kSea- Okay! I’m talking with Jenn Palmer & Christina Elen of The Sugar Dames – So, let's talk about you.  What do you want to talk about, huh? I must admit, I'm lousy at interviews but it seems like its part of what I got myself into.

SD- I would hate to be an interviewer.  It’s a terrible job, its so much pressure, like that question I just asked you earlier.  What do you wanna talk about? Thats horrible.

[laughter]

kSea- Lets talk about me, I'm gonna switch the whole interview thing around.

SD- Flip it!  So where are you from? [mh, yeah..]

kSea- Well… I grew up in San Diego, left there as soon as I could, moved up to the bay area, left the bay area, moved to new York, came back to the bay...

SD- We're writing it down

K- good, good.  Ok, umm...I’ll just wait for you to finish writing that and then I think we're done!

SD- Are you always this easy?

K- Well, that depends on who you ask...

SD- Yeah, well that was Jenn, that time. 

K- Okay, one of the things that I would appreciate you doing is maybe saying your name if the question isn't directed at either one of you, otherwise the person that I finally find to transcribe the interviews will kick my ass.  It'll just be, ‘one of The Sugar Dames said this, and another one said that and...yeah.  So let's see, um, ok one of the things to start off with I guess is where the name The Sugar Dames comes from, because while your music is beautiful, there’s a certain loneliness and darkness in it. There’s not too much sugar…

Jenn Palmer- Thats a really good question. 

Christina Elen- We actually came up with the name together. The dames part was because we know we're saucy wenches, but the sugar part was because we were trying to temper it, cut it slightly I think. Its really indicative of our personalities, you know, we have our darker side which comes out in the music.  We also have an optimistic side. And a funny side, actually. We have a pretty dark sense of humor.

K- which you need to. We can get into this later in the interview so people know what the hell we're talking about, but in your bio and the things you've gone through, you need to have that, otherwise you're just going to let the world bring you down, so yeah, a sense of humor is good - and sometimes it tends to be dark because it helps when its all laughable.

Jenn- yeah, when you grow up and hang around hospitals, you develop a [something?]

Christina- yeah, both of us have similar experiences. I have a disabled sister and of course Jenn had a daughter that died of a rare genetic disorder. We really bonded over that, and something interesting is, our personalities are so much alike in that we have what some may call a twisted sense of humor but its some of that humor that gets us through the day. And that’s what keeps us going. We have to laugh.

Jenn- Completely. We really express the darkness, and we express the gloom through our music. But to know us, you wouldn't really know that. We're sweet!

K- Sweet and innocent and all life is peaches and daffodils!

J- Yeah, right out of our ass. 

C- Just for the record, that was Jennifer and not Christina.

K- So Christina does not have, for the record, daffodils coming out of her ass.

C- No, but Jennifer does.

K- Ok, we'll make sure that gets into the interview.

J- [unintelligible] my nipples too.  I had to take it farther, I couldn't stop. I could not sensor myself!

K- Well no, you never should.  There are enough people trying to do that already.

C- Filters, please.  Do you want a filtered interview, or do you want the real?

K- I want real. I don't want the regular bullshit. I don't want ‘so what are your influences?’.  I don't want that crap. It gets so mundane and boring.

C- you're actually the first person to talk to us about these topics, and you were I think one of the first people that we sent our press release to.

K- Really?

C- Yeah, and that’s how we decided, in the press release, to actually tell more of our story, we both have quite a story. So you're one of the first, we really haven't talked about these things to the public before, you know? The illness, the sister, and the daughter, we haven't talked about that yet.

K- Yeah and I think it’s good.  In your music, there’s such a depth in there, and so much beauty through the pain, and in the interview I want to know where the pain comes from, I want to know you...I don't want the fluff.  There’s enough bullshit floating around these days.

J- I think we made a decision to really connect with people, and the only way to do that was to be really honest. I mean, our whole point of doing this is we want to be advocates for the disabled, and we want them to have a voice, and we want for people to be aware. What you might not know, or might not understand the depth of what we've gone through, so it was important to us to really explain the darkness of our music, well this is where its coming from.

C- This is why, yeah, there’s such a depth, and such darkness, that formed out of these experiences, because we write about our experiences, you know, whatever the moment is that we're living is usually what we're writing about.  Honestly, we are.

K- Yeah. I mean that’s where pure artistry comes from, you can’t fake it. It needs to kind of come from your soul.  And the best stuff is not from the mind, but from the heart - and that has really come through in your music.

J- Well, we're glad it translates - thanks.

K- on top of that, it makes for some damn nice ear candy. 

SD- Thanks!

K- Who just said that?

SD- that was Jenn

K- ok, thanks Jenn.  Lets see… what is your relationship like musically? When you get together to write songs or record, is there any strife in the studio? 

C-  I wanna answer it.  If there ever comes strife or difficulty or we hit a place where things aren't flowing, we shut it down. We don't believe that we can put out the type of...because we get so into what we're doing, that we feel like if strife were happening in the studio, which it so rare for us

J- Totally rare, we get along so well

C- We're best friends and we partnered up because its such an easy flow, its kind of unbelievable to happen upon it, but we shut it down if we hit a wall or get to a point that it seems that it might go in that direction, we usually stop it before then, because that would translate in our music, and that’s not what we're trying to do. Plus, were just being so close and bonded, we're reading each other well, but sometimes we write a sing so effortlessly that its frightening, so we've been fortunate enough not to have to have that experience with each other.  And we've been careful not to carry bullshit into this experience of making music together.

J- Yeah, no baggage from anyone.

C- And we get along. We really do get along so well. And we work together. You know, we individually work with other people, we were individual solo acts before we came together. So finding each other and having this kind of experience has been like manna from god. Because it’s been so, such a great experience. It’s just a pleasure and a lot of fun. And when we're not having fun, we stop.

K- Yeah. And go outside, and play in the daffodils coming out of Jenn's ass.

C- exactly!

K- and that was a pretty good segue.  I read in some interview on your myspace page about how you met.  Jen was in a corset, I believe, and Christina walked up to the bar and ordered a scotch, or vise- versa?

C- Yes, it was in the historic district downtown, (of Nashville) and actually I met Jenn about 10 years ago. I’ve known her family for years, and her family owns a cafe in this historic downtown district.

J- and its backwards, Christina wore the corset, I ordered the scotch.

C- Jenn likes scotch.  Just wanted to make that clear. She likes scotch neat.

K- oh yeah, gotta be neat.  Though apparently I’ve heard that with touch of water, it brings out the flavor of single malt a bit better…

J- noooo, don't be wimpy!

K- no no no! I’ve never tried it like that, but from the great scholars of single malt, I’ve heard that many times. Just like a little touch of water and it brings out all the...fancy words they use to describe it.

J- Effervescent?  I wouldn't know, I don't drink it...

K- are you drinking carbonated scotch now???

C- ok to answer your questions, yes.  And we go back. We've known each other for many years, but it wasn't until recently, you know, 2 years ago, that we joined forces and became such good friends and started writing together.

K-  Well when you met, with the corset and the scotch, its just a beautiful image. It kind of brings back the Bogart/Jessica Lange...one of your smoking a cigarette, just leaning up against the bar, and the other one..yeah, so its fun.

C- its true, and its kinda sappy but we really did, we just connected.  We connected immediately. Our personalities, our beliefs, our creativity...all of it just gels so well.

J- I think, too, that because we came from such a place of understanding the suffrage that both of us had lived. And people look at us and think oh the pretty girls, what would they know about what they're singing about.  Connecting with people from...a lot of the pain...there’s just a depth to our relationship, because of the understanding that most of the world fortunately don't have to suffer through.  But you know, we lived through so much suffering, by proxy, through the people we love the most.

K- and you've learned from that and grown from that.  Right on, thats good.  Ok, lets see. Whole bunch of stupid questions I wrote down that I'm not gonna ask because this is...

J- its fine, I love it

K- well I dunno, is there any...there are actually just notes that I wanted to touch on...i got where your name came from...oh! Here's one that’s not a stupid question by any means.  They're scattered all around the paper in sort of a weird twisted spiral epileptic seizure of writing thing on my notebook... You mentioned you are advocates for the disabled. how are you using the talent and music...or even without the music to work achieve what you want to do? 

C- I think what our biggest goal is...ok this is Christina and I know Jenn wants to say something on this. For me, its a lot of awareness and its a lot of putting a face...my sister is multi handicapped, she has 5 major handicaps which is very, very rare...and just putting a face to the disabled.  It’s giving them a voice. It’s just raising awareness.  For me, that’s how I want to advocate, on behalf of her. And my mother also has a foundation for the physically challenged.

k- What is that foundation so we can get that in the article?

C- Its called Hilly's Heroes.

K- Ah – after your sister.

C- Yeah.  Ok but I know Jenn wants to say something on this too, because it’s huge for her.

J- well also, I just volunteered my time for patient advocacy and awareness to educate parents because there’s not always a cohesive medical plan for disabled children with multi handicaps.  Sometimes they don't fall under certain labels, and I’ve worked a lot helping parents in an advocacy way, helping parents coordinate a plan for their handicapped child, but almost on that aspect, and it was baptism by fire for me, helping them transition to a diagnosis, giving a diagnosis to learning how to cope, handle, pointing them in a different direction.  I’ve volunteered with Vanderbilt children's hospital and with a program called [wave?] and I assisted with transition meetings for children who are multi handicapped, who need education at an earlier age so they can have an equal opportunity to learn.  At the age of 5, they start at the age of 3 and transition out of something called early intervention, where they get services provided for them free, by the state. And its a federally mandated program, so I work with these agencies that helped us so much, and in turn I try to give back to them.  Just because I felt lost in my grief, and music has filled a lot of that void, but that’s where I’ve predominantly worked.

K -So you're essentially, among other things, letting parents who might find themselves thrust into all of the sudden finding that their child is somehow disabled – you’re letting them realize that they aren't alone. You give them resources to believe in. Something so they can get through it and receive support.

J- Yeah, and to help them take back some of the power and work closely with their physicians, so they don't feel so lost. There’s so much of a lack of communication and coordination in the health care, just because its an overtaxes scenario, not because they don't want to communicate, but its difficult when your kids are seeing so many different specialists, and some of us never expected it.  You don't expect to have babies[something] first of all, but to get a diagnosis like that when you always thought no way, that kind of thing doesn't happen to people like me. And you really come down off your high horse and you realize no one is protected from it, and you can connect with other parents dealing with that and help them find their way through it.

K- That’s wonderful…

J- I'd like to have a foundation and work with Vanderbilt here, children's hospital which is the top 10 in the country, to help parents who are struggling financially. Grants to help them pay for what the insurance companies don't pay for, or the uninsured, and help fund things...like people don't realize, when you're child's on a feeding tube, your insurance doesn't necessarily pay for the $20 worth of ensure your child has to drink that day, and its either pay the bill or get your child the medication they need, or adult size diapers, or how expensive that can get, and so our goal is to have a place for parents to come to tap into resources to help supplement where its eating away at your life. You know, sometimes you're left with the decision of groceries or medication, and we want to give back in that capacity, too.

K- So is that something you're planning to do through the amazing fame that The Sugar Dames are on their way to acheiving?

J- Exactly. We hope for it to be a great platform.

 [noise/laughter]

K- are you still there?

C- ....yes.  We amuse ourselves, and go off on tangents and things...

K- that’s fine, tangents are great. Sometimes. It all comes down to the end of it. Well let’s see, what do you want to talk about?  What do you want me to ask you, let’s go there. [teasing noise]

J- sex, drugs, and rock n roll.

K- what?

J- sex, drugs and rock n roll!  I'm kidddinngg...

K- sure, sounds good.

C- how about our live show?

J- yeah

K- yeah, yeahyeahyeah, there you go, live show...what’s going on in the live show?  Jenn you sing? Christina, what are you doing?  Or Jenn, are you singing and doing something else?  And all those questions, answer them all at once.

C-  A lot of people, its funny...when we first started doing it, our families couldn't tell who was singing. We are both singing lead on every song. Its either she sings first verse, first chorus and I sing second verse second chorus, or I'm singing first verse first chorus… we're both singing lead at all times, and the other ones singing lead, the other one sings harmony. Its almost split completely down the middle in every song, and its funny because some people...now that you know, you’ll be able to tell.

K- Well hopefully, I don’t know…

C- Yeah, but our voices, they gel pretty well, so  lot of people don't know.  So as far as the live show goes, it was or goal to really make it a show. We wanted it to be a show.  You know, with costumes and that whole vaudevillian flare, and you know with a 3-piece string section, and you know even our players in costume, because really the concept is depression-era carnivalle.

K- Oh ok, you just pulled my heart strings with that one.

C- Yeah, and so you know with the candelabras, and the carpets and just really put the visual along with the song ear candy.  That’s really important to us. It’s a tactile experience when you step into our shows. It engulfs all of your senses. That’s or goal, too. So it’s really like a show, like a play with music, and we really don't talk that much. It goes from like a classical prelude to start off the show and then it swims right into the first number. And then it just kind of takes you on this emotional ride.  A sonic and visual ride, and then that’s it. And we just kind of want to leave the audience going wow that was really cool, what was that? Something different, you know? Something that’s authentically us as well.  Sometimes we felt like we were going in the wrong era, but we truly do live, as you see on our websites and pictures, we're surrounded by old relics and antiques and were absolutely obsessed and fascinated with that era. And so that’s...anyway, that’s what our live show encompasses.

K- There was a lot more elegance back then.

C- Exactly. We wanted to bring glamor back into the...or bring it to the alternative rock movement.  Bring that hollywood glamor thats not there anymore, and really be a dame.

K- Yeah, with little bit of sugar.

J- We don't have a problem with our femininity at all

C- Exactly

K- Well I should hope not. If you do, you're doing a fantastic job of covering it up. 

J- We don't mind if someone opens up the door for us is what we're trying to say. 

K-  Ok, I think we done good, what else do you want to talk about?  Which one of you is the photographer? This is probably not going into the interview, but I was just curious about that, because those photos of the studio are beautiful.

C- Well thats actually our studio and where the furniture is...

K- So thats the studio in your home?

C- We usually use candles as light bulbs...

K- It brings the mood.  And probably also, subconsciously comes out in your music too.

J- I think it does. Again, the environment in which you create in is what’s gonna translate, so that’s important to us.

C- And its so needed, because Jenn and I are neighbors and we live on a countryside. And she literally walks across the fields at night with a lantern.

J- You know, the cows so moo and give me a nice beacon.  Its the neighbor's cows. I don't own the cows.

C- But it’s very dreamy out here. It’s very surreal.  In fact, you can see in one of the pictures, where we're walking... that’s actually the path that she takes coming to the studio.

K- Along with the assistance of seeing eye cows.

J-  yeah.  And she bought the home that we grew up in. My family lived here for years, and she bought the home, so it’s literally like coming home for me. We kind of keep to ourselves, we're kind of hermits. We're the last people to arrive and the first people to leave at a part or whatever.

C- We prefer to keep to ourselves more, and be creative.  We're not your typical girls and were not party girls. We're very much the opposite.

K – Okay, let’s bring this to a close - and I think this might be the final question unless it leads to something else we can babble about. Both of you, tell me individually, a secret about anything at all. 

J- well if we tell you a secret then it'll no longer be a secret, and then what is its worth?

K- this can be fun as well, as long as you're both relatively kind. You can make up secrets about each other.

C- Ok, I think Jenn is a serial killer.

K- you said that with a little bit too much conviction. Apparently that’s been swimming in your head for a while, Christina

C-  Well – how’s this: We would hide a dead body for each other. If I off somebody, we would help each other hide the body

J- because we know it would be a damn good reason. 

K- I like that, that’s a good one. No really sure if I should publish that but I probably will anyway in hopes that in the future you don't have to do that otherwise they'll dig up this article and come straight to you.

J- Make sure you lock you're Winnebago doors when you're not in new Orleans That’s my old stomping ground , I grew up close to there.

C- did you say you've been to Nashville?

K- I have no, I’ve never been through Nashville

J - yeah music city USA woohoo!!

K- That was SO close to a yeehaw.

J- I know!

C- when are you going to print this debaucherous interviewer

K- it will be coming out hopefully towards the end of December if I can get everything together and my friend get the website going and all that stuff. So there’s an entirely new website that we're building for Big Top, so yeah its coming out within the next few weeks.

C- we love the whole concept of your magazine and just everything, its so up our alley, its so great. We were drawn to it immediately, its so nice to talk to you and finally meet you, and now you know some dirt.

K- Thank you! And its nice to meet your voices. And I'm looking forward very much to seeing you play sometime…

[thank yous and goodbyes etc etc]