HOLLYWOOD, CA – As soon as I saw the ModPods perform live at The Satellite back in January, I knew that I had to have them perform for Blurred Culture’s showcase at Madame Siam. The energy that they bring and “post-punk electro-dance” music that they play is, in my humble opinion, infectious, and I knew that they would bring that same energy for us. Myriad Slits, Mindee Jorgensen and Daniel Guzman were kind enough to oblige my whimsy and they gave us one hell of a show back in March.
Blurred Culture caught up with ModPod’s frontwoman, Myriad, to check-in and see what the band’s been up to since they took our stage.
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Hey, Myriad. First of all, I want to thank you Daniel and Mindee for rocking our stage earlier this year at Madame Siam. It’s been a little while since you performed for us. Can you give me a little update of what you and the band have been up to since?
We’ve been recording our next album. Putting ourselves in caves in order to hone down these new songs which we are either learning or recording.
How long has it been since you were last in the studio? Is there anything different this time around than the last?
There is a whole lot which is different this time around. The songs on No Strut, which came out in 2017, were laid down for the sake of posterity. I had no stems- due to computer crashes, & also being so new & not doing a proper job of saving any of my beats- so the sound was definitely compromised a bit. Also, those songs were such a collage of different pinpoints in my life.
Mindee joined ModPods when those songs already existed between Daniel & I. With this new stuff, it’s the 3 of us figuring things out together. The majority of my new beats are made with a Korg Electribe, this magical blue machine that came into my life like an angel of mercy, which was gifted to me by Pat Jones of The Mormons!!
I figured out… and am still figuring… out how to make music on it. We now have stems! We just recorded all the beats! All the little individual bleep bloops! & our ears notice it & it is exciting.
What’s it like bringing music you’ve written to Daniel and Mindee?
I’ve always felt that Daniel & Mindee do a good job of playing around with my songs & figuring out what it is they want to do with them. We have been together for a minute so we are a lot more comfortable making things up around each other (& challenging each other musically). Also, these songs were written during a very specific spell. a very specific time in my life. I feel like there is more of a personal cohesiveness with my feelings & thoughts on this new album & that is new to me. Knowing exactly what each song means to me & being able to thread them together into something that feels like a full story (for me)
Would you say that ModPods’ music is autobiographical in nature for you? What kind of issues/subject matter are you tackling with the new stuff?
I think everything I do (artistically) has always been an abstract autobiography. No Strut was about me making art with (& discovering) friends who wholeheartedly believe & support the ideas in my head. About making art as a means of survival, & of course, some love/sex stuff thrown in there too. No Strut was for my friends & It’s a Hodgepodge of stories. It was more of a “We need to record these songs NOW so that we can look ahead & create something new” everything I write, I’m not sitting there and thinking “I need to write a song about the apocalypse” it’s just what comes out & the reason it comes out is because that’s the state of mind I’m in. So, when I look at the new songs I can see a very clear episode, theme, feeling & really all it is is me being a lot more thoughtful with the curation of it. We are not rushing anything. I think anyone that sees us live knows that we love to dance. We love having the audience dance. So it only makes sense that we keep hammering and challenging each other (Daniel, Mindee & I) in this awkward dance sound we’ve created for ourselves.
There is a song called ‘Weepies’ which is about being in an implosive relationship that you’re not quite wanting to get out of in spite of the very clear damage it’s causing.
Well. This new album is a lot like the sequel to that song. It’s a lot about…….deconstructing the things you think you’re supposed to feel, as far as being a woman is concerned. About going cold turkey with your self-destructive desires. Detoxing all the emotional venom we women take on from birth & creating your own language for love…… & duh! It’s also about dancing. We aren’t playing too many shows right now but when we do we are testing these songs out. The last show we did was mostly new songs & EVERYONE WAS BUSTING MOVES!!! So, most importantly, the new songs are about dancing! lol.
The last time we talked, you mentioned that you were a teacher. Your music (and your performance) is pretty intense. Have any of your students seen you perform with Mod Pods, and does it impact their perception of you?
Daniel is a high school teacher & I know some of his students know about us. I work with a younger age group (Elementary) so I don’t really worry much about it. I have run into former students who are now young adults and sometimes I let them know & usually it seems as if it all makes sense to them because I teach kids art. Self-expression! I absolutely love my job but I do my best to keep both worlds completely separate. I don’t want either one crossing over into the other unless it feels right to. Like I would never tell the people I work with to come to check out my show but if I ran into someone well then, that’s a totally natural occurrence.
You mentioned some upcoming events the band is going to take part of in a few weeks. Can you refresh my memory and also its importance to you?
We are playing Sept 14th at Highland Park Bowl. Sept 29th at the Virgil for ‘Queer As Punks’ 3 year Birthday bash which we are so excited about! (Baby from Puzzy Tuesday puts on Queer as Punk and she is simply one of the coolest performers in LA) & Oct 19th in Bisbee Arizona for a Joan’s Of Rock event put on by our friend, Buko Pan Guerra from Swords of Fatima. Come catch us!
It sounds like you’ve really got a good groove going.
I’m really thankful to have Daniel & Mindee as bandmates. There was a time when the notion of making music & being in a band was just so…….not in my reach, but I’ve been really lucky to just be able to connect to artists who seriously make my heart go BOOM! I don’t fuck with fake. If I like what you do I will champion the fuck out for you. And you’ll either understand, pay it forward, connect! or maybe you’ll just think I’m weird, but who cares. It isn’t about the people who think you’re strange, It’s about the people who are open to connecting, collaborating, creating. There’s a chain reaction that happens there & it’s magic. But it only works if you’re sincere.
Preach.
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LIVE CLIPS
