Speaking with the flamboyant Karen O., singer/yelper of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, known for her zany onstage antics and exquisitely creative fashion sense that is every bit as important to the band as the unique art-punk they are known for, I wasn't sure what to expect. But the charming frontwoman, who actually describes herself as "shy," was a pleasure to talk to even though we were only allotted about fifteen minutes or so to converse. During that time, Karen shed some light on the band's debut album on Interscope, Fever To Tell, their recent taping of "Top Of The Pops" over in the UK, where she and her band mates found themselves amongst such disparate pop "icons" as Kelly Clarkson, a couple of the Spice Girls, and Marilyn Manson while Karen frolicked around in a "shrimp dress," and a nice, raunchy tale about one of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs earliest gigs at the legendary punk breeding ground CBGBs, which features hair metal bands and olive oil-drenched bodies…intrigued? Read on.

Janelle: So, what's going on? You're going to Europe in August?
Karen: Uh huh, yeah.
Janelle: And then what do you have lined up for the rest of the year?
Karen: I guess when we get back from Europe we have a week or two off, then we do some dates on the West Coast, and then we go to Japan and Australia for October. And when we get back I think we're gonna do some more dates in the Midwest and South and stuff.

Janelle: When did you realize you wanted to pursue the music path?
Karen: I guess when we started getting masses and masses of attention [Laughter]. I was just going with the flow really you know, cos I didn't - I mean we started the band without the intentions of having a career in music. It was just something we were doing kinda on the side, and that we were just doing for the fun of it or for the hell of it or something. Then it was just like all of a sudden, you know, Rolling Stone had an article on us and we were getting courted by all these labels and stuff. It was really out of the blue, so it was just like I kind of just went with the flow. And it was never an intention of mine really.

Janelle: Yeah, and what about all that hype? Was that a lot of pressure?
Karen: No, it was never pressure. It was just always kind of amusing slash shocking, you know? [Laughter] I mean it was just like ughh - yeah, I mean I just got a kick out of it and also a little overwhelmed by it and stuff like that. But I mean mostly it was just like, it all seemed really sort of abstract and didn't really seem like you know, for real, you know? It was just cos none of the path our band has taken has been one that was like you know like really sort of like almost seemed like an artificial pace and sort of exceptional kind of situation, so we never quite - we have just always been puzzled by it, and puzzled by the hype.

Janelle: And speaking of the hype and everything, I think it was in a review for your record, I saw the critic actually wrote that you are "The new millennium's first female rock icon." I mean, how does that make you feel when you hear stuff like that?
Karen: I don't know, it's just critics or something and it just makes me think of the writer and him or her just like scooping it up a bit - making it sound a lot bigger and more exciting than it is, you know?! I think it's just exaggeration. I don't really get affected by that.
Janelle: But then what about the other side, when some people say it's all style and no substance?
Karen: Um, yeah, you know, that pisses me off [Laughter]. I mean, it's just like that's the thing. I never take anything all that seriously enough to get deeply flattered or deeply offended. But, you know, we do work really hard on the music, so it just kind of sucks when people kind of pass it off like that's not the case.

Janelle: So, you and Nick [Zinner, guitarist], you were in a band together first. Unitard. Are you still working on that?
Karen: Yeah, I'm still writing songs all the time that are just those kind of songs, like slower and melancholy, and like small songs you know. But, we haven't collaborated on it for a while now.

Janelle: And how about your early shows, well when you first formed the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. How were they? Where'd you play, how were the crowds?
Karen: Um, I guess we, I mean, we played pretty much everywhere there is to play in Brooklyn and New York, you know?
Janelle: Yeah.
Karen: We played a lot of shows in Manhattan at this place called the Mercury Lounge. And we played, I don't know, we played venues like Brownies and like Northsix and Luxx and I don't know, there's tons - we played tons of places. And usually, well sometimes we were lucky enough to open or be part of these promoters, the Twisted Ones, they had shows going on in Brooklyn, kind of like an underground scene. And they'd always have shows at really kind of illegal venues and stuff. And we played shows with them and stuff too, so.
Janelle: Yeah, how were the crowds back then? Did they take to you at first?
Karen: Oh yeah, yeah. It was madness, you know? It was definitely an exciting time because it was so new for us, and our whole incentive in starting a band was to cause madness, you know, so it was just like we were just trying to get people's blood pumping and stuff. So, those shows were just like cos they were really small, mostly really small venues. I mean they were not as well attended as - they weren't sold out shows or anything like that, but they were, it was just whoever was there were big fans and we had just crazy times.

Janelle: Were there any horror stories that you can think of off the top of your head?
Karen: Um, well, maybe it was like the second show that we played. It was at CBGBs, you know? And it was like we were kind of sandwiched - this was the second show we ever played - and we were sandwiched between hair metal bands on a Tuesday night. And I was in the habit of sort of dousing myself in olive oil to look all sweaty and glisteny when I hit the stage, you know? [Laughter] And I was wearing this shirt that I guess, I don't know for some reason I just - it was really kinda loose on the top so when I bent down you probably could see my tits and olive oil had all dripped into my eyes and burning my eyes. And there was no crowd there whatsoever. Everyone was kind of sitting down at tables and talking. It was just a really kind of depressing - one of our most depressing shows I think.

Janelle: Ok. And of course, as a frontwoman, you're really extroverted and uninhibited onstage and everything…
Karen: Right.
Janelle: What about in ordinary, everyday life. Are you reserved at all or, you know, toned down?
Karen: Not reserved, but incredibly low-key. [Laughter] Yeah, it's just like you know, borderline um yeah, kind of shy maybe. I don't know, I'm just really kind of yeah, I'm not anything like I am onstage unless you get a bunch of drinks in me or something.

Janelle: So, there's just something about the stage. What's the greatest advantage of being a female in rock?
Karen: I don't know, I think the advantages are that you know, that there aren't any real like… Ok, ok, let me start over. All right the advantage is that we seem to get a lot more attention because I'm a woman in a rock band and I'm doing things on my own terms, you know, as opposed to like there's just like scores and scores, hundreds and hundreds - when I go on tour, it's just me and forty guys at the venue, like the soundmen. Everyone is male, you know what I'm saying? And it's just like, and so in that sense I think it's a little more exciting for the fans that are female and also the fans that are male as well, to see a woman fronting a band that's a really hard, noisy band with them. It's a bit more interesting and stuff like that I think. I guess it's easier to get attention as a woman in rock bands, but that can also work against you obviously. You can start getting the wrong kind of attention [Laughter], and it's not always the right kind of attention. I mean a lot of it is kind of this really weird male kind of you know, put you on a pedestal, kind of objectify you as some sort of sex kitten and that kind of stuff. I use that to my advantage as well [Laughter]. And I sort of went into this more or less with the idea that I'd make a bit of a spectacle of myself and a parody of myself that no one else could, you know? And it's sort of one-dimensional or two-dimensional as people like objectifying you, not just objectifying you as more as a sex icon or something like that. It's much easier to manipulate them. But, it's rad for me to be a female in rock because yeah, you know, it's for the ladies, you know what I'm saying?

Janelle: Yeah. What bands or genre do you hate being compared with, like being pigeonholed or grouped in with?
Karen: Um, yeah, I mean I'm not a big fan of being lumped into garage rock.
Janelle: Right, right, ok.
Karen: I'm not a big fan of being lumped into Riot Grrl either. I'm not a big fan of being lumped into anything really, you know?
Janelle: Yeah, so what would you consider the band in your own terms?
Karen: I don't know! I mean, we could really just be in our own little bubble or something to think this, but we're just trying to be like I guess modern rock. And sort of forging something like a new sound.

Janelle: Ok. The last part of the record, the last three songs mainly, I mean, they're really outstanding and more subdued, and basically just beautifully executed pieces. Does any one song on the record mean more to you than the others?
Karen: I guess "Maps" is the song that really stands out to me based on the emotions that I attach to it and also that it sounds pretty much like nothing else that we really ever have written - or maybe will write again. It just really kind of has its own life, you know, or had its own life as soon as the second after we wrote it and put it on tape. It already sort of became its own thing. I think that maybe it feels like a big accomplishment cos it's certainly not tongue-in-cheek, which is like a lot of our music, you know, it's just the most sincere and sort of like our most authentic song on the album.

Janelle: And you recently taped "Tops of the Pops" [famed UK music show]. How was that experience?
Karen: [Laughter]. Um, it was interesting. Yeah, I mean we were like, it was really interesting, and the company that we were in, our company was two of the different Spice Girls’ um side projects…
Janelle: Oh, really!
Karen: Yeah, and Kelly Clark[son], the "American Idol" from last year. And Marilyn Manson and it was just strange company to be in and it was fun, it was really fun. The dress that I wore for "TOTP" was the "shrimp dress" you know, that Christian [Joy, designer, partner in crime…read on for more] made me and that was like peach-ish pink and with this shrimp stole, you know, which I was kind of flailing around [Laughter]. It was fun. We had a good time.

Janelle: Yeah, can you talk a little about Christian Joy?
Karen: She's my best mate, you know, she's my highest-up accomplice. I mean we're in it with this attitude of "Search and Destroy," and push everything to the limit and see as much as we can get away with. She does clothes that can really get me into the character and keep me interested in my performance and stuff like that. She is just so on-point. Her stuff is just so out there and so inventive and so creative and just really wacky, you know? I think that now it's become more of a necessity, you know, her clothing than it ever was before.
Janelle: Ok, well thank you.

www.yeahyeahyeahs.com

www.christianisjoy.org