Posts
the band that's under the piper microscope this month:
Excuses For Skipping.
the members:
tammy- vocals/ guitar
linda- vocals/ guitar
wendy- bass
allison- drums
the myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/xcuses4skipping
the website:
excusesforskipping.com
what i'm saying:
if you ask anyone who is "unfortunate" enough to know me well (pssh, ha ha), they'd probably smirk out of irony, at the thought of me being into a band that i would classify as an all female indie-space-pop quartet. i'm not gonna front about it neither, i'm usually not too into bands that fall into that "all female" genre and this is coming from a female musician, who once too was in an all female band. yup. like it or not, i can be very biased against all female bands. hey, i'm writing from my perspective and opinion, not to please anybody who reads this.., so if you are looking to be pleased, there are 4 million other sources that will blow smoke up your ass. look, stigma's don't just come out of nowhere and cliche's are cliche's for a reason. i could go on and on about why this is, but basically what it comes down to, is the fact that there are quite a lot of girl bands out there, that thrive on the angle of being just cute girls holding instruments and that's about the extent of their abilities. shhhiat, and a lot of them ain't so cute, psssh, just look at the "we play the same three power cords, just in different orders", disgrace to the ramones; band, the donnas. point being? it's female bands like that who create the stigmas and make it just that much harder for those that actually are talented and know their shit..., and this brings me to, Excuses For Skipping.
tammy fortin and linda moody, go way back in the SF music scene and have earned their places as respected musicians. tammy being in previous bands such as,Dyke van Dick, Aerosol Species, The Wiggins, and Blue Gum Art (which linda was also in). our paths crossed way back in my boyskout days and even then, those gals could and still do, run circles around me in their knowledge of gear and their ability to play. to boot, when you see their live set-up, they both have enough pedals to give my bloody valentine a run for their money... now, how could i have nothing, but mad love for that? (not to mention, that they have good style too, what? it doesn't hurt.) whether i know these gals personally, or not, i can say with ease, that these bitches are anything, but boring.
backing the harmonized vocals and continuously changing guitar sounds, of linda and tammy, is the tight rhythm section, consisting of wendy on bass and allison on drums. wendy, i've also known from way back in the boyskout days, and i remember when she first started on the bass, asking me advice on things and talking shop.. and the first time i saw her play, not only did it seem like she's been playing for a lot longer, she was doing backing vocals on top of it. now, as a bassist myself, singing and playing rhythm is like the fucking hardest thing to do.. [sorry to those who play guitar and sing, but it's true, and you know that you can get away with murder, much more than a bassist who sings could!] dude, it fucking took me forever, to get the hang of it and it's still damn hard for me. so.., f'n kudos to you wendy.
now, allison i just recently met, upon getting together for a music video shoot, that The Print Factor© is doing for their song "decision to be normal". [which will be out within a month or so]. anyway, as if these ladies could be anymore bad ass, allison is like the fucking cherry that tops this whole fucking rock sundae off! being that rhythm is where my heart lies, my eye is always watching the drummer, because what everyone should know, a band is only as good as their drummer.. i totally stand behind that! drums are so hard to play, not to mention good, and the ratio of bad to good drummers is like 400:1. now, considering that most musicians are male, think about how low the ratio is for good female drummers..? what? it's fucking true and i think allison would agree with me. she would know, because she happens to be a bad ass drummer. not to mention, pretty spot on, without over doing it! key words: not over doing it!
how come i'm not writing more about how the music sounds? describing it using fancy bullshit terms like "whimsical" ,"blissfully catchy pop interludes", or "dreamy vocals"? because i don't fucking need to is my point. all that crap is just contrived vague shit anyway, written by someone who usually thinks that they know something about music. to me, you know the people, you feel the music. besides, the word 'whimsical' never got me out of the house to a fucking rock show. that's shit that will get you to the nutcracker, if you're 45 and shop at banana republic.
i guess what i'm saying is, all the fucking elements are here; the skills and the talent; the good times; solid tunes; and a crazy ass spectrum of personalities.
see for yourself.
INTERVIEW:
i sent each band member the same four questions, then they all sent them back. so, this is a blind interview. upon posting this, is the first time they will see what they all wrote. note: to keep it real, i did not correct anything they sent to me.
the questions asked:
1. do you feel that there are stigmas against female musicians?
2. what do you think about SF's "unique" local music scene?
- okay, okay, that's kind of vague and broad, so let me get a tad more specific and ask; do you think it works for or against a group like E.F.S., that what happens to be the "local" scene in SF, is completely different from the local scene in other major cities, such as LA, or NY? meaning, what is liked in SF, is usually completely different than what's going down everywhere else.. so, like i know from being a musician myself, in SF, i have witnessed quite a few bands die out in the obscurity of the scene and i have also witnessed bands facing the same issues, but decide to move to somewhere like NY or LA and get signed like that. or is that something you could give a crap about?
3. if you'd have to say, in just your opinion, are there more good bands than bad, in SF, or more bad than good?
4. lastly, and most importantly, which of your boobs do you like the best? the left, or the right? [and that would be your left/ right]
the answers they gave:
TAMMY:
1.pipes, that's a very good question, and it being easter, i've got lots of stigmas on my mind. people tend to think you suck if you're a girl. it is every girl's responsibility to rock as hard as possible (whatever that means) in order to remove the stigmata. it is our job. no guy is going to erase the sigmata. people are stoopid. you have to skool their asses.
2.pipes, i'm glad you asked. sf has great bands, i live(d) with dudes who are in two of my favorite bands of all time (never mind just sf bands in particular), and i'm talking about tussle and the mall. we just recently played with one of my new favorite bands: french miami. and one of the best shows i've ever been to was a von iva gig at 12 galaxies. i still love bands like erase errata and caesura (R.I.P) and can't wait for the next troll record. wink. the scene is whatever you make it. if you're complaining about the scene, it's probably because you think it's cool to do so, maybe you heard someone else being a critic and thought they sounded 'smart.'
3.there are definitely more good bands than bad. this town is way too competitive for bands that suck.
4.pipes, this is a very important question, and i'm glad you had the courage to ask it. right boob. hands down.
ps: when do you wanna hang out and read my monster magazine with me...? dont you like monsters? huh? it's from 1978. two years after the bicentennial. a fine year for monsters.
* ha ha, i love tammy. if my mother’s embryo split, it’d probably be tammy.
ALLISON:
1.hmmm. I honestly feel that stigmas around female musicians in general have mellowed out in the last 10 years. It seems that all of the bands that I am listening to have at least one woman instrumentalist. It is cool though, cause now they aren't always the eye candy lead singer, they are more often the bass player or the drummer or whatever. I think musicians and listeners alike are less surprised by great musicians who happen to be female these days. That said, I do think that there is a certain stigma to being in an "all-girl" band. In other all girl bands I have been in, when random people asked us what kind of music we played, there was always an assumption that we would either be a Sarah McLaughlin type folk deal or L7 type punk rock. The idea that girls could write, all by themselves, the kind of melodic indie type stuff that some of my bands have, seems to still be hard for a lot of folks to grasp, which I find kind of fascinating
2.I have always had a real love hate relationship with the SF music scene. First - EVERYONE in SF is or was at some point in at least one band. Here's the thing, music lovers in SF have, on any given night, 30 shows to choose from. Not only that, but everyone one has some friend or coworker that is always trying to drag them to some shitty bar with an equally shitty sound system to watch their band. But in spite of all of this musical energy, when was the last time a group from SF had any level of real success (signed to a big label and not dropped in a year?). I hate to say, I can only think of the Counting Crows or Third Eye Blind, who were basically both well connected, yet horribly cheesy studio bands. So, why the SF scene is largely ignored by the "industry"? I don't think it is a lack of talent that keeps the scene in SF from being a better career springboard for good bands; I really think it has to do with the sheer volume of bands trying to get even a tiny piece of the pie. While this has led to a sort of cool DIY ethic where bands with like styles trying to get together their own little scenes, but I think this creates a situation where schmoozing between musicians becomes more important than actual talent. Thus music becomes politics. Frankly, I gave up the "dream" a long time ago and basically just continue playing because I am lucky enough to have hooked up with some really talented people. Do I get frustrated at seeing really bad haircut bands dominate the good clubs and festivals? When I hear what most of them actually SOUND like, yeah, but that is a concern for a much younger musician than I.
3.I think my last answer alluded to this, but I think there are way too many bands in SF, a few of them pretty good, but most are not so great. I always catch myself thinking "do these guys really think anyone willingly wants to listen to this? or "are they actually trying to bore us to death?!" I tend to be the a**hole of the band who basically likes 3 bands in 100 so I might be the wrong person to ask. Some of my absolute favorite bands are local though and I am happy about that!
4.Interesting question. I have always been almost completely indifferent to my boobs. I have a complicated relationship with my girl parts, not because I don't like being a girl, I totally do, but I don't really use any of my "parts" for their intended purpose, yet am still forced to deal with their constant needs - For example- the boobs require bras, which I know NOTHING about shopping for, so I always end up with these ill-fitting messes strapped across my chest that do nothing to enhance a part of my body that has never really been of any use to me in the first place. I don't think I have bad boobs, but what is the point? I do like other people's boobs though.
LiNDA:
1.the biggest thing i've come across is that a lot of guys i meet who work with musicians- like bookers, producers, engineers, tend to assume i don't know what i'm doing and then are super surprised after we play and say i didn't think you girls would be playing such "intelligent music" as if girls can only sound a certain way- (dumb?). You really have to prove yourself when you a girl - but the only thing you have going against that really is yourself.
2.there is a scene that exists everywhere and nowhere at the same time and it only really exists in the movies that get played out in your mind. At least thats my reality. If you think about that sort of stuff as an artist - you are losing touch with the music. We are all really in the same movie anyway-all of us- whether we're in LA or NYC - they're just different aspects of the same movie.
3.i don't know i really am a hermit.
4.I am an equal opportunity boobist. I love boobs.
WENDY:
1.Oh totally! People are always surprised when female musicians can actually PLAY their instruments!
2.It will be interesting to see how the rest of the world reacts to Excuses For Skipping. I guess we'll see this August! Do I ever see EFS moving to a major city in hopes of getting signed? No.
3.To be honest I don't really know. I'm pretty much obsessed with a few bands right now (none of which are from SF) MGMT,The Black Angels and The Kills. I know this new band "Intermission" kicks ass though! ;o)
4. My right by far. lets just say she has characture. ;o)
well... i guess the final word here is that.. the right tit is usually the best tit. funny, i'm a fan of my left.
thanx to EFS for participating in my bullshit.
EFS- currently has a new CD out- "out of work early"
PICS OF EFS- MARCH 14th, CD RELEASE SHOW, HEMLOCK:
