Episode 791: Imperial Teen

[00:00:12] Remember Roddy, you were kind of between Wendy's place and then that other place. That weird other place. It wasn't weird. The room was in the back and there was a bathroom and it was small. Kitchen, living room. I don't know. I can't remember. That's when you were all over moving a lot, you know.

[00:00:30] I had a fire and I was moving from place to... Not even like a Vegas glimmer of recognition on his face at all. Not at all. Well, there was a period in which I had a fire and then I was moving from apartment to apartment. So I was like, but I don't remember the band being in all of those apartments. We went to Wendy's place. You were in that place before, Lynn? Wendy's? Yeah, I know that. But then before Wendy's, I was in a weird place in like on the West Village that was really tiny, like downstairs, had a little patio. I don't know, whatever.

[00:00:59] We were there. We're not there anymore. It's good to see you again. As I was talking to Carolyn about this, you know, she's saying there's going to be some combination of members of the band and that's something that I appreciate and I feel like you're always making a concerted effort to get multiples of you on interviews. Yeah, we do for the most part. We try and mix it up and like usually it's all four of us. Sometimes, I don't know, lately we've been doing

[00:01:29] three and twos, I guess. Yeah, for the Zooms and stuff, we try and get as much of us as we can, but we prefer it that way at least two because, I mean, we are such a band. Like we work as such a unit, you know, like we're churning and burning like together and separately for the same thing. So, it makes sense to have a couple of us more than just like one spokesperson, but sometimes, yeah, it works out there.

[00:01:56] For Roddy specifically, maybe a bit of a change. Because the book came out in paperback recently. It came out last year. So, I'm guessing you were doing just like a year or two of these just totally solo. Kind of. It was more like, I mean, I guess I did a lot of podcast stuff with writers. I think you do more podcasts, but like mostly it was in-store readings and sort of book events.

[00:02:22] But yeah, always solo, which is different for me. I've always done band stuff my whole life. So, it's like, yeah, it's rare that suddenly I was like, oh, out by myself. So, did it feel more vulnerable or awkward? It was kind of, it was pretty great, honestly. Like just the whole logistics of jumping into a book thing is like, all you have to do is just bring a book. You know, it's like there's no sound check, there's no equipment, there's no van, there's one hotel room and a book.

[00:02:52] And that's all I'd have to bring. So, I would do a book tour and just like go from event to event to event. And then it's just kind of like me just talking basically. And it was kind of liberating and empowering. I liked it. It was just like you kind of can't go wrong sort of, you know. It's just like I was just talking about myself. Yeah, yeah. There's no arguing it.

[00:03:17] There's no like there's no sort of there's no representation of what. Like I didn't have to recreate things. I didn't have to like, you know. And if I did anything, it was just like reading from the book that I've already written. It was an easy process. But at the same time, it was very sincere and it was really deep. And it was an intense connection with people. I did one, that one that I did. And we, Imperial Teen just finished a little West Coast tour.

[00:03:45] And in Portland, I did one after the tour that was really intense. There weren't that many people there, but it was so intense. It's like stuff comes up. Like, I don't know. It's an intense book I wrote. And the questions that people ask and the type of people that kind of show up and engage in what for whatever reason, what I've written. It's it's a little bit intense. I like it, though. It's it's cool. I didn't know it was intense, Roddy. You didn't tell me us that, but it was. Yeah, we haven't really talked about it so much. I mean, after we all went home, we didn't really talk about it.

[00:04:14] We talked about like, you know, like band stuff. But like, yeah, it was intense. From he lives in Olympia. He's really fun. I just kind of met him. And he did it with me. And it was that he asked really provocative questions. And it took us all in the room to a very dark and specific place. It was intense. Could not be intense. I actually I want to. It's funny because I was reading an interview that I think all four of you did recently.

[00:04:43] And I think it was Roddy specifically, if I'm reading this pull quote directly, a nice little you described the band as being about, quote, a darkness, an intrigue, a sexuality and a journey. Which is a nice little encapsulation. Where does the darkness part come in? And is that a through line over the last 30 or so years? I don't know. I think there's a darkness.

[00:05:12] I think what we present pretty much like on a consistent level is like a sense of pop and maybe a sense of like innocence and a sense of not cheerfulness, but definitely like stuff with a smile. And I think it's our sort of reaction when people sort of like getting too much of that from what we do to sort of lean into like we're kind of have a darkness also as people.

[00:05:41] I don't know, especially like right now and what the world is going through. I think we sort of I mean, we're not all smiles like there's I think it's a reaction from us though, honestly. It's like, no, we're not like a cheerful bubblegum pop band. We have some depth and we have a lot of darkness in our lives. I know in all of our specific lives and what we go through individually, like it's a lot. You know, I've had just personally like my book is I explain a lot what I've been through.

[00:06:11] But like just in the past like 10 years, there's been a lot of suicide. There's been a lot of death. There's been COVID. There's been, you know, drug addiction and just like intense things that are dark. And I think I don't know. I think we all individually go through a bit of a darkness and exploring music through it is sort of one of the ways we get by. Yeah, there's definitely a through line of darkness just as much as there is through line

[00:06:38] of hope and, you know, community, friendship, like sort of leaning on those things. You know, I mean, we've all had I've had a lot of death around me in the last few years of addiction and just losing people close to me for whatever reasons. Yeah. Yeah. And like the we're not a political band, but we certainly are. I mean, I'm I'm engaged. You know, I'm not a I like to stay informed.

[00:07:09] And I have some young people in my life who ask me about like stuff that's going on and it's compared to how it used to be. And, you know, even if it's just even like in music and being in a band to women's rights, feminism. So, yeah, I mean, we have we have there's a lot of substance after all these years of making music. And individually, when we come together, it's abound.

[00:07:35] Yeah, I saw it described in an interesting way that, you know, Lilah, I know you being politically engaged and that but everybody in the band, regardless of whether. They're, you know, tuned to the news or not, because, you know, that has its own obvious toxicity if you're constantly watching headlines.

[00:07:58] But, you know, the simple act of sort of existing and singing about the things you sing about and living the lives that you live about is. For better or for worse, kind of a political act at this point. Yeah, I guess I guess so. That's a good point to bring up. I mean, yeah, just sort of naturally, I think who we are and the people that we are, you know, two of us in the band are gay and sort of living through that and like living that

[00:08:28] reality and sort of just like being who we are and presenting ourselves in a world that's, you know, you know, mostly straight or whatever. It's like, it's just like as I think you're being. Yeah, I think just naturally presenting ourselves in the way that we do to women playing in a band, just doing what we do, like what we all do, just like by representation, what we do just naturally just kind of comes out. It is. Yeah, I agree. It's a political act.

[00:08:56] We are a political band, whether we like it or not. That's just who we are and what we do and the struggle that we struggle with and who we how we do what we do. It's yeah, it's political. It's political, but the nuance is different. We don't go out and, you know, say stuff on stage and stuff like that. But just by who we are and what we've been through and our beliefs and our system and the way we work together in our community. Yeah, we're definitely that. I think it's interesting, too.

[00:09:25] I mean, Lilah, I guess you discussing what you've been through in recent years, you know, I've felt it to a lot. I'm sure a lot of people have, especially lately. But it strikes me, too. I mean, the band first hit my radar with the first album because I'm from the Bay Area originally. And it was actually like you were played on the radio, like, you know, and like the alternative rock stations like year one.

[00:09:54] Live 105, wasn't it? Live 105 and KOME were the two like alternative rock stations that were playing you. But it strikes me as we're discussing this that in a lot of ways, maybe that first album kind of came out of a similar place, right? That kind of came out of a lot of sort of tragedy that was happening in and around people's lives at the time. I think I'll go first and then Roddy can go.

[00:10:22] But yeah, it was kind of a lot that came into that. It was Roddy and I kind of were just bouncing around starting a band, but we were kind of serious about it. I had just been in Sister Double Happiness and the Dicks and I kind of want to get out from behind the drum kit and just do something less, just more poppy, more rigid, a little bit. I don't want to say new wave. One of those things you accomplished at the drum kit, maybe not so much, but. Right, right. A couple songs. In the beginning, it happened a lot more, but now it's just we kind of are in our spots.

[00:10:51] But I wanted to kind of drum differently, like more succinct, more like, you know, Charlie Watts or Hugo from Gang Four, you know, like just more like that. I kind of wanted to do that. And then I did sing. I played bass and sang on a couple of songs, you know, on that first couple of records. And also just, you know, Joan was in our, we were in a hardcore punk rock band called The Rex. And then she and I were roommates.

[00:11:19] And then it just kind of all came together, Roddy New Will through some mutual community in L.A. And, yeah, we kind of came together with all of our different places and just made and just did that. And it was very, it happened quickly and it was rather frivolous in some ways, you know. We just did it so fast and just, yeah, this is a song. Okay, next, let's write another one, you know. And then Roddy had a couple songs he had already. And yeah, you can elaborate on that.

[00:11:48] Yeah, we kind of came from a place. It was like we were definitely, like, I mean, forming a band is such a special place in the band's history. Like, why do you do that? Why are you creating a band? Why do you want to do this? You know, and at that point, like, Lilah was, like, going through stuff. I was going through stuff. I had had, like, basically, I think, like, at the end of a nervous breakdown, like, my father had died. Some really close friends had died. I was dealing with, like, I had just gotten clean. I'd been, like, on drugs for a while. And I'd been doing this sort of, like, thing with Faith No More for a long time.

[00:12:18] And I was just kind of at the end of a rope. And looking for just some engagement with friends. And I think that was a direction we, I turned to that everyone kind of made themselves available to was just, like, what became our family. Like, Lynn and Roddy and Joan and Will. We just, like, it was a place we were able to sort of come to together that was away from

[00:12:44] sort of the, kind of the stuff that I was going through, the depression that I was going through personally. And it was a safe place. And it was, like, this, like, yeah, frivolous, like them were saying. It just felt good. It felt good to sort of, like, come together and have this safe space to be able to create and make music in ways we hadn't before. But it definitely, for me, came from a place of darkness that was like, oh, my God.

[00:13:12] I talk about it in my book a lot, but it really kind of saved my life at that point. Yeah. And for me, too, like, I was with Imperial Team sort of came just with the four of us and just whatever, however we got there. A little bit of fashion, a little bit more art and ball. You know, like, more, it was a little bit more, what do you call the word? I'll get it. But it's just that all came naturally. And that was good for me because I was, like, the only girl in the band for a long time.

[00:13:40] And I was, like, always, like, I mean, I was just kind of a tom girl. Like, it's probably, you know, I'm supposed to say that anymore, but that's what I was. Or tom boy. That's fine. Yeah. And a tom girl. And, yeah, and just from the olden days of, like, you know, not being able to get backstage because, you know, you're a groupie and you're not in the band to, like, just all this nonsense and the boy rock world, which I'm sure Roddy dealt with all the time, you know. And just sort of also, you know, I mean, I love playing hard, but it was, like I said,

[00:14:09] it's just a different approach to the whole band thing, every aspect of it. Does that mean that there weren't specific expectations or there wasn't, I guess, a lot of internal pressure as far as when the band was first developed? Totally. I mean, the only pressure that came to us was, like, someone wanted to book a show with us and were like, oh, God. Okay, well, we've got to write a couple more songs and, you know, like that kind of thing.

[00:14:36] But it really was just, like, I mean, this kind of says it all. Like, Roddy's had a studio and we went in there, right? Wasn't that the first time we were practicing and we couldn't find a microphone stand, so we tied some T-shirts together and hung it over like a drum boom stand. And, you know, we just kind of, like, we were going to do this no matter what. Like really DIY. Yeah, we were just going to do this no matter what. And we did. We just did it. And all those things. And that said, though, yeah, that said, it became something very quickly.

[00:15:04] Like, we were so naive and we kind of leaned into that like we'd never done. Like, I'd never played guitar or sang before. Lim was playing drums in a different way and stepping away from the drums. Joan was doing something for the first time. Will had never been in a band. And so we kind of leaned into what we were doing and just sort of embraced that. But it became clear very quickly, like within like two sort of rehearsals. Like, we had something really special. And we created sort of a demo with just like our early songs.

[00:15:34] And we played a show. And those songs were like, I don't know. I did have expectations for them. They were really magical. They were so accidental and weird and charming and just special. And I remember we sent the demo tape that we made to like the San Francisco Weekly or the Bay Guardian. I can't remember which paper it was. And right away, it got chosen as like demo of the week, which is such a small weird thing. Yeah, the cassette. But it was like recognition for that.

[00:16:04] It's like, yeah. It was like these songs, they were really, really special, you know. And it became apparent really quickly. So quickly, if not from the very beginning, but pretty quickly, I think we all kind of had high expectations. And I guess we were lucky in a way, too, because especially in the Bay Area, like there was a little content with me and Roddy, you know. So we could kind of start that. So that probably got a little spark started.

[00:16:31] And then we were nothing like our other two bands. So that, you know, and we, yeah. To pull on something, Roddy, that you said when you described it as being a safe space and what that means. I mean, obviously, you know, there's sort of the broader things that everybody in the band was going through in their lives at the time. But what does it mean musically for it to have been a safe space at the time? I think it was kind of no holds barred, like anything goes.

[00:16:59] Like in terms of what we were trying and creating amongst the four of us, it was like anything goes. If I wanted to play drums, I could do that. If Lynn wanted to step in front and like play the bass or try the guitar, there were no rules. And I think that was a safe place to be. We'd been doing what we'd been doing in the way that we'd been doing it in a really systematic sort of archaic way for kind of a long time. Like I'd been on a Faith No More train for a while.

[00:17:27] And it went into this sort of like routine, like scheduled, like rock thing. And like Lynn was talking about like just the dynamic of like women in rock. She'd been sort of playing in this field of music that was like so strict and the parameters were so narrow in terms of being a woman in that place.

[00:17:48] It just felt like when we started doing what we were doing, the four of us, it was intentionally that was definitely a credo. It was like anything goes. Any of us could sing. Any of us could play whatever instrument we wanted. Any of us could like whatever, throw whatever they wanted into the mix. And that was a safe place. Again, sort of getting back to what we were talking about earlier in terms of darkness.

[00:18:18] And I think maybe something that both of you were getting at a little bit is discussing it is kind of a way of pointing out that, yeah, that there's more depth to this band than just being a pop fan. But yeah, I mean, you are like musically, right? I mean, a lot of these songs are pop songs, which is great. And which is what makes it a lot of them accessible.

[00:18:43] But there does seem to be, in a lot of cases, a very sort of concerted effort to kind of juxtapose some of the darker themes. And I don't know, and maybe something that's a little faster or a little more energetic makes it a little bit more palatable or an easier way to deal with a difficult topic. Are you speaking about a specific song or just in general? Yeah.

[00:19:11] Just generally speaking, you know, just again, sort of dealing with heavier subject matter through pop songs. Yeah, I guess that kind of started off right away, like with Butch, right? Or Your One, right? That was off the first record. And then, yeah, I guess that's, yeah, that's just kind of what we do. Yeah, I think we were aware of that.

[00:19:41] Like what we were doing and the way that we were creating music was really kind of innocent. And like I was saying before, we were leaning into the naivete of sort of like, I'd never played guitar before. Like I didn't even know, like I knew what distortion was. But like the first show we played, like Will and I didn't even have distortion pedals. It was so simple and so just like the execution of the actual music like could only be kind of like this poppy thing.

[00:20:07] But we were aware of like skewing that in a way. And we wanted to bring a darkness into it. Like the first record is called Seasick. You know, like the presentation of it is like cheerful and bright and a smiling dolphin and yellow and bright colors and us like in bathing suits. But it's called Seasick. Yeah. That kind of says it all. We knew what we were doing.

[00:20:35] We knew there was like, you know, a dichotomy to like the music and then what we were saying as songwriters. You had discussed, you know, sort of getting into, you know, especially with, you know, Faith No More, which was, you know, like this, it was a relatively speaking, this kind of like big, massive machine. And you're getting sort of into the cycles of being in a band.

[00:21:03] And I'm curious if something similar ever happened specifically with Imperial Team. I mean, the time that you came along was still, to a certain extent, there was still a lot happening in the music business. It sounds like things happened pretty quickly. What was it?

[00:21:24] I mean, would you say that there was like a relatively sustained success early on or? Well, it sort of turned into a bit of a debacle on our second record when we, which is called What Is Not To Love. And then, you know, Slash got like taken up by somebody else and that got swallowed by somebody else. And I mean, I kind of lost track of what I'm broken.

[00:21:54] Like label conglomerate. Yeah. But in the beginning, what happened to that, like we had that song, Yoohoo, on that record and what they sent all of the records out and the reviews came out. But then they didn't because they were going through a deal. They couldn't distribute the record. So all these reviews were out in Rolling Stone, blah, blah, blah. And there were no records in the stores or to buy. So that was kind of really messed up. And then, you know, that then then eventually I just can't get sweet.

[00:22:22] I mean, for no legal reasons, but just getting into it, it's been a very frustrating topic for us, our first two records. And then so but I didn't you know, we didn't really. And then we didn't have a label. And that's when we got on Merge. So we kind of just we just rode the wave without, you know, we were always just in it. I don't think we ever said to ourselves, oh, we got to take a break. What's going on? I'm like, luckily, I remember sitting in my apartment, all of us.

[00:22:48] OK, you call these labels and I'll call these labels, like getting my records out to see who who's on the who put this record out, you know, literally. And then Merge was interested. I think that's that's my memory of it, Roddy, as far as like taking a break like Faith Amor, our sister double habit, like you want to take a break from that world. We never we just kind of kept on, like I said, churning, like, you know, but it doesn't feel like a rock train. It just feels like it's just it's just us. It's just what we do.

[00:23:18] And our that's it's my only creative space musically, really, you know. So anyway, is that you know, that that was a commercial success. That wasn't a movie that must have felt like you were turning some kind of corner at that point or something there was opening up. And then it just sort of stalled because of some larger bureaucratic issues out of your control. Yeah, a little bit. It's it's such a weird industry.

[00:23:47] You know, there's so many things that have to be aligned for success to happen. Sure. And it felt like success in some ways. Like there were things that we did that like felt like I remember. Oh, we're you know, we're getting more attention. We're getting radio play. We're like, we have a placement in this movie and it felt like, yeah, like we would reach pinnacles of like some sort of success. But then there's constantly something that was fighting against us. I think every playing out. Right. Yeah.

[00:24:17] It never really worked out. And it just dissolve or fall apart. And then. Oh, yeah. Oh, and then we're so used to disappointment that we just like. But I think so. Honestly, I think that's every band. It's so rare where a band can sort of like happen and just like everything goes well. You know, I mean, we've been doing what we've been doing for a really long time and we're so good at what we do. We write. I mean, I'm so crazy about what we do.

[00:24:44] Like what we are, the output that we sort of like create and the songs that we write and the presentations that we create and our record covers and our videos and everything we've done. I'm so proud of. It's wild to me that we're not like, you know, super successful. I've always thought like, I mean, I just honestly like what we create. What's that? I didn't mean to interrupt. I said or at least a little bit more successful. But go on. A little bit more.

[00:25:13] Or like, I don't know, like the people that I love or in my life, like just my sisters and stuff or like, I don't know, our good friends and people that know the band and my boyfriend or whatever. Like they're like, Imperial Teen is so amazing. I'm like, I know. It really is. It's really, we have an amazing sort of like thing that we do and we do it so well. And it's such a strong thing. It's odd to me that it never really became a huge thing.

[00:25:43] But like I was saying before, it just takes so many, I don't know, so many elements to need to be aligned for something to happen. But I don't know. It happens for some people really fast. Like Geese, like Geese seemed to happen really fast. Like that was like their third or fourth record, I think. But still, like remember when the Geese phenomenon happened, it was like, boom. Like, oh my God, I've never seen like a success arc that defined and that like exaggerated.

[00:26:12] And that like from out of nowhere, it felt like. But I can't think of many bands that like that's an example for anymore. And it just seems to be the norm more bands that do great work and keep doing what they do and don't really achieve a huge amount of success. For me, I'm from New York and Geese happened in such a crazy way.

[00:26:38] But that was like also such a, it was such a political movement for like, it was kind of in New York City. It was like right when Momdani was like first sort of like coming on the scene. And it felt like this group swell of like generational like awakening. And then Geese happened. And it all just like there was a kismet in what the world of New York was at that exact moment that was just like, oh my God, it was so exciting. It had and it had to have, you know, I was in, I was in Astoria for like 20 years.

[00:27:07] I'm in the Hudson Valley now and I moved up. But like it had to happen. It's really nice. It's so great seeing that happen in a city right now. Like it's so great. I'm so proud of New York still. Yeah. Let me, so let me, let me posit a theory though.

[00:27:23] I mean, as far as the success thing goes, I would say that I think probably a really big part of the reason why the bands not just is as good as it is, but has remained good and consistent.

[00:27:41] And the fact that you are all still like best friends maybe is somewhat a product of the fact that you didn't have like a ton of success all at once. You know, that, that's how, that's how bands get burned out really quickly.

[00:27:58] Um, and so, you know, not that is necessarily what happened, but you, you know, you weren't, you weren't at a point where you were forced to have any of those creative disputes, but also, um, because of all of these circumstances, everybody, you know, obviously having their own lives or their own projects. Lynn, I think, you know, you've, you've, you've, um, got some like wellness, uh, work that you're doing as well.

[00:28:23] Um, the fact that you have to budget time to do these projects, the fact that the band, the fact that there's time in between the, the albums and the tours makes everything that much more deliberate.

[00:28:38] Yeah, that's true. I mean, because we, uh, yeah, we, we, we, we still say, stay very connected. So we know what each other's doing. Cause we text sometimes, you know, 150 times a day and sometimes just a few times. So, uh, we're connected like if not daily, certainly or weekly. Um, so we stay, you know, attached to each other in that sense.

[00:29:03] And then, um, yeah, um, oh God, I've lost my train of thought. What was I going to say after that? Oh, the burnout. Yeah. So we, we don't, yeah, it's true. We haven't had that. Um, that, I mean, we still, you know, we, we're not just like, you know, hugging all during practice, you know, we have disputes and we, Yeah. And obviously like there are stresses and you still have like, and you, you've got kids and there are, you're like, think there are things like, you know, that you're thinking about it.

[00:29:32] Yeah. Yeah. We have to sit down and work it out and we have to get over it or just move on and assimilate and all that stuff. But, um, yeah, I guess that could be attributed. And you know, the funny, I've never really thought about this before. Maybe I have, but just never thought very long about it. Is that that biggest song that we've had, you who you can't even get the record. It's on like, it's gone, you know, it's not impossible to buy that record. And then recently that movie jawbreaker became cult status. I don't know if you guys knew that it became something New York times, new cult, um, jawbreaker reach cult status.

[00:30:01] Yes. And we have two songs on that and we don't, and the other song is, isn't that other song, uh, punk rock on that song? That's on what is not. Yeah. Waterboy. Waterboy is that song, a record. So it's just so bizarre that any chance we could have maybe sold some records, like we just can't cause it's, they're not out there. Yeah. That's just, yeah.

[00:30:23] It's an interesting concept though. Like the theory of like success and how it would change. Like I tend to think like our relationship and our friendship is so like intact. I mean, I really know it is. I know if we would have like a huge amount of success, we would still be super tight. I'm just, I'm just going to put that out there. Like success would not kill us. It would make us, uh, I don't know. Just giddy. Crazy. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:30:51] You know, I, I, I think that it, that being forced to take some time between releases like does, can, can bring up the quality of the work that you're putting out. If you're not just like constantly forced to go from one thing to the next. And even like, you know, one of the things I've noticed, and I think that this is probably some combination of, again, everyone leading really busy lives. And, um, also it's just being incredibly like difficult to tour.

[00:31:19] Now there's no middle class in the music industry as, as we discuss a lot, but like the touring schedule right now, um, it seems pretty nice, right? Like to just do like kind of like maybe five, five or six shows in a, in a go. Like that seems like a really good way to tour at this point.

[00:31:37] Yeah. Yeah. Sort of have to do because, uh, Joan has her own business and I have a business, but I also have a intellectually disabled grown son. So I can't like taking time away, um, is, is not super easy, but, and then, you know, Will has his other things that he does. And Roddy has two bands and yeah. So it just kind of, that's this, but, but gosh, I don't think we've done five shows in a row on a tour.

[00:32:06] And 20, 15 years, right. Roddy's been a long time. So it's fun to do. It's a lot of work, but it's, it's very fun. I mean, the reward is to be on stage and to play the music live and yeah. Does this time out feel different? Um, you know, I mean, again, um, more, more shows in the row, uh, in a row, but just in terms of sort of making that, that bigger united push as a band.

[00:32:33] And it's, it's really like, I forget how hard it is. There's only the four of us in a van doing what we do. And we have a drum kit. We have Hemby amplifiers. We have boxes of merchandise that we set up and sell and we do everything by ourselves.

[00:32:50] And there's like, you know what I mean? Like it's hard. It's really, really hard, but it's kind of interesting where we are right now. Like we are sort of a legacy band in that, like, you know, we've been around for a while. Wow. And like it or not, like there is a place for us in history and it feels that way when we come to places and people are in the rooms. It feels like there is a community of people who love us and know us.

[00:33:19] And, um, getting on in the years in doing what we're doing, you feel sort of like that. Like just the sort of tenacity of like having stuck around and still doing what we do.

[00:33:33] There's an appreciation in our audiences that's like, that feels really different right now. It's like, oh, wow. People are really happy to be there. Like Los Angeles, we had the craziest show. Like our keyboard broke in the beginning of the show and we couldn't play songs with the keyboard.

[00:33:49] It's just like everything that went wrong, went wrong. And it was our first show of the tour and it was Los Angeles and it was so charged. Like I grew up there. My family is there. All of our family and friends are there. It was like, it was sold out. The show was sold out. It was such a big deal.

[00:34:04] And there were so many problems that it was such a struggle for us to play. But the spirit in the audience was insanity. Like people were practically crying. They loved us so much. It was like they were so appreciative. And that was really different. Like we always play good shows and we feel a connection with the audience. But there's something in terms of like how long we've been around. And like that as Imperial Teen is a sort of a legacy band or something.

[00:34:34] All of a sudden about like, oh yeah, we are this historical thing. And people are there for us in a really beautiful way. Sorry to be cheesy, but that's just where it is.

[00:34:45] And they're sharing like, because we're selling our own merch. They're sharing stories. Oh, you know, and of when they first saw us or like, and just playing those songs, hearing those songs again, you know, it makes them very, you know, nostalgic and that, you know, it's fun to hear their stories. And, and they're, they're just really since it's the sincerity too, you know, and, and these aren't people that just take and talk and talk and talk and talk. And they're just, they're just want to make that clear to us.

[00:35:15] You know, and then they're on their way, but that feels nice, you know, because like, it's, it's not easy what we do. So that, that feeds the soul. S-O-U-L, as my mother used to say. Yeah.

[00:35:25] One of the things that I've been talking to people about a lot lately is, is the importance of community, especially now, especially post COVID, because, you know, I, this, this isn't a unique theory, but I, you know, this theory that probably most of the ills, societal ills, certainly like in the U.S. right now are a product of isolation.

[00:35:50] Um, so, you know, I, I'm, I'm curious now that you're back out there, um, just what, what, what you're, what you're seeing. We talked a little bit about how New York has sort of come back, um, uh, uh, under, uh, Donnie. You know, I'm from San Francisco.

[00:36:07] It does seem like San Francisco, thankfully is coming back a bit. Um, it's been through some really rough times. Um, are, are you seeing things, are you seeing community bonds start to form or, or maybe sort of reform?

[00:36:25] Um, I mean, I can't, I can only speak to the, as far as like being on tour and what I've noted, um, just for those few cities. I mean, San Francisco, as you know, I mean, it's like part of me. I just love it so much. And the bottom of the hill is an iconic club there. So that's great. And then Portland was a real surprise, you know, to us because, um, that was a show where people that, you know, we, we haven't necessarily had great shows in Portland, but this time we did for all those reasons that, well, we played well and all that stuff.

[00:36:54] But that Roddy was just saying about, you know, how long we've been around, like, and then Seattle is, has always been fun for us. But, um, I, I am really curious about the East coast because, you know, in Boston, we had a show, it was a small place and it sold out like immediately. So we had to move to someplace else bigger, which, you know, which that's, that was nice. You know, that was very, that was nice for us.

[00:37:18] But, um, I, I'm, I'm really excited to be in DC and Durham and Philly and, um, Brooklyn, Brooklyn and Boston. Yeah. So I'm just excited to feel it myself. I don't, I can't really comment on that. And in Denver, I'm kind of sucked into my own little communities of what I do. Um, yeah. But there's a great art scene here and a great music scene, tons of clubs. That's for sure.

[00:37:45] There is a, from, I'm just going to speak to that briefly. Like there's definitely like, I am like, and what I kind of talked on before was like, yeah, there's a sense of community that like, I hadn't necessarily felt before. And I don't know if it's coming across like as such a stronger thing, like post COVID, like you're mentioning, but it definitely feels prevalent and really good. Like our audiences are a really special place right now, like more special than they've been.

[00:38:13] And I don't find that in all the shows that I go to, but in the Imperial teen audience, there really is something special and unique and community driven. That's, um, kind of like, I think in, like, just to reiterate, we kind of represent this sort of a culture that's gone through so much, like from a place that like, you know, like it was not really necessarily a safe place to be gay.

[00:38:39] And in that sort of arena to get to where we are now. Like all of the people that we play to and the people that we connect with and people that come to our shows, they've kind of been through a similar journey. It feels like that we've been through, not to say it's all about a gay thing. It's not that, but like, also like, well, Lynn was suggesting about being sort of like a woman in a band, like just where the world was when we started and the world, the world is now. It was like very, it was very like testosterone-y. It really was.

[00:39:09] Yeah. Yeah. And we all went through that and we are where we are right now. And it feels like that. Like you can feel that in the air of our shows. I feel like you can feel like what we've been through as a world, as a community. Like I really intensely feel that in our audience in a great way. It's so awesome. I've never really thought about that. I mean, I've never mused on that myself in my own brain, head, but yeah, it is, it's true.

[00:39:36] Yeah. I'm just kind of speaking as it comes to me, but just like, yeah, the audience just lately have been so special. Like, it's just like you look on the audience, it's just like, wow, people are so appreciative to be there. It's amazing. It's great.

[00:39:50] And also, Brian, you know, just having these conversations, like I was doing one of these the other day and I got a little distracted. And then later I was thinking, you know, I should be more, you know, it is, it's such a great thing to be able to talk about our music and, and our, our 30 years together. And like what Roddy was just saying and how we were still, we're kind of still assimilating and thinking about it and putting into certain perspective, given this opportunity. So thank you.