Whilst flicking through June's issue of Dazed & Confused I spotted a fantastic double page spread that looked really great. Pages 140-141 were part of a feature on Crystal Castles, and the images were really well put together so kudos to the magazine and to the photographer Ari Marcopoulos. The really creepy but beautiful doll on the left looks so perfect and happy, contrasting with the photograph of Alice, who looks sad and vulnerable but also really beautiful. I imagined that the doll belongs to Alice, and shows a child-like nature and spirit that people don't see when she is on stage performing liked a crazed banshee. It made me think who is the real Alice: the girl who looks sad and still owns dolls or the girl who goes nuts during shows? Some free-hand drawings massively simplified the images, and were then traced onto the black T-shirt. I chose to do the design in white on black as opposed to black on white as it will have more impact and looks different. The doubling of text on 'Alice Glass' mirrors the band's logo, and represents the two sides of her personality.
Lucy: Well Tommy was in a couple of bands already, and he used to send me stuff that he'd recorded to see what I thought. I'd known him a couple of years but hadn't actually mentioned the fact that I wrote songs or wanted to sing (I was ridiculously shy about it for a long time - I never told anyone!) But then one time I just got pretty drunk and admitted that I'd written lyrics to an instrumental that he'd recorded for his (then) band Cold Shoulder. Seriously, it was like I 'came out' as a singer! All very dramatic haha. After that we started writing together, played an open mic night, and then decided to make it a proper band.
Tommy: We initially recorded two covers - Great Big Kiss by the Shangri-Las and Gyspy Death And You by the Kills. When my previous band came to an end, we decided to make it a proper project and started writing and gigging pretty much straight away.
2. What are your influences?
L: We both have a mutual ground in music that came out of the 60s and 70s. My favourite band of all time are Blondie who we finally saw live this month, at the Indigo2. I go through phases of listening to one particular album on loop on my ipod, and at the moment it's their Eat To The Beat album. Blondie aside, I love the Shangri-Las, New York Dolls, Patti Smith... In terms of modern bands, it has to be the Kills, hands down. All of their albums have been great.
T: Musically, I'm mainly influenced by 70's rock n roll - T. Rex, Iggy and the Stooges, New York Dolls, Blondie, Johhny Thunders and the Heartbreakers etc. And non musically by alcohol and leather jackets - I play better in leather!
3. Describe your sound in 5 words.
L: Raw. Meaty. Sophisticated. Trashy. Passionate. T: Vintage rock and roll with a cherry on top... Yeah that's more than five words isn't it!
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4. How do your live shows go?
T: People dance and jump up and down. And I say stupid things on stage.
L: We get drunk and play! Ha no, we're professionals really... a little dutch courage, some sparkle, a pair of kick ass platform heels (me only, I have to say) and we just try to have fun, get the crowd dancing and not take ourselves too seriously. We're lucky that the crowd always seem to be really nice - they'll actively find you after the gig and tell you that they were into it which is obviously really encouraging.
5. Do Drag Your Heels have any plans for releases and/or tours in the near future?
T: Yeah, at the moment we're writing new material and looking to record an ep in the near future.
L: And we'll be releasing Creatures around Halloween time - we've always said it's destined to be on the soundtrack of a budget horror movie so Halloween is pretty appropriate. We're currently in rehearsals with a new line up (we sacked the drum machine - it's all about humans now) and will be gigging in and around London very soon so keep an eye on our myspace and/or twitter!
How did the Brittnees form? Jam: The Brittnees did not actually form, they kind of evolved by the end of 2006. I've known Rott for ages, and in the first place we are lovers, music comes second. We live together, actually we are living in our music and graphic design studio, there is music and artworks everywhere, and this is how we came up with The Brittnees. I heard some rough guitar licks that Rott was practicing next door, and - although I had sworn I would never ever start a band again with him, we had several bands and music projects together, always trying to find a style, a sound that we both like and always ending in a disaster. I desperately WANTED to sing on these tunes.
Rott: Yes, and it took about three months until I agreed, because you said that you'd never ever work with me, and that really pissed me off. But I love Jam's contralto voice, the sexy aggro touch, and she obviously seems to like what I'm doing, so we did it again…
Who influences your sound, lyrics and looks? Rott: I think there are tons of influences, mostly from rock, thrash metal, punk, post-punk but also psychedelic from my side. Also, we seem to have some Spanish or South American feel in our songs, because that's where we have most of the fans at the moment and the feedback from these countries is overwhelming. This surprises me a bit, because I was not aware of it, although I spend some time when little in South America and had my first rock bands there, but really, I wasn't aware of this.
Generally, I can't say "I'm such a big fan of Blablaba, I wanna sound like them". I don't want us to sound like anybody else - I mean what's the point of doing something that someone else has done before (and in most cases even better)? I just want a good, signature sound for The Brittnees, and songs that rock and are good to boot, one guy called it Boot Rock, we call it Disco Trash. Call it what you want, most important we try to make it sound unique.
Jam: My musical influences are punk and New York house, but also stoner rock and disco. But when it comes developing a melody I try to avoid all these standard tunes and phrases that you've heard a zillion times before. I'm a big fan of singing 'wrong' phrases to get new ideas, experimenting with pentatonic scales, and sometimes we have loooong discussions about if my melody is in tune or not. We have very different ideas of 'wrong' and 'right' tuning; it happens often that Rott says "This sounds totally wrong", and I say "That's exactly the way I want it", and he has a hard time to convince me that a phrase really does not fit that good to a scale. Rott also pushes me to try different rhythmics with the vocals, and that also brings good results, sometimes.
And the lyrics, well, I'm always starting with scratch lyrics, singing tones and words that could sound good, using the words like an instrument. Out comes everything that comes in my mind, for example Beauty. When I wrote these lyrics, I was so fed up with all the magazines, products, diets, treatments that are offered to women only to nurture one of their biggest fears: not being beautiful, meaning not being accepted by a world that is focussed on superficial amenities, the fear of being ignored and loosing your self-esteem if you don't prep yourself according to current 'beauty standards', and at the same time denying the fact that beauty is always in the eye of the beholder, that we all get old, full of wrinkles and sometimes fat - the only way out is to die in your late 20's, but that's not really an healthy option, I think.
The looks are the fun part. The Wildest Dream design is inspired by a Betty Page picture, the Shu Shu design by a certain style of brutal punk nude photography, the We Ficken Music artwork was inspired by the self-exploitation for marketing purposes by Jeff Koons and Cicciolina, John Lenon and Yoko Ono and all the other artists that use the sex-sells-strategy.
Describe your music in 5 words. Jam: Hot Boot Rock Disco Trash. Rott: It makes ME feel good.
What are your live shows like? Rott: We're not doing any live shows at the moment, but focus on the studio work. We had one gig at a private party this year that was a lot of fun and sort of insane - thanks to Anna, who is supporting us in a very special way -, but that's it for now.
Jam: We have three songs by now, and eight in production, so I think it does not make any sense to have shows at the moment, but I really love gigs and hopefully we will have a few next year.
Are there any plans for releases and tours in the UK in the near futures?
Rott: The first album release of The Brittnees is planned for the end of 2010, but probably this will take more time until spring or summer 2011. There are no tours planned yet, but if we go on tour, the UK will be definitely on the roadmap.
This was inspired by Craig McCarthy's 'Fly By Night: The New Art of the Club Flyer'. It is an amazing scrapbook-style collection of flyers from various clubs over the last ten years, and looks really great. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in that aspect of commercial art as well as those who love the clubs.
1. How would you describe the sound of The GaaGaas? These days...gothic experimental disco!
2. Who are your biggest influences and inspirations?
We're very much into philosophy and film as well as music so to name a few... Voltaire, Jim Jarmusch, Laszlo Benedek, The Residents, The Cure, Arthur Lee and about two more.
3. Why did you decide to call your forthcoming EP 'Repulsion Seminar'? 'Repulsion' came from a Roman Polanski film that we all love very much and 'Seminar' is like a methodology of what we're trying to achieve as a band! It's a strong title and I think it will make people aware that we're more intelligent than most of the rubbish out there at the moment!
4. What are The GaaGaas' plans for the future? We plan to play lots of shows inside and outside of the UK and try and put out as many great records as we possibly can. The band is now at its strongest and we feel very confident that we'll reach great heights so watch out over the next couple of years!
