From N.Y. city, AVENUE D are two girls DAPHNE and DEBBIE. They've just captured a hot topic among the media and shortly dominated the 80's revival scene as wonder girls, since the time they had some energetic live performances at the party called "ELECTROCLASH" (@ club LUXX, N.Y.), organized by the god-farther of the ELECTROCLASH movement, LARRY TEE. They are still in upward momentum even when ELECTROCLASH / 80's revival have steadied down, getting more attention from club / fashion / art scene, for their unique personality as well as the cool mixture sense of the pop, eclectic sound direction and art, fashion in daily life. Here in Japan, it's still hard to obtain their first album to set them underknown with some appearances on compilations. But they are too good to miss! Accordingly, here we have a special interview with them just before the release of the exclusive 12" on our label!!! It went pretty lovely & freewheel, as their personality are.
INTERVIEW+TEXT: KOZUE FUKUSHIMA(JET SET KOBE)
First of all please introduce yourselves?

-- We are DEBBIE and DAPHNE D.

How did you get to know each other, start AVENUE D?

-- (DEBBIE) We have known each other and been best friends for 10 years. We went to high school together in Miami. I went to college in New York, and DAPHNE went to college in Maine, and after we graduated, DAPHNE came to live with me in new york. We were both trying to find "real" jobs and I was looking through the newspaper and found an ad that said "wanted: female rappers for major record deal" and I told DAPHNE that we should apply as a joke!

-- (DAPHNE) Then DEBBIE called them and they were all like ok I'll call you back, and then didn't for a while. Then 9/11 happened and I was working downtown next to the world trade center and totally freaked out and left New York and then DEBBIE called me like a week later and was like you have to come back to New York because we have an audition. The night before the audition we practiced at the bar where DEBBIE was working, the bowery bar, for their new cabaret night. They asked us back every week and then people were all like play my party, no, play my party, and then it was all like no play my party in London, Brazil, or Germany and we were like cool, and the rest is history. Oh and the audition? It was a total joke. They were all like don't call us we'll call you, it was real funny.

How did you dicide the band name, "AVENUE D"?

-- At one point, we both lived on avenue d, and both of our names start with the letter D, so we never even had to think about it, when we needed a name for our band "AVENUE D" was the obvious choice. It is the very last street in the east village, and people used to be afraid to go all the way down there.

Let us know about the role you have each.

-- We are best friends and we share all of the responsibilities equally. We both write songs, and we work with many different people who do the music. Also, we make our own merchandise, distribute our CD, book our shows, make our outfits, and manage our own tours.

Discography?

-- Well we have one CD that we released ourselves through our website, called "BOOTLEG" there is also a CD with all our earlier songs called "GRADE D BEEF" ... also, we have been on many compilations.

Your track, "DO I LOOK A SLUT?" became an anthem, also you've been played at the party "ELECTROCLASH", hosted by LARRY TEE. How did you meet LARRY TEE?

-- When we were doing the cabaret at the BBar, we would all go afterwards to Club Badd, LARRY's party. He was then showcasing new musical acts and all our friends told him that he had to get avenue d to play....so then he asked us to play at his party which went really well, and we became regulars.

What do you think that sometimes you're defined as ELECTROCLASH?

-- It doesn't really matter what we are defined as. We have never been big on labels. When we started we wanted to be PUNK, we wanted to be HIP HOP, we wanted to be BOOTY MUSIC... you can call it whatever you want.

How you feel about the movement, "ELECTROCLASH"?

-- Because of that word, we were in lots of magazines before we had ever even recorded one song. Our band was just a joke for fun, and because it fit into this genre that LARRY was creating, we managed to become real musicians.

Tell us about your music. Do you write all the lyrics? And in what situation?

-- Basically all by us. We write whenever we get ideas. It's all inspired from real life.

Your song, "SLUT?", from the album "BOOTLEG", it's crediting LARRY TEE. How did he become involved?

-- When we played that song at his party, he absolutely loved it. We had written it together with our friend, MICKY, who made the original music for it. LARRY took us into the studio and recorded and produced it, added a lot more music and making sound better overall.

Had you already known ERLEND OYE from KINGS OF CONVENIENCE when he featured your track "2D2F" on his mix CD?

-- Yes. We met him totally randomly haging out in a club in Germany, it was our last night of our first time gigging in Germany, so we invited all the cutest people back to our friend TINA's place and he just happened to be one of the lucky chosen ones. and then we exchanged CDs and got to know his music...and then he was like, "I wanna put 2D2F on the DJ KICKS thing I'm doing.", and we were like cool.

Your art direciton, design are so fashionable, unified that attract many people. Do you produce them by yourselves?

-- The art direction is really a combination of people. Our website was designed by JOSH BOUSEL, and our CD cover by SPENCER PRODUCT, who used to do all of the flyers for LARRY TEE's parties. The rest of the flyers are made by the promoters.

Let us know about the designer stuff you love, if any.

-- We make our own outfits out of groceries or tape. Sometimes we have our friends who make clothes help us. But we don't really spend so much on designer stuff (unless they give it to us). We're just going to take it off, anyway.

What inspired your art works?

-- It comes from everything and everyone. Living in new york, you see everything all the time. We just try to have fun with it...and yeah, we like to fuck around when it comes to what we're wearing, we don't really care who thinks its in fashion, we're just doing what we think is fun.

Any specific artists inspired you?

-- Oh yes. CRASS, DEBBIE BEB, 2 LIVE CREW, CYNDI LAUPER and so much more!

The first record you bought?

-- (DAPHNE)Mine was ANNE MURRAY's "THERE'S A HIPPO IN THE BATHTUB".
-- (DEBBIE)By the time I was buying my own music, there were already CDs. My first one was VANILA ICE.

Any artists specially good friend of you? You've already played along with PEACHES, SCISSCOR SISTERS, PRINCESS SUPERSTAR, A.R.E. WEAPONS and W.I.T...

-- They are all great people. We are good friends with BOY GEORGE (the vocalist of CULTURE CLUB, well known for the phenomenal hit "KARMA CHAMELEON". Also releasing a 12" by AVENUE D, "DO I LIKE LOOK A SLUT" on his own label, ELECTRIC BLUE). He once invited us to come stay at his house in London. We just finished a new track with him. The track is a DANCE HALL / REGGAE track. Since BG's songs in the 80s had a little REGGAE flavor, we thought it would be a fun direction. We were responding to the gay killing REGGAE songs that get played so much here on the radio. The three of us go back and forth talking about sex and boys, and it totally pisses off serious REGGAE homophobes.

How did you get friendly with BOY GEORGE?

-- (DEBBIE)Someone that knew him had told us that he really liked our song "SLUT", and one day he was at the place where I was working and coincidentally was sitting with someone I knew, so I went over and introduced myself. Next thing we knew, he was inviting us to come stay with him.

Any stories at BOY GEORGE's house?

-- Yeah you can check the photos online, one day when he left us alone in his house we ran around the house naked and tried on all his hats and took lots of pictures...

Your live performances are much talked about, as so radical, intensive. What's that like?

-- You're just going to have to bring us to Japan to find out!!!!!

How about the recent N.Y. club scene? It seems there were relentless crackdowns before...

-- It is a little bit sad because they have some crazy laws here about dancing and smoking, they are trying to make it hard to have fun, but New Yorkers don't really care, there is still a lot of craziness going on...

Any lovely parties at N.Y.?

-- Yes, a party called "BOOM BOOM" on Fridays at the BBar. There is a dance contest every week, also DEBBIE Djs at there. We play all different kinds of stuff. from BOOTY, MIAMI BASS, FREESTYLE, to 80s to PUNK to something we think is funny (like O-ZONE) and more!

Some artists you've played with had a big hit in Japan, or debuted on a major label. Any interest in a major debut?

-- It's great. They all deserve it. Our goal is not so much a major debut as much as getting to see the world, and getting our music out there, and having fun. We are already so much further than we ever imagined we would get, so anything beyond this is a bonus.

Finally please tell us forthcoming release schedule?

-- We are planning on self releasing several mini EPs, also our single "SLUT" is coming out in the US on *69 RECORDS, and the EP with you guys. Check our news section on www.avenued.com for updates!!