VIVIENNE EASTWOOD

Meet VIVIENNE EASTWOOD

Here is a real treat for all you fashion-forward shoegaze babies. I am sure there are a lot of you out there. The last time I went to a Slowdive concert I was the worst dressed there, and I am by no means a sloppy dresser. Shoegaze fans take it to the next level.

Anyway enough about my problems, this is our interview with the very talented Jordan of VIVIENNE EASTWOOD. Since 2012 the project has been sending out swelling waves of fuzzy energy with their unique take on the genre. Pulling in influence from Synth-pop and goth-rock bands of days gone by the project takes a lot of things you know and love and make something you will love even MORE. Get to know Jordan in the interview below.

LETTER TO A LOVELORN COLUMNIST a Mad-lib by, VIVIENNE EASTWOOD

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts:
I've been engaged to the same man for ZERO years. He keeps telling me he DOUBLES me, but we need to wait to get DREAMT until he makes more REPLICAS. If we marry now, we will have to VIBERATE. with my mother and eat KALEIDOSCOPES every day. But isn't PARALLEL love worth that? Should I put my FINGERNAILS down and set a date, or just continue to be SYMMETRICAL?

Signed,CLARA ROCKMORE

Dear Young Lady:
Don't do anything EXTRATERRESTRIAL. Something worth SKATEBOARDING is worth EDITING for. I don't think eating ROTATIONS with the man you RESONATE is bad, but eating ROTATIONS and living ZERO miles away from your mother is better.

Signed,

Miss Lonelyhearts

Would You Rather

get in contact with ghosts or aliens? What would you say?

Aliens! No doubt! I would start off my saying "Hello Alien, how's it going?" and hopefully the conversation would evolve naturally enough from there and I could ask a ton of questions and the Alien wouldn't get all annoyed and tired of answering the same questions about anti-matter and free energy and all that.  I'd ask about time travel.  I'd also want to know more about their society and if they had anything like music, and if so, could I listen to some of it?

Some questions with VIVIENNE EASTWOOD

Digital, Records, CD, or Cassette. Which is your favorite format of music? Why?

Ooof, this is a tough one.  I personally love the experience that digital media offers.  You can spend a little time on Reddit and discover some really out-there new micro-genre of music and I love that kind of stuff.  Cassettes are really fun and sound so good on an old tape deck in a dusty old car.  But I also love how vinyl sort of eliminates that attention deficit feeling of perusing your favorite streaming site.  You have to really slow down and pay attention to it, and then when it's half way over, you have to flip it over to the other side and keep going.

What is the food you get delivered most often? Do you have a favorite place to get it from?

I think the most often delivered food is the Tikka Masala from Arga Taj Mahal, an Indian restaurant in my neighborhood.  (*o*)

How did you all come to play together?

Some years ago, Jenny and I started playing music together in her room in Williamsburg. I lived close by and I would bring my little practice amp over on a skateboard. It was just guitar, drums & vocals and it was very loud. Later our friend Lindsay joined, she played the keys, bass in one hand, lead parts in the other, and she sang harmonies, and wow, how was she able to do all this? We played shows, mostly in Brooklyn, and we did a small tour up to Western Mass & Vermont, and then Lindsay moved to LA.  

Some time after that, our friend Bailey came along to play bass with us. Soon after that our buddy Phil joined us and we played many shows and recorded an ep together at Alphaville and released it in 2016.  And the last time we played a show together was in 2018!  I guess you could say we're on a hiatus at the moment.  Jenny has been working on her electronic project Alien Bay, and our boy Phil has a band called Phil and the Osophers.  I'm still writing music all the time.  I recently started working on some music that sounded like Vivienne Eastwood songs and decided to release the "Home Movies" EP as a way of moving forward.  The songs on "Home Movies" have been around for a while, and I felt like they needed to be released before I could work on more new material.  I'm not sure yet what the future holds for Viv East, but I have such a huge catalog of songs that I'd like to keep releasing them out into the world!

What type of sandwich would each of you be, and why?

Maybe a bahn mi sandwich because sometimes the bread outside is sharp and cuts the inside of your mouth but the middle of the sandwich is delicious.  

What is your favorite drum machine?

I think it's the Korg KR-55, soo punchy! Really fuzzy guitars side-chained with that kick drum is like the sound of heaven as heard from the womb, do you feel me? And that snare has so much character. I also really love the Casio CT210, I used it on the first three songs on 'home movies'. It's also the drum machine sounds you hear on the Beach House song "Wild" which was sort of validating for me to hear. I really love the way the sound of those sampled cymbals interact with the guitar, it sounds so gritty! I've recently been playing around with using some samples from the Simmons SDS2000 and the Technics AX7. I'm really inspired by Robin Guthrie's production techniques with drum machines, and I like that he talks about what he uses. For example: robinguthrie.com/interviews/equipment-notes.php

What are your thoughts on Clint Eastwood?

I guess I don't really think of Clint that much.  When we came up with the band name we were talking about Vivienne Westwood.  We just flipped the 'west' to 'east' and wondered if we would see misspelled google searches as a result.  An homage perhaps?  Early on, the lyrical content was about vanity and appearance, and I liked trying to fit these really pretty and lush songs into a gritty and harsh context, so this fashion designer that brought punk fashion into haute couture seemed like it worked.

Where did you grow up? Did it shape the music you are making today?

I grew up in Duluth, MN.  Before I was born, my dad played in a glam rock band called Android.  The lead guitar player from that group was Phil Solem, who went on to form The Rembrandts and write the theme song for the TV show Friends.  When I was growing up I remember my dad would jam with other musicians in the basement and it would be so loud it seemed like the whole house was shaking.  It seemed really powerful and fun!  One time when I was first learning guitar I went to Phil Solem's house in Minneapolis and he taught me how to play 'Smoke on the Water,' "put a little English on it!" he told me, and I remember thinking "he bought this house with a song."  

That stuff was probably formative, but most of the music I make today feels more like an escape.  Living in NY doesn't allow as many opportunities to play very loud, and I've been embracing the sound of direct input guitar and drum machines.  I love playing live music, but there's also something really satisfying about making interesting and immersive headphone music.Is there an astrological angle for your project?

Actually there isn't, the name was inspired by tennis player Venus Williams and her sister.

Where do you go to escape the city?

Governor's Island might be my favorite place, it's not exactly city escape but it's close. There are these rooms in Fort Jay that were used as artillery storage that have amazing natural reverb.  The whole island feels like a time capsule.  One time I was out there while the jazz age lawn party was taking place, and it's the closest thing to time travel I've ever experienced.

What hairstyle would you like to see become popular in 2020?

That really big Robin Guthrie / Robert Smith "trad-goth" style! So big!  Maybe go even bigger and bring back those really tall 17th century powdered wigs called "perukes." In fact, go look up "perukes."

How would you place your music within the lineage/history of shoegaze? What do you hope your music brings to the genre?

Hmm, that's kind of tough.  I've been thinking more about why shoegaze has been becoming a popular sound again (or at least it seemed like it was showing up everywhere in indie music a few years back).  I think that it has to do with a generation of people with closer and closer ties to technology.  For people who play electric guitar, there is a huge focus on equipment and gear.  When I first started playing guitar and I discovered guitar pedals, that was the thing that really drew me in, the signal processing and all the resulting sounds one could get.  I tend to think that shoegazy bands have a bit of an audio engineer's approach to the music, and I think that's neat.  

As far as what I'd like to bring to it, unusual production techniques are always something I try for and something that I want to push further.  Lately, I've been experimenting with synths and samples and it's something I want to incorporate more into Viv East style music.  More interesting layers!

If you were running for mayor of New York, what would be your slogan be?

Something like "That Guy That Was Saying 'The Rent Is Too Damn High' Was Right!"

Any final comments? (This is your electronic soapbox for one last answer.)

Not really.  Hmm, maybe just go check out "Home Movies" by Vivienne Eastwood, streaming on all the platforms.  Thanks!