If music be the food of love then Junkyard Lipstick are definitely a huge great dirty burger with fries! We caught up the girls after some time wasting on YouTube resulted in us finding them!
This all-girl group who hail from Cape Town, South Africa are definitely not your manufactured pop wannabes, but some real Hard Core Rock and Rollers.
So to kick this off can you tell our readers a little bit about yourselves and when you got started in music etc?
Luci: "I am Lucinda Villain, number cruncher by day, wife to thrash metal vocalist/guitarist Bryan Villain (ING) and geek drummer by night. I love CSI, reading and playing board games. Seeing Dave Grohl jamming out in Nirvana’s “Smells like Teen Spirit” music video at the age of 12 inspired me to pick up sticks at the age of 15. I received training in basic rock drumming for 2 years. Heavy music has always been my first love and my therapy, and I knew that eventually when the time was right, I would join or form a band. Junkyard Lipstick is my first band and since it started, I’ve been pushing myself to play punk and metal, practising almost daily and taking guidance for www.drumlessons.com . I am a perfectionist by nature so I tend to be very hard on myself and push myself to improve with every song we write.
Tanya: "I'm the vocalist and guitarist for Junkyard Lipstick. I've been singing ever since I can remember. What really ignited the passion for singing was Freddy Mercury and Montserrat Cabelle's performance of the song “Barcalona” at the Barcalona Olympics in 1992. I was 6 at the time and I remember watching it and being so in awe, I wanted to sing as well as they did too. I told my mother this and then subjected her and my father to stage performances on my toybox for the next 5 years. Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page inspired me to pick up a guitar. I still go for guitar and vocal coaching every week because I think it's important to always keep learning. I've been playing music my whole life and I don't think that there's ever been a time when music has been absent, even in my darkest times, music has always pulled me through. I've been in various bands too and now I'm really happy to be a part of Junkyard Lipstick."
Louise: "I play guitar for Junkyard Lipstick. I started playing piano when I was really young. I was like…4 years old or something stupid. I started reading music before I could actually read. So going to school, I had a bit of trouble understanding the alphabet consists of more than 7 letters! Being trained classically, I was later somehow drawn to Metal. I started messing around with a guitar in High School. I noticed how similar the concept of the instrument was to the piano. Even though I am still not as good at playing guitar as I am on the piano, I have found a lot more enjoyment playing guitar. Junkyard Lipstick is the first band I’ve ever joined and I have learnt more in the past few months than I did in the years I spent alone trying to figure the instrument out. There’s so much motivation to improve once you start jamming with other people."
Jacky: "We're awesome. Love us!"
Cape Town…we know very little of the music scene there, can you give us an insight to what’s happening?, also what your musical influences are or were?
Luci: "The general scene has a sheep mentality, if you don’t fit into a specific box, you are damned and labelled as pretentious. It’s a very sad mind-set as this stifles any growth for our local scene or anything original. As a band we know we won’t be loved by all, and try to rather put our time in making good music and supporting other bands. The scene is cannibalised by spin off bands meaning you have already famous bands forming new bands with other famous bands and so the circle continues with the same people receiving recognition. People fear those who sound out of the norm and whom they cannot put in a box. It is all about who you know which makes breaking into the scene extremely difficult. That coupled with a very conservative society and heritage is challenging. We persevere because we know that we can succeed if we work hard enough.
You can never expect to be musician (i.e. do this full-time and survive) because our genre is not popular, therefore the demand is little.
However, it’s not all doom and gloom. The fans that you do have support you and are not afraid to say “eh , we like your music”. Our scene is growing even if it’s not as fast as we want it to. We’ve got loads of undiscovered talent that won’t compromise their dedication to their genre in order to get famous.
My influences are mainly thrash metal and punk. Bands such as Exodus, Slayer, Anthrax, Metallica, GBH, The Distillers, The Exploited and Sepultura are in the never ending list of personal favourites. Even though I love metal, I do have a few guilty pleasures in my collection as I do appreciate talent such as PJ Harvey and Florence Welch."
Tanya: "I've noticed that there is a very low level of tolerance amongst people here. It seems that if you don't fit into a box or they can't compare you to anything then something must obviously be wrong with you. We live in a very conservative country too which doesn't really help since there are some great bands out there, most of them don't always get the support or recognition that they should be getting. It also depends on who you know in the scene not what you know and the type of music you play. If it isn't watered down and play it safe then it's rather difficult to make it onto the radio. Regardless of all the hurdles, we still play our hearts out because making music is what we love doing and I'm not going to let anything stop us.
In terms of musical tastes, I have a very wide and eclectic range of influences. From Barbara Streissand to King Diamond. Both have amazing vocal range, you cannot deny that. I love bands like Guns n Roses, Def Leppard do some beautiful vocal harmonies, Twisted Sister, Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and Queen for their poetic writing and sheer brilliance."
Louise: "I think that we have a whole bunch of talent down here in Cape Town. Unfortunately there’s some kind of weird mind-set that goes along with our music scene. There’s hardly any support for new stuff. People are negative and closed-minded.
Back in 2008 there was a Black Metal band called “Child”. They were brilliant and definitely inspired me to one day join a band. They only played a few gigs until they split, which is unfortunate. I do go out quite a bit to support local acts. Some unbelievable talent here and it’s sad that South Africa doesn’t really have a support structure for these bands. We are still a very conservative country.
My musical preference is definitely Metal… Death Metal, some Black Metal… I enjoy bands like Satyricon, Zyklon, Behemoth, Necrophagist, Vader and even some older stuff like Death."
Jacky: "There isn't a big following for small local bands. I like Tool and Metallica and a ton of other bands."
What are your thoughts on music out there today, like the XFactor production line?
Tanya: "It's not my thing at all, I know that it has produced some successful artists but it isn't the route I would take. If it's your thing, then cool but it sure aint mine."
Louise: "Music for the masses is… really bad. Most of the world consists of people who actually like whatever that stuff is on the radio. I speak in minority to demand more real music. Music is a business and it makes sense to supply the world with what they want. It’s just sad that you’ll find brilliant musicians struggling to make ends meet. But what can you do when the world is uneducated?"
Luci: "I think that people constantly try to sound like other musicians or bands out there, irrespective of genre. Music is a creativeoutlet for me and in Junkyard Lipstick we all believe in trying to create music that expresses our opinions and style. Obviously our influences do play a big part, but it’s one thing to be inspired and another to have a carbon copy sound.
Locally, I wished that commercial radio would give heavier music a chance, but our demographics do play a big role as well as our conservative history. Some people still think heavier music is the devil’s music, there’s even some institutions that think Lady Gaga is the spawn of Satan. These perceptions prove to be one of our biggest challenges locally.
We’ve also found that a lot of artists that’s already made it would hop onto a trend and incorporate current trends to their once original music to ensure they are still commercially marketable. I think if you reach that point where you are just a sheep doing what everyone else is doing and not what you love, you’ve sold your soul to become a sheep."
Jacky: "It’s a stupid show."
Where would you consider yourselves at this stage of your career and where do you hope to be in say a year’s time?
Louise: "I feel like we’ve only just started out. I always feel like there’s so much room for improvement and I’m my own worst critic. In a years’ time I’d just like for our name to get out there. I don’t want us to get ahead of ourselves or anything, but we all work so hard. And we keep getting better and writing more challenging material. I just want us to keep doing what we’re doing, and never lose motivation."
Tanya: "I think we still have a long way to go, we've been together for just under a year and we're progressing well so far. I would like to have released our album by next year and at least be playing at some big name music festivals. A music video wouldn't hurt either. A world tour would be the ultimate but that will still take a while."
Luci: "Currently we’re only at the starting point of our career. We’re doing the preproduction for our independently to be released debut album this month and we are learning every step of the way.
In a year’s time I hope that we have played some more local festivals, that we had a successful debut album launch and that we’ve toured other cities in South Africa. We would love to partner up with a brand and form a mutually beneficial relationship to increase our exposure on the local and international front.
Personally and in terms of drumming, I would love to have more accuracy in my feet and past the point where I feel comfortable going on stage (I always feel super nervous before we go on)."
Jacky: "I'll still be studying. I wanna finish first before anything hectic like touring for four years happens. I love music but I love animation as well."
Following on from the last question do you ever see a time when you would possibly leave South Africa, for say the US or UK to gain more recognition internationally or do you feel in todays world of the internet you can be seen and heard from anywhere?
Tanya: "Of course! Isn't that the whole point? We are at an advantage that we have the internet to get our music out there but ideally I would like to tour and to experience other countries and see how they do things."
Louise: "Obviously going overseas would be awesome. I don’t feel like the internet can really give you a proper indication of what it feels like to be at one of our gigs. There’s a lot to consider, because that would cost a great deal to tour. But I do feel like we would receive a more positive audience response overseas than here in South Africa."
Luci: "I do think that eventually if finances and time allow us, we would venture overseas. I went to Graspop Metal Meeting in June this year and the travel bug has bitten seriously. It also showed me that the support overseas for heavier genres of music is overwhelming and that there is a real metal spirit and camaraderie amongst fans spanning over multiple generations.
We do have a quite a few fans from around the world and there are some sites that promote all female metal bands – this helps a lot for exposure but I do think that online content cannot make up for the great experience of a live gig."
Jacky: "Yeah. After I'm done I'd like to tour with some international bands. I think the overseas crowd is larger and well more accepting."
Just before we finish up what immediate plans, do you have any tours or albums in the pipeline?
"Our debut album should be released by March 2013, and we are hoping to tour to Gauteng sometime soon."
So before we let you out the door we like to fire some fun questions!
If you were cartoon characters who would they be?
Luci: "Buttercup from Powerpuff Girls, because I am a tomboy with a temper and kick ass!"
Tanya: "Any cute anime girl with big blonde hair. Or Samurai Jack."
Louise: "Sheep from Sheep in the Big City."
Jacky: "I dunno man. I'd be Mighty Mouse."
We know you are Hardcore Rockers but do you own pink Fluffy Slippers?
Jacky: "No. Who the hell owns fluffy slippers?"
Tanya: "I have the most awesome Hello Kitty collection! It would make your daughters turn green with envy. Hello Kitty everything!"
Luci: "I don’t own anything pink in my closet but I will admit to indulge in girly things such as getting my hair done and loving a good massage."
Louise: "No."
Do any of you have any fears, such as flying or spiders?
Jacky: "Flying spiders! That's scary stuff!"
Tanya: "Not really, the only fear I have is that I won't get to do everything that I want to do in my lifetime, but I do as much as I can."
Luci: "I get stage fright before we go on stage – guaranteed I puke before every show and 3 songs in I feel so at ease and get so lost in playing, I completely forget that I was nervous. Silly really eh?"
Louise: "I sneeze a lot… like several times after each other. And sometimes I get an overwhelming fear that I’m actually never going to stop sneezing."
What are your favourite drinks?
Jacky: "Water."
Louise: "Jack Daniels and Lime."
Luci: "I’m a serious lightweight as I try to keep my fitness levels high, but if I do consume something alcoholic it’s usually vodka with ginger ale or a fruity cider. Non-alcoholic, cream soda and cherry cola!"
Tanya: "Ok, I'm not trying to be obnoxious but I loooove peach champagne. It's so bubbly and peachy and yummy! Mmmmm! Give me sparkling wine any day! Other than that just water or if it is alcoholic I usually go with anything sweet but I don't throw my name away… at least not most of the time."
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