Marty Smith and Marisa Laurelle prove no bond is stronger than one forged over mozzarella beside the heat of a pizza oven as the duo behind Slutty Hearts. The self-proclaimed "pop-a-billy blues" band will bring their split-kit action to the Banana Stand alongside And I Was Like What? on October 30.
Banana Stand: How long has the band been together in its current form? How did it come together?
Marty: Marisa and I started playing together in the spring of '07. We worked at the same pizza place. I had been in bands before [most notably playing drums for 90s shoegazers Swoon 23] but she hadn't, and I was looking to start a new project. I'd seen her doing karaoke and heard some home recordings she'd done , so I knew she could sing and had stage presence.
The split drum kit thing just sort of evolved. We started out with just me on guitar and her singing. Then we decided to give Marisa a snare and a floor tom for some stripped-down drum parts. We didn't give her a kick because we didn't want her to have to sing sitting down. Then I had the brainwave of playing kick standing up, and she eventually got a hi-hat and a crash/ride, and ended up sitting down anyway.
Marisa: Then like two months ago we decided that we needed another person, and we got our friend Cathleen to play organ. She's played two shows with us so far.
Banana Stand: How would you describe your sound? What are your key influences?
Marisa: Pop-a-billy blues? We have a lot of boy-girl vocals, where we both sing on the same song. When we started we wanted to sound like the Moldy Peaches. Now it's more like Mazzy Star and the Cramps.
Marty: I'm also fairly obsessed with the Modern Lovers and the Velvet Underground, and I think that shows. Now, with Cathleen on keys, it's starting to get a little Yo La Tengo, or so I Iike to tell myself.
Banana Stand: Tell us your thoughts about recording live. What makes you interested in recording live?
Marty: Well, I'm interested to hear a professional-quality live recording of us. Usually if you have a live recording it's an afterthought; the sound guy might make a recording off the board straight into two track, or your friend brings a recorder and records you with one mic and it sounds like crap. So an actual multi-track recording sounds like it'll be pretty cool.
Marisa: It's got charm in the mistakes, and magic, in that it cannot be recreated. We're more performance-oriented than studio-oriented—like what makes us good is our live shows, and how we put across our songs to a crowd. So maybe that'll come across on the recording.
Banana Stand: What's your favorite memory of a live show? Least favorite?
Marty: I saw Stereolab live, and they killed. I was impressed since I find their records kind of boring. They had the best lights I've ever seen, though. Locally, I've been pretty blown away by the instrumental spaghetti-western band Federale— if you heard what they do on a record, you'd think it was all overdubs and studio trickery, but they do it live.
Banana Stand: What are your favorite live albums?
Marty: Lou Reed, Rock and Roll Animal. I assume he was on a lot of drugs—he stops in the middle of Sweet Jane to say, "Hey, all you little people," and then goes into a tirade about Barbra Streisand and the Academy Awards. And people from Wyoming.
Marisa: I don't usually like live albums. My favorite is Slutty Hearts at the Banana Stand.
Banana Stand: What other projects are you all involved with?
Marisa: I work and go to school; I barely have time to do this.
Marty: Swoon 23 still play once or twice a year, but this is definitely my main band.
Banana Stand: What are you working on lately?
Marisa: Changing our sound to less precious duo pop, to more of a three-piece swamp rock.
Marty: And trying to find someone to master the full-length we just finished recording.
Huge thanks to Marty and Melissa from Slutty Hearts for participating in our interview. For more from Slutty Hearts, check them out on Facebook and MySpace. For more from The Banana Stand, like us on Facebook, sign up for our email newsletter and follow us on Twitter!
