Chris Tracy is a junior at the College of William and Mary and also one of WCWM’s more interesting DJs. Not only does he have a regular radio show from 10pm-midnight on Mondays, but at 9pm on Sunday nights he reads The Lord of the Rings over the air for an hour with guest stars and character voices. Chris is also a member of one of the newest on-campus bands at the College, Clean Girls. Today I sat down and had a chat with Chris about his band and the William and Mary music scene.
*So how did Clean Girls get started?*
Stephen Reader [WCWM DJ and music director] and I were talking and found out that he played drums and I played guitar. We got together and played some and thought it sounded really good so we just started making songs.
Where does the name Clean Girls come from?
Clean Girls is a really foul website. It arose at the height of “two girls one cup” mania. It’s one of the results of the scatological porn sweep. Also it’s everything we’re not. We’re not clean or girls.
*How would you describe your music?*
Noise rock. Typical indie rock or punk rock influence. Some shoegaze, but noise rock is probably the best description.
*How do you hope to affect the campus music scene?*
We would like to step in and be the next big campus band. When I came in as a freshman the biggest bands were Tallest Highest, Insect Club, and Alex Huss. I remember going to the Meridian Coffeehouse shows and being like “Fucking rad! We have bands here who are very good!” I hadn’t been in a band since high school so I really wanted to be in a band again. The campus band I thought was the coolest was Insect Club because they were just incredibly loud and didn’t care if their music was liked, they just liked playing music. Since Stephen and I listen to music that’s not so easy on the ears, we thought we could do that. We’re not out to make any friends through this band.
*Is Clean Girls planning on putting together an album?*
I’m hoping to record some of the material I wrote over the summer soon. We’re probably just going to release EPs though instead of full-length CDs. Our practice schedule has been very rigorous in the past two weeks, which is when Josh Makela [bassist] joined us. We’re taking full advantage of the WCWM recording studio.
*Are there any vocals?*
Both Stephen and I are doing vocals. Neither Stephen or I are very strong vocalists so I told him when we made this band that if I have to embarrass myself you’ll have to embarrass yourself too. As of right now we only have lyrics to 2½- 3 songs. It’ll probably come down to me just screaming.
*What do you like best about Clean Girls?*
The good thing about Clean Girls is we are always up the air about anything; there is always some kind of spontaneity. I’m never really playing a chord the same over and over because the good thing about rock songs is the format is repeated. You can weave spontaneity and creativity into the repeated format. Songs of ours that actually do have a set structure will have sections of noise and feedback and so I can improvise with that and Stephen can improvise on drums.
