An interview with the lovely ladies of Shevel Knievel, Tara Darlin' (Tdarlin'), Jenny Reb (Jreb), and Shine.

• Introduce yrselves!...Tara Darlin’: Shine Louise Houston was born...is the daughter of Charlotte Cook, who was the first American to win the Indoor 440, Women’s, yeah, 1968./Jenny Reb: What’s her instrument?/Tdarlin’: She’s a runner!/JReb: No, what does Shine play?/TDarlin’: Oh…she plays…DRUMS./Jreb: She hits the skins./Tdarlin’: She’s the skin slapper./Jreb: Okay, so who’m I talkin’ ‘bout, you? (Points at Tara Darlin’.) Tdawg, Princess Darlin’…/Tdarlin’: No, it’s Tara Darlin’./Jreb: Tara Darlin'? Now yer changin’ it, ooooookay. The ever-changing artist formerly known as Princess Darlin’ is now Tara Darlin’. Yeah, she plays the guitar and the pedals and uh, as far as I know she’s from the Orange Curtain or beyond, somewheres around there. And uh, yeah, she’s a SlagRocker™ from way back./Shine: Uh…that over there is JennyReb. I can see her waving her confederate flag over there. She’s our illustrious bass player…yeah, master of the Dr. Sampler and uh, I believe you’re a Canadian, eh, hoser?/Jreb: Hoser, eh?/Shine: Hoser, eh?/Jreb: I’m wearing my took right now./Shine: Yeah? Eh?/Jreb: Eell, I’m really French Canadian./Tdarlin': And Shine is also our resident comic book artist. Jen’s our screenplay writer as well and I make flyers./Shine: Yeah, mastermind.
• How did y'all meet?...Tdarlin’: Well, funny you should ask. I met Shiner in the insane asylum that I was committed to after the loss of our first drummer, EvelShe./Jreb: Oh, I thought that was Evel-I? Oh yeah, she turned into EvelShe?/Tdarlin’: Yeah. I hooked up with Shine in the institution and then Jen came and busted us out cuz we had a life sentence./Jreb: Yeah, and I had just come back from my sojourn over in Sweden with the power-pop group Abba./Shine: Gettin’ your sex change, right?/Jreb: Sex change? I don’t remember that?/Tdarlin’: Dude, she had it erased. She has no more sex./Jreb: Right, unfortunately. That was my previous band, Sex For Jen. Now I’ve become celibate. Ummm…so I came back from my sojourn from Sweden and researched all of my family members, only ONE of which was remaining, and that happened to be…Tara Darlin’./Tdarlin’: And then she found out that we’d already played in a band together...the coincidences.!/Jreb: Jagerschlaughter./Tdarlin’: Jagerschlaughter. Yeah, oh that was the Sludge, man./Jreb: Pre-Slag™./Tdarlin’: (makes a musical sound) Diddlee diddlee diddlee, I was playin’ a lot of that. Remember when I was all diddlee diddlee diddlee?/Jreb: oh yeah, you were a noodley diddlee. Back then.
• So, I'm curious to know...what is this SlagRock™ that you describe yrselves as?...Tdarlin’: It’s anti-diddlee diddlee diddlee./Jreb: Yeah, SlagRock™ is the forging of over 5000 different kinds of Rawk./Shine: It’s the dirt off the metal./Tdarlin’: Slag is the by-product of when you’re welding two metals. You put the bead there, you stack some dimes, and then there’s a remnant material that you knock off with a hammer, and that is Slag, yeah./Jreb: ™. We just ™’d it, that’s all. It’s the same thing, it’s just ™’d.
• Who do you think influences this sound the most?...Shine: Rick James./Tdarlin: Mom./Jreb: Sabbath./Tdarlin: Ok, the only thing we could agree on is Sabbath and the Melvins, right? And Manilow./Shine: Clutch.
• Who would you consider to be yr Slag™-rockin' sisters?...Tdarlin’: That’s hard to say…we don’t know…we like Bottom, they’re pretty fuckin’ rad, but I don’t know if we’re in the same class./Jreb: People think we sound like L7./Tdarlin’: But I don’t think we sound like L7./Jreb: Just a touch./Shine: In the same genre, maybe the same vein…/Tdarlin’: We probably have a lot of the same influences as L7 did, they listened to a lot of that 90’s metal. Yeah./Jreb: And 80’s hair metal. Rush, Iron Maiden./Tdarlin’: 90’s were a good year for the rock. Karp./Shine: Karp./Tdarlin’: Karp’s a big influence./Shine: Yeah, but they’re like the baby Melvins, so it’s kinda like the same./Tdarlin’: Dude, Karp. Yeah, and Mike Kunka rules. For the record./Shine: Neil Fallon, the only guy I’d ever have sex with./Tdarlin’: Neil Fallon's everybody's daddy.
• You mention on yr site that if someone knows 'what a.d.i.d.a.s. really stands for', that they’ll probably like yr band. Are you hinting at a lot of sexual undertones in yr music, a lot of 'wink wink nudge nudge say no more'?...Shine: Hell yeah./Jreb: Of course./Tdarlin’: I don’t think we ever talk about sex./Jreb: Well, yeah, not really./Tdarlin’: Not at the fuckin’ convent./Shine: we don’t talk about sex, but the music is very sexy./Tdarlin’: Well, we like to fuck./Shine: There ya go. And it just comes out naturally in our music. It’s one of our influences./Tdarlin’: Sex is definitely an influence. Sex, or the lack thereof. Hint. Hint, hint. 'I’ll write a song about you, baby'...
• What topics do you write about a lot?... Tdarlin’: Most of our songs are about Jen’s family. Not about me, but about Jen’s other family. Yeah, or they’re overheard snippets of conversation./Shine: Aliens./Jreb: The Pope./Tdarlin’: Conspiracy theory./Shine: Get Your Hands Off My Beer./Tdarlin’: Yeah, don’t conspire to fuckin’ drink my beer, man, cuz....yeah, we like to write about space & science…/Jreb: Sci-fi, that’s a big infuence./Tdarlin’: And beer./Jreb: Sci-fi & beer, pretty much./Tdarlin’: Y’know, it’s a metaphor, really, for transcendence. We like to speak about the transcendence..which is what sex is…y’know orgasm…/Jreb: Aliens./Shine: Aliens are a transcendence./Jreb: Bringing us to another world./Shine: Riiiiiight./Tdarlin’: And then we rip off other people’s lyrics. Which is not really ripping off, it’s just paying tribute to some of the wordsmiths.
• Which of your songs do you feel best portrays yr sound?...Shine: On the album, 'Trinity'/Tdarlin’: And 'As it is…'. We just took 'As it is…', the initial Slag™ starter… /Shine: And revamped it./Tdarlin’: Slag™ began with 'As it is…', and we just fuckin’ Slagged™ the fuck out of it. Fuck./Jreb: I think that Slag™ was really started, though, with 'G.Y.H.O.M.B'./Tdarlin’: That was a little twinkle in the eye./Shine: It was Proto-Slag™.
• Let’s talk a little bit about yr pasts…where did you all grow up?...Jreb: Where’d ya grow up, Tara Darlin’?/Tdarlin’: I don’t remember. And then JennyReb grew up in…ummm…she grew up in Sweden…with the super pop group Abba…who are not one of our influences./Jreb: Oh no, not at all./Tdarlin’: Though we might, in the future, pay tribute. At the altar. And Shine, y’know, as a youth, she was an artist. That’s how she ended up in the insane asylum./Shine: In Long Beach, y’know, they just didn’t understand me. They weren’t ready for it./Tdarlin’: Yeah, yeah. But there’s the whole history on the website of Shine’s biography. Fascinating, really. You gotta stay away from that art stuff. After the operation, though, she’s been fine…or was that Jen?/Shine: No, that was Jen. Oh wait, we’re not supposed to talk about that.
• Were you involved in music at younger ages?...Tdarlin’: I started playing music last week. No...I just woke up, y’know, one day in 19…no, 200-wait…what year is it? And I decided, 'fuck, I like music'. Before that it really never occurred to me.
• What other bands have you been in?...Tdarlin’: Well, there’s Jagerschlaughter./Jreb: Boogertruck./Tdarlin’: Yeah, Boogertruck, which is still around. Y’know, Shine also played bass for Boogertruck./Shine: Yeah, but that was short-lived. I got scooped up into that avante-guard abstract jazz ensemble, which I’m not very proud of. That was really my experimental days…/Tdarlin’: Yeah, that was before I knew you./Jreb: Back when you were doin’ the 'deedlee, deedlee, deedlee'?/Tdarlin’: Well, before I was doin’ the 'noodlee needlee', I was playing the congas for a cumbia band./Shine: I think I actually saw you once, ummm…you opened for us./Tdarlin’: yeah, you know what? There was that weird gig, you looked familiar to me, like the world music, with jazz…/Shine: Yeah, it’s just the beret, you probably didn’t notice me…and the sunglasses./Tdarlin’: Yeah, did you have blond hair back then?/Shine: It was a weave, actually./Tdarlin’: I was the bald conga player, with the natural fibers. A lot of hemp./Shine: A lot of hemp, huh?/Jreb: Yeah, good times./Tdarlin’: Hey, weren’t you in a reggae band? Sex for Jen?/Jreb: Oh, reggae? Ummm… I don’t like to talk about that. No, let’s not talk about that.
• You live and play in California…how do you like the scene there?...Tdarlin’: I think that the Bay Area….I mean, there’s some great bands in L.A., but we don’t know L.A. that well, as a band, but I do think we’re pretty lucky to live in Oakland, cuz the best shows are in Oakland. But you know there’s fuckin’ like 3-4 shows a week here, sometimes you get 2-3 shows in the same nite that you wanna go to so we’re really lucky./Jreb: You can’t even pick. There’s so many shows to go to./Tdarlin’: We get killer fuckin’ shows…sad, y’know that the Covered Wagon isn’t there anymore, but Lucifer’s Hammer’s still goin’ and god bless those people, because they bring the fuckin’ rock…and 40th St. (Warehouse), and there’s so many great bands from around here…so life is good here in California. I hear it’s better than New York./Jreb : Really? Huh./Tdarlin’: And I believe it. I think San Francisico always has…you know they’re the first with all the fuckin’ weird trends that happened, the 80’s trend, the swing trend, the fuckin’ sex performance trends. In a weird way we’re on the tip of the subculture whatever. But it’s totally diversified right now. It’s not like there’s like a grunge scene or a specific sound happening here. Probably cuz we get so many bands coming through here./Jreb: Yeah, there’s all kinds of shit going on around here./Tdarlin’: You can get any kind of music you want, cumbia, free jazz…fuckin’ reggae…or hip hop…/Jreb: Abba./Tdarlin’: Abba revival… all girl cover bands…every week there’s one playing.
• What sort of response do you get from yr audience?...Jreb: Oh, they love us. They fuckin’ drool on the floor./Tdarlin’: Well, Shine, you know, every time we play those all ages gigs…nobody fuckin’ talks to me…but all the young’ns, all the young hotties…we can’t even get Shine to load her shit. She’s just fuckin’ taking names & numbers./Shine: I attract the Jailbait, what can I say?/Tdarlin’: A lot of moshing.
• What are yr day jobs, if any?...Tdarlin’: Jen feeds fish./Shine: I’m a sexworker./Tdarlin’: I build boxes.
• Any new material yr working on/playing?...Tdarlin’: Oh, fuck yeah./Shine: Too much, we got books o’ hook, man, we can’t stop writin’ shit./Jreb: Well, right now, we’re working on our sci-fi thrillogy. To get specific. That’s probably our oldest newest thing we haven’t recorded yet. Which is just now coming together with the Dr. Sampler.../Shine: and the backup singers./Jreb: In the 7 of 9 outfits…
• Do you enjoy playing new songs live more or busting out some old material?...Tdarlin’: It’s a point of contention./Jreb: Well…Tdawg likes to play any new song…/Tdarlin’: I’m a little hyper…a little pre-emptive…/Jreb: She’ll bust out a new song when it’s half way even done./Shine: Half-baked./Tdarlin’: I like the half-baked./Jreb: She’d like to play a new set every week. Brand new songs that you haven’t even heard of. That’s Shevel Knievel this week./Tdarlin’: I’m a bit chomper./Jreb: I’m a stickler for the old songs. I think the classic Shevel needs to be kept in there. I like the new stuff too, but.../Shine: A balance…/Tdarlin’: And then there’s mediation…poor Shine, gets stuck in between…/Jreb: She’s the tiebreaker…/Tdarlin’: I’m the baby./Jreb: A Leo./Tdarlin’: Scorpio rising…/Shine: Oh god./Jreb: I’m the eldest child.
• Are you satisfied with the way you’ve grown, sound-wise and otherwise, in the past few years?...Jreb: Hell yeah./Tdarlin’: Dude, y’know, I started smokin’ pretty young, so I haven’t really grown since I was 14…I’d like to grow some more but that’s why I wear heels./Jreb: I think our sound has totally improved over the last year./Tdarlin’: We’re coming into our own./Jreb: We recorded the album and we were just like fringing on the edge of SlagRock™…just discovering our sound…now we’re kinda nailin’ it. Coming together like a plan./Tdarlin’: Like a boner./Shine: We’re pitching a tent, watch out.
• Do you have one show that you remember enjoying the most; and what do you consider yr worst performance?...Tdarlin’: Well, the worst one was this show we played at the Stork Club, because the guitarist got really drunk…/Shine: That was also my most memorable one. That’s the only show that I cut short./Jreb: Well…let’s talk about our most enjoyable one…/Tdarlin’: 40th St. (Warehouse)./Shine: Yeah!/Jreb: We played at least two of the most amazing shows there…good sound…/Tdarlin’: You know why? Cuz of Brian. But you know, we gotta give props to the sound man at Kimos, Boom./Jreb: Yeah, Kimo’s gets a bad rap, but we’ve played with some rad bands there…sound is great…/Tdarlin’: But 40th St. is our all time favorite, any show there where Brian’s doing the sound./Jreb: Oh, the Ivy Room, that was a great show./Tdarlin’: We like all our shows./Jreb: Remember that one stupid show…/Shine: Oh, at the record store?/Jreb: No…at the fuckin’ sorority? That co-op./Tdarlin’: That was why our last drummer left-because she booked it./Jreb: Yeah, that’s why Shevel Knievel doesn’t play Berkeley anymore. That’s a rule./Tdarlin’: Yeah, our best show was at the Bottom of the Hill. It was packed! Dude, there were so many people, I was crowd surfin’./Jreb: Yeah, you were ridin’ that crowd. Ridin’ the wave./Tdarlin’: Yeah, I had them totally under mind control…did you see that?
• What have you learned about yrselves through being in this band?...Tdarlin’: I can’t play guitar very well when I’m drunk. Come to find out. That 'needlee needlee' stuff, that only works on crack./Shine: Hmmm…what have I learned about myself?…It’s my first long-term relationship./Tdarlin’: I’ve learned that I have issues.
• Are there any lessons that performing has taught you?...Shine: It’s not my business what other people think of me./Jreb: Lessons…the sound’s gonna be different at every fuckin’ venue, and you gotta compensate for that…you just gotta play yer best…
• What do you consider yr 'motto' per se?...Jreb: 'Cake yer makeup on'?/Tdarlin’: 'Get your hands off my beer'./Shine: 'I write the songs that make the young girls cry'./Tdarlin’: Yeah, well…we stole those./Jreb: 'I have issues…you have issues'./Tdarlin’: Haha…yeah, that would be the motto.
• Is there anything else you’d like to add about yr band, yr experiences & yr lives?...Jreb: We’re here to rawk./Shine: And we’re going on tour./Tdarlin’: We’re here to stay. Arrrrr!/Shine: A pirate walks into a bar with a steering wheel down his pants, and the bartender says, 'Hey, why do you got a steering wheel in your pants?', and the pirate says, 'Arrrr! It’s drivin’ me nuts'! That’s the last thing I’d like to add. Oh, and don’t’ tell anybody, but, I’m not really a drummer either./Jreb: Well, you used to do ballet…/Shine: Right, that was before my sex change. But we’re not supposed to talk about that either./Tdarlin’: Yeah, you were so gay back then./Shine: Oh my god, I was such a little flamer. No wonder I’m still such a faggot./Jreb: 'Well you can tell by the way I use my walk…I’m a woman’s man, no time to talk…/(Tdawg & Shine join in for a rousing chorus.)/Shevel Knievel: Thank you and good nite!