Cher Vincent writesA Chat With Chastity Belt

On their sophomore album, Time to Go Home (Hardly Art), Chastity Belt have left the house parties behind in Seattle, WA, and risen through the ranks. From spotlight performances at this year's SXSW, to an opening slot on rock's newest leading lady, Courtney Barnett's latest NA tour, they have had continued momentum that will likely land them on many year-end lists.

Embracing their womanhood, Julia Shapiro and her all-female band command, and rightfully earn, respect. While they were here for their headlining tour through the Midwest, Cher Vincent got to chat with them, and discussed their humble beginnings, feminism, and their future pursuits.

You all met in college in Walla Walla, WA. When did you decide that you could form a band together?
The band started as a joke. Julia and Lydia thought up "Chastity Belt" as a great name for a punk band and they started chanting it at parties and flipping over tables. We were friends, so eventually Annie and I joined. Sometimes after a band played at a party we would take over their instruments and start playing "Photograph" by Nickelback. One of the frats had a battle of the bands at the end of the year, which we took as our opportunity to extend the joke one step further. We wrote one song, performed it in heavy eyeliner and chokers, and won the battle of the bands.

How long have you all been playing/writing music?
Julia and Lydia have played guitar since middle school, Annie played violin growing up, and I started playing drums in Chastity Belt.

With the close proximity to Seattle, how were you all able to infiltrate that saturated music scene?
We were lucky to have friends that were already in the scene. Annie's sister is friends with Tacocat and we knew Dude York from Whitman. Both of those bands invited us to play shows in Seattle while we were still in Walla Walla.

On No Regerts, most of those songs were relative to a young person's discovery of independence. On Time to Go Home, it's the aftermath of filtering out the boundaries. Do you feel like you have grown as much as your music represents?
Maybs! Jk I think we've all grown a lot in the past few years.

Self-empowerment and feminism have been tossed around in relation to your music since you started. I have always considered your music to be "natural feminism", as in, it's an obvious stance to take, being women, and that it's the only way you can be. So, do you define fyourselves as feminists? Or rather, what does that word mean to you?
Yea we are definitely all feminists. We don't have any particular agenda, but since we are observant women living in a male dominated world we, of course, have some feminist messages.

Those promotion pictures. Seriously, if I didn't adore you guys already, that solidified it. How did that come about?
We just came up with that idea in the van while we were on tour. We liked the idea of doing a cheesy family photo, and we were planning on going to Sears for the real deal but it was too expensive.

In "Lydia," Lydia Lund does lead vocals. Did she also write the song, or was it a collective effort? Also, will other members of the band write/perform vocals on future tracks?
Yep, she wrote the song and we all came up with our parts and jammed out the structure together. Who knows what the future holds! I know we are all anxiously awaiting "Lydia 2."

You got started playing house parties around your college campus. How was the transition from those small gatherings to actual club shows?
We had a gradual progression. The first show we played in Seattle was at the Josephine, and from there we started playing small bars and venues.

With the move to Hardly Art, and your profile rising, how as that transition been from touring largely on the West Coast to going on a full-scale tour schedule, including UK dates?
We're so excited to have all the opportunities that we do!

Lastly, what are your hopes and dreams for the band moving forward?
We really want to go to Australia and Japan.

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