Rich Girls

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Rich Girls- Genre Garage

Interview conducted on July 9, 2020

Rich Girls combine the polish of British art rock with the primitive energy of American garage. Dark, melodic, raw by design, the band began as the solo recording project of Luisa Black after the breakup of her San Francisco garage band The Blacks and evolved around a series of dark pop demos Black wrote while living in London.

BandMembers

Luisa Black – vox, guitar

August Churchill – guitar

Gavin Haag – drums

What is your upbringing?

Luisa Black: I’m the first-generation kid of Mexican immigrant parents. I was raised by a single working mother in southern California but also spent a few years in a British school in Barcelona. First and only kid in my family to go to college. So before you ask about my stupid band name, know that it’s misdirection.

How did you discover music?

Terrestrial radio. Remember that?

How did you start to write music?

I had a boyfriend in college who was an accomplished guitar player. I asked him to teach me a Pixies song and he said it would be too hard for me because it was all barre chords. We broke up and I started a band a week later. Worst boyfriend ever.

How did you get your first guitar and do you still have it?

Oh, I still have it. After I started my first band, a bunch of my friends took up a collection for my birthday and I bought a ‘63 Fender Jaguar at a vintage guitar shop in Oakland for $700 dollars. That was twenty years ago and it’s still my main guitar. I don’t play anything else.

What was your first performance like?

The first one ever? It was goodish and like most first shows it was packed with friends. The second one was terrible. It was as if I’d never held a guitar before.

What was the title of your first original song? Did you record it?

This is digging deep into my girlrock roots. The song was called Good Idea and there’s a recording of it somewhere. Pop song.

How did you start the band?

Initially Rich Girls was just me. I was living in London, I was lonely and unhappy, and I started writing songs for an imaginary band.

How did the band get its name?

It was just a disguise. I was heartbroken at the time. Rich Girls sounded like a fun party, possibly an insurrection. I regret it but here we are.

Why did you pick Stokes McIntyre to direct your first video “Sink Like Stones?

Stokes was a friend and a fan of my old band, The Blacks. I would write video scripts and send them to him and he would say, “Let’s do it!” so I had every confidence I could collaborate with him. In addition, he was a total pro, no drama. I appreciate that.

Tell me about your new single “The Fighter”?

All those weird synths. I wrote the whole thing in GarageBand, we tracked it with Travis Harrison in Brooklyn, then my mom died, and it knocked me back for a good while. When I got the first master back from John Greenham I called him and told him it was too good, meaning there was too much detail, you could hear the attack on every tom. I was like, we need to muddy this up, I don’t want to be able to hear everything! He thought that was hilarious. Mind you, he’d just won five Grammys with the Billie Eilish record. In addition, some dipshit indie rocker is telling him to roll off the compression.

Why are you giving all proceeds from the new single from Bampcamp to be donated to SPLC?

They’re fighting for democracy. It’s one small way we can contribute.

What is your favorite track on your last record?

I like singing and playing Blood Brother live. I love the boneheaded drums on it and it’s a tidy two and half minutes. However, It is Alive is probably my favorite song.

How do you stay healthy while touring?

Tough question. The last time I toured I tried to set some ground rules for the band: no drunk driving, no drugs in the van, if you are busted for either it’s your responsibility. That said, everyone is a grown-up and in charge of themselves. I do not do drugs, I don’t drink before shows, I don’t eat fast food and I wash my hands often. It’s a low bar but it works for me.

What are your feelings about streaming music?

Depends on the platform. Bandcamp is great for artists. Spotify, if you’re not Taylor Swift, you can pretty much forget it.

Digital vs. vinyl?

Vinyl, man. Come on.

What are you feeling about Net Neutrality?

I love the internet. I think it’s our greatest human achievement. Undermining Net Neutrality is part of the same effort to undermine democratic participation that we’re seeing everywhere right now. It’s a grotesque power grab.

What are your feelings about the social uprising going on in the United States?

The one bright spot in this trash heap of a year is that BLM became a mainstream movement in the course of a week. It’s an incredible achievement. It took horrible sacrifices to get there but BLM is here to stay.

Why were you thinking about running for office?

I was fed up plus that jackass Kid Rock was threatening a senate run. I did an Emily’s List training but ultimately decided I could do more good behind the scenes giving time and money to progressive causes. Plus I’m a private person.

What song from the past is in your mind right now? And what is the meaning that song means to you?

Sinead O’Connor, Black Boys on Mopeds. It popped into my head during the BLM protests. A song about police brutality and racism under Thatcher which, thirty years later, sounds exactly like it’s describing modern-day America. Unreal.

How do you feel the Covid-19 virus going to affect the music business in the future?

It’s hard enough for working musicians as is. However, let us assume pandemics are the future. We’re either reengineering conventional live show environments for safety or entirely reimagining the concept of a show. Virtualization is coming. But a lot will depend on who has access to technology.

What have you been doing with your self-quarantine?

I moved to the desert and have been inside since March.

Have you discovered or rediscovered any new hobbies?

No. Everything is the same but more intense.

Many people are doing nightly concerts over either YouTube, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. What are you planning to do?

I want to play live but in a format that’s attuned to the moment. When I watch live shows on Instagram right now my attention drifts. I would rather hear two minutes of magic. Like broken transmissions from an alien outpost. What would that look like? I don’t know yet.

Do you think it will be possible to make a living doing concerts this way?

No. Maybe. I don’t know.

Live Nation is starting to do the first ever U.S. drive-in concert series — LIVE FROM THE DRIVE-IN — This will bring fans a live music tailgating experience unlike any other, kicking off July 10-12 in Indianapolis, IN, Nashville, TN, and St. Louis, MO. Brad Paisley will headline performances in all three cities, marking the start of a much anticipated return to in person live events. Darius Rucker and Jon Pardi will also headline the series. Is this something you would be willing to do?

I don’t think I’m going to be on the Hot Country circuit anytime soon. But I love the idea of DIY drive-in shows. How cool would that be? A circle of car headlights illuminating some unknown band in the middle of a parking lot in the desert.

For smaller bands who do not play large crowds, this is not really an issue. How do you see bands going back to smaller venues and doing things like play for the door, with no guarantees?

This isn’t just a problem for the bands. It’s a problem for the venues. For the whole ecosystem of live music. How do you pay your production staff, cover overhead, all of it, with a diminished door? I don’t have an answer for this.

In addition, now for a band to go on tour from one state to another they may need to self-quarantine for 14 days. How is that going to work?

Doesn’t work. You’d have to organize tours within a single state and get creative with your venues. Maybe we’ll see the return of the house show as a tour staple.

With Social Distance being the norm. Do you feel that it may be the end of the music fest for the next couple of years?

Through 2021 at least. How do you safely produce something like Coachella ever again?

What about Holographic concerts in our living room?

I love this idea. I’ve been waiting for this my whole life. Let’s do one right away.

How do you see yourself in the next five years?

My grip on the future is loose right now. I’m trying to write music. There’s an assumption of the future in that. But it’s hard to see five months ahead let alone five years.

Anything you would like to say in closing?