An interview with the talented Elizabeth Elmore of the Reputation...

• Introduce yrself!...Hey! Elizabeth-guitar/piano/vocals, age 27. Just graduated law school. Between that and the band, don't have time for much else, though I love beer, rock shows, grocery shopping/cooking, Alias and Buffy and lots of other TV shows that I'm too embarrassed to admit too, politics, and little kids.
• How did the band meet?...Actually, I had a solo tour booked in the spring of 2001, but I was really sick of touring solo because I wasn't really that good at it, though it was fun to drive around the country by myself! I decided to recruit a one-off band for the tour, and got in touch with Sean (Hulet-guitar and vocals) because I met him when he sold me my SG. We borrowed the drummer from his band Moreno-they were great but broke up a couple years ago. Sean was originally going to play bass but he wasn't that good at it. I was doing a solo show opening up for the Shipping News, and Joel (Root-bass) and his brother randomly showed up at the show. Joel and Sean knew each other a bit because Joel did regular jazz shows at Sean's corner bar. Sean asked Joel if he wanted to go on tour in two weeks and Joel laughed and said sure. We called him the next day and said, 'No, we're serious, we leave on tour in two weeks and need a bass player'. And that was that. We went on tour and Sean, Joel and I got along reall well. We never intended to become a 'real band' but did. In August of 2001, I took a leave of absence from law school, we did a two month tour, recorded a record in December, and coined the band the Reputation. First CD came out April 2002 on Initial Records.
• Any line-up changes or difficulties since the band's start?...Um, hah, yeah. We're on drummer #6. First drummer wasn't really cut out for touring, and we were just borrowing him temporarily anyway. Second drummer, Ben Kane, was just on loan for a few months. He's now in a great band called Palaxy Tracks out of Chicago. Third drummer was Chad Romanski, Sarge's drummer-we just borrowed him for a month long tour and then to record our first CD. He's still one of my really good friends. Fourth drummer was scary as hell and quit 8 days before a month long tour. The fifth and first 'real' drummer was Matt Espy. He learned all of the songs in a week and headed out with us. Used to play in Atombombpocketknife on Southern Records. He played with us for about a year and a half. Total sweetheart, but left to go back to school and get his degree. Enter drummer #6, the lovely, hysterical, 21 year old Steve Van Horn. Funniest dude ever. He cracks us up and is our second 'real' drummer. He recorded our second CD, 'To Force a Fate', with us, which came out April 20 on Lookout Records.
• I know you played in Sarge...did any of the others also play in other bands?...Well, yep, I used to play in Sarge. We broke up over 4 years ago, which is why I was touring solo and then hooked up with these guys. Sean used to play in the very Hum/Shiner-like Moreno, Steve used to play in a hardcore band called Cusack, and Joel does a ton of avant jazz stuff, most recently Andiamo, although they're now on hiatus more or less.
• Were your past experience in bad all good experiences, or were there bad experiences as well?... I'd have to let the guys answer for themselves. When I used to play in Sarge, honestly, it was one of the best things that ever happened to me. I was 19 and never really dreamed I'd get to be in a band, much less tour and play great shows and put out records. So it was pretty amazing for me. It got pretty rough at the end and there was definitely plenty of fighting here or there, but I'd never trade it. Rachel and Chad from Sarge are still two of my favorite people in the world. I've actually been housesitting for Rachel for 9 months while she's working in Europe.
• How would you describe yr sound to someone who had never heard you play?...I actually suck at this question. I heard someone describe us as 'noisy pop with smarts', which I thought was a pretty good description. The records go from pretty big rock songs to quieter, prettier stuff. Live, we're pretty much a loud fucking rock band.
• What do you consider yr main influences?...It's weird, man, because the stuff I really like doesn't always sound so much like what we play. Steve's really into hardcore, Joel's into avant jazz, Joel and I both like hip hop and pop and the Afghan Whigs, Sean and I both like classic rock and 70's singer/songwriter stuff and stuff like Shiner and Hum, I always really loved about everything that came out of DC from the 80's on. The only thing we really all have in common is indie rock.
• What topics or issues do you focus on in yr songwriting?...Most of what I write about is pretty personal. I think people usually describe me as sort of bluntly, harshly honest which is probably true. I don't really pull punches ever. I think I get unfairly described as writing about romantic relationships a lot which, while slightly more true in Sarge, hasn't ever really been that true. I tend to write about relationships but not generally romantic ones. I think that any time women playing pop or rock music say 'he' or 'you', people automatically assume 'romantic', which is pretty limiting and marginalizing when you think about it.
• Are you promoting a certain political or social platform, or are you just looking to create a fun atmosphere?...Neither, really. I think I'm pretty selfish about it actually-I'm just trying to say what I have to say. It can be pretty passive-aggressive too-writing a song about something is a good way to sort of clarify your own thoughts on a subject and also force another person to listen to what you're saying. Our lyrics are very rarely 'fun', but I've never been much into proselytizing either-within a lot of rock music, that type of thing generally sort of strikes me as self-congratulatory and preaching to the choir.
• Who writes the lyrics/songs among you? Do you take turns?...I write all of the lyrics. I'm generally the songwriter in the band, though this record has been more collaborative than past records I've done. A lot of the songs were worked through pretty well in practice where, in the past, I've frequently done a lot of stuff myself at home. And two of the songs on the new record actually developed from intro parts that Joel and Sean wrote.
• Where do you get the inspiration for yr writing?...Hmmm. That's a hard question to answer. I never really know where the songs come from. Sometimes I'm just messing around on guitar and hear something I like. Other times I get a specific idea in my head and sit down with the intent to work on it. Lots of times I have lyrics that I like and try to come up with something that works with them.
• Tell us about the scene where you live?...We're from Chicago, which has a gigantic rock-using the term loosely-scene. It's really just amazing how many bands there are playing totally different types of music that are all loosely connected to the indie world. Just being the home of Touch&Go, Bloodshot, Thrill Jockey, and Drag City makes it amazing. There are a ton of great clubs doing great shows every night of the week. Good all-ages scene too.
• Is the rock crowd where you live accepting of women?...Yeah, I don't think it's really much of an issue. There aren't a ton of women playing, but there are some, and Chicago's got a long history of that. There are also a lot of women involved in the business side of things too. It's never been much of an issue for me, at least.
• What sort of reaction does yr music usually get?...Good, I guess. We're still a relative baby band in a city with so many great bands, but we're doing better and better at shows. Like anything else, you just have to keep working at it.
• During any shows you've played, when did you get the best audience response? How about the worst?...Too hard! We've played probably 300 shows in the past few years, so it's hard to say best or worst. We've had fantastic shows in lots of towns and, like any new band, we've played shows in different towns where no one was there, or the people who were there didn't really care one way or another.
• What sort of attitudes have you experienced toward yr music?...Not totally sure about this. I think we've probably experienced the same attitudes that all bands have-in some towns, people will really dig you, and in other towns they'll seem bored. I feel like we're generally pretty lucky with crowds-they seem to usually be pretty warm.
• Any new songs/material you've been working on/recording?...Yep, finished our previously-mentioned new record a couple months ago that came out April 20, 2004 on Lookout!
• What song of yrs do you consider to portray the band most accurately?...Oh man, that's hard. I think we're sort of a split personality band that way. The first part of our records usually tend to have the faster, more rawk songs, but then somewhere in the middle of the record, the vibe will change quite a bit and we'll move onto slower, more subtle, less 'kiddie' songs.
• What have you learned about yrself through being in this band?...That being stubborn and willful are good things. That my gut instincts are almost always right. That I'm capable of working harder than I ever would have imagined if that's what it takes to make the two sides of my life, rock and law, both happen. That I like waking up in the morning and not knowing where I'm going to end up that night or what the day is going to look like or what group of people I'll end up spending it with. That I can be too demanding and controlling, but that I hate lazy people. That I hate it to death when people talk shit about me but I need to learn to just suck it up and ignore it. That despite my best efforts, every once in a while there are things that are more important than being pleasant. That I'm really fucking lucky to have gotten to do this.
• Any lessons that performing has taught you?...To get up there every night with something to prove.
• What do you consider yr motto?...'I will work harder'-from the horse in Animal Farm who, incidentally, dies at the end from working too hard.

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