Riding Shotgun with the Pipettes
t's hard for me to talk about the Pipettes without gushing. These modern-day, Spector-inspired harmonizers made quite a splash with their debut We Are the Pipettes, released last year and popping up on "Best of 06" lists all over the place. They're like the Pink Ladies and Sandy rolled into one: a little bit rough around the edges, but so darned cute you can't help but love them. I've been a fan of these saucy lasses for quite some time now, and of course that means you should be as well. So don your polka dots and read on to see what it means to be a Pipette (Ginger! Saunas! Leaking toilets!), answers courtesy of Rose, and if you're very lucky indeed, make sure to see the girls take on South by Southwest next month.
Our first gig was: At the Pressure Point in Brighton, supporting our mates Actress Hands and Tenderfoot, we were so nervous and pretty bloody awful...!!
Our favorite venue to play is: it depends, but playing Brixton Academy was amazing...
Hygiene on a tour is: Variable. I have to say the girls always smell of roses, but the male section of the band are rather less reliable...many a morning we would wake up and walking past certain bunks would induce dry retching! It also didn't help when the toilet leaked all over the back of our bus causing a minor electrical fire....
Our favorite thing about touring is: well it seems a bit obvious but getting to travel all over the place playing in towns and countries you've never been before with your friends and have people enjoy the music you make...
And the least favorite: cabin fever and eating ham and cheese morning, noon, and night (it's fun at first but after three weeks..).
City with the best audiences: Sweden is pretty reliable on the whole (I don't think people have ever gone as mental as at Emmaboda festival), and we also had an amazing show in Trevisto in Italy.
Band member most likely to disappear after a gig: Definitely our drummer Joe.
The tour bus/van smells like: It has produced a myriad of smells, ranging from disinfectant to urine, coffee, cheese, air freshener, hairspray, perfume, farts, cigarettes....
Laundry is: a) washed regularly, b) washed irregularly, c) we go shopping a lot: B.
What's the most unusual item on your rider? Well RiotBecki requested fresh ginger at the beginning of our tour, and we literally never ever used it, so by the end of a month we had about two kilos of ginger which me and Gwenno enjoyed hiding in RiotBecki's belongings which was HILARIOUS!!...possibly due to sleep deprivation...
Who controls the music in the touring vehicle? And what do you like to listen to while tooling around on tour? It's generally whoever gets to the CD player first, and as we all have very varied music tastes. All kind of things got played ranging from early nineties r'n'b, German electro, Swedish pop, sixties British folk and a load of other stuff that I can't remember...
What's your favorite new watering hole that you've found while on tour? There have been loads, Berlin was pretty good for them, after our gig we got taken to this bizarre heavy metal bar that was covered from floor to ceiling in red velvet, skulls, roses and pictures of Elvis and served enormous tankards of Bavarian stout, and we also spent two evenings in a Tex Mex bar that sold very cheap tequila...
And/or the best place to cure late night cravings? Gas stations for sure. Especially when in Europe because there are always foodstuffs that take a good few minutes to work out what they actually are, which is a fun if not slightly risky way of passing the time.
Most amusing memory from your current or most recent tour? I wasn't personally involved but I'm sure a large portion of the band would rate their night breaking into the swimming pool late one night in Germany and generally indulging in the usual 'rock and roll' debauchery, for one night only mind... Also singing at the TMF awards in Brussels was completely bizarre. The performance concluded with confetti cannons, much to our surprise!!
Favorite tour activity (other than the gigs themselves): Quite a few of the boys developed a habit of going to saunas and public baths together (!?), otherwise exploring and watching films. And eating.
What band has been your favorite to tour with thus far? And what band/s, past or present, would you most like to tour with? We haven't toured with as many bands as we would have liked, but I think the last UK tour with Actress Hands and The Hot Puppies was probably the most happy and friendly...
Please name the city you wouldn't ever play in again? Or if not a Particular city, which venue (if any) would you not mind seeing razed to the ground? Well sometimes venues aren't really designed for bands our size, but I would never wish a venue to be destroyed as anywhere with live music can't be all bad. Maybe we just haven't visited it yet...
Apart from the obvious CDs, what's the merch item of yours you think people should shell out for? We'd love to have more merch but I have to say the canvas Pipettes bags have come in handy many a time...
Have you been to the top of the Washington Monument?
No.
You're doing SXSW this year. But when can we expect a full-on, extensive American invasion, Pipettes-style? We're definitely playing at the Bowery Ballroom on the 13th of March with Amy Winehouse which we're really excited about, and before that in Toronto for Canadian Music week, and we might possibly squeeze a few more shows in if we can whilst we're there. Let the polka dot revolution commence!!
Do boys in the crowd ever throw their skivvies at you during gigs? Only once a few years ago in Camden supporting (weirdly) The Hot Snakes, and the male in question had to sheepishly come over after the gig to ask RiotBecki for his boxers back!!
What's been your favorite (or least favorite) thing anyone has written about the Pipettes? We try not to take these things to heart whether good or bad...
What would you like people to be saying about the Pipettes in 50 years? God knows, I'll probably be senile by then so it won't matter...
If we weren't in the Pipettes, we'd be: probably much wealthier...
What are some of the perks of being a Pipette? There aren't really any perks as such, we don't get special treatment; I suppose getting the chance to dance around like idiots in funny dresses is pretty cool...
Pink or polka dots? Polka Dots of course!!! Pink Polka dots- even better...
And finally, it's BigYawn's round. What's your poison? Brandy in winter, Vodka in summer.
More be-polka dotted Pipettes goodness can be had at www.thepipettes.co.uk, and www.myspace.com/thepipettes.
Megan Rides Shotgun
What is this Riding Shotgun, you might ask? BigYawn knows you're not happy simply with the excellent music being made these days. Oh no. You want more. So, Riding Shotgun takes you beyond the official website bio. Think of it as a chance to get to know the people behind the bands you know and love (and the bands who you soon will know and love!). I'll track down good bands coming to town, corner them, and have them answer the burning questions. And they've agreed -- because they're such nice people.
So sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.