http://www.pinkraygun.com...-and-lisa/

This interview wouldn’t have happened if Lost was delivering better episodes. The show would have kept my attention, rather than letting it wander back to Purple Rain, which I had been watching prior, and wondering about Wendy and Lisa from The Revolution.

Of course, I wrote about that in my Lost post and the right person read it. So, thanks Lost, for finally doing something good.

Wendy and Lisa are doing well. In addition to continuing to put out albums, the pair also scores music and television shows. Heroes, Virtuality, Bionic Woman, and most recently, Showtime’s Nurse Jackie.

Pink Raygun: What about Nurse Jackie made you want to compose the score?

Wendy & Lisa: We thought it was simply BRILLIANT. So smart and subtle and HILARIOUS! We were genuinely flattered that they considered us for the music. I still feel lucky to have gotten the gig. As one of the producers would remind me on our first meeting, “THIS is NOT HEROES!” hahaha…. no kidding!

PRG: What are you trying to communicate with Jackie’s theme?

W&L: We wanted Jackie to be her own woman. She is a flawed strong woman who wants to be good and often is better than most, and then she is dark and BAD! We want to like her and allow her to have faults so the theme is tough and a little fun with a slight touch of saintly bells.

PRG: I love that you have Maggie and Hopey from Love & Rockets on your MySpace header. Clearly, the characters bear a resemblance to the two of you, but are you also L&R fans?

W&L: That’s actually us! we asked Jaime Hernandez, who created L&R, if he would come up with something special for a limited promo for our record White Flags of Winter Chimneys (that we gave away for Record Store Day last year). He did an amazing job. We love that cover.

PRG: The music landscape has changed dramatically in the past ten years. What are you doing differently now to get White Flags of Winter Chimneys out there, compared to when you started? How does promoting the new album compare to promoting Girl Bros. in 1998?

W&L: We are doing everything ourselves. Our manager set it up where we not only maintained the control of our last two records, but we distribute it digitally and physically ourselves. It’s amazing to have that control over your music. It’s more difficult to get new fans and get the cds physically into stores because you don’t have the machine of a record label. But for us, that wasn’t a detriment. It is way more liberating and satisfying to be building our fan base and gaining new fans via word of mouth or Twitter or Facebook.

The biggest difference from promoting White Flags vs. Girl Bros was that back then there was no real social aspect to the internet, and engaging fans was very basic…get an official URL and sell stuff!! Now a band has many more avenues to a fan and it can be as engaging as you set it up to be. We actually had FUN promoting White Flags and did a lot of alternative marketing and promotion. Not to mention that we are not a touring band, so we really have to work at it more to connect with fans.

PRG: There are so many different outlets for musicians. How are you cutting through the crowd to make yourselves and your work more noticeable to listeners?

W&L: We try and make real connections with our fans. we use social media tools like Twitter and Facebook to talk to our fans. We have our own website with forums where fans can talk and connect with one another as well as ask us questions directly. We think they appreciate the real life access.

PRG: How did you move into composing scores for film/ television?

W&L: It was very natural. We always had an interest in it, and were exposed to the process as kids through our fathers who were very successful musicians in the 60’s and 70’s. We were able to dabble again through Prince’s interest in filmmaking, but what really put us in the game was being approached by Michele Pfiefer for a song to use in a film she was producing and starring in, Dangerous Minds. One thing lead to another and we ended up scoring the film.

PRG: How do you choose your scoring projects?

W&L: Hahahaha….they choose us!

PRG: Tell us a bit about your process for scoring a film or television program.

W&L: We generally meet with the director and producers and watch the piece. We stop and start and talk about where music should go and why. Sometimes we don’t know until we try, but usually the director has strong ideas, and certain camera moves just call out for music! It is very important to recognize the dialogue and the actors as the lead singers and not play OVER them, but under them. Support them and stay out of the way. We go away from the meeting and write, then we play the music for the producers…etc. and they give us notes or changes if any, and …then it is delivered to the music editor to cut in and mix into the film with the other sound people who handle foley, effects, and all that other sounds stuff. It’s a lot of work and often times is done in only a couple of days.

PRG: Several of your television projects fall squarely in a realm of science fiction and fantasy. Do you actively seek out projects in that area? If so, why?

W&L: I, Lisa, am a big sic-fi fan, and I find that the medium allows for a very satisfying process because of the experimental pallet. To boldly go where no one has gone before. . . !

PRG: The fourth season of Heroes featured a cello piece played by the character Emma. That was a stunningly beautiful piece of music. What were you trying to communicate with that piece?

W&L: THANK YOU! We were trying to communicate empathy. The character was a synesthetic and could see music and hear colors … that sort of thing and she was deaf and never played the cello before! So the challenge was to make a piece of music that was very simple but yet would draw a crowd in the park late at night as if by magic. So we had to aim right for the heart.

The Nurse Jackie soundtrack is available now on Amazon and in stores. For more about Wendy and Lisa visit their website or their MySpace page, or follow Wendy and Lisa on Twitter.

WHAT??? NO MENTION OF PRINCE???!!!

I am kidding of course. Nice read. Wonder what the W&L haters will find to be mad bout on this one?

Zannaloaf said:

Zannaloaf said:

Dont worry - those people who arent not enamored with Wendy and Lisa are disciplined and/or punished.

Brofie said:

If they keep hopping into threads ragging on someone consistently when they have made their case clear ad nauseam they do tend to get a bit of crap. If they simply comment on topic at hand...not so much. I don't tend to go into a topic that doesn't interest me in some way. If I already know my opinion and have stated it...that's plenty.

Zannaloaf said:

State your case, his a true "Fam".

A lil off topic but Lost is working my last nerve. Last night's episode was a total borefest. What happened to this (the last season)? The producers should be ashamed.