The five-day festival will showcase over 500 bands at nearly 70 New York-area venues. For the 30 days leading up to the conference, Metromix New York will feature a participating band every day. You may even discover your new favorite act (Datarock? Get Him Eat Him? The Hood Internet?), and actually plan to see them play.
Annie Clark comes from a mob background: As a member of two sprawling collectives (Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens’ touring band), she’s made her way as a lone voice amid large ensemble casts.
But when Clark transforms into St. Vincent, she sheds the multicolored robes and cheerleader outfits of those acts to step forward and reveal her own charming persona, no costuming necessary. Her solo debut, “Marry Me,” is rife with gorgeous arrangements (that invoke similarly expansive artists such as Kate Bush and Tori Amos at their most inspired), performed with an uplifting, childlike glee. Only, with St. Vincent, there’s a caustic, rough-hewn edge that’s all her own.
After a brief solo tour opening for John Vanderslice with just her guitar and a piano, Clark has assembled a full band to back her up on her current headlining run. Calling us up from a parking lot on a crackling cell-phone, an affable and giggly Clark spoke candidly about Freddie Mercury, how Brian Wilson made her cry and why she wishes she could play music with her boobs.
One of the first things I noticed about your music is your guitar playing. You really go after that thing!
[Laughs] I’ve always been able to sort of input music and things through my ears, and without really a whole lot of thought, it comes out on it’s own. I wish I had like seventeen guitar heroes that I really studied, but I don’t. I just don’t have the patience. People often want to talk guitar players with me, and I don’t have anything to say.
So without guitar heroes, who are your primary influences, musical or otherwise?
Probably Woody Allen. Mia Farrow in “Rosemary’s Baby.” Captain Beefheart.
How did you end up in the Polyphonic Spree?
I kind of stumbled headfirst into it. I’d played in other bands with some members of the Spree, and different people were always encouraging me to audition. I tried out on a Tuesday and was playing a show with them in Europe by that Friday. My favorite moment with them was when we opened for Brian Wilson at the Hollywood Bowl when he was performing “Smile.” He got maybe 13 seconds into the first song and I just burst into tears. It seemed like life had taken its toll on him, but his music was still so impeccable.
Is it true that my favorite song on your album, “Your Lips are Red,” is about murder?
I like it when people can say “This song’s about murder!” with a smile. It’s a bit of black comedy. I tried to make a jarring, moving piece that culminates in one tragic event that flips on its head into something totally opposite. Wow…I’m so effing esoteric today. What’s up with that?
I read somewhere that you called Queen’s “Killer Queen” the ultimate jam…
Queen was amazing. First of all, take [singer] Freddie Mercury—he was incredible. As for “Killer Queen,” the double entendre of the lyrics is great. I love that campy humor. But the song is just such a jam. It’s completely over the top, but it has a sense of humor. The feel is so good, the guitar solo by Brian May…everything about it is amazing. Oh, and “Bicycle Race” is another epic Queen song that I love.
Is it true that you’re a fan of political hip-hoppers the Coup?
Absolutely—I love the Coup. They make conscientious hip-hop. I haven’t seen them live yet, but I can’t wait to catch a show. I hear that their DJ Pam the Funkstress scratches records with her boobs! If I were better endowed, I would find a way to incorporate that idea into what I do. It would be so cool to play guitar with my boobs.
St. Vincent plays Oct. 18 at Knitting Factory
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