Julia Interview on LOLA Blog

by on June 21, 2009

Julia just came back from Bonnaroo and in case you weren't following her on Twitter you should check out the interview she did on the Lola site. She is in a class by herself.

LNY:  Tell me a little about your single “Cocaine.” How did you come up with it? 

JT:  It was spur of the moment, messing around. We mixed the original recording and made it for clubs. It got like a million comments on the HeavyRoc blog.

LNY:  Is the song at all metaphorical? Does cocaine symbolize anything?

JT:  I wanted to move away from cocaine, and what the secret meaning of the song is, away from that too. It’s a cautionary tale.

LNY:  Do you care to disclose the secret meaning?

JT:  For people who know me, the secret meaning is obvious.

LNY:  How did you get into music?

JT:  I played classical violin for eighteen years. Then I moved to New York to study jazz singing.

LNY:  What college did you go to?

JT:  New school for Jazz and Contemporary Music.

LNY:  What instruments do you play now?

JT:  Violin and synthesizer.

LNY:  You just got back from Bonnaroo. How was that?

JT:  I went last year and slept in a van. It was shitty. I was woken up by the sun. This year, I stayed in a trashy Las Vegas RV with pop-out sides, mirrors on the ceiling. I slept late. The best band was Animal Collective, who played during a beautiful day with puffy clouds. It was like they were playing with the breeze.

LNY:  Would you say the band was in cahoots with the breeze?

JT:  Yes. I was sitting on a bleacher, and the music was floating over. They weren’t playing super poppy hits, just ambient, good sounds. Also David Byrne had crazy high concept dancers. The Mars Volta. Everyone was sweaty and gross and covered with mud. It was Nine Inch Nails’s last show ever in the US. There was a sick light show, and on the Ferris wheel, I could see NIN’s lights from the top. During Otis Redding, a naked guy went to the bar feeling free and started yelling at people. Security pushed him against the wall, and he was wiggling his dick, like “fuck you.” They beat him up to the ground. It was very GG Allin of him. He was bald, the dude looked like him being ridiculous.

LNY:  Is that a temporary tattoo on your arm?

JT:  Yes. Oh, during Nine Inch Nails, I wore a fake tattoo of an upside down cross on my forehead.

LYN:  Like the one on the [LOLA] shirt Jimmy’s wearing?

JT:  Yeah! I was actually wearing that shirt. I went around shouting, “I’m here for Trent!”

LNY:  So what is your next endeavor?

JT:  I’m focused on Frances. We’re making an album next month.

LNY:  Cool. What’s up next for just Julia?

JT:  I’m doing a HeavyRoc dance album in the vein of “Cocaine.”

LNY:  What are your inspirations, musically or otherwise?

JT:  Snoop Dogg, The Ocean, Chet Baker.

LNY:  Who do you speak to with your music?

JT:  Everyone because everyone is my friend, and I want everyone to feel love from me. Even if I don’t know them I want to love them. But it’s always more fun when my friends are there, people I actually know.

LNY:  Is there any advice you’d like to give young artists?

JT:  It’s possible to care about yourself a shit-ton and also care about other people a shit-ton. You gotta keep it balanced cause otherwise your music sucks.

LNY:  Is there anything I haven’t asked that you’d like me to ask you?...Is there anything you’d like to ask yourself? (No response.) Well, let me ask you something, how did you choose that nail polish color? It matches your dress. Was that intentional?

JT:  I was going for color because I have pale skin, to accentuate the veins that pop out. What’s that condition where you have yellow skin?

LNY:  Jaundice. I had that.

JT:  Yeah, I wanted to accentuate the yellow jaundice look. I also have glitter for flicking off with.

LNY:  Ask me something.

JT:  What made-up drug would you do? I would do ground up unicorn horn.

LNY:  Probably liquid karma. Why ground up unicorn horn?

JT:  They used to use ground up narwhal horns to get high. I have a tattoo of a unicorn horn. It’s really a tattoo of an invisible unicorn.