Versatile Los Angeles art-rockers Warpaint are building up a head of steam as they tour their debut album The Fool. As they pack their parkas for Ireland, super drummer Stella Mozgawa tells JIM CARROLLabout the 'most genuine' band she's ever been in
WARPAINT’S Stella Mozgawa is anxious to find out about the Irish weather. Given that she and her bandmates are going to be on the road for quite some time to come – she is talking to The Ticket from a tour bus somewhere between Minneapolis and Chicago as Warpaint trek across the US with The xx – Mozgawa wants to make sure they have the clobber to cover all weather conditions they might face when they hit Dublin next week.
“Is there going to be nice weather when we get there?” she asks hopefully. “It’s not to be cold and freezing, is it?”
She’s advised to pack her parka.
For this trip, Warpaint will also be packing sounds for all weather. The Los Angeles-based all-girl band's auspicious debut album, The Fool, is a record with dreamy vocals, hazy guitars, psychedelic ambience and beautiful art-pop songs within the folds.
At times Warpaint come across a little country-ish. Then they flick a switch and it's suddenly post-rock with bells and whistles. Another flick and it's a throwback to 1990s alt-rock. The more you listen to The Fool, the more it gets under your skin.
Australian drummer Mozgawa came on-board last year, the last member to join Warpaint, who’d already gone through a couple of different drummers, including founder member and actor Shannyn Sossamon.
Mozgawa used to see the band playing in various clubs around Silver Lake, LA’s hipster quarter, and was a fan.
“At first, a mutual friend said I should go see them and he introduced us,” Mozgawa remembers. “I thought they were brilliant. It was easily the most genuine music I’d heard for a long time. There was no one onstage who was performing like an action hero. It was all very heartfelt and almost shy and awkward. I find that quite endearing, so I was a fan from the first time I saw them play.”
Mozgawa’s drumming adventures began back in Sydney. “Back there I was playing with a lot of bands, and basically whoring myself out as a drummer.
“The opportunity arose to join a band who were moving to New York, so four years ago I did. When that band dissolved, I moved to LA to drum with any band who would have me.”
Los Angeles quickly took to Mozgawa and her drumming style, leading one local magazine to dub her “the best drummer in LA”. She laughs loudly when this is brought up: “I’d better find that clipping and send it to my parents.”
The decision to take her drumsticks to LA was a no-brainer, she says. “There’s more people, more bands and more variety in LA than Sydney, and I’ve always loved American music and culture, so it was a good fit. I did a lot of session work and tours, mostly for friends who were producers or people I met at shows or through word of mouth.”
As Warpaint were already up and running before Mozgawa came along, and had gone through a few drummers already, was she worried that she might find herself in a revolving-door situation with the band?
“Well, no, not really. I guess the only intimidation to do with that turnover of drummers was there’s often a reference point, as in that person used to play like this or whatever. I did have an initial fear that that would happen, but it soon became clear that the others trusted me and were prepared to let me do whatever I wanted to do, and vice-versa.
“Warpaint was originally created with four girls, and I know there was a certain sound that the others were really in love with, so we’ve been trying to get that feeling back. It’s supercool to be in an all-girl band like this who are really powerful and exciting.”
For Mozgawa, it’s the individuals in Warpaint who are the most important factor, not their gender.
“I don’t think Warpaint was about wanting to be an all-girl band, but more about finding the right people to be intuitive with. I don’t think we write or perform music like girls. When I first heard them, other than listening to the vocals – which are obviously from a girl – I didn’t necessarily think ‘that’s an all-girl band’. We’ve all played music for a long time, and I don’t think we approached music in a way that’s super-feminine.”
Several drummers had featured on Warpaint's attention-grabbing Exquisite CorpseEP, which featured recording input from Red Hot Chili Peppers' John Frusciante. When it came to The Fool, though, it's Mozgawa all the way through.
What Mozgawa digs about the album is how natural it sounds. “I’ve been in many bands before now which were the polar opposite of genuine. They were very contrived, and people were very happy to follow the same routine every night. Then there are the bands where people are very loosey-goosey and whimsical.
“With Warpaint, we’re not trying to be anything we’re not. I don’t think I’ve been with a band before that doesn’t have an agenda. There’s no one saying ‘we have to dress like this’ or ‘we have to sound like this’ or ‘we have to fit into this niche’. Instead, we operate in a very natural way, and I hope that’s going to be the way for eternity. There’s not as much concern for what other people might think about what we do and how that affects the music.”
Mozgawa feels The Foolowes much of its sound and ambience to the city they call home.
“I think there’s a lot of inspiration from being in LA. The city has affected our music for sure. We’ve songs about the stress about living in the city as well as songs about relationships.
“Feelings and emotions and the atmosphere, climate and people of the big city – that’s what inspires us. It would sound different if we lived somewhere else.”
Since the band’s appearance at South by Southwest back in March, Warpaint have been attracting oodles of next big thing attention.
“This is the first time I’ve experienced this kind of buzz,” says Mozgawa. “I’ve never seen it from the inside. It’s something which came after we had the album recorded and it’s not something we talk about every day. We noticed people trying to put expectations on us, which is kind of funny.
“When we recorded the album not that many people were talking about us. When people started mentioning us and tipping us, it came at a convenient time, because there’s nothing we can do to change the sound of the album.
“That’s done, and it’s up to fans and people who might become fans to decide if they’re going to listen to it and like it or not. Even if we were the kind of band who’d respond to that – and we’re not – we can’t go back and re-record the songs.”
- The Foolis released on Rough Trade on October 22. Warpaint play Dublin's Crawdaddy on October 21
