Chastity Belt began as something of a joke when guitarist/singer Julia Shapiro, guitarist Lydia Lund, bassist Annie Truscott and drummer Gretchen Grimm were still undergrads at Walla Walla, Wash.’s Whitman College. After the band relocated to Seattle postgraduation, its first album, 2013’s No Regerts, continued in the in-it-for-yuks vein, with songs inserting a healthy dose of self-deprecating humor into the group’s unschooled, spindly guitar rock. But then a funny thing happened on the way to the punchline: Shapiro found something more than merely “funny” to say, and began writing more sophisticated songs that demanded a closer degree of attention. Which, in turn, pushed the band’s latest LP, Time To Go Home (Hardly Art), toward altogether more fertile creative turf. Chastity Belt will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our new feature on them.
Truscott: It is no secret that I am a good texter. Since AOL instant messenger entered my life in my early tweens, I have grown seriously addicted to digital communication. Texting can help pass the time on long tour drives and also help you feel connected to those back home (and friends you’ve met along the way). iPhones have made digital communication easier than ever. In addition to iMessaging, I love Google Maps. Siri has helped navigate many of our tours, and if one of us makes a wrong turn or misses an exit, we can just blame Siri instead of getting mad at the driver. Of course, iPhones are also great for keeping up with social media: both an important show-promoting medium and a unproductive way to pass time in the car. On our U.K./Euro tour, however, our iPhones are less useful unless we are in a “wifi zone.” Gretchen was the last “dumb phone” user and only just recently got an iPhone. Now we have a Chastity Belt group message, and that rocks! We can organize for practice and gigs, gossip and send bitmojis at lightning speed.
Video after the jump.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSTEB8cdQwo
