Sail on, Sail on, Sailor or: How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Poon

An Interview by Jake Taylor Webber 

If the encyclopedia of clichés was organized by how played-out each was, the entry for “You can’t try to be cool” would be right up there at the front, in between “You get back what you put out into the universe,” and the entire literary works of Dan Brown. And, like most clichés (save for those weirdly religious Brown thrillers), it is also completely true.

 The verdict has been in for years in Austin: Sailor Poon is quintessentially Cool. In fact, I can’t remember a time when that name didn’t immediately associate itself in my mind with coolness. And I’m not talking about “cool” like Harley Davidsons are “cool” or like how that one guy— the one who’s Tinder profile mentions Derrida and rock climbing; who goes to DIY shows just to stand in the corner with his arms crossed, nodding his head occasionally and scanning the room for a blunt circle he can get in on— is “cool.” I’m talking Cool. The kind that exists, in some preternatural place in our minds, somewhere between tipping 50% on a $2 coffee at 9 a.m., and riding shotgun in a top-down classic convertible with a beautiful human in red, leather bell-bottoms, smoking a cigarette and headed for a seedy motel out west to get laid. The real Cool.

 Sailor Poon certainly doesn’t try to be “cool.” They don’t try to be anything. Everything they are, as a band, feels natural, like putting on pants (or not, depending on your work situation and general quarantine laziness) in the morning. I wouldn’t call them a punk band because they’re not one. They’re not rebellious; they’re just honest. They’re not raging against the way the world is; they’re just living right down here in it with you. And they’re not out to break the rules, because they never really gave a damn about them to begin with. They’re Joan Jett and they’re John Waters, sure, but they’ll stand up and deliver a slap to the face that’d make Catherine Hepburn blush.

 The band is made up of Billie Buck (vocals, sax), Mariah Stevens-Ross (bass), Madison Whitaker (Guitar), Vanessa Jollay (keys) and Clarissa Giard (drums), all multitalented creatives with a seemingly infinite well of “other shit going on/in the works,” who come together every so often, like the power rangers forming Megazord, to sing loud, declare that they’re broke, say fuck-you to that guy that made their friend cry and to apologize for also fucking him. They’ve become an icon among the 20-somethings who drift around the venues on Red River and East 6th, for their hilarious, energetic music, their wild stage presence, their electric sense of style and, most of all, for their ineffable honesty… and, well, because they’re just cool. But you already knew that.

I caught up with Sailor Poon earlier this month, as always, over Google Hangouts (I feel like I’m unintentionally becoming a shill for Google at this point).

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Clarissa: (just getting on): Sorry, I’ve never used a phone before.

Billie: Have you been juggling your phone instead of face-timing us with it?

Clarissa: Exactly.

Jake: Have you been practicing your juggling?

Clarissa: That and everything else I can keep myself occupied with. 

Jake: So how are you guys doing otherwise?

Billie: Fine.

Madison: Good.

Mariah: In an introverted paradise.

Billie: Yeah, honestly, after years of having this sort of unspoken obligation to be ‘the extroverted one,’ in this or any kind of group, it’s been nice not to have to see anyone or talk to anyone for a while.

Vanessa: I’ve been trying to do this thing, where every time I catch myself missing something, or down about something I can’t get right now, I try to, y’know, compartmentalize what’s a ‘need’ and what’s a ‘want.’ Then I go through a list of the things I’m grateful for having in the moment. That, and drinking heavily.

Billie: Yeah, and that.

Clarissa: I think it’s been a healthy exercise, but I’m over it.

Madison: The one thing I really miss is playing shows.

Jake: Let’s talk about that. What kind of vibe do you guys like to capture in your live shows and what venues do you guys miss that you’ve found that vibe at?

Billie: I always prefer a smaller venue with a lower stage, so I can really breathe all my coronavirus on people.

Mariah: Yeah, basically, the more likely the venue makes it for you to catch the virus at one of our shows, the more we wanna be playing that venue. And also any venue that would have unintentionally helped you build an immunity to scary viruses.

Jake: Sure, we’ve all taken a shit at Hotel Vegas, we’re probably safe.

Billie: The more stickers on the mirror, the better.

Jake: Billie, a lot of your lyrics are a sort-of fuck-you to the ideas of modern romance and toxic masculinity. I’m sure a lot of that is just personal experience, but how much of it comes from a place of needing to be said?

Billie: I mean, I never think of it as what needs to be said, as much as I just say what’s on my mind. I value not having a filter, I value honesty, but mostly I’m just trying to get words on paper. Whatever’s on the top of your head, whatever’s going on in the moment, anything to get that out and make space for it. So, it sort of happens naturally that some lyrics have a ‘better’ message than others, or however you’d like to put it, maybe some ‘need’ to be said more than others, but mostly it’s just about putting words to music.

Jake: So the music usually comes before the lyrical ideas?

Billie: Clarissa, you wanna answer that?

Clarissa: I think I would say it goes both ways. Sometimes it starts with a riff, sometimes with an idea, but it always comes from an emotion, no matter what. No matter if it’s the lyrics or the music, it always starts with an emotion and translating that into sound. 

Billie: Yeah, that emotion might manifest as a drumbeat, or a bass line.

Clarissa: And then it just goes naturally. Whatever is written first, the next step is, you know, is the guitar playing along to it, are the drums playing along to it, until it’s all there together.

Mariah: Sometimes it’s melody or riff derivative and then the lyrics start to apply to whatever we’re feeling that day or whatever the week’s theme is, because we’re used to meeting like once or twice a week and just talking about what’s going on with each other a lot. We’re all friends and we bullshit, and it’s usually whatever bullshit we’re complaining or venting about to one another that ends up going into the song. It’s a life-narrative.

Clarissa: That’s something I really like about this band. A lot of groups I’ve played with, we’ve gone out of our way to make the lyrics relatable so they can be interpreted by anyone. But our process is just so straightforward that it ends up being relatable anyway.

Jake: That’s something I personally love about you guys. Especially the song ‘Confessions.’ It just makes me feel like I’m there, in a conversation.

Billie: Yeah, that song in particular is really more just a conversation between girlfriends than it is a written-out song, which, I guess, a lot of them are.

Vanessa: It’s a very collaborative space. Any of us feel open to bring whatever we want to the table and we’re all willing to work on it and make it something.

Billie: Can you bring that shirt to the table? I’d really like to collaborate it onto my body.

Vanessa: I got it today! I was supposed to be essential-shopping, but I ended up with this too.

Jake: Speaking of, your sense of style and your general image is, in a lot of ways, just as recognizable as your music. How important is that to you guys?

Vanessa: (Sarcastically) Yeah, I feel like we’re just a brand at the end of the day.

Billie: Exactly what I was going to say.

Jake: So I take it you guys get asked that sort of thing a lot.

Billie: Considering that we started as a not-real band. It began as more of an idea, or an image, and that has kind of held through. It also holds up since we jump around through genres, the image is sort of the thread that ties it all together. No matter what we’re playing, it’s just us doing the Sailor Poon thing.

Jake: Do you think that image, or ‘the Sailor Poon thing’ is more or less important than the music?

Billie: Well, in terms of, like, the name, it’s just a silly name, but it’s the one that stuck. We could be called anything and it would still be the same live show, the same attitude. The rest of the image is just what we are naturally, it would come out no matter what when we all got together as, but at the end of the day, that all works in service of the music.

Mariah: Nah, we’re just here to look pretty.

Billie: Look pretty. Smell bad.

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I had this interview back at the beginning of May, but in the meantime, Sailor Poon has been keeping busy. Last week they released “Sailor Poon’s First Album,” which the band had originally recorded two years ago. I reached out to Billie, again, over email to ask her about how getting stuff out there again felt.

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Billie: “First Album” was written and recorded 2 years ago in NYC. We have been working on the mixing, mastering, album artwork and release logistics since then. It feels good to finally get it out.

Jake: Do you guys plan on getting out and touring along with it now that restrictions are being lifted?

Billie: We do not have any plans to tour anytime soon, no, but we are excited for the new solo work from Sarah Cuk, founding member of the band who played keys on “First Album,” And has since moved to New York. You guys should check out her Youtube channel. 

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Listen now to “Sailor Poon’s Newly Released Album” and keep up to date with the band via the virtual world here.