MUSIC Matters held a Battle of the Bands concert at the Blind Pig on February 10th, 2022. We sat down with Juliet Freedman, the lead singer of Electric Chic, who won the sold out competition. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
MUSIC Matters: Could you tell us a little bit about how the band formed?
Juliet: Tyler Thenstedt is the guitarist. Her and I have been friends for a while and we have always been like, ‘Let's form a band, let’s start a band, it's gonna be so much fun.’ We never did it for like a year. And then over the summer, this past August, we were just hanging out and jamming and I was like, ‘We have to do this for real. We have to start this band.’ I knew Christie the drummer because she’s my friend’s, friend’s, girlfriend. And so we asked Christie if she wanted to be in the band, and she was like, yeah, I know this great bassist, Inés, who we can ask. So then we asked them to join the band and they knew this awesome person who plays keys and then we just started.
MUSIC Matters: Everybody was so excited to see you at the Battle of the Bands. How did you grow your fan base?
Juliet: I have literally no idea. I didn't even know we had those fans until I showed up to the Battle of the Bands. I give all the credit to Tyler because she made (our) social media and I guess started following other local bands. I honestly feel like maybe it kickstarted at our very first gig; we played a house show over the summer and there were so many people there who were literally standing on the table and chairs. Progressively we continued performing at different places like different house shows, we did a show with Empty Mug Records, and there was also (a show at) a co-op. We got connected with all the people who live in the co-op and started working with other bands at other gigs, like the bands that we worked with at the Blind Pig, and word spread.
MUSIC Matters: Were you expecting to sell out Blind Pig?
Juliet: I think a lot of people were there because of Gravy Train. They've been around for a while. Everybody loves Gravy Train and before Gravy Train they used to be Kektus and before Kektus it was Bingo Club. Everyone loves Gravy Train, so I definitely thought it was going to be crowded. We each bring different crowds, but I was not expecting a line down the street. I showed up around like 8:30 after soundcheck had happened and I was like, ‘Is this for us?’ There's also a date party going on (next door) at Circ. So I was like, ‘Is this for the Blind Pig or is this for Circ?’ I was so confused. And then I was like, ‘Oh wow, this is incredible. This is awesome.’ And then the guy in front of us (said), ‘They’re not letting people in anymore.’ I was not expecting that for sure. But it makes sense because (MUSIC Matters) has their own base who they’re connected to, people in all of (the bands) have their own as well.
MUSIC Matters: What were your overall thoughts of the night?
Juliet: I had the best time! We had as a band been taking a little bit of a pause because everybody was crazy busy. So, this was our first time performing in months and I wasn’t sure how it was going to go or how it was going to feel, but it was so fun, and it was incredible to hear the other bands. Everybody was so talented, and it was very nerve wracking for sure just to be surrounded by all the bands, and there were so many people. It was a great night and everyone was so nice and positive. I feel like at these shows usually there's always something that goes awry or that goes wrong, and nothing went wrong. The whole night was so cohesive and just so exciting. And when you guys announced that we won, I peed my pants a little. I freaked so hard and jumped so hard and screamed. It was the most fun I've ever had at a show by far, and I probably will never have again.
MUSIC Matters: Can you describe the energy from the crowd, especially when you won?
Juliet: There was such a different vibe again for each band but the crowd was giving so much to each group. Like for Luna Pier, people were headbanging, and one of my friends tried to start a mosh pit. Really fun, really good energy. When we performed there was this girl in the front row, she took out her phone and went into her notes app and wrote “gay?” and that was right when we started performing too. Iit immediately set an incredible tone for the crowd. And it's so funny because everyone was chanting Electric Chic, but people think we're Electric Sheep. But that's fine because they were enthusiastic about it, and that’s all that matters. Everyone just seemed super into all of the performers all in different ways. Everyone was dancing and having fun. It was just awesome.
MUSIC Matters: If you had to pick a go-to karaoke song, what would it be?
Juliet: I Wanna Dance With Somebody by Whitney Houston. It’s my happy drunk song, so it's just also got to be my karaoke song.