Dainty World Beat
'All Dolls go to heaven' is a cool CD by DollhouseX from Florida, USA. The great voice from Luci between fresh beats is very original.
Interview with Luci from DollhouseX Oct./Nov.2004/Jul.2005
by
Thomas Lau:
"What was your motive to start with singing and in which year was the beginning?"
Luci:
"My earliest memories are of my family singing crazy little songs togther like "I went to the animal fair...". From an early age my greatest dream was to do what I am doing now. First I wanted to broadway (I did a bunch of community theater)then I wanted a band. I went through three bands, before I started producing music on the computer.
You may be thinking how did you go through three bands? The first fell apart when there was a tradgedy for my keyboardist. The second fell apart when my 2nd keyboarist got a divorce. The third was made up of left over members of both but the group had too many varied interests. I started on my own using the computer and have done so ever since.
My first band (on my own) was called Lillith. I wrote about 8 songs for the broken hearted. However I wanted to put something together that was harder and edgy. Understanding that "edgy" as a description is boring. Edgy as the part of you that folks struggle to comprehend is infinitly interesting, especially because we all have that place inside.
Now my goal is to continue the this pattern of growth that was started. My goal to see how far I can take it."
Thomas Lau:
"What means the name of your band 'dollhousex' ?"
Luci:
"The first music I performed in 1995 was under the name "Lillith". Then there was a Lilith Fair (no connection, great minds think alike). This caused the need for an update. I updated the name to "Xillith" and did a graphic novel as well as music. I used X since X can represent anything (X-mas, generation X), plus if you didn't know it, it was hard to say, mysterious. I did 2 issues of the pictoral comic with music CD. This project I will continue in the future.
Later as an extension of the music I love, I got into some of the Japanese ELG and lolita scene on the web. They take it to such beautiful extremes. Except for them it centers around Hard Rock and Death Metal, instead of Industrial, EBM, punk, goth, ect. I fell in love with the group Malice Mizer. Especially Mana who (I'm told) now lives in France instead of Japan. Mana is sort of a Japanese Nina Hagen (who I also adore and would love to meet one day). Mana likes many different looks, many styles, timeless, you never know where or how she will turn up.
Here in Florida, Tampa (only one hour from me)is the death metal capitol of the world. If you really break down the acts there are many punk or goth elements to them.
So I wanted a sound that reflected my journey through styles around the world that influenced me. DollhouseX is not a goth band, nor a metal band, nor a pop band. So I also wanted a name that led the listener to understand lines are going to be blurred. Hence the X from Xillith and Dollhouse from the love of all the extremes I love to find in many music styles. As if each is filled a little room inside of me.
Now as for the obvious, am I going to go on stage and be provacative? Of course! I need to express music with extreme visuals of many sorts. Especailly because my music is about asking questions. Is it going to be a strip show? Heck no!!!"
Thomas Lau:
"I viewed some of your images. I really love your dresses. How big is your wardrobe?"
Luci:
"Believe me, my wardrobe is TOO large. By day I generally wear like a black t-shirt, black skirt and black boots, even here in Florida. Everyone always asks "aren't you hot?" "Sure I am" is my reply (LOL, ok bad pun but I had to do it). By day if I can't get up and out of the door in minutes then something is wrong.
By night things are different. For years I was "famous for nothing" here in the local clubs before I managed to put my music together. I love fashion, I love to create a look. These days it is not limited to clothes and boots but can include hair/wigs, contact lenses, and blinking lights. The simple reason for so much excess is, when you hit the dance floor all eyes are on you. If your little "audience" is happy with your look and moves, the night goes from being an ordinary boring club night to pure joy and magic. People join in and everyone is suddenly your long lost best friend.
I love clothes so much I even wholesaled on Ebay from three different clothes lines. I had to stop that because the profit margin is so slim (5-10% at best), and you end up having a lot of money tied up in buying and rebuying items to sell. The fringe benefit of choice clothes at a deep discount was very fun at first. Now I have been on quest for the "holy grail" of outfits and found it. I have been looking for the perfrect 24hour outfit. I want to play and see the world. Wanted to find an outfit that I could wear setting up equipment, performing, hitting a club night and even functioning during the day without causing people to call the police. My choice is the perfect pair of plain leather pants, a nicely styled leather top, leather "goodfellas style" blazer, tall shiny boots and shiny gloves. This I will wear at the Beach Side Live music fest in Daytona Beach in Sept. If all goes well I am going to tape that one, we'll see if it is possible, sometimes it is not.
Ultimately, I want to have a clothing line as part of what the Dollhousex camp offers. I started to work on some reconstructed items. The one peice is really coming out great but I think I will donate to a women's benefit that I play at the end of August. It is an anarchy jacket, a-la gutter punk style (purple plaid, spray painted "A" sign on back). But I have added a lot of touches that really make it artful, I will post a picture before I donate it. "
Thomas Lau:
"Are you working on a new album?"
Luci:
"Always. I have two or three songs done. I am going to wait a bit since I just released this in August. Never stop until you get what you want. :)"
Thomas Lau:
"Please tell the people around the world about your gigs! "
Luci:
"People tend to sit back and get very wide eyes at my gigs. I have added a percussionist, she plays hand drums, shakers, and cymbals. We dawn masks and do all sorts of wild dances. We love to use things that light up or shoot bubbles or smoke. We are sort of like lounge singers literally from hell or maybe Vaudville for the 21st century. "
Thomas Lau:
"Your new CD Who's that doll? is very well. I like to repeat it because the change from last track to track 1 is a refreshment for my ears! Why is 'transit' inspired by Thomas Lau? "
Luci:
" Tried really hard to make sure that a person could listen from the beginning to the end and each time pick a different favorite. The joy of being indie is that I don't have to focus on a 'single' to sucker a person into buying my work. I can produce the best work I can and hopefully other folks get some joy as well. For "In Transit" I really wrestled with how to address the credit. 'Co-Written' was a choice but it did not address the wonderful connection that I got to make with Thomas Lau, half a world away in Germany. 'Music By' was another choice but it came back to the same issue. Finally 'Inspired By' was a perfect fit, but that is exactly what happened. Thomas had this wonderful song 'Transit' with a great ambiant hook. We met on a band site that swaps reviews. I gushed, "I'd love to sing to that" in the review. To my amazement, he wrote back, why don't you? So the next challage was the music. I tried to sample that great riff, no luck at all. Finally had to sit down and reconstruct it as best as I could. Then I thought about what Thomas might like to hear aroung it musically from a rock and roll perspective. The 'blues-y' riff fell in to place almost on its own. Then came time for the words. "I said I would" was a natural way to open the song. After that the rest of the words practically wrote themselves. So for the whole piece it was like I was a vessle conducting this song into a rock and roll place, hence 'Inspired By' is the most accurate description I could offer and a huge compliment too. It is wonderful to inspire people, perhaps greater in the great scheme of things than a random act of kindness. The benefit of that song on the album is that it is like sauve. Soothing you after my beats have lashed at you for a while and it feels so good. "
'All Dolls go to heaven' is a cool CD by DollhouseX from Florida, USA. The great voice from Luci between fresh beats is very original.