Cheers! Another Gusty Guest Wednesday at last! Please, give a warm welcome to our special guest this week, the super famous band, ShiSho! We have two beautiful people with us today so I'm forced to use names for their responses. I'll be unnamed in italics. Because of the excessive length, some answers/parts of answer have been omitted. I wasn't sure you wanted to read a whole book about them and they gave me permission to shorten it.
Could you give us a brief summary of who you are and what you do?
Vivian: My name is Vivian Ramone. I’m 15-years-old, but I’m pretty much already an old lady. I’m in the band ShiSho with my younger sister, Midge. I play the guitar and sometimes the ukulele. Oh, and I sing. I’m also an avid lover of music and counter culture.
Midge: Well, my name is Midge Ramone and my sisters name is Vivian Ramone and we are in the Band Shisho and basically we just write silly songs about crazy things and we play at a variety of venues from bars to Girl Scout troop conventions.
What got you started making this type of music?
Vivian: As a young kid (we started the band when I was seven-years-old) my parents always took my sister and I out to see shows. We saw all sorts of bands play, and our parents were constantly introducing us to weird and eclectic bands. Had I been listening to Britney Spears or whatever was popular at that time, I feel ShiSho’s music would be a lot different.
Midge: Our Family has always listened to fun bands like They Might Be Giants and Weird Ale.We also started at such a young age, what else were we going to write songs about other then puking unicorns?
What's the story behind your artist name?
Vivian: Well, as a kid (and even now, technically, I suppose), I wasn’t allowed to say “shut up.” It was a really strictly enforced rule! So, my parents would tell me, “Don’t say shut up, say, ‘shut your pie hole.’” I guess they were joking, but I took it super literally, and one day, I got real bold and told my grandmother to Shut Your Pie Hole and as you can guess, it was the debacle of the century. My parents came back a few days later and said, “Ok, you can’t say ‘shut your pie hole,’ say ‘shush your shisho.’”
A couple years later and we were looking for a band name. ShiSho rose to the top of the list.
Who inspires you?
Vivian: Musically, I would have to say my biggest inspirations are; Ghost Mice, They Might Be Giants, SUPERCUTE!, Wesley Willis, Harry and the Potters, Kimya Dawson, Devo, Daniel Johnston, and, The Shaggs.
In a very personal way, though, my day-to-day inspirations are:
Amanda Palmer: A true nonconformist. She’s so utterly true to herself, regardless of whether or not she offends anyone. She’s so raw. She admits to being imperfect and having struggles. She doesn’t try to be some plastic model of perfection or the model of not being hypocritical. Plus she’s this totally rad person, and has all these amazing, innovative ideas.
Kimya Dawson: One of the seemingly kindest and down-to-earth artists out there. She genuinely loves people and has such strong emotions towards them. She’s truly a natural born mother, and you can’t help but feel like she loves you, just by listening to her music or reading her blog. And Kimya, like Amanda, is very openly multi-faceted and beautifully imperfect.
Mister Rogers: He’s a man who is indescribable. His lust for life and love of people is so amazing. It’s so hard to talk about how much this man inspires me without writing my fingers to nubs. So here, read this article. It basically sums my feelings up;
http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/5943
Ray Bradbury: A completely beautiful human being. He put so much of his own quirky personality into all of his books. Bradbury talks about how he loves libraries—how he loves authors and how they become your best friends as soon as you step into a library. He educated himself instead of going on to college, just by reading books in libraries! He had such a love of life and a love of learning that he’s truly the kind of person I want to be.
Tavi Gevinson: She’s my age, runs a fashion blog and a feminist website. She proves that you’re never too young to realize what you love, and to do just that. I just think she’s really neat (plus, she taught me everything I know about ~*~style~*~).
Midge: I have a lot of people who inspires me from Bethany Hamilton to Michelle Obama.
Do you have a favorite Bible verse?
Vivian: I have to admit, I did not really have a favourite Bible verse, but I went searching, and came up with this;
"Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy." Proverbs 31:9
I think that’s something that will withstand all time, and is kind of getting washed over in today’s culture. Defend the rights of the poor and needy.
Midge: Yes, my favorite bible verse is probably Psalm 32:8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
Who are some of your favorite musicians and why?
Vivian: Kimya Dawson and Amanda Palmer, yo. See my inspirations for explanations on that. :P
But to that, I would definitely have to add the Shaggs, Mum, Sufjan Stevens, Sleigh Bells, Best Coast, Atom & His Package, Dubb Nubb, and Leslie Hall.
I love bands and musicians that are unique and put their own spin or twist on music. Bands that when you first hear them, you’re like, “Holy Moses, what is this beautiful creation, and how can I hug the creator?!”
Midge: I have a lot of different favorite bands including Kimbra, They Might Be Giants, Fun., and Devo.
Of the songs you've made, do you have a favorite?
Vivian: I’d have to say Rocks and Penalties. It’s about puking unicorns, poisonous rainbows, and a Smiths reunion. What’s not to love?!
Midge: I personally like Articles of Confederation and Rocks and Penalties.
If you could play any other instrument, what would you play and why?
Vivian: The banjo for sure. It’s such a fun-looking instrument. I feel like it would definitely up my attractiveness to boys tenfold.
Midge: Keytar, Harmonica, and the kazoo.
What's your favorite method of killing alien lizards with purple spots?
Vivian: Sick a Dalek on ‘em!
EXTERMINATE!
Midge: Choke em until they hack up the magenta ham.
You've played at a lot of local shows, how's that experience been? Do you have any awesome or weird stories?
Vivian: Local shows are always a blast. It’s been really cool for us getting to know a lot of the local bands, and it’s amazing how open they are to letting two little girls come in and be a part of the scene.
There was one time when we were playing a show in Canton at Buzzbin, which is still pretty local—it falls into the NE Ohio region—and we were playing with this out-of-town folk punk band called Everymen from Florida. All the guys had crazy tattoos and were wearing really cool/crazy outfits. Lots of black, lots of white. They were very obvious punk rockers. I could tell that when we introduced ourselves before the show, they were a little skeptical of what we were doing, and of the quality of our music.
However, as we started playing, the guys started cracking up! Which is good, because we’re an intentionally funny band. They could barely contain themselves. I could tell that they especially liked our song “The Articles of Confederation.”
After the show, one of the guys from Everymen came up to me, said, “You are seriously the most punk rock person I know,” he told me how much he loved “The Articles of Confederation” and proceeded to show me his tattoos, which all pertained to historical events.
Midge: Well, we have played many venues from bars to comic cons and book stores but one of my favorites was we were going to play at this bookstore and we thought this bookstore was the one so we get up there and we play and right after we realized we've just played the wrong venue... Fun times...
So you both always have awesome outfits, how'd you form your great and unique sense of style? What was the best outfit you ever had?
Vivian: Well first of all, we use the art of thrifting to get us the base pieces we need for our outfits. I don’t know exactly how we craft our outfits, but it kind of… happens. Haha.
I don’t believe I have a favorite outfit, but my favorite article of clothing is FOR SURE this pair of legwarmers that I cut from a sweater. They’re giant and are big blocky stripes of different colors. They’re simply adorkable.
Midge: Really all I do is think of the craziest patterns I could possibly think of and usually they come out all right
Do either of you do any other forms of art?
Vivian: I love to draw, and I’ve dabbled in story writing since I was eight. In middle school, I was even on a competitive writing team for my school. I currently am working on a collage for an anti-bullying project for school… so I’ll keep you updated on how that turns out.
Midge: Yes, I do I make comics and draw and write poems I have been in the Kent State wick poetry club for 3 years now
What advice would you give any amblers starting to make their own music?
Vivian: JUST DO IT. Don’t care about what other people are going to think of your ideas, or what other people will think of your music. Just write songs. No one has to hear them, no matter how much they beg and plead. And I won’t even pretend to stand here and tell you that it’s so easy writing songs, and I never care about what people think, because I do! And I think that’s a huge obstacle to overcome.
I would also say, don’t care about how it sounds. Can’t sing? Doesn’t matter. Can’t play an instrument? Find someone who can. Learn. Or don’t.
And listen to bands that you want to sound like. Immerse yourself in the kind of music you want to write. And you will write some songs that will be complete rip-offs of your favorite band, and that’s so totally okay. It’s all part of the process.
As long as you’re passionate about what you’re doing, you’re gonna be a-okay.
And lastly, BE COURAGEOUS. KNOW THAT YOU CAN WRITE SONGS AND YOU CAN MAKE MUSIC, AND THAT WHAT YOU DO IS PERFECT AND BEAUTIFUL AND GREAT BECAUSE YOU CREATED IT AND NO ONE ELSE DID! And the same goes for any art form. You created it, and therefore it is how you intended, and NO ONE can tell you any differently. You are beautiful and you are perfect and you can do it.
Anything else you'd like to say before you go?
Vivian: Well, I hope I haven’t rambled anyone into a state of mind-numbed boredom. If you want to learn more about ShiSho, you can totally click here and learn all about us: http://www.sonicbids.com/2/EPK/?epk_id=370444
Thanks so much for reading, and thanks so much for having me on your blog!
Midge: I like cheese :D
Me gusta tortuga con queso.
I hope you all made it through that, cuz it was totally worth it! :) Thanks for reading, bye bye!
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