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[title]'The four of us don’t do interviews together very often,’ shared Warpaint drummer Stella Mozgawa tersely before the start of our interview. Her bandmates, chief vocalist Emily Kokal, guitarist Theresa Wayman and bassist Jenny Lee Lindberg looked on pensively. The air of apprehension in the room was unnerving but short-lived. The Californians soon settled into frivolous bouts of chuckles and banter, tell-tale signs of an accomplished quartet celebrating twin milestones in 2014.
This year, which marked a decade since Warpaint was formed in 2004, saw the eagerly anticipated release of the group’s self-titled sophomore effort. In place of ‘Undertow’ and ‘Shadows’ from spellbinding 2010 debut LP ‘The Fool’ are sinister, hypnotic psych-rock gem ‘Love is to Die’ and offbeat free-for-all ‘Disco//very’, which are the centrepieces of the stellar ‘Warpaint’.
Hours before their maiden Malaysian gig at Bentley Music Auditorium last February, the four-piece sat down with us to talk about turning ten, attending impromptu recording sessions with famous friends and finding happiness.
Warpaint’s Asia-Pacific run of gigs this year began at Laneway Festival Australia. How was the trip Down Under?
Stella Mozgawa: Lots of good bands, friends and shows.
Jenny Lee Lindberg: Stella is from Sydney. She took me to a chocolate shop and her parents’ house, so that was awesome.
SM: That was about the extent of it [laughs].
You even found time off touring across Australia to go into a recording studio with fellow Laneway acts Earl Sweatshirt, King Krule and Jagwar Ma’s Jono Ma. How did that happen?
SM: That was basically just us going to our friend [Sydney-based producer] Jonty’s studio. Theresa and I were there. It was really casual – it wasn’t like all these bands coming together and recording something epic. It was just something fun to do at the end of the night.
Theresa Wayman: Rather than us going to a bar.
That’s very productive of you.
TW: Fun too [laughs].
SM: We had champagne and everyone just listened to music. Jono and I got there late and recorded a song, little bits and bobs, but it was nothing serious.
It’s always endearing to hear about this summer camp-esque camaraderie amongst bands.
TW: It was really fun. I wish there was more of that.
Emily Kokal: That was what Lollapalooza used to be: a touring festival like Laneway, where you would start in one place – it feels like the first day of school – and end in another city.
JLL: [whispers] By the end, you’re having babies.
SM: High-school dropout!
Are you looking for more collaborations like that?
JLL: I think if and when it happens, it’ll feel natural. But I don’t think we are planning to do anything like that anytime soon.
TW: You can’t really force that. You can’t just go, ‘Oh, I like their music; I want to work with them.’ You might not work well together.
JLL: It has to happen organically.
Who impressed you most at the Laneway Festival?
JLL: Mount Kimbie, Lorde, Savages, Haim, King Krule, Kurt Vile, Jagwar Ma – pretty much the entire line-up.
You mentioned Savages and Haim. With the hype surrounding these budding all-girl outfits, do you feel the ‘all-girl band’ tag sometimes overshadows the fact that you are first and foremost a band?
TW: I tell people we are an all-girl band all the time. I also use that as a way of describing us to people who don’t know our music, because it is sort of true and still quite uncommon.
SM: It’s not necessarily a defining factor, musically. It is merely a scientific truth.
TW: Visually, it is defining.
JLL: It’s cool that all of us and Lorde – since she does her own thing – were playing at the same festival. It felt new to us. We had never been surrounded by so many female bands before.
All-girl bands were more of a novelty when Warpaint first appeared on the scene a decade ago...
[Room bursts into laughter]
It’s not a sign of age at all! I was actually about to congratulate you on ten years together as Warpaint.
EK: Thank you [laughs].
Congratulations are also in order for your new LP. The album feels like an extended jam session, with all the songs segueing into one another to resemble a grand, hazy piece. Was that intentional?
TW: Not really. We tried to make more single-type songs this time, but it ended up not happening [laughs].
JLL: I think all the songs go really well together, which was something we didn’t expect when we were writing them. In the beginning, we thought the album would be a little more eclectic sounding than it turned out. We were pleasantly surprised.
TW: Also, some people might feel the opposite about the album. We’ve heard every kind of reaction, like, ‘This is so much poppier,’ or, ‘This is way less poppy.’ You hear everything.
EK: I think this album has more fluidity because it was largely made in the moment. It’s got the stamp of something achieved in a short amount of time, in contrast to things we’ve done in the past, where songs were written and reconstructed over years and years.
It sounds like an illuminating experience, working on this new record. What did you learn about yourselves and the band during this process?
SM: It was eye-opening. Like Emily said, it was the first time we worked in a smaller time frame to achieve something.
EK: I learned that I have to work faster and expedite the process. It’s about time organisation – I think I got into the habit of us working slowly.
TW: We employed different songwriting methods and didn’t limit ourselves to coming together, jamming and letting a song come out of that.
JLL: It was also the first time we had written an album with Stella, so it was really interesting... in a good way [laughs]. We were learning how to write songs cohesively as a unit. The way we were previously approaching songwriting, all of us would be writing songs at the same time with one another. We now have more trust in and respect for one another. This time, we allowed each other more freedom to go home and write a song.
How does the band define success?
SM: Happiness.
TW: Yeah and I also think it is making music that you want to make. Being able to execute the ideas you have in your head, putting them out there and going around the world to play them – that’s success.
Is taking time between records essential to your idea of success?
JLL: We have always been really patient. We’ve been doing that since day one. We never release anything we are not proud of.
Alright, last question. Theresa, how much credit do you take for [boyfriend] James Blake’s award-winning ‘Overgrown’ LP?
TW: All of it; I actually made the whole thing. I paid him to sing.
His Mercury Prize should have your name on it then.
TW: It does [laughs].
‘Warpaint’ is now in stores. warpaintwarpaint.com