Perpetual Change: Pepperspray and The Shondes

| Jul 28, 2014
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peppersprayEPLast month, I was sent three Soundcloud downloads of songs from the San Francisco band Pepperspray. An interview with one of the band’s vocalists, Precious Moments (a.k.a Michael Soldier) was post in the column in May. The songs that I reviewed are from the band’s self titled EP that was originally released in 2005. The three songs that were reviewed last month were Cutting Edge Queen and Quadrasexual, both of which are definitely punk tunes; and the more hard rock It Takes Balls To Be A Woman.

Well, I was surprised by J.D. Doyle, whom I interviewed at the first of this year in our companion TransVocalizers column, when he sent me downloads to the other two songs from the Pepperspray EP.

Porn (The New Black) is expertly produced and crosses over to several different genre’s. It even contains a very brief Led Zeppelin moment at both the beginning and end. Overall, the tune sounds more like something from a theatrical production rather than something from a live rock band. It’s that involved.

It also contains some great lyric moments, which this band is obviously known for. The chorus, although brief and very succinct, fits the concept well:

“Porn is the new black
Porn is the new black
Porn is the new black
Get off, get off the runway
And get on your back”…

Kind of to the point, don’t you think? One other line that sort of stands out is this: “I’m a hooker with a web site.” This definitely catches your attention when you hear it for the first time.

Porn (The New Black)

The other song is called Tranny Takeover. This is, again, a very theatrical production. Like the previous tune Porn, Tranny Takeover doesn’t stay in any single groove. While it does have a very full production sound, the band takes it down to what is almost a spoken word part, then lunges immediately back into the main lick.

Tranny Takover

It’s not very often that computer downloads, heard on the extremely crappy speakers I have, impress me as much as these two Pepperspray songs have. The energy that Pepperspray brings to the stage is more than apparent in their recorded material, and that’s hard for any act to do. Getting a chance to see Pepperspray live is the kind of thing I’d add to my bucket list, if I had one. Overall, very excellent material. Get the EP if you can. You won’t be disappointed.

For more information on Pepperspray, check out their website. Music is also available through CD baby and Soundcloud.

Now, I’d also like to say a brief thank you to J.D. Doyle for sending these tunes to me. As you might remember, Mr. Doyle is the producer of the House Blend compilation CD that is a fund raising took for the Houston Transgender community. He’s definitely one of our staunchest allies, and recently received some recognition for his work. “I had a glorious month,” he said in regard to Pride Month (June). “I was elected Male Grand Marshal for the Pride Parade. . . it’s all downhill now.” It shouldn’t be, J.D. thanks again, and thank you Pepperspray for some great tunes.

INTERVIEW WITH ELIJAH OBERMAN of THE SHONDES

the_shondesThe Shondes are a very interesting band that was first introduced to TGForum readers in May of 2007. In May of 2010, a brief review of their then current album, My Dear One, was posted, with a follow-up interview with Elijah Oberman in June of that year. In April of 2011, this column reported on an incident that happened to the band that would have caused the demise of most acts: their van was stolen. Fortunately, none of their instruments and other gear was in the vehicle at the time, and through a Kickstarter campaign, they were able to raise the funds for a replacement van and continue on.

As with most bands that manage to survive the test of time, The Shondes have had some personnel changes over the years. The core members are Elijah, who plays violin and sings, and Louisa Solomon, lead vocals and bass. They also currently have a new album called The Garden. So, it’s with great pleasure that I was able to get another interview with Elijah, in which he discusses recent touring, the new album, and a whole range of other things as well.

TGForum: Rolling Stone magazine did a review of the new project The Garden and called the new album “…a mix of riot-grrrl furor, arena bombast, and klezmet stomp.” That’s a very eclectic description. Do you agree with it?

Elijah Oberman: I think there are a lot of ways you could describe our music ( as with most things, I suppose, but I like this one. I think it’s hard to capture all the thing that influence you and how they influence you.

TGF: Is the band line-up the same since the last time we spoke?

EO: So much has changed! Louisa (Solomon) and I are really the core members at this point, holding down the signature Shondes sound, and we’re working with a rotation crew of awesome people on drums and guitar.

TGF: From listening to some of your live concert footage, I have to say that Louisa Solomon’s voice seems stronger than ever before. Has her voice changed at all over the yeatrs. She seems a lot more powerful than before.

EO: I don’t think she’s more powerful, but as with any artist, she continues to home her craft, and I think what that looks like is that she has more control and more nuance. She knows hot to use her power better all the time I think, and also how to use her softness effectively. It’s very exciting.

TGF: On one of the videos filmed on your 2012 European tour, Louisa made mention to the audience regarding the fact that everyone in the band is Jewish. Did your ethnicity mean anything at all to European audiences? How do audiences over there differ from American audiences for a band such as The Shondes?

EO: It was definitely really different. It was extremely interesting being American Jews in Europe for the first time, and we had some intense and amazing talks with our hosts and fans over there. On the one hand, there was a lot of guilt and trepidation around our Jewishness, especially in Germany, but there was also confusion and anger around our solidarity with Palestinians that was extremely difficult. We were lucky enough to meet a couple of people who we had very in depth, real, and emotional conversations with about our thoughts and experiences about Palestine, and as American Jews, and their experiences as Germans and with the German left. We also quickly learned that cross-cultural humor is very complicated and we often missed the mark!

These are the things that you can only learn by traveling and seeing new places. In general, though, it sounds so obvious to say, it was really interesting, for me being in touch with how American I felt.

TGF: In reviewing the videos, it seems like you always had good crowd response. Any comments on this?

TheShondes-TheGardenEO: It’s amazing how even if you can’t communicate with people verbally or culturally sometimes, you can communicate through music. Everyone feels the beat. Our audiences were amazing and definitely really into it. In most of the places in Europe that we went, there’s at least some sort of government support for music and musical events, and that makes music part of the culture in a way that I wish we had here. Show promoters have support to put on shows, we were supported financially, and often that means that the shows are really cheap or free for audiences. That kind of accessibility is awesome, and it means that people are willing to take chances on things that they know nothing about. So many nights, the room would be packed with people who’d never heard of us, but came out anyway. I loved it!

TGF: Talk a bit about your newest project, The Garden. How does this vary from the other Shondes albums?

EO: I’m really proud of The Garden. It’s the first time that we’ve had something like creative control over one of our records, and it’s amazing what a difference it made. I think that Shondes fans will definitely be able to recognize our signature sound and spirit on the record even as we continue to evolve musically. On thing that was really exciting to me, and that we became conscious of at a certain point in our song writing process, was that we really kept going with a lot of pop simplicity your hear on Searchlights, but also sort of reintegrated some of the unique sounds of our earlier albums. I thinks some of the punky energy from The Red Sea found its way back into our songwriting in a more skilled/crafted way, and I’m really proud of that.

TGF: I noticed that you’ve posted a lot of videos of live performances from Europe and here at home where you’re playing tunes from The Garden. That tour was in 2012, right?…and The Garden was released in September of 2013, right? When you finally went into the studio with the new material, are the recorded versions different from your liver versions?

[youtube]xLiHcSpYmOI[/youtube]

EO: The recorded versions are definitely different than the lives ones, but they’re always easily identifiable as the same songs. It was such a gift to be able to play these songs so much live before we recorded. I think it meant we were tighter, knew the songs better, knew how we wanted things to sound, what things worked and didn’t work before we went into the studio.

TGF: Personally, I really like the interplay between your violin and the guitar parts. During the actual writing process, do you work parts out, or does it come from jamming the tunes until you’re happy with what you’re hearing?

the_shondes02EO: A little of both, actually. We usually start by jamming, hearing and feeling our way through the song, playing off each other. Then once we figure it out a bit it’s important to work them out with each other and make sure the overall effect is what we want for the song.

TGF: Speaking of your violin playing, I’m curious about your influences. There are some moments in various tunes where the overall blend of instruments reminds me a bit of Kansas. Who influences you? I’m also impressed with your ability to play and sing at the same time. That’s not something you see many violinists do.

EO: Thanks!. I’m definitely inspired by people who have used violin (and other stringed instruments) in more and rock ways, like P.J. Harvey and Vicky Aspinall of The Raincoats. I’m also really inspired by anyone who either plays a non-traditional rock instrument in a rock band (Lora Logic from the X-Ray Spex and Clarence Clemons on saxophone, when Peter Buck plays mandolin in R.E.M.), or people who are amazing support players or collaborators instead of front people (like George Harrison in The Beatles).

Singing and playing is something I’m still trying to get better at, but it’s really fun. I love singing harmony so much, but since we only have one guitar instead of a rhythm guitar and a lead guitar, we often can’t afford the sonic drop that happens when the violin cuts out in the middle of a song. It just felt like it became a necessity at some point to sing and play.

TGF: In closing, anything you’d really like to say, and are there any upcoming plans you can talk about at this time?

EO: We just came back from an amazing tour opening for Against Me! and were lucky enough to have our friend and videographer, the fantastic Emily Millay Haddad, with us recording the whole thing. So there are a whole bunch of awesome live videos up on our website and on Facebook. We’ll be out again soon for sure.

For more information, please check out the band’s website, Facebook, Tukmblr, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Music is available through most major retailers such as Amazon.com.

ALSO THIS MONTH

our_lady_jOur Lady J

Our Lady J will be in NYC next month, Sunday, August 17th at Joe’s Pub (425 Lafayette St., New York, NY; box office 212-967-7555). She will be with the Train-To-Kill Gospel Choir, present new songs, new cover songs “. . .and of course a whole lotta new attitude.” For more information visit her website.

NEW MUSIC

Truth Serum by Tove Lo

Swedish singer/songwriter Tove Lo has just recently released her debut EP entitled Truth Serum on Island Records. The 6 song disc has gained some notice with one of the tunes Habits charting on Spotify and the corresponding video getting 3.5 million YouTube views.

truth_serumMost of the material on the project is more pop/techno than dance related. The opening song, Not On Drugs, is sparse sounding at the beginning, but turns into something of an anthem half way through. Very full production, especially with the chorus.

Paradise and Habits are also in the pop/techno vein. Her best vocal moment is found on the song Over, which is very dynamic, with excellent production and orchestration.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/83449271″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”150″ iframe=”true” /]

The project’s one truly dance related tune is Out Of Mind. It’s also the most radio friendly tune on the project. The disc closes with a remix of Habits.

All in all, Tove Lo has a very pleasant voice, which can range from mellow to powerful with no effort. She holds the material quite well and is never overpowered by any of the music or the production. The fact that her debut presents a more pop orientation towards music should allow for a lot of room to grow into other genre’s when she gets the chance. Check her out on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

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Category: All TGForum Posts, Music, Transgender Fun & Entertainment

Pam Degroff

About the Author ()

Pamela DeGroff been writing for TGForum since the start of 1999. Her humor column, The Pamela Principle, ran until 2005. She started the Perpetual Change music column in May of 1999, and in 2008, Angela Gardner came up with the idea for the Transvocalizers column and put Pam to work on that. Pamela was a regular contributor to Transgender Community News until that magazine's demise. While part of a support group in Nashville called The Tennessee Vals she began writing for their newsletter, and also wrote for several local GLBT alternative newspapers in Tennessee. Pamela is currently a staff reporter for a small town daily paper in Indiana, and is also a working musician.

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