If only more band interviews were like this - Emily the Strange interviews Ladytron

[12:15 PDT - MADE A COUPLE OF CORRECTIONS. IF HELEN TRULY WERE A MARINE, HER HAIR WOULD BE REALLY SHORT.]

Interviews can be tedious, or they can be good, or they can be exceptional.

Since the band Ladytron has been around since 1999, I'm sure that the band members have experienced all three types of interviews, over and over again. So I'm sure that an interview that takes a different tack is welcomed.

I have no idea who Emily the Strange is, but she obviously knows a bit about Ladytron, based upon the questions that she asked Helen (Marnie) and Mira (Aroyo).

And oh, what questions.

The interview is undated, but a Ladytron blog shared it on April 10, so it may (or may not) be recent.

Here are a couple of excerpts:

(Emily) If you boost all the RGB and in your cover art, what do you get?

Mira: Owls kissing

Helen: Eagles and lizards.

And here's another one that Mira fans will appreciate:

(Emily) Have you invented any instruments? Tell me about them...

Mira: No but I have invented many many strains of bacteria and quite a few new genes and proteins.

Helen: Not as yet.

Let me share one more:

(Emily) Do you ever use the C-sides of records?

Mira: On the hexagonal records we use the C side for writing notes and the F sides for doodling when I'm bored.

Helen: For secret tracks.

Read the whole interview here or here.

Let me close out with some other like-minded observations about the band and its work. I like the site songmeanings.net, in which various people analyze songs. Several people analyzed the Ladytron song "Seventeen" but two of those analyses stood out.

shoez:

the song is obviously about fishing. if you are too big(21 inches) they can't legally keep you, so they take a picture and throw you back in. if you are the right size(17 inches) they want you. you guys read too much into these songs sometimes.

ephidaboost:

It's about rim sizes. She is saying that 17" rims are great because they are the most functional diameter for most sports cars. She is taking a stab at the homeys who roll around with 21" rims basically saying that they are just for show "taking polaroids" and the "say that they will let you know" part is a reference to how people who drive on oversized rims are less responsible than the general population and when they get interviewed they almost never get jobs. She makes it clear that 21" rims are "no fun" because they have high rotational weight and cause performance issues and low gas mileage. By saying "so come on" she is saying "Come on, guys. Big rims look rediculous and offer no performance advantage. Spend that money on something that will better your lives, like your education or your children."

Here is something that I wrote back in May 2005. Louis Marshall Jones is better known by his stage name "Grandpa Jones."

The only similarities between Louis Marshall Jones and Helen Marnie is that both of them wore makeup.

And I should close by thanking Martin Bryant, whose scrobble of the song "Seventeen" inspired me to dig deeper.



And after reading this Reuben/Mira interview in which they discussed the video, I am forced to conclude that shoez and ephidaboost were both on so something here.