God-des and She are a hip-hop/pop/soul duo who grew up in the Midwestand in the four years since their appearance on The L Word the duo hasn't had a moment's rest in their musical careers.
Windy City Times: How did the two of you meet?
She: We met in Madison, Wis. God-des was going to school there and she had already established herself as the MC God-des and she was working with another singer. I had a band called Doll and I was playing around town and we ended up doing a National Organization for Women's benefit together. Her singer was moving away and going to grad school for opera, and she asked me if I'd be interested in doing a side project because my band was my main focus. I like hip-hop. I didn't feel like I was that good at it yet but I wanted to try. We started working together and we had great music chemistry. Things just started happening and the rest, as they say, is history.
WCT: I hear you are campaigning for The Ellen DeGeneres Show. How is that campaign going?
She: I'm waiting, any second she is going to call us.
God-des: Yeah, we're waiting by our phone. We're waiting by the phone, by the email. We really believe it's just a matter of time before you'll see us on Ellen.
WCT: How did you land the gig on The L Word?
God-des: She and I were living in New York at the time and I was bartending at a bar in the East Village. A girl came up to me and said, "I saw you perform and you made me cry, you're unbelievable." I said thanks and she said, "Have you ever thought about being on The L Word?" I was, like, "Hell, yeahof course." She said she had a friend who is in charge of all the music for the show and asked if I wanted her to send her our music. I kept asking her if she was serious.
I was a little hesitant but she seemed sweet and genuine so the next day I got an email that she cc'd me on to her friend, Elizabeth Smith, about our music and then I also emailed her and said I was really looking forward to sending her our stuff. Sure enough, two days later I checked my voicemail from some real funky number. My stomach dropped to the floor and I called She freaking out. Sure enough we got on it, we had a great placement.
WCT: How have things changed since the show?
She: we've been full-time musicians since it aired so I would say it was good, I would say it was really good. It was a fun experience. We got a lot of work and a lot of exposure and over these years we've built up a fan base through hard work and grinding it out. Things are going along swimmingly.
WCT: How would you relate yourselves to the rest of the music industry?
She: I would say we're hip-hop/pop/soul. We really have our own unique style that we've created and it's hard to put it in a box. That's half the problem with industry people. They are like, "You're the best band we've ever heard but we don't know what box to check so we can't really mess with you." It's frustrating to have that told to you time and time again when they should just grow a pair.
WCT: How do you think you have progressed as artists since your first album?
God-des: I think we've progressed drastically. We've worked really hard and we've learned to create a unique style. It's not regular pop, and it's not regular R&B. We have all of these different musical influences that you can hear. A lot of the music or beats that we use aren't typical hip-hop. We've really just tried to do what we love and constantly learn and push the envelope. We work together to infuse our voices. We've got a lot more comfortable totally stepping out of the box. We don't care what sound people say we are we just do music that we love.
WCT: How would you define your personal unique style?
God-des: I would definitely consider myself an MC but I also consider myself a musician. I'm a drummer; I'm teaching myself piano and a little guitar. She's a guitar player and she can sing so many different styles. We are not just one-dimensional musicians.
WCT: Your new single on your third album, "Love Machine," is a very retro '80s groove track. How does the rest of the album compare to that song?
She: I think the record is very eclectic. It's really all over the map. It's all over the place but all the songs are strong and we're very proud of all of them.
WCT: How do you feel about returning to the Midwest to perform in Chicago?
She: Very excited!
God-des: Holla! That's what I gotta say. Definitely excited.
She: It's where we're from. The Midwest is where we feel relaxed, that doesn't happen anywhere else in the country. It's a really good feeling. It feels like home.
God-des and She will be performing at Berlin, 954 W. Belmont, on Thursday, June 23, at 9 p.m. See www.berlinchicago.com or www.god-desandshe.com .