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When I saw Le Tigre live, I was totally blown away by their use of video, which made me jump at the opportunity of interviewing them. This is also a special interview as it has the first faxed in handwritten answers from JD..
PL: Introduce yourself.
JD: This is JD from Le Tigre.
PL: When I saw you play in Providence last November, you had videos for every song. Is that something that you guys always do?
JD: Yes. In the past, we had slide projections for each song which eventually turned into videos. We are really into being a multimedia performance group and expressing ourselves through music as well as other art forms. This tour, we plan on updating our videos as well as incorporating a light show into our performance.
PL: What brought on the idea of using visuals like that?
JD: We were very interested in creating another layer, artistically, for the audience to take part in and to communicate our ideas through.
Could you describe the video making process (director, camera people, how it went from an idea to finished product-whatever you want to say) that you use?
JD: Some of our videos are made by our friends and/or video artists and some we make ourselves. Usually, we come up with an idea and then either one of us or some combination of the three of us will work on executing the direction and editing of the video.
PL: What do you hope to gain by a) making videos (like the video for "New Kicks"), and b) using them at your live shows?
JD: The video for "New Kicks" was made by Samnel Tapiary, a feminist videomaker from New York. We hope to reach as many people as we can and show them out protest against G. W. Bush and his decision about going to WAR. With our live show videos, we hope to show the audience another aspect of our content and our community by giving another artistic canvas to create in.
PL: Describe New York while the Republican National Convention is (was) in town (whatever you feel like saying about it).
JD: New York is (was) very quiet this week in some areas and then others are filled with protestors and people speaking their minds. It was beautiful to be a part of the protest on Sunday and march with thousands of people from all over the U.S.A. and abroad.
PL: Is pornography a good or bad thing? Why.
JD: Pornography is a really large subject and I don't have time to go on much-and I can't tell you in a yes or no answer if I think it is good or bad. I think some pornography is fine.
PL: If you could slap one person in the face (doesn't have to be a hard slap if you don't want it to), who would it be and why?
JD: G. W. Bush-and it would be a hard slap, although Arnold Schwartzenagger deserves one too.
PL: Are you going to vote in this upcoming election?
JD: Of course I am going to vote (I should note that I was pretty sure that she was going to say yes, but this question will be part of all of my interviews until Election Day). We will be on tour so we have to do absentee ballots.
PL: Would you rather have your candidate win with a low voter turnout or lose with a high voter turnout? Why?
JD: Win! Another four years of Bush will be extremely difficult for one to live with. I can't even imagine what it will be like, and I don't want to either.
Interviewed by RF