Interview by Tricia Tuttle
M--Michelle Polzine, guitar
A--Anne Gomez, bass, vocals
S--Shannon Morrow, drums
How did you all meet? Did you know each other before Cervix?
M--Sort of. We saw each other at Anne's big parties at Amity Court and at rock-n-roll shows.
When did you start playing music together?
A--(laughing) A little before the Blue Green Gods kicked me out.
M--It was September, right before I quit Munch.
What happened with your other bands?
A--Um. well, we parted musical ways (more laughter). Todd decided he wanted to do really long repetitive songs and it's not my thing. Every song I write is less than 3 minutes. I like things with all different parts and quick changes. Well, we always had conflicts about who was playing too much or too little, arrangement problems.
Do you feel like you can be more creative with this band?
A--Well, it's easier because I think Shannon and Michelle and I all like the same kind of thing. So it's not like I'm gonna make up a song and then come up against someone saying, "I'm not playing that."
You have all played in bands before?
M--I played in this band called Corn, Pig, Man with Franklin Bruno in Upland, California. I played mean and loud because Kim Gordon was my idol when I was 16, but I don't think it really fit what they were doing. I also played drums in (Chapel Hill bands) Munch and Hymen.
A--I started playing when I was 23 and now I'm 27. I started because Chris Eubank took me to the pawn shop to buy a bass because he'd said he'd teach me, and he actually did it.
Have your bass parts always been so adventurous?
A--Earlier things I made up in BGG were a little simpler but Todd and I were learning how to play. I didn't know what I was doing so it wasn't like I even knew I was doing anything more complicated. It just seemed like the right thing to do.
S--I've been playing drums for a year and a half. I've always wanted to play the drums and it was my 25th birthday and I thought if I don't start now it will be too late, I'll be too old.
(Todd Morman walks up)
T--You're never too old to learn drums.
A--What, can you get too old to learn the clarinet?
S--I always hated the fact that all the guys played the instruments and we'd be hanging around them and I didn't want to feel like a groupie or anything.
A--And then once you learn how to play it's like "God, why was I impressed with those people?" (laughs)
What inspired you guys to play -- Kim Gordon?
M--Yeah, but I never really decided to play until later. I got a guitar for my 17th birthday, but then I ran away from home and didn't play it again until I got it back. I'd pick it up about once every six months and go, "Oh well, I suck." But then one day I just decided that it didn't matter if I sucked -- I would just do it.
A--(laughs) I still suck!
What about you, Anne? Did you have a long-standing desire to be a rock star?
A--No. I don't know how it happened really . . . I didn't ever think "I'm a girl and I want to make a social statement playing the bass." It's like people sometimes frame questions in that way: "What made you, as a woman, want to play bass?" Well, I want the bass to coincide with the cycles of the moon. (laughs)
I want to ask you this question because I wonder about it myself. Sometimes -- well, most of the time -- the male musicians I know set themselves up in competition with other people who play their instrument like, "Well, he kicks my ass (or vice versa)." Do you all feel competitive with other women?
M--Only if they're mean. (They laugh)
A--You're almost artificially put in competition because you get compared to "girl" musicians.
M--I feel more competitive with boys because I want to be better than them.
Creatively or technically?
M--Well creatively is kinda easy (burst of laughter). I feel like a lot of boys get trapped into this one way of playing their instruments.
What bands do you guys admire?
M--Thinking Fellers.
S--I think we all have diverse tastes. I like Dog Faced Hermans. Our local favorite is probably Shiny Beast.
M--Boys will come up to Kim (Shiny Beast bassist) after a show and say, "Hey, you're pretty good. How long have you been playing?" expecting her to say like six years, and she'll say "Oh, about a year and a half." It makes them feel really lame. That's what I'm after (laughter).
A--So many people put women in a different category when they go see you play. Women do that, men do that, everybody does that. I think it's really exciting when people don't say that. Like your bass player (Andy from June) came up to me the other night and was like "Wow, I really like the way you play your bass..." blah blah. And he didn't say anything to qualify it like,"I've never seen a woman..." I kept thinking "Oh god, please don't say it, don't say it or I'm gonna have to hit you."
Do you think that men and women do play their instruments differently? Michelle, you sort of implied that there is a difference if only because women aren't trapped by some competitive macho socialization. I honestly can't say if there is or is not.
M--Well, there aren't as many rules for women playing. It's not like a contest effort to break musical rules. I think women generally learn to play music later and a lot of them learn how to do it on their own without lessons and stuff.
It seems like there are more women springing up in bands around here everyday: Trailer Bride, you guys, Rubbermaid, Speed McQueen, handfuls of new bands.
A--Good.
M--Yeah, I don't really give a shit about what everybody says about Riot Grrrls except there are more girl bands than there ever have been and I think that that has a lot to do with them being out there and playing.
Do you think that the types of bands coming out of here are changing?
A--Well, the same sorts of bands are still getting famous. Superchunk, Archers of Loaf, Small. Big guitar indie rock.
S--Well there is Squirrel Nut Zippers and they're doing well.
Yeah, they have a 7" out on Merge.
M--And Polvo's different than that whole sound. Erectus Monotone was doing something different.
Do you all have any plans to release a 7"?
M--If anyone wants to put one out for us. (update as of March 1995: Jettison has released a HMS Cervix single)
A--We've been saving money from our shows little by little and we have about half the amount you need to put out a low budget single.
What kind of achievement would make you personally feel like you've been successful with this band?
M--Well, it depends on what you mean by success.
A--You're supposed to answer that, Michelle.
M--OK, if we could go on a tour and people would come, pretty many people, not just 10, at every show.
Like 100?
A--Oooh, that's very successful.
S--I would be happy to be signed to a small, quirky label, but I'm already feeling successful to be in a good band.
A--We watched this video tape of ourselves and Shannon finally realized that she's a good drummer. She was like, "Wow, look at those hard things I'm doing. That looks hard. It's not really that hard but it looks hard."
OK. I know this question is out of the blue, but Carrie wants me to ask you about commercials. Are there any you really hate or love?
A--I know which one I hate. Michelle hates it, too. They have this woman and this man dancing and then this voice comes on . . .
M--Oh, I hate that one!
A--And it fools you into thinking it's this public service announcement about bulemia and, I fucking hate that, It says,"Don't waste your time worrying about being overweight." No, waste your money on Jenny Craig Diet Service!
M--I also think natural make-up commercials are really stupid. Natural is no make-up. Make-up is . . . make-up. Since I started working nights, I've started watching soap operas and, man, you get the fucking worst of the worst.
S--No, the worst commercial is that fucking WRDU one where the truck hits this girl.
The truck hits a girl?
S--Yes, it flattens her.
Oh shit.
S--It's playing (she sings) "I can't drive 55," and he runs over her. They had an old one where there was this fat man dancing and it said "If you don't listen to WRDU, we'll make him dance naked."
M--I didn't get it.
A--I hate commercials that make cleaning products look fun.
M--And there's this one that shows all these things saving lives and then they say,"There are so many things you can do with plastic..."
A--Yeah, you're wondering, OK, what do all these things have in common. That man's prostheses, and that little rubber toy in the bathtub. Hmm...
M--And then the Pampers commercials that claim that they are biodegradable.
A--Yeah, they make it seem like there must be something wrong with your community if you can't compost Pampers there. They give you this number to call. It's not the diaper companies' problem, it's your community's.
M--Are there any we like?
A--Yeah, there's this one where you see the bottom half of a rope with this kid climbing. You just see the legs and the coach yelling, "Come on, Davis! Climb that rope!" And the kid reaches the top and you see it's a girl. It's just a commercial about sending your kids off to school with breakfast, but at the end you see this boy who looks really scared to climb the rope. It's cool because you assume Davis is a boy. I mean, I call myself a feminist but I assumed it was a boy. It's like, "Come on, Anne!" Girls can climb a rope too.
Do you ever do that in music, too? Does it ever surprise you when women are really great musicians because you've made assumptions about them because they're women?
(long pause)
M--No.
A--Well, sometimes if there's this image thing like gimmicky types of bands... I'm surprised if it turns out to be more cake than frosting. But I guess that would be true for boys who were really imagey, too.
M--I have thought that, but not for a long time.
S--I get really excited when I see a great female musician. I jump up and down and get really . . .
Inspired?
S--Yeah, inspired. Definitely.