But then again what’s interesting about American culture is that whatever is the most subversive is what becomes the most American. That is how America defines what becomes popular, by co-opting what is subversive.
But then again what’s interesting about American culture is that whatever is the most subversive is what becomes the most American. That is how America defines what becomes popular, by co-opting what is subversive.
Incendiary speak to Becky Stark of Lavender Diamond
I got the wonderful opportunity to meet with Becky Stark, lead singer and big bright shinning star of a front woman of Lavender Diamond. We found our way into the more spacious dressing rooms of The Decembrists, who were on stage at that time. Becky quietly sips her double whiskey in a plastic cup as I prepare my recording device and questions. We start by talking about the show and the beautiful dress she has on, as well as chat covering Lavender Diamond’s new record, living in LA, America’s social issues and most importantly how to be positive and stay positive. Becky Stark is a smart and extremely down to earth woman and I do believe I learned quite a bit from this fantastic encounter of the Lavender Diamond kind.
Now back to talking about dresses…
BS: Isn’t it beautiful?! Yeah, I love this dress. I always get dressed up on stage. I found this one at a second hand store. (We admire the stitched swallows). It fits me perfectly, and their eyes (the swallows’) have the crystal eyes and the silver beads on the wings, I love this dress.
IN: Lucky finds at markets or at thrift stores is one of my favourite things in the world, it really feels like you were meant to find each other.
BS: The lady who sold it to me was like, oh it’s really dirty and it has stains…
IN: And you were like, no worries I’m going to go on tour with it!
(Laughs)
IN: Just a few moments ago you were mentioning something to The Decembrists as they were heading to the stage. Are you guys going to do a song with them later?
BS: We did a song with them on our last tour in the US… Take It To The Limit by The Eagles, but I think we are going to play Feel Like Making Love (laughs). Which is really absurd but seems to be the song that worked the best when we were feeling it out.
IN: I heard you are working on a song for a Madonna tribute album?
BS: Yes, we’ll be doing Like A Prayer. There are some great other people doing covers, like Devendra Banhart and TV on The Radio and The Winter Flowers and The Chapin Sisters, (the last two) are my favourite bands! It’s a great project. Madonna is really like folk music in the US. When I was a child I listened to it again and again, so I know every word and it was the first records that I ever memorized and made up dance routines to.
(We reminisce about Madonna a bit longer, discussing her best looks and songs)
IN: Do you see yourselves as part of the New Weird Folk Movement?
BS: Lavender Diamond, our new record and our most cherished idea is to make to pop music. We’re not trying to be weird. In American there is a great divide between pop culture and underground, if there any understanding of the underground it tends to get classified as being weird in order for it to be put into relationship with pop culture. A lot of the music that is being categorized as New Weird America is really not that weird. I mean, it is really beautiful, I would just call that… the music.
There is a real music movement of the music of growth and rebirth and explosion and revolution. There is so much beautiful music in American right now; to call it weird doesn’t really capture the real power and strength of it. But then again what’s interesting about American culture is that whatever is the most subversive is what becomes the most American. That is how America defines what becomes popular, by co-opting what is subversive. Calling the new beautiful music movement weird is signalling that it is about to become the norm.
IN: How does it feel to be a representative of the US abroad? You guys are from LA right?
BS: Europe is so culturally diverse. Even city-to-city, there are so many cultural drastic differences. It’s really exciting. Where I live in Los Angels it is the most diverse city that has ever existed in the whole planet. People from all over the world live in LA. I love Los Angeles; it feels like a small town. There are so many great artists. There are beautiful elements of the society in America, but we have such desperate social problems right now.
We don’t have free elections anymore, the presidential elections, the last two weren’t… and the war in Iraq is a deep horror. I don’t know even how to begin to describe the feeling of heartache and devastation and to be in anyway identified with that… even just as a human being, it’s insane. As an American citizen you are suppose to pay taxes that are paying for that war which is rooted in insane institutions of torture and environmental degradation and total right and segregations of people for profit.
Beyond that, I live in a country where the mass media is not really free media. So yes, coming to Europe feels really different to me. What can I do, should I stay and try to make things better even though the odds for making things better feel so steep? On the other hand, something about American culture is that there is the myth and the principle of choice; that actually gives me a lot of hope. America could be an axis for change as people begin to realize that individuals have so much power and so much choice and are not in this fog of consumerism, but it is a an actually power and responsibility.
IN: You’ve got some serious stuff on your mind, but the music is so positive, it’s admirable… positive enforcements for the people. Like with dog or even children training.
BS: Thanks, exactly, positive affirmations. If a child does something that is improper behaviour the best thing to do is ignore it and give positive strength to the behaviours that are appropriate. We do it consciously… we are an evolving act, there is so much heartache and there is so much devastation as a conscious political act it just seemed to make sense to bring joy and celebration so that people can feel more powerful together. That’s the idea. Practical purpose, that in our world we need to have strength and really learn in a practical ways to be more loving, connected and more joyful and learn how to really celebrate where we are and who we are, that these are actually necessities. That’s the idea of Lavender Diamond.
IN: I think that this sort of thing won’t actually happen till ‘they’ come. (Points above) Because when ‘they’ come, they are going to be so much different and so much more advanced. Then finally we’ll all be the same. Human beings.
BS: I agree, I mean it might take a catalyzing event to make people realize that we are all humans, and we live from the earth with the ground and the trees and we have to protect this life together. We are so much more similar then we think. We want and we waste our lives for profit out of fear… so some catalyzing event could make that happen yes, but for me it seems like we are already there. We are at a stage of a very serious environmental crisis, so I feel like why not now, I just think the world is such a beautiful place and that we all get to be here together, maybe that sounds naive.
We have so much to celebrate and share we don’t need to cause so much suffering. War and environmental destruction are no longer necessary in our evolutionary continuum. It seems to me to be perfectly logical that in 20 years, or maybe next year, maybe now, maybe tomorrow, we’ll be like ohh… and then it will become the past, and the sooner we can get to that the better.
IN: My favourite song on the new album Imagine Our Love is Here Comes One. It’s a fantastic song. I also really like, Like An Arrow.
BS: I love this record! I love every song on this record! I don’t know if I am allowed to say that! (Laughs) I love playing Here Comes One. We were thinking "let’s make some pop songs" you know? Let’s be really mischievous and design the songs that are really catchy and could make you feel really good and are uplifting. That’s what we were dreaming about. We were talking about the world leaving behind old ways. To be released from the patterns of what’s wrong you have to totally accept the balance of what’s wrong and what’s right. That really is what that song is about. Like An Arrow, I love Like An Arrow. That is our dance jam! Ron and I have another band together called the Mystical Unionist and so that is really a song inspired by that project. Ron (drummer and I think boyfriend, Ron Rege, Jr. – ZG) and I are going to make an album this year with just voice and drums.
IN: On the site for the Mystical Unionist there is a great photo of you guys. Ron is wearing a fabulous coat!
BS: That coat is from… did you ever see the movie of Camelot with Julie Andrews? Los Angeles is the historical centre of Hollywood. We have a friend, Jennifer Johnson, who is a costume designer and she has access to Warner Brothers studio costume house, so she invited us to do this photo shoot for an electronic music magazine and she rented those costumes from the original production of Camelot. You can go to Los Angeles and they have an entire city block of costumes from any Hollywood film you ever seen in your life. There is a very wild and unlimited sense of play and possibility, which is what I really love about living in Los Angeles. Like a heartstring. Maybe that is a reaction to being in such a wrong minded society.
The origins and the work in Hollywood are fascinating. I live in Echo Park, which was the first neighbourhood that was developed in the turn of the century. The largest Native American city in North America was right were Echo Park now is. It’s also where Dodger Stadium is now. Between 1860 and 1870 in the United States was when most populations of native peoples were wiped out, including the population of the largest Native American city. Echo Park is in downtown LA and that is and where Hollywood was built.
In downtown LA you have these rows of theatres with crystal chandeliers and red velvet curtains and carpets. They were owned by Charlie Chaplin and all of those other patriots. I am a huge Charlie Chaplin fan and actually his first studio is about a mile from my house and now it’s a self-storage space. The evolution of media and what that means for the global consciousness is, to me, very meaningful. It’s interesting to contrast that with the daily culture, which is total nonsense. There is no public transportation in LA; the quality of living is just like … blhaaaaahhhhhhh. It’s just bad. But I think Los Angeles is on the crest of the wave of the apocalypse, it breeds this introspection into the artists that live there.
Amsterdam feels very energetic. It is more diverse. Riding bikes, delicious food, clean air, yeah, it’s a great city.
IN: Does anyone give or send you gifts?
BS: Yes! On this tour, before we left at our last show in Los Angeles I got three gowns and one of the gowns I’ve worn at nearly every show in Europe. It is this beautiful fringe ankle-length dress.
IN: Have you ever heard the song Start Wearing Purple by Gogol Bordello?
BS: Yes! I saw the video! (Laughs) It’s all live footage, looks great! A lot of energy.
IN: have you ever thought about doing a children’s book with Ron’s comics?
BS: I have been trying desperately to get Ron to do a children’s book with me. I wrote this story and have been get him into it. He had a book come out called Stranger In The Mouth. It is a chapter in his book, but I think we are going to put it out. I am very excited to mix stories and albums for children, I think that field of literature and music is incredible. Alice In Wonderland is one of the greatest works of literature ever. Ron is such a wonderful illustrator. There is a story of Lavender Diamond that I’d like to make into a comic.
IN: What are some other things that make you smile and laugh?
BS: A lot of things. Even though there are social problems, people make me feel happy. I love children, nature, birds, riding bikes, I love cooking and I love dresses (she laughs and fluffs up her dress).
Words Photos: Zoe E. Gottehrer
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