Tyler the Creator’s last project, Grammy award-winning album Igor, was released in 2019, since then he’s given us “Best Interest” and the new Coca-Cola jingle “Tell Me How” along with a few features. We might be getting a new album and if so, none of us will be ready.
While others were possibly screaming at each other, Nina, Jezmi Fehmi, and Sam Fenton were screaming in chorus — the trio became a band during shelter-in-place curfews, not long after the three of them started living together. Fehmi and Fenton came from “Double Virgo,” while Nina came from her solo project “Nina.” I like to picture them writing woozy lyrics across dirty dishes; something, if not everything, about their sound does not strike as polished, yet it's almost annoyingly precise in its patronage.
Titles are as vague as their noise is amorphous, and the ambient appeal stretches across all four albums — Quarrel, bedhead, Tracy Denim, The Twits — and as the band hits the road once more — all across America.
Nina— Sorry for any noise. We’re on the motorway.
Turn on the camera!
N— OK. I can do that.
Where are we headed?
N— Asheville.
What did you dream about last night?
N— I have the most meaningful memory: we’re on a boat, really shallow water — like aquamarine — there’re a lot of stones all around us and small islands made of crystals. We approached a medieval church, it had a cross at the top that was made in stone, carried by columns, it was backlit by the sun so it looked very majestic. And then we swam in the water.
And that was it?
N— That was it.
Jezmi Fehmi— I had a very desert based dream because I watched the new Mad Max trailer yesterday. It was very sand. It was very hot. Perhaps it could also have something to do with the van, or the fact that we’re headed to the desert soon….What did you dream about?
I don’t. Or well, I guess I do but I haven’t woken up and actually remembered a dream since I was a teenager. It sucks, but then again I don’t get nightmares either.
Sam Fenton— I had a nightmare once that I had to reset an exam, I hadn’t done any homework to prepare for it and as I looked down at myself I was sitting there all naked.
Does it hold relevance? Does what you dream ever add up to something?
SF— 100%
JF— I don't think they do.
N— I feel like it helps you process stuff in ways that sometimes feels more true to yourself. Once we’re so fed with experiences and expressions throughout the day — especially while being on tour, for example — dreams are then like a digestion system. But for the mind.
Does bar italia have any dreams in common? What's the goal.
SF— Food. The next coffee. Soccer.
Then you’ve already made it.
JF— I guess so. We’re currently driving past a place called Kernersville, in North Carolina, which means that we’ve definitely made it as far as I’m concerned.
N— Once the vultures are circling around you. That means you made it.
Likewise once people start inking bar italia onto their bodies? Your response to fan tattoos were that you were “going to be gone next year anyways,” while a tattoo is eternal — where are you going?
SF— You’ve got to live like you’re going to be gone next year.
That sounds very "yolo"?
JF— What it means to me is to appreciate everything that’s happening or not happening right now. It could be gone..
SF— Yolo is destructive, what I’m talking about is about maintaining the value of your life. To not take anything for granted.
Not even Kernersville.
Are you good at living in the present, then?
N— Working on it, that is our common goal, if you like. Sure it kind of gets harder to stay present as the attention grows, but at the same time it gives you a better understanding of what's happening around you. Also, to be around the right people who can make you process whatever it is that's going on.
Or, to be on the road? Touring in all its madness but isn't the road quite calming?
JF— I sleep in the car. And everybody wants me not to. I snore, a lot.
P— I love driving past a new bridge, that’s always a perk. I’m especially fond of a bridge that’s under construction, when one is overlapping the other. It’s like spaghetti, or a Jungian dream.
Do you have a favorite bridge?
SF— Liam’s favorite is Under The Bridge Downtown. Personally, I’ve burnt all my bridges.
Liam— My second favorite bridge is in “Joise” though; when it goes from the D minor to the E minor... do get you that one?
Let’s just say I don’t think I’ve driven across it.
N— We’re just making puns…
I’d like to blame the reception. But maybe I’m not British enough.
We’re going to hit an exit for you, just leaving the highway… hang on.
Puns aside. I’ve read too much about your sound — “mello vocals”, “conversational croon”, “hardcore howl” — whatever, I prefer just listening to the actual noise. Instead of putting sound into words, describe bar italia in a feeling. Or form. Or flavor. You get it.
SF— Spicy. It's spicy.
As in curry, Indian spice, burning type of way?
JF— No, no, no. Spicy as in hot, as in red hot chili peppers.
SF— Like a scotch bonnet under your eyelids. That’s how we’d taste. We’re the flavor you can’t get off your tongue.
And where is this scotch bonnet played out? In what setting do you envision your music, other than the stage?
JF— Somebody told me, quite recently, that they lost their virginity to a bar italia song.
N— Someone sent a message saying they went down on their girlfriend while listening to us.
To what song?
N— No specifications, it’s just “to your music.”
So the environment is inevitably the bedroom? Or a virgin could get lost anywhere, really.
JF— Whatever works for them. I think the female cunnilingus is, specifically, the setting.
SF— Male cunnilingus!
JF— Oh right. Did I get that wrong?
Where is it exactly?
N— The setting is any cunnilingus. We don't discriminate.
Music for sex.
N— Yes.
Cool.
SF— Thank you, for fuck's sake.
I heard that Jezmi doesn't like music at all, not even your own music, which…
JF— When I said that it had been a really long day, and..
What do you then do when the rest of us turn to music? To cry, to rage, to feel, to escape, to isolate, to relate?
JF— I do the same, I listen to music. I’m not much different from anybody else. However, what I meant is that I often find music much more interesting as a phenomenon, as something to read about — I like biographies or autobiographies of musicians, it’s history in general — in comparison to just listening. But music is still my soul's emotional playground.
You were all pretty quick to jump to defense just now, have you had it with people perceiving you “wrong,” if there’s such a thing as right or wrongs?
N— I mean, we’re only human so, naturally, certain things will get to you personally, perhaps there’s been some stuff in the past. But as a band, no. I’d say we’re quite good at not worrying too much, about being things we aren’t.
Previously you were mysterious for not speaking to the press, whereas now, supposedly, you’re rude for not speaking to the audience? I think it's sympathetic not to clutter the ambivalence with meaningless chat while performing.
N— We rather have the connection to just be real. Instead of repeating the same phrases over and over again, out of the light, we’re just seeing if something comes up. And, if it doesn't, we hope that the set is good enough to stand on its own.
Cool.
N— Cool.
Define cool?
N— I don’t know if I have an answer.
JF— I’ve got one. Cool is something that makes people engage with something in a way that interests them for a reason they don’t know why.
SF— Cool is when you don’t give a shit. Like cigarettes and drugs and nothing else. And sex is cool. The coolest people I know are asexuals.
JF— They claim to be but are seemingly sleeping with about seven people at the same time.
Is that uncool? What’s uncool?
JF— ...art.
N— Could you not Jezmi? You don’t have to destroy one genre every interview. We’ve got music covered — we hate music! Now art is covered — we also hate art!
What about bar italia art? I’m not referring to your past exhibition but the little doodle making up your logo. What’s the story?
N— No, you can’t ask any questions about him. The doodle is not even off the record but never on the record.
Well just tell me this, is he crying? Meditating? Who’s the artist?
N— That's a secret. You’re free to ask anything but not this. He’s doing a face massage. That's all.
JF— He’s meditating.
SF— Washing.
Washing his tears away?
N— No, no, no, no, no, no, no. There’s no tears. It’s massaging its face. It's lymphatic drainage.
Post tour vibes or real desperate house vibes?
Both.
This is Stark’s second time touring since the release of her full-length debut album DOOMED in late 2022, which was very well received and led to Stark’s first sold-out international headlining tour on behalf of the album. Previous to her solo tour, she’s opened for various notable acts, such as Guns N’ Roses and Jane’s Addiction. I asked Stark, who’s been writing and playing music since age 11, what it was like to prepare for her first sold-out headlining tour. Unsurprisingly, before any tour, Stark goes into what she describes as “bootcamp mode” — dancing every day, vocal training, rehearsing with her band, and of course, working on her outfits. “That’s the sort of homework I love,” she says, smiling. (Even though we’re on the phone, I can tell she’s smiling when she talks about the outfit part. I’d smile too if I had her tour closet.)
What’s unique about Stark as a musician is that she has ultimately created her own universe by embracing every aspect of her creative upbringing, her raw talent, her fascinating influences, and her unwavering beliefs in not needing to fit into a certain box when it comes to her art. She creative-directs and styles all her own looks, referencing an ever-evolving list of influences that range from Vegas showgirls to Halloween to old films to her parents in the 90s. “I think when I was younger, I had this rebellion against what I was made from,” she tells me, “but now it’s just my blood. I constantly reflect on my childhood and everything I was taught and everything I saw. My brother and sister and I are constantly pulling influences from our parents from the past. I think, more than ever, I’m heavily influenced by them.”
Stark, the daughter of founders and owners of the self-made American fashion brand Chrome Hearts, and now its creative director and designer, is someone who always knew what she liked, but as she describes it, had to ‘go through the motions’ that come with growing up and knowing one’s identity. Today, her self-efficacy is palpable — and it’s inspiring.
When she’s on tour, Stark is growing with herself and with her art — she’s not afraid to take life as it comes and learn through the process. With every show, regardless of whether it was on her DOOMED tour or this tour with The Veronicas, Stark understands the importance of human connection through music. Seeing faces of music lovers like herself, meeting those who have traveled to see her, and visiting familiar and unfamiliar cities has reminded her that she loves being on the road. “The growth that happens on tour is so important to me as an artist.” Sometimes we have to leave behind what’s familiar in order to rediscover what’s important, and Stark is a proponent of this growth mindset.
Growth doesn’t just happen on tour with Stark — this evolution of herself happens within genre as well, and for Stark there’s no such thing. Since her first release Driftwood in 2017, the artist’s sound has shifted year after year, but in a harmonious way that still feels central to her gothic Americana roots. When asked if she’ll experiment with genre in the future, Stark confidently answers, “I think I’ve only experimented with genre. I don’t think anyone knows what genre I am.” (She calls herself a “horrific hillbilly” — a perfect descriptor.) Steadfast in her belief that we as humans can constantly evolve in our work, Stark thinks it’s antiquated to fit yourself into a certain box and focus on one specific trade in order to succeed. “If you look at us as people, we’re seasoned. We change all the time. I want to experience different things.”
Since Driftwood, a two-song EP rooted in rock and country, Stark has experimented with more robust beats and 808s on DOOMED, and her most recent single “skeleton” features a softer, grungier punk sound. Without fitting into a specific genre, Stark’s music is undoubtedly and wholeheartedly her own, transcending the boundaries of what many artists struggle with when finding their sound. “I don’t think we should have to label ourselves in any way, shape, or form; so I’m not going to. I will continue to make all types of different music.” Fuck yeah.
This goes beyond just music — in terms of her personal style, the same mentality applies. We discuss the idea that clothing and dressing is a sort of playground, and personal style comes from within. Stark isn’t about following trends, but rather, she thinks it’s important to tap into different stylistic elements that amplify who we are at our cores. On her DOOMED tour, Stark wore a lot of leather and stuck to a fairly dark color palette. Right now, she’s into more bourgeois satin and lace, experimenting with different textures and wearing things that feel slightly daintier and more delicate. On this current tour with the Veronicas, Stark is making it more of a point to take everything in — absorbing inspiration from every city, writing songs on the road, recording video on a friend’s super 8 camera, styling and wearing new outfits, learning and performing new covers — ultimately growing through the whole experience.
It’s endearing and inspiring how well Stark knows herself. A Los Angeles native, she proudly tells me that the tour finishes on May 5 in her hometown, a show that she’s especially excited for. While we can’t predict what thoughtfully-curated outfit she’ll wear or what songs will be performed, with new music already underway, one thing is clear: Jesse Jo Stark is just getting started.
Reflecting on their latest project, 9lives shares, “In early 2023 jnhygs found my music and we started chatting through TikTok, releasing our first song together called "XTAYALIVE"." He adds, We’ve been friends since this song had a viral moment, and fans have been heavily requesting for us to work together again all over our videos.” Describing their creative process, he explains, “I sent a bunch of new ideas to jnhygs via Discord and she sent back vocals to “CANADA”, which I then used to create melodic layers and extra percussion to complete the song.
