Gina spent just over 10 years as guitarist with the LUNACHICKS - New York City's pride and joy. Today she's rocking out in a band called BANTAM...but she's doing it from center stage this time around. And we're very happy about that, dammit.
Soft-spoken and modest as fuck, Gina had me wondering if maybe was I talkin' to someone other than a Lunachick. I mean, if you've ever seen that band live or at least have heard their records - shy, sweet, and quiet does not come to mind. But the longer I spoke to her I began to recognize the well-placed sense of humor. And, of course, after hearing her new band BANTAM, I knew I had the same awesome guitar player on the phone line as I have in my record collection. But, ya know what? She doesn't even have a New York accent!! Yeah, I was bummed but decided to interview her anyway.

I've been wondering what the hell happened to all the ex-Lunachicks. And then Liz Velic at Advanced Alternative Media gave me a write up for my website about the NYC reunion show the Lunachicks had...
"Yeah, I saw it. Liz is the Bantam fan base, basically. Actually, Theo's site just went up today. It's ilovetheo.com. And Squid, she'll have a site eventually, I'm sure. She's got her band Team Squid... when I booked that reunion show she hadn't had a band then. She'd been talking about it for a long time. And I said, Look, I'm booking this show so you HAVE to get the band together. And she did. That was the fire under her ass. And that was Team Squid's first show."
[Follow me on this: The ex-Lunachicks - Theo, Gina, Squid, and Chip - used their new bands to open for The Lunachicks' own reunion concert. Got that? If not, go read about it on the View From You page.]

When did the Lunachicks stop being a band?
"The last show we played was July 2000. It was the Warp Tour. That was really the last thing we did. And then, in April 2002 we did the reunion."

Who are the guys in Bantam?
"Pete the drummer I've known for years...There used to be this NY party called Squeezebox every Friday night. It went on for years. I was in the house band, and so was Pete. We played cover songs, backing up drag queens. We started Bantam about two years ago, maybe a year and a half ago. And, Doug the bass player joined last October..."

Is the self-titled CD you have out right now the only recording?
"Well, I put out an EP. It was more like a demo. It had 4 songs and I shopped it around but was getting really impatient with the lack of response. I mean, everybody liked it, but, I don't know. I wanted to make a record, so I got a little money together, took the EP and added those songs to the rest, and made this record."

I think it's safe to say the Lunachicks were well known. With Bantam, do you find people approaching you for interviews cuz you're the girl in the band, the ex-Lunachick?
"I don't really know if it's because of my gender. It's really because I'm singing. And THAT is something that's new to me because being the singer automatically makes you the front person. I don't really know why that is. That's the way our culture kind of processes it. You're the focal point. That's weird for me. And people call me 'the singer' now, and I feel like saying 'I'm the guitar player too...Hello....' It's kinda weird how people don't acknowledge my musicianship because they focus more on the vocals. Ya know, I'm a guitar player first."

Let's talk about the CD...
"We recorded in the coolest studio in the world. It's an old time theatre. It was one of the largest in NY in the twenties, or before? When did they have silent movies? It's on the Lower East Side on Clinton Street. Ray Martin, who produced (The Lunachicks' album) Jerk of All Trades, he bought it and turned it into a studio. The ceilings are just massive. The sound is so huge. The control room is all the way at the top. Ray would come out of the control booth and be at the top of the stairs and shout: 'That sucked! Do it again!'"

Did you opt to record with computers like everybody else in the world? And, by the way, what is the big deal about using computers to record now?
"We used all analog tape. The big deal? Money. You do it at home on computer, it costs next to nothing compared to if you got into an analog studio. You have to pay , , a day. Using a computer, you can cut out all that cost; and the cost of tape, which is very expensive also. Computers allow people who don't have the financial backing to be able to record, which is cool. I just don't think it sounds as good. I mean, I can tell the difference. There are some really amazing things you can do with computer. You can mimic a lot of sounds. And make it sound analog. But, I'm really happy the way we did it. I've had so many recording experiences, and I'd have to say this is my best experience...even though I spent all the money I had to make it. It was worth it."

A lot of bands are doing this though, selling their music independently. They hate it and love it at the same time. And, shit, it gives the bands total control...
"Right. Exactly. There's nothing more satisfying than getting email from someone who's bought the record...Or, opening my mailbox and being able to take that money and put it right back into the band account. Ya know, with labels you NEVER see the money. You never see your share. You never know where it's going. Some labels are really good, but I personally have not had that experience with actually being able to get paid from the label. Most people, I think, don't realize that Heavy Nose Records is just me in my kitchen. It's a totally new experience for me. I've never had to do all the work myself. It's kind of a lot. It's, like, oh my god what have I gotten myself into.

"In the past, a band having its own record label was considered going backwards in pursuit of success. Today, a band that has its own label is, like, probably a big part of what's to come in the future...
"It's kinda great that musicians and artists can just totally take control of their own destiny. The down side, though, is it is a lot of work. I'm so busy making phone calls and sending faxes and standing in line at the post office that I haven't picked up my guitar in weeks. It's kinda hard to find that balance. It's just very time consuming to do this all by yourself."

Do you have a favorite track off the record?
"I think either 'Come Undone' or 'Dirty Machine'. Just musically. I think the world is divided into two kinds of people: one who listens to music for lyrics, and one who listens to the music. That's me. People say, But you're writing the lyrics! I'm like, Don't pay attention to the lyrics, they're not meant to be listened to! They're just vehicle to carry the melody."

If music comes first with you, do you think that lyrics can maybe come from the music?
"The music will certainly set the mood, and a parameter for subject. I write music and melody simultaneously. Then, I have to find lyrics that fit in with all the inflections of the melody. Usually, I'll sing a song with nonsense lyrics for a long time until I force myself to sit and write the lyrics."

I have this insatiable need to find out how music is made. Musicians I talk to don't always have a straight-ahead answer for me...
"I think you can write a song in about two seconds. Writing the song is easy. I think what happens is that we all are constantly self-editing ourselves. What comes after is a long process of de-constructing and re-constructing, and putting it all together to where it is exactly what you had intended. And that's the hard part. But, really, you can sit down with any instrument and come up with a song instantly, which is amazing. It's just a matter of letting go of all your inhibitions, and being able to just keep going with it."

What do you do if you get an idea for a song but don't have your guitar near?
"If I'm walking down the street and I get a melody I start singing out loud, looking like a mental patient. Or, I'll call my answering machine and sing into it. And then when I get home I listen to it and go, Oh my god what was I thinking? A lot of times I hear other songs playing, like, somewhere in the distance - if I'm walking down the street or in a store - and somehow my brain kind of processes its own version of the music I'm hearing, and then kind of goes off on a tangent. And then, I'm like: Wait a minute, it would sound really cool if blah blah blah. And then I've got a new song, inspired by something I faintly heard in the background. That's kinda cool when that happens."

Do you ever get shy when bringing a new song to your band mates?
"In the Lunachicks, certainly. We were more of a democratic function. Everybody kinda had to like it in order for us to do it, y'know. If one person had strong views against it, then it may be harder to do. I've certainly had songs shot down by other members of the Lunachicks. And, so have they. But in Bantam, I write all the songs. It's pretty much my band, and, those guys just gotta do what I say! [Gina giggles at her forced authority, and I giggle cuz I could hear a faint trace of a New York accent in that authoritative voice] I mean, it IS my band. And it's funny 'cause most people - I've read some things about myself and they say: 'She's playing in that band now' or 'She joined that band'. They don't realize it's my band. I just didn't name it after myself. I felt stupid doing that. The guys wanted to call the band VOLPE, which is my last name... I'm a little bit shy in that sense." [Until now, I never knew Gina had a last name, did you?]

The Lunachicks, along with L7 and some lesser-known bad ass chicks, were featured in the 1992 documentary Not Bad For A Girl. At the end of the film, while credits are rolling, I think, you're kicking back on a couch playing some AMAZING blues guitar stuff. It blew me away...
"...Thanks...!"

So, my question, Gina, is, uh, what don't we know about your musical background??
"I listen to EVERYTHING. I have a pretty big music collection. Blues is the whole reason why I started playing guitar. I've always loved the blues, always wanted to be a blues guitar player. Even with my Mohawk and while listening to my Cramps records, I wanted to be a blues guitar player. I listen to a lot of Delta blues and really old time country blues. I got a banjo last year, which is really exciting. I know how to finger pick, so I can fake it. I play harmonica, too. I just want to be an old black man. That's my aspiration in life. Ideally, I would like to have a collection of instruments from all over the world. There's so much great music out there. I listen to blue grass. I listen to blues. I just got a bosa nova record from Brazil last night. I listen to African music, Indian music. And heavy metal and punk rock. I actually wrote and recorded a song with the banjo. Aside from Bantam, I'm also just recording solo stuff in my apartment, with friends. That's another dream of mine, to eventually have another record out that's not so rock but more weird and eclectic. I've got a lot of stuff that I recorded just bangin' on pots and pans and using weird samples. It's not rock at all."

What are your non-music interests?
"I paint. I'm an artist, an illustrator. I get hired to do that some times. And I do graphics too, which I get hired to do some times. I have another website - bonvolpe.com - and that's my illustration site. I did a lot of illustration for the Lunachicks. Like, I don't know if you have any of our records..."

I have every one of those damn records...
"Okay, on Luxury Problem - that illustration is mine. On Pretty Ugly - the illustration in there is mine. On the first EP I have an illustration on back, the googly-eyed monster guy. If there's big eyes poppin' out of the head, or a tongue comin' out of the mouth - yeah, that's me. I did the 'Plug' single too, and, all of our stickers and tee shirt ideas. Not all of them, but a lot of them. Theo also does illustration. That's how we know eachother. We went to art school together."

Do you sell this stuff ?
"Um, yeah. I do. Aside from illustrations I also do crafts. I make clocks and ashtrays and toys. For a living I work on film and video sets, making props. Yesterday I completed this giant prop in my living room. I don't have a studio to work in, and the studio where the film was being made was in Hoboken, New Jersey and I didn't feel like traveling out there, so I made this prop in my living room. It's this giant hooker's high heel. It's 8-1/2 feet tall and 5 feet long. We had to move it from my apartment to down stairs - it was such a spectacle. It musta looked so funny to see this giant patent leather high heel with fishnet stocking come out of the front door."

Did you build the illustration website you have?
"Yeah, pretty much. That's why it's all spastic. I don't know what I'm doing. I'm a beginner at all that. It only has two pages up."

And, you sell your CD through your Bantam website, right?
"Yeah, I have minimal distribution. But, it's coming along. I just got our record into Tower Records in New York, which is very exciting. Also, we made a video [for the awesome track, 'Waiting For Rescue'] and sent it off to MTV and M2 last week. I'll find out next week if they add it to the play list. And if they do, it'll be a lot easier to get distributors to take on the record."

When you were in the Lunachicks did you make any enemies while on the road that have come back to haunt you with Bantam?
"You know what's funny, being in the Lunachicks and having a label behind us, I kinda took all that for granted. Like, I never really could appreciate how much work actually went into putting out a record. And, how many contacts and how much of a network you really needed to do it right. And so, my regret is that I had an opportunity, a wealth of contacts and people that I never cared to know or be social with when I was with the Lunachicks. And now, I'm calling 'em up going, Remember me? And they're like, Yeah, you were really snotty to me! I wasn't snotty. I was just a social re-tard. I never wanted to talk to anybody."

Yeah, but, really, how much does the record label allow you to interact with media other than a basic Q&A session, a 10-minute meet and greet? The reps tend to be the buffer that keeps business crap out of your hands, right?
"Well, they usually do it so you don't have to, yeah. But, even when you go to clubs and meet the promoter - I never cared to talk to them, or thank them for the show. Well, that's not true. In later years, I learned that that's actually proper etiquette. But, I never thought then that I should keep contact with this person cuz they might be interested in something I'm doing in the future. Hindsight is 20/20."

Have you ever heard any funny rumors about yourself?
"Um, yeah. Somebody told me - and I can't remember if this is a rumor I started or someone else started - the rumor that I was Lou Ferrigno's daughter. I don't know if anybody knows who Lou Ferrigno is..."

Yeah, he was The Incredible Hulk...
Yeah! Exactly! There were more rumors around the other girls. The rumor that Theo was married to Dexter Holland of The Offspring went on for a good seven years. And then, for years everybody thought Squid was pregnant...Oh, and everybody just thought we were gay."

Uh, two words...your drummer Becky Wreck...
"She went on the lesbian Dating Game on the Howard Stern show. Regardless of that, there's this idea that if you're in a band - a hard rockin' band - you must be lesbian. That's just what everybody assumes."

I think it's like nine out of ten female bands are straight. If they're tellin' the truth...
"Well, it's mixed, ya know. I never considered us a totally straight band. But, we certainly weren't all lesbians. There was always, ya know, some - and some not. And some - some times...."

That probably goes for a lot of bands - both boys and girls...ya think?
"Yeah. I think so. Totally."

Did Squid ever use you as a guinea pig in her early career as a tattoo artist?
"I don't have any tattoos. I always wanted to get tattooed, and then right when I finally decided I was gonna do it this whole big boom, craze, fashion of everybody getting tattoos happened. And it just lost its appeal to me...and then, with everybody tattooed around me I felt if I got tattooed I'd be a conformist. I have commitment issues anyway...."

Did the Lunachicks ever show up to play a gig on the wrong day, or at the wrong club?
"I'm sure that's happened a million times. Let me think. One time, we showed up at a gig and it'd been canceled and nobody told us. We'd get lost all the time. We got locked in a club once. [NOTE: As Gina calmly tells of this experience I'm barely listening cuz I'm laughing my ass off. All I'm thinking is, What a great Spinal Tap moment. And I'm totally laughing with eyes tearing, belly achin' - but Gina keeps on chatting in an even tone, very nonchalant, very aware of the humor but playing it straight-faced.] We were all in the dressing room, which was way upstairs. We were hanging out after the show, and finally we decided it was time to leave. We get downstairs, the door was pad locked. No way out. We were just totally stuck. We were ringing the alarm, yelling for help. And then, like a couple hours later, the guy came and finally let us out. [Gina politely allows me to compose myself again.] That was in London...."

When did you experience your first earthquake?
"Earthquake? Really?! That was actually a few months ago in December, here in New York. Manhattan is on a fault line. The earthquakes here are usually really small, and nobody feels them. I was on the phone with my sister who lives in San Francisco. We're talking and all of a sudden I hear the loudest BOOM, and the whole building shook. It felt like a truck had just run into the building. It was like, for a split second it shook, and then, settled. I was like, Holy shit! I ran and looked out the window. There was no truck outside. I explained it all to my sister and she says, That was an earthquake. And the next day, sure enough, it was in the paper. It was really exciting. I always wanted to be in an earthquake."

Can you explain a chocolate egg cream to me?
"You don't know what chocolate egg cream is?? Oh, you poor soul. All it is - and I make pretty damn good egg creams - is chocolate syrup with seltzer and a splash of milk. No eggs involved."

What were you doing just before I called?
"Eating fake bologna. It's Soy bologna 'cause I don't eat meat. And I was online being a dork, and answering emails. And! I was talking to the guy at Tower Records about our CD being there. I'm still very excited about it."

If you had to choose one, would you rather play a set to a full house with your guitar out of tune, or to an audience of four - including the bartender - with guitar in tune?
"Well, if we were out of tune would they still like us? If they're booing us, then I'd rather play to a room of four people than a full room that hates us!"

Do you ever tell either of your band mates that he's not bad for a boy?
"Honestly, I've only ever heard that once in my whole life. That was like fourteen years ago. It was Becky's brother's girlfriend. She's the only person that ever said that to me. She said, 'You're a good guitar player, I mean, for a girl.' It was weird. I was like, Thanks...oh, wait...Hey now! It was like she gave me this compliment but then all of a sudden she felt compelled to, like, add that little bit at the end...Ya know, I see so many females in music right now, but for me it's always been like that. I just know so many amazing female musicians that that kind of thinking is something I luckily don't come in contact with very often."


Ya know, the Lunachicks hung in there for a long time...
"Yeah...we did..."

Do you realize that becuz of that endurance, The Lunachicks more than likely inspired a lot of female musicians?
"Um, well, girls have come up to me and thanked me for inspiring them. And that makes me feel, like, WOW. It's kind of hard to believe that you might have made a difference in somebody's life. And, to have them come up and tell you so? That's pretty amazing to hear. If I can inspire somebody to do something, then it's a chain reaction. Then, they can inspire somebody else. In that sense, I hope that the Lunachicks had an affect. And I think that we have. That's probably one of the most rewarding things I can think of."


www.bantamnyc.com

www.bonvolpe.com

www.lunachicks.org