Her guitar technique is a finger-tapping frenzy, her new release is a tongue-twisting run-on, and her answers to our questions are strange and short. But Marnie Stern is just a normal punker who gets distracted from time to time. By the boring and mundane, to be exact.
"I've always liked complex music, because I have ADD," she admits to Wired.com, in our interview after the jump.
this audio or video is no longer availableShe likes complex titles too: Her recent collection of cacophonous head-scratchers is called This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That. The songs are are as tautologically maddening as the title. Filled with shrieks and hammered guitars falling apart as they unfurl, destabilized anthems like "Prime," "Steely" and "The Crippled Jazzer" are challenging but rewarding listens. Her most accessible tunes on the new release are probably "Transformer" and "The Package is Wrapped," and as hard as they rock, they still take patience for pop vultures used to disposable music.
But like most innovators, including the late, great Sleater-Kinney, who she cites as an influence, Marnie Stern is too busy doing what she is doing to worry about what she is doing. And that circular logic isn't just good for creating album titles; it works to author some truly creative sonics. You can catch her on the job Wednesday in Portland and throughout the rest of the month, harassing America into accepting the strange and beautiful. And weird.
Listening Post heckled Stern about her bizarre music, which she described as "AC/DC without the medication," and what it's like to be a female shredder in a world of sausages.
Wired.com: Where in the hell did you learn to play guitar?
Marnie Stern: My adult influences were Spencer Seim from Hella, Mick Barr, Brian Gibson of Lightning Bolt, Flying Luttenbachers, U.S. Maple, Sleater-Kinney and Deerhoof. When I was younger, my influences were Television, The Who, Bruce Springsteen, Patti Smith, and Neil Young. Jimi Hendrix rocks my world. I taught myself to play guitar after many years of fumbling around and just trying to figure it out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3oxU9-zeiA__Wired.com:__ Talk about your hyperactive tapping technique. Like your music, it seems to revel in complexity.
Marnie Stern: I'm not a shredder. I just like the sound of tapping. I began tapping because of bands like Don Caballero and Lightining Bolt, not because of Steve Vai or any metal '80s dudes. And it stuck because it helped me develop my sound. I like tapping for songs, but not just because of complexity. I've always liked complex music, because I have ADD.
Wired.com: Is that the story behind the album title?
Marnie Stern: The new album title comes from Alan Watts. I honestly didn't think it would get so much attention. It just seemed to sum up the vibe of the record, which is "Just do it," sort of a Rocky Balboa thing. But I think this album is more accessible than my past stuff. I keep asking the band if I've sold out.
Wired.com: To get circular, in the spirit of things, what do you call "your sound," as you call it?
Marnie Stern: I don't know what I call the music. I've been listening to a lot of classic rock lately, so let's just call it AC/DC without medication.
Wired.com: You're touring right now with the equally unclassifiable Gang Gang Dance.
Marnie Stern: We love Gang Gang Dance. They're very sweet. We called them, because we think they're awesome and we wish we could do the whole tour with them.
Wired.com: I mentioned this to Autolux's Carla Azar, so I have to mention it to you. I think the music world needs more brain-teasing female virtuosos. But that's just me.
Marnie Stern: I don't think very much about women in rock. If it helps to inspire any girls, that's great. I don't really think about being a girl in rock except when people ask me. So I love women in rock.
Photo: Marnie Stern @ MySpace
See also:
