Vivian Girls: Interview

Are: Cassie Ramone, Kickball Katy, Ali Koehler

Brooklyn, Brooklyn, Brooklyn.  Could this be the American answer to our east end???  Lately it seems that every band coming out of the States are residents of this New York Borough, with the wheels of each of their hype machines going into overdrive.  Arguably much of this hype is justified. No more so than with all girl trio, the Vivian Girls with their lo-fi garage rock come wall of sound inspired tunes, paying homage to 60s girl groups along the way.

Their name is taken from the mammoth written work by outsider artist Henry Darger, whose heroines, The Vivian Girls ,were powerful hermaphrodite messiahs; although the band proclaim to not be fans of his work.   They formed in 2007 and subsequently released a self titled highly acclaimed long player in 2008, which sold out in 10 days before being reissued on Californian imprint In The Red.   

The trio reference the punk revivalist movements through their music, backed up by layers of fuzz, reverb and feedback underneath three-part harmonies, attracting comparisons to Jesus and The Mary Chain, The Shop Assistants and The Shangri-Las amongst many others.

Each of their tracks are noisy yet short lived (many not hitting the 2 minute mark) pieces of nostalgia with a modern twist and are based around passive lyrics relating unashamedly to love. 

To date The Vivian Girls have wowed audiences over here and back home, delighting in hushing the critics who dismissed yet another New York buzz-band with just enough sass, attitude and professionalism and of course the music. 

We caught up with the girls before their sell Macbeth show in London…

4TR – So I wanted to ask you about your name The Vivian Girls because I read that you are not actually Henry Darger fans.
Ali Koehler – No not really [laughs]
4TR – So why chose the name of the heroines from his most epic work?
Cassie Ramone – Well we definitely weren’t big fans, but we did think the Vivian Girls were a cool concept, like sisters who battled evil and they were also hermaphrodites which is funny, so we just thought it was an interesting idea and concept for us.

4TR – It’s been announced that you are playing at SxSW again this year, right?
CR – Yeah we are which is cool; I think we are going to be playing a lot while we are there.   Like last year we played 7 shows during SXSW and that was when we were still really, really small.  I mean we had only been together a year so it was crazy, it was awesome actually.

4TR - Were you well received in Austin amongst all the industry people and other bands?
CR – yeah definitely, SXSW is really fun because everybody is there and it’s just like a never-ending party.  It’s also a great festival because its not just people from New York, it’s people from all over the states and from other countries too, so it’s just really great getting to hang out with all your friends from different places, plus its nice and warm with great food.  Austin is like the best city so I am really excited to be playing there again.

4TR - There has been a large amount of hype surrounding the influx of New York based bands making music right now, so because of that have you found it’s been a great time to bring your music over to the UK?
AK – Yeah I do think it’s a good time actually; I mean there’s alot of other bands doing well not the same thing, but similar things so it can only help each other, especially if they are good!

4TR - But do you find the buzz gets a bit diluted because there is so much happening at once?
CR – No I don’t think so, everyone is different.  I am actually surprised so many people like us, I didn’t think they would!  I never thought that we would be doing this, this much you know, touring all the time and playing a lot of great shows. I never really thought that we would get out of the basement so to speak because we started as a punk band, so we are just flattered and pretty surprised by the great reception we have had from people.

4TR - Your debut record sold out and was reissued in October last year.   Was it a surprise that so many people wanted to get a copy of it?
CR – Yeah it was definitely a huge surprise.   We put it out first on Mauled by Tigers which is our friends record label in Brooklyn and it sold out in 10 days, which was crazy ‘cos originally they were only going to press 300 copies and then they were like no lets do 500 and we were like really?  We did NOT think 500 people would go and buy the record, but then it sold out really quickly so for us that was amazing.

4TR – You are working on your second album, when can we expect that?
CR – Well it will be recorded in March in LA and then we are aiming for September 2009 release date.

4TR – Which producers are you working with?
CR – Steve McDonald I think is going to produce it
4TR – Have you worked with him before?
CR – No

4TR – So you have been compared to many other bands, Jesus and The Mary Chain, The Shop Assistants, Talulah Gosh for example, so have you taken your influences from that collective group of musicians or is it much more of a homemade sound that you came to independently?
CR – It’s definitely the latter.  We were mainly influenced by punk and by 60s pop songs, like girl groups and the Beach Boys and stuff like that, but we just had so many different kinds of influences that we just mixed them all together and just arrived at our sound quite naturally.  And then it turned out that people started comparing us to like the Shop Assistants and stuff, which is awesome, but it wasn’t what we were going for originally.
4TR – In that case would you say your sound has developed over time?
CR – Well when we started had a vague concept that was pretty similar to how it is today, only the concept has kind of been flushed out over time.  Like at first we just wanted to be a fast melodic punk band you know and that was basically it; like we always wanted the sound to be kind of fuzzy with distorted guitars and the bass tone hasn’t changed at all.
AK – Yeah and the drums haven’t drastically changed either.  I think over time we flushed it out a little bit more by adding reverb and adding way more harmonies, so arriving at what we have today.

4TR – Your last LP was a conceptual record with a lot of talk of love in the lyrics, is that autobiographically inspired?
CR – Well I write the lyrics and stuff, and its what I write songs about because it’s the only thing I know how to write songs about you know.  It is autobiographical, and they are all based on real feelings like memories.  I dunno, I can’t really claim to know about anything else besides my own feelings about my life so that’s what I write about.

4TR - On record you have a lot of reverb and there is a lot of production behind it, so how does that translate from on record to stage?
AK – I feel like live there is still the reverb there but it’s probably all a bit more upfront.  I mean people have said that we are definitely more of a punk band live because it’s all a little faster and a little more aggressive and more up front.  The record is a bit more, would you say ambient?  Actually not ambient but I don’t think it’s the same experience live, its more raw.

4TR – Most of your songs are very short and to the point, is that intentionally done to have an impact or just what comes naturally when writing?
CR – I just think it’s useless dragging a song out for longer than it should be if there isn’t a lot more to do with it than what’s already there, which is why the songs are so short.   I mean we could make them twice as long but then it would be way more repetitive.
KK – [laughing] It’s always better to leave people wanting more

4TR – you have been working with the label In The Red, is that relationship continuing with the next record?
CR – Yeah it is.

4TR - Can we expect anymore single releases before the next LP?
KK – Yes actually we are putting out a single on Rough Trade’s label
AK – yeah in February that should be happening

4TR - Have Rough Trade been supportive of what you are doing?
CR – yeah Shaun Forbes is really great guy, they have been so nice to us!
4TR - How did that come about?
KK – he is just a fan [laughing], he has been for a little while.
4TR - Have you played instore at Rough Trade?
CR – yeah we did the other day, it was awesome I love that store.

4TR - Do you know what festivals you will be playing this year, especially in the UK?
CR – Well we are going to do a full US tour in April and then come back to Europe in May or possibly before, but what festivals we are playing has not been announced yet actually.   But we will be playing some!

Words: Francesca Strange
Images: Olivia Strange

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