Some Girls
INTERVIEW WITH SOME GIRLS
San Diego all-star hardcore ensemble Some Girls, comprising former and current members of Give Up The Ghost, Plot To Blow Up The Eiffel Tower,
The Locust and others, deliver their debut album Heavens' Pregnant Teens. Truepunk caught up with singer Wes Eisold.
Interview by Steve Tauschke |
steve@staff.truepunk.com | with Wes Eisold from Some Girls.
Well, the album is out so can we assume Some Girls will be an ongoing concern?
I guess it's kind of like ongoing part time. We just do it when we find the time to do it but since we've had our first full length record
out, it will allow us to be in other places of the world. We're going to tour for a while at least. I don't know what that means as far as being a full time band.
I mean we don't take it too seriously. It's not premeditated ort anything like that.
Whatever happens, happens. Everyone has their other projects which they've put aside for a few months so we can concentrate on this right now. My band (Give Up The Ghost) broke up two years ago but the others are still together.
Does constant touring prevent you from having a permanent address?
Yeah. I mean it wouldn't hurt to have one but I guess I just don't really want one right now cos I'll be traveling off and on through August so I can't really afford to have an apartment and be gone for
that amount of time. I'm staying friend's house In san Diego right now and I guess I'll just stay here between tours as much as I can.
So how does a rehearsal happen with everyone based in San Diego and you of no fixed address?
They play together but I'm rarely there.
Tell us about your association with Epitaph?
Well (bassist) Justin's band The Locust is on Anti, which is Epitaph, and we have a working relationship with them. I've known Brett (Gurewitz) for a couple of years through my last band. The people at the label
were into what we were doing and into the band and they came to see us a few times and decided they wanted to do a record with us. I think we reminded Brett of Damaged-era Black Flag and the Germs, which is
a cool compliment coming from him.
Can you hear that early LA punk sound in your own songs?
Only partly in sound. Somewhere in us we are influenced by the Germs and Black Flag but I don't think you could easily pick that up in our sound. We all have opinions on music and what we want to accomplish with music.
So what are your aims then?
It's a kind of complicated question but I really don't think about what I'm doing too much. I'm only ever half satisfied with what I'm doing in music. The point of it isn't to try to convince people of
what I'm trying to say or to have it serve as a medium as a release or a way to clarify or release frustration or whatever, it's not like that. With this band, it's a commentary or interpretation of your
life, your friends' lives and things you encounter on a daily basis - a way of looking at things.
The lyrics appear to be stream-of-consciousness outpourings at times?
I understand they come off as abstract but I think they're really specific. For me, each line is pretty specific and relates to something I've specifically seen or done. They may seem abstract to other people but for me they're the complete opposite actually. And they're very
time and place too so I may not agree with the opinion I've expressed a year later.
Do you take measures to protect your throat?
I actually don't and I'm terrible at that. I lost my voice during the recording so I don't know anything about trying to save my voice. I really don't know what I'm doing actually. I don't even know what
to say about it. I lose my voice on tour all the time, I just yell so loud. I think there might be a lot of people who've been in hardcore band who just aren't going to have voices in thirty years.
Aesthetically, the band cultivates a dark image … has that always been attractive to you?
I think so. I guess music that goes along with that sort of writing is often either pretentious or boring actually but it's just how I write. I really don't see it as being that morbid or dark, I think
it's just another aspect of life that fits quite comfortably in the scheme of things.
How did find working alongside producer Alex Newport?
'I enjoyed it. I've only actually worked with a couple of real producers before and he's a really cool person and very concentrated. He a very dapper and witty gentleman, he just kinds of sits there and doesn't
say much but when he makes a suggestion he means it and we would listen to him because he was always right on. He has a level of trust to him that's very important when you're putting that much responsibility on a producer.
We played our songs for him for a few days in our practice space and it's really important to have that outside opinion. And he didn't try to force
us to do anything. He would notice if two songs sounded too similar. Our bass player Justin already had a working relationship with him through The Locust so it was a really comfortable situation. I don't think we would have the record we have now without him.
Did he share any anecdotes from his time working with Sepultura or At The Drive In or anyone else?
We asked him some questions about Nailbomb and Fudge Tunnel and one of the funniest stories he told us was when Fudge Tunnel was broken up he had all these left over CDs and he would go to his record store
everyday and kept selling the same Fudge Tunnel CD. I think one day the employee just looked at him and then looked at the album photo and said "Hey, this is you man!".
