There have been innumerable comparisons of Speedy Ortiz to Pavement. Sure, there are musical and vocal similarities, as singer and guitarist Sadie Dupuis also fronts the magnificently-titled Babement, an all-female Pavement cover band. But, Speedy Ortiz stands alone in its dissonance as it doesn’t come off as “throwback” in its reverence to 90s influences.
A large part of what makes the band a lot more interesting than other so-called 90s throwback bands, is the lyricism found in Major Arcana. If Speedy Ortiz had been around while I was in middle school, I would have written practically all of “Pioneer Spine” all over my spiral notebooks. That puts Speedy Ortiz in the same category as The Smiths, The Flaming Lips, Blondie, and (unfortunately) quite a few really shitty bands. But Speedy Ortiz would have probably migrated with me to my high school notebooks. In short, they’re one of the good ones. Below, the band talks about karaoke, CMJ, and ruminates on the complicated subject that is corporate sponsorship.
So one of you worked at a radio station?
Sadie: The two of us but Mike more so than me.
Mike: I still do.
Which one?
Mike: WXCI, it’s in Connecticut, like 90 minutes from here.
Nice, and I think you (Sadie) called in to request something and that’s kind of how you met?
Mike: She called multiple times. I only remember one specific [time] where you requested Self. You said play any Self song but “Cannon” ’cause I was playing “Cannon” too much.
What’s your favorite song to play?
Mike: I play experimental, noisy stuff and outsider music or whatever you want to call it. It used to be a nineties show.
Matt: Mike, one thing I really like about your show is how you reappropriate totally normal Top 40 songs to be outsider music.
[laughter]Mike: We used to do the Exceptionally Amazing Song of the Week which was usually like a 3Oh!3 remix by Andrew WK or some horrible Kesha song.
Sadie: Didn’t you play “Friday” like every week?
Mike: No, we played “Gimme Pizza (Slow)” a lot but we did play “Friday” at least once.
Sadie: You did the Sisqó thing too.
Mike: Yeah, Mandatory Sisqo.
What is that?
Mike: We played a Sisqó song every week for like a year. I got to learn a lot about Sisqó’s music. I heard that Sisqó was playing CMJ this year [and] I got really excited and like, two days ago he cancelled.
Sadie: I’ve seen Matt rip some Sisqó karaoke.
I was actually going to ask you about karaoke.
Matt: I don’t feel it was that good but I’m glad you guys liked it.
Sadie: Well you’re trying to live up to Sisqó.
Darl: Definitely the setting added a lot to the fact that you chose Sisqó. All those bikers wanted to hear country songs and then you doing Sisqó was pretty amazing.
Sadie, I heard that you do Aaliyah?
Sadie: Yeah I did Aaliyah karaoke this week even.
Nice. What song?
Sadie: I think I did “More Than A Woman”.
Do you all have any other go-tos?
Sadie: There’s this famous — it’s really a bar, but it’s also kind of a strip club in Atlanta. It’s called The Clermont Lounge and it’s famous for having strippers who are over 60. Blondie is like the really famous stripper [there]. There’s a documentary about her; she crushes beer cans with her boobs. It was karaoke night so we did “Torn” karaoke and one of the stripper’s dad’s was dancing.
Mike: So bizarre.
Sadie: One of the most surreal experiences.
So what’s the worst thing about CMJ and the best thing about CMJ as a band?
Matt: Parking.
Darl: Parking is definitely the worst, the best is probably Exploding In Sound.
Matt: [It’s] probably not much different than most shows we play in Brooklyn except there’s more product placement. It’s a little darker spiritually.
In line with product placement, I saw that you were talking about how you guys would never take Converse money.
Sadie: Nike’s known [for] sweatshop labor. I don’t see a reason to have to do it. I think it’s fine if somebody’s in a financial situation where they absolutely need money and that’s what they want to do. I don’t think any of us is comfortable enough working with a company that we didn’t really think was ethical so we didn’t.
Is that just for companies with questionable ethics or is that for any corporate sponsorship?
Sadie: I mean, I think we all have differing perspectives on this. I’m not against working with any company ever, although I don’t necessarily see it as something that benefits me as [much as] a company trying to market a lifestyle, which is really silly. Certainly it’s something that’s ethically dicey. I don’t think any of us would want to participate. We were trying to think of companies we would ever want to work with, just because we’ve been talking about this stuff lately. We were having a hard time coming up with any.
Mike: Thermos.
Sadie: Yeah, we’re down with Thermos.
Matt: Polar Seltzer, in western Mass.
Sadie: I said Kombucha. We’ll play a Kombucha showcase. Pokémon cards, we’ll go to the Pokémon cards studio.
Matt: We can’t un-hypocritically say we’re anti-corporate. We’re playing CMJ, you know.
Sadie: Dr. Martens is sponsoring the showcase tonight! We didn’t really know about it before we booked it but I like Dr. Martens. Whatever the reality is, they at least have a stance against child labor and have vegan shoes.
I think it’s cool that you’re at least trying.
Sadie: We just try to do our research I guess.
Mike: Yeah, it’s important to realize what we’re getting ourselves into.
It’s a more thoughtful approach rather than just “Yes, give me the money.”
Sadie: Yeah, the other one I’m more prissy about is Urban Outfitters. [They] do a lot of shows for bands and they pay them well. And they donate a ton of money to anti-gay causes and to Santorum. I’ve had friends in bands who are queer that have played Urban Outfitters and I’m like, “What are you doing? Why do you want to take the $700 that is really nothing to this company and supporting something that is the antithesis of your existence?”
So “Cash Cab.” Is that about the show?
Sadie: The song existed with a different title. Mike had said, “You should have a song called ‘Cash Cab’ ” a long time ago. Possibly even before this band existed he said that.
Darl: That’s a great show, I would love to be on that show.
Me too, but they cancelled it.
Sadie: So we’re not gonna get picked up by the cash cab this week?
No, unfortunately. But you know how when they reach their destination you can go double or nothing – would you do that?
Darl: The video bonus?
Yeah, would you do that or would you just take the money and run?
Mike: I would probably not, well if you’re really good at the questions [sure]. Me personally, I would probably get three strikes before that happens.
Darl: You already got the free ride, why not? Be like, “Fuck it I already got something so I’ll just go double.” They’re not gonna drive you back to where you were.
Sadie: I guess I’d rather have the secure thousand.
Darl: Oh that’s so un-fun.
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Interview by Alex Martinez. Follow her on Twitter at @xxalexm.
Photos by Jenny Regan. Follow her on Twitter at @jenny_regan.
