Sketchfest NYC: Fempyre Interview

Posted by Maximum Fun on 8th June 2006

The Sound of Young America is proud to sponsor this year’s Sketchfest NYC. We’re featuring a few interviews this week with artists performing in the festival.


Fempyre are two of the hardest-(mock)-rocking chicks you’ll ever meet. Janet and Kit tear into female empowerment armed with nothing but a bass and an acoustic guitar, releasing a torrent of psued0-feminism designed to achieve maximum airplay on Alice-formatted radio stations across the country. I talked with Janet, who’s also a co-founder of SF Sketchfest and the co-host of a TV show, about Fempyre’s “steaming cup of femininity.”

Where did Fempyre come from? What was the genesis?

We’ve been working together for about a year and a half. We had written one song together shortly after we’d met through a mutual friend; it was written for CJ Arabia’s Sci Fi/Fantasy Pageant. Based on that show, we were invited to do a show in LA called “Hot Bitches of Comedy.” We started thinking about the sort of mixed signals put out by a show of that name, and while joking about the use of the term “bitch,” intended ironically by the guys who programmed the show, we came up with this idea to write a song parodying that type of Chick Rock that portends to empower women, but really ends up pushing the point so hard, it has the reverse effect. After writing our first song in that vein, we developed a taste for it and eventually ended up as Fempyre.

Are you a fan of the sort of act you’re parodying here or does the humor come purely from contempt?

Pretty contemptuous, I’m afraid. It’s not like we’re parodying Chrissie Hynde, or someone who legitimately and inarguably kicks ass – it’s more about those bratty songs you find on soundtracks like “Legally Blonde” that make you embarrassed to even discuss feminism. Whiny, misinformed, and almost anti-feminist, all the while trying desperately hard to seem tough and edgy. We always say at our shows that we’re dedicating our work to Meredith Brooks’s song “Bitch,” which is essentially unlistenable. Is that a word?

You’re the rare all-female group in a dude-dominated field, but your joke, in part, is at the expense of women in another dude-dominated field, rock. What’s up with that?

This goes back to who we’re taking the piss out of. Or “out of whom we’re taking the piss,” I guess, if we’re going to be stodgy about grammar. We have no issues whatsoever with fantastic, strong female musicians. Or fragile demure ones, for that matter – it’s a really specific archetype we wanted to parody, and then beyond that we started to develop the idea that our characters are just morally questionable people who are looking to get famous and just happened upon feminist rock as an option. The main problem being that they don’t accurately represent feminism.

You recently married (are still engaged to? I dunno) another guitar comic. Well, a melodica comic. Do you two listen to Weird Al around the house?

Thankfully, no. But that doesn’t mean we don’t both know all of the lyrics for the album “Dare to Be Stupid.” What can I say? My dad raised me right. And Hardwick and I have been known to indulge in a fair amount of Tom Lehrer. I think he’s just happy he found someone who’s seen “Tron” as many times as he has. If I ever had any, my coolness factor is in the toilet right now.

The two of you are obviously pals. How has being in a musical comedy duo affected your relationship?

It’s been fucking awesome. We work great together, and we’re pretty good about staying on task, despite the urges to just sit around and make each other laugh. Kit is ridiculously talented and extremely cool. I don’t think we’ve ever fought creatively – it’s totally synergistic. I’m gagging on all my enthusiasm, here, so I’m sure anyone still bothering to read this is wretching violently.

Download Fempyre’s “Me & My Vagina” (MP3)

Previously:
Sketchfest NYC: 10 West interview