Interview- Girls on Film

Band:Girls on Film Interviewer:Donovan Tate Date: 01/6/06

Dancetronic Glam Wave - the signature sound of Florida’s Girls On Film- is a fashion fueled combination of high-energy stage antics and synthpop beats. It’s a sound that the girls first experimented with in 2000 when lead singer Rio and bassist Kazhmir started the group. They were still perfecting it on their popular 3-song EP “Love Robot”, their first effort produced by Tim Curry (formerly of The Cruxshadows), and with the release of their 2005 debut album, Danceteria, Girls on Film have managed to translate their on-stage presence onto a full-length record.

GC: Tell us a little bit about the band.

We're a 4-piece electronic dance band hailing from Tallahassee, the capital of Florida. We call our style “Dancetronic Glam Wave”.

GC: Where do your lyrical and musical inspirations come from?

Most of our musical inspirations are of course our heroes from when we were coming up, like The Human League, Yaz, Berlin, ABC, The Flirts, Nina Hagen, Book of Love, New Order, Prince, and of course Duran Duran, to name several. We are also fond of The Start, Metric, Interpol, the Faint, & the Killers...it's really just hard to name them all.

As for lyrical inspirations, these are usually either whatever is on my mind at the time we are writing or something I'm particularly interested in and hope to incorporate into one of the songs.

GC: Why choose the name GIRLS ON FILM from the Duran Duran song for the band's name? And what kind of image are you projecting to the audience?

In 2000, while lying on the floor of the bedroom in my studio apartment, Kazhmir and I were flipping through a book which listed the greatest bands of all time in the history of the world ever. Naturally, Duran Duran was prominently featured along with their discography...and Girls on Film just sticks out, you see. At the time, we were newly forming our band, and never thought we'd play anything other than a friend's house party. But we still love the name!

Our image I’d say is pretty glam...we like to dress up.

GC: Do you think New Wave/New Romantic Movement will ever make a come back?

I don't know that they will ever be back in their original forms, but I think everything cycles back around, picks up new influences along the way, and morphs into something else. So much has already been done; it's always difficult to be innovative when that's the case. But there are some brilliant musicians out there, and I hear the new wave influence all over the place.

GC: Ever since you've been performing in clubs and other locations and touring, have you gained a much wider audience besides your hometown in Florida?

Yes. We've been very fortunate when we've traveled to other cities and have been very well received. It was a little scary at first, leaving the security of our home base, but we've been really lucky and have met with a lot of great people so far. We're grateful for the opportunity to expand.

GC: You have a street team. Tell me a little about the Girls on Film promotional team.

The Girls on Film street team is called the "Film Crew", and these are fans/friends which we have recruited at home and in other cities to help get the word out about the band's upcoming shows, releases, & other happenings. They help flyer for shows, phone their local radio stations to request Girls on Film tracks, etc. They're a crucial asset.

GC: FASHIONISTA is another new wave band, who is also based out of Florida. You did a show with them. How did it go and are you glad that there was another new wave band playing besides yourself?

Ah, yes, Fashionista! Actually, we've haven't yet gotten to play a show with them, although we are e-mail buddies and great admirers of their tunes & style. You just can't beat well-dressed men making hot music.

GC: Each band member has a different persona. Could you tell me what's the meaning behind each stage name that makes one unique and different from the other member?

Well, the stage names actually began just for fun. I think the only one that was chosen for any real meaning was Machine’s; we named her that because she is every bit as reliable as if we were pushing a button. Kazhmir & Metro are the super-outgoing members of the band and I am the absent-minded one.

GC:Who does most of the songwriting for the band?

The song writing is a mutual effort on everyone’s part. We get together in one room and piece it all together.

GC:How does the songwriting process work for the band? Do the lyrics or music come first?

It varies. One of us might have an idea and share it with the others, and then we’ll all try to flesh it out to see if it could turn into a song. It has become a much more enjoyable process the longer we’re together since we know each other so well now and we have a focused direction for how we want to sound and what kind of songs we want to write.

Tim Curry is a former member of the Goth band The Cruxshadows. How did you all manage to hook up with him to produce some tracks?

Tim is a multi-talented marvel. We’d known him from the local music scene for several years. When Kazhmir and I were first forming the band, Tim worked with us on keyboards and was a co-writer on many of our early songs. He’s an accomplished musician in his own right, but he also wanted to focus his energy on production. Once we recruited Metro to join the band as the permanent keyboardist, this freed Tim up to produce our first release, the Love Robot EP.

GC:What is your live show like?

We have a lot of fun at our shows. It’s dance music, so we obviously do a lot of moving around onstage. We tend to favor heavy glam wear, make-up, the whole bit. It’s a blast.

A lot of girl groups have more fights and disagreements than male groups, which lead to a break up. Do you all have that problem at times when one won't come to the point of compromising?

I never used to understand why some of my favorite groups would break up. But you know it can be difficult to balance different personalities, schedules, musical styles, writing styles, etc. in such a way as to make sure everyone is happy and fulfilled. I think Girls on Film has a very fortunate situation in this regard because we are all best friends, we have a great deal of mutual respect for each other, and we are crazy about what we’re doing. That’s not to say that we don’t have disagreements, but we try really hard to work them out as soon as we can and there have been times when we’ve each had to compromise.

GC:"Danceteria" is totally on the line of 80's pop culture. Give me more details on the album.

Danceteria is our first full-length release. It’s a neat representation of how Girls on Film has evolved to our current sound. Listening to some of our earliest songs that made the cut (‘Invisible Man’, ‘End of All We Know’, ‘Blacklight’) along with the later ones that developed as we started to solidify our sound and style has been a really cool experience for us.

As for being in line with the 80’s sound, we have had that comparison many times! We’re huge fans of a lot of music from bands that first came into prominence in the 80’s, so I think these influences have certainly bled over into Girls on Film’s music.

GC:What are your personal favorite song(s)?

My personal favorite is “Vaporized”. The other girls may beg to differ!

The track "Secretary" is a lust song that talks about the supervisor who is into his secretary and lusting after her. Has that ever happened to one of you, which kinda gave you an idea to write a song about it?

Secretary is fictional. It’s about a female supervisor who is into her male subordinate.

GC:Back in the 80's, only a few female bands existed. Do you think there should be more all girl bands nowadays, besides just a woman fronting an all male band?

The funny thing about the all-girl band situation is that in our case, we were just looking to form a band. We were all friends of friends of friends who shared similar tastes in music, and we got together much the same way a band of all guys might have. There really wasn’t an intention that it only have female members. That having been said, it has been really cool exploring the dynamic that exists between the four of us as women who write & perform together.

GC:You did a show in Gainesville, Georgia. How well did the audience receive you?

We’ve played some shows in Gainesville, Florida to tremendous response. Gainesville does have a strong electronic music scene and they have been more than supportive of us.

GC:Have any magazines or newspapers in your hometown ever found out about you girls? Any local radio stations invited you to do a live interview on air? Any local television appearances?

We have been fortunate to appear in each of the local newspapers in our hometown and have been featured in Florida State University’s music television show ‘OutLoud’ for which we taped a segment in January 2004. We’ve done interviews for WVFS V-89 (Florida State), the Locals Only show on X101.5, and Cincinnati’s WAIF 88.3FM.

GC:What radio station(s) gave you airplay and put you on rotation? Any radio listeners ever request a song for them to play on air?

Songs from ‘Danceteria’ have been in rotation on WVFS V-89, X101.5, GULF 104.1, WAIF 88.3FM (Cincinnati), WTKS 104.1 out of Orlando, and several internet pod casts/stations. “Vaporized” and “Remote Control” seem to be the most popular.

GC:What is Girls On Film working on? Please tell us if there is an upcoming album in progress and what we can look forward to hearing-unless you would like to surprise us.

We’ve got an upcoming tour which will take us to Atlanta, Nashville, Charlotte, Chapel Hill, Baltimore, and NYC, among others. We’ve been doing a lot of writing in anticipation of the second album, but as of yet we have no date set to begin recording as we have been busy promoting ‘Danceteria’ and preparing for our out of town shows.

We are also taking part in a dance remix project with Mike Lange of 2Asides Records out of Manhattan. This is particularly exciting for us because there are some amazing names working on remixing our stuff – Neil Kolo of Fade Records, producer Thomas Penton, DjF of Breakshop Studios, NYC’s Ali Kay of Sirenum Records, the SmokeKeepers (2Asides artists out of Milan), and Mike Lange himself. This project is tentatively scheduled for release in March 2006 and is already generating buzz...

GC:Any last word?

Thanks so much for your support & we hope to meet you at a show sometime!

GC: Thank you for this opportunity for me to interview you lovely ladies. I wish you girls a lot of LOVE & SUCCESS with your music. And thank you for the t-shirt you sent me in the mail. BEST WISHES TO YOU ALL & A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

We appreciate everything! Happy New Year 2006!!!

Love, Rio

www.girlsonfilm.nu