Heloise & the Savoir Faire Rock1
NYC's Hottest Electro-Punk Group Talks About Its Debut CD

From the first strains of their smoking hot debut Trash, Rats & Microphones, Heloise & The Savoir Faire seduce listeners. Layers of synths, bass and, of course, vocals - at times cooing playfully, at others verging on angry screams - from the band's namesake Heloise Williams make it easy to see why this electro-synth outfit is the rage of New York City's underground scene.

While drawing comparisons to The B-52s and Blondie, whose Debbie Harry has named the group her favorite new band and lends vocals to two tracks, Heloise & The Savoir Faire are now gaining avid fans across the country. Here Williams and Joe Shepard, who has been with the singer since even before she added the live backing band, discuss the band's outrageous antics, musical influences and recording with their idol.

(Bay Times) sounds fresh yet familiar. Does that make any sense?

(Heloise) Yeah, that sounds great! (Laughs.) I like the late '70s, early '80s era of music. I hope it doesn't sound exactly like that, but that it sounds nostalgic in some way, I think, is a good thing.

Tell me a little about the specific music which influenced you?

(Heloise) It's funny because I'd say the songs themselves, with the exception of "Disco Heaven" and maybe one other, are more electronic dance numbers. When we went into the studio, I brought in a lot of "samples" of my ideal sound. I liked that '70s sound. As far as actual bands, I like Roger & Zapp. They had this song called "Computer Love." It's R&B with really weird synth sounds in it. Everything sounds like spaceships landing.

Are your shows very visual? With all the synthesizers, I can just imagine a fabulous light show!

(Joe) It really goes back to when it was just Heloise singing to tracks played off a computer. Then she incorporated another back-up dancer and me, and we would go crazy! We'd do eight to ten songs and seven to nine costume changes behind a piece of fabric. Oh, my God! We had all these props. Remember we used to have that giant Spanish fan and huge giant hats. Heloise had this costume change where one of us would hold the mic while the other ripped her dress off to reveal a prison costume underneath. (Laughing.) When the band started up, we pared it down to one or two costume changes. Still, each song has choreographed, Bob Fosse-like dance numbers.

Is it difficult to get people to take you seriously?

(Heloise) The thing is, I'm really very serious about this. I really mean what I’m saying and singing about, it's not a joke to me at all, but I do have a sense of humor. It makes it so much more fun if we're having fun. We've been struggling with this issue of how funny should we be - or should we be more serious, more arty? We've evolved from an almost comedy act. One time we had all these Cheetos on our guitar-players body and I performed a cover of Britney Spears' "Toxic," dedicated to junk food, and I ate the Cheetos off his body. We don't do that any more - but it could happen.

That happens every Tuesday at Trannyshack. Many local drag performers are very serious about being funny.

(Joe) We were talking about this last night, as we were drinking vodka. This is our backlash against the super cool rock 'n roll scene that’s kind of happening around us. We use this to address the people who take themselves super, super serious.

My favorite track is "Members Only."

(Heloise) That's a true story, too! I'd just moved to New York, and Peaches was playing. They were doing this giant electro-clash show there. I was bussing tables to pay my rent at the time - and I was super poor. So I got in line, and I honestly didn’t see that the line wrapped around the corner. These two girls totally out of some '80s movie with their look - and I love the '80s, but still… - they were so incredibly mean. They were like "Oh, go ahead.
Just butt in line." When I apologized, they were like, "No, just stay there. When you get to the door, we'll tell the bouncer what you did." They totally made fun of me, saying my friends ditched me. I was thinking, "Oh, my GOD! I've just been verbally assaulted!" I was so angry, I grabbed a napkin and started jotting down pieces of that "Members Only" song.

How to record with your idol Debbie Harry?

(Heloise) Well, you've mentioned that our music makes you think of Blondie and The B-52s. Debbie Harry is it. She is the ultimate "cool girl." It's still kind of crazy that we talk on the phone or all that. She came to see a show once. Afterward, someone came back and said, "You're never guess who wants to meet you." When Debbie Harry walked in and shook my hand, I was like, "Ohhhhhh!!!!" She was so sweet. She wanted to buy our CD. I was like, "Could you just autograph one and take pictures with me?!" As far as I was concerned, that was the pinnacle of my career! I'd grown up listening to her music. Over the next year, I would see her and we basically became friends, so I asked if she'd ever guest on our album. I really can't believe it's true! Then she’s been going around telling people we're her favorite band. It's like, "Oh, my GOD!"

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