 "Photo: Photo courtesy of Vivian Girls")
Vivian Girls exploded onto the scene quickly and relentlessly just a few years ago. Three young women out of Brooklyn playing retro-inspired punk, deadpan voices reverberating in sync with jangly, 1960s-style guitar work.
And their newest album, Everything Goes Wrong, was released last month just in time for their latest tour, which brings them to Austin this weekend.
“It’s a lot longer. I think the first album reads like a diary and the second album is like a journey,” said Cassie Ramone, guitarist and vocalist for the trio. “It’s a lot darker and more universal album, and we’re all really proud of it.”
DT Weekend interviewed Ramone for their upcoming gig this weekend and discussed blog hype, Livejournal connections and the Blink 182 reunion.
DT Weekend: Hey Cassie! Where are you currently speaking from?
Cassie Ramone: I’m at the Cafe Grumpy in Greenpoint, like the northernmost point of Brooklyn. I want to get a cup of joe, and I woke up at like 2:30 feeling so tired [laughs].
DTW: My guess is that this past year has been kind of brutal with so much touring going on — have you girls had a vacation?
CR: We kind of had a vacation, and yeah the summer has been pretty busy. We did a short trip to Mexico, Toronto, Chicago. Then to Scandinavia and a few local shows. I was living in Brooklyn, but right now I’m kind of homeless [laughs]. I don’t have a place to call home because I’m on tour so much.
DTW: So I’ve been following Vivian Girls from the very beginning, when blogs started to hop on the bandwagon, and I think there was a lot of fuel added to the fire because here was a trio of three very pretty girls making raw, dark, punk-inspired jams. How much of the group’s current success would you credit to internet hype?
CR: I’d credit a lot of our success to that. It’d be hard to think of a world where we weren’t helped out by blogs, but I think in some blogs it kind of hurts us. It hurts the band because we were never intended to be this band that could break into the mainstream. It’s not supposed to be a band that everybody’s supposed to like; just because they write about us so much, it’s pushed into people’s faces, and we happen to be outspoken.
DTW: I was curious to see if you’ve ever listened to this new solo artist called Best Coast; it’s a side project from a band called Pocahaunted, and you both have very similar styles.
CR: [laughs] We’ve been friends since we were 15, 16, through the Internet. Through Livejournal, as embarrassing as it is.
DTW: This is kind of an aside, but I heard that you were really into Blink 182 in middle school — have you heard about them coming back together to tour?
CR: Yeah! I’m really excited about that because I never got to see them growing up, but yeah I’m definitely excited. When they come into the New York area I’m going to be busy, though.
DTW: Vivian Girls played a lot of shows during South by Southwest earlier this year — like 12? What was that like?
CR: [laughs] Yeah we played 18 shows, I think, which sounds awesome in theory, but by the end we couldn’t play anymore. Our shoulders hurt where our guitars were hanging. We were so sick of playing our songs. It seems doable in theory, but it’s actually very exhausting. The only bands we got to see were the ones right before and right after us.
DTW: What album have you listened the most in the past month?
CR: Good question. Shit. Oh fuck, so I haven’t been listening to that many albums because I don’t have my recordings, but I’ve been listening to this African 60s garage compilation.
DTW: Do you get any fashion or style cues from anybody?
CR: Personally, my fashion icons are Kurt Cobain, Courtney Love, Christina Applegate circa 1990s, Saved by the Bell...
DTW: Austin plans?
CR: In general, Austin is one of our favorite cities. We love swimming in Barton Springs, eating at Magnolia ... It’s going to be great.
WHAT: Vivian Girls
WHEN: Friday, 8 p.m.
WHERE: Red 7
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