An interview of the band Lady Pills, Ella, Claire, and Allison. Conducted in a mini van at midnight after a sold out show at Brighton Music Hall. In the rain.
So, how long have you guys been a band?
Ella: In two or three days it will be a year!
How does the songwriting process usually work for you guys?Allison: Before we were writing songs together, Ella wrote a lot of the songs on her own for her solo project. But like yesterday we were just together like I’m vibe-ing on this emotion right and this atmosphere that I am experiencing currently, so we turned it into something.
Do you usually write the lyrics first or the music first?
Ella: Music. We usually write the music first or it all comes together but lyrics really never come first. We just kind of are like here’s the progression. Okay like, say anything, oh that sound’s cool. We’ll keep it.
How did you each pick up your instruments initially?
Claire: So, when I eleven I took guitar lessons cause all we had was a guitar in my house, But, I knew from the first moment that it wasn’t my thing. I wasn’t cut out for it, but I felt restricted because I really liked music and I like playing music, and all I had was a guitar, so I figured if I wanted to play music I would have to play guitar. Then after trying my hardest for a month, just playing Hakuna Matata. I saw a drum kit in the corner where I took my guitar lessons, and I asked if I could hop on the kit. As soon as I tried it, it just clicked and I was it like ‘this is it! I know it!’
Was it weird for you going to Berklee, being one of the only female drummers?
Claire: Well it didn’t really become a thing until later. Being in high school I was in a couple bands and stuff, I didn’t know it was weird. I knew there were a lot of males in music, but I guess I was kind of naive to the fact that there are almost no female drummers. Once I got to Berklee, it all hit me, that this is a male dominated territory.
Do you think you did well in those conditions?
Claire: I don’t know I mean before Berklee I only played what I heard. I never learned to how to read music, so when I got to Berklee everyone was like ‘oh I’ve been in drum core for four years’ and I just realized, like I don’t know anything. So, I was really starting at ground zero. Plus being a female drummer and having all these eyes on me. I just felt like I wasn’t at the level of everyone else.
Allison: You’re a token.
I mean you’re all tokens right, I mean did any of you go to Berklee for voice?
Ella: I mean now I am a voice principle but I started out on classical piano. I did that forever and ever until I started writing songs, and was like, I need to learn how to play the guitar. I told my dad and he was like okay here’s the highest action steel string I can find, if you can build your calluses and play this, I’ll get you an electric. He taught me how to play ‘Me and Bobby Mcgee’ plus five or six other chords and then was like figure it out. I never really thought of myself as a singer, but after doing piano at Berklee for a little while I realized I couldn’t memorize a Beethoven sonata for shit, so I said I’m just gonna sing cause I haven’t really done it in that context before.
Allison: I… I am a mess. I have been playing violin since I was like seven years old. My major at Berklee is violin performance. I started playing bass out of nowhere cause I thought it would be fun, and a totally different thing for me. I started playing bass in this band called Bitchfit, it was like a punk band, with a super easy and repetitive bass line. I thought it was fun but not sure if I could ever do it seriously. What really caught my attention was that it is the complete reverse of the violin because its tuned in fourths and the violin is the same strings tuned in fifths.
How did you start playing for Lady Pills?
Allison: Well one day Ella invited me to her birthday party,so I said sure even I didn’t really know her that well. We hung out and got drunk together and she asked me to play bass in her band. I was like ‘I don’t really know how to play bass but sure.’ Now I practice a lot and take it very seriously. I think there’s a lot to learning a new instrument after you already learned another one. Learning bass is a totally different approach. I have to change my ear, and think about harmonies differently. In my lessons I have to ask my teachers to teach me how to be a bass player, and I have to force myself to think of bass lines that aren’t melodic. It’s really difficult to go in between in the two (violin and bass). It’s challenging and fun, but my main motivation is getting to play bass in a band with people who I love.
Do you have any other creative outlets than music.
Allison: Yeah, me and Claire are both visual artists. Claire is a really fucking good artist.
Claire: I draw a bit but I do video work too. I am just exploring more than putting out anything. There is actually a music video for Lady Pills in the works.
Allison: I come from a very artistic family, so I was forced into taking private art lessons at a very young age. I did that basically until I got to high school and forgot what art was. When I got to Berklee I started to rediscover what it means to make art, visually and musically. I think being able to create, whatever it is, is one of my greatest pleasures. I don’t really differentiate between music and visual art anymore. I mean I will write a song and then draw something from the same inspiration. They don’t have a beginning or an end.
Ella: The biggest thing for me right now is clothing, and home crafting. I have always been really interested in the fashion eye and the art behind that. Now being with Claire and Allison in this space it gives me so much confidence to express myself and figure out who I am. This is one of the first times I have been comfortable with expressing myself visually and wearing whatever I want. I have always loved shopping and going to weird spots, finding shit that an artist created. Then being able to put it all together and create pieces in my wardrobe. I love it. Also, right now I am tie dying my sheets. It’s not fancy but it’s definitely an outlet, very zen.
What are some the differences of playing basements vs stages?
Claire: I feel like they’re two different animals. Basements are a little bit more casual and we are like okay let’s play and have a really fun set. Stages are a little bit more serious. I need to get into a different zone to play on stage.
Allison: The difference between a stage and a show is definitely the stretching. Tonight before the show we were in the green room stretching. For a basement you would never do that. You would just drink a beer you know? But that’s not a matter of how much respect you have for the venue you’re playing. It’s a matter of the audience you are playing to. I think that’s the main thing with venues. You play to the audience, and we try to be really respectful of that. We don’t just make one set and play it for a month, we make a set for every show. Which we didn’t realize was a weird thing to do, until we realized it was a weird thing to do. Tonight we wrote the set thinking ‘we are playing a show at Brighton Music Hall, and these are the bands we are playing with, this is what the audience might be like.’
What is it like entering the Allston music scene as a band and as a female band?
Ella: With that, it’s the opposite of what you might expect, in a bad way. You enter and you think it’s going to be tough, but instead it’s like ‘oh look at this female band. Look at these women playing music.” Then it becomes about that especially since we have some of that shit in our songs. It quickly labels us as a feminist band, and limits us and our what we are trying to do. But when we don’t want to be seen that way people get offended.
Do you ever worry that people only pay attention to you because you are an all female band?
Allison: I worry about that on a daily basis. We get booked for gigs because of that all time. I mean people will be like hey here’s this feminist fest, and I love being a part of that and that’s great but there’s a better way to do it. It just sucks second guessing your band’s success because of your gender.
Ella: I mean yeah cause it’s the same shit! Right? It’s the same shit as saying we are getting somewhere because we are girls.
Claire: It’s just a lot of attention in many different ways. You get people watching you because you are an all female band.
Ella: Yeah and they are watching you in the same way that they are watching you as a female drummer at Berklee.
Claire: Is it in the right way? Who knows? Then you get backlash from that cause you are taking the attention. There’s pros and cons. Everyone just trying to throw stuff at you. We just try to dodge the ones that are not worth the time and take the ones are worth our energy. We are very careful about how we take the best stepped forward.
Allison: We try to make the most neutral steps forward. We try to make our stance on a lot of things known, or our lack of a stance. We are very pro-justice, pro-peace, pro-equality, but we don’t want to be involved in polarizing views. We don’t want to be involved in the total opposite ends of every spectrum. It gets you nowhere and that doesn’t allow anyone to listen.
For instance, you couldn’t have played with Vundabar tonight, an all male band, if you were on the end of the feminist spectrum.
Ella: Exactly! And what’s feminist about that? Nothing. It’s just prejudice! Maybe, that’s controversial, but when people are throwing shit like that at you, you’re whole life, and your whole career, you just have to give it back to them, and let it go.
Allison: Also, in letting go, you are making the choice to prove people wrong. I think that is a huge denominator in our band, that we love to prove people wrong. We can be an all girl band and stand for whatever the fuck we want to. Just because we are all girls doesn’t mean we have to stand for feminism. Us being all girls is just us being all girls. We like each other, we love each other, and we like playing music together. It doesn’t have to be anymore than that.
