Rock N Recipes: Ribbon Stage

ATH: The short bio and the album art, make nods to Shop Assistants (and Dolly Mixture), but what are some unexpected influences (or obvious) that we might find on the new album?

Jolie: I think the band comes from a more punk background than anything (including noise pop) with wide spanning influences around that genre. But we all love music a lot and have a lot of obsessions. Maybe more unexpectedly, our drummer Mari was extremely into Gene Clark and Gram Parsons at the time of recording. We love 60s rock and folk, listened to a lot of Beach Boys while recording too.

ATH: In terms of the new LP, how did you end up finding a home on K Records? Was that what led to the recording in Olympia? Or did that come after the fact?

Jolie: We put out our 7 on K after encouragement and harassment to make it a proper release from Hayes at the label, who then recorded the record out here. I live in Olympia now so it made sense to have the band out here to do the LP, where we have more resources.

ATH: I’m writing to you via your WNYU email address…what do you think college/independent radio can still offer, in light of everyone moving to streaming services, etc?

Jolie: I’m a die-hard college radio person, having been an annoying music nerd in high school and pretty much wanting to go to college so I could be a part of the station. Pretty much the only connections I have in the music industry are just friends that I made during my time at WNYU, many of whom have real jobs. I would have been lost without it for sure, it was my work study job and the place I spent the most time. I ended up DJing a punk show for almost 6 years (two after graduation before finding my successor for Crucial Chaos).

I’m not totally up to date on what they’re up to over there but still believe in college radio as the place to be for people who genuinely love music and want to be in community together. I learned so much and met a deeply interesting group of people who introduced me to some of my favorite bands, and just having that space to explore was amazing. There still needs to be a place for non-algorithmic curation, for listeners to be engaged in the non-digital sphere, for genuine fandom and connections. That being said, I have no idea if being played on college radio makes a difference as far as actual sales go.

We love all independent music channels, and have been trying to do a live session at our favorite station WFMU for our friends show Question the Answer but have not been able to due to Covid restrictions. When the 7 came out we did an interview and guest playlists for our friend Faye’s show, which is archived here: https://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/99144

ATH: Moving off that, what ways are the band looking at marketing/promoting the new LP? Are traditional outlets still viable, or is the whole scene in need of a do-over? Just always interested in goals and ideas bands are setting forth on album cycles.

Jolie: All our promo is done through word of mouth or through the label. Were lucky to have pretty good infrastructure and support through K and the distribution, but even so, the main way that people hear us is via friends of friends. We had a lot of critical/editorial support for the EP but so far we haven’t had much press support on the LP. For some reason this is the first interview we’ve done about it so far. But we know our fans like the record because they write messages, make posts, and create user-made playlists on Spotify, despite not being on their algorithm-core playlists.

So I’ve sent copies to friends and am hoping they play it for their friends or say that they like it on the internet so more people listen to it etc. Bandcamp is reliable but there is only so much they can do. Straight up it’s really hard to get people to listen to your music, let alone buy it. We are lucky to have record stores that order/promote the record, especially places in the UK and Japan where it seems like a shop is more of a cultural institution, with influence and community. For example, Monorail and Rough Trade have been super helpful in spreading the word, setting up different exclusives of signed postcards and limited edition vinyl, respectively.

Ultimately, we want to connect our music with as many people as possible who might relate to it. It’s all a sinking ship, so that’s all we can really rely on- community word of mouth and friends. Which can be daunting, but also we have spent years and years building up infrastructure in the DIY and underground (mostly punk) scene, which is why are even lucky enough to have the audience that we do. Its been a lifetime of booking shows, housing bands, making videos, DJing gigs, drawing flyers, etc etc etc for little to no money (and vice versa) that has sustained us this far. I mean Mari has literally toured the world with their punk bands and will continue to do so despite whatever tire fire the mainstream or indie music industries continue to be. I don’t see that changing even as we get backed further and further into a corner of no resources. Which other people have spoken about much more adeptly than me, with the same issue of being crushed by capitalism, but what else is new?

ATH: In the photo you sent us of J.R. during recording, there are tons of books in the background…what three books would define Ribbon Stage? As a band, or as the individuals in the band.

Jolie: Mari and I are both fans of Buddhist author Thch Nhất Hạnh, and initially we had wanted to name our demo Plum Village as a nod to him. Mari is also a fan of Chris Hedges, and I’m into reading alternative/anti-imperialist history books as well. Maybe there aren’t 3 specific books that would define us, but general topics that are important. Prison abolitionist literature, voices from the struggle against the Israeli occupation, anarcha-feminism. Interestingly, JR would pick random books from that shelf when writing the lyrics, and I believe was inspired by Julia Kristeva and Antonin Artaud while doing so. I’m pretty sure Mari brought All About Love by Bell Hooks to Oly during the recording, and I was probably reading that months issue of the Baffler magazine.

ATH: I’m always interested in bands and how they operate within their own musical communities. What bands do you as a band connect with, be it spiritually or sonically? Are there specific venues that also fall under that? If so, let’s highlight them!

Jolie: Great question, and unfortunately a Spotify playlist does a good job answering it. I made a Ribbon Stage & Friends playlist on there last month, and while its totally incomplete since so many friends don’t use that platform, its a good primer for our people both spiritually and sonically:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6SpjO2yRnQQ6KyLDpKZLy3?si=87af5ca3fa7141d9
There’s a lot of stuff on there from La Vida Es Un Mus, a London-based label that Mari has put out other releases on. There’s also songs from recent K releases that I’ve helped out with over the past couple of years, and NYC friends like Chronophage and Straw Man Army, who we consider kindred spirits.

Venue wise, in Oly we have Le Voyeur which is a punk all ages spot with shows and a bar/vegan food. NYC is home to an always shifting landscape of DIY spots, some of which are not totally within the bounds of the law or general accessibility. Chaos Computer and Club A are both good ones very near and dear to our hearts, and are currently fundraising, which you can check out here:
https://opencollective.com/chaos-computer
https://opencollective.com/club-a-kitchen

J.R. has also DJed at Dust in the past, which is another more noise/techno scene and venue we are connected with in Brooklyn: https://www.instagram.com/dustofnyc/

Our friends Liz and Jenn do a monthly calendar through their newsletter Cryptophasia, which also includes track reviews: https://cryptophasia.glitch.me/

Internationally, we are in solidarity with Musicians for Palestine: https://musiciansforpalestine.com/our-letter

ATH: If someone was to send the band a gift? What would we send you all?

Jolie: Leather and shoes!!!! But Venmo is better cause we are very particular 😉

ATH: What is your pitch to Vitamix? How can they sponsor Ribbon Stage? Or why should they?

Jolie: I got my Vitamix at a thrift store outside of Olympia and have been hyping them up ever since free of charge. We care about eating healthy inexpensively and Vitamix would be lucky to have non yuppie influencers to spread the gospel, so they can feel free to send us more products. In doing so, we would emphasize the importance of easily accessible technology to maximize ease for having good food, NOT just for rich people.

And here is a Rock N Recipe from Jolie of Ribbon Stage!

This is Jolie from Ribbon Stage, here with a special recipe to celebrate the release of our first album. We made a lot of amazing food the week that Mari and J.R. were in Olympia to record the LP. They are both great chefs, and we all love hippie vegan food and macrobiotic cooking or w/e. Anything with squash, tofu, mushrooms, kale, brown rice etc with miso/tahini/nutritional yeast and the works and we are happy. Additionally, we are all proud Vitamix users (sponsor us! please) and love to make smoothies.

My personal specialty is an acai bowl, which I made for breakfast one day during the recording. Billed as my “healthy ice cream,” they are famous among my friends for being delicious and also the one healthy thing I used to eat when my life consisted mostly of pizza, Cheetos, and Cheerios.

Similar to my guitar playing, the recipe is pretty loose and doesn’t adhere to measurements, but hopefully it will just make sense in the same way 🙂

“Jolie’s famous acai bowls”

Combine the following ingredients into the blender and blend until smooth but thick:

• frozen acai packet
• non-dairy milk
• peanut butter
• frozen blueberries and bananas (strawberries, blackberries, and any other fruits also work)
• spinach or kale (optional)
• flax seeds, chia seeds (optional)
• some kind of healthy powder, I use host defense mushroom supplements (optional)

Top it off with some combination of the following, but remember the crunch is an important contrast to the smooth ice cream texture

• hemp hearts
• granola
• cacao nibs
• blueberries/cut up strawberries or fresh fruit of choice