Seven Innings with November Girl
Today's premiere is a strong continutation of the New York-based alt-rock band's trademark to juxtapose delicate vocals with aggressive instrumentals, created by lead guitarist Billy Flanagan, bassist Dylan Davis, and drummer Phillip Brand. Their sweet, addictive sound is like Alice in Chains meets No Doubt, and will have you harmonizing, "I'm stuck, I'm stuck, I'm stuck on youuu," all day long.
Read our exclusive interview with Willa Rudolph below.
What's November Girl's mascot?
A skeleton — like the kind in a science classroom — wearing a cute goth little cheerleading outfit and smoking a ciggy.
The uniform?
Probably a classic situation; I always want everything to be pink, but the boys are much more partial to black.
Where did the baseball theme come from?
My dad used to tell me, “There’s no crying in baseball,” basically like, “Toughen up.” That literally inspired the song. When we started conceptualizing the video, we talked about actually playing baseball, and that scene in Twilight came up a few times. But the baseball of it all is an arbitrary backdrop for the actual themes of the song. It’s just fun.
What's the story behind the song?
“No Crying in Baseball” is about what it feels like to have made a mess of something, like a relationship or a situation, and you’re feeling all sorry for yourself, just sitting there on the floor covered in spilled milk and cracked eggs. But the voice in your head – in my case, it’s my Dad’s voice – says “There’s no crying in baseball!” You got to get up and fix what you broke. It’s that, in dialogue with still really loving and wanting the person you just acted like a fool in front of. The combination of feelings that exist there – shame, desire, frustration, whatever it is… is almost too much.
The song started with a couple of riffs Billy wrote and wove together, I then wrote lyrics and a melody on top of them.
In real life, what's the toughest field to navigate?
Relationships.
The lyrics discuss trivial, mundane things like spilled milk and dropped eggs. When such instances happen in my own life, I honestly cry. How much of an emotional person are you?
I am such an emotional person (double Scorpio w/Aries moon…), but I’ve learned not to sweat the small stuff — water off a duck’s back. If you let spilled milk take you down, your life will be so chaotic and all over the place. You have to maintain a little more homeostasis than that to be sane.
There are a lot of girl-fronted, DIY alternative rock bands popping off in New York at the moment and I know you play a lot with them. What is it like being in this scene and how do you imagine it will grow?
I’m the only girl in my band so being in a scene with lots of other girls is really rewarding. I love getting to know other people doing what I’m doing who understand the challenges that present themselves when you’re a chick. It’s nice to not have to try to insert myself into an all-male type of scene.
What's next for November Girl?
We’re working on a couple more singles leading up to an EP! Keep an eye out.
