Q&A
By WHITNEY KESSLER
(This was so much fun to read on my end that I figured people might want to see the full length rendition as well. I would say, though, that this one is slightly unedited and more rough around the edges also. Again this is the Q&A published in The Red & Black concerning the Campbell sisters who are local musicians and singer/songwriters in Athens.)
1. How long have you been playing music together? What was the first project?
Page: Claire and I always wrote and sang little ditties together growing up. In our family, playing instruments and singing together has always been the favorite vocation.
Claire: Our first project was a jingle for Jiffy Cornbread. I think we composed it when I was around age 10 or 11. There may be a recording of this in existence, but I’ve not heard it. We were forced to perform this jingle at family functions and for guests at our parent’s music parties. We two youngin’s would be nearly fast asleep in the attic, having meditated through the loud renditions of Byrds and The Band songs emanating from below, when Mom or Dad would wake us up to come downstairs and sing Jiffy Cornbread in our pajamas. We never made a dime.
2. Where did the encouragement to be musical come from? Who have you been influenced by?
Page: Our parents and grandparents encouraged us all our lives, as did our friends and lovers. I think they all saw and understood that Claire and I are real sensitive and both of us are compelled to be self-expressive in a way which satisfies that need. While we love music for every reason obvious and otherwise, it is also a tool for us — the most comprehensive way that we were taught to communicate.
As for influences, needless to say (for those who’ve listened), the main influence is heartache. Musical influences for me have changed over the years. I know the music that really gets to me, and while I hear these songs influencing my dinky little songs, I’m not so sure other people hear them. Claire and I had the recent experience of collaborating with a group of South Indian musicians who were on tour through the states. It has inspired so much in me. I can hardly believe it.
Claire: I ain’t sure that we were ever really “encouraged” to be musicians, per say. We were “encouraged” to participate in chorus, orchestra, band, drama, track & field, etc. by our school teachers. And our parents went along with this and provided the necessary funding for outfits, viola rental, Umbro shorts, etc. I don’t think they were ever disappointed when we grew apathetic and failed to master any of these crafts. We’ve been surrounded by guitar players since birth, but I had no interest in picking one up until I was 16. My Dad played (infamously for The Georgia Prophets), my Grandpop played (infamously for The Beverly Sisters), my cousin Glen played (infamously in the den). Everybody plays guitar. But, anyhow, for a long time I did not care for it. My Grandpop, Eddie Campbell, passed on just a few months before I started to play. Maybe it was his spirit that inspired my interest.
3. What was growing up like for the two of you? How would you describe your history as people thus far?
Page: Growing up was nothin’ to complain about. I loved being young. I miss being in school. I still try to approach people and situations with whatever youthful interest and innocence that I’ve still got. I’m gonna fight being jaded as long as it makes sense!
Claire:
a) I would say both Page and I are fiercely objective. This makes us empathetic to an extreme, which can easily make us push-overs. We are great listeners and comforters. Just last week I was sick and Page immediately came to my house with lemon-ginger-Echinacea tea, homemade bread and made a giant pot of garlic/chili broth.
b) In our southern family, parents know best, end of discussion. We were not offered much opportunity to state our cases when we were growing up, and so, as adults, we’ve had a very difficult time vocalizing our opposition. We are both determined to become better fighters/debaters in our public and private lives. We are tired of the [B.S.]. I am currently on a quest to ask for and receive exactly what I want in the sack. So far everybody is winning.
c) We keep honor, truth, family and friendship close to the heart. We believe in justice and revenge and forgiveness, and we don’t think those concepts are mutually exclusive. We like to participate in vigilante activities such as shooting guns and riding motorcycles.
d) We are both Aquarians and everything you’ve heard is true. We cannot be relied upon to stay-in-touch or read-a-map or be-on-time.
4. How is the music affected by your relationship?
Page: Claire is my number one, my partner and my main man. We are constantly drifting in and out of codependency, but I’ve never seen anything wrong with that. I always think of her when I write some lyrics. When I play a song alone, I always hear her pretty harmonies or try to compose one of her lilting, rainy day saw solos in my mind. I can’t even imagine how to tell you how our relationship has influenced the music. There would be no music without it, I’m sure. We tight as hell.
5. How many different music projects have you been in together? Individually?
Page: I have been involved in lots of projects lately! I’ve been recording some vocals with Madeline, Ginger Envelope, One Man Machine, and The Great Lakes. I’ve been performing in Agoldensummer, Sea of Dogs, Creepy, Dark Meat, Stereo Campbell and doing some shaky solo shows. For awhile I played Glockenspiel in Dancer vs. Politician, which was awesome. Claire and I sing in Dark Meat together, and whenever we finally build her mobile percussion cage, she’ll be in Creepy.
Claire: Hope for Agoldensummer and Dark Meat are the two main projects Page and I’ve worked in together. I’ve done a lot of solo performing, but here is a list of all the bands I’ve been in that I can remember:
Stain (rehearsed 3 times in 1995; broke up because lead singer looked and sang just like Kurt Cobain) Git Krunk Band (rehearsed several times & played one show in 1995; broke up because we graduated from highschool) Claire & Santiago (actual working duo from 1996-1998; broke up by distance and mileage) Sweet Potato White Fly (rehearsed twice and played The Charleston Int’l Beer Fest in 1999; broke up because after taking full advantage of our complimentary beer tasting passes we sounded like ass) Pimp Hoochie Mama (recorded a rock opera and played 2 shows in 2000; broke up because lead singer spent all his inheritance money which was funding the project and then split town; also he replaced me with his sister who sounded like ass) Claire & Bain’s Maple Yum-Yum (an actual working band from 2000-2002; broke up because it was time) The Mars Project (rehearsed 5 times and played 2 shows in 2002; broke up because everyone except me was a total pothead and one night we had a gig and I was the only one who remembered to show up) Hope For Agoldensummer (a working band, my main jam = 2002 to current) Dark Meat & Vomit Lasers (a working band = 2005 to current) Rhino 5 (an interdependent collective that sometimes plays shows = 2003 to current)
6. What is your favorite way, place and/or time to play together?
Page: I will play anytime with Claire, even in the airport while we wait to board! And I have and will play at any level of sobriety.
Claire: My favorite time to play together is on the road. Just messin’ around between shows, we come up with great sounds. Daytime rehearsals are nice, too, when we are all wide awake and unsullied by a full day of mind-numbing.
7. Are there ever rifts between you about the music?
Page: I’m not kidding — we never fight! Isn’t it bizarre?
Claire: There are rarely rifts about the actual music, but sometimes about the logistics of touring, money, etc. We deal with everything very objectively, as friends and companions.
8. What is Page’s greatest strength? What do you appreciate most about her?
Claire: Musically, she is a killer lyricist and super experimental. She has been creating great songs that get stuck in my head for days. She is also a perfect baker. The Five & Ten should hire her immediately. She is the best friend a person could hope for.
I appreciate the way she smells, especially the top of her head. It always smells the same and this is comforting. I love her more than all else. She is the best there is.
What is Claire’s? What do you appreciate most about her?
Page: Claire’s greatest strength is her insane amount of energy, ambition and resilience. She is like a weird mad scientist who is also extremely friendly, pretty and talented. She makes the best vegan soaps and chocolates, and then turns around and fixes your bike, gives you a plate of venison pie, books you a killer tour, and then climbs to the top of your tree in the front yard and sings you a song she just wrote about getting lost in a corn maze or some shit. She rules all the time.
9. Why Athens as a city/venue?
Page: Why Athens? To quote an old friend, being in Athens is like “wanting a ham sandwich and finding one dangling from your eyelid.” It’s so user-friendly!
Claire: Athens is a hotbed of collaboration. For this reason, we live here and have peers that can play any note on any instrument.
10. To what extent do you see music in the future as a pair and as individuals?
Page: Claire and I will always make music together. I know that. As for me, I want to be really, really good at the guitar. I want to sing with Andre 3000. My path into the future will be aimed in these and other directions.
Claire: We will always play music. I expect we will continue to release albums as Hfags, but also individually, and even still I know my solo work will have Page’s voice and influence all over it. I will be producing and engineering a song on Creepy’s upcoming album. And I will be Page’s producer and manager as she climbs the ladder to R & B superstardom.
11. What are your other major duo interests, such as the homemade soaps or whatever else you love to do/make/see?
Page: Traveling together (anywhere, but especially South America), partner trapeze moves, making videos and delicious treats.
Claire: Other than playing music, here are the things we like to do together: cook, bake, ride bikes, go to Grandma’s, watch Lost, go to the movies, have outings like going to a corn maze or strawberry picking, shoot guns, plan and execute parties, make videos, go dancing and invent sweet new moves, drive around, watch/listen to our friends bands, talk about sex/men/politics/the impending revolution/medicine.
12. What are your other major goals, together or as singles?
Page: Goals are always fuzzy to me. I am focused on being really happy — figuring out how to do that. I want to know all kinds of people in the truest ways. I want to be in love. Everybody wants that stuff, but how do we get there? I also hope that I get up the nerve to record a solo record and go to grad school. I want to live outside of the U.S. someday. And, I hope Claire becomes the best midwife ever. She’s half-way there!
Claire: My goal for us together is to continue touring and recording — to become better engineers and producer and instrumentalists. Individually, I am working on my doula certification, an aerial fabrics performance piece, a puffier ass, tapering off antidepressants, a better haircut, a vocal range with more octaves, a satisfying sex-life, aligning my menstrual cycle with the moon, learning to ride a motorcycle, eating healthier.
