(2011 Jun 10) The Superslice publishes 'Tearist: Yasmine Kittles Interview'

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(2011 Jun 10) The Superslice publishes 'Tearist: Yasmine Kittles Interview'

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Original links (part 1 was published June 10th, parts 2 and 3 June 11th):
Part 1: http://thesuperslice.com/2011/06/10/tea ... ew-part-1/
Part 2: http://thesuperslice.com/2011/06/11/tea ... ew-part-2/
Part 3: http://thesuperslice.com/2011/06/11/tea ... ew-part-3/
Click here to read Part 1
Tearist: Yasmine Kittles Interview Part 1

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I got the chance to sit down with Yasmine Kittles, half of the two-person juggernaut known as Tearist. They are an impressive and cataclysmic duo that has seen some major growth in its reception lately. To call it a meteoric rise would be a misconception, they have been doing their thing since 2009. Though, through hard work, pathos and genuine earnestness in the production of their art and music; they have spread the word of Tearist. People around the world, literally, are starting to take major notice. All of this has coincided with a recent cover feature by the Los Angeles periodical, LA Weekly. The profile titled, Tearist: The Real Thing by Liz Ohanesian has only added to their momentum.

Over coffee and chai tea at a non-descript café in Larchmont Village (my old stomping grounds), we managed to block out yelping toddlers, barking lapdogs and an acoustic cover of Outkast’s Hey Ya by Matt Weddle leaking from the outdoor patio speakers. Well, I managed to block most of it out anyway. Kittles, who exudes a worldly New York City vibe combined with an easy So-Cal cucumber coolness, is also, at the same instance, über-alert of her surroundings and maintains a kind of hyper-vigilance of her environment. We chewed the fat for almost two hours; talking about art and surrealism, the death of music, anger, love, vulnerability, process, and being humbled by global notoriety . The talk extended to the topic of feminism and picking your battles as a modern “feminist”. We also launched into the discussion of the uncomfortable and regressive milieu of overt, latent sexism that still manifests itself in the blogosphere in 2011.

I appreciated her frank honesty; at the end of the day, Kittles strikes me as a sensitive and passionate artist who is knowledgeable about her craft. This is the conversation that transpired:

PART 1

TONY TRINH: Let’s talk about this layer of Artaud’s Theater of Cruelty, where you’re asked to, as an artist, really strike a chord with the spectator. After all, that’s the whole point of being an artist, you have to be deliberate and not be benign.

YASMINE KITTLES: I mean, a lot of people would argue (against) that, because they seek to fit a formula in order to be accepted and I think that’s the problem with a lot of music now, is that people aren’t trying. You know, you hear something and (sarcastically), “This sounds like this. Oh, that’s great!”

TT: It becomes derivative. This derivative and referential music becomes dead, right? Is that what you’re saying? But back to this idea of the Theater of Cruelty, you have to incorporate this sense of shock and shocking the spectators to wake them up. Then also, you’re kind of working in Dadaism, this kind of surreal nature, where you’re making a subversive commentary on music and the process of being entertained.

YK: Right, yeah, exactly!

TT: With that said, this is a conscious decision, right?

YK: It’s not conscious in the sense of, “This is what I’m trying to do!” I mean, this is something that I’m consciously aware of and didn’t like, but it’s become so much of what I’m about as a person, that it’s just the way I had to do things.

TT: To express yourself…

YK: It is who I am and having ever known that it was even possible to get to that point. You know, this idea of why are we so comfortable? It’s not necessarily about shocking, but it’s more about…

TT: Waking people up. Stimulating people.

YK: It’s interesting that you say it’s a commentary on the state of music right now because I really never thought about it that way, but it is, you know.

TT: I think the core of what I’m getting at is that there is this dichotomy between…the art is art and it’s subjective, you make the art, you put it out there…but what I find interesting with Tearist and your work with William (Strangeland-Menchaca, half of the duo)…your interests, Artaud, Dadaism. The Dadaism is almost bordering on Nihilist. It’s iconoclastic. You’re not necessarily thumbing your nose at convention, but at least, questioning it.

YK: That’s exactly it. Why is this okay with you? Why are you okay with going to a show and talking through it? Because it’s comfortable. Why are you so comfortable? Why is there someone on stage giving you possibly everything, their insides, and you’re so comfortable sitting back and having it (be) in the background? Because it’s not challenging you. It’s not challenging you to think. It’s not challenging you to feel. It’s not challenging who you are as a person, what you’re doing with yourself. I always say it’s about making the comfortable uncomfortable and questioning why they’re uncomfortable. Why?! Why is my performing this way making you uncomfortable? It’s either somebody hates it or loves it, but there is nothing in the middle. I never want somebody to be in the middle.

TT: And that’s the state of observing art, right? You have this one layer of subversion, undermining this convention of music and performance, but you’re also building this connection with people.

YK: It’s not even so much about…because I zone out a lot and that comes from when I realized that I could…which was when I was studying performance and I was doing these pieces based in the Theater of Cruelty and I never knew it was possible to get to this level that you were so physically zoned out.

TT: In a trance?

YK: Exactly! Once I committed to it and let it become what it was, it was so much more intense. I was in control but I wasn’t. I was letting all these things that were “ugly” come out of me and I wasn’t aware of my face. This was actually me, this kind of animalistic, immediate response to whatever it was; my surroundings, anything that touches my body. I’m aware of it.

TT: Is it cathartic? Doing that performance and having that emotional and physical release, but isn’t it also very draining? How do you psyche yourself…

YK: It’s terrible.

TT: It’s painful?

YK: You know, it’s not like I’m out there trying to cry or be really angry.

TT: Being dramatic for drama’s sake.

YK: If I’m not feeling something, you’ll know. There’s a stillness, nothing is pre-planned at all. Sometimes I’ll remember a song in the way they were written, they were about certain things…it’s the only place where I’m fully vulnerable, is on stage or through these songs. And a lot of times, people don’t even know what I’m saying. But each thing, each song is so specific to me…

(dog starts barking)

YK: Sometimes I can remember what it was originally or where it is now and I’ll see something out of the corner of my eye, all of a sudden, and it becomes so…

TT: Hypnotic?

YK: Whatever that emotion is, it becomes more intense. It’s like I have to face this thing. If I see someone talking (during a performance), I am so hurt, because it doesn’t happen a lot. A lot of times, people are dancing, but there aren’t a lot of times when people are just talking. Which I think is such a victory. But when those things happen, it hits me so much more intensely, because, literally, this is how I feel, this is how I look. I’m not focused on what my face is like. So I’m giving you everything and when I come off stage it’s fully draining because I don’t want to face these things. I’m so vulnerable, I’m so open. You can hurt me with anything. And there was this one show we played in the UK and it was packed and we had just played a song that was really intense for me…so insane, and the only time I’ve ever seen this was in Japan, when people would clap and wait so respectfully…clapping and then waiting. It’s insane. But that has happened at our shows, people clapping and then you don’t hear anything. And it will be packed. So in the UK, I heard people talking by the bar and I was so angry and I was like, “So what are we talking about?!”

TT: (I laugh) Really?! You just called them out?

YK: Somebody wrote about it. I was like, “So what’s goin’ on? Should I juggle? What should I do? Should I come to you? Do you want the microphone?” And then they were quiet.

TT: (I laugh) So is the club the wrong type of venue for you guys?

YK: No! No.

TT: You know, you attend a play, you don’t talk. Cell phones off. This is a performance (play) also, sonically based, but…

YK: We’ve played in galleries, theaters, and an actual theater for plays. It’s always a challenge but it’s interesting. I think what I really like is the challenge we can affect people in that environment. It’s so huge. I’m tired of going to a show and being able to have a full conversation. If someone is on stage I want to be able to not go to the bathroom because I want to see what’s going to happen next.

TT: Be captivated and engrossed.

YK: Right. Make me feel something. Or don’t…make me feel annoyed or angry. I want to feel something when I had left. I want to leave…the most special moments have been (after seeing a performance) when I had to go write something or make something now. What am I doing at a bar? So it’s, like, I didn’t expect that, but we’ve gotten compliments like that. And that happened after the first show, and at that moment, I was like, this is it, like, that was all I wanted, was to affect. To cause an effect on someone because all we are, are reactions.

TT: So what is your reaction to all of this? I mean, you guys have been doing this since 2009 and I’m seeing this exponential growth in the reception of Tearist. What’s it been like for you and William (Strangeland-Menchaca) with this devout following? It’s like the Church of Tearist. We see you up there and it’s iconoclastic, agnostic, and apolitical yet there’s this cultish, religious following. You’re up there, writhing around in a trance like some shaman priestess and it’s really intriguing how there’s this devout fanbase now. It’s global too.

YK: No, it is.

TT: Is it overwhelming?

YK: It’s beyond overwhelming. When the LA Weekly cover came out, I didn’t even want to leave the house because I was so afraid, I guess. I didn’t understand. Now we’re open to be…instead of being this little secret, we’re open to weird criticism and I didn’t know how to take how the comments were. In a positive way, like LA Weekly saying how important we were. How can I live up to this thing? There was so much and being in Europe and having the people know words to your songs and they’re not even recorded yet and they’re just on YouTube? I’ve been on the verge…it’s made me cry. This was a new song. You know this song? It’s hard to even talk about. I didn’t even expect it.

(Strong Enough by Sheryl Crow comes on in the background of the café patio)

YK: I used to ice skate to this song. I was a figure skater.

SAM IRAVANI: Really?!

YK: Yeah.

TT: I used to smoke pot to this song.

SI: (to me) You did? That’s kind of depressing.

TT: It’s slightly surprising because you are so confident in the way you move and perform, but you seem like a humble person at the same time. But you have to be quasi-egocentric and confident when you are performing. But this reaction is still humbling to you?

YK: When people come up to you afterwards and are saying these amazing, huge things and I am so vulnerable because this is everything I am and you’re talking about it in a way that’s so beautiful…

TT: You don’t know how to respond?

YK: Right, because it’s too much. It’s too amazing. Something like this…I’m very outgoing; I’m the loudest person, if I like something I will tell you immediately. I’m not afraid to confront people about anything and then this happened. And I would’ve thought I would’ve been, “Yeah, did you see me on the cover?!” But I just couldn’t believe it and I never expected it…because it…it (performing) was only for us. It wasn’t done to get anywhere. Obviously, we do want it to get everywhere but it wasn’t done to…we didn’t go, “So here’s our plan and here’s how we’re going to get big and we’re going to go do this, and this, and this.” Actually, we talked about it so much when we first started, “God, everybody is going to fucking hate this. This sucks. What does this even sound like? I like it, you like it. But what does it sound like? I can’t even compare it. Our friends aren’t even going to come to our shows.” And I was afraid of the sound and then once that happened and we realized it, we were free. We’re not trying to appease anybody and it gave us this whole freedom to do what we wanted because, “They’re going to fucking hate it. That’s awesome! So let’s just go for it.”

TT: So just embrace that fear?

YK: So anything that I’m afraid of, I have to do. If I’m afraid of something I have to (do it).

TT: That’s all about growth, right? Doing things that you fear.

YK: You know, like a performance piece, with a hero or something or something that is too emotional and I don’t want to go there. Okay, I have to (do it). I’m like, “Fuck! I really have to (do this) now.” There’s no out.

TT: Talk about how your performances work. It’s an act or performance that needs an intimate setting, so does it translate all the time? I was thinking the other day, you guys are kind of blowing up, the fanbase is growing, the exposure. “I could see these guys under the Sahara Tent at Coachella one day,” or something like that. Talk about how the performance translates on a larger scale. Does it still work? Does it need that intimate setting? You guys opened for La Roux at El Rey, right, how did that go?

YK: It was awesome, it was amazing. That was kind of early on too. I think we had only been together for a short while.

TT: So does it work in a larger setting? When you can’t hear the ice cubes clinking in a cocktail glass and you can’t hear someone talking and single them out in a crowd of 5,000 people.

YK: In that sense, it would just be a lost cause to try to do that.

TT: Do you amplify the act?

YK: (laughs) I feel like it’s already pretty amplified! It’s a bigger stage so I’ll use more of the stage. I come from theater so you have to fill the room.

TT: Project.

YK: And that is in me to fill that room whether how small or big. It’s the same thing. Sometimes when it’s smaller it’s more intense because people are closer and seeing you…because we’ve played at places that have been fully packed and I could not move myself. And that was hard for me not being able to move. But having a large space I could really use the stage and move from one end to another. We played a huge venue in France, in Paris, but it was humongous and amazing. I can still see the movement of the people. Some people would try to catch my eye. Really trying to make eye contact with me. Yeah! Very specifically. I don’t know if they were as entranced as well. I remember specific moments where people were following me with their eyes, trying to make this eye contact. And then I would and I would stay on them. I can’t even describe what that feels like. That’s scary, when I snap out of that zone and all of a sudden I’ve made eye contact with someone and we’re not losing eye contact. And I’m like, “When does this actually happen?!” (stops herself) Actually, not true. I’m not comparing myself to my heroes or whatever, but when I saw Genesis P-Orridge with Throbbing Gristle, a legendary industrial band. They reunited and played at Coachella and this is like, my hero. Genesis gave himself to art basically and changed to a woman. It was around the time of Einstürzende Neubauten, they (Throbbing Gristle) were one of the first industrial bands making crazy noises and people were like, “What is this?” That band, Throbbing Gristle, they had started doing these performance pieces together and then they started this band and…my hero, he had a sex change and is still attracted to women. He said he’s giving his body to art and changed it. He’s very eccentric, beyond anything. But at the show at Coachella, I tried to make eye contact and he looked at me and I was like (looks around), “Was he looking at me?” But we were locked and I literally felt it. I can’t lose this eye contact and it was this strange thing and when I was on stage and did that to someone else, not on purpose, this is the first time I remembered that, but on stage I felt so uncomfortable, so strange.

TT: You felt distracted?

YK: No, like something strange had happened. Now that you’re actually looking into my eyes, I can’t look away. You have more with what is going on with me. Like, not to be cheesy, but it is so intimate. You’ve just entered into this intimacy with me by making eye contact with me. I’m on a huge stage…

TT: With many people around.

YK: Right! And I’ve made eye contact with this one person. And I’m going to lock in on you until you can’t. But not on purpose, it’s this thing where I’m uncomfortable and so why (is that)? I love that, it’s insane. That’s crazy. Each time it’s always a challenge of why do I feel afraid of this audience or this stage? I was horribly terrified before we went on that (Paris) stage. I was going to vomit. It was so beautiful and so many people that were specifically there for us and had said that. And it was in France and I was just wearing a t-shirt and a hat and my friends in Glasser, they had played the night before, and she (Cameron Mesirow) had worn this beautiful ballet outfit looking very polished, and members of Fever Ray, they’re very polished and they were wearing the same clothes and I get on there and I’m wearing a dirty shirt and hat. And I called my mom so scared that day, “Mom, my friend wore this beautiful ballet outfit and the stage looks like it’s out of a movie. I’ll be on this beautiful music box of a stage. It’s gorgeous. I have to look flashy or have this performance look.” And my mom is like, “No.” And it was so strange for her to be saying that to me because…

TT: Good advice. Stay in your lane, basically, don’t change your game.

YK: I would think that she would say wear a beautiful dress or something. You look so much prettier in dresses, etc. But she knows because she has talked to me and knows how I feel about this and she was like, “You have to do the opposite of what you think you are supposed to do.” And that’s exactly how I feel.

(We are momentarily distracted as Jewel plays on the patio speakers)

YK: I think I actually cried when she said that because I was like, “You understand.” Coming from…she’s Muslim, I’m showing skin but not purposely. Before, I would wear a lot of leotards and things like that and I was like, you know what, I’m sweating a lot and these tights and leotards are too much and I can’t breathe.
Photos that accompanied Part 1 of the interview
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Click here to read Part 2
Tearist: Yasmine Kittles Interview Part 2

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PART 2 [continued]

TONY TRINH: Can we talk about that? We were talking about juxtaposition and this interplay of themes. Take the name Tearist. The name sounds like “terrorist”, something violent combined with this sense of emotion, it’s (the music) emotive. Stop me if I’m reading too much into this. Not just the name, but the whole package deal, this dichotomy between the two, there’s a commentary on feminism and possibly gender roles?

YASMINE KITTLES: Oh my God, thank you!

TT: You have the violence going on, not to stereotype gender roles, but man is about being animalistic and violent and you’re (women) also emotive, right? The feminine side of it.

YK: This has come up a lot with me. Nobody asks about this. This is awesome! This is great. These are great questions. I’m inspired by the people that blur the lines. I’m not (just) a female lead singer. You know, I’m half of this band, I’m not the female “frontwoman”. I’m more inspired by things that don’t have me thinking I’m looking at a female. Or she’s trying too hard to be masculine. It’s like, focus on what it is. Don’t be distracted by all these other things. And this is the way I dress. I mostly wear these t-shirts, it’s comfortable to me. And I really wanted to get away from these roles we are put into. You know, the girl has to wear this thing, and be this Katy Perry type. It’s more of a blurring of lines and feminism has changed. For me anyway, that word (“feminism”) is so…people are so allergic to that word.

TT: It’s a loaded word.

YK: You associate it with, basically, “bra-burning”, “I hate men!” You know, it’ so specific, you’ve pigeonholed yourself by saying you’re a feminist. I’m a feminist in the sense of I’m a person. Equality in the sense of not even addressing it…not like, “You have to accept me as an equal and I’m trying to be on the same level,” it’s like, “Let’s not even talk about that because it’s not even an issue.” It’s not even something you should be even thinking about. For me, feminism is about being an empowered person, so much so that you don’t have to go, “Well, I’m doing this for women!” Yeah, I’m doing it for women, I’m actually just doing it for people. I want you to feel because you should want to feel. That’s more powerful to me as a woman is for you to not even think as a woman. You know? “Like, you know a lot about this stuff for a girl.” That’s not even a part of it. Like, get away from that, it’s so toxic. You’re just kind of asking to be pushed to the side. You’ve done it to yourself when you kind of make it about male versus female. So recently, since we’ve been put in this spotlight…we’re opening ourselves up to criticism, we had nothing but amazing…before we even had our EP out, we had over a hundred pieces of press, just based on videos and live performances. Now that we’re more “here we are”, it makes you more vulnerable to criticism, and whatever, and people don’t understand or know how to talk about it. And also, I think it’s hard for some guys that I’m a female doing certain things. You know, like I’m not playing the role that you’re expecting me to play…

TT: Like the whole Katy Perry syndrome. This objectification. This cheesecake model.

YK: Right. So recently there was this thing about this old school sexism that has come into play and people basically saying, in reviews, like they wanted to rape me and that I’m asking for it. Just all over the place! There’s a magazine, that I won’t mention because I don’t even want to give them enough credit, said that…first they talked about a blowjob, a review of our album, which they probably don’t know is a live album, because they didn’t listen to it. But they just wrote about me basically, and then they said that I liked a lot of “choke sex”. So it’s irresponsible of me to not address these things. But I think what I’m doing, already is addressing it by continuing to be strong, I guess. But it was really hard…but it is weird because all of a sudden it’s accepted…you know these jokes about black people, “Oh it’s sooo funny, ‘cause you shouldn’t do that…”

TT: Taboo. People being taboo for the sake of being taboo, but they’re just being assholes, chauvinists or racists.

YK: Right! When did it become okay for you to say that you wanted to rape me? And that’s funny?! Or you want to use your whole interview to talk about your boner or how hard you are because you don’t know how to talk about the music? You feel emasculated by something I’m doing that the only thing you can do is to put it down? To put it to a level where you’re above it and so you can make a joke and never…and some of them are really trying to be complimentary, but they just don’t know how. So it’s put me in this position where like (to confront)…but not in this Tegan and Sara way. You know, with that shit that just happened.

TT: With Tyler? Yeah, I wrote an article about that.

YK: My friend…she’s like, “Oh my God, they must be looking for publicity because they never wanted to be about that.” You know? And Tegan and Sara are really trying to…so I feel like the way they’re approaching this thing with Tyler is totally the wrong way. You know what I’m saying? Unless they’re looking for publicity, it needs to be called out, but maybe I don’t know enough about what was said.

TT: Not to play this card, but Syd (Tha Kid, Odd Future’s DJ) is lesbian and she has said she doesn’t have a problem with it (use of the word “faggot” and any alleged misogyny).

YK: They’re (rappers) playing parts. Like 50 Cent…I know for a fact that the head of his PR is gay. It’s all an act. He’s playing this role.

TT: Which doesn’t excuse it at the end of the day, but, it’s also art.

YK: It’s a part and I do feel like it would be irresponsible for me to not call it out. So it’s about choosing your battles and basically (asking) when was this okay. Kind of making fun of it. I think the only thing you can do is make fun of it.

TT: Ridicule it.

YK: Yeah, because you’re an idiot (sexist writers). Old school sexism is really what it is. That’s so dumb, you just have no idea how to write about it and it just shows me…it gives me more power. Like, my friends, you know, Vivian Girls, I’m not going to be like…I could never see someone be like, “I’m want to rape the shit out of them! Blah, blah, blah,” continuously. I think when you’re being confronted with something you don’t know how to deal with other than to try to control it. That could be even in a relationship, like the other person is so strong that it makes you insecure and so you want to control them so you berate them, put them down.

TT: It’s insecurity.

YK: Exactly. It’s all insecurity. So to me, it’s like, “I win!” I have made you need…you don’t know how to talk about the music, so you’ve never talked about the music; you’re just talking about fucking me. So you can’t say anything about the music, “So…all right!” You know it’s like Sarah Silverman making these jokes for shock value…whatever. It’s like, “Oh my God, I can’t believe she said that about every gender!” But it’s like, c’mon. It was making me cry, I was just in bed…because all of a sudden I’m in this position where I’m afraid. And it’s always violent. It’s like, “I want to violently rape her, I want to fuck her violently.” Things I’m reading and being forwarded to me.

TT: I think it’s time you stop looking at that stuff.

YK: But it’s always been so positive and I like it when it’s negative, if it’s interesting. Or if someone’s like, “I hate it!” And then I enjoy it.

TT: At least it’s a reaction.

YK: Exactly! You hate or love. So angry you have to write something mean. But when you’re trying to dumb me down to a girl that wants a bunch of choke sex?! Like, wow. You didn’t at all talk about the video. You didn’t at all talk about the music. It’s interesting. I mean, it’s interesting. It made me really uncomfortable and then once I snapped out of it, I immediately…I was like, “We have to practice right now.” I was so stoked, this is actually positive.

TT: I’m curious of the demographic of the fanbase.

YK: I don’t know. Everything. I really don’t know. I really don’t. In Europe, there were a lot of older people. There were a lot of younger people, that’s the cutest. When there were really young kids. And you talk to them, they can’t believe it.

TT: What do you mean, like after the performance?

YK: Yeah, later on, I like to watch my friends, we were playing with Glasser a couple times, and they’re a bigger known band, they’ve played Coachella. We opened for them and I went out to watch them and nobody could believe that I was standing out there. (feigns a stare as if starstruck) I have changed into another shirt and I’m still sweating. And they were whispering, “That’s not her.” I’m specifically thinking about this one show and it’s so funny. I saw this group of people and every now and then they would elbow each other and it was happening all around me, like, “Why is she watching the show?” (chuckles) What do they think I’m doing?! (sarcastically) You know, I just got limo’d over to the hotel like I could care less about the other bands?! No, I’m interested. These are my friends and I like what they do. So this group of boys came over and kind of inched over slowly and then one of them was like (whispering), “Thank you, thank you so much for, uh, coming, we, we trekked from Zurich,” or something like that…

(an acoustic cover by Matt Weddle of Outkast’s Hey Ya comes on)

YK: Oh my God! It’s a cover of…Hey Ya! (laughs) This is a cover of Hey Ya! Oh. My. God.

TT: Oh it is! It’s all folksy.

YK: Holy shit! I’m going to cry, this is so dumb. This makes me want to cry, it’s so funny.

(cackles with delight)

TT: Acoustic Outkast? Wait a minute, there’s a pun there. Outkastic…Outcustic? This is ironic. Good ears! What’s that one app’?

SAM IRAVANI: Shazam.

YK: Holy shit, this is too retarded. I want to record this. I can’t do it anymore. Anyway, so these kids were kind of looking over at me and had trekked from Zurich and I was like, “Thank you so much for coming.” And there weren’t a lot of people at this one show and so we were, “Whatever, that’s fine.” It was a tiny town, so most of the people that knew about music were probably there. “Every crowd’s different and…” and they were like, “Are you insulted?” I was like, “Nooooo, this is a fine group of people.” “But, you’re so famous,” that’s what they said. I was like, “Okay. Huh?” And then, “Why didn’t you play first?” And I was like, “You know, different bands play first. We alternate,” I didn’t know what to say, I was so confused and then, “Uh yeah, we thought that we weren’t going to be able to get in. We got here an hour early and this is ridiculous that there aren’t many people here. You’re so famous! How famous are you in the U.S.?” And I was like, “Really, really famous…”

(we all laugh)

YK: I was like, “I don’t…not…like…not as famous as here…I don’t know!” And the one guy was, “Why are you talking to us? You’re so famous.” Kept saying “famous” and couldn’t believe I was talking to him and standing there. And then he gave me his necklace because I thought it was awesome and he put it around my neck…

(we are again thrown off by the reprise of Hey Ya)

SAM IRAVANI: (referring to song playing) Is this Jack Johnson?

TT: Naw. It’s a Jack Johnson wanna-be. I kind of like it. I can’t hate on it.

YK: Gotta Shazam this. This is ridiculous. I’m going to cry.

TT: What’s next? Acoustic N.W.A.?

YK: Oh my God, I hope so.

TT: Your release, Living: 2009-Present, it has a very bootleg-ish quality to it. There’s this lo-fi thing happening that kind of adds to the Tearist experience…

YK: Exactly. Oh! We never talked about the name of the band. Ultimately, we were drawn to artistic movements and we have so many of the same interests but they’re all over the place. You know, I listen to so much rap and hip-hop, but I also know my roots of crazy noise music, like Laurie Anderson. Laurie Anderson was really blurring lines, gender roles and whatever. She always dressed in a suit. It was never like, “Oh, she’s being like a man.”

TT: She was just doing her thing.

YK: She put theater with music and it was very…it wasn’t like, “I’m trying to put theater with music!” It was (just) accepted (as it was), for me anyway. So I have all of these influences that are coming from different places and so did he (William). The first time we went to hang out, we just looked at art books at the MOCA and it was the most fun, looking at different proposals, performance books. So we were sitting in this park and talking about wanting and starting a movement and what that would mean and how’d we do that. And we kind of kept that consistent. Like, I’ve always wanted to start this…it’s a weird thing to be, “I want to start this movement!” But, I was like, “Something needs to happen.” Something needs to change. I’m sick of what’s going on right now. All of these lazy bands, I’m so sick of it. I don’t get anything.

TT: Repetitive.

YK: You’re just doing what you know is accepted or what you know people will like. For the same reason I’m against musical training because who’s to say, I mean, I can respect it, but I am drawn to the people that taught themselves. Because you’re listening and making it happen as opposed to what you know you should be playing. You know? But, ultimately Tearist was about tearing up everything we knew and starting again and piecing together what it was and trying to make it more from the inside. And the –ist, was obviously, the movement…accepting of as in simulacra and simulation, accepting…

TT: Baudrillard?

YK: Yeah. Accepting that it’s all simulacra. We have all these influences. We’re inspired by so many things. Yes! And it might sound like some of those things, not on purpose, but because these things make up who we are. This society we live in, the way we speak, everything is based on our surroundings. Our dialect…

TT: Context.

YK: Exactly. Where we are. Where we live. The way our parents spoke. That’s all encompassing. That makes you you. Accepting all of those things and then being freed by it. Let something come through that you don’t understand.

TT: Let things emerge and discover them.

YK: Exactly. And if sounds scary and if sounds bad, to be like, “Yes, it sounds bad?” do more of that. That sounds like a weird part? Do more of that weird part. I’m sensing that I don’t know what it sounds like and it’s scaring me? I don’t know what to do with it… more of that. So accepting everything that we’re told is not right and trying to understand…

TT: And breaking from convention.

YK: Exactly. Tearing it up.

TT: This whole idea…the performances are improvisational. You’re kind of learning and making as you go? Within the performances or the songs, what is your guys’ process?

YK: Before it was different, with our first shows, it was mostly improvised. I’d have pieces of words taped around and I’d go into some type of chorus that I come up with and it was based, a lot, on what happened at the show and developing this song with this need to have…

TT: Reacting to the setting and the people that are there.

YK: Exactly. The first show, it was all reaction to what was going on. But now, it’s very much more…we have our parts, we know these parts, this, this, this. Sometimes, when we can’t get a song fully figured out with certain changes, we’ll put it on stage and see what happens. But we spend a lot of time over and over, practicing, practicing, practicing. After every practice, we have one or two new songs. We’re constantly (producing). Sometimes we’ll forget we made up this full song that we practiced for four hours and had parts to it and we’ll be like, “Oh yeah, that song!” And bring it back. So it’s a very quick process because we’re immediately reacting to each other. I have an immediate sense of what I hear as a harmony or melody and where it should be vocally affected. Like, should I affect it at all? Does this need reverb? Is it a flat song? All of these things I can immediately hear in a strange way, based on him (Strangeland-Menchaca).

TT: You’ll latch onto structure? Like, this has good structure, we’ll go from there?

YK: I’ll catch something and now I’m dancing. I’m moving, I’m wanting to move, so I’ll just catch that.

TT: It’s intuitive.

YK: Right. If I don’t want to move then it’s not right. I’ll be sitting on a stool, writing stuff and tearing up pages. That’s really how it first started. I would always come into practice with torn pieces of paper and tape them together. I would be like, “I really like this sentence, oh, but these words really work over here. This is inspiring.” I’ll see this word that strikes this, this means this and then I’ll look at what the words mean together and that, sometimes, would be really powerful to me. Or also in songwriting, it would be sometimes just directly about what was going on with he and I. Like, we had a period of where…we…I hated him very much. So I was writing specifically about hating him. For a second, you wonder if you should be together and maybe try, sort of, but it’s like, okay, maybe not. And then somebody gets hurt by that. And I was not the one that was hurt like that. God, that’s like, a lot of information. But, um, we were having tension because we tried to be a couple…and it not working. And so, I felt like he was being really mean to me and so I hated him and so I wrote based on…like this one song, basically, “I could kill you if I wanted to. I could,” very specifically at him.

TT: Just working things out with your writing?

YK: Yeah, because it was really the only place where I felt I could speak. Like I said, be vulnerable. So I would straight up say exactly what it was. And it was very, very much us. You know, trying to get through this time and be a band. It was crazy though.
Photos that accompanied Part 2 of the interview
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Click here to read Part 3
Tearist: Yasmine Kittles Interview Part 3



PART 3 [continued]

TONY TRINH: I love the video for Disposition

YASMINE KITTLES: Oh, thanks!

TT: …by Elizabeth Skadden, she went to RISD. Can you tell me about making that video?

YK: I’ve known her for, I’d say, seven or eight years and I didn’t know she was doing this kind of work. She was in this band called Finally Punk, they got some recognition for a little while as being this Riot Grrrl inspired…I was seeing them blow up in this strange way, it was really interesting because I didn’t know she played music before. I knew she was doing film but I didn’t know what that consisted of. Apparently, she had done a Flaming Lips video; she was doing stuff for No Age. She had met Will when he was playing with No Age. He was briefly playing with No Age and they were on tour, last summer, in Berlin and she was doing video stuff, projections. And she was going to be in town and just called Will up and she was like, “Hey, do you want to shoot a video tomorrow?” I’ve always been like, “No, I don’t want to do something that just looks cool.” That’s not interesting to me. I hate it when bands are like, “Oh, this looks cool, let’s just do this.” I always want to have a story.

TT: But the video does look really cool. It’s sexy in a visual way. The starkness. The pictures go with the track, the sounds. It’s militaristic, it’s industrial.

YK: No. yeah! Right! We didn’t know this, going in, it was going to look like that, at all. I mean, I was under the impression, no offense to her, but I was under the impression that it was just going to look like whatever. Who cares? You know? Because I wasn’t familiar with her work and I didn’t even want to go in and I was having a really terrible day, Will was sick, I had been crying all day about something dumb. I was like, I can’t go, I don’t even care about this. So I go and she’s like, “Just dance to the song, do what you do in a performance.” So, I’m like, okay, fine, I will just treat this like I’m dancing at my show. So it’s like how I would be performing except there were people filming. And she was doing everything with…because the song itself…

TT: It’s a driving beat.

YK: Yeah. We had our friends from this band, Protect Me, manually holding these lights that would go on sometimes. They were literally turning them on and off. So I didn’t expect it and when we saw it…
TT: You didn’t expect that it would be that stylized?

YK: Yeah! I thought it was so beautiful and so perfect!

TT: It’s completely appropriate for the track.

YK: It wasn’t just like, “This looks cool,” but this is how we perform and this is…every time that you can kind of see the eyes; I feel that I can kind of lock in, in this weird way. It looked so strong to me. And I was blown away by it, really.

SAM IRAVANI: So you had no clue how it would turn out eventually?

YK: No. I was like, “This is just a camera. How could this look cool?” I didn’t even know that is was going to be black and white.

TT: Black and white was a great choice.

SI: You didn’t even talk about it in advance?

YK: I knew nothing.

SI: Did she know (in advance)?

YK: She did. She knew exactly what she wanted to create. We did have this strobe (light) and sometimes we didn’t have the strobe…she was trying different things out. We actually (intentionally) shattered a mirror, but did it wrong, so everybody got cut! (laughs) The mirror shattered and the guys that were helping, these two sweet guys in this band.

TT: Was it filmed in LA?

YK: Yeah, in Protect Me’s practice space. A garage, all white. Literally, I was cut all the way down my leg, somehow, by this piece of mirror. She wanted it to shatter out, with us behind it. We did it twice. There was (pieces of) mirror on my neck…we were like, “What the fuck is this fucking bullshit?!” It was seriously like Little Rascals decided to do a music video!

TT: What is this amateur shit?!

YK: Yeah. Exactly! This is so ridiculous. How can this look good? And then…she and I hadn’t really been friends, in Austin, we had kind of dated the same person, so it was kind of weird. But then we were so proud of each other that we were able to develop this friendship because I had so much respect for what she did. So we are now friends after all these years and fully respect each other and it’s a really great thing. I was blown away by it. I had no idea.

TT: What’s next for Tearist?

YK: It’s been kind of confusing because now we’ve been trying to incorporate management type things. We’re more in this business world which I don’t…not that I don’t like it, but it’s hard. You barely have time to work on music because you’re so busy trying to figure everything out. So, we have a bunch of new songs that we are working on. We already started recording with this guy, Matt Boynton; he did the last MGMT album, Telepathe, Gang Gang Dance. So we already started some recording with him. So ultimately we’re going to be doing a full length with him. We have a bunch of shows coming up. The next one is with Telepathe on the (June) 16th, I believe, at the Echoplex. And Ford & Lopatin, they used be in a band called GAMES. And Sun Araw.

TT: Europe?

YK: Yes. We’re trying to figure that out right now. But I think we’re going to the Czech Republic and Berlin.

TT: Let’s have some fun and play some word association. I’ll mention some topics and you can do some riffing. Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music.

YK: Laurie Anderson. You know they were together?

TT: Really? Fischerspooner.

YK: My friend Lauren Flax was their DJ for a long time. So I’ve heard that name so much lately!

TT: Allen Ginsberg.

YK: No words.

TT: William S. Burroughs.

YK: Home of the Brave.

TT: John Cage.

YK: Substitute teaching. (laughs) You can ask me why!

TT: Should I? Why?

YK: I’m a substitute teacher sometimes and I was doing this music vocal class and we were doing beats, drops and stops. It was like, these second graders…and I was the teacher’s assistant and this kid was hearing (a beat) it in his head and was nodding his head…he basically (starts slowly clapping to a beat and nodding head), stop, stop, stop…as his phrase were all stops. And the teacher was like, “Okay, well, that’s great but that would mean that there was no sound. We can’t really…that’s not…you need a…that’s a good try but…” And I started clapping. I was like, “That’s amazing,” to this second grader, “Do you know who John Cage is?”

(I laugh)

YK: I swear to God. And the teacher was so mad. (to second grader) “You know, he did an entire piece based on rests and it was completely silent.”

TT: Indeterminancy.

YK: Yeah. “And he’s considered a genius. So you can go home and tell your parents that you’re a genius.” And this teacher’s so mad because everything he would say, he’d be like, “And is this music?” and he’d play a guitar. I’d turn on the water faucet and I’d be like, “Is this music?” and they’d go, “Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!” But it’s not what this teacher wanted to teach that all these things are allowed.

TT: Yeah. Rules. Convention.

YK: “Do you know who John Cage is? He’s a genius!”

TT: Roxy Music.

YK: Brian Eno. I immediately thought of the girl on that cover in that pink dress. I forgot which album, she’s wearing a pink outfit and she’s kind of leaning back. (Roxy Music Self-Titled) Their album covers were always so beautiful.

TT: Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew.

YK: Oh my God! Betty Davis! Do you know Betty Davis? My vocal hero, she was married to Miles Davis for one year. She fully changed everything about him, the way he dressed. This was into Bitches Brew; he was married to her for one year. She was this beautiful Nubian princess type, and her voice, she sounds like Tina Turner on fucking crack. I mean, seriously. It’s unbelievable! Married for one year to Miles Davis.

TT: The Stooges.

YK: New Values. Iggy Pop. Favorite.

TT: Sonic Youth.

YK: My mom saying that I sounded like Kim Gordon. (laughs) Isn’t that weird? She would always listen to it and she’d want me to sound like Kim Gordon.

TT: Lydia Lunch.

YK: Guitar. Percussive guitar. Amazing. Also, real cocky. Have you seen any videos of her talking about herself in the past tense? Jesus Christ. Oh yeah, her catchphrase every time she would end her shows she would always go, “Thanks for nothin’!”

TT: “…Assholes!”

YK: I always had something I said afterwards too, it started off as a joke and now I have to say it because I say it every time. And when I saw that, I was like, “Oh my God, she had one too!” “Thanks for nothin’!” and that’s the end of every show. And mine was like…

TT: “See ya later!”

YK: No! (sheepishly) “Thanks for coming, but not inside me.”

TT: Oh. Wow. Wow!

YK: It doesn’t even fit the set…but it’s for me and it was really funny when I first said it and I had to keep saying it. (laughs) But Will always gives me this look like, “Please don’t say it, please don’t say it, and please don’t say it loud.”

TT: Might we see that phrase on the back of a Tearist tee?

YK: Oh my God! Maybe.

TT: I need one of those t-shirts. Suicide (the band).

YK: Fuck. No Compromise. I have a Suicide book next to my bed.
Photos that accompanied Part 2 of the interview
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