Alice Magazine NYC - Chapter 3

Sugar, and spice, and everything nice. That’s what girls are made of, Right? What
about the ones that aren’t? The girls who don’t get up early on Sunday morning; The
girls who wear all black and jeans to a family BBQ in the (San Fernando)
valley in July and sneak away to have a smoke or two while everyone is down stuffing
their faces with baby back ribs. What’re those girls made of? Worms? - It’s better
than nothing and says a hell of a lot more for ladies like those in Bleached. The SoCal
trio, whose latest album, ‘Welcome To Worms’, resembles everything from Joan Jett &
The BlackHearts “Ridin’ With James Dean” to “Charlie Don’t Surf” off of The Clash’s
1980 release, ‘Sandinista!’. The acid washed, four-chord, surf-rock is nothing short of
reminiscent of everything we’ve been missing for decades. With a modern sparkle and
melodic twist that leaves the listeners and crowd goers completely engrossed. With
summer in full swing and more flower crowns and five panels than any early-spring
festival, I caught up with the girls at the 104.5 Block Party at the aptly named, Festival
Pier.
ALICE MAGAZINE: With the new album, ‘Welcome to Worms’, consisting of song
titles such as “Trying to lose myself again”, “Wasted on You”, “Desolate Town”,
“Chemical Air”, and the obvious “ Hollywood, We Did It All Wrong” it’s easy to say
Bleached has gotten a handle on embracing the darker side of life. Songs that
obviously depict that everything isn’t always what it seems in the land of money, fame,
and plastic surgery. How do you feel, being from California, other people misconceive
Los Angeles and the concept that everything isn’t always what it seems in Hollywood
and how confronting that is as a universal theme throughout this record, along with
facing and overcoming personal demons as well?
JENNIFER: Los Angeles has always been portrayed as the dream town of California
with perfect weather and beautiful people - but that bores me. I find beauty in the
darker, mysterious side of LA. The way my mind sees it is what inspired a lot of this
record. Sometimes I would get sucked into partying, being self-destructive and other
times I would find myself and need to escape to the desert seeking some peace of
mind. Ultimately what I learned is life’s a package, the good and the bad, and if life
were perfect we would be bored and ungrateful.
JESSIE: Los Angeles can be a very distracting place, so the need to escape it is
important sometimes to focus... But, I love it because it’s made me who I am today,
more so the San Fernando Valley where we spent a good portion growing up.
MICAYLA: LA has a toxicity to it that can be really distracting. I like living here now
because I find everything to be amplified and filled with extremes; extreme beauty,
wealth, and so-called idealized versions of human life, as well as the converse extremes
of poverty, competition, and despair. That polarity I find inspiring because it
forces me to reach inside and be myself. All I can do is face myself in the middle of a
chaotic sea of conflicts. It really is sink or swim. Eventually, I want to live somewhere
more relaxing and naturally beautiful.
AM: Jen and Jessie, as sisters, it’s clearly not a question of “how did you meet?” , to
state the obvious; But - at what point did you say to each other “let’s make music and
start a band together?” what was the catalyst for your musical endeavors together and
who were some of your initial influences?
JENNIFER: We used to go to as many shows as possible every weekend, it didn’t
matter who was playing we just wanted to see bands play. I was watching this opening
band one night called f-minus and there were two girls. That’s when it hit me that I
needed to start a band with my sister. I went home, picked up one of my dads’ guitars
and taught myself how to play. I had two records Blondie and The Slits and one VHS
video called “Girls Bite Back” that had the most amazing and inspiring video of
Siouxsie and the Banshees. I was obsessed and that’s what led me in my musicaldirection.
JESSIE: I had been playing bass at that time, so when Jen started playing guitar I was
super stoked to have someone to play with. I totally admit it, I was that girl singing or
playing bass in the mirror because I wanted to be in a band so bad! I was only like 12.
Around that time a neighbor gave me a tape of The Velvet Underground, and I had
this little jam box I would record songs I liked from the radio, but when I put that
tape on and heard the song Rock n Roll for the first time I was so excited! It wasn’t
like anything on the radio... And when that guitar solo kicked in, oh my god, I was
dying.
AM: Micayla, knowing you initially began playing with Bleached as a live member and
only began writing contributions on this most recent record, where and when did you
get your start in playing music? Did you have any bands or projects prior to this?
MICAYLA: I started playing about age 12 or 13 when I discovered The Beatles. I
spent the majority of my teens in my room learning to play Beatles on guitar, and
was fairly isolated from other kids. Then at 17 a girlfriend asked me to join her band
called The Tanks. I was immediately thrown into a world of musicians who were socially
awkward nerds like me, but all of a sudden we belonged and were even a little
cool! I had never considered being in a band before being asked to join that band,
but have somehow been in one ever since. Other serious projects if played in include
Clear Plastic and Only You, a few bands I started in LA that had great potential but
fizzled out too soon due to personal conflicts. I was so thankful to get hooked up playing
with Jen and Jessie because they had momentum and I had the energy to match
them and help push Bleached to rise to its full potential. I admire them both as true
artists and visionaries, and respect them and what they have built as a sister duo. I
also feel a real energy and pureness that comes when we write as a trio and I hope to
be able to keep the ideas coming and contributing on the next recordings.