Ask A Rocker: Olivia Mancini and Sunday's Music for Myanmar Benefit

Olivia Mancini sure looks like a rockstar. Photo by Chris Chen, from BrightestYoungThings.

Don't beat yourself up for missing last night's Burma Benefit, because you can make up for it this Sunday! Rock and Roll Hotel is hosting Music for Myanmar, seven hours of rock, art, "sport celebrities and autograph signing," which sounds awkward, and "authentic Burmese food," which rules.

One of my favorite local bands, Olivia and the Housemates, is playing the benefit, and Ms. Mancini herself was kind enough to figuratively stop by TNG.

The New Gay Jenny Miller: Welcome to our humble digs. Is this your first time at The New Gay?

Olivia Mancini: Yes, I am a first timer.

TNG: What got you guys interested in doing a benefit for Burma?

OM: The Housemates are always up for a benefit. That's one of the best opportunities being a musician has to offer, in my opinion. You play, the money goes to a worthy cause. Everyone wins!

But in respect to Burma, my God. When we were asked to do this one, obviously it was a no brainer. So many, many people were affected by this that everybody's efforts are really needed.

TNG: I know, it's scary. I just read that there are two million homeless already, and another cyclone's on the way. And the fucking junta's blocking aid and/or stealing it.

OM: Presumably both, unfortunately for the poor people under its auspices.

TNG: Aside from playing worthy benefit shows, what are you doing with your spare time these days?

OM: Spare time, I love spare time. During this kind of time, I write songs, go for bike rides, warm up veggie burgers on my charcoal grill, drink beer at local dives. In non-spare-but-still-pleasant-time, I teach guitar lessons as well as an online class on music history.

TNG: Really? That seems like a cool gig. Is it? Are people intimidated taking guitar lessons from a rockstar?

OM: Yes, it is a really cool gig. In fact, I work at a place called GIGS. Most of the students I have are kids, so the awareness factor about anything, let alone a guitar teacher, is low. But the idea is to have fun, both for me and the student. We learn songs they want to learn, and that challenges me. (Never knew I could be a Hannah Montana/Against Me!/My Chemical Romance fan.) And when they don't know what they want to learn, we learn what I want to learn. I did a Bright Eyes song the other day. Then some R. Kelly. A little Steve Miller. Equally arbitrary, I'm sure.

TNG: It's always good to hear that fun and fulfilling jobs exist. Ok, let's plug your band! I loved This Kind of Life, and I read on dcist that you guys are working on another album. Is it going to be even better? Is it still going to be fun and poppy, or are you going more in My Chemical Romance/R. Kelly/Bright Eyes direction?

OM: We just have nearly finished some tracks up at a studio in New York. I'm not sure what we'll do with them — maybe an EP is in order. At the moment, we're still solidly in pop sensation territory. The darkness will have to continue to wait for its moment.

TNG: Once at Solly's I witnessed your bandmate Kristin Forbes break into a dance routine to "Rapper's Delight," which she completed in its entirety, for a handful of random patrons. I wondered, was that an admirable display of her lack of self-consciousness, or does she just have to DANCE?

OM: Kristin Forbes, cannot, should not, be stopped. The music is definitely in her.

TNG: Thanks for your time, Olivia Mancini. We will see you at the show. Parting thoughts?

OM: Parting thoughts are of the moment — what the hell is happening with Fort Reno? I leave town for two days and then I get all these DC alerts about how they have closed the park until further notice...

TNG: I know. Oh, I have one more question. Are you really not "The Jealous Type?"

OM: No, I am a little bit.

Music For Myanmar Cyclone Benefit Concert
Sunday, May 18th At The Rock and Roll Hotel
$15 and 100% of the proceeds go to American Red Cross International to help the victims and the survivors. Tickets are available in advance online at www.rockandrollhoteldc.com, or by calling 202 388 ROCK, or at the door. More information.

More on Olivia and the Housemates

• DCist Interview: Olivia Mancini & the Housemates
• BYT: Listening in on Olivia Mancini and The Housemates
• Express: Busy Signals: Olivia Mancini
• Myspace
  

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Ask A Rocker: Black Kids' Reginald Youngblood

Those who already have tickets to tonight's sold-out Cut Copy show at the Black Cat should definitely come a bit earlier to see their opener Black Kids. Formed in Jacksonville in 2006, the band's singer Reginald Youngblood (bottom left) takes The Cure's vocal inflections and applies it to infinitely sunnier songs. "I'm not Going to Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You" (above,) should ring familiar to anyone who's been rejected for an idiot. It also contains the line "You are the girl that I've been dreaming of/ ever since I was a little girl," which is even more memorable for being sung by a boy. Reginald was nice enough to answer some email questions of mine.

The New Gay: What sets you apart from the seemingly endless number of indie bands in existence today?

Reginald Youngblood: Actually, we're not quite "indie". We're signed to Columbia in the states and somewhat to Mercury in the UK. Do we have indie influences? Certainly. But we have just as many mainstream influences. Really, I can rarely tell the difference. Indie doesn't necessarily equal good and mainstream doesn't necessarily equal bad.

TNG: Where does your band's name come from? People often read it as controversial or incendiary, but that doesn't fit with your music. Is it just a name, or more?

RY: To be honest, this is a very boring question for us. But I suppose we asked for it when we chose our moniker. Firstly, we like the way "Black Kids" sound. It's got a certain ring to it, yeah? Also, it does come off as contentious, when in fact, it's completely innocuous. Like "Sex Pistols". We liked that at first...We nearly didn't go with the name, but it just kept popping up in articles, songs, and conversation. So, in a way it chose us.

TNG: In actuality, there aren't a whole lot of black kids visible on the indie rock scene. Do you or other members ever feel set apart?

RY: Not really.

TNG: Your best known song seems to be about getting dicked over by girls, or playing the nice guy while the assholes won. What was your high school experience like? Have you ever had to teach a guy how to dance with the girl you liked?

RY: My high school years were fairly unremarkable. I wasn't popular, but I wasn't invisible. I did not dance. Sadly, I started behaving like a teenager in my mid-twenties. I'm desperately trying to forget that period. It was shameful.

TNG: It would be remiss of me to overlook the fact that you sound a lot like Robert Smith from The Cure. Are you getting tired of the comparisons? Are you ever going to undergo a goth makeover so your look matches him as well?

RY: The comparison is tiresome, but it'll be dispelled when our record is released. Don't get me wrong. Mr. Smith has a wonderful voice, but if you were to compare our songs back to back you would find our voices to be disparate. No goth makeover in the foreseeable future.

TNG: Your are already a well-loved band, but haven't actually put our a record yet. Are you worried that your hype will somehow overshadow your actual product?

RY: No. At the risk of sounding conceited, our record is very, very good.

TNG: Why should Washington DC come out and see you at the Black Cat?

RY: Because I spent my early years in DC. The first time I fell in love was in kindergarten in DC.
Yeah, she broke my heart.

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Ask A Rocker: The Teenagers' Quentin Delafon

I love trash, and there's no better kind than trash with a sense of humor. The Teenagers, a band of London-based Frenchmen who are playing the Black Cat tomorrow night, play a laughable scuzziness that has wormed into my heart like a cardiac STD. "Feeling Better" is 3.5 minutes of catchy self-aggrandizement and "Starlett Johansson" is an obvious ode to stalking a certain husky-voiced actress.

Their finest moment is "Homecoming," a he said/she said account of an Englishman fucking his high school aged-cousin. Its chorus is, respectively, "I fucked my American Cunt/ I love my English romance" and contains the Englishman's romantic assertion of "Just like I like it/She's got nice tits." Their music is half John Hughes cheer and half spoken-word nastiness. They might not exist in six months but I'm happy they're here now.

I roped their frontman, Quentin Delafon, to answer some questions over email. And I must say that I appreciate his candor.

The New Gay: How would you describe your sound? How is it different from the actual '80s sound that inspired it?

Quentin Delafon: It's French sleazy pop.

TNG: What sets you apart from the seemingly endless number of indie bands in existence today?

QD: Technically we are French, based in London. And for the rest, our songz [sic] are much better.

TNG: Where does your band name come from?

QD: That's where we are stuck in our minds, you know. We don't want to grow up 'cause it sucks.

TNG: As Europeans, what are your feelings on visiting the American capital? Anything you want to do while you're here?

QD: We are proud and we are going to do our best to be good French ambassadors so that our president is proud of us. [Editor's note: This will hopefully involve doing one of the Bush twins.]

TNG: Your best known song has "cunt" in the chorus. Have you gotten any shit for this?

QD: Some but its ok, nah? We honestly didn't know that it was SO bad. Now we know.

TNG: What kind of balls did it take to write "Feeling Better," a song with your band's name as the chorus?

QD: 6 balls. Not more. not less.

TNG: Have you heard back from Scarlett Johanson?

QD: Not yet but it would be cool!

TNG: Why should we come out and see you at the Black Cat?

QD: 'Cause we are ace... and Michael Szpiner plays the bass topless. Priceless.

The Teenagers play the Black Cat Wednesday, May 7, with supporting acts DJ Will Eastman and Team Robespierre. Doors open at 8.

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