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. She
is currently losing sleep practicing the handclap part
to “Baby" from Im perial T een’s O n.
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