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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (June 20, 2003)
M U S IC ..............▼.............. Turning it On wo queer frontmen, a kick-ass girl drum mer, a blond bombshell o f a bassist— the power-pop indie rockers from Imperial Teen, who play T h e Blackbird on June 28, are all over the map. Originally founded in San Francisco by Faith No More keyboardist Roddy Bottum, this West Coast-based foursome find themselves in a state o f reorganization after temporarily losing drummer Lynn Perko to marriage, m otherhixxl and the Midwest. Former Hole drummer Patty Schem el fills in the gap— expect big fun and lots o f sweaty, happy fans. Bottum and singer/guitarist W ill Schwartz t(X)k a few secs to dish with Just O ut about Le Tigre, day jobs and the ladies who love ladies who love Imperial Teen. T would say to a son. N ot necessarily a real sex ual bent to it. Unabashedly “we’re so gay” band Imperial Teen back in Portland for another slap-happy show by C o r i T aratoot C T : And Imperial Teen was really differ ent from Faith N o M ore. You chose to play instrum ents that you didn’t know how to play. Was that in response to what was going on in your life? R B : Right. It was a real experimentation sort of thing. I felt like I had to really strip down and leave myself open to a little bit of vulnerability and try things that I hadn’t done before and go out on a limb and maybe not succeed. C ori Taratoot: Imaginations are running wild about Imperial Teen. W hy don’t more people know about you? You’re sort of a hid den treasure. Roddy Bottum : I’ve given up trying to second-guess people...I always get it wrong. I think it’s just a matter o f timing. I think if Imperial Teen was thrown in front o f a huge audience, most people would clap. But what do I know? I saw Peaches...and I thought, m an ... if she were put in front of the right audi ence, she’d be as big as C eline Dion. [Laughs] I’m pretty confident in that opinion. If I worked for a big company, I would bring that information to a big hoard meeting. C T : Is there a reason why the band doesn’t tour more? R B : For this last record |2002’s critically acclaimed O n].. .our drummer decided she was going to get married and have a hahy, so she bowed out for a while. It was a big process in finding Patty, learning the songs with her.. .and we do everything by ourselves. We drive.. .we sell our stuff, we set up, we sleep in the same hotel nxim. W e’re a very do-it-ycxirself sort of foursome. And it’s really hard work. We figured we owed the ccxintry one tour. C T : Has Patty changed the dynamic in the band? R B : S h e ’s more prone to tour. S h e ’s a little hit more proactive. C T : Patty rocks. She practically took a drum solo at the end of “Million D ollar M an” during your last Blackbird show. It almost seemed like an accident. R B : Right, maybe it was. I’m gonna have to tell her to enhance that for the (next] Black bird show. W e’ll get on that. C T : W hat are you guys listening to? R B : I have a real eclectic hunch of stuff I lis C T : T h a t was w ritten around the time Kurt Cobain killed himself, right? R B : It was a weird year for me. A lot of people died in my life. My dad died. Kurt died, he was a friend. A nother really good friend died. [It was] a crazy time when we got together and made that record. C T : You’ve landed opening slots with the Breeders, the G o -G o ’s— the ladies love Impe rial Teen! W S : W e’re lucky like th a t.... I’ve noticed that there seem to he more queer people in our audiences lately .... T here were a lot o f girls when we just played in L.A . A lot o f girls. T he ladies who love ladies. [Laughs] Som e of my best friends are ladies who love ladies. C T : W ho is the average Imperial Teen fan? R B : Smarty-pants kids, in a gcxxl way, with attitude and some sort o f book knowledge. A little bit o f political savvy. Sharp dressers. [Laughs] From left, Roddy Bottum , Lynn Perko (replaced on tour by Hole drummer Patty Schem el), W ill Schwartz and Jone Stebbins are Imperial Teen ten to. I love pop music. I like the Polyphonic Spree a lo t.... I like the Gravy Train record.. .Le Tigre, they’re amazing. I love that band. Will Schw artz: Me and Amy from the Aislers S et have been working on an album of hip-hop m usic...I wanted to go on that recent Le Tigre/Aislers Set stint, just for fun. C T : W hy didn’t you? W S : I don’t know ...not enough space in the van? [Laughs] T h e day the war broke out I was part o f this group that shut down San Francisco, theoretically. It turned o u t...K ath leen Hanna [of Le Tigre) was in our little group, so I got to hang out with her that day.... S h e ’s awesome. C T : Did you have any hesitation about the decision to be out in the press? R B : A bout 15 years ago or som ething when I was in Faith N o M o re ...it cam e up in the press, and som eone asked me an out- and-out question, and I was like, “Yeah.” I’d never hidden that fact b e fo re .... T h e illusion o f San Francisco is that the rest o f the world is like San Francisco. In some places, th a t’s still a risky statem ent to make, so it felt good to ...m a k e the world a more acclim ated place. C T : C an we talk about the song “You’re O n e” from your first album? I feel like peo ple misinterpret those lyrics “Take it like a man/boy.” R B : I had a friend who died, and the last thing he said to me was “Kiss me like a man hoy” so it sort o f came from th a t.. .and to me it was sexy. “Take it like a man/boy” was not meant to he sexy. T h at was more about swal lowing a bitter pill, like som ething a dad C T : So, how gay is Imperial Teen? W S : Pretty gay. W e make music for every body but especially the gays. [Laughs] Imperial Teen is queer. Queer-positive and queer. Not everybody in the band is gay, but Imperial Teen is definitely queer. C T : T h a t’s a pretty gay dance crowd in your “ Ivanka” video. I thought I saw JD from Le Tigre in there. W S : Nope, just a look-alike. Hey, that would be a gcxxl song! “Just A nother JD Look- A like.” jn I mperial T een returns to T he Blackbird, 3728 N .E . Sandy B lvd., at 10 p.m . Ju n e 28. The H eavenly States and T he Long W inters open. Tickets ¿ire $ 1 0 at the door. CORI T aratoot is a free-lan ce music writer. 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