Fifth amendment doesn't stay silent
| © JP Coillard |
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- In the US, the fifth amendment is about the right to stay silent, why choose this name, considering you're rather noisy yourselves? - For that exact reason (laughs). The contradiction. No, we were looking for a name and no name felt correct, then we tuned in to the OJ Simpson case and the detective was pleading the fifth amendment. It was around that time and we thought it would be a brilliant name for the band, because it's a name that people already know and many people already know its meaning. And we just thought it had a nice ring. (she starts singing: fiiiifth amen-dment). It was all the different reasons. - Do you have a political approach in your lyrics? - No, I only have my own moralistic views, I don't have a political approach. I write my lyrics about certain issues, so obviously a political aspect will come across. But I'm not trying to make a big political statement with my lyrics at all. We're not like Rage against the machine, we're not on a political campaign, we're just on a musical campaign. - Why did your first single come out in a limited edition? Was it your decision, your label's or was it just due to the circumstances? - First, we hardly had any funds, so we didn't think we would sell those. Secondly, we packaged them all ourselves by hand, I designed it because I'm really into visuals. I really liked that cardboard and I thought we could make a packet in a way that was environmentally-friendly, without glue. It just folds into its own thing. The little bag the CD is in is a photographer's envelope. That was our first release and I wanted to make something really special. There was a big fight with the record company, because it wouldn't fit on the shelves, it was not a standard packaging, so I said : "OK, we'll make it ourselves." And we did. My flat turned into a factory for about 2 weeks and the band has never forgiven me for that. (laughs) But I love it, it looks like a little gift. - What were your influences when you started the band? - When I started the band, my influences were Nirvana, Soundgarden, Stone temple pilots, the whole band was really into them at the time. Before that, my influences were more soul singer, like Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, I used to go to funk/soul clubs, never rock clubs. Then, Nirvana changed it for me. My band was really into Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden and stuff like that. When we started the band, there was this britpop hype and I felt nothing in common with that. That's when I was really into American bands. But I love many British rock bands, like Raging Speedhorn, they're fucking heavy, Sona Fariq. I love them, because so many British bands are trying to do this nu-metal thing, but I think the Americans really did it wickedly, but Sona Fariq are just doing a mish-mash of everything. - How does it feel to be compared with Garbage and Skunk Anansie? - It happens in the UK all the time. It doesn't bother me anymore, because I've accepted it. Initially, I was really angry and defensive about it, but now I understand we're a new band and journalists have to make comparisons. The problem is there's no other band like us. It's very dificult to compare us to another band, but they can compare us slightly to Skunk Anansie in the fact that maybe on stage I have a similar persona that Skin has, maybe. And I think the production of our album is slightly like Garbage's. But we're in no way really similar to either of those bands. - Do you feel close to someone like Ruby? - You know, it's funny because my management used to manage Ruby. I never knew Silverfish, I wish I'd seen them, because people say we're similar to them and I think it could be true. I quite like Ruby. - We can see all the four of you on the cover of the LP: is it a will to be seen as a band and not a singer with musicians? - Definitely, that's the reason why we did it like that. It's not just that I feel like I'm in a band, I feel like I'm in a gang. No-one has a definite role, we all change instruments. We're just a gang of people who love what they do. There's no hierarchy in the band. - You're sometimes described as a pop band and sometimes like a metal band, what do you think of it? - I like to send people through an emotional journey. It's nice to provoke different reactions. I just write about life, issues I see on the news and that dictates the sound of the song. We're not the type of band that only writes metal song, because we're a metal band. - Did you have this idea to combine guitars with machines from the beginning? - Yeah, because my band spent 5 years raving, so we always knew we would be working with a lot of machines. They're into heavy rock and heavy electronic. We've always worked with samples and loops, we don't really write songs with bass, drums and guitars. We sometimes write directly from electronic. But on our next album, I'd like to use natural instruments to produce electronic sounds. - 4 LPs which changed your life? - Stevie Wonder's "Inner vision", but no album really changed my life, it's maybe changed my perception of certain things, my mood or really provoked or touched me, but nothing has really changed my life. And I didn't set out to be a singer, so no band gave me the idea to be a musician, for my band, I know it's Led Zeppelin. Smashing Pumpkins' "Melancholy" was an album that really touched, Nirvana's "Nevermind" obviously, to be quite honest, maybe Nevermind changed my life. - How do you see your future and what are your next projects? - I'm quite superstitious and I don't like to predict the future. I'm working with other people as well, collaborations with other bands. I think it's great when bands who are part of a scene collaborate with each other. I couldn't sing soul music with the band and what I write on the guitar is very different from what my band plays. Interview by Mr. X and JP Coillard, photos by JP Coillard
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