When it comes to collaborating with other people, realize that certain people have certain strengths. You might really want to be the singer or the lyricist, but maybe you’re better at drums or bass. Don’t let your ego limit your potential. We always try to play to each other’s strengths and do what’s best for the song, even if that means cutting out some the drum fills or shortening the guitar solo.
If your music doesn’t give you chills, it won’t give anyone else chills either. Keep workshopping it until it’s something you would want to listen to or buy. If you’re not passionate about it, no one else will be either.
J: It is so important for women to see other women performing and playing their own instruments and owning the stage. If it weren’t for bands like The Runaways or The Go Go’s or even fictitious bands like Jem and the Holograms, I wouldn’t have realized that it was an option for me. Luckily, Jackie and I were exposed to those bands early on in our life, and it really inspired us to be who we are today.
Music is universal, and it still blows my mind that there aren’t more women playing rock music or playing in bands. It’s definitely getting better, but there’s still a long way to go. The more girls see other girls doing something, the more it’ll occur to them that it’s an option for them, and then eventually the landscape will change. My main driving force in performing is to inspire other women to pick up instruments and play.
We’ve definitely experienced some sexism in this band. We just try to ignore it and make it our mission to prove people wrong. A lot of people are surprised when I tell them I’m in a band. Their first question is usually, “Oh, you sing?” And when I tell them that I’m a terrible singer and that I actually play drums, they go, “Really? You don’t look like a drummer.” But what does that even mean??
Or I frequently hear, “You’re the best female drummer I’ve ever seen.” I know they’re just trying to pay me a compliment, but no one would ever go up to a male drummer and say “You’re the best five-foot-eight brown-haired white guy drummer I’ve ever seen.” They’re basically saying that I’m different because I have ovaries and they’re surprised because most humanoids with ovaries aren’t good at stuff. This is why it’s important for women to pursue activities that aren’t considered “feminine” or “traditional” if it’s something that they enjoy.
We also get compared to other bands with females in them all the time, and Jackie’s voice gets compared to certain female singers that we honestly don’t sound anything like. That irks us a bit. I guess it’s the lack of women playing rock music and people’s ignorance that makes them default to these comparisons. Another reason for women to play all types of music!
After a show once, this guy came up to us and said that, when he saw girls setting up equipment on stage, he told his friend that they should leave because girl bands are never good. Luckily, he happened to stay to see the first song and had his mind blown. We completely surprised him and were not what he expected to be “girl music.” He came up to us and told us this story and then apologized.
This guy didn’t need to tell us this story. It makes him look really bad. But he wanted us to know that we had proved him wrong and that he was stupid for thinking that. We then became his new favorite band, and he comes to our shows all the time now. Unfortunately, this happens a lot. People have sexist, racist, homophobic, whatever tendencies, and it’s all of our jobs to be good at what we do to prove those dummies wrong.
GM: Good for you! I’ve also had the privilege of seeing you perform live this past summer at Rock ’n’ Roll Camp for Girls, and I must say, you are so much fun to watch. Everyone was having a great time because it was evident that you were having a great time. Do you have any weird or funny stories of things that have happened during a performance?
J: We’ve had a lot of funny things happen to us on stage. We’ve played through flus and various illnesses, and all have at one point or another nearly fainted on stage. We’ve also pretty much had every piece of equipment break down on stage, so we’ve played sets missing an instrument. And I frequently gag on my own hair from throwing my head around with my mouth open. One time a long hair got wrapped all around my eyeball, and it took me ten minutes to uncoil it and get it out.
A couple of times we’ve had people throw money at us while we were playing. The first time it was funny and we took it as a strange sign of respect, but the second time it was a bunch of drunk hooligans and we took it as disrespectful. I guess they weren’t used to seeing women performing on a stage and they didn’t know how to express their appreciation other than by throwing dollar bills at us. But on the bright side, we made 20 extra bucks that night! Woo!
Recently at our
Telemetry CD release show, the fire marshal showed up and almost canceled the whole thing. People were hiding in back rooms so they wouldn’t get kicked out. It was pretty stressful since so many people had come out and paid to get in, but kind of cool that we broke the fire code.
GM: Sounds like there’s never a dull moment. You three have been together for a number of years now. What would you say has been your favorite part of being in this band?
J: Performing is so much fun. If you have a great show and people are excited and inspired by what you’re doing, you get to share the glory with your good friends. And on the other side of that, if it’s a bad show and you’re playing for 12 people on a raining Tuesday night, at least you’re there with your friends and can laugh about it together.
Another really cool thing about being in a band is recording. It’s so cool to hear what you’ve created in a tangible form. When it sounds really good, you go, “Wow, is that us?” And it’s cool to know that one day when I’m old and gray, I can say, “Hey, look at this thing I created when I was a youngster!”
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