4B — Thursday, February 5, 2015
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
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STYLE COLUMN
Loving TV for the
Herve Leger
I
had a lot of ideas for this
column. Relevant, inter-
esting ideas like “the
importance of couture,” “the
rise of Instagram models” and
“what really
is Men’s
Fashion
Week?” Is it
like couture
and ready-
to-wear all
in one? Is
there always
full frontal
nudity?
Where are
the Cara Delevingnes and Ken-
dall Jenners of men’s fashion?
Is there always full frontal
nudity?
As I attempted to ration my
thoughts and organize them
into what could be considered
a cohesive piece of journal-
ism, I found myself 35 minutes
deep into the third episode of
“Empire,” FOX’s new night-
time musical soap opera of
sorts. For those who know
how to manage their time and
not get sucked into the void
that is Hulu, “Empire” follows
hip-hop mogul Lucious Lyon
(Terrence Howard, “Hustle
& Flow”) and his musically
inclined but unstable fam-
ily as they navigate a music
industry where Cuba Gooding
Jr. (“Selma”) is a former song-
writer-turned-rancher-turned
songwriter/rancher. Yeah, it’s
that good.
But that’s not exactly how
I got sucked in. Enter: Cookie
(Taraji P. Henson, “The Curi-
ous Case of Benjamin Button”).
The ex-wife of Lucious who
spent almost 20 years in prison
after being busted for drugs
— the drugs that helped build
Lucious’s early career and the
Empire … well, empire. She’s
loud, smart, quick and assertive
— with a wardrobe to match.
Tight dresses, blinding sequins,
bold accessories and enough
animal print to make a 2003
Raven Symone fall to her knees
and weep, all in one episode.
This isn’t the first time
I’ve been drawn into a series
through the closets of its char-
acters. There are, of course,
the obvious choices — the
shows that ended up being just
as much about the clothes as
they were about the stories.
With shows like “Gossip Girl,”
clothes became the savior.
While I tapped out around sea-
son four, because I could only
suspend my disbelief for so long
and there’s just no way in hell
Blair would have dated Dan,
I stuck around longer than I
should have solely to see what
Blair would wear on her head
or to finally see Jenny’s trans-
formation into a stick of black
eyeliner and fishnets.
Then there are shows like
“The Mindy Project,” which
really doesn’t need an added
element of style — Mindy could
wear scrubs every episode
and the show would still make
sense, and I would still tune
in. But every time Dr. Lahiri
wears a Herve Leger bodycon
dress with snakeskin Giuseppe
Zanotti heels to a medical
conference or slings a Chanel
crossbody bag over her shoul-
der as she walks into her office,
I remember why I don’t just
like, but love, Mindy Lahiri.
As for “Empire,” I would still
probably watch it even if Cook-
ie wasn’t walking into business
meetings in cocktail dresses.
There are enough secret ill-
nesses, Naomi Campbell cam-
eos and bibbed-up blowjobs
to keep me coming back week
after week. But none of those
reasons are why I’m writing
this column, and they’re not
why I’m texting my friends
about post-prison wardrobes
and they’re not why people
are making slideshows to dis-
sect only Cookie’s “bad bitch”
outfits. Though Cookie’s style
may not suit everyone’s taste, it
does prove a major point: If you
want to create a strong, stand-
out character, you’re going to
have to raid a few closets.
Harwood is so Raven. To tell
her how Raven she is, e-mail
erikacat@umich.edu.
ERIKA
HARWOOD
By MELINA GLUSAC
Daily Arts Writer
Sitting in the chilly storage
room of Legion Menswear on
North Main, I watch a few men
tinker with a garment steamer.
As an onlooker, I ignorantly ask
if it’s an iron and get a laughter-
stained “steamer” in response
from the band’s bass player Bren-
dan James. Congregated, they
can’t take their focus off it, liken-
ing its long cords to those of an
IV and chuckling coolly. I laugh,
fascinated by their interest in the
funny-looking
appliance.
The
mundane is something they’re
not used to — at least, not lately.
Grizfolk, a five-piece band
rooted in Los Angeles and
Sweden, have been booking it
on the road since 2012. After
wrapping up two juggernaut
tours with British label-mates
Bastille in 2014, complete with
two sold-out shows at Radio
City Music Hall, they’re now
embarking on their own modest
tour and wrapping up a full-
length album. I sat down with
singer Adam Roth, synth-master
Sebastian
Fritze,
guitarist
Fredrik Eriksson, bass guitarist
Brendan James and drummer
Bill Delia one frozen afternoon
before a pop-up show at Legion
(and a legitimate one at the
Blind Pig later that evening) to
talk about all things ABBA and,
of course, their own journey.
“We’ve all kind of known each
other for, you know, a little bit of
time,” Roth said. “I was in a band
with Brendan and Bill before this
band, and me and Fredrik had
like a songwriting team, and we
were trying to write for other
artists. Then we met Sebastian,
and we started writing and
ended up kind of turning it into a
band. So we hollered at Bill and
Brendan and started Grizfolk.”
I asked them when this
formation took place. After a
little silence, Delia looked to
Roth.
“Was that, like, ’79?” Delia
said.
More laughter ensued, and
Fritze, a native Swede, leaned
into me.
“It was like three years ago,”
Fritze said.
Grizfolk is on the riper side,
but the boys’ relationship with
music
and
their
individual
instruments stretches back to
childhood. Fritze and Roth were
persuaded by family at a young
age to start playing, as was Delia.
“I started on the piano, and
then when I was about eight
maybe or nine I really wanted to
start playing the drums,” Delia
said. “So I built a drum set out of
like shoeboxes and tin cans and
stuff. And I played on that all the
time.”
James’s passion was realized
by peer pressure.
“Two of my friends were
starting a band, and I’d never
played anything in my life,”
James said. “They’d both played
guitar, so they were like, ‘You
have to play the bass guitar.’ So
that’s how I learned how to play
the bass. I was forced into it, as
well. We started a band called
Upper Hand. I drew the logo.
It was four slashes and then a
thumb across.”
I complimented his artistry as
Roth lifted his hand into the air
to simulate an “upper hand.”
“Yeah, we were gonna be
huge,” James said.
Grizfolk released their first
EP, From the Spark, in February
2014. Roth said the group’s
muse was simply the newness of
the experience, as much of the
content on the EP was virginal,
composed of the first songs they
ever wrote as a band. Crafted in
the indie comfort of bedrooms
and the like, the compilation is
etched with raw qualities.
“We weren’t pressured into
being in a big studio. A big studio
costs a lot of money,” Fritze
said. “So the freedom of just like
taking our time and figuring out
what we wanted to do was a big
part of how it turned out to be,
the sound.”
Their
songwriting
process
is just as unique — inspiration
can strike anywhere, anytime,
anyplace.
“When we write songs, we
think about a landscape, usually.
It could be anything like the
barrens to deep, green forests,
or whatever. And we figure out
what that landscape would sound
like and then write a story in that
landscape. That’s like the first
little spark that happens,” Fritze
said.
On
“Cosmic
Angels,”
an
acoustic number, Roth summons
a cathartic brand of songwriting.
“When I first had the idea
for that song I had the woman
at the time that I was trying
to, like, pull into my life,” Roth
said. “So I channel that like
inner, beginning-of-love phase,
you know, when you’re trying
to court someone into your life,
and you’re kind of willing to do
whatever it takes.”
Expounding
on
sound,
I
inquired about the albums that
had the biggest impact on each
member. Nirvana’s Nevermind
was mentioned, as were others
from Bon Iver, Aerosmith and
The Band. The boys said all have
seeped into Grizfolk’s sound
— even Eriksson’s selection of
ABBA’s Greatest Hits.
Fusion of unlikely genres is a
focus on their developing album.
The process of making it was
a test of faith for the band, who
had to place its trust in recording
studios and sound engineers as
opposed to bedrooms.
“It’s kind of like all over the
place,” Roth said, regarding the
album. “It’s hard to really put my
finger on what it sounds like. It’ll
sound like Grizfolk, but none of
the songs really sound alike.”
In their song “Vagabonds” on
From the Spark, Roth sings about
“running away from the little
things.” I asked the vagabonds
themselves
what
they
were
running away from.
“It’s not about running away.
It’s about like going to places
where you don’t really know
what’s going to be there; you don’t
know what’s going to happen
there,” Fritze said. “I think that’s
a cool way of living your life
because you’re in the moment,
right there. You’re not like
expecting anything. You don’t
have the high expectations. If
you don’t have any expectations,
then hopefully everything will
turn out good. I think that’s what
it’s about — not about just like
running away from something.
It’s
more
of
searching
for
something.”
A few minutes later, around
30 devoted fans (mainly girls)
trickled onto Legion’s open floor.
Subtle gasps and fidgeting hands
lined the crowd as the boys came
out, one by one. After one tune,
Grizfolk asked what the audience
wanted to hear next. Someone
said, “The Ripple,” and soon the
band broke out into their first ever
acoustic performance of the song.
I watched the crowd sway as
they sang.
“Oh oh, my my, gotta get lost to
get it right.”
ARTIST
PROFILE
IN
VIRGINIA LOZANO/Daily
Grizfolk plays a set at the Blind Pig.
Inspiration can
strike anywhere,
anytime, any
place.
THE SHARK BOARD
Each week we take bites out of the biggest
developments in the entertainment world.
Here’s what swam (and sank) this week.
Design by Gaby Vasquez
Seafoam Green Card
Left Shark gains immigration
status as “land shark.”
Face of Bureaucra-sea
Left Shark leads far-left
party to mainstream
political success.
Lone Shark
Left Shark talks divorce
from Right Shark on
“The View.”
Fish are Friends With
Benefits, Not Food
Left Shark romantically
linked with actor
Laurence Fishburne
We’re Gonna Need
a Bigger Syringe
Obama blames seasles
outbreak on anti-vaxxer
Right Shark.
WADE INTO NEW
WATERS