date:
may 24, 2002jojo interviews *THE GOSSIP*
date:
may 24, 2002
location: the empty bottle, chicago, IL
This is my first interview for my site, and I'm psyched that the Gossip has agreed to let me interview them. Earlier this month, they released their second EP, "Arkansas Heat" and are touring like crazy in support of it. On this night, Beth (vocals), Kathy (drums), and Brace (guitar) aren't feeling too good...the highlight of the evening was the Empty Bottle's black & white photo booth, where all three members hammed it up and begged supporting bands to jump in for a picture or two.
We are sitting in the "band area"...the Chromatics have just finished playing and Evil Beaver is currently on stage. It's really loud; I was nervous that it would be really hard to transcribe. A man named Ian comes down and wrecks havoc & brings "gifts" for the band. He came because he saw a picture of them in the Reader wearing DIY shirts that had 70's/80's punk rock bands scribbled on them. My friend Jon is with me, in awe that poet Thax Douglas has written a poem for the Gossip and is mumbling about how he would like him to write one for his band, Coughs. I begin the interview by telling them about my site, how I would like to interview bands that I like, and Brace puts me on the spot by asking me what Chicago bands I like. Of course, my mind was drawing up a blank and I felt really dumb. But that's okay. Here goes:
jojo: How did you guys meet?
brace: We were all friends in Arkansas. We met in high school and then moved to Olympia. Me & Kathy met in high school, and we met Beth later. We conversed with anyone who was artsy or punk rock, all kind of combined...seperate connections.
jojo: Why Olympia?
beth: Kathy went to school at Evergreen.
jojo: At Evergreen? The lead singer of my band recently came back from there...
brace: What's your band's name?
jojo: The Mascots.
brace: Good band name.
jojo: Yeah, he got back about two months ago and said it was boring.
beth: Yeah, it's a boring town. People that go there have big expectations. People go there for Yo-Yo and and they're like, "Whoa, look at all this action!", but that's Yo-Yo. When you live there, you're like, "ohmigod, our town is being taken over!" It's all these strange kids - it's just awesome. After a week goes by you're like, "I need space! "
jojo: He said (Max Mascot) that Slayer is considered hardcore!
brace: Oh really? Probably!
beth: Who was he talking to? That's not true!
brace: It's not true. He probably made the wrong friends.
kathy: That's a tragic mistake in Olympia...
beth: That's a tragic mistake at Evergreen!
brace: When you make the wrong friends in Olympia, it's really bad.
kathy: Was he living on campus?
jojo: (nods)
kathy: Yeah....that's bad.
jojo: Do you prefer releasing EP's over LP's? I know you've only had two EP's, but...is it yr thing? Short & sweet?
brace: I kinda like that...
beth: We like to keep releasing things.
brace: Yeah. It's easy to make one, and...
beth: It's really fun to put together artwork. With the Kill Rock Stars kids, it's really fun to put out a record 'cuz you get to hang out with them a lot while the record is being put together because you have to talk to them all the time.
kathy: It's really fun.
brace: And plus, we wanted to have something out because we're tired of the last record.
beth: Oh god - to make up for that shitty record.
brace: Yeah, to make up crappy record, we had to put out something really fast. Now that that's over with, we're going to be pumping out the full-length jams.
jojo: Did you start the band back home?
brace: It didn't start 'til Olympia. We're like, two years old. Oh no - not two years old - three and a half? Three years old?
beth: Us?
brace: No, the band!
beth: Yeah.
brace: Three years old. I'm three and a half, Beth is two, and Kathy's one.
beth: (laughs) It's two and a half years 'cuz it's gonna be three years in June.
jojo: Beth was asking me if I'd figured out your tuning after I told her that I learned some of your songs. I was playing them and standard tuning and it sounded fine to me...
brace: Really? You know, we've never made up a song where my guitar is in standard tuning.
beth: I can't even deal with singing in standard tuning.
brace: Like, we've never played a song where my guitar is "E, A, D, G, B, E" - is that right?
beth: "Every Good Boy Does Fine"?
brace: We've never played a song "E, A, D, G, B, E" - it's always been like, "E, A, A, A, D, E" or "A, A, D, D, E, E". I kinda think that's cool. I've played our songs in standard tuning accidentally, and it sounded horrible! I just think, with all the bands in the world, why would you wanna tune your guitar standard? I don't know. That's just me.
jojo: What's yr songwriting process? Do you just start jamming (for lack of a better word)?
brace: Yeah - Me & Kathy come up with a thing, and we'll base the song on a melody we have in our head.
jojo: Do you have goals you want to achieve with the band? Any sort of message or is it just for fun?
brace: It's everything - it's all about change.
beth: We love music.
brace: Change in music and in lifestyles, politics. I think it's all about change. Being able to listen to music in a different way, or being able to appreciate people. We're a punk band.
beth: Punk is so fun.
brace: It's energy, it's unity...
beth: "U.N.I.T.Y" (sings)
brace: It's fun, it's noise, craziness.
(A man named Ian comes in screaming, "The Gossip?")
brace: The Gossip's right here...
ian: "the Gossip?"
brace: Yeah, that's all of us!
(I can't remember what Ian is doing at this point...I continue with the interview)
jojo: Any advice for a band that wants to put out a record?
brace: You should fuck everything up! Tune your guitar weird, turn yr amp up, hit the drums really hard, scream - do everything different that other bands don't do.
beth: Or, don't scream - sing.
brace: Yeah, exactly. Do whatever you want. I think we're all about the bands that are inspiring and not normal. I think that the bands that we tour with are inspiring and have passion about what they're doing. If you have passion in playing a standard tuned guitar and being pretty, that's fine. People should just be able to realize that noise music or pretty ballad music can be equally passionate.
jojo: I hear yr in a no wave band.
ian: Yr a no wave band?
brace: We're a no wave band?! (laughs)
jojo: No, I heard yr in one!
brace: Yeah, I'm in a band you can consider no wave.
ian: I've got presents for you!
brace: Really? Wow...
ian: Are you gonna use 'em?
beth: What are they?
ian: Can you use them?
beth: Depends...
ian: Depends on what?
brace: I'll use it!
beth: I don't know - are they drugs? I don't use drugs.
(interview suddenly continues)
brace: All the bands I've ever been in have pretty much been ridiculous. All the bands in in except the Gossip are fucked up noise, no wave, destroyo, loud bands. I'm in a band called (jojo: ?) USA, (jojo: names another band he's in that ends in "ck")
beth: I've been in one band before, when I was 15. It was a pop-punk band. I sang, my boyfriend at the time played guitar, and another friend played drums.
kathy: Brace and I were in a band before in Arkansas...otherwise, no.
jojo: Define a good night for you.
kathy: When we all have fun playing?
jojo: Yeah.
kathy: When the crowd's having a good time...as long as we're having a good time and the crowd is having a good time, it's a good show.
beth: A really good show is when you can see that kids are really moved and inspired. Whether it means having a really good time, starting their own band, feeling good about their body, feeling good about their sexuality, feeling good about being queer, or just respect in general of feeling good about being a woman. That's a good show to me. That comes out afterwards. That's important to me - not to feel self-conscious and to treat people well and not to be pretentious. A good show to me is good reaction. Girls/people will come up and say, "tell me more about body facism" or "tell me more about being queer". Let's talk about it - "do you feel trapped?" and we'll talk about it and get you out of the trap. All those kind of things are a good show for me - to know that people are moved & inspired.
jojo: Is yr family supportive about coming out?
(Ian is now attempting to spray paint in the room)
beth: On the floor! Anything! Not "The Gossip"! (jojo: he is asking what he should spray paint - not quite sure what he ended up spray painting)
beth: My family's always been supportive. They don't know a lot of things - they're not totally down with queer politics and understand them, but they try as much they can. My mom doesn't understand trans issues, like if yr gonna date someone that looks like a boy, dresses like a boy, acts like a boy, says they're a boy...my mom doesn't get that, come to think of it, my whole family. They're definitely very supportive and try to understand. That's more than I can say for a lot of my friend's families, who refuse to talk about it at all.
jojo: I was surprised to see you in Jane Magazine not too long ago. It was really encouraging to read that this is who you are & you don't care what other people think. It is also very encouraging to watch you perform. It's really hard to feel confindent nowadays. I know that I have constant issues with my weight.
beth: Yeah, totally. Forget about it! Yeah, like "why isn't this accessible to me, too?" Kathy & I talk about this a lot - I get specifically asked about "fat issues", because I'm a "fat person". It's different - it's on the same plane but there are all kinds of different body issues. In the grand scheme of things with women, there are issues of clothing, diet...we (she & Kathy) talked about this - how skinny girls have crazy body issues, too. I feel like I've lost of weight; I was really depressed. People on the street would call me fat and make fun of me. People around me made me feel like I wasn't fat; people in my community would say that I wasn't fat enough to say that I am a "fat person". I could go on & on about it...
It's hard because you turn on the TV and you feel bad about yourself. You open magazines and you feel bad about yourself. You go to the store to buy pantyhose; the shade will be called "nude". It's nude for white people; it's not nude for people of color. There are those kind of things that are conformative. There are corporations that are trying to make women into this one thing - this one look, one person, white, one body, blond, thin, big tits, nice ass, petite feet, smaller, weaker - things like that. When you watch TV or go shopping, even to get a pack of cigarettes, everywhere you look there is a reminder to tell you how ugly you are...how "not thin" you are - you are not the standard. Lie, cheat, kill yourself, deny yourself to be those things. It's a scary thing to see. It hurts me to see girls go through a lot of shit - it's totally marketed towards them. It's everywhere you go. It's inevitable.
It's all about being strong within yourself and building a community around you. It's hard to go, "I don't give a shit - I don't care" because it's in your face all the time. You try to talk to other people about being "fat positive/body positive". It's so hard 'cuz yr doing it inside, too - "how am I trying to tell these people when i have these problems"?
jon: I just asked Kathy what hip hop bands she likes.
beth: Ohmigod - the Gossip are fucking hip hop...(drifts off)
jojo: So what do you like?
kathy: I like - tell me what I like (looking at Brace & Beth)!
beth: Kathy loves Old Dirty Bastard. Kathy hears hip hop when we listen to it in the car. She loves DJ Assault.
brace: DJ Assault is awesome!
kathy: Who's that one girl that sings the "brothers ain't shit" song?
beth: (answer inaudible)
kathy: I love that song.
beth: Kathy hates the new Missy Elliott record. I think it's 'cuz it's so electronic. Kathy doesn't like electronica very much. She loves old Missy, she likes middle Missy...Kathy doesn't have any hip hop records. Kathy owns the pretty, melodic, calm, mellow music. She makes me tapes. I own all the hip hop.
brace: She only listens to Dashboard Confessional.
beth: No, she doesn't.
kathy: No!
brace: I'm really into looking for the no wave records, like DNA & Mars, Teenage Jesus; stuff like that. I'm really into free jazz, old blues, like Robert Johnson & Skip James. Good punk rock - the Fall, Kleenex, the Slits.
jojo: What current bands are you into?
brace: I like Tracy & the Plastics, US Maple are really good; Bride of No No - they're a Chicago band, Lightning Bolt, Erase Errata, Arab on Radar...stuff like that - i like weird/art/punk/noise stuff.
kathy: Well, I've always been into the Beatles. I listen to classical music. I like Elliott Smith, Cat Power...I listen to music more for the lyrics. I like the stuff Brace & Beth listen to - when we go on tour, we all get to hear stuff we wouldn't otherwise listen to on our own.
jojo: I'm assuming punk rock isn't a big thing in Arkansas - how'd you guys get into it?
kathy: Brace has a cousin that made him a tape with Sonic Youth on it when he was fourteen. From that tape, he got the address to Kill Rock Stars and ordered everything from the catologue. Two years later, he introduced me to all the music....
(Ian interrupts)
ian: (to kathy) Do you want me to give you yr present?
kathy: Sure!
(He hands her "hair cement", and rattles off some nonsense.)
beth: I love Nina Simone, Chromatics, The Need, Tracy & the Plastics, Memphis Minnie, Etta James - she can scat!
jon: Would you scat for anyone?
beth: I would never scat for anyone.
So there you have it - my first interview! Ian put that hair cement stuff on the band and made us very high and sick from the spray paint fumes...thanks to the Gossip for popping my interview cherry (Brace put it that way, FYI). Do yrself a favor and see 'em live.
go to pictures from their fireside bowl & empty bottle show here
