PPS own Mia Berrin
Interview conducted on Jan. 23, 2020
by Dan Locke
Pom Pom Squad has been a staple in Brooklyn DIY scene for their modern grunge sound and raucous live show (tour dates here) sharing the stage with indie-rock mainstays like Soccer Mommy, Adult Mom, Rosie Tucker and more. This past summer, they released their sophomore EP, Ow which got some love from Pitchfork, FADER, Stereogum, Paste, NY Mag’s Vulture, SiriusXM Alt Nation, Under the Radar, Highsnobiety and m, ore.
from the EP was named one of Thrillist’s best songs of 2019.
Band Members
Mia Berrin – Vox, GTR
Mari Alé Figeman – Bass
Shelby Keller – Drums
Dan Locke: What does Bad boii the skeleton mean?
Mia Berrin: I hate the internet… how did you find this?
What influenced you while growing up?
Growing up, my dad was obsessed with hip-hop and my mom was obsessed with New Wave. They found a middle ground in listening to indie rock/alternative music, and I found my niche in grunge and riot grrrl punk as a teenager. I also spent a lot of time watching movies like The Virgin Suicides, Frances Ha, Jennifer’s Body, and scouring the internet for pictures of fashion shows from the 90s.
Tell me about getting your first guitar? And do you still have it?
I do! I have a really hard time getting rid of guitars. When I was 13 or 14 I went to sleepaway camp for the summer and was completely miserable – I essentially had to bully an adult male camp counselor into teaching me how to play guitar because I couldn’t play sports. By the end of the summer, I couldn’t stop playing. My parents got me my first guitar a few months after that – it was an Ovation acoustic – the front of the body was like, this dark wood and the back was black plastic. I remember feeling like there was something very unnatural about it.
What is it name?
I think I named her Pearl? That’s maybe the only one I don’t really remember out of my collection.
What is your favorite guitar now? Make, model and year?
My favorite now is this custom Fender Jaguar/Jazzmaster hybrid – my Jag-Master. It’s sonic blue and gets this amazing heavy sound. The first time I played it in band practice all my bandmates stopped what they were doing. Her name is Miss World.
I see you have always been a frontwoman. I watch your cover of Feist’s “I Feel it All”.
Haha yeah, that video was actually from my first time playing an electric guitar on stage– it was a school talent show. The girl playing bells, Leka, is still my best friend to this day. When we were in high school, she played drums in the school band. The first iteration of Pom Pom Squad (that never came to be) was a duo with her on drums and me on guitar.
How did the Pom Pom Squad start?
It started with me alone in my bedroom – the way I think a lot of music starts these days. I was bored and confused in the liminal space between high school graduation and my upcoming move to New York. I had just gotten my first laptop and started messing around in Garageband. I released two demos to Bandcamp and didn’t start playing seriously until a few years later.
Do you remember your first show?
Very, very well. It was at Bowery Electric in Manhattan. I wore this see-through purple dress, and Leka actually flew across to the country to come to see me. I remember being on the train there and going over in my head everything that could possibly go wrong I was like, chanting to myself “I will not fall off the stage, I will not drop my pick, I’m not gonna fuck up the chorus” whatever.
Why did you decide to redo FKA Cellophane?
I just love that song. It’s totally a song I wish I had written. I think the softs and louds are so sweeping and there was something about it that I could hear in my own style really easily – as if it could’ve been a long lost “Ow” song. I love how blunt and visceral the lyrics are.
I listened to Heavy Heavy do you have depression?
Yup!
Do you feel that a lot of musicians have some type of mental illness?
Probably – but I think only because a lot of people deal with mental illness. I do think that there’s this dangerous misconception that artists have about suffering being the magic ingredient that makes your art good. In reality, untreated mental illness, particularly for me, was always a detriment to making art more than it was a benefit.
Do you feel by working as a musician helps you emotionally?
Yeah definitely. I think in the case of Heavy Heavy, it really helped me to be able to identify what I was feeling leading up to a depressive episode, which is a skill I’ve been able to use and over and over. I think being able to put a face and a name– or in this case a sound– to a feeling is the best way to begin to cope with it, and the song feels like a very tangible manifestation of that.
Are you ready for your upcoming mini-tour?
I hope so! I’ve never been on tour before, but we’ll be heading out to San Francisco for Noise Pop Festival in February, which I’m really excited about, and think will be a nice warm-up for the longest stint with Disq!!
During your tour and you going to try out some of the food of Chicago (Chicago pizza, Chicago hot dogs)?
I actually spent a lot of time in Chicago when I was 18 or so – still very biased toward New York Pizza, but stoked to try a Chicago hot dogs. I will be accepting recommendations!!
How do you see your band in five years?
Touring a lot, very happy, making lots of music that we’re excited about, kissing babies, wearing designer suits – you know… the works!
Anything in closing you like to say?
Thank you!! x
You must be logged in to post a comment.