Not quite as inexperienced as their name suggests, once up-and-coming New York rockers, The Virgins had a breakout year. With play-time on hit shows like Gossip Girl and Entourage, their first full-length album behind them and an ongoing three-month tour across the country, this band has been building up its reputation. And with a possible follow-up release in the works, they’re definitely a group you’ll want to keep your eye on in 2009.
The Virgins will be headlining at Schubas Tavern Jan. 29, but frontman Donald Cumming took some time to talk to us about big cities, MySpace and falling off stage.
So my first question has to be about your band name. How did that come about?
I had the name a few years before this Virgins formed. I’ve been starting bands kind of since I was young — just starting and not really doing anything about it or letting it just sort of fade away. You know. So I had this band name for a group I’d started when I was 18 or something, but it just didn’t go anywhere at all. And I just held onto the name, but I never anticipated it would come to anything until we started writing songs for this group. And all of a sudden, it just seemed to fit really well. I hadn’t thought about it in years, but it just came back to my mind, and I was like, “Oh shit, this band should be called The Virgins,” and it just seemed really appropriate.
I know you guys have performed here a few times before. What are your thoughts on Chicago compared to NYC?
It’s completely different. First, even visually, it’s an entirely different aesthetic. But I love Chicago, it’s really fun. The museums are really cool, the Art Institute is really cool. We played at Schubas a bunch of times, and we’ve played the House of Blues twice, and we’ve spent a little bit of time in the suburbs, a lot of time downtown, but I still feel there are elements of Chicago that I haven’t experienced yet. But that drive on the water when everything is frozen, that’s awesome. There are a lot of beautiful things in Chicago.
I feel like being a New York based band is so definitive, how has growing up and living there affected your music?
I think growing up in New York, you get exposed to lots of different kinds of people from the second you get here. And in school there are all different kinds of kids from everywhere and all different kinds of music. Growing up in NY, my favorite thing about it has always been the proximity of art to me, who was just a kid growing up.
You guys just recently released your first full-length album. What was that like?
It was a dream come true. It was a really rewarding experience, making the record and having it be released. I enjoyed a lot about making it and I enjoyed a lot of the process. It just made me want to make another one. That’s all I’ve been thinking about, is what we want to do now.
How was recording a full-length different for you than recording an EP?
Well when we made the EP, we were just recording the songs as we were writing them, or as we would come up with the ideas on that day. It was really loose, and we were just drinking and hanging in the studio, and it was a mellow time and very fun. When we decided to make a full-length record, it became more of a psychological thing, or at least became a lot more about thinking and planning and executing and rewriting and measuring all of our decisions very carefully. And that was a sober kind of meticulous experience. And we’ve found there are rewards in both.
So you guys have been featured on Gossip Girl quite a bit. What are your thoughts on that kind of exposure and how much of it was your decision?
Well they asked us if they could, and we said yeah. We started getting MySpaces and invitations to be on shows very early, and it was strange because at first we didn’t even think it was real because it was MySpace. And we’re not super savvy, so we were like, “So is this how you get on a TV show, they MySpace you, really?” But then it happened. I think the first one was Entourage, and we were like that was definitely really entertaining and fun. It’s nice to see your music juxtaposed in strange places. And that show Gossip Girl reminds me of 90210 when I was a kid and any of those fun soap opera kind of shows. It was great, I was really proud. I was really happy to be in a show that was the “that” of our time or even of that year.
Who was your favorite band to open for so far?
I don’t know, we’ve played a lot of shows with a lot of good groups. If we’ve toured with a band, we usually end up becoming close, and you have a lot of fun with bands. But the best thing about opening for a group you like is getting to watch them every night. And you get to watch them from different spots backstage.
What’s it like transitioning from opening for big bands to being the band opened for?
It’s surreal, it’s very strange. We just headlined at the Troubadour in L.A., and we’ve been there a few times. We played there with Jet, and we played there with Delta Spirit. It was just fun to be at the Troubadour, this legendary place where we’ve played so many times as support and read so much about so many of our favorite bands headlining there, and to finally headline there. Like it was with the Bowery Ballroom in New York. We’ve headlined in San Francisco and the west coast, this tour coming up in January will be the first time we’ve headlined in the middle of the country, so we’ll see what that’s like.
What can people expect at your shows? Any weird things happened yet?
Sometimes people jump on stage, sometimes they pull me off stage, lots of stuff happens. Sometimes I’ll fall off stage. We had a show in France, and before the first song even started, I managed to dance right off the stage. Our shows are pretty loose, so it’s hard to predict what’s going to happen, which is what makes it fun for me. It’s really enjoyable, I like playing live, and I like keeping that one element of mystery. Like you’re not entirely sure how it’s going to go down.
I know your tour goes through March, is there anything else you’re looking forward to or hoping to accomplish in ‘09?
I’d really just like to make a new record. I’d very much like to make a new record. Also we’re going to Japan and I’ve never been there, so that’s really exciting. Really, I guess just keep traveling and keep playing.