She's Electric

04/02/10

Vivian Girls

“We’re definitely not a technical band,” admits Vivian Girls’ lead singer and chief songwriter, Cassie Ramone. “The fact that we’re all female gets a lot of negative attention. People will write about how we look. Or how sexy we are, or conversely how ugly we are and I think that’s really un-constructive no matter which way you look at it. We’re not doing this because of our looks. We’re doing it because we love music.”From the punk-surf riffs and Ramone’s deadpan, Valley Girl delivery, Vivian Girls are a hipster’s wet dream, and that’s even before they bust out the three part harmonies. Reminiscent of early girl groups, with a special nod (or is that an ironic wink) to the Ronettes, Ramone, Kickball Katy and...

Posted at 05:48 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

03/19/10

Coffee With Katie Todd

“My love has always been toward music,” Katie Todd explains from a cozy coffeehouse in Chicago’s Boystown Neighborhood. Like so many artists, the path from hobby to career has been a hard-won victory. “We were finishing up the album and I just stumbled upon this thing for Summerfest in Milwaukee. It was this competition that was accepting songs to be an opening act.”Todd had just begun recording her debut album and despite the urgings of her band mates, she submitted her still-unfinished track to an online vote. “We ended up winning this competition and that kind of triggered what was to come, which was being an opening act for a lot of different, great artists.”Playing "the world’s largest music festival," would be...

Posted at 05:15 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

02/24/10

Wandering with Adriel Harris

“When I pick up my birth control, I read Curve,” laughs Adriel Harris sounding off with the coolest magazine endorsement ever. “It’s really interesting.” As the fair-haired foil to Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons, Harris espouses the Midwestern values of honesty, humility and effective family planning.“I grew up in a hippie, Christian commune in Chicago. I had musical parents,” she explains. “My mom was a singer. My dad played guitar. I never had lessons. They were really afraid of turning us off to music because they were sort of forced to do lessons when they were little and they hated it for a long time because of that. There was a lot of music that I grew up around.”Harris continues the tradition with her contributions to the...

Posted at 01:40 PM | Permalink | Comments: 4

02/10/10

Doris Cellar of Freelance Whales

“You know when you hang out with your girlfriends and all of a sudden you’re having your period together?” asks Doris Cellar, the lone female member of indie pop janglers, Freelance Whales. “I’m kind of happy that I don’t have to worry about that.”With their new album, Weathervanes, due out any day and a slew of new tour dates added, Doris took time out of her busy schedule to chat with me about glockenspiels, crocheting and the rigors of the road. “I had so much fun [at the Chicago show] that I woke up with a stiff neck. Not for any other reason than head-banging on stage,” she giggles. “I was jumping around a lot and I woke up the next morning and my neck was really stiff. It was worth it. I had a blast.”Sharing the...

Posted at 04:24 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

01/27/10

The Return of Lilith Fair

It is going to be a huge summer for rockers with vaginas. The festival that injected the late nineties with a healthy dose of estrogen is back in 2010 with a virtual who’s who of female musicians and the buzzword is diversity. Where else can you see Mary J. Blige, Loretta Lynn and Beth Ditto on the same stage? With 32 cities and more being added each week, the fest is set to rival anything the boys can throw together and promises to be a great place to discover new music.“From 1997 through 1999, Lilith Fair was one of the highest grossing touring festivals in the world, with over 1.5 million fans in attendance and raising over $10 million dollars for national and local charities,” claims the official website at www.lilithfair.com.I remember my first Lilith Fair. 1997....

Posted at 02:12 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

01/13/10

Learning New Things with Jessica Hernandez

North Avenue’s bus number seventy-two bumps along through the raging blizzard of 2010. The grateful faces of the patrons seem to glow with preternatural energy as they collapse onto fiberglass seats to escape the icy wind. I clutch a steaming cup of coffee and shiver. I cannot believe that I have left the house to see a rock show. I must be insane.Across from me sits a very old man with a Borders Bookstore shopping bag. He has also chosen to brave the cold in search of entertainment. I squint through the plastic to see his selection. Books tell a lot about a person. Where are they going? Where have they been? Not to mention the fact that this particular book was important enough to coax him out of his cozy apartment in a snowstorm much the same as the pursuit of music has done for...

Posted at 05:44 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

12/22/09

Getting Lost With Sara Quin

The holidays are a time to reminisce and this has been one hell of a year. My first Curve cover, the 2009 Music Issue featuring Tegan and Sara, was a milestone for me. It began as a short profile, was upgraded to a feature and I still ended up cutting a lot of interesting stuff. Like the time I kidnapped Sara and almost made her late for the show.“You have a car?” she had asked nonchalantly as we walked with the rest of the band toward a nameless Pan-Asian noodle house for some pre-gig nosh. I smiled devilishly. A car is a great place to ask intensely personal questions. It’s relatively quiet. There is no eye contact and if the artist wants to escape, they have to get a Hollywood stunt double to open the door and fall out of a moving vehicle for them.“I’d...

Posted at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

12/15/09

Getting Down with Lez Zeppelin

“Octopus?” suggests guitarist Steph Paynes as she peruses a menu from the Greek restaurant Taxim in Wicker Park. We sit down at a tiny table by the window next to an enormous hookah. “I love octopus,” I answer. Rarely do my interviews include tentacles, or ouzo, or a gorgeous woman who impersonates Jimmy Page for a living. “There’s just something about it,” she explains. “It’s like a call to prayer. I hear the sound of an electric guitar and I’m done. But what really is an amazing byproduct of this, is seeing young kids at an all ages show lining the front of the stage. They’re 14 years old. They have long hair. Might as well be 1973. Might as well be Led Zeppelin. The difference is those young boys and girls too, are...

Posted at 01:58 PM | Permalink | Comments: 1

12/08/09

She’s Electric: Movie Music Movement with Ky Dickens and Kaki King, Part II

We are back with Part II of Movie Music Movement where I sit down with Kaki King and discuss her musical contribution to the film, Fish Out of Water, a film that tackles the taboo subjects of religion and homosexuality. My first interview (with director Ky Dickens) discussed the mechanics of finding the right artist to score the film and also how to entice that individual with appropriate food and beverage choices.I can’t help it. Food is definitely on my mind today, the week before Thanksgiving, as Kaki King speaks to me from her familial home in Georgia. Her dog romps playfully in the background, begging for a ball to chase and I can almost hear the gravy bubbling on the stove. It is the perfect moment to discuss the recipe for an independent film score.“It was well after...

Posted at 04:31 PM | Permalink | Comments: 1

12/02/09

Movie Music Movement with Ky Dickens and Kaki King, Part I

The relationship between music and film is indisputable and as the compact disc goes the way of the dodo bird, artists are finding new and innovative ways to get their art to the masses. During the next two installments, I speak with independent filmmaker, Ky Dickens and indie rocker Kaki King about their collaboration on the new documentary Fish Out of Water which demonstrates the powerful way in which “lesbians, in different fields combine talents to create a social-justice piece.”“It’s easy, the first time you watch a film not to pay attention to the music,” admits Ky Dickens. “But I think [King] did a good job.” Tackling the seeming dissonance of religion and homosexuality, Fish Out of Water seeks to strike a balance and show the quiet...

Posted at 04:10 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

	04/02/10 Vivian Girls “We’re definitely not a technical band,” admits Vivian Girls’ lead singer and chief songwriter, Cassie Ramone. “The fact that we’re all female gets a lot of negative attention. People will write about how we look. Or how sexy we are, or conversely how ugly we are and I think that’s really un-constructive no matter which way you look at it. We’re not doing this because of our looks. We’re doing it because we love music.”From the punk-surf riffs and Ramone’s deadpan, Valley Girl delivery, Vivian Girls are a hipster’s wet dream, and that’s even before they bust out the three part harmonies. Reminiscent of early girl groups, with a special nod (or is that an ironic wink) to the Ronettes, Ramone, Kickball Katy and... Posted at 05:48 PM \| Permalink \| Comments: 0
	03/19/10 Coffee With Katie Todd “My love has always been toward music,” Katie Todd explains from a cozy coffeehouse in Chicago’s Boystown Neighborhood. Like so many artists, the path from hobby to career has been a hard-won victory. “We were finishing up the album and I just stumbled upon this thing for Summerfest in Milwaukee. It was this competition that was accepting songs to be an opening act.”Todd had just begun recording her debut album and despite the urgings of her band mates, she submitted her still-unfinished track to an online vote. “We ended up winning this competition and that kind of triggered what was to come, which was being an opening act for a lot of different, great artists.”Playing "the world’s largest music festival," would be... Posted at 05:15 PM \| Permalink \| Comments: 0
	02/24/10 Wandering with Adriel Harris “When I pick up my birth control, I read Curve,” laughs Adriel Harris sounding off with the coolest magazine endorsement ever. “It’s really interesting.” As the fair-haired foil to Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons, Harris espouses the Midwestern values of honesty, humility and effective family planning.“I grew up in a hippie, Christian commune in Chicago. I had musical parents,” she explains. “My mom was a singer. My dad played guitar. I never had lessons. They were really afraid of turning us off to music because they were sort of forced to do lessons when they were little and they hated it for a long time because of that. There was a lot of music that I grew up around.”Harris continues the tradition with her contributions to the... Posted at 01:40 PM \| Permalink \| Comments: 4
	02/10/10 Doris Cellar of Freelance Whales “You know when you hang out with your girlfriends and all of a sudden you’re having your period together?” asks Doris Cellar, the lone female member of indie pop janglers, Freelance Whales. “I’m kind of happy that I don’t have to worry about that.”With their new album, Weathervanes, due out any day and a slew of new tour dates added, Doris took time out of her busy schedule to chat with me about glockenspiels, crocheting and the rigors of the road. “I had so much fun [at the Chicago show] that I woke up with a stiff neck. Not for any other reason than head-banging on stage,” she giggles. “I was jumping around a lot and I woke up the next morning and my neck was really stiff. It was worth it. I had a blast.”Sharing the... Posted at 04:24 PM \| Permalink \| Comments: 0
	01/27/10 The Return of Lilith Fair It is going to be a huge summer for rockers with vaginas. The festival that injected the late nineties with a healthy dose of estrogen is back in 2010 with a virtual who’s who of female musicians and the buzzword is diversity. Where else can you see Mary J. Blige, Loretta Lynn and Beth Ditto on the same stage? With 32 cities and more being added each week, the fest is set to rival anything the boys can throw together and promises to be a great place to discover new music.“From 1997 through 1999, Lilith Fair was one of the highest grossing touring festivals in the world, with over 1.5 million fans in attendance and raising over $10 million dollars for national and local charities,” claims the official website at www.lilithfair.com.I remember my first Lilith Fair. 1997.... Posted at 02:12 PM \| Permalink \| Comments: 0
	01/13/10 Learning New Things with Jessica Hernandez North Avenue’s bus number seventy-two bumps along through the raging blizzard of 2010. The grateful faces of the patrons seem to glow with preternatural energy as they collapse onto fiberglass seats to escape the icy wind. I clutch a steaming cup of coffee and shiver. I cannot believe that I have left the house to see a rock show. I must be insane.Across from me sits a very old man with a Borders Bookstore shopping bag. He has also chosen to brave the cold in search of entertainment. I squint through the plastic to see his selection. Books tell a lot about a person. Where are they going? Where have they been? Not to mention the fact that this particular book was important enough to coax him out of his cozy apartment in a snowstorm much the same as the pursuit of music has done for... Posted at 05:44 PM \| Permalink \| Comments: 0
	12/22/09 Getting Lost With Sara Quin The holidays are a time to reminisce and this has been one hell of a year. My first Curve cover, the 2009 Music Issue featuring Tegan and Sara, was a milestone for me. It began as a short profile, was upgraded to a feature and I still ended up cutting a lot of interesting stuff. Like the time I kidnapped Sara and almost made her late for the show.“You have a car?” she had asked nonchalantly as we walked with the rest of the band toward a nameless Pan-Asian noodle house for some pre-gig nosh. I smiled devilishly. A car is a great place to ask intensely personal questions. It’s relatively quiet. There is no eye contact and if the artist wants to escape, they have to get a Hollywood stunt double to open the door and fall out of a moving vehicle for them.“I’d... Posted at 12:10 PM \| Permalink \| Comments: 0
	12/15/09 Getting Down with Lez Zeppelin “Octopus?” suggests guitarist Steph Paynes as she peruses a menu from the Greek restaurant Taxim in Wicker Park. We sit down at a tiny table by the window next to an enormous hookah. “I love octopus,” I answer. Rarely do my interviews include tentacles, or ouzo, or a gorgeous woman who impersonates Jimmy Page for a living. “There’s just something about it,” she explains. “It’s like a call to prayer. I hear the sound of an electric guitar and I’m done. But what really is an amazing byproduct of this, is seeing young kids at an all ages show lining the front of the stage. They’re 14 years old. They have long hair. Might as well be 1973. Might as well be Led Zeppelin. The difference is those young boys and girls too, are... Posted at 01:58 PM \| Permalink \| Comments: 1
	12/08/09 She’s Electric: Movie Music Movement with Ky Dickens and Kaki King, Part II We are back with Part II of Movie Music Movement where I sit down with Kaki King and discuss her musical contribution to the film, Fish Out of Water, a film that tackles the taboo subjects of religion and homosexuality. My first interview (with director Ky Dickens) discussed the mechanics of finding the right artist to score the film and also how to entice that individual with appropriate food and beverage choices.I can’t help it. Food is definitely on my mind today, the week before Thanksgiving, as Kaki King speaks to me from her familial home in Georgia. Her dog romps playfully in the background, begging for a ball to chase and I can almost hear the gravy bubbling on the stove. It is the perfect moment to discuss the recipe for an independent film score.“It was well after... Posted at 04:31 PM \| Permalink \| Comments: 1
	12/02/09 Movie Music Movement with Ky Dickens and Kaki King, Part I The relationship between music and film is indisputable and as the compact disc goes the way of the dodo bird, artists are finding new and innovative ways to get their art to the masses. During the next two installments, I speak with independent filmmaker, Ky Dickens and indie rocker Kaki King about their collaboration on the new documentary Fish Out of Water which demonstrates the powerful way in which “lesbians, in different fields combine talents to create a social-justice piece.”“It’s easy, the first time you watch a film not to pay attention to the music,” admits Ky Dickens. “But I think [King] did a good job.” Tackling the seeming dissonance of religion and homosexuality, Fish Out of Water seeks to strike a balance and show the quiet... Posted at 04:10 PM \| Permalink \| Comments: 0

Alternative Music blog