
Claire in Maurie and Eve, Flippa K and Vintage

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Posted in Back Issue, Features, Issue 8, The Cover Story | 9 Comments »

FAN DEATH: PSYCHIC HEARTS HEAL

Monday, February 8th, 2010

Fan Death is bringing disco back. Having gained recognition from Perez Hilton and Diplo, the duo is now working on spreading their dark disco music worldwide. In an intimate interview we unveil Dandi and Marta as people, not just stage performers. The duo recently visited the place where Frida Kahlo, one of their female idols, used to hang out in Mexico City, and in our exclusive photo shoot shot by Wayne Webb, we feature the duo as Kahlo but with a gothic twist.

Interview: Mish Way
Photography: Wayne Webb
Styling: Gillian Damborg

I get a text from Dandi, one half of the dynamic disco duo Fan Death, five minutes before our scheduled shoot. She has had an emotional day and her face is puffy. We’ve been warned. But when Dandi finally walks in, rain soaked and sullen, I surprise her with a mini-bottle of Fireball—her favorite cinnamon whiskey. She smiles at the bottle and lets out an infectious laugh. “After this week, I really need this!”

After this year, the members of Fan Death, Dandilion Wind Opaine (formerly of industrial-punk duo Dandi Wind) and Marta Jaciubek-McKeever (formerly of Girl Nobody and currently of E.S.L), could use a bath tub of cinnamon whiskey. In the last twelve months, Fan Death has toured throughout Europe, the United Kingdom, Mexico and Russia, conceptualized and produced three new music videos, two of which landed them some major attention on gossip site, Perez Hilton and finally gotten the go-ahead to record their full length album on Last Gang Records in North America and Mercury in the UK. Luckily, the ladies of Fan Death thrive in these sorts of chaotic circumstances.

Dandi and Marta, who have been performing as Fan Death (named after the South Korean urban legend that says a fan left on overnight can kill those inside) for about two years are gaining attention for the elegant balance they strike between electronic pop (“Pet Shop Boys and Depeche Mode,” according to Fan Death.) and golden disco glam—effortless female vocals protecting a swarm of ear-pleasing, mid-tempo strings and twinkling keys. With two 12-inches, adoring love from superstar trend-setter Diplo, and a DJ Erol Alkan remix (Erol added his touch to Fan Death’s track, “Veronica’s Veil” and the song blew up) under their glittering belts, the ladies of Fan Death are working harder than ever to keep the praise alive. This month they embark on a European tour with New York’s latest new wave sensation, Vampire Weekend, and another Fan Death video will premiere upon their return to their hometown, Vancouver BC, Canada, in March. A video, Dandi says, has been brewing in her mind for years, long before Fan Death existed. Hence, the emotional day. The puffy face. “After the forty hours of shooting. I had the most bizarre emotional experience. Like a shedding of the skin. It was very strange,” Dandi says.

As Dandi and Marta get their hair done—and drink whiskey to calm their spark—I sit with them to talk about making music videos, eating animals (no veggies or buns), not knowing who Prince is, Grace Jones, psychic healing, touring and how Courtney Love once saved Dandi’s life.

You’ve been doing more directing. Why do you like making music videos?

Dandi: I’m a very visual person and I like exploring that with film and animation. Today, the best way to promote your music is by making videos and it is fun. That’s why we make so many videos. And for me, it’s kind of obsessive. I just can’t stop.

I like the guy who spins the plates in your Reunited video. The guy who plays Prince.

Dandi: I found that guy on Craigslist. He used to be in Cirque du Soleil. His name is Mr. Fantastic. He is from Kenya. He has all kinds of circus talents. He jumps through rings of fire.

Marta: Remember he didn’t want to be in the video as Prince, he wanted to play himself. He was all angry like, “Who’s this Prince guy?”

Dandi: [Laughs] I had to loan him “Purple Rain.”

Marta: I got to play Courtney Love in one part.

I never would picture her as one of your idols.

Dandi: It’s a weird story. When I was seventeen I met Courtney Love at the airport. I had never been on a plane before and I was on my way to Brazil, all by myself. I had a panic attack because I had no idea you had to go through customs and security. I was shaking, crying, asking people where my gate was. I finally just huddled in the corner. Then, Courtney Love spotted me and she walked over. I was completely star struck. She asked me what was wrong and I told her I couldn’t find my gate. Then she screamed so loud, “Somebody fucking help this girl! She needs help!” Her outfit was insane. She was wearing like, a thong and a scarf.

Of course she was. Courtney rules. You guys are constantly touring. How does this make you feel?

Dandi: Sometimes I really hate it. It can be amazing because you get to see so many countries and cities, but it’s just so fast. It’s weird when you come off tour because when you are traveling everyone treats you really well, especially in Europe. Then, you come home and you go back to the basement and it feels, you know, lonely. [Laughs] I get a crazy come down from tour.

Marta: Tell the story of the last time we were in Venice!

Dandi: When we were in Venice we were supposed to play an outdoor party and they said they would feed us. They had a barbecue set up where they were cooking full animals. We were starving because we had been traveling and we were so excited to eat. Then, they plunk down this massive tray of meat, just meat! Grisly, fatty, meaty-meat! No vegetables. They didn’t even give us cutlery. We had to use our hands like Vikings!

Marta: Not even a bun! The whole time on tour Dandi kept saying, “Wait until we get to Venice. The food is so amazing!” [Laughs]

Did you both grow up in musical atmospheres?

Dandi: Not really, although my dad did play acoustic guitar. I grew up North in B.C. in between two small towns, in the forest, in a cabin. A tiny, tiny cabin. We grew our own vegetables and my dad hunted. We’d eat like grouse and wild chickens and stuff.

So, you could have been a vegetable farmer.

Dandi: If I hadn’t had left right before I was a teenager who knows what would have become of me. [Laughs]

Marta: I grew up in Poland and moved to Canada when I was twelve. At four I started playing piano. I’m classically trained. My grandpa was self-trained accordion player. My dad was a healer.

A healer?

Marta: Yeah. He healed this girl back in Poland who had fallen ill. No one knew what was wrong with her. She and I were born on the same day, an hour apart. My dad sat with her for a whole summer while she was sick and suddenly, she got better. He taught me some stuff when I was little.

Are you also psychic?

Marta: No, but I have a lot of powerful friends who are psychic and heal. Like, “Hey dude, what’s in store for me? I don’t know, let me just check your guides.” [Laughs] “Your guides say you should not be drinking your tap water.” Actually, that did happen, too much metal in my tap water. Thanks guides. [Laughs]

I used to be way into witchcraft when I was a kid, but then my Christian friend got me in trouble.

Dandi: We should play Ouija.

Marta: Oh my god! I’ve never done it! That is the one thing that kind of freaks me out.

Ouija is awesome. Okay, if you could live in any city in any time period where would you live and why?

Dandi: Maybe this is cliché but I think it would have been pretty cool to live in New York around 1973. I would love to have seen Times Square during that period, the old porno theaters and see the live sex shows. Experience that seedy vibe. There was so much amazing music and film during that time. [Fan Death] is very inspired by that time period.

Marta: I think I’d want to live in Berlin in the 1920s or Mexico City. The first time we went to Mexico was to film “Veronica’s Veil,” which was in Puerto Vallarta and a totally amazing experience. Then, we went to Mexico City and I fell in love. We went to places where Frida Kahlo used to hang out. Mexico City must have been incredible during its heyday.


Who is your fashion icon?

Dandi: I don’t have one single fashion icon. Maybe because I am a Gemini, I dress completely different every day. I really like the pimps and prostitutes of the mid-1970s. They were so classy and eccentric. It wasn’t tacky. The 70s were such a beautiful era.

What about musical muses or people who inspire you?

Marta: Nina Simone. Grace Jones! Grace Jones, I’ve always found her-

Dandi: Out of this world, man!

Marta: Yeah, because come on, what the hell? Same with Nina Simone. What the hell? Amazing. I’m kind of obsessed with black women vocalists. I think black women just embody sexuality a lot more comfortably than white women. It was really apparent to me when I lived in New York. Maybe there is just something about our culture that makes us feel weird in our little bodies.

Do you feel weird in your body?

Marta: I think performing has helped me get over any insecurities I might have had because with performing you get to dress up and channel something bigger than yourself. But every day life is different. I mean, I feel awkward a lot of the time. I actually have to consciously meditate and work through it. I grew up Catholic, so I harbored a lot of guilt and shame about sexuality and my body.

Dandi, do you feel the same?

Dandi: No, not the same, but I think everyone has hang-ups about themselves. I am very tiny. So much smaller than the average woman, but I am still a woman and I am comfortable with myself. It’s hard being a performer, doing photo shoots and stuff because you are always forced to think about your body and your image. I’m used to it now.

Why do you think it’s important for girls to have strong female role models in music?

Dandi: I’m thinking about when I was younger, I first found Siouxsie Sioux when I was fifteen. I read an interview where she talked about her icon, Kate Bush. At the time, Kate Bush wasn’t very popular in North America, I had to search for her stuff but when I found it, she changed my life. I think it’s important for women to have access to all kinds of icons. Growing up I had Madonna and Janet Jackson records, but none of it really spoke to me until Kate Bush. I think that right now is a hard time for girls. I don’t know who their icons could be? Lady Gaga? Girls today have like, what? Five choices?

Do you ever think about building yourself in an iconic way?

Dandi: I know that it is really hard to break through to young people. Fan Death is still new. I can’t imagine something that big right now. I’d be happy connecting to fifty kids.

Marta: It’s funny because my dad… okay, well I’m 5’4 and I weigh, like, a lot [laughs] and he said, “I’m really proud of you because I think that you are changing the image of what it means to be a woman.” This meant a lot to me. I really do feel like with [Dandi's] body type, she is so athletic, small and strong and me, well I look like I was born to harvest wheat. I’m burly! I think if anything I would have loved to have seen my body type growing up, especially in contrast with someone like Dandi. I grew up watching 90210 and I remember my first boyfriend was in love with Tori Spelling.

She was the worst one.

Marta: Yes, but she was also the skinniest one! So I grew up thinking that is what men want and it totally distorted my conception of my body should be like. So yeah, I hope that if we get to that stage we can set an example that let’s girls know that it is okay to be the way you are. I’d like to think that we live in a world where people can do what they want with there bodies, but on the other hand, why can’t we exist in a society that accepts the natural progress of our bodies?

When you perform are you conscious of your gender?

Dandi: When I performed in Dandi Wind I was not conscious of my gender. Actually, Marta was the first person to tell me that I was sexual on stage. I always just thought that I was asexual or just filled with aggression. With Fan Death it is much more feminine, slower, elegant. Marta would come to my shows and she would tell me that she would see people feeling uncomfortable because of my performance. Then, I’d have girls come up to me and say things like “I had to cover my boyfriends eyes when you were dancing!” I had no idea. But with Fan Death, it is much more glamorous and conscious, of course. I look at Marta and I riff off of her energy.

What would you be doing if you didn’t have music in your life?

Dandi: Obviously if I didn’t have music I would keep doing film, video, animation and sculpture. Music is not my number one form of art. I always say that I have not especially great at one thing, I try to do it all.

Marta: Dandi is an amazing sculpture! Her whole apartment is filled with these beautiful clay heads she has made. [Laughs] But if I wasn’t doing music, I’d also probably get really bummed out, then go try some acting.  I’d also have a million babies. I think right now I am plugging my baby hole with music. I would also have an aroma therapy farm. Grow lavender, heal people.

For now, you can just heal people with disco.

Photography: Wayne Webb
Art Direction and Styling: Gillian Damborg
Clothing: Caitlin Butcher design, Mono, and Stylists own
Assistant: Caitlin Butcher
Hair & Makeup: Solana Rompré

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Posted in Back Issue, Features, Issue 7, The Cover Story | 7 Comments »

Florence and The Machine

Monday, December 14th, 2009

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We gave Florence a disposable camera in LA, to take pictures of herself on tour. That one got stolen from her dressing room. So we gave her another one and she took these amazing photos in France.

Tired from a photo shoot that has taken up much of her day, Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine is having dinner with her boyfriend. This past year has been a big one for Florence. She signed to Island Records, released her debut album Lungs (July 6 in the UK October 20 in the US), won the Critics Choice award at the Brits (past winners include Adele), sold out shows all over North America (including the Bowery Ballroom in New York), and appeared on trendy shows like MTV’s short-lived It’s On Alexa Chung. It’s been a whirlwind of touring, press and interviews–everyone wants a piece of her. Florence is now, however, at home, cooking—sort of. “I don’t really cook. I sort of assemble.” It’s not that she can’t cook, she just in her words, doesn’t have the attention span.

With Florence’s powerful voice and lyrics ranging from cheeky–‘A kiss with a fist is better than none’– to darkly disconcerting–‘get your filthy fingers out of my pie’– Florence of Florence and the Machine is a magnetic frontwoman. And with her unique sound, Florence is creating a league of her own.

Right now, Florence seems a little distracted. Throughout the interview she tries to both answer questions and goof around with her boyfriend–a search for balance that will no doubt be a constant refrain during next few year’s of the up-and-comer’s life. Between answers she’s telling him to stop jumping on her or querying how many pancakes (or as she calls them flapjacks) he’s really going to eat. He seems to make her happy though. She giggles during most of her interactions with him.

Growing up in Camberwell, London, Florence comes from somewhat of an artistic bloodline. Her grandmother, Colin Welch, was a former deputy editor of The Daily Telegraph and her mother Evelyn Welch, is a Professor of Renaissance Studies and Academic Dean for Arts at Queen Mary, and was good friends with Andy Warhol—they partied together at Studio 54. Florence on the other hand, dropped out of art school to pursue music. Her father works in advertising and drove Florence around in a camper van when she was first touring. To Florence, her mother is the realist, her father is the dreamer. Florence is left, in her words, “Dreaming in reality.”

But growing up, in the Kingdom that produced pop starlets as Lily Allen, Adele and Amy Winehouse, was far from normal for Florence. When she was a teen her parents divorced. Her mother later married the next-door neighbor and the two families moved in together, which meant six teens, that already knew one another, under one roof. Needless to say there were issues. ‘Everyone sort of thought their family’s way of doing things was better and each family felt like their traditions of family were being stomped on by the other,’ Florence says. ‘We became sort of household enemies.’ As a teen, she was also very experimental and partied a lot. ‘Maybe growing up in London in general has helped me be more street wise, but then again, I never know where I am.’

Although, she’s seemed to have found herself in music. And by now, most that know of Florence, know that she was “discovered” by hauling Mairead Nash, half of the popular DJ duo Queens of Noize, and now her manager, into the bathroom to sing her an Etta James song (Florence points out Mairead came willingly). Florence wanted it badly and now it’s the opposite. People want her. Not just her boyfriend, who was probably happy once we finished up this interview.

Did you cook?

I don’t think I’ve ever really cooked anything. I can make fish.

Fish isn’t easy to make.

I can kind of handle fish and I can make sauce and things. I don’t really have the attention span, if I’m hungry I wanna eat.

I know you recently sold out The Bowery Ballroom in New York. Do you spend a lot of time in the US?

Well I have an American passport, so I can but I don’t spend as much time as I’d like. But I am back and forth probably once or twice a year, but more now that I’m touring.

Bringing your now manager into the bathroom and singing her Etta James, Something’s Got a Hold on Me, set you career off. Did you have any idea at that moment what that move would later do for you?

No, not at all. I was really just chancing it. I didn’t think it would amount to anything.

Had you pulled anything like that before?

Not really. I’d just been singing all the time. I’d been singing at like my friends club nights and at parties and with improvised bands and at open mics. I guess I’d always been singing, I just hadn’t really found the right vehicle for it, I suppose.

Do you think British female musicians are cheekier than musicians from say North America?

I guess we’ve got this grand tradition of sort of English eccentrics. Over there you’ve got artists like Lady Gaga you’ve got some really out-there artists. I’m not ever trying to be deliberately cheeky, I think I maybe haven’t been molded in a particular way. I think maybe we’ve been given more leeway. Maybe we get away with things more.

Do you like to go out a lot?

I love to. When I have the time. Right now I have so much to do, my partying quota has gone down so much, it’s terrible I gotta get back out there. I’m totally off the scene.

What’s your idea of a good night out?

A lot of dancing. I like a house party and fancy dress, a big fan of fancy dress, like dress up, costume parties.

Is there a kind of music you like to dance to?

My musical tastes are very different. I’m into all kinds of things. Dance, Soul just everything and anything if it kind of gets me going.

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I read that you partied a lot when you were a teen, what led you in that direction?

Just growing up in London I was looking for new experiences. I was a quite the experimental kid, I had a lot of free reign. And wanting to experience different things.

Do you think as a teen these experiences helped you grow up quicker?

Maybe growing up in London in general has helped me be more street wise, but then again, I never know where I am. My boyfriend moved here he comes form Bedfordshire and he knows more about the streets of London than I do and I’ve lived here my whole life. Living in London doesn’t say anything about my directional skills. I guess growing up in London I did grow up quicker, I’m not sure how much wiser it’s made me.

What are some of the most important influences your mother and grandmother have had on you?

I had my American family and I had my English family and my English grandmother was very interested in me performing and singing and she’d cry every time she came to see me in a school play and would always make me sing at Christmases. I actually sang at her funeral and I actually sang at my other grandmother’s funeral. My mother is a lecturer and going to see her lectures is like going to see someone perform it’s really interesting to see the kind of character she becomes when she lectures. When you give a lecture you have to really command the audience and you have to keep everyone entertained.

Do you think some of your stage presence came from your mother?

I guess in the sense of having to command a crowd’s attention for a period of time and to bring them into a different world, it’s similar. My mother managed to give an hour lecture going about a pair of Renaissance gloves. And keep everyone entertained and that is no small feat. My art has much more bells and whistles involved so perhaps that’s where it comes from.

Your mother used to go to Studio 54 with Andy Warhol. Did she tell you crazy stories about that?

She actually keeps very quiet about all that. She was always more interested with the Renaissance than she was about Studio 54. It’s always my godmother who tells me stuff. She tells me she went out to New York to see my mother and my father, I think when they’d first been married and my godmother tells me they were queuing for Studio 54 and there was this massive queue and then all of sudden someone came out to the front of the queue and started calling my mothers name and waving her and they got waved in and my godmother realized the person that had waved them in was Andy Warhol. But my mom doesn’t really talk about it at all. I don’t think she really cares that much.

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Posted in Back Issue, Features, Issue 6, The Cover Story | 12 Comments »

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