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THE COATHANGERS<br />
thick as thieves, Atlanta’s punk trio on the front lines in deperate times<br />
Nosebleed Weekend, released in 2016, is The Coathanger’s fifth<br />
full-length that followed a slew of 7-inch singles and EPs since<br />
their inception a decade earlier. Initially the Atlanta-based<br />
punk band started out playing parties and lived for that three-letter<br />
word F-U-N. But when Nosebleed came tumbling through clearly<br />
the band had evolved towards putting together a diverse mix of<br />
songs and styles that moved beyond garage-punk tapping into<br />
arty pop, putting a subdued spin on ‘90s loud-quiet alt-rock while<br />
revamping ‘60s girl group dance moves and harmonies. One review<br />
of the single “Down, Down” made a direct comparison to Nirvana<br />
and The Shirelles. While The Coathangers dug deeper into the<br />
past adding colours to their palette, they let maturity flourish but<br />
remained funlovin’. Stephanie Luke, aka Rusty the band’s drummer<br />
and vocalist, expanded on The Coathangers’ state of mind; living in<br />
big, bad America; and why their new live recording fell right in place.<br />
While there’s a lot of cheek, style and excitement in The<br />
Coathangers, your music, which embraces pop sensitivities,<br />
is often tough, even abrasive. In true punk fashion, the band’s<br />
irreverence punches through loud and clear song after song<br />
with a cynical detachment that you seem OK with. For instance,<br />
songs that you made recent videos for — ‘Nosebleed Weekend”,<br />
“Down, Down” and “Perfume” — they all feel connected in<br />
saying, “Yeah, we’re a bit removed from this relationship, this<br />
situation, and that’s alright.” You’re part of the scene, but not<br />
necessary in the center of it. Would that be correct?<br />
Yes you would be correct in saying that we can play around with<br />
words and in some ways be semi-cynical or snarky with our lyrics.<br />
But I wouldn’t say we are ever “removed from relationships or<br />
situations”, if anything we are smack dab in the middle of them! We<br />
are just being honest without taking ourselves too seriously because<br />
life, situations, relationships, etc. are so very serious. We try and find<br />
a bit of brevity amongst all the chaos.<br />
We all know Trump is a pathological dumb-dumb, but do you<br />
think with his stint as president and all the turmoil and polarization<br />
he’s brought about has been, in a sense, a good thing? In<br />
other words, the American right has openly played its cards and<br />
that’s no longer a secret to the country and the world. Now we<br />
have this clarity, we can confront or at least deal with the beast<br />
better. Yeah?<br />
This is the question we all are asking ourselves right? I wouldn’t say<br />
it’s a good thing having him as president, but I would say that it’s<br />
amazing how so many different groups of people (including the<br />
right, women, activists, LGBTQ community, etc.) have reacted and<br />
responded. Unfortunately, change usually comes with strife and<br />
Gang of Sisters: Stephanie Luke, Meredith Franco and Julia Kugel.<br />
PHOTO: JEFF FORNEY<br />
BY S. ALLEN and B. SIMM<br />
anger at the current political state. So we can only hope to push<br />
forward and try and create the right change for everyone, not just<br />
the elite few who run Washington.<br />
What do you think is the worst thing Trump has brought about,<br />
and how have The Coathangers reacted?<br />
What’s the worst? Uh everything, the wall bullshit is really upsetting<br />
to me personally as of late. We have responded by continuing to<br />
write about what we think, so stay tuned to our future releases.<br />
You had a “two-night stand” recording live at Alex’s Bar in<br />
Long Beach, one your favourite haunts, and played amongst<br />
tarot card readings, burlesque dancers, DJs and bunch of other<br />
sideshow attractions. How did that turn out?<br />
We called it Two Nights Of Magic With The Coathangers. We tried<br />
to revive some old songs as well as some current things that we had<br />
been playing. It was really fun, but a little nerve-wracking because<br />
you know you’re being recorded. The second night we were like,<br />
“Let’s just forget that we are recording this and let’s just go for it.” We<br />
wanted it to sound like an actual live show. If we had over-thought<br />
it, it wouldn’t have sounded right.<br />
Gang of Sisters. You’ve referred to yourselves as that, and others<br />
have made that reference as well. A gang stakes out its territory,<br />
takes a stand, declares an agenda. What would you say is the<br />
psychological territory The Coathangers occupy?<br />
Oooof! This is a big one! We are definitely a gang of sisters, thick as<br />
thieves! I’d say we simply just stand up for each other and support<br />
each other and help each other grow for the better. We hope that<br />
our beliefs and love that we give and present to our fans helps them<br />
just as much as we help each other. So c’mon and join our gang<br />
already, there’s always room for more!!<br />
The Coathangers play BIG Winter Classic, Jan. 25 at<br />
Broken City.<br />
22 | <strong>JANUARY</strong> <strong>2019</strong> • <strong>BEATROUTE</strong><br />
Nosebleed Weekend: a heart full of tough love.<br />
ROCKPILE
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