“We can conquer anything”: 20 years of Warpaint
Cast your minds back to the days of 2004 – a simpler time when the world was transfixed by the Greek Olympics, Shrek 2 and Mark Zuckerburg was gearing up to destroy civilisation by launching Facebook. Over in Los Angeles, something distinctly more optimistic was brewing. Indie rock had witnessed a tremendous resurgence during the early part of the noughties, coming off the back of the garage rock resurgence of The White Stripes and The Hives.
Capitalising upon this vibrant new wave of music, a group of childhood friends and siblings make the executive decision to start a band. Forming amid Valentine’s Day’s romantic surroundings, Warpaint became one of the leading figures of American alternative rock, a staple of the scene for two decades.
As I sat in my bedroom, with grey Bradfordian skies providing my backdrop, waiting for Warpaint’s bassist Jenny Lee Lindberg to enter the waiting room of Zoom, I desperately wanted to pretend I had been there from the beginning. But I haven’t. I was less than two years old when the Californian high school buddies decided to form a band.
As much as I would love to pretend that, even as a toddler, cool indie bands and psychedelic rock storied my music taste, it wasn’t; my only musical exposure thus far had been The Wiggles and the Doris Day CDs my grandmother would play in her Toyota Yaris. Nevertheless, there was a definite sense of nervousness as I waited for my laptop screen to be filled with the smiling face of Jenny Lee.
Lindberg had joined the call from the unbelievably colourful and sun-soaked setting of her Los Angeles abode to discuss the 20th anniversary of her band’s formation. However, what could have been a fairly banal, methodical interview quickly turned into a sprawling exploration of Jenny’s life within the band, often darting down various alleyways and off-shoots that were soon abandoned. This is clearly a common theme of Lindberg’s interviews, as she preempted my initial question by saying, “Sometimes I run on – I also have severe ADHD, so I get distracted sometimes”.
One of the most endearing aspects of Warpaint, as fans of theirs will be all too aware, is the strong sense of friendship and sisterhood between the members. Lindberg was keen to share her continued adoration for her bandmates – I suppose bands who hate each other aren’t likely to stay together for 20 years after all. “We’ve all lived so many lives within the last 20 years, but there’s always been that constant of being in the band,” the songwriter shared, “In a way, we’ve kind of raised each other, which is really sweet.”
It is difficult not to enjoy how, even after 20 years stuck in a van together travelling across the world, Lindberg still smiles reverently while talking about her bandmates. Even the teetering nature of my WiFi could not hide the love between Lindberg and her fellow musicians. “I didn’t even realise how much I rely on them for comfort and security. I realise how much more comfortable and cosy I feel with my girls,” the bassist smiled, “It just feels like we can conquer anything, or we can do anything, stronger together.”
Although the unconditional love between the childhood friends is, according to Lindberg, one of the main reasons the group have managed to stick together throughout all these years, she was clear in the fact that being in Warpaint has not been without its challenges. “I mean, we were on the road for a very, very long time – a good ten years – we were just on the road,” she shared. That time spent touring, locked in a confined space with her bandmates, did provide some challenges, as is to be expected. Think about your closest friends and your favourite family members; would you be willing to spend endless hours stuck in a van with them? I certainly wouldn’t. “It’s definitely hard and challenging because we all are very individual,” Lindberg admitted, “We all have our own different tastes, and we all kind of come from different backgrounds. It’s not always a walk in the park.”
Musing upon the years she has spent touring with her friends, Lindberg reconsidered the challenges, affirming, “I think that, as much as that can kind of work against us, I feel like that makes us the band that we are”. Such a claim certainly stands to reason. Among the fairly generic indie rock stylings of many of their contemporaries, Warpaint always stood out among the rest for their unique genre-bending sound. Across their two-decade run, the Californians have been branded with every label under the sun, from dream pop to chamber psychedelic, indie rock and psychedelia. “A lot of our music is based on our feelings and our moods,” Lindberg explained, “And those are ever-changing.”
Reminiscing on the changes the band has gone through in the past two decades, Lindberg beamed as she recalled, “I think when we first started, maybe we took ourselves just a touch too seriously.” According to the bassist, life within a rock band is largely a battle between being too serious and having too much fun, “We took ourselves a little too seriously the very very beginning and then we started to loosen up and started to have a lot of fun, maybe too much fun. And then we started to, sort of, reel that in a bit.”
Despite their vast experience in alternative music, Lindberg revealed that – for the most part – Warpaint have been winging it. Asked what advice she would give to young musicians looking to follow in their footsteps, she earnestly replied, “I’m at a loss as far as what to do. If I were to give somebody advice on how they should approach their career, what they should do first, I wouldn’t know. I honestly don’t know. I don’t necessarily think we have that figured out”. However, Lindberg did eventually relent, declaring that honing your life performance is among the most important aspects of being a musician.
“I think our music comes alive when we play out,” she shared, “So I guess maybe that would be a piece of advice is just to play as many shows as you can – even if it’s at a coffee shop, if it’s at a house party, wherever it is, because I think that you just get better. I think that, because of how many shows that we’ve played, we have gotten so tight as a band.” Warpaint are set to continue their legacy as an unforgettable live band, with a handful of dates in the US set for the summer.
Fans in the UK and Europe will have to wait a little longer, though, with the group apparently taking a short break after the summer to regroup and focus on their family lives for a while. Almost teasingly, Jenny affirmed, “I can say confidently that we are the best we’ve ever been as a band, live now.” So, fingers crossed that Warpaint back their way over the Atlantic before too long. To wet the whistle, Warpaint released a new track and music video, ‘Common Blue’, which certainly encapsulates the feelings of unparalleled joy that Jenny Lindberg expressed while sharing her retrospective of the group.
