When I spoke to Makino, she had come back to the East Village to do some fix-up work on her apartment, though the band still has to finish various parts of the album. She moved again, this time in with Adult Baby co-producer Sam Owens and his girlfriend, and when the twins didn’t come upstate as much as she liked, she simply played with Owens–there’s even a song on the new record that doesn’t even feature the twins, instead simply Makino on guitar and Owens on drum machine. When she had to change living arrangements, she took charge, convincing the rest of the band to regularly commute to help finish the songs. She’s been stuck in the States due to COVID-19 but took the opportunity to quarantine upstate and get the twins to record a new Blonde Redhead record. Living for the past couple years on an island in Italy, Makino traveled to New York City (where she has an apartment in the East Village) in March to do a tour with the band. First and foremost, she told me that the process of doing her first solo album Adult Baby (released under the moniker KAZU) gave her a level of confidence and love for her own voice and playing that was far greater than what she felt working on albums like Damaged Lemons, especially when it came to creating with the twins.
Eventually, though, Touch and Go cofounder Corey Rusk revealed some never-before-seen photos–even to the band–Makino was able to help redesign the cover art (“Red is never my favorite color,” she said of the original), and it became worth it.Īs it turns out, though, reflecting on a past Blonde Redhead album serves also as a nice contrast to how the band, and specifically Makino, works now. For these reasons alone, you wouldn’t blame the band for feeling indifferent about Touch and Go Records reissuing the record for its 20th anniversary. “They had to seduce us to want to do it,” told me vocalist, keyboardist, and rhythm guitarist Kazu Makino over the phone a couple months ago, referring to herself and “the twins,” drummer/keyboardist Simone Pace and lead guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist Amadeo Pace. Never did it get so popular as in 20, when it was prominently featured in Rick & Morty, becoming the theme for the Evil Morty character and a subsequent internet meme. Blonde Redhead Interview: We Were So Cuteįor some reason, “For the Damaged Coda”, the closing track on Blonde Redhead’s fifth album Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons, seems to catch on every few years, having been used on various TV and movie soundtracks.