{photo: John E. Hollingsworth}
Day 2 of the countdown to the big huge wonderful Imaginary Winter Holiday Spectacular at Chop Suey on December 23rd {an evening full of big huge wonderful fun including, but not limited to Christmas Belles, free mega-raffle ticket goodness, MC David Schmader!}.
The band that is going to kick off the evening is the Special Places, a Seattle duo who recently started to take Seattle by storm with opening slots at BOAT’s album release show and Aussie Darren Hanlon’s recent visit. You might know them as 2/5 of imaginary favs Tullycraft, so you can imagine we jumped at the opportunity to sit down with them for their first ever interview as the Special Places. Jenny and Corianton spilled some deets on how they started out and whether or not they are secret (or not so secret) lovers. Now we’re doubly looking forward to seeing what they have in store for us at the Spectacular.
TIG: How did the Special Places concept come about? How did you meet and how did you decide to start playing together?
Jenny: I believe we first met through friends at a Lucksmiths show in 2001. Then he came to my housewarming party bearing a houseplant, and the rest is history!
TIG: You’re kidding! I was at the show (alone) and imaginary Dana was celebrating her birthday in the balcony of that show too! It was a few months before she and I met for the first time. I had *no idea* that was even more magic dust sprinkled there! I guess it makes even more sense that I’ve been describing you as sweetheart folk. Is there a better term or sub-genre that you consider yourself to neatly fit in?
Jenny: Perfect! You really are smarter than the average bear…
TIG: I don’t know about that… Are there any pre-show or practice-time rituals that you have in place for when you meet up?
Cori: We light candles around a picture of Zack Duffy {BOAT}.
Jenny: Well, Cori does. I’m more a Mark McKenzie kinda girl. As for practice, it generally consists of a couple of hours of beer and girl talk and 30 minutes of actual singing!
TIG: I actually expected that… You don’t have any releases yet. Are you working on that?
Cori: Yes we’re working with Chris Munford (Tullycraft producer) on an incestuous Tullycraft tribute track. As soon as that’s done we’re gonna jam out some sort of EP or seven-inch.
TIG: Do you have a vision for what you want it to sound like and achieve?
Cori: We want to sound like Simon & Garfunkel on a teenage reality dating show.
Jenny: I’m just excited about finally having a recording of these beautiful songs that Cori wrote. And we’ll finally have something at the merch table besides buttons!
TIG: Nice! And t-shirts please? Are you thinking digital, cd or vinyl releases?
Cori: Vinyl with MP3 downloads, perhaps?
TIG: What would you consider the most amazing honor, a sign that you’ve accomplished something really sweet (within or outside of the Special Places since I suspect that with all the other things you rule at there’s a bunch of benchmarks you have on your to do list)? For example at Three Imaginary Girls, we’ve always dreamed of playing scrabble with Stephin Merritt or having Thanksgiving dinner with Peter Buck would be so choice.
Jenny: I would like a bicycle tour of Denmark by the Figurines or a manicure with Dolly Parton. I don’t think that’s too much to ask for!
TIG: Is there a dream bill you’d like to be on or place you’d like to play?
Jenny: We’ve already lucked into some pretty dreamy bills: Los Campesinos! Parenthetical Girls, Darren Hanlon, Rose Melberg, BOAT. For dream places, how about a New Zealand tour? We could see Helm’s Deep by day and play sweetheart folk at night!
Cori: Next stop, Nerdsville.
TIG: If you could choose someone to cover one of your songs, who would it be and what song?
Cori: I would like to hear Tom Brousseau cover “Bluebottle Flies.”
Jenny: Or someone could cover one of our ironic covers!
TIG: If the Special Places was a sports team, what sport would you play?
Jenny: I could see us as a tennis doubles team, with matching 1960s tennis outfits!
Cori: Is boob-grabbing a sport?
TIG: What albums or bands are on your favorites of 2009 list?
Cori: Conor Oberst, BOAT, Hidden Cameras.
Jenny: Totally Boat!
TIG: If we could spread one rumor about the Special Places, what would it be?
Cori: That Jenny and I are secret lovers. Or that our band is named after my parent’s term for genitalia.
Jenny: I was going to say secret lovers! It’s not too big of a stretch. We do a lot of kissing on stage…
TIG: Do you have a favorite Winter Holiday tradition?
Jenny: I’m all about holiday rituals! Standing in the street with cocktails admiring our Christmas lights (which I have yet to help with), Swedish Christmas Eve (with way too much Aquavit), winter beers in Columbia City. Hmm. My holiday traditons seem to all involve booze…
TIG: Um, does that mean that you might already have a holiday song to cover?
Cori: I like “O Come O Come Emmanuel” but Belle & Sebastian beat us to it. Maybe our own version of Simon & Garfunkel’s Latin hymn “Benedictus?”
Jenny: It’s an obvous one, but I’d love to do the Pogues’ “Fairytale of New York.” So bitter, yet such beautiful harmonies.
TIG: What’s on your holiday wishlist this year?
Cori: An acoustic flying “V” guitar!
Jenny: Tights. Can a girl ever have too many pairs of tights?
TIG: If you could ask one of the other bands on the bill an interview question, what would it be and to whom?
Jenny: I’d like to ask all of the bands what’s their favorite way to honor the late, great Michael Jackson. For me, it’s a tie between watching the Thrill the World dancers beat the worldwide record of simultaneous Thriller dancing (I’m so going to participate next year) and an MJ dance party in a Shelton garage.