Scene Point Blank: How did you come up with the name of the band? Is it a comment on police oppression? Kinky fuzzy pink Handcuff sex? Or a nod to the great Harry Houdini the escape artist?
Chloe: Well, I’m afraid it’s not the most exciting answer. Brad had come up with the name because he thought it was a good rock ‘n’ roll name and timeless, and I agreed. I googled it extensively, and much to our surprise, nobody had claimed the name yet. So we grabbed it and trademarked it, you know, like most good business-minded musicians. Hahahaha.
I mean, if you want to read more into it, we began The Handcuffs as a duo and felt “handcuffed” together by our creativity. Later we decided to get hitched and the word for spouse in Spanish is the same as for handcuffs. Now that we have five people in the band, we’re sort of M.C. Escher-like Handcuffs.
Brad: I like the Harry Houdini aspect. Maybe we should change our story.
Scene Point Blank: What is your past musical history/landscape?
Brad: How much time do you have?
But, to be quick, I’ve had a few major label bands, toured all over the world during the heady days of arena gigs to down and dirty, gritty city dives, and have been pretty lucky to have experienced the life of a rock ‘n’ roll musician in the way that a lot of people haven’t. But, easing into the digital and DIY world was pretty natural for me. I’m easily adaptable and there are great things about both worlds.
Chloe: I had wanted to be a jazz musician since I discovered Charlie Parker as a kid. I started out as an alto sax player, and it’s still my best instrument even though I’m more “known” as a lead singer and, I guess, rhythm guitarist. I soon fell in love with rock ‘n’ roll, too (still love jazz, though), so I changed my tune a bit. But, a few of my favourite artists went from sax to singing and guitar. Namely P.J. Harvey and David Bowie, so I guess I’m in pretty great company. And, we're in great company because we have badass band members.
Scene Point Blank: Your music evokes nuances of early British glam at times, i.e. Roxy Music, Slade, Wizzard, Sparks, Mott the Hoople. How important is this time period musically to The Handcuffs? (Picture on your website would indicate a nod to Slade...CUFFS!)
Chloe: Incredibly important, especially for this album. I also feel like we need to add some American rock ‘n’ roll influences from the same era: Like The Patti Smith Group, The Velvet Underground and The New York Dolls.
Brad: Thank you for noticing. Yeah, we’re definitely wearing our influences on our sleeves…and knuckles.
Scene Point Blank:The band has drawn comparisons to Blondie. Is this just lazy journalism trying to pigeonhole a female singer to another? Mind you Brad Elvis did say The Handcuffs are like The Foo Fighters meets No Doubt. Oddly, enough the first time I heard No Doubt I thought it was Blondie!
Brad: Wow, that Foo Fighters/No Doubt comparison is really outdated, especially in our current configuration and sound. And we like both bands. It must be hanging around the internet in places we haven’t seen for a while. The internet: Where everything that was ever said about you stays for eternity.
Chloe: Yeah, I do think it’s lazy to draw comparisons to, although everyone in our band loves Blondie, and I can kind of see/hear some Blondie-like aspects. But, they were probably influenced by many of our influences. I know a lot of female-fronted bands who get compared to Blondie. It’s slightly annoying because most people can’t look past gender in a frontperson. I don’t think of myself as a female singer, I’m just a singer. You never hear “male-fronted band Franz Ferdinand…” or anything like that. In fact, when I was a wee one I wanted to be Roger Daltrey. Then I wanted to be David Bowie. I just wanted to play in a rock ’n’ roll band (well, first a jazz band, but you get the idea). Having said that, I like to support my lady friends whether they’re behind the scenes or on stage. I think that the more of us that there are in this biz, the more we won’t have to be tethered to those hackneyed labels. We can just be producers or singers or guitarists or sound engineers or tour managers or whatever. No need to qualify for the job with gender in front of it.
"Be careful when you meet heroes, they may actually delight you."
Scene Point Blank: Brad, do you have a good joke or two?
Chloe: Oh, god, don’t get him started. Although, truthfully, he’s more of a pun guy. Oh, and I have a couple of good jokes, but you didn’t ask me.
Scene Point Blank: Brad, what is the current situation with The Romantics?
Brad: The Romantics are on a well-deserved break for the time being.
Scene Point Blank: Brad, who are your drum heroes? Rich? Moon? Enquiring minds want to know!
Brad: Keith Moon, Gene Krupa, Hal Blaine, Ginger Baker, John Bonham, Bun E. Carlos to name a few. But, my drumming is also inspired by Pete Townshend and Jack Benny.
Scene Point Blank: What was it like working with Mike Hagler (Wilco, Neko Case, Billy Bragg, Mavis Staples, My Morning Jacket, The Mekons)? The production seems very crisp and clear and the drums are very prominent. Perhaps Brad is right -- don’t piss off the sound engineer!
Chloe: Hmmm, I thought I was the one who said, “Don’t piss off the sound engineer.” I actually don’t think the drums are any more prominent than they should be. Rut roh, hope you didn’t get that one copy of the record that was fucked up in manufacturing and is all drums. Hahahaha. But, seriously, Mike is ace! He’s become one of our very best pals. He gets us and we get him. We’ve recorded all of our records with him, and, like us, he understands that evolution in sound and style can be a good thing, so each record is engineered and produced exactly how it’s supposed to be, and it doesn’t necessarily have to have the same sonic quality as the others or as anyone else’s record. His production and engineering modus operandi is to serve the songs, the artist and the album in a way that is unique to them.
Scene Point Blank: Are the dynamics different with three of the five band members being female or is that irrelevant?
Chloe: Is there supposed to be a different dynamic within a band if members are of one gender or another? I guess if you're Fleetwood Mac in 1978. But, this is 2022.
Scene Point Blank: Lyrically where do you pull your inspiration from?
Brad: Probably from where most artists do. Life. Dreams. Love. Happiness. Tragedy. Heartache. Hope. Injustice. Anger. But, sometimes lyrics are just fiction.
Scene Point Blank: How did Morgan Fisher (Mott the Hoople) come to play on this release?
Chloe: To paraphrase the great Al Kooper: Oh, man, do I have to tell this fucking story again!? First of all, members of Mott The Hoople are some of our musical heroes. I wrote a review, initially just for fun, of Mott The Hoople’s remarkable 2019 reunion tour (we saw the sold out show at the Chicago Theatre and we’re still buzzing about it), and it got picked up by an online publication, where they mentioned the name of our band with my byline. The review kind of went viral and caught the attention of Morgan, who looked up our band and then looked me up, and we all became friends on social media and started communicating regularly. We talked about working on our new album, and Morgan had brought up that if we needed any additional keyboards, he’d love to give it a whirl. So, fuck yeah, we took him up on it. As a band, we picked a couple of songs we thought would be interesting to utilize Morgan’s talents (on both piano and synthesizers!), and now it’s all this. He lives in Japan, so we emailed tracks back and forth. He has since become one of our dearest friends, and we have quite a few get-togethers via zoom. Be careful when you meet heroes, they may actually delight you.
