PP: Alright, let’s get this party started. Why don’t you give a little run down on how this all came about.
Mandy: I actually have a journal entry from years and years ago where I wrote about my dream to have a fun rock & roll band called Garbo’s Daughter and it would be like Redd Kross meets The Carrie Nations. I just wanted to be in the Bay City Rollers! I held on to the thought and when Jaime and I met in the summer of 2007, we pretty much instantly said, “Let’s start a band!” And I said, “Oooh, I’ve been holding on to the name Garbo’s Daughter for ages, let’s go for it!” We started writing songs and practicing in my living room. We recorded a few demos called “Oh No She Didn’t,” “Waiting Games,” and “Ricky” (which Kristin actually sang back-ups on before she joined the band!) with my brother Freddy and our buddy Whit. When we started getting offers to do shows, we knew the guys had a lot on their plates already band-wise, so we knew we needed to find a drummer. We had met Kristin at the beginning of 2008, shortly after becoming online buddies and she was the first person I thought of to ask! I remember Jaime and I going to see Kristin’s band Hot Hands the night before our first practice together and as soon as she started playing, we both looked at one another and were like, “WHOA!” (Joey Lawrence-style!). Kristin is not only an exciting drummer to hear, she’s also super thrilling to watch!! We practiced together for just over a month before our first show in June of 2008.
Kristin: Don’t forget! Our first show was supposed to be with Plexi 3 but they had a lot of car troubles on tour. But they came back almost exactly a year later.
PP: Oh yeah. Our van’s transmission called it quits in front of the Drunken Unicorn in Atlanta. We were stuck there for eleven days. We missed more than half of our shows. Atlanta’s a good town though. Tell us about some of your other early shows and how you developed your initial style.
Mandy: I was just watching the Youtube videos from the first show a few days ago and it doesn’t sound at all as bad as I remember. Haha! You can tell we were timid, but it sounds really good.
Jaime: Our audiences have enjoyed us from the beginning, and we’ve definitely become tighter and more comfortable. Every show brings new blood, and we have a core group of friends who are always there. Their enthusiasm is awesome, and we definitely feed off of it. More often than not, arrangements simply come together for us. Sometimes we’ll have to fine-tune with one another and work out kinks, but there’s not much calculation going on overall.
Kristin: Mandy and Jaime were both pretty nervous about our first few shows since Mandy hadn’t played a show in a long time, maybe at least few years on her solo project with her friend Jason who’s gone on to join Nobunny, and before that her first band, Bang Bang Bang Society who have some really awesome recordings. Too bad I wasn’t in Orlando at that time to see them live. Jaime hadn’t really had much live band experience as far as I know, just a lover of music like all of us so this was a fairly new experience for her. I’ve been playing shows since I was in high school, so I was more excited than nervous about having a new project to play out with and especially one that’s unique in comparison to all my past bands; I’d say so far Garbo is the best composite of everything I love about music and pop culture
PP: Were there any especially good or bad moments that your especially remember?
Mandy: Bad moment: 4th of July show in bazillion degree weather! Favorite shows: Nobunny, Crooked Bayou when we played a great show and also DJ’ed with Jeannie, Quintron, Box Elders, and all of the birthday and wedding parties we’ve played. Kristin and I just played a quick set at our friend Danny Savage’s house party/birthday bash and it was so much fun! During “He Makes My Heart Go Pop,” members of Slippery Slopes, Jacuzzi Boys, and Davila 666 sang the “pop, pop, pop” backup vocals and that was a total thrill!
Kristin: Oh 4th of July wasn’t that bad! I played twice in a row! My other band, Hot Hands played right after us. Hehe. Garbo’s Daughter had our fair share of ups and downs in just the year and half that we’ve been a band. Sometimes there’s that unfortunate prejudice about girls playing in a self contained band and other times that minor detail will work in our favor. As mentioned, we’ve had some really great shows in such a short amount of time. I’d definitely attribute a good portion of that to our friend Rich who’s booked us on a lot of really fantastic shows. Although, shows are always just totally unpredictable in general so there’s usually some minor mishap.
PP: Yeah, I totally know what your saying about that prejudice with girls in bands. You’d think that by 2009, people would just chill out. Weird.
Jaime: When something is beyond our control at a show, whether it’s equipment issues or a tough crowd, the best course of action is to forget about it and try to have a good time anyway. As Danny Tanner might say, “When life gives you dilemmas, make dilemonade!” When we played Crooked Bayou for World Gone Wiggly, we got all set up only to find out there were no microphones or stands! Our set was cut short because of the delay, but I actually had a blast playing that night. At one point while we were waiting, we tried using the bar’s cordless mics with Jeannie and Alice acting as human stands, and we had that crazy DVD of explicit cult movie trailers playing on the big screen behind us. It was scandalous! Also, it’s never a bad idea to move around a bit onstage.
PP: Oh man, that was awful night for me. I had allergies really fucking bad and had to play in 100-degree weather. I just took four Benadryl and passed out in the van. What are some of the influences that you draw upon when writing for this band?
Mandy: I like to write about boys, haha! As far as influences go, it’s all just a mish-mash of all of the things we love: girl groups, power pop, The Ramones, garage, bubblegum, glam, teen idols, TV shows, movies, old 16 magazines, you name it! I’m also a big fan of in-jokes.
Jaime: Our sound really is a pastiche of everything we like. Our personal record collections form a sort of Venn Diagram with a lot of common ground, and we’re always introducing each other to stuff from all of the little niches we get dorky about. I think that really comes across in our music. We’re hyper-analytical super fans, the kind who listen for the details and constantly say things like “I love the effect on those backup vocals!” and “that riff is incredible!”. Being that tuned in assures that just about everything we’re into combines and shines through at some point or another, sometimes deliberately but it seems, more often subconsciously.
Kristin: We also do a lot of covers, which I think is important because we’re all so nerdy about records and have a bunch of songs we’ve always wanted to cover. We usually have 2 or 3 in our set list, mostly unusual ones but also ones everyone knows like Shangri-Las and the Chris Montez cover.
PP: Orlando seems like a place where more and more activity is taking place… Or Florida for that matter. Why do you think that all of a sudden, Florida is starting to be recognized as a valid scene?
Mandy: There are definitely a handful of great Florida bands right now that seem to be getting some attention, and that’s great! Orlando and Miami especially seem to have a lot of neat things going on. But I think there have always been great bands here, just like every part of the country. Things always come in waves, and it seems things are hopping right now, and it’s neat to feel like we’re a part of it. Rich Evans of Florida’s Dying always tries to get great bands to tour here, too, and that’s gotta help spread the word! Plus, the Internet makes the world seem a lot smaller and it’s easier to get to know bands from all over.
Jaime: The Internet is insane. People write to our MySpace from all over the world, and every once in awhile we’ll get fan mail from artists we look up to. I also think that the dedication and talent Rich has for promoting events and making big things happen is essential to why this area has gained notoriety. Also, his band Slippery Slopes are a must-see! The Miami So Raw crowd also seem really into what they do, and we love to catch bands like Jacuzzi Boys and Brian’s Dirty Business when they come through town.
Kristin: Florida is a strange state. I’ve lived here for 23 years now and have been in the music scene for a little over 10. I even do a podcast with my fiancé, Jeffrey about Florida bands from the past and present. I’m actually not sure if there really is this outward opinion of Orlando supposedly blowing up. I haven’t heard much personally about it. I used to joke when I was younger, growing up in Coral Springs about how “geographically unhip” Florida was as a whole. According to this one Daily Swarm article Jeffrey showed me recently, it lists Miami and Orlando as the only two cities with a thriving scene in Florida. When I hear about things like that, I just want to stick my head out my window, look both ways and say “where?”. Orlando is such a self-hating town. Everybody is against one another, we’re all in our high school cliques and nobody’s fighting the “faculty” (local government) who actually has a say in whether or not they should blow another couple of million on more rich, white yuppie strip malls. The reason why Orlando and Florida is generating noise is because there are so many bored kids out here wanting to get out and see the rest of the world.
PP: What do you think the future will hold for Orlando and the Florida punk rock underground?
Kristin: It’s hard to say, bands seem to fall off the map pretty frequently, but thankfully others pop up where they fell. Right now there’s a small group of bands making the rounds. Some share the same members, so it’s kind of incestuous at times, but it’s never the same band twice. I’m currently in two bands and have been consistently since 2005, even though the bands have changed since.
PP: Right on. You’ve recently had a tape put out by Burger Records. Can you tell us a little bit about how that came about and your involvement with the label?
Mandy: We recorded 4 songs with our friend Jenny Feedback for a self-released tape that we were planning on sending out to some labels and selling at our shows. Literally days after we posted the songs on our MySpace page, Sean and Lee from Burger contacted us about putting out a tape for us. We totally lucked out and couldn’t have asked for a better bunch of guys to be in cahoots with. They’ve been amazing! We’re super stoked about it!
Kristin: Like Mandy said, it was out of nowhere. We started trying to promote ourselves a bit more via MySpace, sending out friend requests and I was trying to revamp the look of the page etc, just trying to get the word our about us locally and far away as well. I’m not sure exactly how those guys stumbled upon us, but they dug our songs and the cover art that I drew for cassette and wanted to release it. Besides the “Florida’s Dying Party Platter” comp LP that should be released before the year is up, this is the first recording I’ve had on a non-local label.
Jaime: *sings Nick Lowe’s “I Love My Label”* I really do! It’s an honor to be on Burger. Those boys are so sweet, true-blue pop fans after our own hearts, and the music they make and champion is some of the best stuff out there.
PP: Are there any plans on releasing a full length or 7” any time soon?
Mandy: Hopefully! We have some neat ideas for split 45s! It’s secret right now! Sssh!
Kristin: We were just asked by Vex Vextone from Croatia to be on a Seeds tribute comp, too! We’re doing “Pictures and Designs.”
PP: Whoa, awesome!
Jaime: We’ll be making our vinyl debut with “Nice Girls Don’t Explode”. It’s one of 12 dance tracks on the Florida’s Dying Party Platter compilation that’s in the works.
PP: Describe your dream tour. If you could tour with any three current bands, who would they be and where would you go?
Mandy: We would really love to go out to California and play! There are so many great bands that we would love to play with like Thee Makeout Party, The Rantouls, Nobunny (again!), Hunx & his Punx…or we could just tour with the Jonas Brothers and only play junior high school cafeterias.
PP: No way, do the mall circuit like Tiffany did in the 80’s. You could get paid in forver21 coupons!
Kristin I love playing at weird places, like in the past I’ve played at Fun Spot, the bowling alley and even the now defunct Skull Kingdom – right in front of the skull! I would love to go all over the place – East Coast, West Coast, overseas. We would be really big in Japan! I love touring probably because I hate working! I always since that Todd Rundgren song “Bang The Drum All Day” before I go to work at the butt crack of dawn.
PP: Alright, now dig this. If Garbo’s Daughter could have their own sitcom show, what would it be about? I’d personally think that something akin to Charlie’s Angels would be good!
Mandy: My friend Travis has always said, “You guys need to make a bubblegum sitcom.” It could totally be like the Monkees, but with skits and ridiculous absurd in-jokes. I have my “French-fry bit” all planned out: I put a French fry in each nostril and the camera will cut to me and I’ll say, “Hey, do you guys smell fries?” and then the camera will cut away. I can see it now that it would be awesome! There’s also my Chunk from Goonies joke…
PP: Haha! Actually just do a bunch of LSD and re-make the Monkees ‘Head.’ Frame by frame!
Jaime: Yes! After we say something funny or something hilarious happens to us, we’re always like “That’s going in the bubblegum sitcom!” Maybe if “Bitchin’ Ass” and “JONAS” had triplets and Mary and Rhoda babysat them, with special appearances from Donny Osmond’s disturbing alter ego… yeah, that’s probably somewhere in the ball-park.
Mandy: Don’t bring up Donny’s alter ego, that’s a secret! And I hear Cheryl Dickman is currently taking babysitting jobs.
Kristin: We should just carry a laugh track around with us, along with the commercial break tune from Love American Style. That would fit in nicely with our constant references that only the three of us seem to get. We’d probably need subtitles for the late person, kinda like in “Freaked” when Alex Winter starts reciting Shakespeare with translations like “I’m really ugly and horny” typed underneath.
