Joanna: This is going to be exciting, because most of the time when I'm interviewing bands, it's a bunch of dudes. But now I have two hot chicks here! It might be a little harder for me to make fun of you guys – I'm used to making fun of actual guys – but I'll try my hardest...

(Everyone laughs)

Joanna: So anyway, please say your names and what you do in SHIRAGIRL.

Shira: I'm Shira and I sing in SHIRAGIRL.

Raine: I'm Raine P. I'm the drummer and musical director.

Joanna: Musical director! That sounds really important! How do you direct the music!?!

Raine: I just make sure that we've got dynamics and that everyone plays their parts solidly...I pick the tempo to the song, and make sure everyone knows where we're at with that.

Joanna: Yeah, if the drummer fucks up, the whole band fucks up. It's very stressful. A lot of people don't realize how important the drummer is. How long have you guys been a band for?

Shira: We've been playing together for about two-and-a-half years. I've been doing SHIRAGIRL for about four years – it started out as a solo project and the first record was more electro/pop, so this is like -

Joanna: - this is a new version of SHIRAGIRL...

Shira: Yeah.

Joanna: And you guys are...dating? Is that right? I read that online somewhere.

(Raine and Shira laugh)

Shira: No – that's a rumor.

Joanna: Oh. Why don't you guys just date each other and then you can make it true?

(They all laugh)

Joanna: No, maybe I just made that up. Maybe I had a dream about you guys doing it or something, and I was like, “Oh, maybe they're dating!”

Shira: It happens.

Joanna: So, is everyone in SHIRAGIRL a girl?

Shira: Yes.

Joanna: What if a boy wantde to join SHIRAGIRL?

Raine: Well, you know, there is always me.

(Joanna laughs)

Shira: That's as close to a boy as we get. No, we get it all the time: “Oh, let me put on a skirt. Let me put on a dress.” Also, I ran a stage on Warped Tour for female-fronted bands for three years, and guys would always come up and be like, “Hey, my band wants to play your stage. What if I put on a skirt?”

Joanna: You were like, “Go fuck someone else!” Who else was on stage?

Shira: THE PARAMORE played in 2005, like before they blew up. And JOAN JETT stopped by and we did “Bad Reputation”, which was awesome!

Joanna: Wow, that's crazy! You sang with JOAN JETT?

Raine: To “Bad Reputation”.

Joanna: Wow, that's really awesome.

Shira: A bunch of bands played – over 250 bands -

Joanna: So you did that before you started your own band, or at the same time?

Shira: At the same time.

Joanna: Well, that's awesome. How did you start your own stage at the Warper Tour?

Shira: Well, what happened was we actually crashed the Warped Tour. I used to drive around in this pink RV for SHIRAGIRL, and we just drove in and parked and everyone said we couldn't do it, and we just set up and played and did it! And it was awesome cause right around that time, there was really no girls on the tour at all, so we got a really good response, especially from the girls. Everyone came and rushed over, and then finally Kevin Lyman walked by and we were like, “Oh...we're gonna get kicked out!” and he was like, “So Shira, you want to put the whole tour together?...” and he loved it, so he invited us to do more dates, and over that summer, I came up with an official proposal to do it for real, and make a platform for other bands.

Joanna: That's awesome. That is, like, very inspiring. I know how hard it is – it's hard to organize anything, let alone bands.

Shira: Exactly. It definitely was a lot.

Joanna: Are you gonna do it again this year?

Shira: No, I'm gonna try and focus on my own band.

Joanna: Are you going to play on one of the stages...maybe one of the “boy stages”? You can play before NOFX or something...

Shira: We actually played with NOFX.

Joanna: That's awesome. Yeah, you guys went on tour with RANCID too, right?

Shira: Yeah.

Joanna: So, how old are you?

Shira: I'm 27.

Joanna: Yeah...I'm 28.

Raine: 23!

Joanna: You're 23?

Raine: No, I'm not. I'm 25.

(Joanna laughs)

Joanna: You know what, you don't have to lie about your age. There was a time when I was going to lie about my age, but I don't care; I think it's kinda hot to be almost 30. I think it's attractive. You're a lot more confident when you get older; not everything is, “Should I do this?” “Should I do that?”...now you're like, “No, I'm gonna do it!”

Shira: I just hate lying! I can't stand lying. So, it is what it is. I think I paid my punk rock dues.

Joanna: Yeah, I was just going to say, you probably – like me – grew up in the hardcore punk rock scene.

Shira: Yeah, I'm actually -

Raine: - she's a Jersey girl -

Joanna: Are you a Jersey girl? Me too! Where are you from?

Shira: Bergen County.

Joanna: What! That's where I'm from!

(Joanna and Shira continue to make Jersey connections, such as Middle School, High School and graduation years...they talk about mutual friends, they laugh, they cry, they discuss Jersey-infused things that no one from outside of New Jersey cares about...and then it all comes to an end with Joanna's final words...)

Joanna: (laughin; speaking to the tape recorder) Jojo, don't type any of this up for the interview! Ok, so back to the interview – so you grew up in New Jersey...

Shira: I grew up as a dancer.

Joanna: What kind of dance?

Shira: Ballet, Hip Hop, Tap, Jazz – I teach dance out on Long Island now. And I competed, I traveled for dance, so that was my main focus. So I was more into theatre and pop music, and hip hop – I was really into hip hop. And some modern rock. But I really didn't go to a punk show until I was in college. It was, like, a later thing for me. But, it was more like mall punk – like in New Jersey.

Raine: I was into the punk scene, but not too hardcore. Really, I guess, BLACK SAB was, like, the most hardcore it got. I have a lot of punk influence in my writing.

Joanna: Did you find a lack of female-fronted -

Raine: Oh, definitely.

Shira: That's actually what inspired me, cause I worked on Warped Tour 3 and I noticed that there were, like, no girls on stage anywhere, except once in awhile there'd be a really bad one for, like, one day – you know? So, I saw that there was this huge void. And at the same time, a bunch of my friends were in a band back home called MORNING STORM and they were signed to EYEBALL RECORDS, and so I was wondering why it wasn't there, cause it wasn't like it didn't exist, it just wasn't being marketed. So then KEVIN LYMAN actually did this tour called “GIRLZ GARAGE TOUR” so I begged him to have an opening spot, so we played in Philly, and I had this huge Barbie Doll box from when I was little, and I took that onto stage and really made the performance more of a performance art thing, which is how I started – the music was really like a soundtrack to the stuff going on on stage. And then from there, I just got more and more into music, and added a DJ and added a guitarist and eventually became a band. But that was pretty much how I got into it – just noticing there was a lack of female bands in the spotlight, but having friends that were awesome, that I wanted to promote.

Joanna: Do you find that most of your fans are girls? Or is it mixed?

Shira: It's more mixed.

Raine: Our crew is all girls, and the band is all girls, so when we go anywhere, our band alone brings, like, ten girls – more than guys see at a punk show, so us alone evens it out.

(Joanna laughs)

Raine: And I think guys appreciate it cause there's a bunch of hot chicks around.

Joanna: Do you think there's more pressure since it's all girls? Cause I feel like with girl bands, people are just going to look at you and they're going to automatically say something bad about it...like, you could be a mediocre guy band and people will just be like, “Ok, so it's just another mediocre band; there's a lot of mediocre bands,” but if you're in a girl band, you, like, never hear the end of it.

Shira: People love to call us a shitty girl band! But the thing is, all those people who call us that have never actually heard us live. So what happens is, we take the stage, and people have lowered expectations, and then the second we start playing, we blow people away, because we're entertaining and tight.

Raine: It definitely helps having an aggressive style of playing, for myself. I hit really hard and I can definitely compete with the guys – I'm not just your average girl drummer who kind of plays a beat. So, it's kind of good that people have low expectations coming into our shows, cause not only are we exceeding them, but we're drastically surprising people, like, “Holy shit, these girls can fuckin' play!”

Joanna: Did you guys do your recording and stuff on your own? Cause it's a really good recording – not something really crappy. I actually wasn't expecting it to be so clear.

Raine: Actually, in my old band I was in – I was in another all-girl band - we worked with this a producer at BIG BLUE MEDIA, and so we took it to him to get mixed, and took it to someone else to get mastered, so he made it sound as good as it does. But we recorded with a friend -

Shira: - we recorded with Joey Z – he has a studio in Sunset Park; METHOD OF GROOVE STUDIO.

Joanna: You're not on a label or anything like that, right?

Shira: I have my own label that I started a few years ago. I did a couple compilation a few years ago for the stage and then my first record, and we had an EP out this summer. So basically, the records are not mixed or mastered yet, but for this record we're going to try and push it online -

Joanna: Yeah, you can totally do that now. You don't need a label to get your music out there anymore.

Shira: Yeah, but we do want our record at Hot Topic and the right stores, but we just don't have the resources quite yet.

Raine: Yeah, but we're really happy with the quality of it. It came out really well.

Joanna: Yeah, no, it sounds like a professional record. Well, umm, so do you guys ever watch porn?

(Joanna starts laughing)

Shira: Yep! We'll be online, you know?

Joanna: What do you like to watch?

Shira: I like all-girl.

Joanna: You like girl-girl stuff.

Raine: A lot of girls like all-girl stuff.

Joanna: I actually don't really like all-girl stuff (Laughs). There's something I just don't like that much. But that's why when we do film all-girl stuff, I want it to be, like, amazing...I just really hate it when you see two girls having sex and you know that they don't really want to have sex with each other. They're not doing it for the right reasons. Anyway, so you like watching girl-girl stuff better than boy-girl stuff?

Raine: I'm not really into the girl-on-girl stuff. It's ok, but...

Joanna: You want it to be really nasty -

(Raine hesitates; Joanna laughs)

Raine: Yeah...

Joanna: Do you think we could ever make a SHIRAGIRL porn one day?

Raine: A SHIRAGIRL porn?

Joanna: Yeah, where I, like, go to see you guys play one day, and then I molest all of you backstage – that would be a great all-girl porn!

Shira: Everyone would be down for it except for maybe Sammy.

Raine: Sammy would be down!

(Joanna is laughing)

Shira: But, yeah – do it!

Joanna: Is everyone in the band gay, straight...?

Shira: Mixed.

Joanna: It's weird now – most girls are not, like, hetero – I hate using the word “heterosexual”. But I hate the word “bisexual”. They should just replace the word “bisexual” with “sexual”: “I like to bang!”

Shira: I don't like the name “queer”.

Raine: I like saying “queer” - I think it sums it up: “I'm peculiar”...”I'm deviant.”

Shira: No, but Sammy is married to Joe from AGNOSTIC FRONT. We're an adventurous crowd.

Joanna: You guys went on tour with AGNOSTIC FRONT, didn't you?

Shira: Yeah, we did.

Joanna: How was that? I would imagine the crowd at AGNOSTIC FRONT is a bunch of big “grrrr” dudes – I would love to see a bunch of big dudes dancing around to your music!

(Shira and Raine laugh)

Shira: It was funny cause it wasn't exactly the crowd for us, but it totally went off – the guys in all the bands came up to us and they totally loved it. It was good – it was really good.

Joanna: So, everytime I interview any band, I always ask them if they've ever had any fun tour stories...and those are always very interesting to hear, but it'd be a lot hotter if that story involved and girl and her girl groupies who took them in the back and fucked them in a van or something...has that ever happened to you where some girl was like, “I love Shiragirl: come and take me back to your van!”? What does a groupie have to do to win your heart over?

Raine: I don't know. Some girls come up and are like, “Oh, you're so great!” And I just say “Thanks” but I'm not like, “Oh, tell me more – we can be friends.” I don't know – I don't get that into it. You gotta be hot as hell -

Joanna: - Do you like girls that are more aggressive, or more quiet?

Raine: Hmmm, that's a good question...she's gotta be hot! I like bitches!

Joanna: You like bitches? You want her to have an attitude?

(Raine nods; Joanna laughs)

Joanna: What about you, Shira...what does a girl have to do at a show to win your heart over?

Raine: Carry gear.

Shira: Yeah, right – girl or guy, just carry something! We're good!

(Joanna laughs)

Raine: She likes watching them work.

Joanna: Oh really? Like you like when they run to the bar and get you waters and sandwiches -

Shira: - a good massage! Always a plus!

Joanna: So when is your album being released online?

Raine: February 10th.

Shira: February 10th is the release date.

Joanna: Oh, that's awesome!

Shira: And we're about to go on TOUR – we're leaving on Saturday and going down to Florida and back.

Joanna: You still tour in your pink RV?

Shira: We have a new one now – it's bigger and better. It's not pink; the logo is pink.

Joanna: Yeah, I just got a new car and I want to get big, pink rims on it. In any case, so we make a lot of videos, and I usually think of all the ideas for them, but sometimes I run low on ideas, and the website wouldn't be what it is without the band interviews, so if I was going to make a video that was like, “Video dedicated to SHIRAGIRL” what would it be? Where would it take place?

Shira: I would want it to take place in our RV. When we were on the road, guys at truck stops used to come up to the RV, thinking it was some sort of whore house.

Joanna: So you could pull into some truck stop and you could be like some nasty trucker girl, some hick. And we could make a grungy, hot trucker guy.

Raine: How about I be the trucker -

Joanna: Yeah – you be the trucker!

Raine: And I walk in and there's a bunch of naked chics and I'll just bang one of them, and then go on, one-by-one.

Joanna: So when you're banging one, do you want the other girls to be banging each other or should it be all about you?

Raine: No, they don't have to bang each other.

Joanna: So it's, like, a Raine bang!

(Joanna laughs)

Joanna: Well I think that's really romantic. So anyway, the people who just read this just took a break from watching porn to read this, or they're getting warmed up, but whatever it is – they're on a porn site and they're not watching porn to read this interview, so anything you want to say to them out there? Any advice you want to give the masturbators of the world?

Shira: Hmmm. They should play SHIRAGIRL while they do it.

Joanna: Did you like seeing your music in a video?

Raine: Yeah, I thought that was really cool.

Joanna: And it was good cause it had Jessie Lee in it.

Raine: Homegirl.

Joanna: Anyway, I wish you guys luck!

Shira: Oh, and watch out for us, we're gonna be on a bunch of episodes of THE REAL WORLD: BROOKLYN. We filmed a few shows with one of the cast members, Devyn, who sang.

Joanna: How is that season? Was it good?

Shira: Yeah. You'll have to tune in. So, look out for that, and the TOUR is going on, so check that out too!

Joanna: Well, thank you!

Shira: Thank you too!

Joanna: Bye!