In the pit of the Spinnerette show at the Troubadour in Los Angeles last month, I heard some random girl describing Brody Dalle to her friend as "like Joan Jett on steroids." I laughed at the time, but after some consideration the description seems appropriate.
Dalle, former frontwoman of the "acrimoniously" divided punk outfit The Distillers and nucleus of the new(ish) band Spinnerette, has definitely carved out a reputation for herself in the past decade. After laying waste to previous notions of what it takes to front a kick-ass punk band (i.e. a dick), Brody took the Distillers to unprecedented heights, particularly with 2003's nearly-flawless Coral Fang album. It turned out to be the band's swan song, however, after which the enigmatic singer/guitarist split from the circuit.
After stepping out of the scene for a few years to catch up with her life, taking time out for motherhood and marriage with husband Josh Homme (Queens Of The Stone Age), Dalle has teamed up with her old bandmate Tony Bevilacqua and, with the help of Jack Irons and production wizard/multi-instrumentalist Alain Johannes, put together an album that’s a stylistic evolution from The Distillers and a backhand to the mouth of anyone who previously passed her off as “just a punk chick”.
Spinnerette orbits around Brody’s musical vision, featuring a considerably wider style spectrum than her previous body of work. In their own words: Spinnerette is the sound of a sweaty black leather glove holding a lollipop’s stick, shoving it into crushed glass before offering you the first lick. If that made any sense, it might be Spinnerette. There is sweetness and there is menace. You will have the desire in spite of the obvious danger.
Check out the video for "Baptized By Fire":
I caught up with Brody last week to get inside the mind of rock's most powerful frontwomen. Enjoy.
CraveOnline: Spinnerette album's been recorded, but it's been done for two years now... so what have you been up to behind the scenes?
Brody Dalle: Alain and I get together and record whenever we can, so we have a little catalogue building up for the next record. And there's songs left over from the last record that'll go on the next one. I want to make a record now. I'm ready to make another record... and actually have it out in the next six months (laughs).
CraveOnline: Do you still experience any of the Yoko factor, being married to the guy from Queens of the Stone Age?
Brody Dalle: Of course people say that, and it's really unfortunate, because I'm a musician, and that's what I've been doing since I was 13 years old. Musicians go out with musicians, doctors go out with doctors, that's just how it is. And unfortunately the whole Yoko and John thing has affected every single musician since. I don't know why, but that was John's decision to have her present at every single Beatles interview and every single Beatles session - that's not the case for Josh and I and our work. We don't rub our love juice all over everyone and everything. So gross. So yeah, it's still there, but what are you gonna do?
CraveOnline: Obviously this has drawn a lot of comparisons to the Distillers, given that they've been the touchstone reference for your name for years. But every fucking interview or coverage I've read you in the past few months has centered on the word "Acrimonious" - regarding the Distillers split. Can you give everybody another big word to jump on and parrot?
Brody Dalle: I'll think it over...but it was pretty acrimonious... (laughs)
CraveOnline: How are the songs fleshing out live?
Brody Dalle: We've hardly played.. we've probably played only about ten shows, so we're really just wetting our feet, you know? They sound good, they sound different live, heavier... but there's still that dynamic, hopefully. And of course live I have to push my voice to compete with the band, but I think it's working.
CraveOnline: How do you prepare your throat before you go onstage? Do you do any vocal exercises?
Brody Dalle: No, I don't actually, I don't do anything.. I should probably do vocal....something, but I actually suck on these little lollies called Riccola... those are my saving grace. I used those in the Distillers a lot. But then, I used to drink a bottle of vodka and smoke a pack of cigarettes before I went onstage, but I don't know if I could do that anymore...
CraveOnline: Can you describe the atmosphere at Pink Duck (Dalle's recording studio with husband Homme)?
Brody Dalle: It's really cool, man. It's like a family clubhouse. We built it from scratch - I mean, it's an old '50s building that we kind of ripped the guts out of and rebuilt. It's pretty amazing, it's really inviting. It's got all sorts of art by Joshua's grandmother all over the place, as well as things that we've collected... it's just a great studio. There's always music. Josh is always playing, I'm always playing.... yeah, it's what we do.
CraveOnline: What inspired you guys to put it together?
Brody Dalle: We're musicians, and we spend all this time in other people's studios, and it's never quite right - so we thought, if you're in the business of making music, what better than to invest in your own studio?
CraveOnline: You said in recent interviews that you loved Howlin Wolf... what do you pull from that style?
Brody Dalle: I wouldn't even know how to pull from that. That's all I listen to right now, it's all I can listen to - his Chess Box collection, it's like 73 songs. It's on in my car, on my iPod, my computer, it's really the only thing I listen to. It's really comforting.
CraveOnline: What draws you to it?
Brody Dalle: We have dinners and stuff that we put on, and somebody randomly put on some Howlin' Wolf. It was a song called Down In the Bottom that did it... it's one of my favorite songs. I dunno, it just makes me feel safe inside. (laughs)
CraveOnline: Thanks for taking some time out for us - one last question though. What advice would you give to a kid sitting in his/her room with a guitar and some inspiration, but no idea what to do with it?
Brody Dalle: Go and get Rocket To Russia by The Ramones. Start there. Teach yourself that, because it's easy as shit, and it's fun and it's rad, and it's a classic.
