Bodega Girls' Jacob Otis Tells It Like It Is…

posted in: Artist Features • Features • Pop

There’s several schools of thought when it comes to forging a career in music. One is to play as often as you can, appreciate the people you meet along the way and take every opportunity presented to you. Another is record what you want, when you want, gig on your own terms and above all else, be authentic. Bodega Girls subscribes to the later school of thought. For those of you not hip to the Boston quartet’s vibe, they’re self-proclaimed hustlers resurrecting art spaces and turning out hedonistic dance parties. The group says that they are busy making “awesome music” and “don’t have time to flirt with the industry,” so they’ve come up with an innovated plan to release their new album via fan donations.

The Bodega Girls Artistfunding Campaign is the group’s initiative to raise 4K to fund an iPhone application en lieu of the traditional CD release. The application will feature ten songs, video, photos, touring info, real-time blogging, access to exclusive shows, merch and additional features to enhance the artist and fan relationship. For $40 you can get the application plus an array of adds-on such as original artwork, digital stems to remix the album and a book of poem’s by member King EvRock. For $250,  the John Cusack Level,  the band will accompany you (trench coat and boombox in tote) to the front yard of your choice and serenades the object of your affection.

Jay Sweet and frontman Jacob Otis (a.k.a Jake Brennan of the Confidence Men) recently got together to talk about the band’s unconventional approach to their local scene and how sexy Jacob finds himself.

JS: Tell us a little bit about how Bodega Girls came to be?

JB: It was by mistake actually. My friend Adam and I were dicking around in the studio with this Stone Roses/Grand Master Flash type sounding thing and I was singing the chorus but wanted a different voice for the verse so we called EvRock who was actually out painting a mural on a bridge that night. He ran over to the studio with spray paint all over him and did the vocals for what came to be our first song, “Graffiti Lady”.

JS: You know what it’s like to be in a regional scene and other bands, etc. Tell me how those experiences helped you with your success with Bodega Girls.

JB: Well, after playing regionally, nationally, internationally, whatever ”you get a sense of what shows are fun and what shows are obligatory and just suck to do. We chose to focus on only what was actually fun with this band. That’s a trade off because we end up playing a lot less because the normal club scene/rock scene is kind of a drag. In Boston we focus on mainly playing art spaces, private residences and our own night that we host once a month at Middlesex in Central Sq. It’s our night. We host/curate it and the staff is very, very cool. They let us do whatever we want and they and our fans are always stoked to be there. Unlike a place like Harper’s Ferry where the staff couldn’t give a shit that you’re even in the room and they’re bitchy and really, truly do not care about the quality of their work. We’re done with that. What’s the point? If there is an opportunity at a club like the Middle East or Great Scott or somewhere else that really makes sense, we’ll do it. But on the whole, we stay away from clubs and have turned down multiple chances to open for national bands. Whatever exposure you get by opening for a national band isn’t worth the lack of fun that opening for some of these artists ends up being. While with the Confidence Men and opening for the Cramps, I was actually told by the head of security at Avalon that if we even “looked at the members of the Cramps” we’d be thrown out of the club. Then again, in Cast Iron Hike, we opened for Fugazi and those guys were seriously some of the nicest people I’d ever met. So it depends and I recommend just doing what feels right to the individual band. Every situation is unique. We’ve managed to find a niche by doing only what we want in Boston and it’s opened us up to do a lot more in a place like Brooklyn that has a shit ton of unique art spaces to play and kids that are accustomed to traveling to a 4th floor walkup in the middle of Bushwick to see a band they never heard of. It works for us there in Brooklyn but would probably never work for us in LA. Pick your spots, I guess. Do what you want.

JS: Do you believe in letting things progress organically? Obviously a band needs to be proactive but hyping anything rarely helps build something that can stand the test of time. Do you agree?

JB: YES! With caps. Absolutely. I believe that in every aspect of life and it took me a long time to figure that out because as a kid I was so damn eager and probably read too much Rollins but yeah, of course. With the Internet you don’t need to compromise and you don’t need to beat people over the head to get them to hear you. There are plenty of Social Media sites and third party music aggregators to promote your music”where if what you’re doing is actually compelling and not drivel, people will pick up what you’re putting down. Let them come to you. Put out something you believe in. Get it out there and if it’s good, an audience will develop”organically. Bodega Girls absolutely adhere to this. We’re very much about the soft-sell. There’s nothing more annoying than a fury of MySpace bulletins and empty Facebook invites. In addition to being all Cool Hand Luke about it, I think artists need to offer more in their messaging than just the opportunity for the fan to spend money on their shows/releases. Make videos, be interesting in your tweets ”produce content that you and your crew are into and others will pick up on it.

JS: Do you still “buy” music? Do you think that playing live is really the only was to make a living in today’s music industry?

JB: Yes, I still buy music but not nearly as much as I used to. There are more ways than ever to make money in today’s industry. You just have to be innovative and not expect anyone to help you. You need to be an entrepreneur. My mom always said, “if you’re any good at what you do, you’ll get paid for it.” I believe that definitely holds true in the music industry. There are plenty of ways to get paid it’s just that the old ways are boring and creating new and interesting revenue streams requires new and interesting thinking.

JS: What is the hardest thing about being in the Bodega Girls?

JB: Not sleeping with myself. Have you seen how attractive I am in those pictures? Kidding. Ummm. Not taking myself too seriously probably. This is by far the most serious interview I/we have done and if EvRock sees it, I’m probably in a world of shit.

JS: How would you define success when it comes to being a musician?

JB: Are you happy when you play? Are you happy when you have to record, write? It’s all about the love”as it is with most things in life.

Peace.

Q&A with Jay Sweet and Jake Brennan of the Bodega Girls. Introduction written by OurStage.