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collage by Rob Ryan
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The Deli Magazine online
"Excuses For Skipping Create Beautiful Tension"
by Chris Ohnesorge
go to the original
It's impossible not to develop a great big band crush on Excuses for Skipping as soon as you experience them live. They're the kind of band you fall hard for and sigh wistfully over while waiting for their next appearance. I myself fell prey to the EFS charm when my own band had the pleasure of sharing a bill with them at The Hemlock Tavern in 2006. The members of EFS all look as if they should be in bands for sure, albeit not necessarily in the same one. Not knowing what to expect from them—especially after years of playing shows with so many bands that I inevitably tune them out a little bit before playing—I was more than surprised and definitely thrilled when they took the stage and delivered song after song of catchy, melodic, spacey-yet-spikey pop music. And I say "pop" in the best sense of the word—the kind of music that has you humming the chorus in your head for days but still manages to rise above formula and familiarity often associated with pop music these days. They'd fit perfectly on a label like 4AD alongside acts such as Lush, the Cocteau Twins or even the more sparse and experimental Throwing Muses, and recall criminally underrated 90s-era bands like New York's Ruby Falls or Portland's The Spinanes.
I met with Excuses for Skipping—Linda (guitar, vocals, Libra), Tammy (guitar, vocals, Scorpio—triple Scorpio!), Wendy (bass, backing vocals, Pisces) and Alison (drums, Gemini)—at quintessential Mission dive bar, The Phone Booth, to chat about the origins of EFS, recording, intra-band relationships, falling down on the job and discuss the dreaded women/queers in music question. Linda and Tammy began laying the foundation for what would become Excuses for Skipping ten years ago when their musical relationship was born.
"Tammy and I have been playing for a long, long time together in different capacities," Linda explained. "She played drums mostly and I played guitar mostly. But then one day our band broke up and in that band we all rotated instruments. So basically I was in New York and Tammy was in San Francisco and she called me and we had this conversation, you know, 'cause we're married and I said 'Well we're gonna play music but what instrument do you wanna play because now we've played all the instruments?' And she said she wanted to play guitar and I was so happy because I really wanted to play guitars and write together." Several years later Excuses for Skipping was born and, after a few line-up changes they snagged Alison (ex-Chi Chi Palace, ex-Vervein) and Wendy (ex-Leopold & His Fiction, ex-The Cartographers) for the rhythm section, whom Tammy describes as "the absolute right people for the band." Given their relatively short stint in EFS, Wendy and Alison play integral roles going above and beyond the usual mirroring-the-rhythm-guitar or keeping-the-beat duties of many bassists and drummers.
But there's more than mutual bandmate love and harmony in EFS. As Linda mentioned, she and Tammy have been married for nearly as long as they've had a musical partnership. Luckily they seem to have taken Sonic Youth as a role model for how to be in a long-term relationship while co-existing within a band. "I think it really depends on the people, because I've been in bands before where two people got together and it was really dramatic and ugly. But I think with Linda and Tammy there's such an understanding and a free vibe for both of them," Alison pointed out, further illustrating why EFS has avoided the curse of band members dating. "I think that it works because they're really individuals. It's not like they're a couple when we're all playing music together."
"When Linda and I first started going out she was such a hippie and I was such a punk rocker," Tammy said with a smirk, "And my friends were like 'She's a hippie! Oh my God, you're going out with a hippie!' And I was like 'fuck you!'"
Linda nailed how this dynamic comes out in their music as well. "She played in punk rock bands and I played in space rock bands, pretty much all the time, that's where we came from musically." And it shows with Tammy keeping Linda from completely drifting off into spaced-out meandering and Linda coaxing out melody from Tammy's more aggressive, punk leanings. But Tammy's punk rock spirit can only be dampened so much.
"When we get in the studio Tammy is a crazy person," Linda explains. "She went into this isolation booth and she made a shrine to her grandmother who had passed away just the day before and her guitar—she just fell down and all her cables came out and explosions occurred and it was just totally insane but it created such a great sound. And she really did fall down and we kept it." Or to put it more simply, there wasn't enough room in the tiny isolation booth for her to rock out the way she normally does onstage.
"At one point my headphones fell off and it created a feedback into the mike that made almost like a laser sound and we actually used it on one of the songs. It's all natural, all the sounds that you hear on the recordings that's natural, it's not tweaked or anything, it just happened," Tammy said, taking a much-deserved gulp of beer.
Sci-Fi noises made from accidental guitar feedback aside, another one of Excuses for Skipping's captivating qualities is how unexpected their sound is given the scene they come from and some of their regional predecessors like Team Dresch, The Need or Tribe 8. The questions asked of bands comprised of women and/or queer people are often so ham-fisted and obvious, with the interviewer coming off as if it's some sort of miracle that a group of people born female or queer can actually play instruments, that it immediately places the musicians in a constricting pink box that is always more about their identities than the music they make. For Wendy, it is part of what she loves about playing in EFS. "I don't think it's conscious on our part, but being the newest member of the band I joined this all-girl group and I was like 'Yes, we don't sound like every other all girl band!' I don't think it's limiting for us at all and I would just love for people to see us as people rocking out. And I don't think we cater to just a lesbian scene like some all-women bands do."
"Music is music and it doesn't matter who you are or what your sexual orientation is. I mean, music is for everyone," Linda insists. Her goals, and that of her fellow band members, are first and foremost to make music as much as they can. "I just wanna be able to play music and quit my fuckin' job."
Hopefully she won't quit her job, where she works as a pre-school teacher, helping expand the musical minds of so many modern toddlers. "I brought a record player into the pre-school the other day and I asked the kids to guess what this thing is. And they had no idea! One of the kids thought it was something that makes a phone call!" Just think what they'll learn when she brings in her guitar.
Excuses for Skipping are putting the finishing touches on their debut CD, Out of Work Early and plan to release it in 2007. For the latest band news, check their website www.excusesforskipping.com , or their myspace page www.myspace.com/xcuses4skipping
"Gravity" featured on Insomnia radio's Daily Dose http://feeds.feedburner.com/dailydose
December 6, 2006
The first time I heard the driving kickdrum beats and soaring opening guitar riffs of "Gravity," I was instantly hooked. Actually, make that simultaneously punched in the gut and kicked in the ass. With varied influences such as The Cure, Joni Mitchell, and Bruce Springsteen, the four San Francisco-based gals of Excuses For Skipping rock with a fresh, raw energy missing from many of today's all-female bands. And the vocal melodies and harmonies... Oh, the loveliness... Look for their new album, Out of Work Early, to hit the world soon in 2007.
Church of Girl Radio
San Francisco's Excuses for Skipping are stealing hearts all over the bay area. We love these ladies and know you will, too. All three songs from their woefully brief demo are now airing on Radio Stars 1, 2, Pop and Mellow hours on Church of Girl Radio.
C|NET Download.com
FROM THE EDITORS:
San Francisco, California, band Excuses for Skipping has come along with music cozy enough to trigger memories of lost loves, late-night road trips, and forgotten Sundays. It's the perfect dream pop for your crush's mix tape.
The SF Bay Gaurdian
“Local Grooves”
October 22, 2003
Lynn Rapoport
Excuses for Skipping (Holly Park Music)
“When it gets too much, sometimes I think too much, but you told me to think about that later,” Linda Moody sings on “Kirrie,” the first and most instantly likable track on Excuses for Skipping‘s five-song demo. It sounds like she‘s followed that advice around for a while—you can feel the magnetic pull in a long-gone relationship that‘s still dragging the singer off-center years down the line. A haunted-sounding guitar trails along behind her vocals, and its moody romanticism makes me think of Versus circa Stars Are Insane as well as the light-and-dark harmonies of the Butchies.
Linda Moody and Tammy Fortin—who trade off on vocals, keyboards, and bass—are former members of Blue Gum Art, joined here by Chip Dalby on drums. Excuses for Skipping carries forward that band's penchant for pretty pop harmonies and catchy guitar lines, with considerably less emphasis on the folk rock. You could dance to some of these songs. Or you could just mull over the past: many tracks suggest nights spent bingeing on old high school diaries, offering consolation for the shy, nostalgic, heartachy set.
San Francisco Chronicle
Sunday, August 14, 2005
Lisa Hi, Chronicle Staff Writer
“A chance to reveal your soul in music”
Confession: I don't own an iPod. I'm an iPodless podcaster and explorer of the iPod-night phenomenon. The irony is not lost. This summer, I earned enough miles to fly first class, and to my chagrin, all the middle-aged businessmen had sleek white devices, while I stashed a clunky, beat-up CD player and three disc folders.
Mary Beaven saw me pull out my CD collection and leaned over curiously. She had a friendly, open face, and no sign of hipster pretension. She asked me about bands she hadn't heard of, explaining that as DJ Rockin' SF she'd be playing a CD-R she's made of Excuses for Skipping, her favorite Bay Area band. Excuses for Skipping play pensive, lo-fi indie pop.
Krambox Radio
June Bloom, “Bonus Show!”
Saturday June 18, 2005 edition
A Krambox Exclusive with local up-and-comers, Excuses for Skipping.
The SF Bay Gaurdian
“The Mix”
September 29, 2004
The Mix is a list of cool stuff SF Bay Guardian writers saw in the last week.
1. Mort Sahl, Swedish American Hall
2. Sam McPheeter's many faces, Balazo Gallery
3. Excuses for Skipping in the Rock 'n' Roll Spelling Bee, Rickshaw Stop
4. Fasting in the park
5. Scott Bourne in Puma ad
KALX 90.7 FM (UC Berkeley)
January 13, 2004
“Women in the Arts”
Live interview and airplay
Stanford’s KZSU
Regular rotation
SF Weekly
“Listen Up 2002”
Local Band CD review
Dean Blaine
Blue Gum Art (self-titled)
Blue Gum Art's sound should be a schizophrenic mess, given the trio's penchant for swapping instruments. Linda Moody, Marina Lazzara, and Tammy Fortin are each equally proficient in guitar, bass, drums, and vocals, and the trio likes to mix things up. But a remarkable vision and a healthy respect for indie queens like Kim Gordon, Patti Smith, Liz Phair, and Sleater-Kinney keep the collective humors balanced. The resulting ten songs range from dissonant pop, as in "Kris Cure" and " Not So Special," to the haunting, weighty "Bill," where Tammy, this time, sings about "smokin' a dead man's cigarette." Tread lightly: The Blue Gum Art is deep and sticky.
The SF Bay Gaurdian
“Critic's Choice”
M.P. Klier
Blue Gum Art
Thurs/28, Eagle Tavern
IF YOU'VE SEEN Blue Gum Art play on the local festival circuit—Mission Creek Music Festival, Clarion Alley Street Fair, Bernal Heights Festival on the Hill—or at area clubs, you know they play a mean game of musical chairs. Sure Tammy Fortin, Marina Lazzara, and Linda Moody each have an instrumental forte, but watching them pass the guitar, bass, and drumsticks around during a set brings new meaning to the term "power trio." Soulful and poppy, their songs are awash in jangling tremolo guitar, beautiful harmonies, unexpected builds, and get-stuck-in-the-head lyrics; even their la-la la-la's are memorable. Last fall they embarked on a U.S. tour in support of their self-titled, self-released debut album, which made the KZSU-FM charts. Thursday they play hot potato at San Francisco's most patriotic bar, the Eagle. Hope to hear "Burgundy Moon," "Meteor," and "Kris Cure," along with new tunes from their upcoming album. The Pre-Teens, Boy Skout, and Riva Hasko also play.
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