Brightest Young Things

It's a little after noon and Marnie Stern, the guitar-lashing punk yawper from New York has just woken up to take my call. Well, she's almost awake.

"Hold on a minute," she says breathily into the receiver. "Okay, I've got my band mate's shoes on, and I swear I left my cigarettes in this pocket." Shifting ensues.

"Good morning!"

Stern and her band are two-thirds into their fall tour, but you'd never know it. I last saw the blissed-out blonde in San Francisco earlier this month. She'd  blown the doors off of Bimbo's, a massive jewelry box of a venue. Stern's eclectic smattering of ornate, aerobic kill-chords and girlish ululations belied her tiny, Gap ad presence.
Looks are certainly deceiving.

Her wheat-colored hair, elfin nose, and sprite-like baby blues suggest a teenybopping chanteuse who aims to please. But Stern is a gale of a gal, the Galadriel of the indie scene. She cites Sleater-Kinney, Hella, and Don Caballero—bands with more conventional punk-rock credentials—as major sonic influences. Technically adventurous, and musically dexterous, she's knocking folks dead with some of the most scintillating noise ballads in recent years. (Her latest album, "This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That," was released in October. Trust me—procure it.) Stern and co. have spent much of their current tour playing alongside the mystical experimentalists Gang Gang Dance. Some
performances even include some overlap of gut-busting, ethereal genre swapping. The unflappable Stern addressed her sudden, albeit late, emergence as a musical wunderkind, as well as why she taps out that
tittering tattoo on her guitar night after night.

Marnie Stern: It's the only time of day when I'm active. I'm sitting in a van all day long. It's totally mellow. And I mean, we only play for what, 30 or 40 minutes at a show. Of course you want to give it your all.

MS: Sometimes my voice gives out. But I don't care.

MS: Well I can't work on a song for too long. I don't have the patience for it. I can work for a billion hours—and I do—but when it comes to a single song, if it doesn't get completely formed, I'm done with it. My brain's in a different place. I have some good songs, with good sections, but if the thing isn't wholly formed before long—pfft.

MS: I put my personality in it as much as possible. We tend to gather our best ideas in the van. It happens all of a sudden or not at all.

MS: What's funny is that 99 percent of the songs I write are garbage. One gem pops up, and that's what I'm working for, striving for. I get up every day thinking about it. I'll wake up, get my coffee, and say 'this is gonna be the day! I'm writing a gem today!' And then it's garbage.

MS: It can be frustrating as all get out. It'll take an hour to write a ten second part!

MS: Yes. It annoys me. Firstly because I never think about a musician as a man or a woman during the execution of a song. Yes, guitar is a heavily male-dominated area, and it's more of a novelty to see and hear a woman take the stage and play. But the virtuoso thing drives me crazy. I'm good. I think people assume that women in music are all like Feist. If I inspire girls to play guitar, then I'm for it.
Otherwise it's a pain in the ass. I'm not a spectacular shredder. I never claim to be.

MS: I am thrilled to be playing for people. Being older—I'm 32—I've got nothing to lose. This isn't my first batch of songs at 20. It's funny, but I've achieved everything I dreamed already.

MS: Oh, there isn't any one thing I'd say. It's just that I'm constantly happy. Every day, in fact. At this point, this is now all icing on the cake for me. But by that same token I feel like I have such a long road to hoe. I've got two albums done, and there's always more. I have a lot more in me.

MS: I'm self-taught so my 'sound,' if you want to call it that, comes from trying to write a song and then just figuring out how to do it right. The technique came from that. I tap because the songs requireit. And it suits me.

MS: I'm interested in life and I love, love to explore. That's what I do this for. I want my music to be anthemic and uplifting. It's all in getting the ideas, putting them into action, and the execution achieves itself. Listen for more of that.

BYT: That I will. DC welcomes you.
MS: Yay! Here I come!

want more:
socialize with Miss Stern online and don't miss the Wednesday DC9 show.