Supersweet

Interview

Gang Gang Dance

Stare and turn them into stones!

Not content with just having Gang Gang Dance super frontwoman as Jury of the Month, SUPERSWEET invites Lizzie Bougatsos back for a quick Q&A session. Discover what music means to her, check out her bandmates' extra curriculum activites and learn where you can get Proper Sex if you can't get enough!

SS: You've mentioned in other interviews that New York has lost its vibes and it's not quite what it used to be, why do you think this is?
Lizzie Bougatsos: We just have a different situation now. Back in the day our community, our musical community was more unified. Now, everyone's all over the globe.

SS: After all these years, how do you keep the not-knowing aesthetics going? Do you feel like sometimes things could fall into a pattern?
Lizzie: Not really, improvisation is always a new way of working for GGD.

SS: Could you tell me more about your other band IUD?
Lizzie: Peeps have compared us to Crash Worship.. The Butthole Surfers... Now I think we've hit the Meat Beat Manifesto/Front 242/Ministry Slam. That's what our new album sounds like to me. More Meat Beat than anything I suppose.

SS: When can people hear this new album?
Lizzie: Our new album, The Proper Sex will be released in February. The single 'Daddy' was remixed by Aaron Warren of Black Dice, that will come out in February.

SS: What did you do at Brian's opening in Paris? (You can check it out here)
Lizzie: Hmm... in Poitier, we collaborated with a DJ named Black Lodge. It was spectacular and the sound was really fucked. So it basically worked out really well.

How did the rest of GGD find this music?
Lizzie: I think Brian (DeGraw, keyboard/synths) said it was like being surrounded by a cloud of smoke that played music. It was really loud and brutal. You couldn't escape the sound.

SS: What other things do you guys do when not in Gang Gang Dance?
Lizzie: BDG and I make art. Josh Diamond (guitar) bartends. Jesse ILLEGAL (Lee, drums) plays/tours with his band The Present.

SS: Your first recordings are fast becoming rare collectibles, where can people get your first albums these days?
Lizzie: Fusetron Records, thesocialregistry.com, Amazon .

SS: Do you listen to music that much in general?
Lizzie: Not so much personally other than my own. The tour van does hit some hot jams though, and I'm currently makin a diary of our listening tracks!

SS: Is it that important for musicians such as yourself to be able to play instruments so skillfully? What kind of understanding should you have more in, the technical or the spiritual?
Lizzie: Hmm... Josh Diamond is a classically trained violin player, BDG is self-taught in Piano. Being musically gifted is a huge part of the Gang. Diamond is really the tech head. He's a master in the guitar synthesizer. I fell like DeGraw is more hands on. He takes it and tackles it... from mixing, remixing in Final Cut to the Yamaha. FInding new sounds can be quite spiritual. Our music to us is our Religion. It's about as religious as we get. As for Jesse, well... watch him keep a beat. He's solid and fierce.

SS: What does music mean to you?
Lizzie: I've always thought of it as a type of escapism (like watching a film) and pray that it is emotional. It is all I can give to the world, personally.

Photography: Dean Varoj