Interview: Brooklyn feminist rockers Bulletproof Stockings to release debut LP

Brooklyn-based alt-rockers Bulletproof Stockings are anything but conventional. Their wide range of influences blended with the classic sounds that have been passed down through the centuries in their Chasidic faith will finally see a long play release with Homeland-Call-Stomp.

Bulletproof Stockings will also embark on a nationwide tour in support of the album, where they will continue to rally local groups to foster a positive space for women to rock. We caught up with the band ahead of the release of Homeland-Call-Stomp to learn more.

 

1) Hey Bulletproof Stockings, thanks for talking with us. How has 2015 treated you?

Our pleasure! 2015 has been an amazing whirlwind of a year! We launched our Kickstarter campaign in March, had it successfully funded (we asked for $36k and made $37,522!) in April, spent the next bunch of months working tirelessly in the studio, and now we’re getting ready to release the album and kickoff our very first US tour at our Record Release Party at Webster Hall on Sunday, December 6th!

2) Tell us a little bit about the band’s history. How did you initially get together?

Perl: I began writing music in early 2011 and quickly decided I wanted to make a band of women and play shows specifically for women. After a few months of working on the music, I was offered a gig playing at a local (Crown Heights) yeshivah’s fundraising event; a night of women’s talent – dancers, fine artists, musicians… My intention had always been to play as a band, so I started looking for musicians to play the gig with me.

Shortly thereafter, I met a woman who knew Dalia and she asked me if I was looking for a drummer. My answer was an enthusiastic “yes” and I called Dalia about a day later. We agreed to meet the following night. Dalia came over to my apartment with her hand drum and I told her I’d play her a few songs and if she “felt anything” she should just jump right in.

The connection between us was clear right away and it was kind of self-understood that this would be more than a one-time-gig kind of thing. Less than two weeks later we recorded our first single, less than a month later we played our first gig as Bulletproof Stockings. I had asked Elisheva, our cellist, and a longtime friend of mine, to join us for a while and finally got her to agree about a year in to playing, and Dana, our violinist, joined about a year after that.

Dalia: Ever since leaving my career in the rock world behind to embrace the Chasidic path, I was dreaming up ways to marry the two realities. My late husband Paz, o”h, bought me a new drumset to help get that going that I play to this day.

In conversation with him in our little West Hollywood, CA bungalow back in 2005, the name Bulletproof Stockings came up as the absolute best name for an all-girl Chasidic rock band there ever could be. The dream was to get back to rockin’ out, own the joke, and give a nod to the sisterhood I was now a part of but finding other women who spoke music the same way was yet to happen.

Six years later, I was a widowed mother of four baby boys, and decided to start fresh in NYC. Word got out (female Chasidic drummers are a bit rare still, go figure), I began to get calls for gigs & Perl’s was one of them. The moment I heard her material, I fell hard and my drum parts came to me instantly.

It was so clear that we could make something significant together & we were both super excited. We eventually realized that our connection had already been forged in a deep way before we even met; the week Paz was phasing out of this world was the week Perl wrote her first ever music.

I left her place that night with visions of playing Berlin. Why Berlin? Not sure…will have to tell you once we get there.

3) You’re getting ready to release your debut album. What should fans expect? What kind of new territories are you exploring?

Perl: This album is quite rich in color and flavor. These are the first songs I ever wrote and the whole process of writing music took me totally by surprise, so I was really learning as I went. I grew up listening to a lot of different styles of music and those influences come through in every song: classical, chasidic, rock, blues, jazz, even some hip-hop.

We’re really excited about how it all turned out. And while the newer songs I’m writing seem to be more focused in their direction, I’m really happy that this album is so diverse. It’s a nod to everything that inspires us. If you have eclectic taste, this album is for you. If not, maybe just stick to the singles 😉

Dalia: We’ve got classical, pseudo-flamenco, neo-Chasidic, quasi-circus, blues, rock, etc., each happening at some point. It’s an elaborate menu; taste the rainbow

4) What is your writing process like?

Perl: The writing process is different each time. Most of the time the melody will come first, generally as a flash of inspiration that brews in my head for a while as other harmonies slowly build. I’ll usually record myself humming the tune and/or playing it on piano. Then I may either write new lyrics based on what I feel the message behind the music is or I may choose words from writings I’ve jotted down in the past and form something new with them.

Almost every song on Homeland-Call-Stomp was written out entirely on piano, and then I wrote lyrics nearly phrase for phrase the way I had written the piano melody.

Now, sometimes the lyrics come first and inspire the tune. But still, the music usually comes first, and often I find the music will instinctively inspire the meaning behind the song. Then, having an idea of what the song is about, I’ll write lyrics with that intention.

5) You’ve received a lot of attention over your sold out Arlene’s Grocery show where you filled the audience with a woman only crowd. How do you plan to continue to host these sorts of performances going forward?

The reason we make our shows for women specifically is so that women can experience the power of coming together with other women. Experiencing music in a space that is solely theirs. It’s not about excluding men, it’s about empowering women.

We recognize that legally we cannot actually exclude men from coming to our shows. We are putting the word out there that we are trying to create this space for women, and we are hoping that people will dig that and respect it. If men showed up at our shows, we wouldn’t kick them out or stop playing, but it would be a bummer for the women who were specifically looking forward to having that space.

So if you like our music, and you like what we do, we’re hoping you’ll appreciate what we’re trying to create and give the women that time.

6) “Mind Clear” works through some complicated emotions resulting in some catharsis. Was this based on any individual experience you may have had?

Perl: The song is about overcoming the need to self-sabotage which is something we have both struggled with at times. It’s a firm response to the negative inner voice that says “it’ll never work.” In Mind Clear, the narrator affirms “I’m here and I’ve got this.”

The melody for “Mind Clear” had been buzzing around my head for about a year or so, when one night I decided to finally write it out. I called up Dalia and was like “yo, come over, we have to get this song out!” I played her the tune and she started kind of rapping in the background. I was recording it on my iphone and when I listened back later, I wrote lyrics and left space for Dalia to write as well. Now I think we can officially say we have “rap” on this album.

Dalia:  Disclaimer: no real rappers were harmed in the making of this song…;) I was dealing with some cycles of self-sabotage when we were penning the lyrics to this one. Paying the price for things that should have been easily avoided.

For me it’s about a show-down with that little self-generated adversary; about shutting off the noise of undermining thoughts and listening to the inner voice that is there waiting to guide me to an ultimate purpose.

7) Who are some of your biggest inspirations not only as musicians but as feminists?

Feminist Inspiration: The Rebbe (Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson), The Rebbetzin (Chaya Mushka Schneerson), Queen Esther, Josephine Baker, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler…

Musical Inspirations: Billie Holiday, Etta James, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, Jack White, Jane’s Addiction, Chopin, The Cure, Red Hot Chili Peppers…

8) Favorite records of 2015?

Perl:  Currents – Tame Impala, If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late – Drake, 1989 – Taylor Swift (2014 does that count?), Sufjan Stevens – Carrie & Lowell, Sound and Color – Alabama Shakes…

Dalia:  Single mother of 4. Didn’t even realize it was already 2015…

9) Plans for 2016?  

Perl: More touring, more recording, maybe a women’s summer music festival?…

Stay in touch with Bulletproof Stockings: FACEBOOK | WEBSITE