Photo Credit: Niko The Ikon

Alex Kazemi: How are you? What’s the tour been like with GaGa?

Justin Tranter: I’m good, fucking amazing. We are having the time of our lives.  GaGa is a good friend of ours and it’s just been a dream come true being back on tour with her. It’s nuts that she opened up for us just a few years ago.

Kazemi:  I am happy the tour is going well. What was the journey like  making the transition from performing in small rock bars to performing in major venues across the world and settling on a huge record label like Interscope? Was it a “filthy” hustle to get where you are today?

Justin:  It was extremely glamorous in my own way. I love the fact that I was so broke that I had to collect cans and cash them at the grocery store to eat dinner, I also love the fact that I had to walk over bridges because I couldn’t afford the subway. I think all that stuff is fabulous.

Kazemi: You made it glamorous Justin.

Justin:  Haha! Exactly, anything can be glamorous as long as you make the decision. It’s great though, we love playing the dirty little bars that fit  fifty people. A lot of people would see that as pointless and a lot of work for no money, but  I guess driving six hours to play at a bar with fifty people seems kinda insane, but when it’s all you wanna do… It’s a lot of fucking fun!

Kazemi: Yeah, it is also more intimate then playing a huge venue. Well, I  am sure past experiences connected with  the trash glamorous life style you lived with inspired lyrics like “Sticky with champagne it’s OK it’s her birthday” and “I can’t pay my rent but I’m fucking gorgeous.”

Justin: Yeah, everything in the songs come from real life experiences, basically. For example “I can’t pay my rent but I’m fucking gorgeous” , was because I literally couldn’t pay my rent and I even got evicted. You can watch my eviction on YouTube. It’s pretty awesome. In my brain I thought I looked like a million bucks even when I had no money, so it all comes down to real life. With “Sticky With Champagne,” it’s  about the many times  in my life that I’ve had champagne poured on me  and that’s where that chorus comes from  A lot of my song’s are inspired by amazingly  beautiful  self destructive things and my looks.

Kazemi: “Sticky With Champagne” rules when seen live. I remember back when I saw you in December on “The Monster Ball” tour.You were holding a bottle of champagne with your face on it and poured it on the crowd and you changed on stage. Will we ever be able to purchase Justin champagne bottles? Will every Semi Precious Weapons show be that eventful?

Justin:   You will be able to buy Justin Tranter champagne bottles. I don’t know when, but it will happen! Every Semi Precious Weapons show is eventful, not always the same things happens.  The champagne bottle and changing my outfit will always be apart of the show. We feel like rock fans have really forgotten  that its OK to be really serious musicians and put on a crazy show Everyone just wants to stare at their feet and say “Look at how smart they are.” We aren’t really interested in that.

Kazemi: How the hell did you think of such crazy stage antics?

Justin:  Talking to friends and brainstorming ideas.  Our friend, Jimmy Knehans, tours with us  and makes most of my clothes. He and I brainstorm  a lot of ideas. It’s kinda my favorite thing to do. I just sit in a bar with my friends and think of ridiculous things we could do on stage that people have to watch. Haha!

Kazemi: Crafty!  So I understand your debut record “You Love You” was recently released. While recording that record who would you cite as influences on the sound/writing direction.

Justin: Patty Larkin, Sharon Stone, Jillian Welsh, Marilyn Monroe, May West, Gwen Stefani. Haha!  Usually endless amounts  of amazing woman! Oh yeah! Courtney Love  I love Hole!  “Live Through This” is one of my favorite albums of all time.

Kazemi: “Live Through This” is one of my favorite records as well.  Any male influences?

Justin:   Yes, “Miss World” is an amazing  song. David Bowie, but I don’t think he has been that big of an influence. I think he’s a genius obviously, but I’ve only listened to women for the most part.

Kazemi: Do you have a favorite track on the debut record?

Justin:  It always changes. It depends on the reactions at shows. “Statues Of Ourselves” is my favorite song on the album.

Kazemi: What inspired that track?

Justin:   It’s about a very specific party that Lady Starlight was throwing on Thursdays that only about ten people would ever go to. It was just me and my best friends and Lady Starlight DJ’ing. It was the most amazing thing ever! The song is important to the listener as well because I want people to get that “you and your friends are probably the coolest people your ever gonna meet.” The kids who are coming to see GaGa are some really fuckin cool kids and I wanna dedicate it to those people .  People should think its OK to be cool and you should think you’re cool enough to build statues of yourself.  Basically its OK to think you’re awesome.

Kazemi:  Rock N Roll self esteem boost! . Why don’t you tell me a bit about how the NYC party scene has inspired your band’s image/music?

Justin:  Hahah!  Most of the New York City party scene is pretty boring. New York  for the most part is just a bunch of girls pretending to be “Sarah Jessica Parker,” which isn’t very inspiring ! But the thing with New York is those girls trying to be “Sarah Jessica Parker” have no shame in it. Like in LA everyone pretends that their not working but in New York everyone is very open about how they are only making friends with people who can fuckin vamp up their career. Its a very exciting scene. It’s the only place I’d ever wanna live but I think the glory days of CBGB and Andy Warhol are sadly at the moment dead. I think with Lady GaGa inspiring a whole new generation of kids and SPW inspiring a whole new generation of “Rock N Roll” fans, every party Lady Starlight throws is getting bigger and bigger. So I think New York is slowly but surely getting back to the era of the 70s/Early 80s that I romanticize.

Kazemi: I guess the media’s perception about the New York party scene is pretty accurate. Didn’t Lady Starlight and GaGa open up for SPW back in 2007? How did you guys meet and what were those shows like?

Justin:  They were a fuckin blast ! We would sometimes throw a party called “Glamor” and sometimes they were just Semi Precious Weapons shows and we needed an opener and while we were selecting the slot there were a lot of bands that were boring and took themselves so seriously but then their was this girl “Lady GaGa” who was a big fan of our band. Someone told us she was a really great performer so we checked out her MySpace page and they were right. She was fuckin awesome!  So we had her open for us and it was fantastic. In New York at the time we had developed an awesome following. There was about 500-1000 kids who would come to every show/party that we were throwing and it was this amazing little world of filthy glamor. It was something that the New York Press and media wouldn’t wanna talk about. The shows  were  just in rock clubs, and there was no budget,  just a sound system and a stage and then everything else we just created with our existence.

Kazemi:. I bet those 500-1000 kids are still with you guys today! I  saw on your Twitpic of some fans holding up a sign that said “Monster Weapons.” How far along on the tour did you start to see that??

Justin:  It started happening when we got to Australia/New Zealand. I saw kids Facebook and Tweet it! For some reason we really blew up really quickly over there. We played 2 shows with GaGa and there was kids in the audience holding signs that said “Monster Weapons.” I took a picture, and put it on twitter.  I guess now all the kids have caught onto it. So now at upcoming shows we definitely see a few kids holding signs that say “Monster Weapons.”

Kazemi: Was New Zealand your favorite city you toured too?

Justin:  New Zealand is amazing. They love Rock N Roll so I love them! Haha! It’s really hard to say. We have been waiting so long and been waiting so hard to get to this moment where we are living our life on the road and playing shows for thousands of people every night.

Kazemi:  Besides music/touring, you design a jewelry line called “Fetty.” While designing the collection did you ever think the pieces would be sold at “Barneys NYC.”

Justin:  Fetty Jewelry started at our very first SPW show and we just made some pieces to make some money because we were all broke!  I have worked at jewelry stores in NYC and I  just got fired at the time… We didn’t have t-shirts, we didn’t have albums to sell and it was our first show! I made these “Gun-Heart” necklaces for all of my friends who came to the show and they freaked out over them! Then I started getting them in boutiques around New York and then I harassed the people at Urban Outfitters until they “expressed interest.” I didn’t really know what I was doing.  You know I have a degree in music so Urban ended up liking them and told me “Oh! This is great! So we would love two thousand necklaces in three weeks” because they were convinced I was a massive jewelry company that could just produce these necklaces, but realistically it was just me and my band members and my friends in my loft in Brooklyn.

Kazemi: Wait, so you had to make three thousand pieces in three weeks?

Justin:  Luckily I did, so then I had a jewelry line! I started getting the kind of people who could make the pieces in 14 karat gold and diamond. I sold that to Barneys. Basically, it was this amazing accident that took an amazing amount of work. I assembled three thousand pieces with my own two hands! It was a lot of hard work but it was worth it because the band was able to fly to LA, London, and Paris to perform, and make our first indie record. It was an amazing way to start out as an indie band.

Kazemi:  It seems like the jewelry was the savior of the music.

Justin: Literally! If it wasn’t for the money from the jewelry, the band wouldn’t have been able to move on.

Kazemi: Doesn’t Kate Moss wear Fetty?

Justin:  Yeah, but so does Taylor Momsen and I think she’s  fabulous. Taylor always wears the big “XL” gun. The best part about her wearing Fetty is that she doesn’t even wanna wear the fancy stuff at Barneys. She wears the 20 dollar “big gun” we sell at shows. It’s so awesome!

Kazemi:   That is awesome! She is super young. Speaking of young, what was your college experience like at Berklee School Of Music?

Justin: It was amazing!  I can’t complain. It was like any other college.  Some parts are really awful and some parts are really great. Some teachers suck and some teachers were life changing, but the fact that I could study songwriting and get a degree from it…I really can’t ask for much more! Hahha!

Kazemi:   I assume that’s where you met your bandmates of today?

Justin:   Yeah, that’s where we all met. All of us studied different things. We all met in the first week of school.

Kazemi: Did you have any idea you guys were gonna work with each other and form the glam rock band, Semi Precious Weapons?

Justin:  We had no fucking clue. We did not start the band until five years after we met. We were just friends for a very long time. I thought I was gonna be a very serious somber singer/songwriter and Stevy & Cole thought they were gonna do jazz compositions. Dan thought he was gonna be a classical composer.  At some point we just got so bored of being so “intellectual” and started writing the music that inspired us as kids in the 90s:  Hole, Nirvana, Guns and Roses, Metallica and AC/DC. That’s how we became “Semi Precious Weapons”.

Kazemi:  So rock music on top 40 today isn’t really rock like the people you just listed. It’s more of a bubble gum juiced down rock.  Is Semi Precious Weapons going to change that?

Justin: We wanna be the biggest band in the world. I have intentions to go mainstream because I would love if “Real” Rock N Roll was on top 40 radio again because it use to be.  You would always hear rock on the top 40 stations, but now  you can’t even hear the guitar in the “rock music” that is played on the radio today.You can’t call that “rock n roll” when you can’t even hear the guitar. We are going to make “Rock N Roll” the new “Pop”.

Don’t forget to pick up the new Semi Precious Weapons album, “You Love You,” today!

LINK LOVE:   ALEX KAZEMI

]]> http://fashionindie.com/interview-justin-tratner-of-semi-precious-weapons-preciousweapons/feed/ 0 http://fashionindie.com/interview-jimmy-knehans-model-harvard-grad-men-in-skirt-enthusiast/ http://fashionindie.com/interview-jimmy-knehans-model-harvard-grad-men-in-skirt-enthusiast/#comments Fri, 24 Jul 2009 13:57:58 +0000 Saynt http://fashionindie.com/?p=54068

He might look like a clean cut Harvard graduate, but Jimmy Knehans is one of Nous Model Management’s fiercest and buff-est male models. His pretty face and pulsating pectorals have graced the pages of fashion mags as one of Nous most lovely of lovelies. Here he shares a little bit on his personal style and why the boys don’t always have to be boys.

FI: Marc Jacobs and Thom Browne have been making headlines with their take on men’s skirts. Are you a fan and is it a look you think you could pull off?

JK: Marc and Thom are two designers I respect a great deal.. Generally, I am a huge fan of both of them, but to speak specifically about men’s skirts, I love them. It is a look I’ve been pulling off daily for the past few months and one I will continue to rock until they sell men’s skirts at GAP…then I’ll have to re-assess the situation…

FI: The lines between men’s and women’s fashion has hit a crossroads in which more women are picking up more suiting and boyfriend jeans while more men are going glam with make-up and feminine stylings (leggings, deep v-necks, heels). As a fairly masculine model, is there anything you couldn’t ever seeing yourself wearing?

JK: I suggest we come up with a new term to describe what is happening today, “glam” was its own thing and what is happening now is something completely different. The traditionally “feminine stylings” you mentioned (leggings, deep v-necks, heels) can and are worn in a very masculine way, but it depends on who puts it on. As a “fairly masculine model,” I would like to say that there is nothing I wouldn’t wear due to the fact that “those could be girls clothes.” I choose clothes that make me feel good, as should everyone. Having said all that, there are no limits to what I may or may not feel good in at any time. I don’t see myself throwing on a pair of 5 inch pumps but i could surprise myself…

FI: Give me 3 Words to Describe “Justin Tranter”

JK: First I would like to say that limiting me to three words to describe such a wonder as Justin Tranter is evil and I couldn’t be more into it so here it goes…LOVE, DANGER, INSPIRING, AUTHENTIC, ALARM CLOCK…ok 6…

Now for your viewing pleasure. Some more picks of Jimmy Knehans.