The band When I Was 12 bring you back to those innocent (and not-so-innocent) times when the world was new and your options seemed limitless (albeit from a more feminine point of view). Well, we had a chance to bounce our get-to-know-you questions off super sweet, candy-licious frontwoman Adrianne Gold as she fills us in on the history of When I Was 12 and dishes the dirt about her bestie bandmates.
The Deli: How did When I Was 12 start?
Adrianne Gold: It all started when I was 12, and what I really wanted was a heart-shaped guitar. My dad promised if I learned 5 chords he’d get me one…the rest is history!
TD: Where did the band name come from?
AG: It’s sort of a mystery (stemming from our history). I think I chose this band name because everyone remembers what it’s like to be 12 and yet everyone has unique memories of what it was like.
TD: What are your biggest musical influences?
AG: Our biggest musical influences INCLUDE (but are not limited to!): The Velvet Underground, Tilly and the Wall, Rilo Kiley, Hellogoodbye, and Saturday Looks Good to Me.
TD: What artists (local, national and/or international) are you currently listening to?
AG: BEST COAST for certain, I’ve written two new songs very inspired by them. I adore the lo-fi, girly, beachy sound they have! ALSO Midi & The Modern Dance. They’re from Connecticut, and we played with them on our summer tour (2010). If you listen they will melt your heart and with winter on it’s way that’s something so desired! Carolyn: She loves First Aid Kit because they’re from Sweden or something and they have the best harmonies ever. We wanna have harmonies like them. And The Avett Brothers because she just saw them in concert! Ryan: He never stops talking about The Unicorns. I think he’s gonna love them the most forever and for always but right now he especially likes Broken Social Scene. Dan: Truthfully he’s listening to Delorean and Motion City Soundtrack. That Motion City Soundtrack song about make out kids never having a chance to be best friends was totally a good song so I don’t know why he sounds embarrassed!
TD: What’s the first concert that you ever attended and first album that you ever bought?
AG: I’m not gonna lie. The first concert I EVER attended was a Britney Spears concert for my best friend’s 9th birthday. Britney changed her wardrobe like 9 times. She inspired me. I want to change my wardrobe on stage too. I’m also not gonna let Dan lie. The first concert he’s ever been to was Green Day and the first album he ever bought was probably at that concert ("Dookie" by Green Day). Somehow Carolyn has a really COOL first concert: Thao and the Get Down Stay Down, but a super dorky first ever album she purchased: HANSON!!!! I also think half of us are lying about this because Ryan’s first concert was Peter, Bjorn, and John and his first album was Lifted… by Bright Eyes.
TD: What do you love about Philly?
AG: I love the sirens that sing me to sleep.
TD: What do you hate about Philly?
AG: I hate the sirens that sing me to sleep.
TD: What are your plans for 2010?
AG: We are going to start recording our 2nd full length album very soon! I wish I could tell you the title, but some things are best left unsaid, and secrets are my favorite! I guess you’ll just have to wait and see.
TD: What was your most memorable live show?
AG: IT’S A TIE! Performance-wise we had so much fun covering Joan Jett’s "Bad Reputation". We put on leather jackets and stuff. It was wildddd! Once we played a show with Des Ark though, and she’s the most fantastic. It was so intimate, and every word she sang sounded so angelic.
TD: What’s your favorite thing to get at the deli?
AG: I don’t know. But I really like that song by The Blow called "Parentheses", and whenever I’m at the grocery store and I’m in the deli aisle, I start singing it "…if something in the deli aisle makes you cry, you know I’ll put my arm around you and I’ll walk you outside…" and Dan likes Italian hoagies.
– The Deli Staff