Cassie Ramone speaks to ClashMusic
Stopping off for a coffee, Cassie Ramone starts the interview in a breezy fashion. Beside her, New York stumbles by before an ambulance screams past to remind us that this is still The Big Apple.
Time and place count for a lot. Arriving with their compact yet sublime debut album, Vivian Girls split opinion. To their devoted fans, the trio were a charming, ramshackle throw back to the golden era of Sarah and K Records. To their critics, the band was little more than the latest fad Williamsburg had dreamt up in an attempt to frustrate them.
Mixing a quiet tone with street slang, Cassie Ramone is every inch the good girl turned hustler. Returning with their third album ‘Spread The Joy’ it is clear that both adulation and criticism are two sides of a coin Vivian Girls have long since given away – the band have constructed their own scene, with their own rules and don’t give a damn what others might think. “We’re not the kind of band that caters to what people want us to be,” she says. “I think that if we tried to do that we wouldn’t do as well as we’re doing. At the end of the day I think that we’re a really weird band that make really weird music. I don’t really think there’s anyway to get around that. Pretty much whatever we do is going to be up to our standard of quality rather than anybody else’s.”
‘Share The Joy’ is undoubtedly a weird record. Stretching past their indie pop formula, Vivian Girls include some six-minute tracks and the odd cover. Recorded with their friends Woods at a home studio, the relaxed environment seeps into the music. “It was a really good change of pace for us. Our first and second albums were recorded with people who we ended up becoming really good friends with, but when we first entered the studio they were basically strangers” she explains. “It was a really great experience to work in a house with someone who we’ve known for so long. I think that was really important to us.”
Taking a break after ‘Everything Goes Wrong’ the trio found themselves occupied by numerous side projects. Katy Goodman formed La Sera, while Cassie Ramone focussed on her own output. “After we made the last album we decided to stop touring. We took a few months off, and that’s what led to us doing so many different projects” she says simply. “It was good for the band. It reflects the atmosphere me and Katy were brought up in. When we were in high school and when we lived in Brooklyn people were in multiple bands very, very often. It’s not a coincidence that me and Katy did these things at the same time, we were at a similar point in our lives. If we didn’t accept that then we would be extremely unhappy. I think it was a good thing for the band, ultimately.”
With their in-jokes and personal topics, Vivian Girls songs often give off the impression of being a diary, a journal of Cassie Ramone’s innermost thoughts. However it seems that ‘Share The Joy’ – with its tales of jealousy and a fear of mortality – is attached more to the sub-conscious. “I think in general I tend to write songs about things that are troubling me. Whenever I write a song I never consider what it’s about until after I’ve written it, if you know what I mean. I kind of just let it come to me and see what comes out”.
Vivian Girls - I Heard You Say
- - -
At times, ‘Share The Joy’ seems to be a deliberate attempt to step away from past output. Vivian Girls don’t really do guitar solos, yet the new album is layered with them – spiky, barbed-wire notes that spark off the melody. Asked about this, Cassie Ramone looks back to long, dull hours on the tour bus. “It’s actually kind of funny. Right about the point when ‘Everything Goes Wrong’ came out we were on tour bored in the van so we made up a list of ideas for our third album” explains the singer. “Most of which we didn’t do anything with - it was a fun tour activity. Making a song which was six minutes long was on the list, although we didn’t actively try to do it. We jammed them in practice, but didn’t expect them to be that long – maybe four, five minutes long, if that. Then we recorded them and we were like “oh my God!’” she laughs. “I’m happy with it. I don’t really want people to pigeonhole us. I think as a band we personally feel very free with what we do, and I hope that ‘Share The Joy’ helps people to realise that we have this freedom.”
It’s certainly free. ‘Share The Joy’ is less focussed, swapping brevity for an eclecticism not glimpsed before. Continuing, Cassie Ramone enthuses about a few more potential projects. “The songs I’ve been writing lately have been a lot shorter and a lot more garage-y: I’ve been writing a lot of two minute long songs lately. Maybe kind of a progression. Who knows that the future holds, you know what I’m saying?”
However the songwriter already has one solo project in mind. “I think that the next big thing that I’m interested in is recording an album with a lot of session musicians. Hopefully an orchestra, with a string section and a brass section. Who knows if that will actually happen? I would really love to record an album in the style of 70s AM pop. With a lot of professional musicians in the studio but I understand that won’t be the easiest thing to do” she says. “I have probably said this a million times but Burt Bacharach is probably one of my biggest influences as a songwriter and also as a producer. If you’ve ever heard his solo albums then it’s some of the best music I’ve ever heard in my life. I’d love to make an album that sounds like that. I love the Carpenters, I love Neil Young – that’s basically my big stuff. I think it would be great to record an album like that but I don’t know how feasible that is.”
Eclectic, yes but that isn’t to say that ‘Share The Joy’ is a re-invention: much of the same influences evident on the new album existed on previous recordings. Enthusing about classic 60s girl group recordings, Cassie Ramone says: “I guess it’s just a sound that we all really love. As simple as that is. I don’t know, I think that until very recently it wasn’t cool to use girl groups as an influence as they were looked upon as kitschy pop but I think that type of music is actually really well done. It’s an incredible style. I’m a total girl group connoisseur; I’m really into that stuff. Why at this stage of the game would we turn our backs on it, you know?”
Throughout the interview Cassie Ramone asks ‘do you know what I’m saying?’ Ultimately this is more a nervous tick than a continual need for approval. ‘Share The Joy’ exists on its own terms, with its flaws and imperfections important precisely because they belong to Vivian Girls and no one else. If you appreciate it, fine – if you don’t, then walk on. “I think that we felt pretty confident on all three of our albums. People don’t have to like them. We like the music that we make and as long as we do then I think that’s all that really matters. I don’t really think there’s any point in being in a band unless it’s one of your favourite bands. We’re all on the same page when it comes to that. If that isn’t the way you’re making music then you’re going to have a problem, you know what I’m saying?”
I think I do.
‘Share The Joy’ is out now.
Time and place count for a lot. Arriving with their compact yet sublime debut album, Vivian Girls split opinion. To their devoted fans, the trio were a charming, ramshackle throw back to the golden era of Sarah and K Records. To their critics, the band was little more than the latest fad Williamsburg had dreamt up in an attempt to frustrate them.
Mixing a quiet tone with street slang, Cassie Ramone is every inch the good girl turned hustler. Returning with their third album ‘Spread The Joy’ it is clear that both adulation and criticism are two sides of a coin Vivian Girls have long since given away – the band have constructed their own scene, with their own rules and don’t give a damn what others might think. “We’re not the kind of band that caters to what people want us to be,” she says. “I think that if we tried to do that we wouldn’t do as well as we’re doing. At the end of the day I think that we’re a really weird band that make really weird music. I don’t really think there’s anyway to get around that. Pretty much whatever we do is going to be up to our standard of quality rather than anybody else’s.”
‘Share The Joy’ is undoubtedly a weird record. Stretching past their indie pop formula, Vivian Girls include some six-minute tracks and the odd cover. Recorded with their friends Woods at a home studio, the relaxed environment seeps into the music. “It was a really good change of pace for us. Our first and second albums were recorded with people who we ended up becoming really good friends with, but when we first entered the studio they were basically strangers” she explains. “It was a really great experience to work in a house with someone who we’ve known for so long. I think that was really important to us.”
Taking a break after ‘Everything Goes Wrong’ the trio found themselves occupied by numerous side projects. Katy Goodman formed La Sera, while Cassie Ramone focussed on her own output. “After we made the last album we decided to stop touring. We took a few months off, and that’s what led to us doing so many different projects” she says simply. “It was good for the band. It reflects the atmosphere me and Katy were brought up in. When we were in high school and when we lived in Brooklyn people were in multiple bands very, very often. It’s not a coincidence that me and Katy did these things at the same time, we were at a similar point in our lives. If we didn’t accept that then we would be extremely unhappy. I think it was a good thing for the band, ultimately.”
With their in-jokes and personal topics, Vivian Girls songs often give off the impression of being a diary, a journal of Cassie Ramone’s innermost thoughts. However it seems that ‘Share The Joy’ – with its tales of jealousy and a fear of mortality – is attached more to the sub-conscious. “I think in general I tend to write songs about things that are troubling me. Whenever I write a song I never consider what it’s about until after I’ve written it, if you know what I mean. I kind of just let it come to me and see what comes out”.
Vivian Girls - I Heard You Say
- - -
At times, ‘Share The Joy’ seems to be a deliberate attempt to step away from past output. Vivian Girls don’t really do guitar solos, yet the new album is layered with them – spiky, barbed-wire notes that spark off the melody. Asked about this, Cassie Ramone looks back to long, dull hours on the tour bus. “It’s actually kind of funny. Right about the point when ‘Everything Goes Wrong’ came out we were on tour bored in the van so we made up a list of ideas for our third album” explains the singer. “Most of which we didn’t do anything with - it was a fun tour activity. Making a song which was six minutes long was on the list, although we didn’t actively try to do it. We jammed them in practice, but didn’t expect them to be that long – maybe four, five minutes long, if that. Then we recorded them and we were like “oh my God!’” she laughs. “I’m happy with it. I don’t really want people to pigeonhole us. I think as a band we personally feel very free with what we do, and I hope that ‘Share The Joy’ helps people to realise that we have this freedom.”
It’s certainly free. ‘Share The Joy’ is less focussed, swapping brevity for an eclecticism not glimpsed before. Continuing, Cassie Ramone enthuses about a few more potential projects. “The songs I’ve been writing lately have been a lot shorter and a lot more garage-y: I’ve been writing a lot of two minute long songs lately. Maybe kind of a progression. Who knows that the future holds, you know what I’m saying?”
However the songwriter already has one solo project in mind. “I think that the next big thing that I’m interested in is recording an album with a lot of session musicians. Hopefully an orchestra, with a string section and a brass section. Who knows if that will actually happen? I would really love to record an album in the style of 70s AM pop. With a lot of professional musicians in the studio but I understand that won’t be the easiest thing to do” she says. “I have probably said this a million times but Burt Bacharach is probably one of my biggest influences as a songwriter and also as a producer. If you’ve ever heard his solo albums then it’s some of the best music I’ve ever heard in my life. I’d love to make an album that sounds like that. I love the Carpenters, I love Neil Young – that’s basically my big stuff. I think it would be great to record an album like that but I don’t know how feasible that is.”
Eclectic, yes but that isn’t to say that ‘Share The Joy’ is a re-invention: much of the same influences evident on the new album existed on previous recordings. Enthusing about classic 60s girl group recordings, Cassie Ramone says: “I guess it’s just a sound that we all really love. As simple as that is. I don’t know, I think that until very recently it wasn’t cool to use girl groups as an influence as they were looked upon as kitschy pop but I think that type of music is actually really well done. It’s an incredible style. I’m a total girl group connoisseur; I’m really into that stuff. Why at this stage of the game would we turn our backs on it, you know?”
Throughout the interview Cassie Ramone asks ‘do you know what I’m saying?’ Ultimately this is more a nervous tick than a continual need for approval. ‘Share The Joy’ exists on its own terms, with its flaws and imperfections important precisely because they belong to Vivian Girls and no one else. If you appreciate it, fine – if you don’t, then walk on. “I think that we felt pretty confident on all three of our albums. People don’t have to like them. We like the music that we make and as long as we do then I think that’s all that really matters. I don’t really think there’s any point in being in a band unless it’s one of your favourite bands. We’re all on the same page when it comes to that. If that isn’t the way you’re making music then you’re going to have a problem, you know what I’m saying?”
I think I do.
‘Share The Joy’ is out now.
Vivian Girls
