Post Show Thoughts: The C.I.A. at the Locker Room and a Conversation with Denée Segall

In between two high energy sets, DJ Al Lover kept the crowd Shazaming tunes in between the turnovers. Spinning mad men soul, hip-hop and punk jams in a flurry before the main event. It’s a true testament to this mans musical prowess that he adapts from show to show as main the DJ of Desert Daze and Levitation Fest. He’s got a repertoire of music that’ll make many avid collectors jealous.

 

 

Then came The C.I.A. The collaborative project between Emmett Kelly, Ty Segall and his wife Denee Segall. This band is not, however, a Ty Segall led vehicle. He is a background player – so to speak. This band is Denee’s through and through. As the singer and lyricist, it is her words that convey to the crowd the sense of anger and punk ethos that brings The C.I.A. into new exciting musical explorations for these musicians. Their “drummer” R.E. Carlos is a time keeping beast of a rhythm machine (actual drum machine.) But this punk dance outfit is unique in many ways due to Mr. Carlos – as Ty hits the switches between Tango and Bolero rhythms not typically used in dance-punk bands. They also employ a double bass attack (bass guitar that is) to create their songs. Distorted and phaser doused noisy bass. Meanwhile, Denee, also former bassist for the band Vial, fronts the mayhem with a calm and collected sense of assuredness much like the eye of a storm. She is our guide through it all … so we decided to catch up with her after the show and gain some inside perspective about the band and its inner workings. Without further ado here is our interview with Denee Segall of The C.I.A.

 

 

VV: As far as the lyrics, or concepts of the lyrics, like in ‘Pleasure Seeker’ or ‘Oblivion’ do you have specific goals set in mind? Is there a thematic theme to the album?DS: Not really. Um, I guess most of it is, you know, a lot of venting. So it’s mostly issues that I’m angry about. Well aside from ‘Pleasure Seeker’ that’s the nice, pop song. But yeah, I had a couple of poems that I had written when I was angry and when I was trying to get stuff out. I looked at those when we first started and took little pieces out that I liked and yeah. I had never really written much before so it was definitely a new experience.

 VV: You used to play in Vial? Did you write for them too or is this your first lyrical role?
DS: Crista did all the lyrics in Vial. I just did the bass lines but yeah, it was really collaborative.

VV: You never thought about doing a triple bass band then?
DS: Maybe for the next record. It couldn’t hurt.

VV: How long did it take for this record to come about?
DS: Well when we went to record we maybe had eight songs written. At the time, we had in mind to just do a 7 inch and the recording was so easy that we decided to record them all. So we decided to write two more songs and they wrote them that same day and I wrote lyrics that next morning. That was in February.

CS: Where was it recorded?
DS: At our home studio. It was very chill.

VV: So, people say being in a band is sort of like being in a relationship and obviously Emmett and Ty get along really well together and you and Ty are married, does that affect how you write with each other?
DS: Um, I mean honestly with these guys, it’s easy. I’ve been with Ty for 10 years and I’ve known Emmett for probably five and we’re really close friends so there’s not really much talking at all. It kind of just happens. It’s really nice. When you really know each other, you don’t have to say much.

VV: As far as touring now, will you guys do a full tour or do you guys prefer to do less shows? Maybe with bands, you appreciate like the shows with The Scientists?
DS: Absolutely. If we ever get an offer to play with The Scientist again, fuck yeah. We’re always down to play shows with bands that we love. We probably won’t do a whole lot of touring just because Ty and Emett are touring a lot and I have a day job so we’re going to try to do what we can. We did these four shows for the record release and we’re hoping to get over to the East Coast probably in March.

VV: Do Ty or Emmet ever get tempted to play drums in the band?
DS: I think everyone is content with what it is for now. But I feel like we’re all the kind of people that constantly change and evolve. I’m sure the next record will different.

CS: That’s the cool thing about not setting anything in stone, right? Having the ability to be fluid in what you create and how you create it. I think, from what I’ve heard tonight, that you guys really just play off the fluidity of what things are in the now and not setting anything in stone about how you’ll be in general.
DS: Yes, absolutely. I think that’s why this band works so well. Everyone is just really open to seeing what happens. You know, there are no rules and there is no construct specific to follow.

VV: So the times I’ve seen The C.I.A. play before you seem to have always changed wigs.
DS: A new wig every time, thank you very much.

VV: Is it every time?
DS: So far! I have some shelves in my office and they’re filling up. I love wig shopping.

VV: Do you wear them with any specific goal in mind?
DS: Um, I just want to buy more of them. I love drag and I thought that this is the perfect thing. I can change my wig every night. So I’m building my collection slowly.

VV: Yeah, it’s kind of like when buying effects pedals, right?
DS: yeah for me it’s wigs.

VV: As far as merch goes, your merch is pretty simple. Not a lot t-shirt designs.
DS: No, we thought about it and I played around with some stuff but we didn’t really find anything that we thought was great. So, we stayed with stickers, pins and kept it really simple.

VV: Same with the concept of the album cover. The black and white photography, very minimal.
DS: yeah

VV: Talk about the rest of the tour.
DS: We’ll be at the resident tomorrow, the 8th we’ll be at The Dildo Factory and the 9th we’ll be in San Francisco at El Rio.

VV: Any plugs? Places you’ll hit up on tour? Final words?
DS: Come to the shows, please. Gosh, I don’t know… Saigon Sandwich in San Francisco has my favorite Banh Mi. So if you go to the show, go there first and get a sandwich!