Michelle: So everybody introduce yourself for the readers of the magazine.
Aimee: I'll start. I'm Aimee and I play guitar and sing.
Courtney: I'm a jacksonlope. (Laughs) No, I'm Courtney and I play guitar and sing. What a coincidence!
Charlotte: Well, you guys have a lot in common. I'm Charlotte and I play bass and I'm the drummer.
Clinton: I'm Clint, and I'm the drummer.
Aimee: Clinton!
Clinton: Clint! That's always been my name. I've been named after Clint Eastwood, ok?
Michelle: So how does it feel to be a new band in Humboldt County?
Charlotte: Frightening, yet at the same time it's exhilarating. I think it's cool to have some girls rocking the scene.
Courtney: Hell yeah.
Aimee: Yeah, the rockers in like Couch and Sake who would just have the one female. This time its three chicks compared to one.
Michelle: In this band, the male is the minority.
Clinton: I never thought that I'd be in a band like this.
Charlotte: Yeah, because Clinton is only 13!
Michelle: How would you say it feels?
Clinton: It feels different. I never thought I'd be in a girl band.
Charlotte: Well, of course. No male ever thinks that they are going to be in a girl band. I think we just terrify him at times.
Clinton: Yeah! They sing to the radio really loudly when we're in the car. It's also a tiny bit embarrassing.
( laughter and a loud, "You're out of the band, man." )
Michelle: So how did you find yourself getting pulled into the band?
Clinton: Well, I had a little set of drums I got when I was like seven years old. They were playing acoustic in the kitchen, and they asked me to bring out my drums. So I started playing along with them. They wanted to start a band, and they didn't have a drummer at the time. So that's pretty much the main story.
Aimee: See, pretty much, Clinton is my mom's boyfriend's son. You know.
Charlotte: He was always there whenever we practiced so it was incredibly convenient.
Courtney: Plus, we had this drummer dilemna.
Aimee: It started with Chris Colland wanting to drum.
Courtney: He was actually the one who got the whole thing together. He walked up to me and was like, "Hey, Aimee and Charlotte want to start a band, and I think you should go whip them into shape!" I was like "ok, right on."
Aimee: Charlotte hadn't even played bass before. Hadn't even picked it up until we started.
Charlotte: I was basically told that I was going to play bass one night.
Michelle: So did you basically teach yourself?
Charlotte: Pretty much.
Clinton: Aimee's mom actually taught Aimee to sing too, when we first started.
Michelle: So what was the first song that you guys learned to play?
Courtney: It was one that Aimee wrote when she was thirteen. I came over not knowing what to expect. I went over to her mom's house, and there her and her mom were playing guitar in the kitchen. She was playing this song she wrote when she was thirteen. I just picked it up and learned it.
Michelle: So what's the name of the song?
Charlotte: It's called "Heart of a Stranger." It started off as a very sweet song which Aimee wrote when she was younger. Basic chords. A really simple diddy. But, we got pissed off at the end. But, that was really interesting because that was the point where we all got together. Basically none of us really knew what we were doing. I was sitting there and somebody put a bass in my hand. I was like, "Ok, now what do I do?"
Aimee: Charlotte picked it up really good.
Courtney: I've been playing guitar for years. I didn't know any chords or anything. I played left-handed upside down, just really weird.
Charlotte: Courtney's totally self-taught.
Courtney: Yeah, so I learned more playing with you guys. I had more stage experience then these guys because I played solo a bunch of times in the past. But, it's really more fulfilling to be in a group of people and having somebody back you up and not having the spotlight all on you.
Michelle: You guys have grown a lot closer, right, through the band?
Charlotte: Oh, definitely. It'a also been an incredible learning experience putting yourself in front of people. I've done a lot of performance through choir. I used to tour with a choir, actually. But, it's been really been a learning experience to just pick up an instrument like this. It's really fascinating to have to teach yourself without knowing anything about it. I really think that playing music in front of people is a masochist's wet dream. You're just putting yourself on the line.
Michelle: How did you guys feel at your first show? Nervous?
Courtney: We were so prepared for it since we had known about it for a month or so.
Aimee: Except my guitar was going out of tune and Courtney broke a bunch of strings.
Courtney: But, it was a birthday present for Danika. It was a good show.
Charlotte: It was really exciting. (Laughs) Actually, the only reason we formed a band was an excuse to get dressed up.
(Loud laughter)
Aimee: Clinton actually is the one who thought of the name.
Michelle: You guys mentioned a clown suit?
Clinton: They wanted me to dress up in this clown suit with an afro wig. But, they wanted me to wear it but I wouldn't.
Michelle: Will we ever see the clown suit come out at a performance?
Clinton: Maybe down in Redway.
Michelle: So have you guys bought a lot of pink clothing and accessories?
Aimee: We have like 3 lbs of pink clothing!
Charlotte: We've gone hog wild with the pink clothing. It's disgusting.
Courtney: Anything that's pink we have to buy now! Drinks, anything.
Charlotte: We made the pink drink which is actually a beautiful concoction.
Courtney: We have a bigger picture in our mind of spreading the pink vision.
Michelle: So spread the fad of pink clothing in Humboldt County?
Courtney: Oh totally.
Charlotte: A revolution actually.
Aimee: Well, pink is the summer color.
Courtney: We're riding the wave, we're on top of the wave. It's a healing color.
Michelle: What would you say your music does to the listeners.
Aimee: I don't know. Jesse Pierson and my mom are our biggest fans I think.
Charlotte: Before he even heard us, he automatically liked us.
Aimee: They just like that we have this "ooh, aah" thing in some of our songs.
Michelle: So you guys have played here at the Placebo, at the birthday party...have you played anywhere else yet?
Charlotte: Bob at the Vista says that we need to practice a little more.
Aimee: But, he heard our crappy little tape. I think he needs to see us in action. I just hope we encourage some more female projects in this town. Like Orange Julius, Michelle.
Michelle: (laughs) Hmmm. How would you say female music compares to male music?
Aimee: I'd say there's a different energy. I mean music is music but there's always differences.
Michelle: So what would be Automatic Pink's slogan?
Aimee: Pink Automatic. Automatic Pink.
Charlotte: Oh, that's too damn cheesy, girl.
Courtney: Think Pink.
Charlotte: I think it should be "rock."
Courtney: Some guy I work with asked me how I would describe our sound. Well, I said some of our songs are on the edge of metal. He was like, that should be the name of your album, "On the edge of metal."
Clinton: Rhythm and blues.
Charlotte: No way.
Clinton: Well, any kind of music is rhythm and blues.
Aimee: Our sound is like rock or whatever. But, it's not really even like punk. I mean we have some songs that are really slow and sweet. Then there are those that I'm going off screaming, you know.
Charlotte: We do have a lot of variety. The way females bands are pretty much portrayed nowadays or that is popularized has been a guitar with a guitar or a girl vocalist on her own. It's been like this for a long time.
Michelle: How would you guys' feel if you found yourself touring on something like the Lilith Fair?
Charlotte: No. I don't really appreciate that sort of thing. There's not really been much breakthrough lately on the female front of bands.
Aimee: I mean look at the chicks that are mainstream now. The Spice Girls. They don't even play any instruments, let alone know how to sing. The one who did, quit.
Michelle: What female musicians have been influential for you guys, though?
Courtney: Cibo Mato, Bikini Kill.
Aimee: I like Bjork a lot. The Sugar Cubes.
Charlotte: I mean we're just starting out here. We're fledglings on the rock scene.
Michelle: Would you say it's easy coming out in the scene here?
Charlotte: We had a lot of encouragement and support.
Aimee: Chris was totally behind us. And of course The Sin Men have been behind us as well. It's still weird for me to adjust to the fact that we really are a band.
Michelle: Any interesting fan experiences yet?
Charlotte: Just our friends.
Aimee: Young guys that I noticed at the last show going, "Yeah! Girls!" But, see that's not anything that I'm going for. I don't want people to see us just as the whole image thing. Even though we do drag it out. The main thing I've heard is that it's different. And that's good. That's one of the rarest things to find out there because there is just so much out there.
Charlotte: I know a lot of people who are like, " I don't want to see any band that has guitars, bass and drums, That's been done." Well of course it's been done!
Aimee: That's what music started off as and that's what music should be.
Charlotte: That's the rawest form of music right there. Somebody up there with an instrument. I stand behind it. I'm going to stick up for it. We're getting a really new crowd now playing here at this place. It's really neat getting feedback from people about the band. Cause I can't speak for the whole band but I don't even know if I like the music we play. I mean, I like playing it but I can't see it objectively.
Michelle: So what's one thing you guys hope to achieve by the end of the summer?
Charlotte: Just to improve.
Aimee: I need to learn more. We have like 12 songs and we've only been together for a few months. We're coming up with different shit all the time. I love it. There's so much more input now.
Charlotte: We are all completely different, but the music has kept us together.
Clinton: The music has definitely held us together.
Michelle: Ok, do you guys have any closing words?
Aimee: Think Automatic.