Q&A with the Gossip

The Gossip play soulful, blues-driven rock 'n' roll that can make you weak at the knees. The Olympia, WA, three-piece is fronted by Beth Ditto, a charismatic lead singer who stands around 5 feet tall but has the stage presence of a Jagger and some of the most robust pipes you'll ever hear in a female vocalist. Kathy Mendonca is on drums with Nathan Howdeshell (aka Brace Paine) on guitar. All three of them moved to Olympia from Arkansas, which "is so oppressive and depressing," Ditto says. "Kathy moved to go to school and Nathan went to get out of Arkansas. I went for the same reason as Nathan." Still, their new EP (Kill Rock Stars) is called Arkansas Heat. It "just sounded good," Ditto explains.

Nathan's guitar-playing and your vocals definitely have some 60s & 70s Mississippi/Memphis blues references.

Beth Ditto: Definitely, yeah. We all listen to different kinds of things and we all grew up on different music, but what we have in common is old music, blues, country and gospel. And we all have a lot of roots because we went to church.

I hear Mama Cass and Maria Muldaur similarities. Do people recognize these influences?

BD: I think they do. What sucks about it now are groups like the White Stripes and the Strokes, who play really stripped-down versions of this type of music.

Do you want to be categorized among those modern garage-rock acts?

BD: I don't think we fit in there at all, because we have totally different purposes. And we have a different sound. We're more punk than anything else.

Nathan Howdeshell: I don't know if we want to be lumped into any group. Some people say we're garage rock, some say we're a rock band. It's easier for us just to say we're a punk band. Even though punk is kind of a meaningless term these days, what it embodies means a lot to all of us. Punk rock is so powerful, different and abrasive. We want the Gossip to be like that, an abrasive and dangerous band that changes every record.

Nathan, let's talk about your guitar-playing. On the third song on the EP, there's this early Sonic Youth dissonance mixed with bluesy riffs.

NH: How does that one go, do you remember? Is that the one that starts off with don, and there's feedback, then?oh, it's called "Ain't It the Truth?" Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's cool that you recognize that, because we're all big Sonic Youth fans. I think they're one of the most important bands. Like Sonic Youth, the Gossip are into taking chances.

I've seen a Thurston Moore show or two like that.

NH: We all appreciate them a lot. We're a punk band, that's why we don't want to get lumped into this whole garage-rock genre. If we made up a song and I thought it was too rock, I would fuck it up just so it would be less rock.

Arkansas Heat is more low-fi and rawer than your previous album That's Not What I Heard.

NH: Yeah, it's more raw. And the next album is going to be weirder. We have new songs that are in the same vein as [Arkansas Heat], but they're a bit more dangerous, especially in the ways of tuning and the way Kathy plays the drums. We don't want to be an ordinary rock band.

That feeling definitely comes across live. The Gossip has always blurred the line onstage between the band and the audience. Where does all this energy come from?

NH: Like when the Ramones or the Contortions would play, it was mayhem. Bands are like performance art, it's a show. You go to see a band play, and if they give a little more, that's an added bonus.

Exactly. When I go to a concert, I wanna be entertained, I want to dance and have a good time.

NH: That's totally what we want to have happen. We'd like for people to go home and be like, "Yeah, I loved the Gossip show." And then they go back and listen to our record and it's twice as good as it was before.

That's what makes a band good.

NH: Yes. When you go see a band, the set should be able to fall apart at any minute. The amps should be about to blow up, the drums set should be about to fall over and the singer should be in the audience, running around and spitting on everyone. That's fun!

Have you had any coffee today Nathan?

NH: No, but I have ADD, so maybe that would explain it.

You have a tremendous amount of freedom being the only guitar player.

NH: Yeah, totally. It's awesome because it challenges me to make up stuff and not repeat myself.

The Gossip's songs tend to be either political or sexual.

NH: We have lots of politics. We're all about unity. That's another thing that makes us a punk band, because when punk first started, it was all about unity. Like moshing was just a way for kids to get close together when it started. And everyone, gay, straight, boy or girl, hanging out, fucking shit up and being punk, that is what it should be like now. That's what the Gossip is all about.

Fucking shit up?

NH: Yeah, fucking shit up, but doing it together.

The Gossip play with the Chromatics on Saturday, June 1, at Knitting Factory, 74 Leonard St. (betw. Church St. & B'way), 219-3055; and Sunday, June 2, at Maxwell's, 1039 Washington St. (11th St.), Hoboken, 201-653-1703.