Five (Or So) Questions with Vivian Girls
Five (Or So) Questions with Vivian Girls
Earlier this month, CMJ ran an article about the fabulous Brooklyn indie band the Vivian Girls to announce the release date of their sophomore album Everything Goes Wrong. At the time, we sent the Girls a few interview questions hoping to get some behind-the-scenes info. Busy rock stars that they are, unfortunately no one in the band had time to respond then. Now that they’ve officially landed in NYC following a world tour, Cassie, the Vivian Girls resident blonde, graciously found a moment to answer a few questions about the new LP due out September 8 via In the Red. The Vivian Girls won’t be resting to answer questions for long, though—their North American tour starts July 4th at the Captured Tracks & Woodsist Fest in Brooklyn.
The new album was recorded in six days, and most of the songs were done in single takes—how much rehearsal time goes into being able to do that?
We practiced at least three times a week in all the time we had off in
early 2009. Right before we went to record the album we practiced
every day. A bunch of the songs we recorded had false starts though -
like we’d get through a minute of the song and mess up and start over.
Was there a goal for this album? What was the sound you were trying to achieve?
We wanted it to capture the live show more than the last album, and I
think we succeeded. We also messed around more with different tones
and effects than last time.
Explain the Happy Birthday Michael cake.
It’s an inside joke that came from nowhere. Well, Katy loves dessert
so we were joking about putting birthday cake on our rider, and then
Ali said that we should ask for “Happy 30th Birthday Michael” to be
written on it, we all thought that was really funny. We’ve gotten the
cake on our rider twice!
What’s the advantage to being a girl band?
I don’t know. Is there one?
www.myspace.com/viviangirlsnyc
-Emily Parliman
