Backstage

The Virgins

April 2009 | Alternative

Donald (vocals), Wade (guitars) and Nick (bass) are the three friends who make up the new, hotly tipped band The Virgins. Good-time guys who like a party as much as a catchy hook, they spent most of last year wowing the tastemakers and scenesters of New York. Now they're over in the UK to do the same here (they've already been tipped by the NME as a band to watch in 2009).

Their sound has been described as a mixture of fellow New Yorkers The Strokes and LCD Soundsystem. You can judge for yourselves: their debut album, The Virgins, is available now on We7 - one week ahead of the release date on the 20th April. We7 met with the band to find out more about what makes them tick...

The Interview

How did you guys form the band?

Donald: We kind of met through mutual friends around a time when I guess each of us was ready to be in a band. I'd been doing, like, different things around the city. I really didn't have anything going on and was just writing songs and stuff. We met all through friends and were hanging out together and you know we just started pursuing music with each other. We had already been into music, but we hadn't met guys we could hang with for such a period of time were we could form a band. I'd been in bands before, and everything had just drifted away gradually. For some reason this combination did not.

Were you all into the same kind of music?

Donald: I listen to a lot of Ry Cooder, Randy Newman.
Nick: I guess I was into New York new wave bands. I liked a lot of surf music from the 60s growing up.
Wade: You know when I grew up in New York I listened to a lot of punk and hip hop. When I went to school and university I sort of got into classic rock. So I guess when we started out I was still was listening to a lot of classic rock. The Rolling Stones, The Band and stuff like that.

What was it like to go from hanging out together as friends to playing live and getting a buzz going?

Donald: Well, it's funny. We had been together for almost a year, but we didn't have a drummer. We'd just been writing, working and hanging together - not officially as a band as we hadn't played out. During that time before we got the drummer I guess some of the songs we put on the demo got played by some people just for fun I guess. Then we got a drummer and did some shows three weeks after. That was really exciting. We were very fortunate to have that kind of reception. It really encouraged us to keep going.

In the UK you've been tipped for success in 2009 - are you feeling the pressure of the hype?

Donald: No, I'm excited. It's cool to have the opportunity to have more people hearing your music and coming to the shows and all of those kinds of things are very helpful. And we are just so grateful to have that kind of attention at all.

Do you think your sound will translate well to England?

Wade: If anyone likes us in England, we're happy. But we can't say for sure, just because we haven't spent that much time over here. I think England has so much stuff that is very trendy... then again, there seems to be a niche for every type of music. Hopefully there is a niche for us.

Your debut album, "The Virgins", is available on We7 now, are you proud of how it has turned out?

Donald: You know we tried to make a cohesive and sort of... contained album. We made it sort of the fly. There was a lot of improv and ad-libbing. I guess there is hopefully a little bit in there for a wide variety of listeners.

What are your favourite tracks on it?

Donald: I like all of them, but my favourite is "Private Affair"
Nick: Mine is either "Teen Lovers" or "Fernando Pando".
Wade: "She's Expensive"

What else is coming up in '09?

Donald: Towards the start of the winter we'll start thinking about recording new songs...

While you're on the road do you think about writing songs?

Donald: Yeah, you think about it! Whether we do it or not...
Nick: I started something last night... writing two seconds worth of music and having thousands of those, you can write a tiny little riff and just have 50 f****** thousand of those and you can really come up with something from that...

Do you all write together?

Nick: It depends... if we don't have a deadline usually we'll f*** around separately but if we do have a deadline usually we'll come together and get it right.

Are you going to be over here for some festival dates in the summer?

Donald: Yeah we're going to playing Glastonbury and T in the Park which we're really f****** excited about. And we're doing Camden Crawl which is cool.

Good luck with that - thanks for speaking to We7 today!