August 1979
| NERVOUS GENDER Phranc, Michael, Edward & Giraldo Interviewed at the Atomic Cafe,- Downtown LA Slash: Phranc, how long have you been playing guitar? Phranc: oh a long time, since I was about 10, but I was a folk singer, I can't play advanced, I can only play folk music, I would Cheat, just play C, F, G over and over. Slash: How d'you get that strange sound out of your guitar? Phranc: Never tune it. Slash: (laughs) What are some of your song titles besides Mama's Chest? Phranc: Diptheria, Gestalt ... (pause) Slash: D'you want to become one of the popular LA bands or would you rather just go on experimenting? Edward: I don't think we even see it as experimenting. Phranc: That's what comes out when the 4 of us get together you know. Slash: What about recording and stuff like that? Phranc: We made this tape for this record that's supposedly going to come out. Slash: What is it, a compilation album? Phranc: Yeah, it's supposed to be called Fun Ahoy and it has a number of different bands on it. Slash: Where d'you think you fit in the LA scene? Phranc: In the geek section (laughs) ... Slash: What did you do before you were in the band? Geraldo: Sat around and vegetated. Slash: (to Giraldo and Michael) You were in another band? Which was it? Michael: They were called The Snappers. It was just basic punk, I was playing bass and synthesizer and we had a guitar and drums. Phranc: I was a lesbian folk singer, I played a acoustic guitar with all women sponsors ... all that ... I got really sick of the scene down here, I was with women-all the time, it got to be too much and I moved to San Francisco.. Slash: Are you some kind of a renegade now as far as the women's movement? Phranc: (laughs) I don't know, they're very wary of me now I think, especially since this last gig where only the other band got paid. (Nervous Gender played at a women's movement benefit type of thing. Ed) I stay away from them now. I used to put my foot down on a lot of the songs, I wouldn't sing, I wouldn't have anything to do with 2 of the songs, I just went up on the side and sat on an amp and smoked a cigarette. When we played that benefit we were supposed to sing this song called Die Woman Die and I refused to do it and then when they cut our set after the first song, we were trying to decide what our first song was gonna be, I said 'Die Women Die'. Slash: Do you think there's a lot of sexism in the punk scene? Phranc: There's some ... I think in the punk scene the consciousness is a lot higher than in a lot of other scenes, it's definitely different than the basic rock n roll scene - course there's always assholes. Slash: D'you see yourselves touring soon? Phranc: That'd be fun. Slash: What band would you like to tour with? What band d'you fell kind of close to? Edward: Human Hands. Slash: Have you heard yourselves compared with the Screamers? Michael: We were expecting that. Slash: How do you survive otherwise? Phranc: By the skin of my teeth - I sell T-shirts, I usually have an art sale the day the rent's due. Edward: I work, I design clothes for Penney's and Sears. (Michael and Giraldo said they get social security) Slash: Did you get paid at all at Club 88? Phranc: We made a little money - it's the first time we've gotten paid for anything ... Although when we played that benefit a friend of mine boycotted the door and collected $20, she ran around saying, 'They're not paying Nervous Gender, don't give your money at the door!' Slash: Where d'you get your inspiration? Everyday life or what? Nervous Gender: Yeah. Edward: Television. Michael: Every piece of shit that's on TV we watch. Slash: What radio shows? Edward: Just Michael Jackson and Dr. Toni Grant. Slash: Who's that? Edward: She's a psychiatrist. Phranc: She's too much, she's a call-in shrink. Slash: What about books and stuff? Michael: No, we're too young to read. Slash: Have you already been called 'art damaged' by anyone? Phranc: Art damage? Slash: (tries to explain) ... I've a feeling that eventually everybody that you see around at gigs in LA is going to pop up in a band. Edward: We were hanging around a lot. Nobody would talk to you ... Phranc: Nobody ever would. Giraldo: Nobody'd talk to me either. Phranc: (to Slash) I saw you the first time when the Bags played at the Lace Gallery. That was the first time I saw the Bags play and they quickly became my favorite band. Slash: (to Phranc) I used to see you - now that you're blonde, you're not so incognito. Phranc: Blondes have more fun. Slash: (laughs) Are the Bags still your favorite band? |
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Phranc: As far as local bands,
yeah. |
