“How much can we push ourselves and shock ourselves and be loud and we just want to make really earthy music, music that makes our bodies move and makes other people’s bodies move that’s like kind of rock and roll, it’s hedonistic, it’s a hedonistic genre, it’s music that people want to drink to, fuck to and dance to and scream to and crowd surf to.”
From release: “We met at a crochet class” is not something you would expect to hear from this brash LA pair. Bonding over their love of threading and classic rock, Lindsey Troy and Julie Edwards joined musical forces in 2011. Shattering the image of a stereotypical girl band, they have excited their peers, fans and industry alike with their heavy, feisty rock n roll performances. From supporting rock royalty Eagles of Death Metal, Muse and The Vaccines to a string of headline shows in the UK this month and spots on Coachella and Spain’s FIB later this year, they will continue to electrify.
We got to sit down with the lovely ladies of Deap Vally for a chat about the band, their sound, their best lies as well as a side spin on Nirvana and just their overall love for what they do. It really shows and I wish them all the success they deserve!
Welcome to Australia! It is your First time here, so what do you think so far?
Julie: Yeah it’s awesome, I just wish we had more time to find out what it’s about, but it’s cool. We’re just getting our toes wet and testing it out. We love it.
Now you’re playing a couple of shows, can you give us an idea of just what a Deap Vally show entails?
Julie: They can expect to have their balls rocked off…
Lindsey: They can expect to have their ears buzzing after the show…
Julie: They can expect to feel a sense of uninhibited danger… They can expect to have a good time.
Lindsey: Yeah
And then collect your balls at the end of the show on the way out…
Julie: Yes at the front desk…
It is so rock and roll the way you guys met, is that a true story?
Both: Yeah *laughs*
How does that happen?
Julie: How does it happen? I worked at that knitting shop for like five years, and I don’t work there anymore cause Lindsey walked in. So many knitters… but it’s funny you wouldn’t think it. You meet a lot of cool women who knit and crochet because it’s a creative pursuit and it’s a combination of engineering and execution and yeah I met a lots of really awesome women.
Lindsey: It was surprisingly a fun little scene in there, I mean not surprisingly but apparently surprising to some people, but we would have so much fun just sitting in there knitting and chatting and stuff.
It really is a cool story…
Lindsey: I think so, I think some people think it’s really ironic, but I don’t really think so.
Julie: You know Kelley Deal published a book of knit bag patters that she wrote, so clearly this is not new.
The name of the band, is there a story behind it?
Julie: Well it’s kind of a reference to a region, the Deep Valley which is like deep in the San Fernando valley, where I grew up and also like the way we talk, we have the valley girl accent and people would make fun of it because people don’t think it’s cool. It’s really prevalent now because of reality TV actually, because I think of reality TV that’s how the whole world will talk soon which I don’t know if that’s a good thing.
Lindsey: This sort of stereotype was made famous by movies like ‘Clueless’ and ‘Valley Girl’ so yeah it was like a diss when we were growing up and people would be like ‘you’re a valley girl’ or ‘you talk like a valley girl’ but you can help it because that’s just how you learn to talk.
Julie: You can’t help where you’re from, like being from LA the Valley’s not cool. If you’re from the west side, or LA proper or one of the beach communities, that’s cool, but being from the valley is not cool.
Lindsey: But I also think though now it’s so widespread that everyone in Southern California talks like a valley girl.
Julie: Yeah I think everyone in the world that speaks English first talks like a valley girl.
Lindsey: Well, not England, right?
Julie: They talk like chavs…
And you just changed the spelling of the words to make it look cooler?
Lindsey: There you go…
Julie: Well Deep Valley spelled normally just doesn’t really reflect us, it’s too like wholesome or country… it takes itself too seriously; we like to have a sense of humour about everything we do.
Your debut album is due in May, tell us a bit of what we can expect to hear?
Julie: I mean there’s some dynamic in there, I think there’s some surprises, but I think in essence it’s a rock and roll album and I think it draws from a lot of different moments of rock, there’s some punk elements, there’s some more kind of like stonesy, bluesy type things, with some little trips…
Lindsey: So it’s a journey, it’s certainly not one dimensional, there’s definitely a lot of different flavours on there.
Julie: Yeah, there’s like a six minute song on there…
Lindsey: There’s a six minute like Pink Floydian…
Pink Floydian? Is that an actual term?
Lindsey: It is now *laughs*
Julie: That’s a floydian slip…
Lindsey: There’s some really sick gospel that Julie does on the album, some gospel singing. She can hit notes I can’t.
Let’s wait and see…
Julie: *laughs*
Has it got a name yet that you can tell us?
Julie: Yeah, ‘Sistrionix’, well it’s a word we came up with, it’s sisters and histrionics, so it describes us…
Now, your newest single is called ‘Lies’, so fess up, what’s the biggest lie you’ve ever told?
Julie: I was trying to get sympathy from my friends for being mean to me when I was like eleven, and I told them all that my parents were getting a divorce and that was totally a lie, but it made them be nice to me for the whole duration of lunch, so I bought myself some time… *laughs* my parents will read that now…
Lindsey: Oh God, this is so bad, I told my grandma I was a virgin when I wasn’t anymore…
Julie: That’s OK, you need to spare some people some details you know?
Lindsey: That’s true… Grandma, I love you.
Who or what inspires you musically to create the sound and songs that became Deap Vally?
Lindsey: Oh God so many awesome people?
Julie: Led Zeppelin, The Doors, Tina Turner, Black Sabbath, Yeah Yeah Yeahs they’re one of my favourite bands and we’re going to be gigging with them so that’s like a dream come true. Hole, Nirvana…
Do you realise that Kurt has been gone nineteen years ago today?
Lindsey: Crazy…
Julie: That’s really depressing and sad for so many reasons… what would he look like if he were still alive?
Lindsey: I mean Dave Grohl looks great…
Julie: Yeah but Dave Grohl got to learn a lesson… whatever happened to Krist Novoselic though?
Lindsey: Is that Pap Smear?
Julie: *laughs* No, Pat Smear, Pap Smear *laughs* when we have a really bad show we call it a public pap smear because it feels like we just spread our legs and everyone looked inside… like an awkward show. What would Kurt Cobain look like? I feel like he’d be fat and his face would be bloated.
Lindsey: He’d be like an awesome dad you know…
How does it feel to you when a name such as Led Zeppelin is thrown around in describing your sound?
Julie: I think it’s fucking incredible, Jesus Christ… Led Zeppelin is the beginning, the middle and the end. They’ve covered it all and did it with such swagger and bombast and creativity and hair and rad pants.
Lindsey: Yeah it’s definitely flattering, it’s almost laughable though to be compared to your idols, it sounds kind of silly.
Julie: maybe we could get there someday? It’s a good thing to aspire to.
Lindsey: Also there was four of them and only two of us.
Well then it should only take half as long…
Julie: There you go…
In the two years since forming it seems you’ve already done a fair bit what stands out as the best moment so far?
Lindsey: There’s been loads, I mean endless amounts…
Julie: The time we met Jimmy Page, the time we jammed out with Mumford and Sons…
Lindsey: The time Matt Bellamy played the ‘End of the World’ riff on stage at an arena.
Julie: We just did our first headlining tour in the States and that was sold out, and so far we’ve just been building fans and we’ve been opening for a lot of bands and been playing for other people’s fans and just that whole tour was so incredible because we were all there on the same page speaking the same language, and just rock the fuck out and there was crowd surfing and moshing and people singing along to the guitar riffs and I think that’s really a stand out experience and just awesome, we’re really grateful for that.
Lindsey: There’s so many, we just played a festival, Rock en Seine in Paris, that was just really surprisingly energetic, there was like five thousand people watching us, singing along and we had no idea that there would be anyone watching us, so it was exciting.
Julie: we’re going to play Coachella, and last year we got to hang out at Coachella which was super fun and yeah that’s going to be super exciting, but this year unfortunately, well not unfortunately, but last year we got to just hang and this year we’re in and out and in and out because we just got some shows with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs which is incredible because they’re our heroes. Karen O changed both of our lives with the punk ass feminism she presented…
Lindsey: and also just the climate of music they presented, they’re just really special to us and with her kind of fun aspect of performing, and Nick Zinner, he’s one of my guitar heroes, he’s so creative and rhythmic in the parts he creates.
Julie: We really want to open for The Rolling Stones, so if someone can arrange that in 2013…
So what do you think it is that attracts people to your music?
Julie: Well I think there’s a lot of things about it and I think we’ve come to terms that there’s just a certain segment of our audience who is just into the girlie show aspect of it, whether they’re music heads or not, but I think musically a lot of people are saying that the world needed this right now, something about what we’re doing that is so raw and honest and we put it all out there and it’s very sincere and realistic.
Lindsey: It’s really unhinged, it’s really like unrestrained and I think a lot of the musical climate that we’ve been in for a long time is really safe characterised by having a lot of restraint you know? As much restraint as possible…
Julie: By making music you can license to like health care or something…
Lindsey: So I think we represent the complete opposite to that, you know, just how much can we push ourselves and shock ourselves and be loud and we just want to make really earthy music, music that makes our bodies move and makes other people’s bodies move that’s like kind of rock and roll, it’s hedonistic, it’s a hedonistic genre, it’s music that people want to drink to, fuck to and dance to and scream to and crowd surf to. I don’t know, I think people are hungry for that. I know that the music is always around, but as far as what is presented to the mainstream, to the majority of the population, it hasn’t really been presented to people for a while, so I think we represent that, a nee temperature in the musical world so that’s exciting.
Julie: It’s also such a live thing, I think in the major label world a lot of music gets lost because a lot of music gets focal grouped in a studio and sort of built and created and then everybody figures out how to play it, so it’s so different when you see a real rock band, there’s an amazing rock scene in LA, there’s a killer second class of rock bands, people who are just sweating and bleeding out the show, so we’re so used to seeing it, we see it all the time, but people at large don’t get to see that, they’ll go see a band that has an awesome single but it’s like the two guys in the band and then some hired people and everyone’s a pro and everyone can play it, but they’re not like giving themselves that way, and I think it’s refreshing to people and inspiring to people. I mean us rock heads we’re used to it, the only point is to give it , we don’t want to see a band that looks bored and disengaged, ever, like there’s no reason to even go, but I think maybe for the population at large it’s a nice refreshing thing to see that. Mumford and Sons is a band like that, even though they’re not rock I mean those guys give it every show, they’re so giving to the audience, they’re really there to like just lose themselves and communicate and everything.
Lindsey: Also there’s no safety net with us on stage, there’s just the two of us, so like it’s not like there’s so many bands that have so many people on stage, there’s that safety net, this wall of sound where you almost can’t even tell who is playing what, where with us, if one of us messes up every one hears it, but our attitude is who cares, it’s live music, we’re all human and that’s what this is about, this is a human experience. It’s special if you’re at a show where something is different and something gets fucked up, it’s like a one of a kind experience and we want it to be that real authentic. It’s what it is.
So lastly, what does the rest of 2013 have in store for Deap Vally?
Julie: Loads of festivals and loads of touring and I guess we’ll start writing our new album.
Lindsey: Hopefully learn some new tricks to put on the next album you know. I just want to really push ourselves on every album and just get better and better and I don’t know, maybe you’ll become a badass harmonica player.
While playing the drums…
Julie: Those neck things are very unreliable when you’re moving your body a lot; it just gets further and further away from your mouth.
Essential Information
From: The Valley, California, USA
Sounds like: Rock and Roll
Band members: Lindsey Troy – vocals, guitar, Julie Edwards – drums, vocals
Website: http://www.deapvally.com
