Familiarize Yourself

Late in the evening last week I ventured out into Humbolt Park to the practice space of the The Wanton Looks. They were all sitting around drinking PBR, except for Inga, who was a bit sick and was keeping her party face up with her bottle of throat spray. We sat and bullshitted for a little more than an hour, and I got to hear them practice some of their songs. It was quite clear why Greg Kot listed them as one of Chicago’s best indie bands of 2009. Our conversation drifted from getting kicked out of clubs, disgusting bathrooms, playing music and sex, drugs and rock & roll. Below is a PG version of it. Check it out and then check them out live at Lincoln Hall January 28 @ 9 PM.

Enjoy.

FYW: So, are you guys from the Chicago area originally?

Traci Trouble: I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, like the northern suburbs. But I moved away for a while. I was living on the  east coast, the pacific northwest but I came back here in 2001 maybe 2002.

Susie Q: I’m from Arkansas. I’ve been here two years. I like it except for the winter.

Traci Trouble: She’s a quiet southern girl, except that’s not true though.

Meg Thompson: Illinois

Traci Trouble: That’s fucking vague. She’s from southern Chicago

Meg Thompson: Southern, no. Central, it’s south of Chicago. I know how it works.

Inga Olson: I’m from downtown Chicago, old town.

FYW: You guys are a relatively new band, but you all seem like well established musician.

Traci Trouble: When I came back to Chicago I started a band with a couple of people called The Shame and that was my first Chicago band. We were together for like maybe a year or two. Then when that disbanded I started a new band called Paper Bullets, which I was in for a while. Like four years, maybe even five.

Meg Thomas: That’s how we met each other. I was a band called Reptoids, which is still going. We met on a bill that we were booked on together.

Traci Trouble: A shitty show in the suburbs at a pool hall.

FYW: Were you guys in bands too? Back in Arkansas?

Susie Q: Yeah, I was in a disco band. For like, 13 years.

Traci Trouble: Susie’s in the Arkansas Hall of Fame.

Inga Olson: We’re so diverse in this band.

Traci Trouble: Inga plays cello

Inga Olson: Well I started off playing cello. I played cello in one band, and I play in an Irish Punk band. And I write my own music, but it’s mostly country/folk music.

Traci Trouble: We met eachother – I play in another band called Hot Lips Messiah – we met eachother at a gay pride parade, just getting fucked up. What was that, 2005?

Inga Olson: We met through Adam.

Traci Trouble: The keyboardist in Hot Lips Messiah.

Inga Olson: Traci and I tried playing together a few times and we just bit each other’s heads off.

Traci Trouble: At that time I don’t know what we were trying to do. The songs were different and just – it didn’t really work out. It’s not like [Inga] had time to be in another band anyway. She had a lot going on.

Inga Olson: Then luckily I got kicked out of one of the bands… so that freed up the night that they were rehearsing on, and I was like “Well, I guess I’ll come try again.” And then it seemed to just click.

Traci Trouble: And then it was fun.

Inga Olson: Last February we added Susie. We tried like, fifty other guitarists.

Traci Trouble: We spent two years auditioning guitarists. I swear to god. Oh, we’re going to record. In April. First two weekends. We’re not going to do full-length, even though we’ve gotten a lot of comments like “can’t wait for the full length” We really just wanna do singles and seven inches kinda thing.

FYW: Are you going to self-release?

Traci Trouble: I wanna send it out and have other people release seven inches. We’re going to record six or seven songs. We’re gonna track it electrical audio with Nick Kraska, he’s in a band called Post Honeymoon.

FYW: Did you go in with the intention of having it be an all girl band?

Traci Trouble:  There aren’t a whole lot of bands that are with all girls, who can actually play and have stage presence, and that was a goal from the beginning of starting this band. That’s why it took so long to get it together. It was two years of trying to get the right mix of people. We weren’t in any rush to get it together either. Definitely, I had this vision, and I wanted to write pop songs and catchy tunes, but emotional stuff that is not contrived or anything. I try not to write a song unless I’m really going through something, otherwise it just sounds retarded. I kinda have this vision of what this band should sound like, and I’m kind of the main songwriter, and this has kinda been my vision. I’m always open to that changing, too, now that we have everyone in the band. Now that we feel like a real band.

Susie Q: We’re coming up on a year with all the members.

Traci Trouble: You get to that point where it’s just like “Alright, let’s show up and write something together from scratch and jam”. It takes awhile to develop that. You have to be playing with people for months to develop that. I’ve never had it develop overnight, anyway. We always wear jeans when we play. You’ll never see us wear skirts or a dress.

Inga Olson & Susie Q: You wear skirts

Traci Trouble: That one time. This isn’t really like, show-show. It’s just us kind of rocking out and having fun, and that’s contagious. I don’t see a lot of that. I see a lot of bands that are just playing their song and going through the motions. Chicago’s got a really bad reputation for people who just kind of stand around. I think it’s that way because they’re kind of spoiled. They get to see whatever band they want.

FYW: Have you played a lot of shows?

Traci Trouble: We don’t play a ton of shows. We’ve only played like seven shows.

Meg Thomas: No more than ten, I’m sure.

Traci Trouble: We’re actually taking February off to focus on songwriting.

FYW: Do you like to play with all girl bands, like the Girls Out Of The Garage show coming up?

Traci Trouble: We’re totally into playing with girls. But we’ll still play with boys. I don’t beat them up, but I may piss them off and get thrown out. I didn’t come up with the name Traci Trouble. Other people did.

FYW: How’d you get the nickname?

Traci Trouble: I’d run into people and they’d be like “Here comes trouble”, and I’d be like “Really?” and it happened again and again and again and I was like “Fine, I’ll be Traci Trouble.” I’m the only person who has a stage name in the band. But yeah overall I think Chicago’s a nice city to be a musician in. It’s a pretty good music scene, as far as music scenes go. But I gotta say, I just wanna get the hell out of here, I want a tour manager. That’s our next step right now. Somebody to just set up some stuff and get the hell out of here. I wanna do it, but I don’t wanna do it myself. I want someone that’s been doing it.

For more on The Wanton Looks check them out at online or live at Lincoln Hall, January 28 @ 9 PM. Ask for Trouble, she’ll gladly give you some.