Feature: The Gossip

• 16th Jul 2007

Iconic front woman Beth Ditto is everywhere at the moment, if she’s not hanging out with Kate Moss she is causing a stir on stage with her electrifying performances. Ditto and her band The Gossip are gaining universal praise for their soulful punk sound. The band formed in 1999 in Searcy, Arkansas where Guitarist Brace Paine, drummer Kathy Mendonca and Beth Ditto were formed out of the political underground. Known for being influenced by feminism, the band moved to Washington where they signed to Independent label K Records and produced first EP ‘The Gossip’.

The bands debut album ‘That’s Not What I Heard’ was released by Kill Rock Stars in 2001. Second album ‘Movement’ followed in 2003 and after the release of live album ‘Undead in NYC’, drummer Kathy Mendonca left the band. Replaced by Hannah Blilie the band’s next album came in the form of ‘Standing in the Way of Control’ released on Kill Rock Stars and then in the UK on Back Yard Recordings. It was this album that saw the band rise to fame. Ditto had written the song ‘Standing in the Way of Control’ in a backlash to the US Government’s decision to not allow gay people to marry.

It is well known that Ditto is open about her weight and it’s her rebellious attitude that comes across so well in the band.

Fresh from a rave Glastonbury performance, Glasswerk Liverpool managed to catch up with Beth in calm mood just before her band’s performance at Liverpool’s Carling Academy.

Q. You have just arrived back from Glastonbury and from Ireland’s Oxygen festival, how did that go down and what has been your favorite festival yet?

Well Glastonbury was good but people’s tents were swimming in mud with people inside them, we managed to avoid the mud pretty much, although Glastonbury wasn’t our favourite. T in The Park was amazing I absolutely love Scotland, it’s beautiful. Oxygen is our overall favourite – good vibes

Q. Which do you prefer, playing to massive festivals or the smaller shows that you experienced when you first started? Is it weird how big you have become especially with the Gold selling album ‘Standing in the Way of Control’ shifting over 100,000 records in the UK?

I prefer small gigs rather than festivals, Id rather play for 50 people than a big crowd, it’s more intimate. Album wise it’s really weird I don’t know how to calibrate it, because although that’s a big figure in the UK, in the US it’s nothing. The hype as well is only just catching up with me as I tend not to read good or bad press about the band, although it is usually about me and not the band.

The majority of journalists that do give me bad press are male and state that they wouldn’t fuck me, but I didn’t ask to be fucked by them.

Q. In the UK we have seen pictures of you and Kate Moss hanging out, what was that like, as she has recently received negative press for drugs and for being snooty? Did you find this was true?

She is really nice and very smart, she knows what she’s doing, after all she’s a woman. If you have it you have it, if you don’t you don’t.

Q. What’s your view on the new size zero controversy?

I think size zero is absurd there is no such thing as size zero for men, so I don’t see why there is for women. I don’t think there should be such a thing as size Zero. People should be able to eat and do the fuck whatever they want to do.

Q. Going onto the scene you came out of, I know we promote local music and have local scenes, what was it like for you?

That’s so fucking rad man, fuck I enjoyed our scene, I live for that reason, if you grow up in a city with nothing it kinda of drives you to doing something and it’s so important to have local scenes and clubs. We put our own shows on and we came from a place that was extremely homophobic, extremely racist and extremely Christian, in the end I could choose my friends and where to go. You can make music to 15 people and at such a small level, but you still can be just as important to those 15 people, to me it’s better.

Q. Describe how you see the political make-up in America?

We have an entire continent, where 3 forms of media control everything, if you come over to America and watch the news it will blow your mind, all the time things are censored and cut. It’s like when you’re at school and you’re told you will be a teacher or nurse, no one ever said you can be an artist or a singer. The media controls what goes out, so you never know what is actually real, it’s like everything if you don’t know about something you will never try.

Everybody who tried died, from Kurt Cobain to John Lennon. It’s kind of scary.

Q. Band wise what influences stand out, are there any bands currently you don’t like?

You know, this is England and I know the English press so I wouldn’t name any bands I disliked, that’s not to say I like everyone. Bands I do love are of course The Ramones, The Smiths and Patti Smith amongst many others.

Later in the evening the sell out crowd had packed in. Beth had clearly affected many people with many Gossip fans dressed head to toe in Ditto outfits. The lights dimmed and The Gossip burst on stage, Ditto bearing a glitzy wig took the crowd’s ovation as she started the set, dressed in a tight leopard skin jumpsuit no less!

Guitarist Brace Paine and Hannah Blilie were outstanding and provided funk beats and raging guitars. It was clear how tight nit the band were and the back bones allowed Ditto to bellow out foot stomping anthems. The Carling Academy had never witnessed such hysteria as the crowd grew obsessed with Ditto’s inspirational performance. Amongst the anthems Ditto paid homage to her audience and told them ‘You’ve gotta do what you want to do in life, let no fucker stop you’.

The heat and the energy never stopped throughout the set and the sublime ‘Listen Up’ belted out as Beth lurched into the crowd, the powerfulness of Ditto’s voice was outstanding and the remarkable thing was that the band managed to last just over an hour playing at such a tempo. Before the band came on for an encore, The Gossip finished on the frantic ‘Standing In The Way of Control’ leaving Beth to join the front row and give the audience a chance to chant.

A sweat box of rousing songs performed at a high octane tempo proved that The Gossip lived up to the hype, Beth Ditto is an Icon for all the right reasons.

www.gossipyouth.com

Photo by Steve Goudie