PT: Tell us about your DIY experience.
Gina: All the people I met at the theater were doing that to me without even knowing it. We all ended up playing at the same venue. I think The Smell is the only one left from the old days. We got to know Greg and Andrew from playing in their other bands (Helen Keller, Post Life, Morning, French Vanilla) before they started working for the same company. What I’ve always appreciated about this community is that we’re not doing this because we want to be famous. This is a part of the world where people come to become famous. Our scene has a more casual and sociable feel. When I hang out with people outside of work, it’s mostly when I meet friends at shows and catch up there.
Guy: Before I met Gina, Greg and Andrew, there were two bands that were active in the theater. I was among them. We used the theater as a factory, where we wrote and recorded music. We screen printed our own T-shirts and CDs. I assembled it, folded it, and glued it together. When it came time to put out a piece with Moe Dotty, I pretty much knew how to do all that stuff because I started my own record label out of that theater. That’s why we do it ourselves. I don’t really have to do anything myself because I know how to do it. You can do what you want and get exactly what you want.
Gina: We’re obviously a very small band and it would be great to be on a label to get more attention to our band, but what’s the point in not doing it ourselves for now? I don’t know. Even if you earn $1 on Bandcamp, every penny you earn goes back to the band. If you were to share that with the label, it would just take away more resources.
PT: Gina, I read that Mo Dottie started with you and a drum machine.
Gina: Yes! Mobile phone drum machine. We were playing together using a loop pedal. The entity of Mo Dotti has gone through various incarnations. Guy soon started playing and writing songs with me after I started getting pretty frustrated with the limitations of doing it alone. He has really great ideas and is my favorite guitarist. He added something really interesting to the skeleton of the song I was creating. Then we added a bass player, and now we have a bass, two guitars, me singing, and a drum machine. That was also quirky, so we added a drummer. When I added the drummer, I thought, “Oh, this is turning into something else.” As time passed, the sound became louder and louder.
Guy: I think the only limitation of early Mo Dotti work was its reliance on live loops. There’s a lot of timing involved. It was a very lo-fi endeavor because I didn’t have a cell phone to play the beats on, but I had a really cheap mixer and guitar pedals.
Gina: I never thought of making a backing track, that would have been a lot smarter! Rather than being like, “I hit play on the beat and oh, I have to hit the looper at the right time.”
PT: That’s amazing. That’s what I’m particular about.
Gina: I’m glad you think so.
PT: I read about Tina Modotti. An incredible person. A wonderful, fascinating life. Can you talk about her importance to you?
Gina: Yes. Even before I knew who she was, I was obsessed with the band Fugazi. They have a song called “Recap Modotti.” I thought that name was cool, so I thought I’d start a band called “Recap Modotti.” So I thought it was strange for one band to be the title of another band’s song. Then I read about her work and I was so fascinated by her story. Most of all, I really liked the sound of the name. It reminds me of Mo Dette and Durruti Column. I like the way it rolls on my tongue. As for Modtti himself, I am interested in photography and art history. I like her connection with Diego Rivera and Edward Weston, and I’m a fan of both of them. I think she also had a relationship with Frida Kahlo, which is really cool. She was probably assassinated because she was a communist.
PT: I read that Modotti wanted to “capture social reality,” and I thought that was an interesting parallel to your music. Because Opaque sometimes makes you question reality. I think the lyrics are quite dark and dissociative. There’s some unrealistic anxiety and paranoia, can you talk about where these lyrics come from?
Gina: A lot of it is subconscious rambling. I don’t think about it intentionally, unless I’m writing something and it’s too corny. Then things will change. As for the subject matter, I like to keep it a little vague, as I don’t want to impose too many ideas on the listener. I’m a happy person and I don’t think I suffer from depression, but I have a lot of anxiety about everything, especially death and the end of the world. I think about it every day. Obviously I’m a working person. I go to work, do what I have to do, and we act like everything is fine. But sometimes I feel hopeless, and that part of my psyche comes through in my lyrics. The juxtaposition of that image with Modotti’s work – I never consciously try to associate it with her work, especially since she is so deliberate and has her own ideas. They’re super political. Of course I agree with the message of her work, but I don’t want it to seem like I’m co-opting it. The main theme of the lyrics is about the sun. There are worse places on earth, but where we live, the weather can be very harsh. Therefore, I sometimes hate the sun! Climate change makes everything seem unbearable. That’s definitely a big theme in the lyrics.
PT: I like how your lyrics feel like they’re partly stream of consciousness and partly written in words, but the boundaries between those ideas are kind of fused. Could you tell us about your activities as a lyricist?
Gina: When we first wrote the song, Guy and I gave it to Greg and Andrew. Or if Guy plays me something, I’ll just sing it in the style of Liz Frazier, and whatever words sound right are a starting point. I never sit down and try to put pen to paper. Play the song and see what you can do. Please excuse the word “atmosphere”. You just have to feel what works on the chord progression. I definitely write for the music, so that dictates how I present the lyrics. I don’t like to expose myself too much. I don’t want to make anything super personal. Often things are personal to me, so I write it in a way that no one can understand.
