Emily Hsu: vocals, keys, violin
John Thayer: drums, percussion
Susan Hsu: vocals, guitar, violin
Aaron Leeder: guitar
Brett Niederman: bass
Susan: Em and I met Brett and John at a party where they were playing with their old band. Our bands played a couple shows together and decided to join each others’ bands. We picked aaron our guitarist up from an orphanage where we got our van (he came as a package deal with our ‘93 Ford). His old band was called Adoption Agency interestingly enough and he happened to be a really good guitarist!
Susan: We consider our mission accomplished if you can’t really pin us down. I would say our sound is influenced by new wave, ‘80s, punk, jazz, britpop from the ‘90s and current indie rock.
It’s a mouthful because the five of us are so different from each other in our backgrounds and we all write the songs together. We formed the band as sort of a concept project and not so much because we all agreed on what kind of music we wanted to play from the start
Susan: Exit Clov is a stage direction from the play Endgame by Samuel Beckett. Clov is a character who represents the futility of hope for change. He keeps saying throughout the play that he’s going to leave the abandoned basement where he lives; but by the end, the lights turn out on stage and he’s still standing there. So we decided to have him exit. it’s a hopeful thing…
Susan: DIY—about bitter failed musicians in this city who have nothing but hypocritical shit to talk about on musicians trying to do something outside of the mold.
Beast Simone—about working the awful 9to5 while chained to a desk and computer and overhearing the secretary’s high-pitched voice like a broken record. It’s about how unnatural that is for your primal instincts as a human being.
Violent Berries—about conflicts that never die because neither side wants to back down. It can be about personal relationships or wars/conflicts between countries.
Moving Gaza—being broke as a musician, but when you’re playing a show or when your favorite song is on, you remember why you do it. Also life sucks...there’s violence, hatred, genocide, but music is so peaceful and euphoric. It makes you forget about all the bad things in your life and in the world.
MK Ultra—about the CIA mind control program in the 50s and 60s. pretty crazy stuff… Candy Jones was a model who claimed to have been used as a mindcontrol sex slave by the US government.
Communist BBQ— satirical take on the leftist, anti-American movements in Latin America. Funny how 50 years of US foreign policy has only pushed the region to ask for more populist leaders!
Susan: It’s true that when people talk about female musicians in rock they usually make some comment about their physical appearance, whereas guy musicians aren’t judged so much on their appearance. but as long as the music and substance is there, it’s just a matter of proving yourself beyond that.
Emily: Unfortunately, the music biz is still a male-dominated industry and there’s no way to avoid some effects of that. It’s an extra obstacle when we have to go in front of new audiences and feel like we have something to prove, but to a certain extent, I think that’s true whether you’re male or female. Obviously, the best way to overcome any initial skepticism is to be ready to blow people away with what you can do. Once you show how tight or talented or creative or intelligent the band is, you’ve raised yourself to a different level where looks or gender really become irrelevant.
Also, I think there are tons of female musicians in music history who have struggled more with these things than we do now, and have already proven that women can rock as hard or harder than men can, so in a sense, we’re really lucky to be where we are today… though that isn’t to say there isn’t more progress to be made on that front.
Emily: We had a kickass time at our cd release show. The entire bill was great, which always makes the night that much more gratifying - we had The Dance Party, a DC band who are great guys and who put on the most energetic opening set we’ve ever had. Also Dirty on Purpose from Brooklyn came down for the show, and Geologist from Animal Collective DJed in between the sets and after the show.
There were all kinds of things to celebrate that night too, not just our new record. It was the opening show of a new DC music festival (DAM! Festival, http://www.damfestival.org), which a couple of us were instrumental in organizing. We also partnered up with a DC charity called CHIME (Community Help in Music Education) to help raise money and musical instrument donations for underfunded music programs in DC public schools. It was a great effort and we managed to get trumpets, guitars and tambourines, along with some cash contributions. So all in all, it was a really, really fun night—all the hard work we’d put into our music, the charity and the festival came together in one hot night of music.
Emily: Susan and I write the lyrics, but input and substance is a collective process. The lyrics are political in the sense that they’re about politics, but we’re definitely distinct from conventional ‘political bands’ in that we don’t make overt ideological statements about what you should believe. Even within the band, we have some disagreements about political issues, so it’s impossible for us to put forth any sort of political agenda, and frankly I don’t think it’s our role to do that. A few of us have strong interests in international policy though, which influences the lyrical content. With Communist BBQ, for example, the song is meant to be a satire on the state of affairs in Latin American, but it’s not meant to deliver praise on Hugo Chavez or anything. It’s more of a comedic take on what’s been making the headlines lately—ie, CHAVEZ CALLS BUSH A “DEVIL”!!! Same with MKUltra—it’s a frenzied, fun, kaleidoscopic pop tune about something that’s supposedly pretty grim and serious. We really try not to take ourselves too seriously.
John: Obviously the industry is going through a major transition right now. With technology as it is, artists are in a position of unfamiliar freedom. Big budget studios, labels, and the like don’t hold as much sway as before the digital revolution. That said, there are websites selling cds for $1.50. How are artists suppose to compete with that? The days of selling millions of albums at $15 are obviously long gone, however more people than ever before are listening to a broader selection of music. All you can do is be smart about what you sign, tour like crazy and work on licensing your music to any situation you deem appropriate.
John: The artwork on this disc is by a D.C. artist named Matt Sesow. He’s done the covers of our 3 previous EPs and we love him and think he’s a genius. He brings a visual element to the table that is so captivating you can’t just skip over the disc! You can check out his work at http://www.sesow.com. In many ways our favorite thing about making a disc is getting Matt to really bring it to life.
John: You’re wrong.
