Rockezine.com interview with Bottom on Aug 01, 2001

with Clementine on Aug 01, 2001

This band is something different. These three girls do rock! Bottom emerged from the depths of New York City in the winter of 1997 in a Lower East Side basement. It`s foundation is heavy groove, seventies riff-rock, and blues storytelling. Do the names AC/DC (early albums) and Kyuss ring a bell? Combine these two bands and you`ll know what Bottom sounds like. But, they do have a sound of their own. After releasing a debut demo called "Made In Voyage", the recent "It Feels So Good When You`re Gone" album is their second time around. Sina (battle axe & vox), Nila (low tones & growls) and Clementine (trap kit & snake shakers) will come to Europe this fall. Can`t wait to see them live on stage! Interested? Take a look at their website for further information: www.bottommusic.com or just read this interview with Clementine, who answered my questions while being on tour in The States.
		Hi Clementine. I know it might be boring, but please tell the readers something about the history from Bottom. Well, we met in the Lower East Side of New York City. We were each hungry for music, hungry for a band. When we met, it seemed like destiny. We`d all moved to New York from other places, searching for something. I guess we found what we were looking for.
		I read that you girls do a lot of touring the coming months. Do you book all these shows by yourself? Does the label contribute? Labels contribute to tours?? Wow, really??? What a concept!!! HaHa...We put out our first record and did 11 months of touring by ourselves. Mans Ruin gave us money for this second record and put it in stores. Which was great, it was what we really needed, money to record. Doing it ourselves has definitely given us certain freedoms. On the other hand, we pay for touring, posters, mailing, equipment, the van, etc.etc.etc... It`s basically bankrupted each of us, but oh well. You only live once. As far as booking, the one person we invest in is a booking agent. That`s something we couldn`t possibly do by ourselves, be on the road and book at the same time. We`ve been fortunate to have had some great people working with us.
		How does Bottom experience the (exhausting) long touring? Last year, on the 10-monther, I think we did great. We each lost our minds for a while, but we`re gradually recovering bits and pieces of those. We gave up a lot to tour like that, and we knew that we may never get to do it that way again, so we really enjoyed it. This year, we were on the Warped Tour, which is like rock and roll boot camp, and at the same time were doing night club shows... 69 shows in 46 days. I gotta say, this one just about killed us. Our typical day for this tour was: load in to the Warped venue at 10am, hang out in the blistering heat until we play, carry our equipment out through 15,000 people over dirt and trash, drive to the night time venue up to 4 hours away, load in, play, load out, drive up to 10 hours to the next venue, sleep in the parking lot for two hours, wake up to forklifts telling us to move our van and start all over again. Not glamorous at all! The part that sucked the most this time was that I couldn`t really take refuge in drinking or smoking... I know if I had had to play drums in 110 degree heat with a hangover, I would have puked my soul out!Then with all the driving. So let`s just say I got a little edgy. I feel that touring the way we have has stripped us of real basic things that people take for granted, so that now we are just ecstatic over so little. Wow! We get a shower tonight?? Or a bed?? You mean I don`t have to sleep on the merch buckets on the floor of the van in a truckstop parking lot?? We had catering on the Warped Tour, and for as hellish as the tour was, we were beside ourselves that someone actually cared enough about us to feed us! The catering staff had never been thanked so profusely, every day. I kind of like that we can appreciate the simple things in life like this. Poverty has it`s bright side, I guess. But honestly, I was never so exhausted as when I lived in New York City, working 70 hours a week, practicing 3-5 hours a night 5 days a week, driving out of town on the weekends for shows... When we finally were on the road for good, it felt like a vacation.
		What`s the writing and recording procedure within the band? Who writes the music and who does the lyrics? What are these lyrics about? There are a lot of ways it happens. It`s always tortuous. We aren`t that pleasant to be around when the birthing process is happening. We all have strengths in writing, and the most difficult thing is communication. The music is collaborative, often born of parts or riffs that Sina comes up with or that are created out of jams. Sometimes she comes in with nearly complete songs that we fall right into and we fight over arrangement and they`re done, and sometimes from beginning to end it`s a long painful creation of some new animal we didn`t expect. We hash it out together, and it`s a slow, horrifying process, with a lot of fighting and arguing. It`s hard, but we get the job done. It says a lot about this band that we can go through this sort of horror and it seems to bring us together at a certain point. Sina at some point in the process grabs the vocal melody... I am always amazed by her great pop sensibility when she does this. The words come last I think most of the time, although sometimes the whole song will start with a phrase she`s heard. Her lyrics are great and powerful, and I wouldn`t dare to second guess what she would say they`re about. But on this record, I know that the words mean a lot to all three of us. They tell the story of our crazy year of living on the road.
		Did you girls take lessons in playing the instruments or did you teach it yourself? What about the vocals? I honestly don`t know much about the girls` learning processes. I think that Nila is pretty much self-taught. Sina played violin since she was two years old, so that must have helped a bit. I was lucky to be referred to the best drum teacher in New York City, Fred Klatz. He worked out of the Drummers` Collective there. I took private lessons from him. I lucked out... he saw me as an experiment in his teaching technique, since when I started playing I knew nothing about drumming. I wish I was in a situation where I could be taking lessons now, but I guess I`m learning a different way, being on the road and seeing so many great musicians play. I think we all grow together as musicians. Sina and I have been playing our instruments for about the same amount of time, and we`ve been playing together for nearly five years now. Each new place one of us reaches affects the other. And the way Nila plays has pushed me forward from the beginning. As for the vocals, Sina has a certain tone and soulfulness that can`t be taught, I think.
		How do you look at working in the studio? Well Johan, we love the studio. Our experiences to date have been mostly, get in there and go as fast as possible to save money. This last time was a bit more relaxed, but we still were in first or second take mode. Which is fine by me. Recording should be a snapshot in time. I think it shouldn`t take 6 months and thousands of dollars. Being prepared makes it a whole lot more enjoyable. Oh also, analog, analog. We`re old school about that.
		Has the "feels so good when..." album been well received? We`ve been really happy with the reception.
		What`s the position from Bottom in the US at the moment? Do most of the rock fans know the band already? Is there "a market" for a band like yours? You know, things move along and one day without even realizing it, people have heard of your band, and almost every band you play with knows someone else that you know. The only way it seems for a band like us to make that happen is just to keep running around playing. Especially without a marketing and publicity company behind you! Hmmm... a market. Who knows. There are some who say rock is dead, and when you play in a club to 60 people and then they clear the room and hundreds of people pour in to listen to dance music, you gotta wonder if maybe it`s true. But I`m never going to second-guess the way the world works. This is the kind of music I love, and the music I know how to play because I feel it naturally. I certainly didn`t get into playing the drums because I thought I was going to make money!
		What do you expect from the shows you will be doing overhere in Europe? Have you already booked gigs? Where and when? I`ll include our itinerary at the bottom of the interview. I don`t know what to expect. I guess I think that European audiences are a little more knowledgeable and choosy about their music. I think they`ll like us pretty well. We put everything we can into what we do. I`m proud of that. I am really looking forward to seeing places I`ve never seen. Like Poland! And Croatia! It`s like a dream that this is all coming together. We are just so excited about this trip.
		How old are you girls in the band (if you`re willing to tell, that is...) and what do you do besides the band to make a living? How do you combine these activities with months of touring? We`re all old enough for anything you ask us to do! I know, typical female evasive answer. Well, we may rock hard, but we`re still women after all. We each have our own extra talents that give us the rent money. The jobs are unglamorous and computer-related, but they serve their purposes. I don`t mind. I`ll do what I gotta do in order to play the drums every day.
		Have you already written some new material for a next album? Yes, there are ideas forming.
		Any other new talent around your area at this moment? Some tips you can give our readers? I`m in San Francisco now. Great bands here are The Men of Porn, Acid King, Lost Goat, High on Fire, Zen Guerilla... I couldn`t begin to list the number of amazing bands we`ve played with over the last couple of years. The only bands I ever know anymore are the ones we play with.
		Clementine, thanks for answering these questions. Any last comments? Thanks, Johan! Looking forward to seeing you in Fall! This is our Bottom European Tour...these are the confirmed shows. As you can see, there are some holes, but everything should be firm by mid-September. Stay tuned for updates!
(Johan Godschalk)