Q&A: LPR Chats with All Boy/All Girl

Oct

01

All Boy/All Girl - photo by Carly Hoskins 
Coming up next week at LPR is an evening filled with some new talent from around NYC. We interviewed Nicholas Rahn (Double Bass) and Danielle Lovier (Lead Vocals/Ukulele) from All Boy/All Girl to get to know them a bit before their October 9 performance at LPR.
 
Hi All Boy/All Girl! Tell us a bit about yourselves. Any weird pet peeves we should know about?
 
N: Hello! We’re a 7-piece band from here in the city. It’s always a difficult thing to describe ourselves in terms of genre. It’s pop music, but informed by our interest in contemporary classical and experimental music. As for pet peeves, I hate when you order a salad with olives, and they use unpitted olives.
 
D: I can’t stand when people chew gum and spit it out on the sidewalk.
 
How did you all connect and start making music together?
 
N: The story is a bit long to account for everyone, but the short version is: Danielle and I (Nicholas) met in college, and started playing together on the streets for money as a duo. We then found Jessie (vocals), and Hannah (viola) via craigslist. Josh (guitar) joined soon after. He’s a close friend of mine since grade school. We’ve been playing in bands together for a while. Joey (drums) was dating a friend and frequented collaborator of ours, and Susan (cello) was a friend of Hannah’s. It’s an ever growing story really.
 

 
Where did your band name come from?
 
N: Our band name came from an Arthur Russell (<3) song.
 
Our marketing director really likes tacos. where are your favorite tacos in NYC?
 
N: Tacos el Bronco in Sunset Park.
 
D: My taco heart belongs to El Vez.
 
Fill in the blanks: if _____ and ______ had a love child, that is what All Boy/All Girl would be.
 
N: Hmmm… let’s go with Dirty Projectors and Queen.
 
There are a lot of you, so this is a really fun question to ask: what’s the most underrated emoji?
 
N: Jeez, there are so many. Probably the chestnut.
 
D: The dolphin emoji, for sure.
 

 
You guys are based in NYC and perform around the city often. Which acts should our readers keep an eye out for? Anyone performing out there that we should try to see?
 
N: My favorite band in NY right now is Celestial Shore. Also really new on the scene; look out for Museyroom. Those guys are really great!
 
D: I caught Charly Bliss at Silent Barn recently and fell in love!
 
In a conversation with author Jonathan Lethem in 2010, Patti Smith told a crowd “”New York has closed itself off to the young and the struggling. But there are other cities. Detroit. Poughkeepsie. New York City has been taken away from you. So my advice is: Find a new city.” How has New York treated you as artists, musicians, and as people? Do you think there’s still a way to make it here?
 
N: New York is tough. I wouldn’t recommend that anyone moves here to ‘make it’ as a musician. Sure there’s a lot going on, but it’s way more difficult here than in most other places. None of us moved here for the purpose of taking advantage of the scene. We just really like living here. For us the city is more inspirational than practical.
 
D: I have a love/hate relationship with this city. It’s expensive and oversaturated but it also has some of the best opportunities for musicians in the country. Sometimes I want to move to a smaller city, but I know I would miss it here too much.
 
You guys came out with an EP in March! What’s next on the agenda?
 
N: Thanks for asking! We’ve got a single coming out soon with an accompanying interactive website that we are really excited about! Beyond that, we’ve got a short tour at the end of October, and then we’ll be getting ready to head back into the studio to record our second LP.
 
Don’t miss All Boy/All Girl with Balún, GADADU, and Rick Warren on October 9th at Le Poisson Rouge. Tickets on sale here.

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