I was sitting across from Eric, an ex. We were getting comfortable between gold pints, starting to loosen. “Y’know, you are the only ex that I’m not friends with.” he said. I looked sideways “really?” We talked about his exes. And I realize, it wasn’t that he had fabulous friendly exes, he was just a nostalgia junkie.

“I know. I am.”  He looked into his beer, guilty. “I have a hard time letting go of anything, even if I didn’t like it that much! It’s why I still listen to terrible music, NOFX, mxpx.” I remembered as much about his music collection.

“Music is a big one, only second to smell. Like if I hear Iron and Wine’s Creek Drank the Cradle–which you turned me onto–I’m right back with you” he said.

There’s the concept of “your song” when you are a couple. The phenomenon of the mix tape. And in the moment, it means something. Music is a natural accompaniment to falling in love, to help filter how you feel, to hold onto or survive it.

When I got my first real boyfriend it was fall and I was awake in bed, listening to Gish by the Smashing Pumpkins. There was a thump, a rock on the windowpane.

I lifted it to find him, a bike collapsed in the grass, guitar in arms. He strummed, voice just loud enough to make out “She’s in the air…In be-tween mol-e-cules of Ox-y-gen and Caaarbon-Dioxide”. Weezer.

I remember thinking “wow this is, like, romantic.” I cupped my face with a hand and felt aware of my facial expressionr. When he was done I wondered if I was supposed to clap.

If I hear “Only in Dreams” now, I think of this. And it feels embarrassing.

But while having him at my window felt awkward, I remember for months after I heard Only in Dreams, it was like I had witnessed clouds parting, sun shining down on a message scripted upon your soul. Something like that.

Years later, one summer I had a fling with a hairdresser. He was tall with black hair, light blue eyes and guns tattooed on his hips. I’d come over and he’d make tall drinks out of liquors that didn’t go together. He’d cut my hair and after our limbs got floppy we’d tangle up in his white bedding. He’d put on Placebo.

One night, as ice cubes melted in my drink of pomegranate liquor, rum and vodka, he had a hair inspiration. He bobbed around, squinting and deciding. He stopped to look and let his fingers graze my cheek. When he presented me with a hand mirror,  I had a widows peak. I had Brian Molko from Placebo’s hair-cut. It was over between us.

Maybe we look to songs to relay what we think and feel. To communicate to our partner for us, since  there isn’t a model for honest communication, since we aren’t taught how.

I had this fuck-buddy, who was a DJ. We DJ’d together at a club in Wicker Park. The songs were secret messages for him. Heartbeat by Annie. The Knife. I was jumping and the music was singing “I’m in love, love with y–” He pulled the record. Later, when he shouted “I love you” at me, in the street, I didn’t know how to respond.

Across from Eric, I was laughing. “See, and I don’t even own any Iron and Wine albums” I said.

His nostalgia hoarding was important to his feeling authentic. It was being connected to his past. But I thought finding myself was leaving the past behind.

“I’ve deleted whole music collections more than once, thrown away 70% of my closet a few times. For a long time it was how I moved forward.” Eric winced, the thought of trashing entire music collections was too much.

But, I know that cutting off from my past self was not the answer–as embarrassing as all of the mix tapes and memories were.

I also know that while all those songs promised that true love means happily ever after, no relationship can complete you. But songs about saving yourself instead just aren’t as fulfilling.

photo by Alison Scarpulla

Marketing specific toys exclusively to girls is nothing new, nor is it just a retro relic. Toy sections of every toy store, Target and Walmart in the country are divided by pink and blue. Recently, toy companies seem to be marketing every toy or game in a “girl” version. Exhibit A. B. C. D. and E. No, these board games are not pink for breast cancer awareness and yes the sample word on that Scrabble box is “fashion.”

Happening upon these” girly” versions of classic games got me thinking about the girl’s games from my own youth, the slumber party classics: Girl Talk (which punishes players with sticker-zits, very exciting to any 7-year-old). Dreamphone (*in electronic dream-boy voice* “You’re right, I really like you!”) and the Godmother: Mystery Date, a game who’s object is to gather accessories for a themed date in hopes that your dream-boat is behind that tiny door, waiting to take you out.

Mystery Date was created by the late Marvin Glass & Associates the company’s atmosphere was described by a former employee as, “a cross between James Bond and the Playboy Mansion.” It was in 1965 when Marvin Glass premiered Mystery Date. Tim Walch, a toy designer and retro toy expert, says that the game’s set-up was probably inspired by 60′s television:

“Lets make a deal was a big game show at the time, you know ‘let’s see whats behind door #1,’ I think that influenced the designers, as Mystery Date was the about not knowing who was behind the plastic door. It was like The Dating Game as well, with that mystery aspect” says Walch in a phone interview.

The game-play portion of Mystery Date doesn’t take more than a few seconds to get–collecting three pieces for a themed date and then getting the right boy for that date. “It was terribly simple, which leads me to believe that most of the good stuff was going on within the girls’ own heads” says Todd Frye, a retro game expert at FeelingRetro.com.

Anyone who recalls playing these games can attest that it could get heated over who would snag the cardboard hunk. This then, is where the truly revolutionary part of the game comes into play: the game itself worked by harnessing the hormones of pre-teen girls and entered into the territory of  romantic/sexual fantasy.

“The cover of the box said ‘Meet your secret admirer’ which hits on the desire to be loved, this is your secret admirer, someone that likes you. It’s not just a date” Walch points out.

If you were a child of the 80′s you may remember that this “Secret Admirer” shtick also was the tagline for DreamPhone.

In the toy industry, game makers work on the premise that girls mature faster than boys, which was another part of why Mystery Date was so successful. In 1965, 12-year-old girls were allowed to go on imaginary dream dates, harnessing these pre-teen hormones in a safe way.

Walch notes that while the girls on the box of Mystery Date appear to be pre teens, all of the “Mystery Dates” look about 25, like full grown men.

Mystery Date and DreamPhone are among the most expensive board games on Ebay; the games obviously struck a chord with girls and in turn have become a much sought-after nostalgia piece. But hovering in nostalgia may be where these “dating board games” remain.

EZ-Bake ovens, babydolls and even Barbie with her many careers remain hot items, yet Mystery Date and it’s 80′s and 90′s counterparts seemed to have vanished from the pink shelves.

While the pink and blue aisle segregation may be around for a while, Walch says toy makers are now marketing specific gender toys less and less. Rather than making a specific “girl” boardgames, toy designers just make half of the regular boardgames pink. That may still be offensive, however the days of girls games only centering around choosing what to wear and hoping that a special boy will call are now quaint relics.

Hearts Revolution first got media attention not solely for their music but also for their bubble-gum colored ice cream trucks. The band drove the truck to shows in Los Angeles selling candy, imported ice creams, toys and band merchandise. It was an idea lead singer Lo dreamed up at age 14 while laying on a rock at a rave in the desert. Now the band has a signature fleet of the pink ice cream trucks in LA, New York and Miami.

Aesthetically, the Hearts Revolution-Hearts Challenger brand is like the real life embodiment of candy-flipping: glow-in-the-dark vinyl records, selling hot pink toy guns online. The band’s mantra is Choose Your Own Adventure, a lifestyle philosophy which is about breaking the cycle of conformity and living a life that moves you to do, “whatever the fuck you want to do.”

In this interview the band talks about their story of breaking from that cycle, becoming feminist darlings, and growing together as musicians.

RW: What does the pink mask do?

Lo: The eyes are a window for the soul and the pink mask is kind of like protection for your eyes. Half of my family is from the middle  east where they cover their entire bodies except their eyes and I kinda think it’s like a reverse. What’s so special about my ankles?! I wanna protect my eyes. People get so set off by the mask that you would think it would draw more attention, but people just stay away. It works to my advantage because I don’t have to engage; it’s a boundary. For the first  couple shows I didn’t have it on, and I was so scared, but then with it on I felt like no one could really see me. But I love that it’s taken on its own thing: we sell the make up online and kids send in photos of them wearing it, kids come to shows wearing the mask. It’s kind of the embodiment of being your own superhero. It’s like it doesn’t matter what color it is or how you wear it; it doesn’t matter who’s behind it; it’s about a movement and a feeling.

RW: I think Hearts Revolution on some level  is about engaging people’s inner child,. Where does that come from?

Ben: Personally, I think we as a band are all very childlike. So I think some of that comes through.

Lo:  I, personally, did not have a childhood. When I was younger I was trying to be my mother’s husband and dealing with finances and why we didn’t have enough money. The older you get the further you get away from those instinctive childhood dreams of “I wanna be this” and “I can be this and do anything because I want it.” You really get that beaten out of you.

RW: What adventure have you chosen for your life?

Lo: I think the embodiment of the spirit of Hearts Revolution is the Choose Your Own Adventure Model, and I think in this world people love to tell you what is possible and what is not, and you can become a victim of circumstance to your background, your education, your family but we do whatever the fuck we wanna do.

RW: So many people don’t go after their dreams. Why do you think this is?

Lo: We are instilled with fear from the moment we are born, then you become a victim of circumstance. I personally came from the wrong fucking background and had a lot of problems with drugs and bad lifestyle choices. I had a baby when I was a teenager and certain things just are not possible for teenage mothers. You have to break that cycle, the first time is the hardest one but once you do it it’s like a fucking  roller coaster. Who wants to go to a job they hate everyday for $10 an hour?  But they keep you afraid and in that cycle. You have to create your own infrastructure.

RW: You’ve said before in interviews that Hearts Revolution and Hearts Challenger is a lifestyle brand. What does that mean for you?

Lo: We said that as kind of a joke.  But it is a self contained unit,: we are creating projects, experiences, songs and videos in accordance to the same visual aesthetic. The Choose Your Own Adventure Model became our brand. It encompasses all of the projects that we do and in a way that there is integrity behind everything, it’s not a marketing ploy. We want to make stuff that is beautiful, like in 20 years you have a white heart shaped record…that’s something that is beautiful.

RW: I see hearts revolution as this bubble, the aesthetic spanning everything, almost protecting it. But at the same time you are constantly giving away a piece of that bubble whether it is through a heart shaped record or some ice cream.
Lo: Hearts Revolution is such an insane dichotomy. Half of it is like a child wanting to share and the other half  is like anger and wanting to cry and fight. Even the symbol is so guarded: the heart is the symbol of love and then you  have the two unicorns protecting it.

RW:  What are you guys listening to these days?
Lo: Motown, we almost always have Motown on. I have this obsession where I listen to one song over and over. I can listen to a smiths song 5,000 times in a weekend, it’s like why anyone listens to anything that’s out today I have no idea.

RW: So I am really into the pink aesthetic, I think it totally works.

Lo: I fucking hated pink my entire life then all of the sudden I hit 25 and I was like I want the faintest shade of pink, not Barbie pink. If you look at what I wear it’s almost beige. I wanted a whisper of neon and some holograph stickers– this was before nu rave and dance music really happened. I think that we’ve done a really good job of creating something that’s us. When the Ed Banger thing happened the whole world paired up like fucking Noah’s ark with two boy DJs everywhere. So-Me’s graphics were everywhere. People  don’t wanna stand on their own two feet and do their own shit. And so navigating through the past two years of that you know when something has staying power and when it is different.

RW: From  a guys point of view why is Hearts Revolution awesome?

Ben: Aesthetically there is such a strong identity with it, also I like try to make a balance in everything we do. When everything is pink it makes more leeway for something ugly or dark sounding.

Lo: I am so angry. We don’t have freedom of speech we just have freedom to say what they want us to say and how they want us to say it. You cant say fuck in public but you can say rape.

RW: So what issues get you fired up?

Lo: Oh, don’t get started with this bitch. I think the world is full of cruel inner circles where it’s a who’s who game of hipster fucking bullshit. We are not concerned with making music for the 200 hipsters in all of the major cities. Also the fact that there is this crazy celebrity obsession with these poor girls like Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears. They build up these pop stars to unrealistic standards and then they love to rip them apart. All the while there are little girls and boys getting raped and killed all around the world, starving and getting AIDS… and we are worried about Jennifer Aniston? If this continues we are going to be in a very bad place. You know when this Travis/AM thing  happened? I saw the whole internet community rally. I would never wish that on anyone but if we would collectively take all of this energy and focus it on something that really fucking  matters then anything would be possible!

RW: I know you’ve said you grew up listening to riot grrrl, where is riot grrrl’s influence in Hearts Revolution?

Lo: I have been a riot grrrl since I was 13 years old. I will be a riot grrrl ’till I die. I grew up in the crux of that. When I was really young I worked at this all ages club in LA and I got to see all of those bands: Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, Heavens to Betsy, I put on Sleater Kinneys first show!  The whole thing was so magical. I dropped out of school in 9th grade because the kids were so horrible. So riot grrrl was like my family but then it became a thing where it was just as bad as the kids at school because it was like “you can’t be  into anything else this is your thing. ” For me, and Hearts Revolution is riot grrrl lyrically and content wise. I want to be able to give riot grrl a new face and take over where Kathleen Hanna and even Kim Gordon fizzled out. We need that more so than ever in fucking history with this ridiculous Disney machine that keeps cranking out assholes. We need to have something to counter balance for the kids. I wanna make music that Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore will like have Coco listening to. She’s thirteen/fourteen years old now, who the fuck is she going to listen to?

RW: Also especially with electro because it is such a boys club

Lo: It IS such a boys club! I hate it.  I  like to think that we are like the future:  Hearts Revolution are a fusion of hip hop and what’s going on in the streets with amazing electronic music and a riot grrrl spirit. Without it being written off as “whiny girl music”. People get all hung up on , “Oh she’s screaming.” Who wants to hear another woman with a guitar singing folk music? I don’t! I have something to say.

More Hearts Revolution:

Hearts Revolution on Myspace

Hearts Challenger

Hearts Revolution- CYOA

Hearts Revolution- Switchblade

I had the chance to chat with nightlife maven, Larry Tee, the man who literally owns the word electroclash, the music movement that triggered the electro explosion of this decade.

You may recognize Larry Tee from his 90′s song with Rupaul: Supermodel (You betta work!) But Tee has managed to stay relevant with a music career spanning over three decades. 

Tee’s on the brink of releasing a new album which is studded with stars of internet fame (including Jeffree Star, Perez Hilton and much more.)  Here Tee divulges about the 1980′s NYC club kids of Michael Alig fame,  the roxy era,  and the electroclash  heyday.

RW: What can you indulge about the Disco 2000 parties of Party Monster fame?

Tee: It was like a broken record playing over and over and over again… there was lots of drugs, there was always a back area where people would have sex. It was a lot of people wearing whole body outfits saying “give me a drink, this club sucks.”  There wasn’t much content with the club kids and there wasn’t much music in the scene. They wore great make up, they could drink like no one else and they always wanted free drugs. It wasn’t really very cute, pretty depressing I would say. But I hosted the hot body contest every week which was sensational, we would get people to  come up for a chance to win $50 and they’d get totally naked. It was outrageous and fun.

RW: What is your favorite party you’ve thrown?

Tee: I had a party when I first came to New York called love machine, Rupaul and Lady Bunny were the MCs. Every week  the supermodels would come. Linda, Christie and Naomi would all come at the same time in the same cab and just hang out in the same corner of the club every week.  It was pretty amazing because I’d just gotten to NYC six months earlier and suddenly i was in charge of a thousand people. I would be DJing and someone would say you’ve gotta play Liza Minelli’s new song, Liza is here!

RW: What got you into DJing?

Tee: Well i became  a DJ in Atlanta after the disco era happened. New wave was starting to come in and there weren’t any DJ’s playing it. There was all this great stuff, early New Order and Depeche Mode and I couldn’t dance to it or hear it so i had to start DJing myself. I  love going to clubs in Atlanta, back then Rupaul hosted a party and we once had a fake wedding. Lady Bunny showed up at my birthday party and just announced that she was Lady Bunny. She was really thin and pretty then, now she’s a hag but still full of life. But Ru was always stunning in and out of drag.

RW: How about the heyday of electroclash, what was it like being there?

Well it was a particular thrill on my birthday when Chicks on Speed and Adult all came out and sang happy birthday. This was during the Electroclash fest that I put on. Over the course of that 24 hours I lost $80,000, which was about what it cost to do that festival. That was bad, but then my club in Williamsburg took off and now I own a condo and  live right above Agnes Deyn. I even wrote a song about her! It’s called Agnes Deyn. It’s sort of like the song Supermodel I did in 1992, it’s my tribute to the supermodel that I love right now.

RW: When you were helping create the scene of  electroclash, what was the vision?

Tee: One of the great things about electroclash was that a lot of people had the idea of making dance music with rock n roll attitude but most electroclash groups had a very distinct  personality. They were also political and it didn’t matter if you were gay or straight. I remember thinking this is a very modern form of music. At the time in the indie world there was a lot of cute straight dudes that didn’t have much to say. Indie bands for a while all looked like replacements for boy bands, like they replaced ‘N SYNC with the Artic Monkeys and there you go.

RW: Ok so tell me about the Licky video

Tee: We put up a blue screen, I came up with the idea ‘cuz i wanted to do something sexy and fun that we could afford to do. So we rented the  equipment and brought the other girl in from Texas. She’s a model and her name is Josie Ann. She had a really good sense of humor and would do about anything we asked but she did not wanna lick Nelson, my dog.  He’s so cute I can’t imagine anyone not wanting to lick him! The shoot was fun we brought in this hunky model that had been to my house just a few weeks before the shoot. Oh and the whipped cream was vegan, Josie Ann was vegan so we got vegan everything.

RW: One thing that was present in electroclash and not other electronic music is the powerful women behind it. Why do you think this is?

Tee: When electroclash started happening there was  huge  backlash by the house, techno and IDM communities. It’s all a big boys club. Then suddenly here is all these powerful women like Miss Kittin, Chicks on Speed… I mean there was a girl and a fag in Fischerspooner! I got such a lashing from those guys…I think the reticence from the dance community was because the last thing they wanted was a bunch of girls coming in and bumping them out of the way. I was doing everything I could to promote electroclash because I thought it was  fascinating. I think there needs to be more of a voice of women in music in general. Who doesn’t wanna rock out to some girls? When I did the electroclash fest I took out all women: Peaches,  Chicks on speed, Tracy and the Plastics. It was a lot of fun, I bet more fun than being with a bunch of dudes. Peaches in an indoor heated pool with her top off was worth the entire price of the tour.

RW: What are you listening to right now?

I do love a lot of the stuff I’m hearing.  I love a lot of really amazing girl groups that are singing more songs as opposed to electro which was more attitude and  fever than singing. I like The Twelves, Chairlift, Lykke Li, Little Boots, Little Ginger. I remember in the New wave era, a lot of the early stuff was stiff and noisy then out of the next wave people suddenly started writing beautiful songs. I think we are heading into the beautiful song stage with the funky stuff rather than the glitch sounds of bloghouse. Once something like bloghouse is  put into a more musical context it should mean a lot of great music coming up.  A lot of it’s just going to show up any day now.

RW: You’ve said in interviews before that you really want to be a hipster, but you aren’t. Do you still feel this way?

I wanna be cool. Don’t we all wanna be cool? I’m sure that is  something that makes me the center of the party, wanting to be cool or be around a lot of people.  I’ve always been cool, but I’ve always been a dork.  I’m never gonna get it down right; I’ll never be in a an indie rock boy band I’m afraid. I have a7-year-old girl singing on my album; I’ll always want to do something a little dorky.

More More More:

Larry Tee’s Licky with Princess Superstar:

Larry Tee- I love You

Click for a stellar Larry Tee mixtape on Big Stereo

photo by jocelyn baun

I recently chatted with the lovely Isla from the band Purple Crush,  Not familiar with them? Find out more and see Videos below.

In 2006 sweethearts Jared and Isla, of the electropop band Purple Crush embarked on their first U.S. tour. As they traveled by car from city to city, a fluorescent colored phenomenon spread before their eyes. “We saw this thing happening. We began to notice that it was the same in every city. Kids were dressing the same and wanting to hear the same music. We saw this movement happening that was very youthful with very high energy, very neon” says Isla.  Purple Crush were in the right place at the right time as this newborn movement tore through underground loft parties and hip clubs in major cities the world over.

While they are best known for the countless remixes of Isla’s clear pop vocals against Jared’s electro beats, Purple Crush have gone through a variety of sounds. The married hipster-couple met in college, ironically enough on the dance floor. Isla was going to school for dance and Jared for music. It wasn’t long before the two began experimenting with the latter. The evolution of Purple Crush is not linear and cohesive but rather wild and in the moment. Earlier songs of theirs were more rock influenced, later more R&B, then hip hop. The duo even went through a funk phase.

In 2006 the energy of electro would direct Purple Crush. “We heard and saw this thing and it was like let’s jump on this. That’s when we recorded Welcome to emo club. It was: let’s make an album of music for this group of peple” says Isla. This was the year of blog house, and it was the blogs that made Purple Crush. “When we started, friendster hadn’t even been invented yet. The only person i knew of that was doing Internet stuff was Prince while he was separating from his label. We felt like we could see this new world that didn’t exist yet. It wasn’t until someone blogged us, that this huge door opened. Through myspace, blog connections and message boards I was able to book tours.”

Purple Crush’s live shows capture the heartbeat of the scene. Isla’s dancing incites energy; she combines her classical training with club moves. “My aim with our live shows is to inspire people to explore their bodies more. I like to get people so heated that when the DJ takes over they are just experiencing dancing and their bodies in a whole different realm” Says Isla. This passion for dance enters during the writing process, as they often write with a dance move in mind. “The dance for shopping on the dance floor would be during the line ‘peel it, peel it’ I do a version of the butterfly. It’s like this old school dance where you move your knee in and out, your pelvis makes this waving motion” she explains.

While it’s the blogs and electro scene that have given Purple Crush their push, the duo are beginning to grow from their bloghouse roots. Their last album “Blog Party” was to be a kiss goodbye to the blogs. “It just started to kind of kill the song, it got so abstract- just remixes over and over, I loved that but we miss those 80′s pop songs that make you emotional and want to dance at the same time.” For their next record Purple Crush are working on perfecting pop songs and getting back to more song based music with live instruments. Isla’s vision is more artsy, less “hypebeast.”

This new direction for Purple Crush is apparent in their cover of Kate Bush’s “Running up that Hill (A Deal with God)”. Isla’s poppy take on Bush is sparkling and heartfelt. The track remains powerful, and even becomes danceable as Isla proves in the video. The cover was a more personal break from their usual dance tracks. “We were listening to Hounds of Love alot, there were a lot of things going on in our life that we were recovering from and that song in particular helped us. It just made sense to cover it” Isla says.

Isla is inspired by legendary female singers such as Annie Lennox, Madonna and of course Kate Bush but she also finds inspiration in the new artists such as Santogold and Hercules and the Love Affair who are on the song based direction that Purple Crush are edging towards. “I think bloghouse does want to grow up” Isla says. Isla and Jared are growing, they are moving towards an underground retrieval of pop music.

“Pop music has been dominated by mass produced 18 year olds, back in the 80′s and 70′s people didn’t care as much if the artists were super hot, it was the music that mattered” Isla says.

Isla is openly a fan of Madonna and Britney Spears, having even covered songs by both artists, but she admits that they are part of the problem, “Everyone is trying to hold onto this blond, totally toned ideal. It’s so boring.  Look at Britney, she shaved her head, we all know she has short hair! Yet she insists on putting these extensions in to look like she did when she was 21. I want evolution here” Isla says.

The music industry notoriously makes it hard for anyone new to step in; this seems especially true for unique women artists in the past decade. It is as if the strong, visible women artists from the 90′s scared the Industry and in turn the mainstream away from revolution. Isla is hopeful though, “If everything is the same it is inevitable that something new will come along” She concludes.

Shopping on the Dancefloor

Running up that Hill (A Deal with God)

Vacation

2 Many Hypebeasts- “We did this song and it was to make fun of the movement but we were embracing it at the same time”- Isla.

Here, the woman fronting this kaleidoscopic off the wall pow-wow, Dandi Wind, opens up about the evolution of her music, fashion and the fall of the strong front woman:

R: What were you like as a kid?
DW: “A mixture of both shy and dramatic. just like now. I’ve Always loved fantasy, theater and dressing up.”

R: How did you and Szam meet?
DW: “In a theater camp about a decade ago.”

R: How would you describe your relationship?
DW: “Sexual.”

R: What drives you as an artist? Where do you find inspiration?
DW: “I watch a lot of films, read books, the news. Traveling around the world and finding out local myths or bizarre stories. Also personal hardships I guess.”

R: Tell me about the latest album, Yolk of the Golden Egg, what is it about?
DW: “It is not more “mature” though so some would say that but probably more reflective and slower. Yolk of the Golden Egg is a reflection upon my previous experiences of being a musician. The golden egg is success and the yolk is what is really inside the egg.”

R  You’ve said you are somewhat anti-social. Where do you pull the Dandi Wind persona from?
DW: “Yeah I’m definitely not a social person. But then again I don’t think I’m “social” on stage onstage. It’s just me performing in response to each song. I don’t tell the audience to do anything but of course prefer them to respond with energy which in turns gives me adrenaline in addition to the music itself.”

R: Have you always been straight edge?
DW: “I was straight edge from 2003-2006 now I occasionally have a drink.
Drugs affect me in a bad way so that’s primarily why I don’t do them.
Also even alcohol weakens my ability to perform and it can be dangerous, not in a cool, unhinged way – I just don’t want to fall offstage or fuck up.”

R: What have been your inspirations for the styling of Dandi Wind?
DW: “Tribal: both ethnic and primitive, dance costumes because they’re easy to move in, sequins because they catch the light and look great in photos. It’s basically things I gather from thrift stores… Lately however I work with these amazing Australian designers called Cabbages and Kings who’ve made some amazing outfits for me! I love their stuff. My favorite costume was made in 2005 by YSO a fabulous Montreal based designer and it’s featured on the cover of Concrete Igloo. It’s made of leather and I wish I could afford to hire him to make me something else!”

R:  Has the music or image of Dandi Wind changed over the years? What has been the evolution?
DW: “Yeah totally, you could say we’ve gone through 3 very different sonic stages.
Initially we were kind of like 70s glam/pop influenced, ie: T-Rex, Sweet, Slade. then we went into our heavier cathartic punk era when I was young and angry and thought I could change the world, which would be Concrete Igloo.Then when I realized the reality of how the world works, we created Yolk Of The Golden Egg.

Live I don’t feel I’ve changed drastically as I most enjoy doing dance songs in live settings. Also whenever we do singles/7 inches I think we maintain a connection to our pop/glam roots.”

R: What is your favorite city you’ve played in so far?
DW: Taipei – I was electrocuted onstage and almost died but it was an amazing performance.
If I had died then I would have been happy as I was having a great time in a cool place doing what I do best.

R: What are your thoughts on being a strong front woman?
DW: “I don’t know as I’ve always been a woman. However in history many of my favorite performers are women; perhaps because we are more conscious of our bodies?  But I love Nina Hagen, Jun Tonagawa, Gloria Trevi, Grace Jones, Siouxsie, Lene Lovich, Toyah, Hazel O Connor, etc.”

R: When I saw you live what was evoked for me was the spirit of riot grrrl and the early days of electroclash when it was very girl centric. This is a culture that seems to be being erased slowly–as there are fewer and fewer strong visible front women.
DW: “Well I don’t know about electroclash because I hated it for being too self aware. However, I have definitely noticed in the last 5 years a shift towards anti-feminism with stuff like Uffie which is so tepid, so “rape me” un-empowered and pathetic. It is unfortunately taking the limelight when the many current strong female front women languish in obscurity.

For whatever reason in the early 90s stuff like Bikini Kill, Hole and L7 became mainstream which is pretty insane compared to today; I was pretty unaware of the movement at the time but of course loved Courtenay Love…

I think the reason you don’t see music like that in the mainstream anymore is that record labels have become so conservative in signing bands that the stuff that even big indie labels put out is far more conservative than things that were in the top 40 in the 80s and 90s. It’s sad that as a result of piracy things have become far more homogenized in term of bands that can make a living touring or selling things.”

R: Do you listen to many female fronted bands?
DW: “Yes. There are so many female fronted bands that deserve to be successful such as:  e.s.l, Brilliant Pebbles, Pony Da Look, The Violets, Kap Bambino, Terror Bird, Duchess Says,  Marina and the Diamonds, PlanningToRock, Apache Beat, Alex and the Drummer, Suspria, Certain Breeds, Fan Death, Glass Candy, Lesbians on Ecstacy, Mu, GoChic, Les Georges Leningrad RIP, Ch 3 & 4 RIP….

There are loads and loads of them– unfortunately most cannot afford to press cds or tour outside of their own town so basically you’ve got to look around myspace or, like me, travel incessantly. So great females live on even if only like trees that fall in an empty forest.”