The Rogers Sisters

TuneTribe - Interview - 09/ 5/06

All hands on deck
“Magic is always a good way to control emotions”

Doing yoga with Woody Harrelson, thinking about magician-endorsed theme parks and writing “ghost trucker travelogues” is just another normal day for New York indie rock & roll trio Rogers Sisters, whose debut full-length ‘The Invisible Deck’ can be downloaded in MP3 format from TuneTribe now. Dan Carney pressed them for answers…

How did the album recording go? Was it pretty painless?
Jen: “No, it was extremely painful. A lot of long, long hours.”
Laura: “A lot of pulling our souls out from under our skin and slapping them down on the table.”
J: “It was really intense. We took a whole month to record all day and all night.”

What’s the significance of the title ‘The Invisible Deck’?
J: “It’s a reflection that the album’s more mystical in places, as opposed to our usual ‘bouncing of the walls’ schtick. We were looking for something dark, old-fashioned and moody.”
L: “We were looking at a book of art deco, or art nouveau, magic posters, and it was really inspiring. We started thinking about magic as a theme.”
J: “Our father used to do magic tricks for us when we were little kids. So we happened to know this trick called ‘The Invisible Deck’ which is mind-blowing.”

Can you do it now?
L: “I can’t perform it. I can explain it, but it’s better if you just see it.”
J: “It’s like you’re mind reading the person. It’s really bizarre.”
Miyuki: “It might blow your mind. It might melt your eyeballs out.”

Better not, then. What inspired ‘Sooner Or Later’ – the last song on the album? It’s a bit of an epic compared with your usual thing.
M: “I was listening to Lee Hazelwood and I was inspired by the concept of the trucker anthem, or the ghost trucker travelogue! It’s like a trucker that died, and he’s come back.”
J: “We played that song in a lot of different styles before we settled on the version we recorded. It was pushing a new boundary, trying something new.”

So this album’s darker or more mystical than ‘Three Fingers’ – why is that?
J: “Our lyrics have always had a sarcastic, dark side to them but we were just experimenting with different ways to make the music that way. New textures in terms of instrumentation, layering and vocals. A creative experiment.”

And you probably had longer to work on it.
L: “Yes – that’s why the songs are longer; we had too much time!”
M: “We kept adding on another verse.”
J: ”’One more time’!”

One of the album’s standout tracks is the ‘Emotion Control’ single – do you have any tips on how to control unwanted emotions?
L: “That’s the whole point of the song. The constant inner struggle in life – your emotional side versus your controlling brain.”
J: “I find it a challenge, but maybe there’s some kind of drug that works.”
M: “Magic is always a good way to control emotions.”

Any specific kind of magic?
M: “Something in the David Copperfield vein, something grand. Anything that makes an aeroplane disappear perhaps, or the Great Wall Of China.”
L: “Who was that guy with the moustache and the long hair?”
M: “The guy from the ‘70s – Doug Henning! Who incidentally wanted to build a yoga theme park in Canada. It was going to be called ‘Maharishivishnuland’. It was never completed.”

Why not?
M: “Not enough yoga Hare Krishnas in Canada, I guess.”
J: “Sting does yoga – maybe he could build something like that.”
M: “I think Sting might have a little bit more money than old Doug.”
J: “I was in a yoga class and Woody Harrelson was there.”
He strikes me as a man who would take his yoga quite seriously.
J: “He wasn’t very good at it. But you know what – I was also in a class one time with Willem Dafoe, and he was like a magician of yoga. He did the diagonal sideways handstand, and his body was at an angle of 45 degrees.”
M: “I wouldn’t think Woody Harrelson would be good at yoga. He was probably busy doing ‘Money Train’ or something like that.”
J: “He had a sweat suit on and he talked to the teacher a lot.”

What happened at your first ever rehearsal?
L: “Miyuki learned eight songs while not being a real bass player and never having played bass with other musicians before. We probably drank some Amstel Lite.”
M: “We did. We went to this bar in Chinatown and did karaoke all night. I sung ‘Purple Rain’ followed by ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’.”

And then was when Jen and Laura knew you were right for the band.
M: “That was when they threw bottles at me.”

When we spoke last you also said you wanted to be in a position to fist fight Madonna. Will this album bring you any closer to that goal, do you think?
L: “I hope so. I want a piece of her.”
J: “I don’t know – she does more yoga than me – I think she would kick my ass. But hopefully – that’s why we made this album. We should have called it ‘Madonna, Are You Ready For Us’ or something. Or maybe ‘Put ‘Em Up Madonna’!”
M: “I don’t know – she frightens me with that unitard thing.”

If you could spend the day with President Bush, what would you do?
J: “Disneyland? No, I would take him to see homeless mothers with ten children. That’s something I think he should see.”
M: “I would like to stay as far away from him as possible.”
L: “I’d like to take him around the world to show him what happens as a result of American policy and capitalism. Try to open his eyes. Asia, Panama…”
M: “I’d take him to McDonald’s and fatten him up. Clog up his arteries. Anything to hurry peace.”

That just about wraps it up – anything to add?
M: “I’d like the public to know that I’m actually from five minutes in the future.”

What’s it like?
M: “I’ll tell you in five minutes.”

Dan Carney
TuneTribe