The Inquisition: Warpaint

<b>Jenny Lee Lindberg</b> from all-girl Los Angeles art rock quartet <b>Warpaint</b> gave us riddles when we asked for answers

Feature by Dave Kerr | 28 Sep 2010

How would you describe Warpaint to a stranger in a bar?
Elegiac tribal fairies in a trash can, beat boxing to the giggles of a common hip-hop thread.

What were the circumstances of the band’s formation?
Library meetings, Gap castings, coffee bean blends, Bobby Brown gatherings, sister love, and childhood kindredship.

The name is entirely at odds with what you play – this isn't exactly Slayer...
We are all hardcore at heart, but we are very sensitive little peapods crying when the sun rises. And when it sets, we don't want anything to come, but we don't want anything to go.

So what are your songs about?
Cats, dogs, La Brea Tar Pits, the obscene fantasy of the ice age, traffic, taxes, and HEART BREAK.

Your first EP was self-released but took a few years to get together, what set the pace?
What doesn't take a few years? We’re all just trying to figure it out as best as we can, and tell our stories honestly. Sometimes that takes awhile.

Now that you’re signed, has that alleviated some of the strains that perhaps slowed you down?
Yeah! We can pay our rent, sort of. Maybe a little late, but it gets paid.

More recently, you worked with Tom Biller [Liars, Elliot Smith] on The Fool. Which qualities did you see in his work that you hoped might embellish what the band has?
He allowed us complete freedom. It was confirmed that imagination is king – actually, queen. We went with our gut everything, thank god.

You recorded you’re the album in a gym, was this for acoustic purposes, financial necessity or something else entirely?
It was a gym, and then converted into a studio – so no treadmills or Stairmasters on this record, but maybe the next.

Your Stereo gig will be your first trip to Scotland, what are you most looking forward to about our cultured land?
Can't wait for the accents...the best ever!

Warpaint play Stereo, Glasgow on 22 Oct. Debut album The Fool is released via Rough Trade on 25 Oct.

http://www.myspace.com/worldwartour