Murder for Girls: Melodic garage rock. Sometimes punky, sometimes riotous, sometimes balladeering. Always rocking. We’ll break your heart, and you’ll love us for it.
Interview conducted on October 26, 2020
By Dan Locke
Melodic riotous punk rock delivered by Pittsburgh natives since 2013, featuring members, now or then, of Bunny Five Coat, Blindsider, Paris Green, Liverball, and Zits of America…They’ll break your heart and you’ll love them for it
What is your upbringing?
Stephanie Wallace: Born and raised in the Pittsburgh suburbs with a musician father and brother. I was lucky to grow up in a house a baby grand piano and I learned to play and read music at a young age. My musical tastes eventually departed from the rest of my family’s jazz background in my early teens, although I retained some of my classical roots.
Tammy Lynn: Born and raised in the Pittsburgh area.
Michele Dunlap: We were kind of poor but we made it out alive. My dad and brother are both musicians and we always had a lot of fun and laughs in our family.
How did you discover music?
Stephanie: Early on through my family, later on in my formative years through playing in bands with friends in each other’s garages and basements around the suburbs. There was an amazing local music/art scene where I grew up in the 90’s, and a very creative and supportive atmosphere to express ourselves through various shades of punk rock.
Tammy: My parents had a bunch of vinyl, albeit country music mostly. There was luckily a Carole King “Tapestry” in the mix.
Michele Dunlap: My dad was a radio D.J. so we always listened to his station, kind of an oldies station. My mom gave me the best of Aretha Franklin and Janis Joplin and some other oldies tapes and stuff and I just fell in love with singing from there on out. Once I got older my sister gave me her Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Violent Femmes tapes and I wanted to drum. Discovered Hole, 7 Year Bitch, Babes in Toyland and never looked back haha
How is Pittsburgh for live music?
Stephanie: These days there are still some remnants of “scenes” and folks who are committed to coming to local shows, but it is not as robust as cities like NYC and Minneapolis. Many of our smaller venues have closed and the larger ones old and new are often prohibitively expensive for the starving local acts to book, or are paid little to nothing to play as a supporting act. It is definitely an environment where you definitely can’t quit your day job and expect to survive as a musician. We have been surprised to find that crowd turnouts in suburban and rural areas outside the city have been surprisingly strong and enthusiastic, which is very cool and we have vowed to get out of the city limits more often once normalcy returns. Now that the other ladies’ kiddos are getting older, we are even looking at finally planning some smaller tours in the near future.
Tammy: Usually there are many options on any given weekend night (pre-COVID) …Often weekday nights as well. Could be better attended given all the options.
Michele Dunlap: Mostly low key, but everyone is so supportive of each other.
How did you start to write music?
Stephanie: I started writing music when I learned guitar. Somehow the instrument was more conducive to writing for me than the piano, and I started recording songs on a little Tascam 4-track in my bedroom when I was 15. That year I also joined my first band playing a 2-string bass, apocalyptic crust punk band called The Zits of America. We played only originals and actually stayed together a lot of years, self-releasing one LP “When the Clock Strikes 13” on tape cassette, most of which was recorded on a karaoke machine we got at Wal-Mart.
Tammy: I decided to start a band. Just figured it out! Guitar, check. 3-4 chords, check. Most likely studied patterns of different songs. Thought to myself, “ok, I need 2 verses and 3 choruses, with a different part wedged in there…” – basically what I still do. 🙂
Michele: I liked writing lyrics and stuff when I was a kid. All teen anxt and what not.
How did you get your first guitar, and do you still have it?
Stephanie: When the desire stuck to learn the guitar, I went down to a North Side pawnshop, Pitt Loan, and found a candy red Kramer Striker. The manufacturer is long defunct, but it was comfortable to play and I liked the modified Stratocaster look of the body. It has an early version of a Floyd Rose bridge which is a pain in the ass to change strings so they’re basically always rusted and I never play it live, but I still refuse to part with it for sentimental reasons.
Tammy: I petitioned my parents for one. My dad initially got me a second-hand acoustic with the action so high it was unplayable. I finally got an electric one, the last present to find one Christmas Day hidden behind the tree. A page right out of “A Christmas Story”. I don’t have it any longer, unfortunately.
Michele: My first drum kit was just some friend of my dad’s left it in our basement for a while and I was like, oh! This seems fun and went on from there. Once he wanted his kit back I was really upset so my mom took me to buy a kit. I literally couldn’t believe it. I still have her, Old Bertha. I set them up in my basement for my daughter sometimes.
What was your first performance like?
Stephanie: I think the first time I sang in public I must have been around 6, was with an old hippie acoustic artist at my late grandpa’s restaurant, The River Road Inn. I remember sitting on his lap and we sang “Puff the Magic Dragon” …pretty damn trippy. My first ever actual show with a band was in 1996 at Sandra D’s, an old hair salon in Cranberry with the Zits. There was actually a huge crowd of youth desperately seeking to escape the brutal banality of the suburbs.
Tammy: A train wreck in my head – probably passable outwardly.
How did you get Murder for Girls together?
Stephanie: I met the band, already formed, at a show at Thunderbird Cafe in Lawrenceville where I had bartended once in a while. They were playing as a 3-piece having recently parted ways with their other guitarist/vocalist Zo, I really liked their songs and style and thought I might be able to help fill out their sound, perhaps sensing they were down a member. I hadn’t played in a band for many years, but Tammy and I chatted after the show and the rest is history.
Tammy: I ended up hearing that Jonathan was looking to form a band, and so was I – the rest is history!
Michele: With MFG? Not sure what the very first show was but I know it was fun bc I kept coming back.
Why that name?
Stephanie: My understanding is Jonathan came up with it when he was trying to think of words not normally associated with females. People are often confused about the meaning of it, sort of understandably I guess, as “murder” usually connotates violence and gore. We see it as having multiple meanings, some we have played on in logos with murders of crows. You can also add the word “It’s” before the name to describe what we mean by it, as in “It’s murder out there, murder for girls.” Honestly when I first saw it on the marquis outside Thunderbird, I visualized something like a color by number instruction manual of sorts for little girls on murdering, which I took as oddly empowering and gave me a chuckle. It’s frustrating that some misinterpret it to be encouraging violence towards females, which obviously couldn’t be further from the intention or attitude of the band. We even thought about changing it some time ago just to eliminate any misconceptions, but at the end of the day it wouldn’t be very punk of us to change just because people don’t get it, and besides we think it’s pretty cool.
Tammy: 1) it wasn’t taken 2) we all agreed on it 3) it definitely is attention getting
What makes a good songwriter?
Stephanie: Honesty, determination, fearlessness. As long as a song comes from the heart, you can’t go wrong in my opinion. Determination to get through the process of trial and error which can be daunting and tedious, and fearlessness because it can be scary to bare your truths to yourself let alone total strangers.
Did Penny Marshall ever hear your song Penny Marshall?
Stephanie: That would be sweet if she did and hopefully would have liked it, but not likely. Jonathan often uses his female cinematic idols as placeholder song titles when he writes basslines. Some we end up changing, some of them stick. The song “Jennifer Lynch” for example was already called that and I purposefully wrote the guitar and lyric lines to mimic her raw ethereal, haunting filmmaking style.
Tammy: No, not that I know of. I wish Laverne would have!
How was it to open up for Shonen Knife on Sept 4, 2018?
Stephanie: We love us some Shonen! That was the 2nd time we were fortunate enough to play with them and hopefully not the last. They bring an awesome crowd and are extremely sweet and professional in person in our experience, simply delightful.
Tammy: Awesome! I believe that was our second time. They’re fun, iconic, always entertaining. Privilege to open for them.
What was the title of your first original song? Did you record it?
Stephanie: I always have a hard time finishing a song by myself, which is why I have always been more productive in collaborative band settings, if left only to my own devices, a song is never finished in my head. The first time I managed to call one done I wrote and recorded for a friend’s birthday near Valentine’s Day called “Candy Heart”. The first time I brought a song to a band was a bassline I wrote for the Zits called “Norwegian License Plate”, both were in the late 90’s and both still have 4-track recordings of somewhere.
How was it to release the CD “Done in the Dark” during the lockdown?
Stephanie: Strange, not ideal, but glad we did it. We had a whole release show planned and were super disappointed when the lockdown cancelled it. It was impossible to predict when things might ever open up again, so we decided to go ahead and just put it out their san’s performance. It helped that we had the “Goth Girls” music video ready to release with it we recorded last winter. We have gotten a good number of digital downloads and mailed out quite a few physical copies both from longtime fans and people from around the world who have found their way to us. In times like these we have to try to make lemonade from the lemons, and are doing everything we can to stay productive and engaged with media and audience, from streaming interviews, videos, and appropriately-distanced studio sessions. We are about halfway through writing our next album to be recorded early 2021, so hopefully things will be a little more back to normal come that release time…hopefully.
Tammy: It was weird, best I can say. Not the same getting comments and purchases online as it is in person.
What is your favorite track on the album?
Stephanie: I think “Honeycomb” turned out to be my favorite from the Tommy Stinson session. The sound he brought out of us through the recording has that certain unmistakable Replacements flavor to it to me, where I had never noticed it before working with him. It’s very cool to hear songs take new shapes after being run through a producer’s ear and mixer, and I think his cleaner, impromptu style really brought that track in particular home. “Patchouli” is my next favorite, especially to play live. The dirty thrashing guitars and tongue-lashing lyrics on that one cracks us up every time, and Tommy was about on the floor in the studio when Michele recorded those vocals.
Tammy: I like “Star”, I just am proud of that song.
How do you stay healthy while touring?
Stephanie: We have actually never toured outside of the greater Pittsburgh area due to job and general “life” constraints, which we hope will change down the road. All other band activity as of late has been performed practicing the distancing and mask recommendations of the knowledgeable experts.
What are you’re feeling about streaming music?
Stephanie: I actually don’t find myself streaming a whole lot. I have amassed such an extensive collection of tapes, CDs, and vinyl over the years, I don’t think I could listen to it all in my lifetime if I tried. Every now and then I’ll stumble across a new artist or act that catches my ear or is recommended by a friend, but usually I find myself sticking to my tried and true favorites, however unadventurous that sounds.
Michele: Obviously it’s amazing. What’s hilarious is that my gf has a Napster sticker on her bike from the 90’s haha
Digital vs. vinyl?
Stephanie: Time and place for both. You can’t beat the richness and depth of vinyl, and hopefully one day we’ll do a pressing of MFG stuff, but you can’t argue with the affordability and convenience of digital.
Michele: I love vinyl but I’m not rich.
What are your feelings about the social uprising going on in the United States?
Stephanie: I think it’s long overdue that these systemic injustices ingrained in our country’s fabric and institutions receive the reckoning they deserve. Since the BLM movement began, I have found myself incensed not only for the unconscionable killings and discrimination bore by the entire black population, but also by the utter miseducation I had received about the existence, and history of systemic racial discrimination and injustice in America. I feel lied to by an educational system with hidden agendas to keep the entire population ignorant participants in the status quo, which with a little deeper research, was built on oppression of entire races of people from the very beginning and has never gone away, only changed names and shapes. So yeah, these realizations have made me uncomfortable and resentful, but I am hopeful that as awareness continues to spread, meaningful change will be close behind.
Michele: Fuck Trump
What is the mental health situation of the United State?
Stephanie: Hard to speak to this as mental health is yet another systemic issue that tends to get swept under the rug or stashed into the closet in this country. I think that bringing more awareness and simple acknowledgment of its widespread existence and impacts is the first step to finding solutions. I do think that crime, poverty, and other consequences of mental health issues could be reduced if a more preventative approach and avenues to appropriate diagnosis and treatment were available in this country. Also, I believe healthcare should be considered a right in this country like it is in almost every other developed nation, and no real progress can be made until that is fixed.
Michele: Haha The U.S. is having a serious nervous breakdown.
How can the public help the doctors and nurses on the front line?
Michele: Wear a mask.
Do you think kids should go back to school?
Stephanie: No. It seems woefully irresponsible and unfair to force anyone to needlessly put themselves and their loved ones in harm’s way during an out of control and worsening pandemic. We have the technology to keep them home, so why risk it? This won’t last forever, so until leadership can get their shit together and figure out a safe way to bring kids back, schools should stick to online classes only, period.
Michele: I think if the virus was handled appropriately they would be back no problem. I’m ok with the part time cyber stuff but my kids are teens so I don’t have to hover too much.
In Canada, they just released a new Covid-19 vaccine school child which get rid of the invasive nasal swab and instead ask kids to gargle and spit. Now this is for children only. Should, this also be given to adults?
Stephanie: The thought of shoving a giant Q-tip up my nose is not my idea of a fun time. I did get the blood test which wasn’t bad, but yes, a gargle gets my vote anyway.
Michele: Heck yea..invasive nasal swab..haha no thanks to that on my end.
Studies are showing that because of COVID-19 many students who were ready for college have decide to hold off because many schools are doing virtual school and changing the same amount for school as they would for on campus classes. Do you think the colleges should give some type of discount to these students?
Stephanie: Under normal circumstances, I do think distance learning should be cheaper being that a University’s overhead costs for those students I would expect is much lower. That said, it may be argued that it should be all or nothing in a unique time like this since if they unlock their doors and switch on the lights for just 1 on-campus student in a classroom that otherwise seats 50, I can see it wouldn’t be financially possible to get by on just their higher tuition. If everyone stays home, any overhead savings from the unfortunate need to shutter campuses dictated by extreme circumstances like this should absolutely be passed along to the students.
Michele: Nah
What song from the past is in your mind right now? Moreover, what is the meaning that song means to you?
Stephanie: “Judy is a Punk” by the Ramones because we just covered it last weekend at the Hollywood Gardens show. It reminds me of when I was a wee lass and saw the Ramones at IC Light Amphitheater in Pittsburgh in the ’90s and crowd-surfed for the very first time. Those were the days…
Michele: It’s a song that connects me with my daughter. Like our song.
How do you feel the Covid-19 virus going to affect the music business in the future?
Stephanie: Unfortunately, I think it is going to hurt the artists more than the business itself. The gatekeepers will continue to find a way to make money, control and disseminate the music they decide should be mainstream and accessible and charge whatever they want, while underground, underfunded, groups of creative minds with new and exciting ideas that used to have a shot at getting noticed at local shows will struggle all the more and even risk dying out all together as more small venues close due to economic hardship caused by the general steady decline in live music from the expansion of convenient streaming platforms, not to mention the pandemic and future unforeseen obstacles.
I worry about the gradual watering down effect of the corporatization of music has on artists. Sure, just about anyone can record a song these days with a computer doing most of the legwork, slap on some autotune, and publish it to YouTube, which isn’t necessarily bad, just takes a lot away from the journey and isn’t nearly as satisfying as doing it the old-fashioned way. Sometimes it seems the only bands that can make enough money to get by these days play only covers or just shamelessly rip-off bands that have already done it before. Creativity is not especially encouraged and even tolerated anymore it seems, but maybe this ends up in another revolution/rebellion as we have seen in other decades and the cycle will continue.
Michele: No idea I just cant wait to go to a concert and dance around like an idiot.
What have you been doing with your self-quarantine? I learned a bunch of punk rock covers on mandoline.
What have you been doing with your self-quarantine?
Stephanie: Mostly boring domestic adulting things to keep busy like gardening and home-remodeling, cooking, cleaning and Netflixing and chilling. I’ve found myself struggling to be creative even with the extra free time, I think because of the mental and emotional energy spent on managing the anxiety and noise brought on by this year’s relentless barrage of absolutely horrifying circumstances. The limited practices with MFG we have pulled off have become even more therapeutic and necessary to me personally as it forces me out of my cave and back into creative mindset as we work on the new album, so I probably owe most of my sanity to them at the moment.
Have you discovered or rediscovered any new hobbies?
Stephanie: I figured out how to design an album cover for “Done in the Dark”, which I thought turned out pretty ok for an amateur.
Michele: Well, yea I used to play a little guitar so I switched to mandoline.
95% of people said that they have changed the way they watch television. This includes people who don’t have television and using their computers to do streaming of programs and movies. Which is your favorite streaming channel?
Stephanie: I haven’t had cable for most of my adult life and never really missed it much, but since acquiring an Apple TV I have fallen victim to that time vampire. I’d say my favorite is Amazon Prime since I love documentaries and they have a ton of super homemade, low-budget ones you would never find on Netflix or Hulu. I appreciate they are giving a platform to the little guys and have found some really cool stuff on there.
Michele: dk I have hulu and have been binge watching the X Files
Many artists are doing nightly concerts over either YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. In October that is going to change at least on Facebook. Facebook is cracking down on livestreamed shows that include recorded music with new terms of service, preventing artists from using the platform for “commercial or non-personal” purposes, unless they have obtained the relevant licenses.
The updated music guidelines state that users “may not use videos on our products [which include Instagram] to create a music listening experience […] This will include [Facebook] Live,” and stipulates that such content should be posted for the enjoyment of friends and family only.
How do you think this will change the landscape of Facebook?
Stephanie: I think it’s absolute crap for them to do that, greedy and dumb. Just one more reason to walk away from it. Band stuff and shows are the primary reason I still have an account at all. I don’t know why they’d want to drive bands away from it in the first place, but surely, it comes down to $. Hopefully, something better and more welcoming to artists will come out of it, and Facebook will go the way of Myspace, which I think everyone agrees was better, to begin with.
Michele: Screw Facebook, they just weren’t making any money off us.
How can bands keep their fans if they cannot play live in front of the fans and sell merch to them at the show?
Stephanie: Good question, especially following your Facebook/Instagram point. When it comes down to it, we really relied on those platforms as the most effective and efficient way to reach our fans and share the haps and sell our wares. We have a website you might find if you Google us (murderforgirls.com), but people would have to remember to keep checking it to get notified of stuff. Mass emailing’s feels somewhat intrusive to me and probably would mostly get junked anyway. It’s a predicament that will get worse when shows start happening again, so hopefully, someone comes up with a solution.
Tammy: I think just online performances (such as videos) or releasing new music for the time being.
Michele: Just got to get the music out there somehow.
How was it to play with social distance at the Hollywood Gardens?
Stephanie: Fun, chilly, and bittersweet. Felt great to play together for people again, and glad we got a proper show outdoors before it gets too cold (all the summer festivals we were slated to play this year had to be cancelled), but it did feel awkward and slightly depressing that, due to pandemic, the crowd had to stand pretty far away from us and each other. Didn’t feel the same, but I appreciate we got to do it.
Tammy: It turned out great! Was nice to shake the dust off for live performing again.
Michele: It was cool to see people coming out. Everyone was awesome, a lot of fun.
Are you going to vote by mail or in person?
Stephanie: By mail, already cast and counted.
Did you know that Live Nation Activates Concert Venues as Polling Places and Promotes Voting Engagement among Fans and Employees?
Stephanie: I did not, but that’s awesome to hear. I am shocked at the shameless conservative efforts to suppress voting in this and past elections, seems the exact opposite of democratic and patriotic.
Michele: I’m voting in person. My town isnt too big I’m not really worried about it.
What about Holographic concerts in our living room?
Stephanie: Like in Bill and Ted? I’m all for it, especially if George Carlin makes an appearance.
Michele: Meh not much different than just turning on the tv or radio
How was your Mindrocket session?
Stephanie: Great crew, cool studio, and we were honored to be invited. They have a great thing going up there. Other than it being a little off the beaten path and brutally hot and sweaty that day (especially in masks for the majority), awesome experience all around and totally thrilled with the end result!
Tammy: It was fun – great people, great experience. They put out excellent content!
Michele: Really great, those guys are legit!
If you can’t do music what would you like to be doing?
Stephanie: Next to music, my close second life passion is flying. I’ve been a pilot for nearly 20 years and loved aviation since before I can remember. If music wasn’t an option, I would put all the dollars and hours I put into playing towards air time. There’s really nothing else like it, and although I am not currently doing it professionally anymore, the itch never goes away.
Anything you would like to say in closing.
Stephanie: Thanks for finding and reaching out to us! Publications such as this are so critical to keeping the scene alive and well and we are grateful to be a part of it. If social media does end up muting all bands, please find us for updates on music, merch, and shows on other outlets such as Bandcamp or our website www.murderforgirls.com
Michele: What else is there? Anything you would like to say in closing. Keep it real.
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