THE DEVIL AND MISS CHARLES
\nJim Thirlwell interviews Jennifer Charles<\/p>\n
Jim G. Thirlwell (aka Foetus) chats it up with Jennifer Charles, the sultry singer\/siren of Elysian Fields, the hypnotic New York band with their first EP out on Radioactive Records.<\/p>\n
JGT: What would drive you to murder? Vengeance, possibly?<\/p>\n
JC: Maybe love.<\/p>\n
JGT: Love scorned? Are you capable of a crime of passion?<\/p>\n
JC: I don’t like to think so. But I think everybody has that in them.<\/p>\n
JGT: I know I sure do. What’s the difference between trustin’ and thrustin’?<\/p>\n
JC: (silent)<\/p>\n
JGT: Okay, moving right along…do you think it’s ever necessary to kill?<\/p>\n
JC: You don’t know what the difference between trusting and thrusting is?<\/p>\n
JGT: I just like it ’cause it rhymes. Your lyrics openly celebrate sexuality.<\/p>\n
JC: I think all music is about seduction in some way.<\/p>\n
JGT: Does that openness make you feel vulnerable?<\/p>\n
JC: Sure.<\/p>\n
JGT: Are you adopting a role?<\/p>\n
JC: No.<\/p>\n
JGT: Exaggerating?<\/p>\n
JC: No. I want to bring my audience on a trip with me.<\/p>\n
JGT: You invite them into your bedroom, metaphorically.<\/p>\n
JC: Metaphorically.<\/p>\n
JGT: Your lyrics are full of innuendo, but they couldn’t put a parental advisory sticker on your record, which I really like. You can say a word like “window” or something, and imbue it with so much sexual mystery. I mean, it’s dripping.<\/p>\n
JC: That’s the beauty of communication. You can fuck someone with a look.<\/p>\n
JGT: You fuck an entire room with a look. (laughter)<\/p>\n
JC: It feels good. I want everyone to feel important and sexy and beautiful and free.<\/p>\n
JGT: How did you master the mystery of understatement? Did you start with overstatement and work your way back? Practice in front of a mirror?<\/p>\n
JC: (laughter) It’s just natural. I think you can tell when something’s contrived.<\/p>\n
JGT: There’s a lot of sadness and introspection in there. Is that cathartic? Therapeutic?<\/p>\n
JC: Absolutely. To express your vulnerability is very liberating.<\/p>\n
JGT: Does it shed demons for you?<\/p>\n
JC: I don’t know if it completely exorcises them. It gives them a chance to come out and breathe, a forum. I think that’s why people have idols, so that they can identify with that liberation.<\/p>\n
JGT: Do you think you’re an idol?<\/p>\n
JC: I don’t see myself that way.<\/p>\n
JGT: Everyone else thinks you are. How do you deal with all of that scrutiny?<\/p>\n
JC: I really can’t think of the result. I just hope it touches someone, makes them feel good.<\/p>\n
JGT: “Mermaid” is a very personal song. What was your muse for that?<\/p>\n
JC: They’re just feelings of openness, loss….<\/p>\n
JGT: But you’re the manipulator in that song. You’re luring the sailors onto the rocks, saying, “As soon as you see me I’m gone.” You’re in control.<\/p>\n
JC: To an extent. But there’s the feeling of being incomplete.<\/p>\n
JGT: The mermaid is incomplete?<\/p>\n
JC: Definitely. Because she sacrifices love for the sea. She can’t betray herself in the end.<\/p>\n
JGT: Why?<\/p>\n
JC: It’s just her destiny. She’s resigned to it.<\/p>\n
JGT: How analogous is that to your life?<\/p>\n
JC: I think everyone has moments of that.<\/p>\n
JGT: What are your taboos? Where do you draw the line artistically? Socially?<\/p>\n
JC: I just do what I do. I don’t stand in judgment of other people.<\/p>\n
JGT: What about pig fucking?<\/p>\n
JC: If it works for you, go with it.<\/p>\n
JGT: So all right, how many lovers have you had?<\/p>\n
JC: (pause) I’ve always gotten what I wanted.<\/p>\n
JGT: But, inquiring minds want to know!<\/p>\n
JC: I think the title of “Bad Girl” is something society brands on powerful women, because they pose a threat. But they’re really the good girls. I think it’s important not to let society stop you from being who you are.<\/p>\n
JGT: Absolutely. I’m a big believer in female power. All of my best friends are women. What did you listen to growing up?<\/p>\n
JC: My mother was a torch singer and my father was a jazz DJ, so there was always music around me. We listened to everything.<\/p>\n
JGT: Do you want to blow up the world, blow off the world, blow off some steam, blow in the wind, or blow a chasm in the base of Mt. Ignorance, where you can plant a fungus of Jennifer Charles and Elysian Fields and have it fester and blossom?<\/p>\n
JC: All of the above.<\/p>\n
JGT: Are you conscious of the fact that you’re going to change the world?<\/p>\n
JC: No.<\/p>\n
JGT: Well, maybe it’s better you aren’t aware of it.<\/p>\n
JC: Women who change things inspire me a lot. Gertrude Stein, Frida Kahlo, Mae West, Bessie Smith. They broke barriers, and people called them “bad girls.”<\/p>\n
JGT: Billie?<\/p>\n
JC:Yeah. I dig Susan Faludi, too. “The undeclared war against American women,” you know?<\/p>\n
JGT: I was totally behind the Women’s Conference in Beijing. I’ve got a great affinity for women. Behind every foetus, there’s a woman.<\/p>\n
Source: Bust magazine of Spring\/Summer 1996.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
THE DEVIL AND MISS CHARLES Jim Thirlwell interviews Jennifer Charles Jim G. Thirlwell (aka Foetus) chats it up with Jennifer Charles, the sultry singer\/siren of Elysian Fields, the hypnotic New York band with their first EP out on Radioactive Records. JGT: What would drive you to murder? Vengeance, possibly? JC: Maybe love. JGT: Love scorned? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":210,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.foetus.org\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20321"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.foetus.org\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.foetus.org\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foetus.org\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foetus.org\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20321"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.foetus.org\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20322,"href":"https:\/\/www.foetus.org\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20321\/revisions\/20322"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foetus.org\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.foetus.org\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}