The Rogers Sisters

Virgin UK - Rogers Sisters SXSW Featured Artist Interview - 02/12/06

Cream of the crop of the not-insubstantial clutch of kooky, self-assured Brooklyn-based exports are the dashing Rogers Sisters, recently in the UK for the briefest of trips to promote their fantastic new album The Invisible Deck. We caught up with them in a south London pub, mid-fish pie, on a freezing cold February Friday…

It’s hard to believe that in a little over a month South by Southwest will be in full swing, the air will be warm, the sun will be shining and the margeritas flowing. Would it be fair to say they were looking forward to it? “Austin is really cool” says bassist and vocalist Miyuki “because within about a five-block radius there are around a hundred clubs and bars”. The band are SXSW old hands, having played the conference a couple of times before. “It’s really, really fun when we go, because it’s kinda like a mini-reunion” he continues. “We keep running into bands that we’ve played with before”.

This year, the band will spend more time in Austin than on previous visits and are hoping this will allow them the chance to check out more of the eclectic music on offer. “It’s just great to be exposed to so many different kinds of music and so many different kinds of people” says guitarist and vocalist Jennifer. “This year we’ll be there for about two or three days so we can enjoy it more. Last year we played four shows in two days so there was no time for doing much afterwards, you know. It gets pretty late – and sometimes there are some pretty crazy aftershows – but they’re often in these weird locations that you have to find, and when you have to get ready for another show the next day it’s not always easy. This year I think we’ll have more of a chance to enjoy it”.

You’d think that spending any more time in bars would not necessarily be at the top of their to-do list; after all they manage their very own watering hole back home. Daddy’s, in Brooklyn’s hip enclave of Williamsburg is apparently a laid-back kind of place, with just about the best jukebox on the east coast. But how on earth does this fit in with their rock’n’roll ambitions? According to Jennifer, it’s all under control. “We have a really handsome partner who I happen to be married to, and he watches over the bar when we’re out of town. And I do the book-keeping so when I get home I have a lot of paperwork. But, you know, it’s a simple business – it’s just drinks. You can buy a case of liquor and it will last for a year.. it’s just as good. Sometimes it’s better!”

It certainly doesn’t seem to have detracted them from their primary raison d’etre – The Invisible Deck sounds like an effortlessly accomplished follow-up to 2005’s Three Fingers. Does the whole writing and recording process come as easily as it sounds? “Writing the initial songs comes naturally to us” explains Jennifer. “Miyuki writes songs constantly. But finishing them and making them into an album… we spend a lot of time doing that”. Miyuki nods in agreement. “Especially this time around” he adds. “I mean, when we worked on Three Fingers it was a little bit harder because we were touring a lot, so we would record it in spurts, here and there, in between tours. This time around we made sure we took about a month so we could just work on the record and make sure the songs became a cohesive album”.

So how did having a solid block of time to concentrate solely on production affect the overall sound of the record? Did it throw up any particular challenges of its own? “We admire thoughtful production, you know” says Jennifer. “We’re big fans of the Beach Boys and I’m not saying it’s like a Beach Boys record, but we wanted to get much more into the production this time around”. “But also”, adds Miyuki “the one thing we really wanted to retain was what we sound like live”. Laura puts it in a nutshell. “It’s really hard to get that energy down on this flat…thing. This thing that’s not human. It’s not a three dimensional space with us jumping around in it”.

They needn’t have worried. There’s enough energy on this record to see New York through at least its next ten power failures. To begin with, there are the punch-drunk punk-funk pop songs like the yelpy, raucous opener ‘Why Won’t You?’ and new single ‘Never Learn To Cry’, with its cutesy vocals and twitchy guitars. Contrast this with hypnotic tracks like the slower, Arabian-influenced melodies of acid-rock band fave ‘Your Littlest World’, or the epic feedback and beats-driven closer ‘Sooner or Later’ and it’s clear that the Rogers Sisters are not only leading the scene they helped to establish, but undoubtedly creating new ones in the process.

The Invisible Deck is released on April 17th.

Virgin UK