Perfect Pussy is one of the most buzzed about bands in the past few years and for good reason: they bring a refreshing edge to both the noise and punk scene in both their hometown of Syracuse, troche NY and around the country. Perfect Pussy is touring extensively this first half of 2014, drug and you can catch them at the Middle East Downstairs on Thursday April 24th with Yamantaka // Sonic Titan, Green Dreams, Parasol, and The Fagettes. Shaun Sutkus, the synth/noise extraordinaire from the band, took a moment in the van driving through Pennsylvania to chat with us about the band’s origins, the internet, menstrual blood, and touring.
Allston Pudding: How are you guys doing on your tour so far?
Shaun Sutkus: Awesome. Really great. Everything’s been wonderful. We got really into this Chick Corea record. We’ve just been listening to that a lot.
AP: Which record?
SS: The soundtrack to the book Battlefield: Earth that was composed by Chick Corea. That’s been our soundtrack to any driving that we’ve ever done.
AP: It doesn’t get old?
SS: No. It’s incredible. Before one of the shows, I was DJing it as well.
AP: I’ve read a lot about how the band formed, and I think it’s kind of like a funny story: the whole getting together for a movie and then just deciding to be a band. What’s your side of that story? How were you involved in how the band formed?
SS: That was the initial idea. It was a three piece with drums, Meredith [Graves, vocals] played guitar and sang, Ray [McAndrew, guitar] did vocals. I produced a song for them in the studio like overnight one night. We came in at two in the morning and were done by four. That was it. Fast forward a year, I ended up becoming really good friends with Garrett [Koloski, drums] and the guitar player Ray. Their bass player moved. They didn’t really have a project going on, but their chemistry works really well together. Garrett had the idea of me coming in and playing noise in it, which I thought was a cool idea. Greg [Ambler, bass] and I have worked on records multiple times, and I worked with Meredith in the studio a bunch of times as well. It’s kind of just the perfect storm, and we all started playing together. We practiced a lot. The three of us, Meredith, Greg, and I, were recently single and basically had nothing else to do. It’s all we wanted to do. I remember rehearsals being like twice a week for eight hours in a day.
AP: That’s cool.
SS: Yeah. We did that for a month, and then we recorded the demo. We split off and did our own thing, because we all have jobs. I tour and do front of house/tour managing. Meredith is a seamstress. Greg is a manager at a really cool restaurant/bar in Syracuse. Ray worked at another bar. Garrett was working really hard at another restaurant too. That’s kind of it.
AP: So you guys put out the tape, and you said you did your own thing for a bit. Was it last summer that the tape came out? All the time is bleeding into one.
SS: The tape got posted online in April of 2013.
AP: So spring. Then it seemed like late summer/that fall, you guys just kind of blew up really quickly. You started getting some press and playing all these CMJ shows and stuff. What was your thought process during that? Did it ever feel like everything happened too quickly? Or was it at the right time?
SS: Things were happening quickly, people reaching out to us. The first night the demo got posted, I remember the Bandcamp getting 2,000 plays. I thought it was insane. I didn’t know that that many people could find us. There was no press at all. We just put it on the internet and told our friends. But then the dynamics of the band I think held everyone together. Don’t get too excited on this right now. We don’t know what this means. We just took it easy and took a step back and didn’t try to overwhelm ourselves by trying to do everything. Yeah. It was cool. It was exciting and unexpected.
AP: Along with the press/internet thing: you guys have a Tumblr, but you don’t have Facebook. You don’t have a band Twitter, which I think is really interesting, because I’ve seen a lot of pieces about how bands can’t survive without a social media presence. You’ve kind of negated that. Do you think you’ll ever amp up your internet presence, or do you think you’re kind of at the point where I guess you don’t need it?
SS: I can almost guarantee that we’re never going to have a Facebook or Twitter. It’s not even like we’re taking a stance against it. I use Twitter, Ray uses Twitter, and actually Garrett does too, and Casey our merch guy. I don’t really see it necessary for our band to have one. As far as Facebook, some of us have them, and a lot of us don’t use them. We’re part of a weird generation. Our early childhood, there was no internet. And then as we got older, we slowly started using the internet for everything. I feel like we are all in tune to the part of our minds that were brought up not using the internet. I feel like that might have something to do with it.
AP: I’m kind of in a similar situation, but I’m on the younger side of it, because I’m only 24. I do remember a time where I didn’t have internet. Then there was 2000 when I got AIM, and it all went to hell from there.
SS: Right. It’s like a different era. Some people explain it like you’re in a different dimension, because you’re like in your physical self with your life but then when you’re on the internet, you’re in another dimension. You exist in both places. I don’t know. It’s a weird thing.
AP: At first I thought Captured Tracks was kind of a strange choice for a label for Perfect Pussy, but they seem to be diversifying their artists at this point. What made you choose them to put out Say Yes to Love?
SS: When negotiations were happening, Meredith and Mike from the label were figuring out what we were doing for our release. We wanted to do something special, and Meredith’s like, “okay I want to put my menstrual blood in the record,” and he didn’t balk and was totally on board.
At that point, we basically knew we could do whatever we wanted, and that’s what we were looking for from a label. Except for tote bags. You apparently can’t get those made.
AP: Sorry?
SS: Apparently tote bags are really hard to get made for a record label.
AP: I wouldn’t have thought that.
SS: But seriously: he said yes to that [Meredith’s menstrual blood in the record], so what that meant was you are going to do anything we want. Anything we want. It’s done. We knew it was the right choice.
AP: I tried to get one of those blood ones, but I did not get the link in time apparently. I got the white box set, so it’s still pretty sweet.
SS: Oh cool!
AP: How’d the tour with Yamantaka // Sonic Titan come about? Did you guys decide that after playing together at the Pitchfork CMJ show?
SS: We saw them play, and it was really cool. They asked us to go on tour with them. We said sure. It should be fun. I’m really looking forward to seeing their set every night, because it’s so theatrical and dramatic. It’s really cool. I’m excited for that.
AP: I was at that show at 285 Kent, but I had to leave before they played. I was staying with a friend all the way in Astoria.
SS: Oh yeah that’s far.
AP: But I saw their face paint, and I was like these guys are going to be crazy. SS: It took them a really long time to set up, but it was definitely worth the wait.
AP: It was a good show other than that: having to leave early… You guys definitely have one of the most un-googleable band names.
SS: You gotta put band in there. The web search is chill, but if you do an image search, it’s not cool.
AP: I was not thinking one day and accidentally did that. On my phone. In a crowd of people.
SS: Oh no.
AP: But yeah I told my mom I was interviewing you guys today, and she had never heard of you, and I was like be careful when you Google them. She was really excited, because you played at SxSw and had a Wikipedia page.
SS: [laughs]
AP: What’s the weirdest thing that’s popped up in your Google alerts?
SS: I don’t have those.
AP: You guys don’t use those to read what people are writing about you on the internet?
SS: No. [laughs]
AP: Has anything weird come up in your searches?
SS: Besides a bunch of porn, I guess not. That would be the weirdest shit. Sometimes I’ll search Perfect Pussy in quotes on Twitter just to see what’s going on, and there’s some really really weird shit on there that has nothing to do with our band. But I can’t remember anything specifically.
AP: Speaking of Twitter: I took to Twitter to see if anyone had any questions, and Ray would like to know, “why you’re such a weenie.”
SS: Oh because he’s a big meenie. [laughs from the band are heard in the background]
AP: What kind of fun band-bonding activities do you guys do while you’re on tour besides listen to Chick Corea?
SS: We had a picnic on the beach the other day. That was incredible. We like being out, drinking coffee. We go to the movies a lot although I’ve never gone. I’ve kind of excluded myself from that activity. Everyone else does that.
AP: You just don’t like going to the movies or you like alone time or…?
SS: Both. There’s not really many movies that I want to see. I don’t really follow the new ones that are coming out too often. Sometimes Ray and I attempt to skateboard, but we’re really bad at it.
AP: You aren’t too much of a fan the Syracuse punk scene, because the people there can be really shitty sometimes. Have you guys ever thought of moving out?
SS: Yeah. All the time. I think I might be moving out of my apartment when I get back home. I’m not sure yet. I haven’t decided, but it’s definitely always a thought. Something was keeping me grounded there for a while. I can’t really beget everyone else’s thoughts. We all have pretty cheap rent and have good friends and family around. That’s part of the reason why we’re there. Now we get to explore the world, and we don’t actually have to be there, so it doesn’t really matter if our stuff is living there.
AP: That’s a good point. What besides playing the show are you most looking forward to doing when you come through Boston?
SS: I think my girlfriend’s family lives there, and I’m going to get to meet some of her family that I’ve never met when we’ve played there. I’m looking forward to that. I don’t know what else we have planned in Boston… actually eating falafel at the Middle East. I’m looking forward to that.
Tickets for this all ages show are on sale now for $12 on TicketWeb or $15 at the door.