The Virgins
The Virgins discuss <i>Gossip Girl</i>, the new album and Jane Fonda.
The Virgins are the latest buzz band to hit the scene, but it appears the foursome from New York City have some staying power. The glam of New York is ever present in their image, but their newly released self-titled full length is nothing short of accessible to any fan of music. HEAVE had a chance to catch up with them at their Chicago stop in the now winding down Nylon Magazine Tour. Missed them? Fret not, as they are back on tour with The Black Kids starting in September (hitting the Metro on October 6th).
HEAVE: How did growing up in New York influence your style?
Donald Cumming: Visually or Musically?
HEAVE: Both.
Donald Cumming: I don't know. I think we look at New York as just a place we grew up, and not so much influencing us. Obviously wherever you live you are going to be affected either positively or negatively by all the things that you'd be exposed to, but I don't think it played a very big role in our music. Maybe it did, though.
HEAVE: What bands have you drawn influence from?
Donald Cumming: Almost everyone – but really not a lot of people.
HEAVE: How has the response been for the new album?
Nick Zarin-Ackerman: We haven't really got to read a lot or hear a lot about it yet. We've been busy and it hasn't been out long enough, I guess. We saw Rolling Stone gave it four stars. That was pretty nice to hear.
HEAVE: Recently you had five songs featured in Gossip Girl. How did that come about?
Donald Cumming: A couple of the producers from Gossip Girl came and saw us play in New York. She called our manager and said, "I'd like to use these guy's music." And our manager was like, "Ok, but they only have a five song EP." And I guess she wanted to use every song off of it. We thought that was really flattering. And then they gave us money and we thought that was really sweet, and pretty lucrative. It was really the perfect situation.
HEAVE: Did you watch the episode?
Donald Cumming: I did.
HEAVE: Was it a good episode?
Donald Cumming: Well... it was pretty surreal to hear all of our songs on some show that I had never watched before. I think they used them in a good way.
HEAVE: So for your third show ever you played Paris' Fashion Week along side Sonic Youth and Patty Smith. What was going through your mind at the time?
Wade Oates: Terror, mostly suicide. Ironically Suicide also played. We were thinking about suicide and then we saw Suicide.
HEAVE: The Nylon tour is wrapping up. What have you guys learned as a band while going through this?
Wade Oates: Shit, always pack extra strings. For some reason on this tour I've broken so many.
HEAVE: I've read you guys love playing the House of Blues right in Chicago. What makes it so special?
Nick Zarin-Ackerman: Great sound. It is also really pretty to look out to. There are all of these balconies that sort of glow.
HEAVE: It looks like a castle, really.
Nick Zarin-Ackerman: Hey, it does. You are right. We also really like the city.
Wade Oates: I like that Chicago looks like Gotham City. I like that there are eight lane streets so that eight cars can be driving at once. We like the lake, and the fact that every building seems to be about forty stories.
Donald Cumming: We also really like Uno's. It's the first Chicago deep-dish pizza to come to New York. A lot of shows took place in Chicago suburbs, too.
HEAVE: Yeah, Aurora exists.
Wade Oates: From Wayne's World? Really? Is it a big party town?
HEAVE: Not precisely, it looks nothing like it did in the movie. There is no giant hockey player. I'm pretty sure it is the biggest suburb population wise in the country, though.
Wade Oates: Well, that movie was pretty unbelievable. The giant hockey player is real, though. We saw it at Universal Studios. Is hockey big in Aurora?
HEAVE: Nope. A lot of people are saying that major labels are taking a back seat to indie labels. What have been the advantages of being on a major label?
Donald Cumming: We don't really have anything to compare it to. We really haven't had a chance to reap the benefits of a large label. Our album just came out, so I guess we will find out in the next couple of weeks. I would say the line is starting to get pretty blended. I mean, what can you even say is an indie label anymore? Preference in music or how it's ran or what? Seems to me that the only difference is size.
Wade Oates: I should have asked for shares in the company and went to a shareholders meeting and told everyone to make our album the number one priority.
HEAVE: Final question. Are any of you actually virgins?
Donald Cumming: Of course we are. We are saving ourselves for marriage and the one we love. I think it is pretty obvious.
Nick Zarin-Ackerman: We met Jane Fonda when we were like 13 and she was like, "If you guys don't have sex with anyone and make it big in a rock band, then I will come back and have sex with all of you."
Donald Cumming: I don't want to do Jane Fonda.
Nick Zarin-Ackerman: Fine. If the time comes and you don't want to do Jane Fonda then you don't have to. But I will. I bet she read the Kama Sutra.
Posted by Wes Soltis on Jun 25, 2008 @ 7:35 am