Publication: venuszine.com
Date: March 1, 2007
Title: Meg & Dia in Detroit on March 1, 2007: The sisters bring their catchy distortion to the home of rocknroll
Author: Laura Leebove
Original URL: http://venuszine.com/stories/music/3714.php
After a wet and cold search for food in downtown Detroit, Dia Frampton of Meg & Dia kicked off her Converse shoes, which, along with her socks, were soaked from the rain.
Sisters Meg and Dia were both bummed because Jimmy John's was closed, so they instead ate at a restaurant across the street from Saint Andrews Hall, where they performed on March 1, 2007. Currently on tour with Jonezetta, Bayside and Anberlin, Meg & Dia's set was short, but well received by the sold-out crowd.
The band opened with "Indiana," a ridiculously catchy, distortion-heavy song from their 2006 album Something Real (Doghouse).
From the get-go, it was clear that 19-year-old Dia loves the stage -- she was all over the place, dancing fearlessly and brushing her hair out of her face every couple of minutes.
Aside from her harmonies, 21-year-old Meg Frampton kept quiet most of the time, looking down to focus on her guitar, with her bangs covering her eyes.
Near the middle of the set, Meg & Dia broke into a lively cover of Jet's "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" -- replacing "girl" with "boy." The vocals were a bit weak near the end of the song, but overall it was a great cover that got everyone singing, and some even moshing. They ended with "Monster," the single from Something Real.
Earlier in the show, Dia mentioned the band's new video for the song, which she said she's watched "over and over again, because I'm creepy like that." In the video, band members have glowing, beating hearts inside their shirts, which 22-year-old drummer Nick Rice later said he got a huge blister from.
After the show, Meg & Dia sat down to talk about their new record deal, MySpace, and "girl bands."
The band recently signed to Warner Bros., and Meg said to expect a new record in early 2008. She said the better it is, the longer it'll take to release. In the past, Meg said she's gotten much of her inspiration from books, but inspiration for the next album will come more from bands. "I've never really paid attention to music really," she said, noting that she mostly just does her own thing. "[But] I realize there are bands I can learn from."
Meg listed Taking Back Sunday, the Beatles, Cursive, and Wilco as some of the bands she looks up to.
The Framptons don't seem to be bothered by being women in a music genre driven mostly by men. "The only difference really is that we have vaginas," Dia said. "I don't want to be put in that category [of girl bands]."
Meg said because of the fact that there aren't many women in the scene, her hopes are that "more females will give it a shot." Though there are a few other young pop-rock bands with girls in them, such as Eisley and Paramore, the girls agree that it doesn't really feel like competition among them. Instead, Dia said competition among bands is more about looking up to and getting advice from one another. "[Bands have] gotta support each other," Rice said. "It's not like there can only be one."
Everyone agreed that the Internet is an important tool for bands to get publicity. In fact, the band's newest members -- bassist Jonathan Snyder, 20, and guitarist Carlo Gimenez, 24 -- were both found via the Internet. Snyder and the band messaged back and forth through MySpace, and Gimenez was found on YouTube, where he had recorded himself playing Meg & Dia tracks.
So far, Snyder and Gimenez said they're having a good time on tour, though Snyder said he's learned more about girls than he's ever wanted to. Gimenez, on the other hand, has two sisters, so it all seems "pretty normal" to him.
Meg said the girls go through phases of getting along and arguing, but overall it's "comfortable."
"At the end of the day ..." Dia said with her arms out, waiting for her sister to finish the sentence. With a confused expression on her face, Meg guessed, "We apologize?"
"No, we always love each other!" Dia said, smiling.
The Framptons' parents and four younger siblings live in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Meg said the band only gets to go home about twice a year, and even then it's only for a few days at a time.
"Sometimes it's miserable [and I think], ‘What am I doing?'" she said. "Then you play another show and it becomes worth it again." |
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