The Tenth
⤏ TAYLOR BLACKWELL AND HARLEY QUINN SMITH IN CONVERSATION WITH ARIELA BARER
⤏ PHOTOS BY DANA TRIPPE | MAKE-UP BY EDEN HAIN | STYLING BY MARLENE LUCIANO
⤏ ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED DECEMBER 2018
ARIELA BARER: So how did your band form?
HARLEY QUINN SMITH: At the same time that we met I was auditioning for Carrie Brownstein’s pilot for Search and Destroy I became obsessed with Sleater-Kinney. I went in to audition for Carrie and then after that was like, “Oh my god, even if I don’t get the part I wanna be in a band right now.” I did not get the part. But then Taylor and I went to The Smell for the first time—
AB: Who was playing?
TAYLOR BLACKWELL: I don’t even know. I think we only stayed for the first band.
AB: But you were sold.
HQS: Yeah! We turned to each other at one point and said we should start a band.
AB: You decided to start this band, how did you come up with your band name? Were there any rejects?
TB: There were many rejects. February 10th was the day we went to The Smell. For a while we thought the band would be called “Tenth of February” and we also realized November 10th was the day we met. So there’s a lot of “tens” in our friendship. But we had so many [failed names]. My favorite was “Residual Checks” because we’re both actors.
AB: How do you make an EP as quickly as you did?
HQS: I feel like it took forever!
TB: I felt that way too! We had also been doing some traveling between the time we started the band and the time it came out.
HQS: And we were working too. But once we figured out that we wanted it to be about boys it came together, because our idea was extremely specific.
TB: I think the genuine excitement for it too! We just loved getting together and making music and continue to feel that way. So the passion for it really drove it home. Also when we weren’t together we were doing a lot of work separately.
HQS: I wrote Kyle on a beach in Hawaii.
TB: I think I wrote the second half in an Uber.
AB: Your band didn’t really seem to play any live shows before recording. I know for a lot of bands that’s how you develop a sound, so how did you develop the sound and has it shifted since releasing it into the world?
HQS: I have a fear of performing so that’s part of it.
TB: We were also really busy with work. But now we’re both very excited to start playing. As far as developing the sound goes we were listening to a lot of Sleater-Kinney, a lot of Hole and the sound was really developed in Harley’s bedroom on her floor. I think listening to a lot of different music helped shape us. I listen to a lot of folk music, that’s my first love. And while it’s a completely different sound from what we’re going for, I think the influence of Leonard Cohen and Elliott Smith and Paul Simon infuses their way into what I do. But I really had to learn the punk sound and I think I’m still getting a handle on it.
AB: So you’re both punks and you’re both actresses and I have found that in my experience of having a foot in each door it kinda just makes me feel like an alien? Do you have any really funny fish out of water stories from either scene?
“I wrote Kyle on a beach in Hawaii.”
— HARLEY QUINN SMITH
“I think I wrote the second half in an Uber.”
— TAYLOR BLACKWELL
HQS: I’ve gone to those Young Hollywood events in the past and every time I’d just think to myself, “Oh my god, I don’t belong here” cause I’m just not like anybody there! So when I do meet somebody that is more like me it’s really thrilling. But I often feel like I never really fit in with any other young actors.
TB: I think that’s what make this friendship so special, because I think I’ve definitely felt like a fish out of water my whole life. Or I think a better description would be an alien cause I was born in a place called Jupiter. Which is such a weird town anyway it already feels like another planet!
AB: So you’re from Florida? And you’re going back and forth between Florida and Los Angeles. How did that shape you as a person and artist?
TB: I was caught between these two very different worlds where I always felt like LA was my home. From the first time I came here, I just really felt like this is my place and I’m with people who have, maybe not the same aspirations maybe a lot of them do, but the nice thing about Los Angeles is a lot of people are working and striving toward something. So that really was everything, just to be around so many like-minded people. I also grew up in Florida where no one had any understanding of what I was trying to do as both an actor and a creative person so to come here and meet people like you and Harley was life changing.
AB: And Harley you were born in New Jersey?
HQS: [Avocado toast in her mouth] Mhm!
AB: And you kinda grew up with a foot in the door in this industry. So what, for you, was the deciding factor to make you go in and pursue a creative career and how did that shape you as an artist and person?
HQS: I had a very a different entrance to this world. I was very lucky in the way that it happened. I didn’t really have any intention of acting for a long time; I just wanted to play bass since I was 11 or 12. I was really emo, I had black hair, it was really bad, but I just wanted to play bass! And when I became less emo my dad asked me to do a cameo in his movie Tusk and I did it just cause my family always appears in my dad’s movies as more of like a cute thing—
AB: It’s like an extreme Christmas card.
HQS: Yes! It’s like an extreme photo album. And after that one day I was like “Oh fuck! This is actually really fun.” I’m very, very lucky that my dad decided to make Yoga Hosers and that was the first thing that I ever really acted in. I know it’s very unusual to decide you wanna act and then have a movie written for you, but I’ve tried to pay my dues as much as possible by just working my ass off now.
AB: Well I’m glad you’re here now and I’m glad you’ve found your way to each other. So the first EP had a very clear theme, is there a theme we can expect on the album?
HQS: The album is called “Dunes” and the dunes are representative of all the different emotions an individual will go through.
TB: The ups and downs.
AB: What is your big goal with this new album?
HQS: People have said they related to the EP which I find surprising because it’s just extremely specific experiences, but I’m so glad people have related to it. I’ve gotten quite a few messages about “Sid” where people would say “Something similar happened with me” and I’d just say, “No way! Guys are the worst.” I hope with the album, since the songs aren’t about people, they can be even more relatable. I just hope they can connect with people in some way and speak to them in some way and hopefully help them in some way.
AB: Do you have a favorite story about the other person that just really sums up who they are as a person?
TB: I would say we had a really special experience right before recording the EP. We went to New York together for five days before recording and that really sealed the deal as far as knowing what we wanted to bring to the recording of the EP. But going to New York for the first time as an adult with someone I care so much about and going to our favorite vegan restaurants and getting to see Beautiful [the Carole King Musical]...and also there was a lot of very strange moments in New York, too.
HQS: I had the stomach flu so Taylor heard every bodily function that came out of me.
TB: It was very intimate. At that point there was nothing we could hide from each other.
⤏ BUY THE PRINT EDITION OF JR HI THE MAGAZINE | ISSUE 004 AND A LIMITED EDITION THE TENTH TRADING CARD HERE.
⤏ ARIELA BARER (SHE/THEY) IS A HOT JEW. THEY ARE IN MOVIES AND TV SHOWS. THEY LOVE THEIR CAT.