Q&A with noon:30

One of the first things that struck me about noon:30 is the fact that it’s all female—the three of you rock out like you were born to be in this band together. How did noon:30 come into existence?

Aissa (guitar and bass) and Vivianne (drums) were roommates and bandmates in another band that’s no longer in existence. By way of the cosmos, Blue (vocals and bass) came into their world and they all decided to jam one day after work. ‘Orphane’ was more or less fully formed during that first jam session. The three knew immediately that noon:30 was meant to be.

Your CD release party on July 4th at Velvet Lounge sounds like it’s going to be quite the gathering… we heard through the grapevine that you’ve added a burlesque show to the festivities – is that true and will there be any other surprises?

Damn but that grapevine sure can tell some tales! No, but we really are excited to have Ouioui Nonnon taking off her clothes in honor of our event. With three other amazing bands (The Laughing Man, Ghost Light and Achtung Panda), phenomenal DJs (DJ Natty Boom and DJ KC from Fatback), massive amounts of insanely fresh art (by Charles Jean-Pierre and Johnnie ‘Monk’ Bess) AND live body painting, we’re pretty sure there’s a surprise or three in store for everybody.

You’ve got a few songs from your upcoming EP on your MySpace page for fans to preview. What are some of the characteristics that carry through all the new songs? How did you fare with the recording process?

We can’t say that you’ll find similar musical qualities in any of the songs (save for the dirty dirty bass), but the great unifier between all of the tracks would definitely have to be that we approached each knowing that we had no particular agenda other than to create something that sounded like a noon:30 song. In the studio, we were TOTALLY blessed to have a producer/mixer (Jalani of Bambu Station) who wasn’t trying to impose any particular genre on our sound. We learned so much throughout this process, but the most important lesson by far was to never walk away with something you won’t be able to listen to down the road, no matter how many people tell you that it sounds good. We’re extremely happy with the EP.

The “French Song” is a fun and action-packed highlight on noon:30’s song list. Are you all fluent in French, or just your average run of the mill Francophiles?

Neither. To tell the truth we’re just hoping that when we get to France there won’t be an ass-whooping waiting for us after each show.

Your performance at Fort Reno on June 25th was outstanding—did you enjoy performing at an outdoor venue? What were some of the challenges and pluses of playing there?

Thank you! We loved working with Amanda and the other bands – everybody was so wonderful. As far as being outside, it would have been nice to have some shade and citronella candles, but at the end of the day we were really happy to share our music with some new ears.

As a performer your style and image go hand in hand with your music. We at DoS love your style, where do you look locally for inspiration in how you dress, what you write about or anything else that drives you as a band?

Thank you again! Inspiration comes from all sources – but most simply just loving life and one another.

Eastern, Central, Mountain or Pacific?

Asian Pacific Islander