Milk

édition juin 2016
pays magazine: USA
article sur Shirley Manson

 
We hung out with Shirley Manson, Garbage frontwoman and all-around iconic rock star.
Here, she wears an Ellery top and Helmut Lang jumpsuit.

Grunge Icon Shirley Manson Is Not Here For Your Selfies
( source article en ligne sur milk.xyz )
6.27.2016 - By Jocelyn Silver
Photos By Adrian Mesko

Garbage frontwoman Shirley Manson has been revered for over 20 years, becoming a flame-haired beacon of hope for the maladjusted, the weird, feminists before the movement became essentially mainstream. “Icon” is a gross word that is second in annoyance only to teenagers’ use of “mom” on social media, but Manson is one. Generations of fans have connected to her pleading, gut-wrenching lyrics; her frankness both about serious topics (feminism, body dysmorphia), and the hilarious (the time she took a shit on her boyfriend’s Corn Flakes); and of course, her style, which looks a bit like Deelite’s Lady Miss Kier, a 1930s movie star, and heroes of the Riot Grrl movement jumped in a blender.

Now 49 years old, the Scottish-born Manson, who recently swapped out her famous red hair (she’s directly descended from Vikings) for pink locks, has been on a promotion kick for Garbage’s latest album, Strange Little Birds. She’s managed to turn what’s typically a boring press cycle into a riveting treatise on sexism, ageism, and the essentials of being a badass, loudmouth woman in music. And the music itself is better than ever. Birds has oft been described as Garbage’s darkest, most romantic album yet. It’s being hailed as their best since 1998’s seminal Version 2.0—although my favorite is actually 2001’s Beautiful Garbage, but I have often been told that my opinion, which by definition can’t be wrong, is wrong.

 
(L) Stylist’s own singlet, Zana Bayne Harness, Dion Lee Skirt and Philip Lim boots
(R) Dion Lee dress.

Garbage has always been a versatile band—they’ve done electronic and sad and poppy and happy. They even do jazzy, like on their James Bond theme, “The World Is Not Enough,” which, according to an official straw poll taken in my mother’s car, is the best Bond song since Shirley Bassey’s “Goldfinger.” So Garbage switched things up with Birds, putting aside their typical infusion of electronics in favor of a guitar-heavy LP.

As Manson has been pointing out, Birds feels deliciously emo in comparison to most of today’s mainstream music, which is heavy on self-esteem. If you put together a mish-mash of lyrics from the record, you get something resembling a demented love letter from a torturous relationship. “I’m magnetized by you.” “I’m so empty/You’re all I’m thinking about.” “And even though our love is doomed/And even though we’re all messed up.” “Our sex, our power, our drive/We lose ourselves inside/So we can feel alive.” It’s so deeply satisfying.

I have a lot to say about Shirley Manson. But it seems like we should let her do the talking.

 
(L) Ellery top, Helmut Lang jumpsuit
(R) Stylist’s own singlet, Zana Bayne Harness, Dion Lee Skirt and Philip Lim boots.

My favorite story I’ve ever read was about when you shit in your boyfriend’s Corn Flakes. What happened ?
He was a fucking asshole. I should never have been with him in the first place. I can’t actually remember the sin being committed, but just knowing him as I do, I know that he had infuriated me to the point of words being pointless. Actions speak louder than words, let’s put it that way. And he was utterly gobsmacked, disgusted, and didn’t know what to do. It was such a glorious revenge. He deserved it—trust me.

You’ve always been so frank and honest about insecurities and body issues. But then you’ve also been a really successful model. Do you ever think about that dichotomy ?
I am aware of the contradiction of my personality. I used to feel like I had to explain it, and now I don’t at all. I think you can be a really strong, intelligent, fulfilled person and still have these moments when you’re second guessing yourself or struggling to feel good. And I wanted to be frank about it because I felt like, right now in our culture, there’s so little honesty about being in the public eye.

“I just feel so disengaged from
how people present themselves
now. I can’t connect with
that—all I see is phoniness.”

I realize how lucky and privileged I am—I’ve had an incredible career, I’ve really enjoyed a lot of attention, and I’ve had a lot of success. And now it’s my job—particularly as I’ve gotten older—to help instruct other young women who are struggling with their self-esteem. I feel [it’s] my privilege to highlight stuff a lot of people don’t talk about. I think some people find it off-putting; a lot of people have criticized me for saying that I was very unhappy when I was at my most successful.

I think that’s common though !
I think that’s really common too. I’m only here for such a short time, what is my purpose? To me, my purpose is now making things easier for people who are following behind me.

It’s very inspiring.
[Laughs] I don’t know if it is! It seems so old fashioned, sort of out of step with whatever is going on right now, but I just feel so disengaged from how people present themselves now. I can’t connect with that—all I see is phoniness.

Manson’s 1999 Calvin Klein campaign, where she was shot barefaced for the first time.

The SLB single, “Empty” also echoes a lot of things you’ve always said in interviews regarding self-doubt and self-consciousness. I feel like it really stands up against a lot of popular music these days that’s like, “I’m a superstar.”
Ugh. “I’ve got so much money. I’ve got a great ass.” I just don’t relate to any of that—I never have. And I feel like, less and less, do I find a voice like mine in our culture. I’m desperate to find someone else that thinks like me. I look at everyone in modern culture right now and think, God everyone is so full of themselves. But they don’t seem to have any of the self-doubt or worries or anxieties that I do. Like, what the fuck am I doing wrong? But, I know for a fact, just by the response that track has had, that there are millions of people out there who feel the same way.

And is it true that you used the first take from the recording of [the track] “Even Though Our Love Is Doomed ?”
That is true. And I didn’t have a hand in that song, not one iota of that belongs to me, which breaks my heart. I can’t take any credit for it whatsoever.

Butch [Vig, Garbage drummer and co-producer] told me he had this title “Even Though Our Love Is Doomed.” And for months and months and months, nothing arrived. And I kept saying to him, “What about that great idea you had?” And he was like, “Oh, it’s not good, it hasn’t gone anywhere.” and I just nagged him. [Eventually] he finished it and brought it into me and said, “Look I know you feel uncomfortable singing other people’s words, but just listen to it.” And I heard it once, and I was like, “I fucking love it, I’m going to go in and record it right now.” So I did and it was a joy. It’s so well-written that it could be a monkey singing it and it would sound great.

Throughout this press cycle, you’ve talked about how we haven’t been vigilant enough with feminism. Could you elaborate on that ?
Women were not vigilant. And as a result, the global eradication of women’s rights really is terrifying. I got an email from Amnesty International the other day about a woman in Argentina who was being prosecuted for having a miscarriage. Wasn’t it Donald Trump who said women should be punished if they have abortions? I think people are not reacting to that kind of rhetoric in the way that they need to. To punish a woman for a miscarriage, something that is entirely out of her control, because the male seed is more precious than a living, fully formed, conscious woman—it pisses me off. I feel like women’s rights globally are sliding back to almost Victorian times.

So when you see celebrities wearing waist trainers, and all these appendages that women fought to escape from, and you see how women are willingly getting back into those cages—these actions have really dangerous implications. When I look at my beautiful niece, who is six years old, I panic, and it makes me want to engage in the struggle to be treated equally around the world. I feel frenzied about it !

 
Shirley Manson, just like she did in the ’90s, is railing against misogyny. 

What about pop feminism ? It’s never been bigger.
Taylor Swift and Beyoncé and Rihanna, when I hear them talk about feminism, I think that’s fantastic. I think Beyoncé’s last record is an incredible piece of work. I feel so grateful to her for having the balls to be that honest. It was a really powerful move, and she can affect way more women than I ever could. Taylor Swift too, she’s an incredible role model to young women. And yet, she attracts a lot of venom, and I [don’t understand it]. She writes all her own music, she hasn’t displayed her naked anus on Instagram.

Beyond that, a lot of current feminism seems to be about supporting other women no matter what, when a lot of the time, women fuck up, too.
If you’re with a woman and she’s being an asshole, you should completely call her out in the same way that you would a man. Don’t bolster whatever somebody decides to do because she has a vagina. It’s tedious, and it’s weak.

There was the recent horrifying attack in Orlando. Have you been playing “Queer” on tour ?
We’ve actually been playing “Sex is Not The Enemy,” as we thought it was more appropriate. We were horrified by the Orlando attacks, and at the same time I’m immensely grateful that throughout [Garbage’s] career, we’ve been extremely supportive of the LGBT community. In any situation where we see inequality, we want to speak up. There are so many people these days that want to piss on people’s joy, and I don’t understand it.

“We’re not better than animals,
and it seems to me that we’re
regressing even further,
and we’re just becoming really
unpleasant to live with.
It really is quite depressing.”

I’m not saying you have to accept it, I’m not saying you have to love it. Just tolerate it. It drives me crazy. What difference does it make to you if somebody wants to kiss a bloody monkey? Let people be, as long as they’re not harming any living thing. There’s so much anonymous criticism that goes on nowadays, people thinking they can say anything they want without any consequence. And when there are no consequences, people behave badly. Human beings are not good beasts. You’ll find a much sweeter version of beasts in the wild. We’re not better than animals, and it seems to me that we’re regressing even further, and we’re just becoming really unpleasant to live with. It really is quite depressing.

I’ve always wanted to talk to you about sex.
I [wasn’t] really aware of my attitude towards sex until I was older. My mum always used to say, “Nice girls don’t talk about sex.” And I remember thinking, “What? Why not?” I was in a peer group where men were very sexual, and for some reason women were expected to sit there mute. I would hear men make comments about women over and over again, and then one day I just did the exact same thing, like, “Wow, look at the cock on that, that makes me want to fuck his brains out.” The entire [group] went quiet. The men were sickened. But women are subjected to this every single day.

And then I realized that our sexual experiences—or certainly my generation—always revolve around the male orgasm. Why are we just allowing ourselves not to be gratified in that way ?
Now, I’m sure some women don’t give a fuck. They enjoy the sexual act regardless. But there’s plenty of women who want orgasms, and we should expect them, and ask for them, and not be embarrassed about it. Men certainly aren’t embarrassed about it! I realized that as I’ve gotten older—women are encouraged not to be sexual. It’s seen as something trashy, something disgusting, something to be ashamed of. And I think, “Fuck that.” And what I do love about the new generation of Rihannas and Lady Gagas is that they are really sexual, and I’m really grateful to them for it. They’re educating an entire generation of young women to feel unashamed, and we didn’t really have that.

And I read once that you make great cakes and give good head.
I do make really good cakes. And I think I give pretty good head.

All photos shot exclusively for Milk by Adrian Mesko
Styling & Creative Direction: Paul Bui
Art Direction: Kathryn Chadason
Hair: Aleksandra Sasha Nesterchuk at The Only.Agency
Makeup: Amber Amos at The Only.Agency
Styling Assistant: Sonia Edwards
Shot in Studio A at Milk Studios New York.
Strange Little Birds is available on iTunes.

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  WWD

édition 15 juin 2016
pays magazine: USA
article sur Shirley Manson

Fashion’s Favorite Grunge Girl Shirley Manson Returns
( source article en ligne sur wwd.com )
5/15/2016 - By Leigh Nordstrom
photographs by Dan Doperalski
-This story first appeared in the June 15, 2016 issue of WWD-

  Somewhere in Scotland, there’s a middle-aged man missing out on some serious royalties. Before Shirley Manson was the lead singer of one of the most pervasive and influential grunge bands around, Garbage, she was a clarinet-playing teenager in Edinburgh with an ear for melodies and time on her hands. Then opportunity presented itself. “There was a boy there looking for help with his band, and I could play keyboard and could sing. So literally, for want of absolutely nothing better to do, I joined the band,” Manson says from her home in Los Angeles. “And that set me on a course for the rest of my life.”

That band might be a thing of the past, but Garbage most certainly is not. Manson has helmed the band throughout its two-decade career; they released their sixth studio album, “Strange Little Birds,” on June 10. From the start, Gianni Versace and Marc Jacobs were itching to dress Manson, and Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Florence Welch are all artists who credit her as inspiration. In short: the longevity is no accident.

Manson grew up in Edinburgh amid the popularity of music she calls “jingle jangle,” a sort of sanitized, sparkly, “bright and breezy indie pop” — a sharp contrast from Garbage’s sound. As grunge began to take off, the band saw its 1995 debut album go double platinum in the U.S., U.K. and Australia, and the star treatment came with it. “It was in the heyday of large label records with money to spare,” Manson recalls. “Everything was very luxe. We drank Champagne, and we’d go out for these long Italian lunches in posh restaurants.”

However lavishly the record industry courted them, Garbage has firmly maintained an attitude of alternative amid the mainstream. Manson, all baby-pink hair and devilish Scottish humor, possesses a kind of hard-to-define “It”-ness that avoids drinking the Kool-Aid, which, of course, is the quality that continues to attract fashion houses. “I remember somebody calling me and saying, ‘Gianni Versace wants to meet you, and you need to come to the London store and pick out whatever you want’,” she says. “I remember being on the tour bus and opening this box from Marc Jacobs. I mean, I could not f—ing believe my luck.”

Also knocking on her door was Calvin Klein, a brand for which the Nineties have become an ingrained ethos, which cast her in its 1999 campaign. “I really consider myself a bit of an ugly ducking, you know,” she says. “When you take my makeup off, I look like this really peculiar creature — and Calvin Klein saw a beauty in that. I thought it was a really powerful thing to do.”

Fashion’s love for the decade is undying, but, in Manson’s view, the authentically generated rock-star look is long gone. “Now you look at young pop artists who are getting a lot of attention, and they’re all basically dressing the same way,” she says. “And that wasn’t what was going on in the Nineties. I mean, Gwen [Stefani] was f—ing sewing her own pants, for Christ’s sake. And you had Marilyn Manson and Courtney Love…and it was f—ing badass.”

They may be viewed as alternative, but the band has had a clear strategy throughout its career. “We’re very tenacious as a band. We have toured and toured and toured way past a lot of our contemporaries,” Manson says. “When a lot of our contemporaries went home, we carried on. And I think that forges a connection with people that is very difficult to break. [Live shows] make magic. You’re chasing that flame always.”

The flame continues to burn on “Strange Little Birds,” which she claims is their best record yet. “I feel like, as a band, we’ve broken new ground, which after 21 years is a real challenge,” she says. “We’re going into some other, uncharted territory, which I’m not entirely sure what it is, but that’s all you can really ask of yourself.”

They aren’t charting that course alone. “We’ve had fans who have been with us since 1995,” Manson says. “I know their names, I know the names of their children. And we also, miraculously — and I’m not quite sure how this has occurred — but we have some very young fans, too, who literally were not even born when our first few records came out. It’s spectacularly odd.”

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  Janette
n°17
pays magazine: Luxembourg
paru le 25 mai 2016
prix: gratuit - magazine à télécharger en ligne sur scopalto.com
contenu: article de 3 pages

> sommaire
 

> article
 

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  Billboard

édition 4 juin 2016
pays magazine: USA
article sur Shirley Manson

Shirley Manson Revisits Childhood Sexual Trauma as She Moves Forward With New Garbage Album
( source article en ligne sur billboard.com )
5/26/2016 - by Danielle Bacher

"Watch out for the killer beast!" warns Shirley Manson as she opens the door to her ivy-covered home in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles. Veela, her beige miniature terrier (she's a rescue), is barking alongside the Garbage frontwoman's Doc Martens-covered feet. She's loud, full of frenetic energy and ­ignoring repeated pleas for quiet. "You're so ramped up right now!" yells Manson, 49. "Just zip it!"

Veela, it seems, takes after her owner. Since 1995, when Garbage -- which also includes producer-instrumentalists Steve Marker, Duke Erikson and legendary Nirvana boardsman Butch Vig -- broke through with the hit "Only Happy When It Rains," Manson has been one of rock's ­loudest and most outspoken agitators, and an inspiration to future generations of alternative stars like Lana Del Rey and Amy Lee from Evanescence. Twenty-one years later, little has changed -- both in person and in her music. Garbage's sixth studio album, Strange Little Birds (due June 10 on its own imprint Stunvolume), is led by new single "Empty," an ­exploration of Manson's career-long themes of self-doubt and ­disconnection. Harking back to the band's classic Garbage and Version 2.0 era, when singles like "Stupid Girl" (No. 24 on the Billboard Hot 100) and "#1 Crush" (No. 1 on Alternative Songs) made Manson an icon for disaffected ­Gen-Xers, the song begins: "I've been feeling so frustrated. I'll never be as great as I want to be ... What's wrong with me ?"

 
Garbage in 1998.
From left: Marker, Vig, Manson and Erikson.
Maryanne Bilham Photography/Redferns

"I'll feel really grateful for the success I've enjoyed, but then, at some point in the month, a dark Shirley returns -- and her voice gets really loud," says Manson of the song's lyrics while sitting in her ­living room, which is filled with art and travel books. "I'll feel like a f­--ing idiot because I don't have goals. I have self-doubt and ­frustrations and disappointments. I think it's part of the human condition. Even someone like Beyoncé doesn't f--ing believe in herself 24/7!"

Manson readily admits, however, that her esteem issues go deeper than most. As a child in Edinburgh, Scotland, she was bullied and ­sometimes cut herself. She says she felt like an outcast for having red hair and recalls her mother, a big-band singer who died in 2008 (her father is a retired university lecturer), giving more attention to her two sisters. "My mom was always the hardest on me because I looked the most like her," she says, twirling her now dyed-pink hair. "She would tell my two sisters they were beautiful, but tell me I had a great personality. I just thought I was an ugly bastard."

A few years ago, Manson revealed she had a relationship with a teacher in school; but even before that, she was traumatized by her first sexual experience, as a young teen. "A boy fingered me, then grabbed a knife and told me he was going to stick it up my vagina. I was 13 years old," she recalls -- the first time she has ever publicly spoken about the incident. "It frightened the shit out of me." A couple of days later, she realized that she had left her bra at his house. The boy ­threatened to mail it to her parents.

"I think that's where it all began to unravel," says Manson. "I just had this realization: Why am I distrustful all the time? It's probably because of that. I spent so long ­disgusted about myself. I would sob in the ­bathroom, because I thought I was failing."

Manson began performing just a few years after that -- first with Scottish acts Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie and Angelfish, before being recruited by her Garbage bandmates and imported to the States in 1994. She learned to push ­painful ­memories and insecurities to the side when needed; now, she says, she has learned to embrace them. Earlier in May, she fell off the stage at KROQ Los Angeles' Weenie Roast. Naturally, the footage ended up all over the Internet. "I had a flame of embarrassment, but I landed on my feet like a ninja, so I didn't give a f--," she says with a laugh. "I want people to see my fall. I don't want to make a lie that I am this perfect person. I am a hot mess! It's OK to fall."

Manson, who dipped her toe into acting in 2008 with a role on Fox's Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, long has been touted as a left-field style icon. But she has come to despise the "peddling of the beauty myth by the media," she says. "We're taught prettiness is the highest currency. Look at Vogue magazine; they put Kim Kardashian on the cover. That is a ­devastating message to send to 99.9 percent of women around the world. I don't mean to be disrespectful to her, but why aren't scientists on the cover? Or a novelist? Or other women who are achieving great things in the world ?"

Dan Monick

For a while there were whispers about Manson going solo, but Garbage is still going strong: A hiatus from 2005 to 2010 is well in the rearview mirror, and a long-gestating Manson album reportedly was shelved for good around the time that the band's last album, 2012's Not Your Kind of People, came out. "We get on each other's nerves, but we like each other," says Manson of her ­bandmates. She has been married to Billy Bush, Garbage's longtime guitar tech/­engineer, for five years, and wrote the new song "If I Lost You," whose lyrics blur the line between ­passionate love and crippling jealousy, about their ­relationship. "I know a good one when I see one," she says of Bush, although she adds that she doesn't subscribe to the idea of everyone having one ­soulmate. "If he stopped making me happy, I wouldn't think twice about leaving him. He's probably in the other room thinking, 'Jesus f--ing Christ!' "

Manson smiles awkwardly and leans forward. "I don't know why I am telling you all this," she says. Then again, speaking her mind is one of the main reasons her music has connected with so many people -- and one of the main reasons she's still doing it. "Making music makes me feel like I am here; it's recognition that I exist. I'm grasping for connection." Manson sits back and laughs. "It's really pathetic, I know!"

This article was originally in the June 4 issue of Billboard.

Séance Photo
Date: May, 18, 2016
Lieu: XIX Studios in Los Angeles
Photographies de Dan Monick

Shirley Manson: The Billboard Shoot
( source: billboard.com )

Growing Up
"My mom was always the hardest on me because I looked the most like her," says Shirley Manson, twirling her now dyed-pink hair. "She would tell my two sisters they were beautiful, but tell me I had a great personality. I just thought I was an ugly bastard."

The Peddling of the Beauty Myth
"We're taught prettiness is the highest currency. Look at Vogue magazine; they put Kim Kardashian on the cover. That is a ­devastating message to send to 99.9 percent of women around the world. I don't mean to be disrespectful to her, but why aren't scientists on the cover? Or a novelist? Or other women who are achieving great things in the world ?"

On Love
She has been married to Billy Bush, Garbage's longtime guitar tech/­engineer, for five years, and wrote the new song "If I Lost You," whose lyrics blur the line between passionate love and crippling jealousy, about their ­relationship. "I know a good one when I see one," she says of Bush, although she adds that she doesn't subscribe to the idea of everyone having one ­soulmate. "If he stopped making me happy, I wouldn't think twice about leaving him. He's probably in the other room thinking, 'Jesus f--ing Christ!' "

On Self-Doubt
"I'll feel like a f­--ing idiot because I don't have goals. I have self-doubt and ­frustrations and disappointments. I think it's part of the human condition. Even someone like Beyoncé doesn't f--ing believe in herself 24/7!"

'Flame of Embarrassment'
Earlier in May, Manson fell off the stage at KROQ Los Angeles' Weenie Roast. Naturally, the footage ended up all over the Internet. "I had a flame of embarrassment, but I landed on my feet like a ninja, so I didn't give a f--," she says with a laugh. "I want people to see my fall. I don't want to make a lie that I am this perfect person. I am a hot mess! It's OK to fall."

On the Drive to Make Music
"Making music makes me feel like I am here; it's recognition that I exist. I'm grasping for connection." Manson sits back and laughs. "It's really pathetic, I know!"

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  Rolling Stone
n°85
pays magazine: France
paru le 27 mai 2016
prix: 5,95 Euros
contenu: article de 4 pages (avec interview de Shirley) + critique de l'album.

> scan article
 
  

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Nylon
édition juin/juillet 2016
pays magazine: USA
article de 6 pages sur Shirley Manson: "Gleaning Gold from the Alt-Rock Goddess".

--Bonus Info-- Séance photo:
Lieu: Bronson Canyon, un petit canyon situé à Griffith Park, Los Angeles.
Photographies de Felisha Tolentino
Stylisme: Marjan Malakpour
Maquillage: Christian Marc

Alt-Rock Goddess Shirley Manson Gave Us Her Pearls of Wisdom
Just in time for Garbage’s sixth album release
( source article en ligne sur nylon.com )
By Jade Taylor

 
Photographed by Felisha Tolentino. Styled by Marjan Malakpour.  

The following feature appears in the June/July issue of NYLON.

I’m riding through Los Angeles with Garbage frontwoman Shirley Manson, heading north toward Griffith Park for her photo shoot—a location Manson handpicked—specifically, the caves featured in the old Batman TV series. She’s wearing a white lace Valentino dress and patent leather white boots, a look that complements her faded pastel pink hair. We park the car and she heads to the opening of the cave, posing for the photographer like a white witch plucked from a dystopian fairy tale. Rocks begin to cascade off the cliff and tumble toward her, to which Manson shouts, “She died for rock ’n’ roll!”

Before I have time to process the magnitude of this moment—sharing space with the woman who basically soundtracked my pre-tween existence, from the Garbage songs featured on Daria, The X-Files, and Goosebumps to a decade of playing Version 2.0 on repeat—I’m sitting next to Manson on a couch inside her L.A. home. Books are stacked from floor to ceiling, bundles of sage rest comfortably on her coffee table. I’m hypnotized by Manson’s brilliant takes on everything from contemporary feminism to the inspiration behind Strange Little Birds, Garbage’s excellent sixth studio album, out June 10 on Stunvolume, the band’s own label. Perhaps the thing I’m most unprepared for is Manson’s laugh. It’s loud and infectious and follows almost every sentence she utters, serving as a sweet buffer between each pearl of heavy, honest, hard-earned wisdom. She’s well aware of her own strength, intelligence, weirdness, darkness, and humor, but she’s also aware that she hasn’t always been this way. And she knows that that’s okay, too.

 
Photographed by Felisha Tolentino. Styled by Marjan Malakpour. 

What inspired you to start playing music?
I played the violin at age eight and piano shortly thereafter, and I studied clarinet in high school and sang in the school choir. My mother was a big band singer, and my sisters and I listened to musical theater—The Sound of Music, Cabaret, Oklahoma, things like that. After discovering my mom’s record collection I began listening to Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, and Sarah Vaughan. And then the hormones hit, and I was hanging out with some older boys who introduced me to the Clash, Adam and the Ants, and Siouxsie and the Banshees. That’s when the idea of rebellious music really kicked in for me.

Garbage just celebrated its 20th anniversary. Does that seem crazy to you?
I didn’t think we would ever get to this point. This last year has almost been like the beginning of the band for me because I realize how fucking lucky we are. I’m among a handful of women who have been able to enjoy a career in alternative rock music. I played in two bands before joining Garbage and I remember thinking if I could just have one single on the radio that would be amazing. If I could just have a career like Echo and the Bunnymen that would be even more amazing. To sit back and look at the career that we’ve had is fucking surreal.  

Was it hard for you being the only girl in the band?
It’s difficult sometimes to distinguish what is just a normal difficulty as a musician, because, make no mistake, to be a musician is challenging for a lot of reasons, not least of which because it’s competitive. You go up against the wall all day long, and it’s tough for everyone, men and women. But unfortunately there is an incredibly sexist patriarchal system in place in the industry. I’ve never really felt discriminated against by another musician, but I definitely have within the business, which has been difficult to stomach but not so difficult to counter. If you recognize it for what it is, you can fight it.

In light of Kesha’s recent lawsuit and the allegations against music publicist Heathcliff Berru, it seems as though women are speaking out more now, thanks in part to social media.
It’s a different climate now. The glorious thing that my peers and I enjoyed was that for a brief moment, alternative music ruled the roost. If you weren’t alternative, you weren’t getting played on radio. You weren’t getting on the front cover of magazines. It was us bitches who were. And women were taking the game to their male counterparts and expecting to be treated as equals. It was a different time, and that’s apparent when you look at all of these summer festivals—where are all the women on the bill? And it’s not because women aren’t making music. It’s not because there aren’t great bands out there. It’s because they are not being given the opportunity. In the ’90s, if anyone asked female musicians if we were feminists, we’d be like, “Yeah, we’re fucking feminists!” We all had different styles, but we were all very vocal and we pushed.

Was your generation’s feminism more aggressive?
There is a problem in equating feminism with aggression, and I think a lot of young girls as a result wanted to distance themselves from being mistaken for being man-hating women. The most important message we can impart is that feminism is about equality—nothing more and nothing less. It has nothing to do with how you interact with other women. It has nothing to do with how you interact with men. All it means is that you believe in the idea of equality between men and women. I really hope that young women understand that. It’s important for all of us to stand together and galvanize and demand equality, because without that, we’re never going to secure it.

What can young girls do now?
They should believe that they are as worthy as anybody else—they’re as smart, brilliant, creative, resourceful, and they have everything they need. I think a lot of women grow up feeling like they don’t have what they need to flourish. They’re scared to fail. And yes, you will fail. So what? You stand back up and fail again and keep trying until you get the job or the life you need. Failure is a part of life, and without it you’ll never succeed. You build your arsenal by experience, by standing back up to take another hit. I wish I had known that more in my own life. Instead, I just sat there looking at everybody else—she’s this, she’s that, she comes from money, she’s beautiful, she’s a great athlete. Eventually I did make whatever small gifts I have work for me, but I think most women feel that they are not good enough, and my point is you are. Just fucking go work it.

What advice do you have for young female musicians?
I’m wary of giving advice to other musicians because the choices I make might be right for me but aren’t necessarily right for everybody—but ultimately I believe that you have to be prepared to stand by your guns and be your messy, flawed, fucked-up authentic self. It’s taken me 20 years to figure out that the best version of myself is just me. It sounds incredibly simplistic, but it’s not. I would also tell them to have something to say. Don’t just stand up there and look pretty. It’s not enough. The media will tell you that it’s enough, but being pretty means fuck all long-term. You have to be prepared to work hard, sacrifice, be competitive, and be ambitious. There are millions of people wanting to do what we do, and somehow you have to find a way to stand out. The best way to do that is to be your authentic self, because that’s what makes you unique.  

Who do you think is doing a good job of that right now?
The one who comes right to mind is Grimes. She, to me, is the greatest example of a new generation doing something that none of my peers did. I look at her and really believe that she’s a bona fide original. She writes and produces all of her own material. She’s a force to be reckoned with. She’s not just standing up there looking cute, or knowing the right people. There’s a lot of that right now, particularly on social media. There’s a lot of posturing and “Look at my cool lifestyle!” and “Look how beautiful I am” and “Look how outrageous I am!” And that’s all very well and good, honey, but where’s your music? Produce something. Do the work.

Do you think social media is a blessing or a curse?
Social media has put a pressure on women that my generation did not have to endure. So much is made of your appearance, of your popularity, and I feel really passionate about being a voice out there that is the opposite of what we’re being told by the media—that taking our clothes off on social media is empowering. By no means is that an empowering act. Now I’m not saying that you cannot enjoy your naked body—you absolutely should! And if you want to put yourself on social media in the nude, so be it. But be aware that there will be consequences. Doors will not open for you like they have for the celebrities who’ve done it. It’s sad. I wish women could walk down the street naked and never be under threat, but it’s highly unlikely that will ever happen. A woman’s sexuality is really powerful. There’s a reason why the patriarchal system tries to manipulate that power, and right now, they’re winning. Women are objectifying themselves—they’re turning themselves into objects and believing they are empowered because they get a million likes. It’s like, of course another man or woman wants to look at a beautiful woman’s naked body. So fucking what? You’re not an object, but if society sees you as an object, they will treat you as an object.

Are you active on social media?
My management is always encouraging me to do so because they think if you don’t, you’ll drown in the deluge. I do a limited amount, which, to be honest, I find quite pleasurable. I’m a real Instagram whore. I love how you can see these incredible pieces in the Tate or in the atelier of some incredible designer. Instagram, I love. I tried Snapchat once and it’s not for me. There has to be some playground for the youth where adults don’t come in and pretend they’re super cool and spew all over it. If I was young and I saw adults using Snapchat I would be like, “I am so done with Snapchat.” [Laughs]

What were you listening to while making the new album?
We listened to a lot of old records, actually. There is a dearth of rock bands in the world right now and it’s very hard to find those “dark shadow sounds” we like. Our culture has gotten very shiny and bright. You switch on the radio and it’s happy and pop-oriented, but we’re lovers of sadness, darkness, and melancholia. We wanted to make a dark, guitar-driven record. If you’re looking to cheer yourself up with some shiny pop music, don’t come knocking on our door. But if you want to hear what it’s like to struggle as a human being in this very weird, chaotic world we’re all living in now, then you’ll hear it in our record. We always find solace in sadness.

--Bonus Photos--

> Coulisse de la séance
-Shirley et la photographe Felisha Tolentino-
 
-Shirley et le maquilleur Christian Marc-
  

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  Rock et Folk
n°586
pays magazine: France
paru le 14 mai 2016
prix: 6,40 Euros.
Article de 2 pages.
+ affiche Festival Montereau

> scan article

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  My Rock
n°40
pays magazine: France
paru le 22 avril 2016
prix: 5,95 Euros.
Critique du nouvel album sur 1 page.

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