Pretty Girls Make Graves.
Andrea Zollo So What! Oslo, Tuesday August 6th 2002
by Babes in Boyland/OvaryAction



We are sitting in the back patio at So What!, sipping a beer in the warm August evening. We are all very excited to see Pretty Girlz Make Graves since we look upon them as being one of the very best bands we were introduced to this year (along with the yeah Yeah Yeahs, Erase errata and Submission Hold... OK, we were a bit late on this last one. Something like a decade). Somehow we missed them in Seattle although, as we were about to find out, we had shared the same practice place (worst luck ever). So that day was the day to catch up with our not so bad fortune after all. Andrea (vocals) shows up and sits with us to do the interview. No need to run after her, beg or even ask twice, three or a million times. She said she would meet us after sound check and there she is, smiling and ready for a grrrlz talk. We told her about the Ovary Action fanzine, the babes in Boyland radio show, and our general interest for women and music. She talks in this low, husky voice of hers, apologizing for not being able to push it too much (she is not supposed to even talk between shows since she's having serious problems with her vocal cords), so a big thanks to Andrea for doing this interview in spite of her state! We hope you'll enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed doing it.

BiB/Oa: Can you please introduce yourself and the band?
Andrea: Well, my name is Andrea Zollo, and I sing in Pretty Girls Make Graves, we are from Seattle, WA.


BiB/Oa: So you're on tour in Europe?
Andrea: This is our fist day in Norway, we've been in Germany the past 3 days and this is my first time to Norway, so I am really excited.


BiB/Oa: Is it your first time in Europe?
Andrea: No, I've been to Italy and Amsterdam that's it, previous from being here, so everything else is new.

BiB/Oa: How did you set up the tour with JR Ewin?
Andrea: through a friend of a friend. A friend of ours, TV Ockey does a record label called Democ records and a friend of his here, no, in the Netherlands, does Coalition Records and they decided, well they asked if we wanted to come over. They said "we'll set you up a tour in Europe," and we're like "ok, of course. We would love to come" (she laughs, as if the news broke, sweet again to her ears). So that's how we set up the whole thing, through Coalition; Marcel and Uron are the names of the two people who do Coalition. I've only met Uron since we've been here, Marcel I met once in NY, so I don't know them very well at all, but the tour is going great, they did a good job.


BiB/Oa: So, is it the first time you play in a band with only guys? I mean since Washington-Oregon bands have so many all-females bands. I am thinking of Bikini Kill, 7 year Bitch, the Sleater-Kinney-Heavens-to-Betsy-Excuse-17 crew, Free Verse....
Andrea: No, in all the bands I've ever been in, I have always been the only girl... I have always wanted to play music with other women and for whatever weird reason, it's never happened. Like my friend Brook and I tried to start a band for years and years, but we never succeeded. We always had the same problem: noboday really matched with us. I would play the drums and she would play guitar, but it never worked out. So it's really too bad, because I've always wanted to play with women. I would love to play with women, you know, in another band too, I would absolutely love to do that. I would like to play with other bands that have women involved in them as well, as often as possible. But since we didn't set up this tour ourselves, I don't know a lot about other bands we could play with in other countries, and things like that. So far, there hasn't been another woman in any other bands we've played with. I mean, this is only our fourth show, but I am getting kind of nervous about that. I'm like 'so, what is it like over here in Europe, is there a lot of women involved in music over there', you know?


Bib/Oa: there are a lot of them but often limited to small circuits.
Andrea: yeah, I thought so, but see, I need to find these circuits. So that when we come back, we can hook up. Please, help me out! Girls, get in touch with me!

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