southern records

Partyline are the sharp shooting, ass kicking , go go dancing new band fronted by Allison Wolfe (Bratmobile, Cold Cold Hearts, Deep Lust). Their debut ep “Girls With Glasses” (Retard Disco)is a punked up fusion of partying and politics. Nikki from Southern talked to Allison, Angela and Crystal at their Upset! The Rhythm show in London on November 14th!

word: So how did you come up with the name Partyline?

Angela: We like to party and we like waiting in lines! but also because we're from Washington DC and we had to have some kind of political angle... We have a political bent but we also like to play on the whole chat line thing gossiping about politics like Ralph Nader and all the hot politicians thing!

word: How's the tour with Spider and the Webs (Tobi Vail of Bikini Kill/ Frumpies) been? And who were the craziest audience?

Allison: It's been a really fun tour so far its been seven of us crammed in this van which is like a royal mail van but it been cool. Spider and The Webs are great they're from Olympia... we've played two Ladyfests: Ladyfest Brighton and Madrid.

Angela: Ladyfest was the wildest!

Allison: And you’ve got like the perfect audience for that.

Angela: Everybody's cute.

Allison: Berlin was crazy it was at a squat and really crowded. There were these really drunk little riot grrls and when spider and the webs played they were begging Tobi to play “Suck My Left One” then hugging me and shouting “play Cherrybomb!”... but they were also spilling beers all over the stage and laying on the stage.

word: Which bands have influenced your music and how did the Nikki and the Corvettes cover on 'Girls with Glasses' come about?

Allison: So Crystal had the idea for us to do this cover and this particular song is a bonus track on the cd. So we thought it'd be cool and Crystal taught the song to us. In terms of influences I listen to bands from K Records like Beat Happening and 80's girl bands like Bow Wow Wow, The Go Go's , B52's.

Angela: I don't think about influences when making a band I just have a feeling more like its a girl gang mentality. The cool thing is how the influences from each member combines.

Crystal: Current favourites: The Jabbers and The Zero Boys.

word: Allison, I know you've worked with Vice Cooler as a sometimes member of Hawnay Troof but what was it like having him record this album?

Allison: Well he'd given me a 4 track and kept complaining that i never used it! We mostly just wanted a demo so we could get shows and so we recorded where we practise in Angela's bedroom at her group house in D.C. So it was just a really quick ramshackle recording in her room with the mics taped on broomsticks! and we would do everything in the first take. Then we enhanced it at our friend Jason from Paroxysm Records house and he uses pro tools and so we did the over dubs and extra guitars and mixing. It was cool to work with Vice but he still wants the 4 track back!

word: What do you do when you’re not being Partyline?

Allison: We all live in Washington. I work as a secretary part time for Washington Post and also freelance translating Manga. I do the rewrite of the English translation. It’s called 'NaNa' the stars are girls and they have their own girl band.

Angela: They even have a soundtrack!

Allison: Glen Mattock from The Pistols did one of the songs on it.

Angela: The best song!

Angela: I work for my parents. They have a music store so its very convent for me. Before that i worked for a sculpture magazine.

Crystal: I'm a student becoming a mental health counsellor. I work at a record store and I have 2 dogs!

Allison: But Crystal's also a sign language interpreter.

word: Who did the artwork for “Girls With Glasses”? Who saw you as a three headed monster?

Angela: I did it! It was like a jab at D.C which is very conservative and picky. I wanted to do something goofier and its fun to draw monsters!

word: What are your favourite three movies of all time?

Crystal: “Harold and Maude”, “Raising Arizona” and “Better Off Dead”

Angela: I like “Times Square”, “Out of the Blue” and anything by Herzog like “My Best Fiend”. I'm sorry i know he's not very feminist sometimes!... But “Times Square” is so ahead of its times in terms of gender identification and music.

Allison: Also one of the girls is really like Joan Jett.

Angela: And it has a great soundtrack you can find in allot of American thrift stores.

Allison: Its hard to say but “Coal Miners Daughter”, “Farewell My Concubine” and “Ladies and Gentleman the Fabulous Stains”. It's totally pre- riot grrl but totally foreshadowing and actually identical in a way to what happened... It's amazing but hard to find.

word: What does the future hold for Partyline?

Allison: We’ll we’ve been touring for the past couple months as Crystal was taking a break from grad school but we do need to record a new album!

Angela: someone can pay us to tour Australia and Japan!!!

Watch a video from their London show!

'Girls With Glasses' avaliable on Retard Disco.

Listen to a song from 'Girls With Glasses'.

Buy Girls With Glasses from the Southern web shop.