Quitzow

The Quitzow you know presently might not be the Quitzow of the future. That might come off a bit more dramatically than intended, but the point is that Erica Quitzow and her musical identity are always up for grabs, always open to renegotiate her musical terms as she sees fit in the moment. As for now, that means sticking alongside Gary Levitt for another go-around.

The duo of Quitzow and Levitt (who helms his own band, Setting Sun) have been together for a while now, but Erica’s clear that tomorrow that could be different. What started as a conversation catching up with Quitzow turned into an exploration of commitment, of morals and the artist’s responsibility (or not) to influence the world. With another strong release (Juice Water) in the growing discography, Quitzow might just affect things even if there’s no intention to do so.

SSv: It seems fitting to start with asking what’s going on with you right now.

Erica Quitzow: Right now, we’re putting together some finishing touches on the tour. We have a few gaps and we have one we just filled in San Francisco, which is thrilling. It’s the bigger cities where we know people and we know we’re gonna do well that we’re thrilled when we can fill those gaps. Then there are the odd jaunts between Memphis and El Paso, Texas, where we don’t really know where to play yet. So that’s what we’re doing.

We just got distribution through Red Eye for the label [Young Love], and it’s all so intense. The record is actually stocked in stores along the tour route, which is great and nervewracking, because that’s just a small piece of the puzzle having it in stores. People need to know they’re there and they need to want to buy it. So it’s an intense time. [Laughs]

SSv: What does that intensity mean for your morale?

Erica: [Pause] I think I enjoy the adrenaline of it. It definitely feels like gambling sometimes. You put something out there and give it a push and hope it catches on. There’s no litmus or rules of how much to put into it or when to stop. I think the sensation of the business of art is akin to bungee jumping or gambling. There’s just a lot of adrenaline involved.

SSv: You and Gary have such an interesting set-up, running the label together and working so closely and yet having two distinct outlets for your music. After some time together in this arrangement, how do you reflect on the way that’s working out?

Erica: Yes, I can totally relate to your question. I’m surprised that I’m involved in such a rare paradigm here — the couple that makes music together, but does totally different styles of music with totally different influences. [Laughs] It sort of happened naturally. We played together in a band in the beginning. We were both writing songs more and more to the point where it felt that one band wasn’t enough of a venue for us to feel we could both bring our ideas to fruition.

So it all happened naturally. I love to play lots of different instruments. From a young age, I had to force myself to focus on one avenue of art. I would dance and paint and I’ve always had a lot of that creative energy. I don’t know where the idea of focus seeped in, but I’m glad it did. Even with the music, I find there’s a million areas to lose yourself. For a moment, I was playing drums in Setting Sun. Gary has done everything from produce my record to play bass on tour, so we have this rotating role in each other’s bands.

The first time we thought about doing separate tours, a band just recently asked Setting Sun to tour with them and they’re also doing a solo tour in the fall. We don’t want the other person to necessarily feel they’re not free to tour without the other band or record without the other’s involvement. Gary has produced my last two records, which means mixing it and sometimes giving me some ideas on arrangement. I play violin and drums and random things on his albums.

I don’t think there’s a clear answer of whether it’s benefitting us or holding us back, as long as we don’t feel like there’s a sensitivity to working with others or needing to maybe just explore the creative process without the other. I think we’re on the threshold of doing that a little more. Working with anyone for a period of time can be challenging. I’ve always likened my past bands to relationships or marriages. It’s amazing and tricky to find someone you can maintain that relationship with.

I’m constantly flabbergasted that Gary and I have gotten along in this so well and that I feel so inspired by him still. I don’t think that’s a common thing to find in that musical relationship. At the same time, I think in general, it’s important to not feel locked into this — at least for me.

I have a hard time believing in bands. I know they can work. I know you can have this incredible balance with each other, but for the most part, when people get locked into a band situation in the industry or whatever and they feel they have to stick together, I usually experience a lot of resentment among the members. It’s hard for a band to feed that fantasy — a group of people against the world. I’m sure you’ve seen that dynamic where there is this stale feeling that happens. But the fact that Gary and I are not a band and there’s no rules with us makes a difference. Every album and every tour is renegotiating.

I think that’s the key to not having any unspoken contract between us that we have to play together, that we have to tour together, that he has to produce my albums. That’s what makes it work.

SSv: If you have that freedom to leave, then what keeps you staying?

Erica: That’s a great question. It’s the real inspiration that I feel from working with Gary. It’s a continued interest in what he is doing and my respect for who he is. Those are things that I re-evaluate all of the time. It’s not something I’m particularly proud of and not something I’m ashamed of either. I don’t know the morality behind it, but I’m not one to believe in marriage or any sort of morality outside of not hurting people intentionally. [Laughs] Treat people with care.

But I like the idea in general of re-evaluating where you are in life on a constant basis. For whatever reason, it’s just worked out with friendships and with Gary that some people stay in my life that I want to keep working with. But I’m really weary of obligations. Sometimes I think that I’m living in the Northeast and it’s very traditional and a lot of ties and family and people are very loyal to family.

I have that with my father also. I feel very loyal to him, but for me it’s not based on a feeling of obligation as much as I think my dad is amazing person. I love him and I just feel compelled to be there for him. I’m from California originally, so I don’t know how much that has influenced me. I think in general, the West Coast has a lot less family values and tradition.

But my point is that being from the West Coast, I really admire all of that tradition and that incredibly loyalty, but I feel an outsider. I feel more akin to the generations of pioneers and adventurers that went out to California. I hope I’m not romanticizing it too much, because both East and West Coast values have incredible strengths.

SSv: I want to go back to your morality statement, because the role of morals or a worldview of the way things work in those terms is such a common source for many songwriters. Yet you don’t hold any beliefs there, so I’m wondering about that as a songwriter yourself?

Erica: I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. I had this review which opened a lot of contemplation for me, a lot of introspection. That’s not always the case. Sometimes when I read reviews, I’m either incredibly flattered or incredibly insulted. But this was the rare sort of review that was so thought-provoking for me. It was a simple criticism that the last song on the record, “Whatever,” which I wrote as a cathartic, almost a mockery of sorts of how overly concerned I can be sometimes with the people around me, and the sentiment of the song is to not give a fuck about anything and just be concerned about your own desires in the moment. It’s also just playful and humorous and a relief.

The criticism was whether the song was intended to be ironic and that it could become a chant for alpha dogs everywhere. It’s this call to live your life with no regard to how you’re interacting with other people or how you treat the planet, all these little one-liners to replace live music with DJs or design your logo with a crappy font. Anything wrong or bratty that I could think of went into this song.

I normally don’t think of the artist as being responsible for influencing society. I think of the artist as just responsible for documenting their own perspective. I think gangsta rap, for instance… [Laughs] it lets people all around the country know about a lifestyle they might not otherwise hear about. That’s great. I’m sure I can see the other perspective that it popularized violence or enabled young men to feel okay about anger towards women.

But I’ve been rethinking this. I can’t get behind the idea of an artist censoring themselves in order to be a more positive influence on society. But I can understand how even if an artist is documenting something very real — maybe of growing up in a culture where they are exposed to N.W.A. at 13-years-old and how that affected them and there might be traces of weird power dynamics and love or misogyny — I don’t think it would be good to try and stifle that and present some positive role model. Maybe at times, even the most disturbing message put out through out could be fodder for contemplation or debate.

That is a great question, because I’ve been thinking a lot about it lately. I didn’t want to put out “Whatever” when it first came to me. Someone said it reads like a page out of a diary of Lindsay Lohan’s journal. [Laughs] If anything, I would say it reads like a Chuck Palahniuk book. But it made me think of how someone can interpret that. I don’t know anyone like that. I don’t know someone who wears some baseball cap and wants to really get violent, so the fact that song could be used to champion that is a little disturbing.