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Wonder Twin Powers Activate!
An interview with The
Driven High
By Bob
Ignizio |
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The Hot Damn l to r: Michelle,
Scott, Pete, and Karen |
Cleveland’s The Driven High blend sludgy riffs and melodic
vocals to create a sound that is both familiar and unique. They started out
as a three piece (twins Michelle and Karen share vocals and play guitar and
bass respectively, while Scott keeps the beat), and recently added a second
guitarist (Pete) to flesh out their sound. They were one of the stand-out
bands at 2002’s ‘Studio A Rama’, and I’ve been trying to corner them for an
interview ever since I saw them there. Recently, I managed to catch up with
them after a gig at Pat’s in the Flats.
UT: How did the band get together?
Scott: We got together 3 years ago in February of
2001 when I was playing in Stepsister.
Michelle: Karen and I have been playing together for
years. We just added Pete on guitar.
Pete: The guys have totally grown from when I first
met them. They were playing shows where people hated them, and I always
thought they really great. The next week they were playing Studio A Rama
and getting broadcast on the radio. There’s a lot of influences in the
band. P.J. Harvey, Sonic Youth, and the Detroit sound.
UT: What made you decide to add the second guitar
player?
Scott: We just heard things in our music that needed
something to take it to the next level. Michelle’s more of a rhythm
player. We wanted to have other elements, like some slide guitar and leads.
Michelle: Not necessarily major AC/DC solos. We were
practicing for our cousin’s wedding and Pete was playing with us and we
wanted to try it out. Pete just naturally fit in with us.
UT: How do you go about writing songs?
Karen: Michelle and I write the vocal melodies first,
then we add the riffs and Scott comes up with the drum parts.
Michelle: Karen and I have been writing for a while.
We tried working with some other people, but it just didn’t work out.
UT: That emphasis on vocal melodies definitely shows.
A lot of bands with a similar sound are more about the riffs.
Karen: Because we start with the melodies first, I think that makes it a
little bit different. We never took vocal lessons.
Pete: These girls don’t even know chords or names of
chords.
Michelle: I don’t even know the string that always
goes out of tune on my guitar. Someone just told me, “That’s the ‘G’
string.” Okay, ‘G’ string, I think I can remember that.
UT: I noticed in a few songs one of you will be
singing lead on the first half, and the other takes over on the second
half. What made you go with that approach?
Michelle: When we first started I did all the
vocals. As I got more confident on the guitar, and wanted to focus more on
that, Karen started doing more backups. We just decided fuck it, Karen can
sing some lead, too. It’s just because we’re twins, that we do the
songs together.
Karen: You think it’s a twin thing?
Michelle: Definitely. I don’t want to get corny or
anything, but yeah.
Karen: The twin power.
UT: So who turns into animals and who turns into
water?
Pete: It switches every night.
Karen: It depends on the time of the month.
UT: Any plans to do some studio recordings?
Scott: We’re recording in May.
Karen: We had a CD before, but never really pushed
that.
UT: What are your goals with the band?
Scott: To travel. Get out of here and do some
things. Maybe do a tour.
Michelle. We never tried to send anything out to
labels before. But now maybe we’ll try to do something like SXSW, or
something.
Scott: We want to take it slow.
Michelle: We’re just going to keep playing, that’s
what our plan is.
UT: Anything else anyone wants to add?
Pete: I think we’re a great band, we rock out.
Scott: Women that rock, it’s a good thing.
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