Luscious Jackson - music group - Interview

The dream child of lead singer-bassist Jill Cunniff and singer-guitarist Gabby Glaser, Luscious recorded the tinny and terrific In Search of Manny for Beastie Boy Mike D.'s Grand Royal label in 1993 with powerhouse ex-Beasties drummer Kate Schellenbach and keyboardist Vivian Trimble coming in on two live cuts and staying for the ride. Though Cunniff's lyrics proffer a tart and ominous self-determination, her voice is a gorgeous embrace--as can be heard on "Deep Shag" and other unpolished pearls on next month's Natural Ingredients (Grand Royal/Capitol). The band were rehearsing extended instrumentals for Easy, a discocentric dance piece choreographed by Trimble for the Dance Theatre Workshop, when I met them in pairs in April. "The ladies on top is so delicious," a male voice chimed in on Manny, and I'm not about to argue with that.

KATE AND VIVIAN

GRAHAM FULLER: What's Luscious Jackson's prehistory?

KATE SCHELLENBACH: Jill, Gabby, and I all grew up in the East Village in New York. We were like a pack of kids roaming around. We started seeing bands like Bad Brains when we were thirteen, at places like Pier Three, Mudd Club, Danceteria. Later I played drums for the Beastie Boys. Jill and Gabby moved away, years went by, and when they came back into town I started jamming with Jill. Then Vivian came into the picture.

VIVIAN TRIMBLE: I had been a part of the performance scene in New York for years with people like John Kelly. My mother's a concert pianist and my father's an opera singer. I'd never pursued any of that seriously, but I started writing music for myself and for other directors and choreographers. I met Jill when we were teaching adult education together. The first time we all played together was at the Building, opening for the Beastie Boys. It was a big mess, but fun.

GF: You seem to have come out of nowhere--or maybe everywhere is more accurate.

VT: When we complain about touring, people say, "You've completely bypassed the first two or three steps of the ladder by not sleeping on people's floors and driving your own car," and they say it with a slightly accusing tone! Jill and Gabby have complete creative control of producing and mixing everything with [engineer] Tony Mangurian, and to get to that point a lot of artists have to suffer through labels thrusting producers at them. Maybe part of it is not knowing the rules or that we're older women and more self-assured. It's about making the rules that will satisfy you.

GF: How do the songs evolve in terms of the way each of you play your own instruments?

VT: Usually, Jill and Gabby have a riff and we'll write our own parts.

KS: You jam on it until something sounds good and you get a structure and see how it flows. But then there's also the writing in the studio, where Jill and Gabby will go in and sample drumbeats, or I'll do some beats and they'll sample those or Vivian's keyboard riffs. We try to keep everything playable live, because that makes a more exciting show. The drums might not sound exactly like they do on the record, but who can tell anyway when you're playing in a shitty club?!

GF: Vivian's keyboards seem to drip over the songs.

VT: Drip? That's good. I like that.

KS: She's the grated cheese that's sprinkled on the pizza.

VT: On Natural Ingredients, I do a lot more rhythmic stuff that feeds into the actual structure of the songs, as opposed to tripping lightly along the top--and then there's some of that, too. The whole record's pretty mellow, actually.

GF: "Pele Merengue" is like a carnival song--and just in time for the World Cup.

VT: Will anybody in this country even notice the World Cup? That's what I want to know. How the hell that song got written, I don't know. It was just one of those pulled-out-of-the-air things.

KS: People groove on it. A lot of our instrumentals are made up of cliches that we rearrange. We have a library of music in our heads so we can pick something out and say, "O.K., let's do that Procol Harum part."

GF: How do your personalities complement each other?

VT: Gabby and I are Gemini and Sag, so we get along automatically. Jill and I have this thing about yoga and maintaining a certain kind of health in what could be an unhealthy industry. Kate and I share a certain professional, organized approach to things.

KS: Gabby and I like to hang out and drink beer.

VT: Gabby and I watched the Olympic ice skating championships together.

KS: Gabby and I'd watch the Breeders when we toured with them.

VT: [to KS] You and Gabby are a good, rah-rah audience, almost moshers. Jill and I are usually backstage somewhere--

KS: --lighting incense.

VT: And trying to maintain a sense of calm.

GF: Are you in Luscious Jackson for the joy of doing the music?

VT: Hmmm, we might all have our own reasons.

KS: I love playing drums and I love playing loud. As long as I don't have to eat truck-stop food every day, then I'm going to be O.K.

JILL AND GABBY

GF: You two have known each other for years, right?

JILL CUNNIFF: We were pals on the Lower East Side, city kids hanging out.