SISTER HYDE
By Kim Acrylic
Punk Globe: Hello, glad to talk with you:)
So let me jump right into your music.
It's so GLAM!
I love it, it's about time glam came back,
who are your favorites?
Sister Hyde: Thanks very much Kim. It really is
about time it came back and I believe it will be
a part of the future of Rock, not just it's nostalgia.Glam over here means Crue, Poison etc; but in England, it refers to Ziggy Stardust, T Rex, Sweet etc...all some of my mainmen. The Alice Cooper Band (his original lineup), Iggy and The Stooges, The Dolls (When we were both in
LA, Syl Sylvain has expressed interest in producing me -- by the way.) and Mott The Hoople are some of my favs. I also like The Sex Pistols. Chris Spedding, who produced their first demos (which were released a few years back) also produced me in Los Angeles.
Punk Globe: Have you seen the movie "Velvet Goldmine," if so, what was your view on it?
Sister Hyde: Yeah I have! Chris Spedding played guitar on the first tune "Needle in The Camel's Eye" by Eno, on the Velvet Goldmine soundtrack! I like to work with people who know the genre! I like the movie up to a point but thought it got kinda convoluted and a little silly toward the end. Obviously, it was a take on The Ziggy (and Angie) meets Iggy thing with a Brian Ferry character
thrown in. Stylistically though, I thought they dida good job. Bale and Meyers were fantastic!
Punk Globe: You are a mix of glam metal and 70's Glam rock,what would YOU call that?
Sister Hyde: The original punk bands were heavily inspired and influenced by the Glitter Rock period of the early 70's. When The Dolls played in London, every future founding member of every major English punk band was there! It's the same with us. We aspire
and are inspired by all the great 70's bands of the Glam period...the Golden years if you will! I did my time in Hollywood playing "The Strip' and that's probably given me that metal crunch but to answer your question, I call it ROCK'n HYde!...and we've had to hide after some of our gigs, more than once...take the money and run! Get outta Dodge! Glitter-Punk is also a term that has been used by journalists to describe us.
So let me jump right into your music.
It's so GLAM!
I love it, it's about time glam came back,
who are your favorites?
Sister Hyde: Thanks very much Kim. It really is
about time it came back and I believe it will be
a part of the future of Rock, not just it's nostalgia.Glam over here means Crue, Poison etc; but in England, it refers to Ziggy Stardust, T Rex, Sweet etc...all some of my mainmen. The Alice Cooper Band (his original lineup), Iggy and The Stooges, The Dolls (When we were both in
LA, Syl Sylvain has expressed interest in producing me -- by the way.) and Mott The Hoople are some of my favs. I also like The Sex Pistols. Chris Spedding, who produced their first demos (which were released a few years back) also produced me in Los Angeles.
Punk Globe: Have you seen the movie "Velvet Goldmine," if so, what was your view on it?
Sister Hyde: Yeah I have! Chris Spedding played guitar on the first tune "Needle in The Camel's Eye" by Eno, on the Velvet Goldmine soundtrack! I like to work with people who know the genre! I like the movie up to a point but thought it got kinda convoluted and a little silly toward the end. Obviously, it was a take on The Ziggy (and Angie) meets Iggy thing with a Brian Ferry character
thrown in. Stylistically though, I thought they dida good job. Bale and Meyers were fantastic!
Punk Globe: You are a mix of glam metal and 70's Glam rock,what would YOU call that?
Sister Hyde: The original punk bands were heavily inspired and influenced by the Glitter Rock period of the early 70's. When The Dolls played in London, every future founding member of every major English punk band was there! It's the same with us. We aspire
and are inspired by all the great 70's bands of the Glam period...the Golden years if you will! I did my time in Hollywood playing "The Strip' and that's probably given me that metal crunch but to answer your question, I call it ROCK'n HYde!...and we've had to hide after some of our gigs, more than once...take the money and run! Get outta Dodge! Glitter-Punk is also a term that has been used by journalists to describe us.
Punk
Globe: Nikki Six or
David Bowie?
Sister Hyde: Now don't get me wrong Kim! If I had to,given a choice, I'd probably listen to "Girls,Girls,Girls" rather than some "new" talent but I am much more influenced by Mr.D. I am influenced by his idea of creating characters and also thematically by the Orwellian-inspired subject matter of his Ziggy/Aladinsane period. I don't think he's ever come close to those years again lyrically.
"Diamond Dogs" is a rockin' album! But I'm not really too keen on the big hair and headband look of 80's Hollywood.
That is definitely not the kind of glam thang I'm into. Besides being European and a bit of an artiste myself, I'm much more into the art school of Bowie. I'm not a bloody David fanatic though, which is just as boring as the new LA Glam clones.
Punk Globe: When and how did you guys get together to form Sister Hyde?
Sister Hyde: I was spinning my wheels in the vast and overcrouded band parking lot that is LA when I met my bassist Keith Ash at a Hollywood club where the girls run around in their underwear. Those are the places where you find the best muscians. Ha-He is originally from Seattle and we decided to move up here to Seattle. We met Canadian guitarist, Myles Mayhem and drummer Great Scott here at some similar den of iniquity. We are all influenced by anything flash and glam!!!
Punk Globe: What other bands have you been apart of?
Sister Hyde: I have always had my own bands."Bardot" was one of my bands in Los Angeles.I never wanted to be what someone else
wanted me to be. The great American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to turn you into someone else is the greatest achievement." I have well over a hundred songs so getting in a band just because they were "big" always seemed like a waste of my time. I never wanted to be in anyone else's band.
Punk Globe: Lets talk sex. A lot of people are in love with you (or admire your look rather) how do you like being a "sex symbol?"
Sister Hyde: I know how to treat a lady and how to please her.I invite all the women of the world to come onto our MySpace site. I have been known to give the warm fuzzies even over the internet! I think women are so bored of the current non-image that's in vogue. I have girls writing me who think that I'm the Rock chick's wet dream. They're just so glad to have a bit of mystery and romance. I have others who admire me for my work. I love women. Like a plant needs water, a woman needs love. A typical Sister Hyde show has the first several rows crowded with female fans --The Sisterhood -- as we affectionately call them. They know the songs and sing the lyrics. We've created a scene where people get glammed-out to come and see us (no small feat in conservative Seattle!). I have been called"the ultimate showman" and I love to interact with the fans. I will get down dance with you. Y'know let's get it on! Also,I seem to be a 'spiritual sex symbol' to people. If we have to live,why not give. I want to acknowledge people and I treat everyone as if they are superstars. Why not? If I'm on a video shoot, I'm likely to go get coffee for the crew first. I talk to and appreciate the ones no one else seems to notice...The checkout cashiers at the supermarket all know me and we chat and have a laugh. Now as far as the way I look, I'm HYDE right down the line 24/7. I dress like this all the ime not just on stage. I am threatening to a certain type. I've had my very existence threatened but I like to make friends with my enemies. I tell them --"You could shoot me tomorrow mate. I've been around the world and I've slept with women other men could only dream of." This usually shuts them up. But if someone thinks I'm a "sex symbol"...why not! Why not me rather than Paris flippin' Hilton!
Punk Globe: Whats the most gratifying thing about this experience for you?
Sister Hyde: Writing songs from nothing, bringing them to the band and recording them and then hearing that song on the radio, that is the most gratifying process. "Rolla Coasta" was played by Rodney Bingenheimer on KROQ in Los Angeles which was very cool since it's "Rodney on The ROQ"! I love writing. I have twenty new songs in the can for the next album. Also being on stage. The live experience is a cathartic one for me. I get very depressed if I don't perform for lengthy periods of time. It's all about the show! I love meeting new fans. When we played Japan. I started to notice HYde clones that started coming to the shows. I love that. I want to get a Hyde doll fabricated in Asia. Just to express myself in such a direct way is a blessing from the god of Rock and Roll. Seeing fans singing along in the audience is the best high. Also we tend to loose the wonder of playing an instrument an/or singing. As we become adults, we start to become preoccupied with being successful rather than just enjoying it.
Sister Hyde: Now don't get me wrong Kim! If I had to,given a choice, I'd probably listen to "Girls,Girls,Girls" rather than some "new" talent but I am much more influenced by Mr.D. I am influenced by his idea of creating characters and also thematically by the Orwellian-inspired subject matter of his Ziggy/Aladinsane period. I don't think he's ever come close to those years again lyrically.
"Diamond Dogs" is a rockin' album! But I'm not really too keen on the big hair and headband look of 80's Hollywood.
That is definitely not the kind of glam thang I'm into. Besides being European and a bit of an artiste myself, I'm much more into the art school of Bowie. I'm not a bloody David fanatic though, which is just as boring as the new LA Glam clones.
Punk Globe: When and how did you guys get together to form Sister Hyde?
Sister Hyde: I was spinning my wheels in the vast and overcrouded band parking lot that is LA when I met my bassist Keith Ash at a Hollywood club where the girls run around in their underwear. Those are the places where you find the best muscians. Ha-He is originally from Seattle and we decided to move up here to Seattle. We met Canadian guitarist, Myles Mayhem and drummer Great Scott here at some similar den of iniquity. We are all influenced by anything flash and glam!!!
Punk Globe: What other bands have you been apart of?
Sister Hyde: I have always had my own bands."Bardot" was one of my bands in Los Angeles.I never wanted to be what someone else
wanted me to be. The great American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to turn you into someone else is the greatest achievement." I have well over a hundred songs so getting in a band just because they were "big" always seemed like a waste of my time. I never wanted to be in anyone else's band.
Punk Globe: Lets talk sex. A lot of people are in love with you (or admire your look rather) how do you like being a "sex symbol?"
Sister Hyde: I know how to treat a lady and how to please her.I invite all the women of the world to come onto our MySpace site. I have been known to give the warm fuzzies even over the internet! I think women are so bored of the current non-image that's in vogue. I have girls writing me who think that I'm the Rock chick's wet dream. They're just so glad to have a bit of mystery and romance. I have others who admire me for my work. I love women. Like a plant needs water, a woman needs love. A typical Sister Hyde show has the first several rows crowded with female fans --The Sisterhood -- as we affectionately call them. They know the songs and sing the lyrics. We've created a scene where people get glammed-out to come and see us (no small feat in conservative Seattle!). I have been called"the ultimate showman" and I love to interact with the fans. I will get down dance with you. Y'know let's get it on! Also,I seem to be a 'spiritual sex symbol' to people. If we have to live,why not give. I want to acknowledge people and I treat everyone as if they are superstars. Why not? If I'm on a video shoot, I'm likely to go get coffee for the crew first. I talk to and appreciate the ones no one else seems to notice...The checkout cashiers at the supermarket all know me and we chat and have a laugh. Now as far as the way I look, I'm HYDE right down the line 24/7. I dress like this all the ime not just on stage. I am threatening to a certain type. I've had my very existence threatened but I like to make friends with my enemies. I tell them --"You could shoot me tomorrow mate. I've been around the world and I've slept with women other men could only dream of." This usually shuts them up. But if someone thinks I'm a "sex symbol"...why not! Why not me rather than Paris flippin' Hilton!
Punk Globe: Whats the most gratifying thing about this experience for you?
Sister Hyde: Writing songs from nothing, bringing them to the band and recording them and then hearing that song on the radio, that is the most gratifying process. "Rolla Coasta" was played by Rodney Bingenheimer on KROQ in Los Angeles which was very cool since it's "Rodney on The ROQ"! I love writing. I have twenty new songs in the can for the next album. Also being on stage. The live experience is a cathartic one for me. I get very depressed if I don't perform for lengthy periods of time. It's all about the show! I love meeting new fans. When we played Japan. I started to notice HYde clones that started coming to the shows. I love that. I want to get a Hyde doll fabricated in Asia. Just to express myself in such a direct way is a blessing from the god of Rock and Roll. Seeing fans singing along in the audience is the best high. Also we tend to loose the wonder of playing an instrument an/or singing. As we become adults, we start to become preoccupied with being successful rather than just enjoying it.
Punk
Globe: Girls, boys or
both, luv?
Sister Hyde: Well Kim, I do love to employ a bit of the ol' gender confusion every now and then. My band's called Sister Hyde and my MySpace art site (myspace.com/hydemania) says I'm a woman. I have been known to perform in drag and I've played Seattle Pride for the last five years. (See one of these outeffingrageous shows on YouTube.com@nighttimelivesisterhyde.) I've courted the Seattle Gay News and and was easily the hottest bitch in West Hollywood when we went down to LA Pride. This androgyny's always been a Glam thang from Ziggy to The Dolls but time to let the cat outta the bag. Sorry boys. Girls ONLY!
Punk Globe: Also, do you do your OWN makeup?
Sister Hyde: I've collected makeup through the years. I've still got some of me mum's black nail polish and kohl eye shadow from Bibas of London. Good stuff! I'll tell you a secret though. Shop for outlandish makeup near Hall. Buy your cosmetics on the cheap at 99cent stores. It's all the same dolling. I wear makeup everyday. . . pale face, raccoon eyes, blue blush. Moween and mix it up I say!
Let's not do the obvious. If i do get my makeup done by a make up artist, nine outta ten, I'll redo it. I know my own face best and just 'cuz someone's considered an expert, doesn't mean they are one. I love to share make up secrets with girls (but trannies usually have better makeup), so if you have any dollings, write me @ myspace.com/sisterhyde. Why do girls like guys in make up? KISS saw how many birds The Dolls were pulling and they took it a step farther. Mick Ronson was reluctant but Bowie assured him that "Girls liked that otherworldly look." It's always funny to see some straight jock with his girlfriend flirting with me in the audience.
Punk Globe: And just where do you shop for your glamorous threads?
Sister Hyde: I go to vintage clothes stores all over when we tour and find the most amazin' gear. Trouble is, I wear the same bloody
thing every show. You can't change the image before people know what it is. I am always in character 24/7 not just for shows. Even
when it's been 100 and 2 degrees, you'll find me with my black leather trench coat, black knee-high womens high-heeled boots, the
tightest black leather pants ever made and full makeup. In school, I'd wear my mum's see-thru blouses to school. They looked so mod. I'd raid her closet and found that her emerald green sequin jacket was just the thing to complete my school apparel. Nowadaze though, I do go for the Dickensian look. I like mixing Glam with horror.
Punk Globe: What message are you trying to convey to people through your music?
Sister Hyde: If I do have one general message. . . immorality. Having said that though, I suppose I do want to send a message of freedom. That anything is possible. People have to stop waiting in line. People have to get over their small town inhibitions and not be afraid to step out of line. We have to stop eating the crap they serve and we have to stop smiling when we eat it. Go out and create your own thing instead of trying to be like someone else. Every one of my songs conveys a different message. From Sex, Drugs & R&R --"I Like It With The Lights On" and "Pills and Liquor" -- to the self-explanatory "I'm Not a Victim" -- and the celebrity-driven "I'm Your Fan" and "The Movers and The Shakers" -- I also am guilty of having a gimmick. I'm able to use different singing voices depending on the character of the song. They are all Hyde but each song can sound like a different vocalist! I don't hear that anywhere else and I think it's much appreciated. Each song is like a mini-movie to me.
Punk
Globe: What is the
scariest thing about fame and
success?
Sister Hyde: Not having it! Yes not having it when you haven't made it and losing it when you have it. A song that I had to write in hollywood, "I'm Your Fan," is about a very scary fan. Having someone in the shadows trying to peer in your windows at night. . . yeah, that's pretty scary and it has happened! Also, people thinking they know you when they've never met you. Latching on. Trying to be an entourage backstage. Clingers handing drugs to your band backstage, trying to bring you down. People throwing themselves at you for who you are not what you are. You don't know who your true friends are anymore. Claustrophobic in a limo that's stuck in a crowd
of people who are on the roof of the vehicle and crushing you! The loss of anonymity. Feeling like death warmed over from no sleep and a permanent hangover and still having to go on
stage and deliver.
Punk Globe: Did you always wanna rock?
Sister Hyde: I was born in a leather jacket. My parents were in an English punk band in the late 70s. I was immersed in it before I could talk. They had their own problems with drugs, etc. I inherited their albums and their idols became mine. I always rocked. I was defiant to authority figures all through school and got in drug-related vehicle accidents throughout my teens when I formed my first band. I had a Futuramic electric guitar which I covered with leopard skin wall paper. My first song was "Success Without College" Jimi, Led, T Rex, Bowie, Beatles and Stones, Vibrators, Damned, Pistols, Dolls, Stooges, Tuff Darts, Mott The Hoople, The Who, The Sweet and Wayne County and Violent Luck (my parents' band) were some of the people I looked up to.
Punk Globe: How much of your real life is in your lyrics?
Sister Hyde: Almost all my lyrics are autobiographical to some extent. . "You Look Better On MySpace" was a take-off on something that gotout of hand on the nternet site -- I think we can all relate to that. "Jennifer Maerz's Best Friend" was my a simple satire that got me banned from the local rag that she worked for. "Real Tuffd Dudea little ditty about a very testosterone-fueled girl who wanted to be our manager. "Punk is Dead" starts with the lines"You can wear a badge. You can wear The Clash. . . " It's like you can't just be a punk from buying it. The instant it was born, it died. Youth-targeting industries started profiteering from it and it went the way of all movements. The dictionary meaning of a punk is "the slang term given to a male prostitute in an English jail. "Songs like "I'm Not A Victim" are self-explanatory and are totally autobiographical.
Punk Globe: Any future surprises from Sister Hyde?
Sister Hyde: I know we are gonna surprise a lot of people in '09! The more foreign territory we claim, the more records we get out there, the more rock fans discover us. I want to return to Japan. We want to seal the deal with Sylvain but whoever produces the next album, it will make a lot of people bend an ear. It's a little more controversial. We want to get to Europe and sign with a label with the power to launch us internationally. '09 is Sister Hyde's time!
Punk Globe: Whats the worst nightmare you've ever had?
Sister Hyde: It went like this: I was in a laboratory mixing smoking, florescent concoctions in test tubes, which I drink. I fall to the floor losing my breath, I feel like I'm burning up, but when I stand up, I'm in front of a mirror and I have breasts and a raven-haired mound of Venus between my legs. I am a woman. I am Sister Hyde. I want to kill. Oh wait, maybe that was my best nightmare!
Punk Globe: You want me to hang out, what do we do?
Sister Hyde: Kim! You and I would jet to London. We'd go down me fave fab pub and get pissy-eyed smashed. We head to The Marquee to watch the reformed Vibrators who are good for a laff and then head to Camden Town to a Speakeasy. It's late and the sun is about to rise. We head back to the bedsit and. . . ! ! !
Punk Globe: What do you think about drug use in a band?
Sister Hyde: Sister Hyde doesn't do any drugs the day of or at any time before a show. It is our only rule. We stick to grass and alcohol anyway. It's like been there, done that. "Sex is the drug and I need to score" -- Bryan Ferry. You wouldn't get high before you stepped out onto a battlefield and Sister Hyde doesn't take any prisoners! I have yet to see a band that plays while they are stoned and doesn't make any mistakes. They might think they're great but they are delusional. It's the sad effects of the cocaine. We used to live next to the cop shop in Hollywood and we had a dealer come up fro South Central to deliver us the best blow. It can become very expensive, make you very paranoid and wreck your life much more quickly and more completely than MySpace ever could! You become a prisoner.
Punk Globe: What's something not a lot of people would ever believe about you?
Sister Hyde: I have rescued over two hundred dogs in three major North American cities! Some I've been lucky enough to reconnect with their owners and others I've been even more lucky to find new owners for. All of my rescue stories have had a great ending to them and I am in the process of writing a book about them. It's bound to be a best-seller! Also, I am an artist and in the grand tradition of Brit art school rockers like Keith Richards, who once said of his scholastic endeavors, "Drawing naked women seemed like the easiest thing to do, " I am a painter and sculptor. I snagged a scholarship in LA and recently started up an art site on MySpace.com/hydemania. I had to resurrect the site five times because MySpace kept on tearing it down. I thought Christ, this is art, not pornography, and would put it back up again. Finally, MySpace allowed me to keep it up after sending me notification that they had deleted several of my drawings! I've been an art teacher and a set designer and a political cartoonist for a local magazine lampooning the Bush administration.
Punk Globe: Tell me a fantasy (any subject)
Sister Hyde: You and I are backstage after a Sister Hyde show, dolling! You say it's hot and start to remove. . . . Oh wait I'm getting sidetracked. Hmmmm, A fantasy. . . OK, I am the President and after abolishing war and world hunger, I would make the euthanasia of unwanted animals a crime and create mammoth no-kill shelters out West on the vast amounts of unused land out there. After that, I'd take a first class tour and play The Gardens, The Royal Albert Hall and The Budokan. The mew Sister Hyde record is #1 in the world, and I recycle the dough back into my music, art and animals. Oh yeah, I find this one beautiful girl. Her name will mean 'body' in Greek and we will spend every day making love! Also, I would create this super healing hot springs in which we'd lay around naked stoking the fires. I've always had this fantasy about designing my own house and everything in it, recording and listening to my own music, and looking at my own art on the walls, growing my own food ext. In the future reality, I want to have creative control of my videos and I want to design my own sets .
Punk
Globe: Best stage
performance that you have given in your opinion?
Sister Hyde: Kim! My best performance was with you, dolling! ! ! ! It would have to be at The Forum in Montreal. It was a huge, huge crowd and I had them in the palm of my hand. You can hear some of this performance on "I Like It With The Lights On" on the Sister Hyde album!
Punk Globe: Invent a super group, who would the members be?
Sister Hyde: Well, I've been looking for the super group all my life and I believe that the current lineup of Sister Hyde is that band. In an ideal world and I think I saw a "Twilight Zone" episode like this, I would have a band of Hydes. I am the best drummer and bassist and the beast guitarist and keyboardist as well. I'd call it Glam gods -- Damn, that name's already takem. No, my fantasy band would be Keith Ralphs and Ariel Bender on guitars (Mott The Hoople) and Buffin (Mott) on bass and Bonham on drums with Eno on keys.
Y'know, Seattle is famous for Kurt, coffee and Jimi and one night we were playin this dive that has a reputation for the most available H in town. Anyways, I'm doing my Jimi-inspired guitar sacrifice and my axe is lying prostrate on the stage feeding back. In a few moments I am planning to whip the crap outta it with my strap when this crazy lookin' dude with an Afro comes up to the stage with his boot out lookin like he's gonna stomp on my guitar! He's grinnin away and just ends up standin there diggin' the show. After the show, someone told us that it was Leon Hendrix (Jimi's bro who's also a guitarist), and that he wanted to meet me! He said that he was gonna get his band to turn down and that we made "a lot of noise" at a lower volume. When I gave him my record, he said "Good, I'm gonna steal your songs!" When I said to give it back, then jokingly he replied, "Don't you know that is the highest compliment?"
Punk Globe: I have yet to hear your album all the way through. Which track would you tell me and Punk Globe readers to listen to?
Sister Hyde: OK. . . You have the new Sister Hyde record in your hands having bought it on itunes or CDbaby and the first thing you
notice is the cover. A nubile young lady? With a top hat is clutching her breasts with her gloved hands. It screams GLAM. Written on
the lipstick red cover in horrific melting letters is SISTER HYDE. You slap it on and it says to be played at MAXIMUM VOLUME, so you crank it up and the first track,"You Look Better On MYSpace," blows you off your feet. One of my favs, the track has been eating up
Internet radio charts and is fast becoming a fav of DJs everywhere. The first song ever written about MySpace dating, it is a Lola-esque ballad that starts "I'm in love with you, my virtual girl but you belong in your virtual world. I met you on the internet when I added you as one of my friends." "Surfin on Napalm" is a good 'un and we start our live show off with it. It's got a punk-assed riff that hits you like a pneumatic jackhammer! "Corporate Guru" sounds like The Ramones on 200 Red Bulls and made it on to the Punk compilation Cd outta Seattle, "Punks and Pints," earlier this year. "I'm You Fan" is scary fun and the forementioned, "I Like It With The Lights On," roxxx. "Pills and Liquor" is a driver, and "Beautiful Tonight" is a very Iggy-esque bleak romantic tune. There are seventeen tracks and they're all strong -- so happy listening, Punk Globe readers. Here is one album that you won't have to hunt around on for a good song.
Punk
Globe: What is your
dream venue to play?
Sister Hyde: John Lennon once said "There's only Madison Square Gardens in New York and a few
other places in Los Angeles. Everything else is just traveling." I would say that The Gardens is my dream venue. After that, I'd like to play the Royal Albert Hall in London and The Buidokan in Japan. Max's Kansas City would have been a hoot in its heyday.
Punk Globe: Tell me a bit about the other members of Sister Hyde.
Sister Hyde: Myles Mayhem is my rhythm guitarist. He is my right hand man and plays a Gibson SG. . He is from Canada but grew up in Las Vegas! He does live up to his name and is a cyclone of energy on stage! He is a bit of a Jeckyl/Hyde character because he's really a mild-mannered dude. With his shaved head, shades and feather boa, he looks a bit like an alien, and he gives the band that much more of a unique and current look. Keith Ash is from LA. He is Mr. Rock and Roll. Always positive and optimistic, he is perhaps the most grounded of all of us. He plays a Firebird bass and is a huge Who fan! Great Scott, our drummer, is from nearby Port Orchard, and actually did sound for us at a club out that way. He was blown away by the band and swiftly filled the drummer vacancy. He plays drums like Dave effing Grohl and is always spending his money on new additions to his Ludwig set! We are not only all on the same page but on the same line as well. A lot of people underestimate chemistry between band menbers and we definitely have that goin' on.
Punk Globe: Whats your most humbling moment?
Sister Hyde: We were playin' a punk club in Canada when this Mohawked punk chick comes up to the stage smirking and beckoning me to come to her. I should have trusted my instinct and stayed away but I thought she wanted to ask me something. BAM! She smashed something into my eye. It was a piece of chocolate cake. How punk!?! Well, I was blinded for about five minutes, just enough time for her to make her escape. It was a humbling moment. Fortunately there was no permanent damage and now, I'm not so trusting!
Punk Globe: it's Christmas, you buy me a gift. . . what would it be?
Sister Hyde: A gift certificate from Babeland! Merry XXXMAS!!
Sister Hyde: Well Kim, I do love to employ a bit of the ol' gender confusion every now and then. My band's called Sister Hyde and my MySpace art site (myspace.com/hydemania) says I'm a woman. I have been known to perform in drag and I've played Seattle Pride for the last five years. (See one of these outeffingrageous shows on YouTube.com@nighttimelivesisterhyde.) I've courted the Seattle Gay News and and was easily the hottest bitch in West Hollywood when we went down to LA Pride. This androgyny's always been a Glam thang from Ziggy to The Dolls but time to let the cat outta the bag. Sorry boys. Girls ONLY!
Punk Globe: Also, do you do your OWN makeup?
Sister Hyde: I've collected makeup through the years. I've still got some of me mum's black nail polish and kohl eye shadow from Bibas of London. Good stuff! I'll tell you a secret though. Shop for outlandish makeup near Hall. Buy your cosmetics on the cheap at 99cent stores. It's all the same dolling. I wear makeup everyday. . . pale face, raccoon eyes, blue blush. Moween and mix it up I say!
Let's not do the obvious. If i do get my makeup done by a make up artist, nine outta ten, I'll redo it. I know my own face best and just 'cuz someone's considered an expert, doesn't mean they are one. I love to share make up secrets with girls (but trannies usually have better makeup), so if you have any dollings, write me @ myspace.com/sisterhyde. Why do girls like guys in make up? KISS saw how many birds The Dolls were pulling and they took it a step farther. Mick Ronson was reluctant but Bowie assured him that "Girls liked that otherworldly look." It's always funny to see some straight jock with his girlfriend flirting with me in the audience.
Punk Globe: And just where do you shop for your glamorous threads?
Sister Hyde: I go to vintage clothes stores all over when we tour and find the most amazin' gear. Trouble is, I wear the same bloody
thing every show. You can't change the image before people know what it is. I am always in character 24/7 not just for shows. Even
when it's been 100 and 2 degrees, you'll find me with my black leather trench coat, black knee-high womens high-heeled boots, the
tightest black leather pants ever made and full makeup. In school, I'd wear my mum's see-thru blouses to school. They looked so mod. I'd raid her closet and found that her emerald green sequin jacket was just the thing to complete my school apparel. Nowadaze though, I do go for the Dickensian look. I like mixing Glam with horror.
Punk Globe: What message are you trying to convey to people through your music?
Sister Hyde: If I do have one general message. . . immorality. Having said that though, I suppose I do want to send a message of freedom. That anything is possible. People have to stop waiting in line. People have to get over their small town inhibitions and not be afraid to step out of line. We have to stop eating the crap they serve and we have to stop smiling when we eat it. Go out and create your own thing instead of trying to be like someone else. Every one of my songs conveys a different message. From Sex, Drugs & R&R --"I Like It With The Lights On" and "Pills and Liquor" -- to the self-explanatory "I'm Not a Victim" -- and the celebrity-driven "I'm Your Fan" and "The Movers and The Shakers" -- I also am guilty of having a gimmick. I'm able to use different singing voices depending on the character of the song. They are all Hyde but each song can sound like a different vocalist! I don't hear that anywhere else and I think it's much appreciated. Each song is like a mini-movie to me.
Sister Hyde: Not having it! Yes not having it when you haven't made it and losing it when you have it. A song that I had to write in hollywood, "I'm Your Fan," is about a very scary fan. Having someone in the shadows trying to peer in your windows at night. . . yeah, that's pretty scary and it has happened! Also, people thinking they know you when they've never met you. Latching on. Trying to be an entourage backstage. Clingers handing drugs to your band backstage, trying to bring you down. People throwing themselves at you for who you are not what you are. You don't know who your true friends are anymore. Claustrophobic in a limo that's stuck in a crowd
of people who are on the roof of the vehicle and crushing you! The loss of anonymity. Feeling like death warmed over from no sleep and a permanent hangover and still having to go on
stage and deliver.
Punk Globe: Did you always wanna rock?
Sister Hyde: I was born in a leather jacket. My parents were in an English punk band in the late 70s. I was immersed in it before I could talk. They had their own problems with drugs, etc. I inherited their albums and their idols became mine. I always rocked. I was defiant to authority figures all through school and got in drug-related vehicle accidents throughout my teens when I formed my first band. I had a Futuramic electric guitar which I covered with leopard skin wall paper. My first song was "Success Without College" Jimi, Led, T Rex, Bowie, Beatles and Stones, Vibrators, Damned, Pistols, Dolls, Stooges, Tuff Darts, Mott The Hoople, The Who, The Sweet and Wayne County and Violent Luck (my parents' band) were some of the people I looked up to.
Punk Globe: How much of your real life is in your lyrics?
Sister Hyde: Almost all my lyrics are autobiographical to some extent. . "You Look Better On MySpace" was a take-off on something that gotout of hand on the nternet site -- I think we can all relate to that. "Jennifer Maerz's Best Friend" was my a simple satire that got me banned from the local rag that she worked for. "Real Tuffd Dudea little ditty about a very testosterone-fueled girl who wanted to be our manager. "Punk is Dead" starts with the lines"You can wear a badge. You can wear The Clash. . . " It's like you can't just be a punk from buying it. The instant it was born, it died. Youth-targeting industries started profiteering from it and it went the way of all movements. The dictionary meaning of a punk is "the slang term given to a male prostitute in an English jail. "Songs like "I'm Not A Victim" are self-explanatory and are totally autobiographical.
Punk Globe: Any future surprises from Sister Hyde?
Sister Hyde: I know we are gonna surprise a lot of people in '09! The more foreign territory we claim, the more records we get out there, the more rock fans discover us. I want to return to Japan. We want to seal the deal with Sylvain but whoever produces the next album, it will make a lot of people bend an ear. It's a little more controversial. We want to get to Europe and sign with a label with the power to launch us internationally. '09 is Sister Hyde's time!
Punk Globe: Whats the worst nightmare you've ever had?
Sister Hyde: It went like this: I was in a laboratory mixing smoking, florescent concoctions in test tubes, which I drink. I fall to the floor losing my breath, I feel like I'm burning up, but when I stand up, I'm in front of a mirror and I have breasts and a raven-haired mound of Venus between my legs. I am a woman. I am Sister Hyde. I want to kill. Oh wait, maybe that was my best nightmare!
Punk Globe: You want me to hang out, what do we do?
Sister Hyde: Kim! You and I would jet to London. We'd go down me fave fab pub and get pissy-eyed smashed. We head to The Marquee to watch the reformed Vibrators who are good for a laff and then head to Camden Town to a Speakeasy. It's late and the sun is about to rise. We head back to the bedsit and. . . ! ! !
Punk Globe: What do you think about drug use in a band?
Sister Hyde: Sister Hyde doesn't do any drugs the day of or at any time before a show. It is our only rule. We stick to grass and alcohol anyway. It's like been there, done that. "Sex is the drug and I need to score" -- Bryan Ferry. You wouldn't get high before you stepped out onto a battlefield and Sister Hyde doesn't take any prisoners! I have yet to see a band that plays while they are stoned and doesn't make any mistakes. They might think they're great but they are delusional. It's the sad effects of the cocaine. We used to live next to the cop shop in Hollywood and we had a dealer come up fro South Central to deliver us the best blow. It can become very expensive, make you very paranoid and wreck your life much more quickly and more completely than MySpace ever could! You become a prisoner.
Punk Globe: What's something not a lot of people would ever believe about you?
Sister Hyde: I have rescued over two hundred dogs in three major North American cities! Some I've been lucky enough to reconnect with their owners and others I've been even more lucky to find new owners for. All of my rescue stories have had a great ending to them and I am in the process of writing a book about them. It's bound to be a best-seller! Also, I am an artist and in the grand tradition of Brit art school rockers like Keith Richards, who once said of his scholastic endeavors, "Drawing naked women seemed like the easiest thing to do, " I am a painter and sculptor. I snagged a scholarship in LA and recently started up an art site on MySpace.com/hydemania. I had to resurrect the site five times because MySpace kept on tearing it down. I thought Christ, this is art, not pornography, and would put it back up again. Finally, MySpace allowed me to keep it up after sending me notification that they had deleted several of my drawings! I've been an art teacher and a set designer and a political cartoonist for a local magazine lampooning the Bush administration.
Punk Globe: Tell me a fantasy (any subject)
Sister Hyde: You and I are backstage after a Sister Hyde show, dolling! You say it's hot and start to remove. . . . Oh wait I'm getting sidetracked. Hmmmm, A fantasy. . . OK, I am the President and after abolishing war and world hunger, I would make the euthanasia of unwanted animals a crime and create mammoth no-kill shelters out West on the vast amounts of unused land out there. After that, I'd take a first class tour and play The Gardens, The Royal Albert Hall and The Budokan. The mew Sister Hyde record is #1 in the world, and I recycle the dough back into my music, art and animals. Oh yeah, I find this one beautiful girl. Her name will mean 'body' in Greek and we will spend every day making love! Also, I would create this super healing hot springs in which we'd lay around naked stoking the fires. I've always had this fantasy about designing my own house and everything in it, recording and listening to my own music, and looking at my own art on the walls, growing my own food ext. In the future reality, I want to have creative control of my videos and I want to design my own sets .
Sister Hyde: Kim! My best performance was with you, dolling! ! ! ! It would have to be at The Forum in Montreal. It was a huge, huge crowd and I had them in the palm of my hand. You can hear some of this performance on "I Like It With The Lights On" on the Sister Hyde album!
Punk Globe: Invent a super group, who would the members be?
Sister Hyde: Well, I've been looking for the super group all my life and I believe that the current lineup of Sister Hyde is that band. In an ideal world and I think I saw a "Twilight Zone" episode like this, I would have a band of Hydes. I am the best drummer and bassist and the beast guitarist and keyboardist as well. I'd call it Glam gods -- Damn, that name's already takem. No, my fantasy band would be Keith Ralphs and Ariel Bender on guitars (Mott The Hoople) and Buffin (Mott) on bass and Bonham on drums with Eno on keys.
Y'know, Seattle is famous for Kurt, coffee and Jimi and one night we were playin this dive that has a reputation for the most available H in town. Anyways, I'm doing my Jimi-inspired guitar sacrifice and my axe is lying prostrate on the stage feeding back. In a few moments I am planning to whip the crap outta it with my strap when this crazy lookin' dude with an Afro comes up to the stage with his boot out lookin like he's gonna stomp on my guitar! He's grinnin away and just ends up standin there diggin' the show. After the show, someone told us that it was Leon Hendrix (Jimi's bro who's also a guitarist), and that he wanted to meet me! He said that he was gonna get his band to turn down and that we made "a lot of noise" at a lower volume. When I gave him my record, he said "Good, I'm gonna steal your songs!" When I said to give it back, then jokingly he replied, "Don't you know that is the highest compliment?"
Punk Globe: I have yet to hear your album all the way through. Which track would you tell me and Punk Globe readers to listen to?
Sister Hyde: OK. . . You have the new Sister Hyde record in your hands having bought it on itunes or CDbaby and the first thing you
notice is the cover. A nubile young lady? With a top hat is clutching her breasts with her gloved hands. It screams GLAM. Written on
the lipstick red cover in horrific melting letters is SISTER HYDE. You slap it on and it says to be played at MAXIMUM VOLUME, so you crank it up and the first track,"You Look Better On MYSpace," blows you off your feet. One of my favs, the track has been eating up
Internet radio charts and is fast becoming a fav of DJs everywhere. The first song ever written about MySpace dating, it is a Lola-esque ballad that starts "I'm in love with you, my virtual girl but you belong in your virtual world. I met you on the internet when I added you as one of my friends." "Surfin on Napalm" is a good 'un and we start our live show off with it. It's got a punk-assed riff that hits you like a pneumatic jackhammer! "Corporate Guru" sounds like The Ramones on 200 Red Bulls and made it on to the Punk compilation Cd outta Seattle, "Punks and Pints," earlier this year. "I'm You Fan" is scary fun and the forementioned, "I Like It With The Lights On," roxxx. "Pills and Liquor" is a driver, and "Beautiful Tonight" is a very Iggy-esque bleak romantic tune. There are seventeen tracks and they're all strong -- so happy listening, Punk Globe readers. Here is one album that you won't have to hunt around on for a good song.
Sister Hyde: John Lennon once said "There's only Madison Square Gardens in New York and a few
other places in Los Angeles. Everything else is just traveling." I would say that The Gardens is my dream venue. After that, I'd like to play the Royal Albert Hall in London and The Buidokan in Japan. Max's Kansas City would have been a hoot in its heyday.
Punk Globe: Tell me a bit about the other members of Sister Hyde.
Sister Hyde: Myles Mayhem is my rhythm guitarist. He is my right hand man and plays a Gibson SG. . He is from Canada but grew up in Las Vegas! He does live up to his name and is a cyclone of energy on stage! He is a bit of a Jeckyl/Hyde character because he's really a mild-mannered dude. With his shaved head, shades and feather boa, he looks a bit like an alien, and he gives the band that much more of a unique and current look. Keith Ash is from LA. He is Mr. Rock and Roll. Always positive and optimistic, he is perhaps the most grounded of all of us. He plays a Firebird bass and is a huge Who fan! Great Scott, our drummer, is from nearby Port Orchard, and actually did sound for us at a club out that way. He was blown away by the band and swiftly filled the drummer vacancy. He plays drums like Dave effing Grohl and is always spending his money on new additions to his Ludwig set! We are not only all on the same page but on the same line as well. A lot of people underestimate chemistry between band menbers and we definitely have that goin' on.
Punk Globe: Whats your most humbling moment?
Sister Hyde: We were playin' a punk club in Canada when this Mohawked punk chick comes up to the stage smirking and beckoning me to come to her. I should have trusted my instinct and stayed away but I thought she wanted to ask me something. BAM! She smashed something into my eye. It was a piece of chocolate cake. How punk!?! Well, I was blinded for about five minutes, just enough time for her to make her escape. It was a humbling moment. Fortunately there was no permanent damage and now, I'm not so trusting!
Punk Globe: it's Christmas, you buy me a gift. . . what would it be?
Sister Hyde: A gift certificate from Babeland! Merry XXXMAS!!
Punk Globe: And at last, any message to Punk Globe
readers?
Sister Hyde: Yeah I just wanna thank you Kim and Ginger Coyote. I want to thank you, the readers as well. We'll be coming to your
town in '09! PUNK GLOBE RULES! ! ! Come and pay us a visit and give a listen @ MySpace.com/sisterhyde.
Cheers and have a rockin' helladay! Thanks again to the lovely and talented Kim Acrylic! ! ! JOIN THE SISTERHOOD - Original.
Punk Globe: Thanks for your time, doll!
Sister Hyde: Yeah I just wanna thank you Kim and Ginger Coyote. I want to thank you, the readers as well. We'll be coming to your
town in '09! PUNK GLOBE RULES! ! ! Come and pay us a visit and give a listen @ MySpace.com/sisterhyde.
Cheers and have a rockin' helladay! Thanks again to the lovely and talented Kim Acrylic! ! ! JOIN THE SISTERHOOD - Original.
Punk Globe: Thanks for your time, doll!