The Pity Party are a damn-sexy-art-rock duo reppin’ LA. They’re one of the bands playing our showcase this Friday, May 21, 2010 at Spaceland in Silver Lake and are quite the treat to watch and hear. The band is composed of Heisenflei a red fox who handles simultaneous drums, keyboards, and vocals and then you have her gorgeous male cohort, M on the guitars and vocals.

Check out the photos we got of this eclectic duo back in April at the Echoplex and be sure to check them this Friday with The Drowning Men, The Franks and The Damn Sons!

H: Drums, Keys, Vocals
M: Guitar, Vocals

Which one of you gets hit on the most immediately following a show?

H: n/a.  Well, one time a guy did call me “boss lady,” which I think may have been a come on…
M: This guy told me– he asked me if I knit my sweater, and I told him I had, and he got really excited and acted like it was so cool that I did it.  And then he touched me.

After a really great show experience is it possible to feel in a bad mood that night or the next day?

Yes.  Because after a really great show experience, you still have to haul hundreds of lbs of gear back to the rehearsal space, which takes all told about an extra hour or so, while everyone who came to see you play including your friends and loved ones parties or goes home and has a snack.  So, yes.

What does a Pity Party practice session look like, smell like, and feel like?

M: Smells like a chicken coop.  Looks like gray carpet.  Feels like the end of the world.

Do you each have day jobs and do you enjoy it?

H: Day jobs = Death of Art = Life of Money = Raul Julia
M: So therefore, Dayjobs = RuPaul

Where did you play your very first show and how was the turn out?

M: Our first show was top secret.  We had diarrhea for days leading up to it, so we were very pure when the time actually came.
H: I blacked out while performing so as not to have to actually experience it just in case it was painful.  Like a biopsy.

You guys have been together for a few years, was there any event that made you feel like calling it quits?

M: Have you ever murdered your wife, chopped her up, and hidden her parts in all the different rooms in your house?
H: Have you ever actually felt excited about a color?

Do you guys ever get into arguments where you don’t speak to each other for a few days?

M: Yes.
H: And sometimes arguments do not even precede the silence.  It is a gift.

Where is your favorite place to record and why?

H: M’s apartment.  Because there’s nobody there.
M: I can’t stop being super bummed about the coming Age of Famine and the End of Covenience as we Know it.

Do you ever have an actual Pity Party and can I come to the next one?

H: 3 times.
1. March 2006, we got stuck in a blizzard and couldn’t make it to open for The Raveonettes in D.C. Even deaf Gallaudet students couldn’t pull our heads out of our asses.
2. November 2008, I fell down some stairs and fucked my back up while loading up for the first of several shows we played in London.  Needless to say, M had to carry gear for the rest of the trip, thereby inducing his own pity party.
3.  Right now.  You take notes..

What’s the best thing an audience member has ever yelled whether a nice comment, or a funny one, or one where the person was obviously a pissed off asshole?

“You fucking suck.  Play something good!  You fucking suck!” (a nice comment)
“Where’s the reefer?” (a funny one)
“Have pity on us.” (obviously a pissed off asshole)

Any news or anything you’d like to share (this is your soapbox moment)?

1. Well, we can start by promoting our upcoming release, which if we had any kind of label or management, they would gently suggest we do, because there would be an upcoming release.  As it is, there is a record, but no release.  Perhaps we can safely wrap ourselves in the warm comfort of our fucking dayjobs, accept defeat, and honor our “livelihoods.” Or perhaps we will call our record PRECIOUS WHITE WORLD.

2. Even if a child in Indonesia made your clothing in a factory, it is still “hand made.”  Please do not forget this.

3.  Watch the Crass documentary on Youtube: “There is No Authority But Yourself.”

Fancy Questions by: Roxanne Hilburn