Vivian Girls - Girls Just Wanna Have Punk
Another week, another band out of Brooklyn. But lo-fi all-girl punk trio Vivian Girls aren’t just another fashion band being propped by the hipsterati – these three girls are the real deal. 3D’s Nina Bertok finds out more.
For the ultimate house-party punk band, please see Brooklyn trio Vivian Girls. Already one of the most talked about groups of 2009, the breakout sirens are about to unleash their self-titled debut album upon Australian lovers of doo-wop harmonies and power-pop melodies.
“The album is actually older than people think,” bass player and part-time drummer/vocalist Kickball Katy explains. “It’s a re-issue of the album that we recorded about a year ago. Mostly it’s because we changed labels in the meantime but other than that, the album is completely the same as it was, except maybe the cover art might be a bit different.”
The change in label, according to Katy, originally came about thanks to the success of the girls’ debut long-player the first time around.
“I think it sold out pretty quickly when it got released on vinyl and then In The Red picked it up and now it’s being released in Australia,” she says. “We learned quite a lot during the recording of the album, all about harmonies and discovering we like the sound of tape verses digital. The sound on tape is a lot deeper, whereas digital recording is pretty thin. But the album is a culmination of every song we’d written from the start of the band to just days before the recording took place. We just put everything we had on the one record and we were only in there for a few days. I guess we just didn’t want to kill that feeling of urgency that we’ve got attributed to us, though I think there is so much more you can do in the studio if you take your time. What matters is that we’re happy with how it’s turned out.”
And so are their fans. Considering that the band only formed in early 2007, the buzz surrounding Vivian Girls surprises the band members themselves more than anyone.
“It’s a little insane because we haven’t even had our two-year anniversary yet, that will be this month,” Katy says. “We haven’t really been a band for that long but we’ve had a lot of luck and we’ve worked hard to take every opportunity that’s been given to us. The whole thing just started so organically. We didn’t start a band for any other reason than to just be a house party punk band and then it kind of turned into what it is now all by itself.”
Whether or not Vivian Girls came about unintentionally, one thing is for sure – Kickball Katy, Cassie Ramone [guitar] and Ali Koehler [drums] have already earned themselves fans in places as far away as Australia.
“We’ve never been to Australia before so we’re definitely trying to fit it into our schedule,” promises Katy. “The only thing is that we all have problems flying. I hate take-offs, and Ali and Cassie hate the actual duration of the entire flight. Europe is only about five hours away, which is nothing compared to traveling to Australia, so we may have to fly to Europe first and then you guys.”
WHO: Vivian Girls
WHAT: Vivian Girls through In-Fidelity / Inertia
WHEN: Out now
MORE: myspace.com/viviangirlsnyc