Alison Christoff of Local Music Shapes Culture caught my eye last December when she asked
I had just wrapped my interview with Chicagoland’s wonderkin duo Brain Graffiti and loved the spirit of Alison’s call out. Obviously, I tried to connect the dots between BG and Alison, and who knows, maybe one day Alison’s band Pigmale Brains will tour Elgin and play a bill put together by homies Brain Graffiti.
Alison’s interviews with bandmates, friends, local music scene nerds and hype-folks, along with her out-loud wonderings about how local music shapes culture, inspired me. With a lil pep in my step, I decided to reach out and get to know Alison more.
The following interview has been lightly edited.
JMM: So, you just finished a tour with Pigmale Brains. Where did y’all go? I know you’re in Indianapolois, so did you keep it Midwest or?
Alison: Yes, we stuck to the Midwest. It was more like a 3-day run with a break day, but being on the road with the girls was fun. I’ve never played in St. Louis, Carbondale, or Louisville before, so that was fun. It’s fun getting to meet new people and experience other scenes outside of your hometown, and getting feedback on live performances from people in different cities.
JMM: Tour is such an unreal part of life – not many people get to experience it. As a little kid or as a teenager listening to Lana Del Rey, did you ever think you’d be doing something like this?
Alison: I didn’t think I would be in a band and striving to grow its audience as much as possible! I always thought I would be happy with a comfortable home, a stable job, and my dog, making art on the side. I think part of it was me believing in myself and my capabilities less, part of it was fear of chaos and the unknown, and another was fear of being seen or judged for “trying” – all things I have grown out of for the most part. I really didn’t start to play music until college, but I always wanted to sing, and I’m happy I ended up pursuing playing instruments & working on my voice.
JMM: Did you give yourself plenty of non-van time with bandmates to explore, rest, or even make something new, or is the mission pretty much play, drive, play?
Alison: We definitely did some exploring! But also, you gotta account for mental and physical rest in there. There were periods where I was happy to be lying on the bed in a motel room just for some peace and rejuvenation, even though I love exploring and the chaos of shows very much (especially the chaos of shows).
JMM: I think a couple of podcasts back, you talked about not feeling like a punk, or feeling like the “show” of being a punk didn’t resonate with you. This got me thinking about Pigmale Brains on tour – do you find for the most part the other bands you perform with, the venues/houses you play for are pretty welcoming for the most part? I feel like there are so many layers to legitimacy, and one of them is gender – I know Pigmale Brains is all women. Has there been any resistance to you all? Are you seeing other predominantly women/femme bands play?
Alison: Everyone on tour was super friendly and welcoming! I never felt standoffishness from anyone we played with on tour, and the same with the venues. I personally have not experienced overt resistance to us being all-female and even feel like it gives the band leverage. That is not to say I am not blind to unconscious biases in subtle behavior shifts or decision-making that is likely affected by our femininity. Especially in Indianapolis, there are not many bands consisting of all women, and there are many consisting of all men (like, many). I also do not see many bands, even touring bands, consisting of all women at shows I attend.
JMM: Okay, I’m veering a little, but it’s still related. Last night a question popped into my head. We’re seeing this fresh look and engagement with physical media in DIY music (LPs) and art/writing scenes (zines, postcards, street art) – what’s your current favorite piece of physical media? And, what’s your favorite digital media right now (podcast, Substack, etc)?
Alison: I feel like vinyl has always been timeless – either as a collector’s item or for a different listening experience. Zines, I feel, had a bit of a downtime once digital media started ramping up in the 2000s and started to take a backseat even among punks. Today I still feel zines in my city are limited to literary and poetry circles.
I have a feeling they will creep back up again in popularity as a physicality counter movement to the increasing quantity of soulless AI ‘art’ being distributed online.
My current favorite piece of physical media? Ha, do live shows count? My favorite physical piece of media I own around my house is likely my second-edition photography book of Nadia Lee Cohen’s ‘Women’. Photography has always been one of my favorite art forms and one I have dabbled in myself. I have developed an appreciation for framing, lighting, set, and capturing the right moment within photos.
It’s on a scale, isn’t it? I am pretty sure Cohen shoots in digital, but clearly, the act of taking photos, creating the set, and shooting the photos is highly physical. My favorite purely physical media right now is probably my friend Josie Ellis’s paintings (@veryjosie on Instagram). She has a mind and vision like no one I have ever met.
Currently, my favorite digital media is Coco Mocoe‘s podcast, which she hosts on Substack. Coco Mocoe focuses on predicting pop culture trends and analyzing the current pop culture landscape. She is brilliant, and I appreciate the chance to understand how she comes up with her pop culture trend predictions and the patterns of her thought process.
JMM: Back to touring: what would you tell someone who has never done a tour before? How would they go about setting one up?
Alison: My #1 piece of advice for setting up a tour would be to talk to people in your local scene who have toured and ask them for advice and contact info. I was not the primary person setting up touring dates for this last tour – that was my bandmate Autumn – but I know she put a lot of work into it and sent many messages that hit a dead end. And I think that’s what you would expect often, unless you are a band with a huge online following. You have to make many “cold” messages asking venues if they have dates available for booking, asking bands if they want to join your bill, and asking people affiliated with other cities’ scenes if they have any leads. Like anything, I think it gets easier the more you do it and the more you make connections.
We get many messages to the band account asking to hop on bills and bands. They primarily message us through Instagram and sometimes via email. It seems like most of this is set up through Instagram these days. If you are a very organized person, it may be helpful to set up spreadsheets of contact info for future tours.
Putting together a show bill this summer? Hit up Pigmale Brains to join.
Find photographers @irenicimages and @deliriumdollhouse on Instagram!
