Words by Inge Colsen
Portrait by Megan Holmes
Someone once said to me, after seeing The Gossip for the first time: “If Beth was an American Idol contestant, she would win the whole thing, hands down!” I completely agreed and was elated to hear others talk so highly of her. The Gossip’s signature is definitely sealed by Beth Ditto’s amazing soulful voice and character. The first time I ever saw them they were opening up for Sleater-Kinney and The White Stripes. What a night! Beth took off her shirt and danced relentlessly the entire time they were on stage. was intrigued, charmed and hooked. I desperately wanted to learn more about this band, and also turn others on to this experimental train of punk, soul and dance.
Inge: The Gossip is currently touring the UK with The Scissor Sisters. What’s it like to play with one of the biggest bands around at the moment? Beth: It’s good, but you’re playing for people that want to hear the radio hits. They’re like, ‘Oh yeah, I can’t wait till the radio hit comes on’. It’s completely different to what we normally do; this is more about mainstream music.
I’m very happy I can interview you. A couple of months ago, when I saw you in New York, told you that you were an inspiration to me.
Awww, that’s so sweet!
And you responded by saying ‘inspiration station’ – which I loved! To me, inspiration is such a hard and intangible thing to understand. When did you first use the expression ‘inspiration station’?
It’s one of those things where every time I hear a word that ends with ‘-ation’, I add ‘station’. Like ‘frustration station’ or something. When you said to me that I was an inspiration, I felt so shy which is why I said something goofy like ‘inspiration station’!
Which other ‘stations’ have you used?
Creation station, frustration, administration, so many! Appropriation station... Madonna is ‘appropriation station’!
Why do you think that?
Well, she buys into people’s culture really hardcore.
And now that she’s adopted a kid and you guys are in England right now , is that the topic of the day?
No, it’s not a big deal here unlike in the US. If we’d have come here two weeks earlier, it would have been all the rage.
Here, the news is about Britney and Kevin, and Ryan and Reese; that’s the talk of the day.
Oh yeah! K Fed! That’s what they consider the rage there.
I know you’re a huge fan of Missy Elliott, and that you even have her face on The Gossip t-shirts. What’s so good about her?
In 1997, Supa Dupa Fly came out, and before that she’d done some stuff with Timberland and Magoo. Nothing had ever sounded like that before. This was the beginning of an era: she reinvented hip hop. In the early 90s there was Dr Dre, then the whole mid-90s gangsta rap with Biggie and Tupac, followed by the male/female rap duo thing. Then Missy Elliot came along and just had such a creative impact; musically, choreographically... there was just so much going on. It was so cutting-edge – and funny. There were all these slick rappers around, like Grandmaster Flash and then she comes in wearing a trash bag! And you’re like whaaat? She’s a big person, she’s a big lady, she’s kind of dorky and she just loves making records. That really made an impression on me. There wasn’t any other video, sound or lyrics like that around. And she used samples prominently – including with lyrics – instead of hidden music samples.
I was like, ‘Oh my god, what is this?’.
Do you think you’ll ever cover a song of hers?
No, because she’s a rapper! Though there’s one song I love where she sings. She’s actually sings really well. If I ever had to cover a song of hers it would be Friendly Skies.
You guys covered Are You That Somebody? from Aaliyah. I first heard it live and was happily surprised to see it was on you new EP as well. It’s actually in the top 3 of your iTunes store list: a lot of different people could discover The Gossip’s music through that song.
The Gossip’s version is in the top 3?
Well, in your band section – not the overall iTunes store.
Oh yeah, that would be crazy!
Yeah, that’d be crazation station.
Aaliyah’s song is so universal. If you like pop or hip hop, you’ll love it. If you like R&B, you’ll love it. And there’s a weird, avant-garde edge to the song. The ‘baby boy’ voice had been done before, so she can’t take full credit for that. But, regardless, it does appeal to a lot of different people.
There’s many different ways to get inspired – by music and lyrics, by food, by seeing your friends... Where do you get your inspiration from?
For me, love is really inspiring. So is passion.
That must be a tough balance to maintain when you’re on tour so much and when you’ve been with your partner for so long. How do you keep the love and passion going when you’re on the road?
Let’s just say I have a calling card that I use very frequently! In fact, we talk pretty much every day, no matter what. And we email. Then when I’m at home we hang out; we really make time for each other. We make plans together and make it all worth the while. You know, we’ve been together for so long now and we love what we have. We understand each other and we both really want the other one to have a life of their own.
Yeah, that’s sound like a perfectly simple concept, but sometimes you can get tangled up.
Yeah, it’s not so easy at all. Sometimes it is what it is and you’ve just got to roll with the punches.
How long have you been together?
Five years!
You’ve been in The Gossip for seven years – that’s like having another relationship. Do you both live in Portland?
We both live in Portland, but we don’t live together – that’s the key to having a long, healthy relationship.
Have you ever tried living together?
Yeah, we’ve tried, and sometimes when one of us goes ‘let’s live together!’, the other one goes: ‘That’s probably not such a good idea... why would we do that right now?’ You know, first
I want to move out on my own: that’s my goal. I live with roommates now. They take care of my plants and I leave my checkbook there in case I need to pay bills.
You inspire a lot of people yourself. How do you feel about that?
Yeah, a lot of people come up and thank us for the music, saying stuff like, ‘I never thought about this until you said this’. Or how I sung about a topic that made them think about something in a different way. I sometimes get, ‘I’m so glad you exist!’ Or ‘me and my friends started a band because of you guys’. Things like that. And then my little sister told me she wanted to be in a band and that’s what she wanted to do for a living. And that makes me feel like I have my place in the world. Even if it was just for her, I would already feel good about what I’m doing. It’s very fulfilling and satisfying. She’s only 14 but she’s already in a band. I don’t know the name of it. I always forget it ‘cos it’s really long.
You guys love to dance and make other people dance. There’s never enough dancing, right?
A lot of people just expect you to do it and then it gets to a point where you’re like, ‘Gee! I hope people like this and can dance to it!’.
You guys did a joint EP with Tracy & The Plastics, right?
Yeah, that was four years ago. I can’t even remember the songs on it, haha! People come up and ask us to play songs from it and we can’t.
Are you still in touch with Tracy?
Yeah, sometimes her and I send each other random little text messages because we have such strong feelings for the other person. We know each other so well. We work in the same industry, we have friends in common and the same work ethics, ideas and goals. We use the same medium and people, and sometimes run into the same problems. So we contact each other and are like, ‘I feel like I’m going crazy about this or that’. And we understand each other and feel supported that way. We don’t see each other that often because she lives in Seattle and we live in Portland. I haven’t seen her for a while, in fact. But I really love her and have a lot of respect for her. She’s one of the biggest geniuses ever.
And how did the collaboration come about?
We just played together and it ended up being really amazing. We came together in the same way and at the same time. When our bands had just started out – in Olympia, Washington – we pretty much lived across the street from each other.
Whenever I see you, you’re always so nicely dressed. Where do you get your style from?
I assemble. I have a couple of items that are cute and chic and try to be very creative with them. I wear a lot of skirts which I pull up and make them into dresses, with a cute belt. I also turn a lot of big t-shirts into dresses and skirts. I do a lot of altering.
So, you basically don’t look to anyone else for fashion?
I get most ideas from myself – and then from people who inspire me in fashion like Divine or Mama Cash. I’m also inspired by, and get ideas from, lots of drag queens. But usually I have to do it all by myself. I just had a friend, Sarah Adams, who’s been helping me with my wardrobe. She actually knows how to sew so I tell her my ideas for clothes and she makes them for me. So, that’s really nice!
Any favorite foods, books, movies, music?
My favorite food right now is Ethiopian – and can’t get enough of it! You can eat it with your fingers and I love how it’s all moist. It’s an amazing ritual. And, a favorite book? I can never think of favorite books as I haven’t read in so long. Like I just read one on the last European tour, which was months ago. Oh! This book! Fat! So?: Because You Don’t Have To Apologize For Your Size by Marilyn Wann. I read it a while back. It’s filled with fun facts and people’s stories – both positive and negative – about being a fat person. It’s just a great queer feminist book; I always really recommend it to people. It isn’t exactly aesthetic – the layout is just okay – but the content is really worth it. Plus you can get it really cheaply too: it has the feel and format of a ‘zine. It’s just a good book to have around, because you’re mostly always around thin people, you know. It’s there to remind you that you are right and the others are wrong. Because sometimes there are things that make you feel like you’re going crazy and it’s there to tell you that you aren’t the one going crazy.
I’m curious what your plans are with The Gossip – and which other artists we should check out?
We’re not doing any touring until next spring. We’re pretty much done after this tour. And we’ll be recording again in March. The band I’m really into now is Mika Miko from Los Angeles. We toured with them – and Erase Errata – across America and we absolutely love them!
Good luck for tonight’s show with The Scissor Sisters.
Thanks! I’m excited! We get to play for 30 minutes in front of a crowd of between 4,000–8,000 people. It feels like we’re a bit of a novelty – but don’t mind. It’s fine with me!
Thanks for doing the interview!
Congratulations on your first interview!