Girl Friday
⤏ IN CONVERSATION WITH EDEN HAIN
⤏ PHOTOS BY SAY SPEZZANO | MAKE-UP BY KATIE MANN | STYLING BY FAYE ORLOVE
⤏ ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED DECEMBER 2019
What comes across most prevalently from my time with Girl Friday is that they are the most unconditionally loving and the most unconditionally late. If I had a dollar for every time they sent me a text that they were running behind schedule, I would have quite a few dollars. Still, I spent two-and-half months following them to practices in Silverlake and then all across the country. Everyday I’d listen to their stories, and watch in complete awe as they prioritize the safety and comfort of everyone in their orbit. I would hear them convey their complex thoughts on love, distance, power imbalances, and living in LA in words, riffs, or in jokes. Finally, at the very end of tour — as the self-appointed President of their fan club — I got to ask them what the hell goes on in their heads, and how they’re able to, so magically, translate it into their upcoming album.
EDEN: I didn’t get to go to a freshman orientation so I’m forcing you all into icebreakers. I need your name, your ideal vacation spot, and a surprise musical influence.
VERA ELLEN: I’m Vera, I feel like I’m really cheesy, but just throw me on a beach! I like Tonga, I had a great time at Tonga. Surprise influence? Maybe Madonna! I feel like I don’t ever really talk about Madonna, but I used to listen to her a lot, and I think her vocal melodies are really cool.
E: I wouldn’t guess that actually — except for the cross that you always wear maybe.
SIERRA SCOTT: I’m Sierra! Vacation? I feel like I’ve never been to Paris? Also I heard recently that there’s this thing called “Paris Syndrome,” where people have such big romantic expectations of Paris that when they get there, they get physically ill because it’s never as good as they want it to be.
E: Oh my god!
S: And then surprise musical influence? I don’t know, I feel like I’m pretty loud about everything I like. I’ll say the Jonas Brothers for now.
VIRGINIA PETTIS: Okay let’s see. I’m Virginia, but you can call me whatever you want. Vacation spot: cabin in Maine.
VE: Classic.
VP: In the fall specifically.
SS: With some tools to do some renovating!
VP: And then influences? The first thing I thought of was ABBA.
LIBBY HSIEH: I’m Libby. Vacation spot? I feel like anywhere in Europe is prime since it’s easy to get around and it’s beautiful. I also really want to go to Shanghai. And then, surprise musical influence? I feel like mine would be K-Pop, but not like in the bubble-gummy way that they produce their music—
E: But in the way that you’re going to do a highly choreographed music video next.
SS: That’s a dream of mine!
LH: Yeah, and also that they have these ballads that they sing where you can just feel them ripping their hearts out. I feel like that’s really accurate to the way that I write melodies.
E: Okay, obligatory question. I need your origin story.
LH: We were all born from the same womb.
VP: Yes and we were all born from Alan Cumming. But, tragically separated at birth!
E: Okay thank you for that accurate account! I know you’re all in the middle of writing an album.
VE: Quite literally!
E: Oh yeah let’s set the scene! We’re sitting on the floor amongst pedal boards, notebooks, instruments, my own amp . . . So you obviously write all your songs together. What’s that process?
LH: It varies! Half the album we wrote all together, or we just jammed, and a song has come out of it. The other half: each person has written a song and brought it to the group, and the song is already pretty complete so everyone just kinda adds their parts.
E: I remember watching you jam during sound checks and someone would bring out their phone and you’d lay stuff down on a voice memo, how often does that turn into something?
VE: [Laughs] Far too little!
SS: I have so many voice memos!
VE: We never return to a voice memo!
SS: We have this meme of this one song called “Hot House”. Every time we jam, we’d be like, “Oh you know what? That can be in ‘Hot House’.” At this point that song is looking to be about 12 minutes long, and we’ve never touched it!
E: I know some of you have solo projects. How do you decide, of the songs you write, what goes to Girl Friday and what you keep for yourself?
LH: Intuition.
“[If] you’re going to be on the stage, why would you just stand there? It’s just honest to be theatrical, I always thought it was more honest than anything else I did.”
— SIERRA SCOTT
E: I love to read those lists like “10 things every successful billionaire does everyday.” So I’m just wondering if you had any routines or any weird pre-show rituals to get into the zone?
SS: I try to write something everyday. Even if it’s stupid. Even if it’s just, “Fuck this day.” Just to get into the habit of reflecting in some way. I make myself a long and leisurely breakfast and I listen to a podcast, because I like it when people make me laugh very early in the morning. It starts the day off right.
VE: The most important thing for me is the idea of clearing my mind. I make sure I meditate everyday to let the ideas come in. I need to be empty like a vessel!
LH: I like to learn something everyday, like learn a new word, or I’m learning Spanish right now. I just like to work my brain in different ways that aren’t exclusively creative. I think it just helps me see different parts of the world and process reality.
VP: I usually just try to go outside at least once a day, and take care of a green thing, like water a plant.
E: I was reading that you weren’t interested in writing songs about love. What was disinteresting about love songs before and has that changed?
LH: I feel like it has changed. I feel like what we meant was that we didn’t want to write about trivial kind of mushy things. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, we just weren’t interested. But now we write about all types of love — whether it’s about friendship, or a fucked-up weird situation that you thought was love, or a really deep and genuine kind of love. Also, I just think it’s so funny that we made a point to say that we don’t write about love because I think that was us trying to be tough.
SS: We’re so soft!
E: You’re extremely theatrical in your live performance from the way that you do your makeup to the way that you move on stage. What’s the inspiration for how you put together a show?
SS: Every artist I loved as a kid had that theatricality. When you’re on stage you can kinda do whatever you want! When I was a kid I would feel afraid to say something in conversation with someone, but as soon as I got on stage I could be more honest. It’s just, if you’re going to be on the stage, why would you just stand there? It’s just honest to be theatrical, I always thought it was more honest than anything else I did.
LH: Plus, you can go home and just listen to the album, but then in person you can see us really put all our blood and guts in front of you and say “This is who we are! Take it.” It’s a lot easier to feel connected to the music when you let your body do whatever you want. Also, dressing up in costume helps create a persona and give you the confidence to be like “I’m not me anymore.”
E: The first time I saw you perform, the first thing I said when you got offstage was, “You didn’t tell me you have choreography!” Where did those moves come from?
LH: We’re kind of clowns in that way, or an improv group. Someone does something and we just follow.
E: You all don’t really have social media presences, I’m wondering if there’s a defining reason why you choose not to be active online, or why you keep your social media private?
VE: I think it was just a coincidence that we all happened to be people who don’t engage with social media, personally. I think just individually none of us are really passionate about it.
SS: Truly, I’m an extremely obsessive person. When I deleted Instagram, I started spending my time doing things I actually like instead of just obsessing over people.
LH: I’m the same. I can’t spend too much time on it, or else I get too anxious. Even when I don’t even realize it, I find myself actively thinking about what other people are doing, or what other people think of me. I’d rather it not have space in my mind. It’s too much.
VP: I used to be really active on Youtube, I used to have it all because I thought “I need to be a person somewhere, this is how to be a person.” And when I realized I was spending all my time there, wishing I could be a person instead of doing the stuff that I like, I deleted everything, and now I’m in a band and it’s cool! It just feels like my time is valuable now and it feels better to be engaging with tangible things instead of a screen.
E: In another one of your interviews I heard Vera say that the most important thing for a band to do is work on working together. How do you work on working together?
LH: [Sings] Bonding tiiiiime!
“[The] number one thing is that everyone feels included, and if not happy, at least supported.”
— VERA ELLEN
VE: The best way to work on working together is going on tour. And we took a lot from The Beths, and the way we saw them interacting with each other, and taking care of each other. I think, from the get-go, we always had the ethos that the number one thing is that everyone feels included, and if not happy, at least supported. It’s not about one person dominating or one person’s ego. It’s always a work in progress.
LH: Love is a constant struggle--no wait, blessing. Love is a constant blessing!
VP: It’s crazy how much we’ve gotten to know each other and how much learning is still left to go. We can speak our minds, and then continue to love each other, and it’s pretty incredible. Good job us!
E: With the start of the decade around the corner, what have you learned in the last ten years that you’re hoping to bring into the next?
VE: Jesus!
SS: Okay we’re talking 2010, Bar Mitzvah season has just ended [Everyone laughs].
LH: I feel like I make everything so serious! I just hope that in the next decade I can bring in a lot more selflessness. A lot of being young is being self-centered, and only thinking about your own head, and being stuck in your own shit, and not understanding that everything you do affects the people around you. I just want to be able to extend myself to others and not be only concerned about my own goals.
VP: I’m going to trust that things are going to happen. You have to put in the work, obviously, but looking back at myself in high school...I thought you had to do a certain amount of things to get to the place you want to be and have a #plan and stick strictly to it. But all of the best things in my life have come from talking to people, and meeting people I like, and continuing to hang out with them! You just have to trust! Find people you trust and you’ll make something good.
SS: I’m just trying to be way more honest and communicative in life, because I didn’t grow up doing that at all and now I’m realizing that you can tell people what you think and it’s fine! I’m still not great at that, but I’m working on it.
VE: I’m not trying to think too much, so I’m just going to say what came to my head immediately which was “lightness” and “groundedness.” I was thinking about how, when I was a teenager, I somehow felt like being serious and over intellectualizing things made me better than other people or somehow made me more sophisticated. And now I realize that there’s something really great about taking things lightly. There’s a lot of joy to be had in the moment and it’s really easy to let yourself be bogged down all the time or overthink things. So I’m just trying to approach things with a light manner, but at the same time being present, and grounded, and keeping a balance.
⤏ BUY THE PRINT EDITION OF JR HI THE MAGAZINE | ISSUE 008 HERE.
⤏ EDEN HAIN (THEY/THEM) IS A MUSICIAN BY BIRTH AND JEWISH BY COINCIDENCE. THEY ARE CURRENTLY PLAYING GUITAR IN THE TENTH AND "SINGING" IN THE GOOD BILLIONAIRES. THEY CAN MOST OFTEN BE FOUND LOITERING BEHIND THE FRONT DESK AT JUNIOR HIGH, ANSWERING YOUR BOOKING INQUIRIES, AND TALKING ABOUT THEIR CAT, JIM. WHEN THEY GROW UP THEY HOPE TO FIND THE SOLUTION FOR WORLD PEACE.