It was definitely one of those "should have known better" moments. These mistakes always seem to trip me up when I'm at the top of my game and maybe it's just a swelling sense of confidence that blinds me from spotting the pitfall until I almost stumble into it..

 It happened in London last summer touring with my band Pin Me Down.

We'd just played two shows back to back and both had gone well. Also, the group was thrilled to be in a different country, so I was feeling really good. We had all ready done a few important interviews with the press, and I still had one more with the prestigious New Musical Express, the UK's only weekly music magazine.

I should've been a little wary since the NME is famous for its divisive, even dismissive stances on the artists they cover. But it's also a publication you need to have on your side.

You may not know that (a) I used to live in London and (b) I worked as a journalist while I was there.  I hadn't visited in several years, but that was no excuse to lose touch with the intricacies of British culture, as I was about to do in a major way.

 I wanted to appear as a mysterious but strong rock starlet, a woman unafraid afraid to speak her mind, embrace her talent, and confront controversy head-on. So when one of the reporters asked where I saw myself in a year, I thought I could be witty and a still bit hopeful at the same time. Anything to cover my nervousness.

"Playing arenas," I replied with deadpan face.  "And filling them, obviously."

"No, I'm serious," he went on, laughing.

"No, I'm serious." Then I smirked a bit, maybe even raised an eyebrow.

I mentioned that there were lots of hit songs on our record and we were ready to conquer arenas full of fans. It was an approach that dozens of male rock artists had taken in the pages of that very magazine – cocky, but still not taking yourself too seriously. Maybe it was the way it came out of my mouth or my New York way of being direct. Or maybe it was because I'm not a plucky young lad trying to charm his way with a nudge and a boyish wink through a gauntlet of skeptical journalists who've heard it all. I just thought I was being funny and that others would agree.

After the interview, I began to feel, inside, that I took the wrong approach. It became even clearer when the magazine ran an unusually nasty review piece on our show, which didn't mention my voice or songs, but instead slammed my clothing: She looks like a bargain bin Avril Lavigne who's raided her mum's dress cabinet after too many white wine spritzers. The article ended with the question, "Have we found the most irritating front-person of 2008 in Pin Me Down's Milena? Quite possibly."

Ouch. Since then, I've I learned that I have to consider my audience, even if they happen to be several soft-spoken British reporters who were meeting me for the first time and didn't know my back story, catalog of music, or my skewed sense of humor. Would it have hurt to be a bit more modest? A little more honest? 

♥            ♥          ♥

And I wouldn't be honest, if I didn't admit to thinking a lot about a certain movie, Almost Famous (2000). Cameron Crowe's picture told the story of a happening rock band in the early 70s on the brink of fame and fortune – and the fifteen year old writer who was there to report what did and didn't happen and how and why.

I identified with the band and the kid journalist for a variety of solid personal reasons.

The movie was largely autobiographical. Because of his writing talent and a few good publications, the teenage Cameron Crowe character is sent by Rolling Stone magazine to join the band on a music tour fueled by sex, drugs, and rock and roll. One of the running jokes is how the boy keeps his editor from knowing his real age.

[clip: William's first Stillwater gig, Almost Famous]

Watching the movie again, after eight long years, it was impossible to forget how I, as a young journalist, was flown out to Salt Lake City to join Southern rockers Kings of Leon, who were struggling to make it big, traveling around in America in their vintage '70s tour bus. The band even resembled the handsome, shaggy musicians in the movie.

(L) Almost Famous Band     (R) Kings of Leon  

As a young journalist, I'd often been behind the scenes, squished in the back of a touring van with the band, clamoring to get "that interview," and trying to make the boys to feel at ease around me. Here's a picture of me with the Kings' bass player Jared.

There were endless adventures and a couple high points too:

When New York punk poet Patti Smith took me to her art studio in SoHo, telling personal tales about her politics and drawings, or when country legend Loretta Lynn kindly offered me home-baked peanut butter fudge in her home in Nashville.

What struck home is that I had always been on the other side of the process, too -- on stage, in front of the mic, playing guitar, writing hundreds of songs, collaborating with fellow musicians and producers, singing lead on my own records and background on several hits, and most recently, granting my own interviews to publications like the Times of London, and yes, the NME, all in a quest for success.

This time, when I watched Almost Famous, to my shock, I began identifying with the filmmaker. Cameron Crowe had enjoyed moderate achievement as a journalist, but to find an outlet for his energy, intelligence, and creativity, he needed to make a leap into a powerful new medium. Film allowed him to fuse his interest in storytelling, capturing the truth, and his very first love, music. Movies gave him the tools to achieve success as writer and director of Jerry Maguire, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Singles, and of course, Almost Famous.

It got me thinking how cool would it be if I could also expand my modest success in music and journalism into new areas? How should I begin getting my feelings across in other ways? How would I ever I learn to merge my talent and energy with new media?

Pin Me Down, I always say, is probably the first true Internet band. Russell, lead guitarist in the group and my songwriting partner, lives in London and constantly travels. I'm here in New York.  Using recording programs like ProTools and Logic, we were able to digitally record songs and send them back and forth as files. So we're working not just from different rooms, but also from different continents in real time.

I've always made an effort to engage with technology and interactive media, and I'd like to do even more. Through this blog and our website, our fans help us choose the material we release and sell. What I'm really interested in is learning ways to incorporate this kind of interactivity into performance – and beyond:

Reaching fans over the Internet with a more complex, live action performance.

Helping listeners contribute creatively and collaborate with us. I'm excited by the idea of people choosing alternate lines of a song we've recorded. Or making it possible for our fans to hear their voices singing along with ours. Or allowing young songwriters to write their own chorus to our song's verse and creating a whole tune.

Seizing the possibilities of digital filmmaking, seeking a new dimension for rock videos that mesh images, sound, and storytelling.

Developing interactive fashions that can enhance a performance's effect, such as costumes that change colors and patterns from song to song, or even project images of the audience. 

For me, it's not enough to just think outside the box. It's essential to move outside, as well. I want to expand my efforts beyond the corners of a specific concert stage or monitor screen.

Everyone I admire has always searched for new outlets for their talent and abilities. Interactive technology unites creativity, sensibility, and science. What I want to learn will not only make me a better performer -- someone who can reach her audience more completely in every possible dimension. What I learn will also help fans fuel me with their ideas and energy, as well as show other musicians new ways of getting heard.

[clip: "Tiny Dancer" from Almost Famous]

Hi Everyone,
Just a quick note. We'll post a proper blog soon, but I wanted to let you know that Russell just completed a remix of Bloc Party's new song "Ares," which appears on their new record Intimacy. (Single Talons' artwork is below).

He asked me to sing on the remix- which was really fun to do since it is such a brilliant, energetic, genre-bending song to begin with. Our buddy Jamie Ellis mixed it and it just came out in The Guardian in the UK as part of the "Bloc Party Takes over the Guardian" music section. Click the image below to stream the song, "Ares (Russell Bloc Party Mix)."

Apparently the track is supposed to be released physically with the Guardian as well, but I will let you know more when I hear them. I posted the lyrics to the new chorus on the Milena Mepris blog.

Ares was the greek god of war.

I'll write more soon, I promise,
love ya,


milena xoxo


P.S. Make sure you make voting a priority on November 5th, (US) kids!

Hey kids,

It's been a while since my last blog and update… and there's kind of a long story about that too. I'll just say that I left my laptop backstage at a European festival (hence the lack of blogs) and was estactic when it was kindly returned to me by my old friend GW, who now sings in a well known goth/emo band.

That said, it's been an interesting summer full of sickness and heartbreak, hope and new music, and, you guessed it, an overly emotional Olympic "viewing" experience.

Russell came to NYC to play with Pin Me Down for a private V Magazine party curated by Hedi Slimane (the menswear designer for Dior Homme), the show was packed and went really well, even though I was sick, like I said I've been ill a lot recently.

It's been a while Look at these awesome things that people have sent in. Terra made these super cute PMD-themed pins and also this cartoon drawing. We love it

We want to thanks everyone who has been writing in to us, telling us about themselves and expressing their thoughts on the music and the remixes. We have posted some of the newer reviews on the main myspace page. We couldn't be more flattered with the response so far.

Our debut single "Cryptic" is almost out. In the UK, there is a digital iTunes UK exclusive release on May 26, June 2, the vinyl single and the digital release in Europe (and Japan). As a result "Cryptic" and many of its remixes have been getting played on the radio. Ooooo

So, we just got back from our first minitour of the UK (well... London, at least). We played 3 shows and got to know the city. Our first day, we rehearsed and spent time beating our jet lag in the pub. I kept getting in trouble because I was cracking jokes but not everyone understood my sense of humor, which varies, but at times is 30% confidence, 20% shock value, 50% sarcasm. Sometimes I wish I had a drier sense of humor, like my favorite characters (Gareth, Tim, Dawn) on the British version of The Office, but I'm more prone to be over-the-top, than understating... and sometimes it actually works in my favor. Jeremy tried to stow away in his bass amp flight case, while I flocked towards anything pink, err... in this case a pink wall.

Keith and Jamie, introspective in the pub

Our first gig was at the Water Rats at King's Cross, the next night we headlined The Fly on New Oxford Street, and the last night was at the Camden Proud Galleries. Each show was unique and each one was a blast.

There is a recording of the Proud gig on Youtube. The sound is a little muffled, but you get the idea. You can watch a live video of "Cryptic" here  and it links to the other songs.

After the last gig, Jamie, Erik, Keith and I took a trip to check out Hampstead Heath. We caught views of London, climbed trees, created our own mystical folklore and ate dinner at the historic Spaniards pub, (which took forever - we were about to go all New York on them and demand our money back), we then moved in to another pub and let the beer do the talking. Erik and Jamie made funny faces. Keith tried out a London photobooth, found himself in a while alley, while I found my dream car. 

After the boys left, I stayed in London for a few days to tend to some business and see friends. Russell and I went to Battersea park for a photoshoot and fed the ducks. I went to see our friends The Pity Party play at the Social with another Brooklyn band, A Place to Bury Strangers, who were one of the loudest bands I've ever seen, but I couldn't really hear the songs. It was a great night hanging out with Julie, Mark, Eddie, Pablo, and Som in Islington.

My new friend Emma Edmondson took me to all the hot vintage shops around Brick Lane and I snapped these pictures of really cool street art that I saw.

My last night in town Jamie and I caught a blistering set by The Raconteurs at the Hammersmith Apollo. Look at the photo Jamie took

The gigs were great, but so was the chance to get to meet so many amazing people - we got a few pictures of some of our new friends that we met at the shows. See below

Pin Me Down band and crew May 2008 (L-R Jamie, Erik, Larry, Jeremy, Milena, Russell, Alex, Keith, Chris)

We hope we can do it all over again very soon,

milena xo

Hey,

many of you have been asking how to buy advance tickets for our upcoming UK shows. Here are the links to the tix lines-

London Waterats, May 7, 8:15 pm -
Waterats


London The Fly, May 8
The Fly

or
call 0844 847 2424

May 9, London Proud Galleries, Vice Party

No advance tix. All on door as it's a club night that sells out

Hope to see you there,

PMD xo

I had to post this article link because it's way too interesting. PMD is working hard to try to change this. You will see what I mean, when you catch us live. Proper update very soon. I promise

Why don't girls play guitar?

Look it's my favorite Canadian twin sister duo, Tegan & Sara. Guess what? their new record, The Con, is amazing.

Proof that if you start plucking, you start lucking out, ladies,

milena xo

Big News

So the wait is over…. We’re putting out our first single "Cryptic" on Kitsune on May 12, 2008. The single will be available on 12" vinyl and digital and will feature remixes by Phones (Paul Epworth), Jamie Ellis and Russell Lissack and Dave P & Adam Sparkles. We will post all the official release info soon, with the track listing and artwork.

If that isn’t enough news, we’re also thrilled to tell you that Pin Me Down will also be doing our first live shows in Europe in early May followed by some DJ sets around the single’s release.

We are playing in London and will announce specific dates soon too. Before that we will be playing some secret shows in New York, under some crazy pseudonyms.

For our Chinese-speaking fans, check out this cool interview that Chasez wrote about the band on Indie Ray (in Chinese)

Here is a rad PMD interview that appeared on Glasswerk.co.uk

Now, on to my shenanigans…in between intense rehearsals and work I got up to some minimal craziness. Over the past few weeks, there has been a lot of coincidence and stumbling upon the unexpected for me. I guess that translates to unplanned fun, or shots of tequila, as Jeremy would say. Anyway, Hilary told me about a mud-wrestling event at a Galapagos, a club in Williamsburg. It sounded too silly to be true, so we investigated.

Unfortunately it was hipster haven – guys in trucker hats? – check, free forties? – check, and practically everyone, including myself, had a camera. The mud wrestling was part of a magazine event and featured bikini-clad ladies toppling each other in plastic blow up kiddie pools filled with mud. There was plastic covering everywhere to shield people from flying mud and there were rules like "no pulling hair." The fighting itself was funny, but no one really needs to see more than one girl mud fight in a row... well…. certainly I don’t. Needless to say, I’m now working on a song called "Girl on Girl."

Next up, I’d heard a rumor that Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys was playing an impromptu gig near my house, for his new side-project The Last Shadow Puppets. I had to work late so I knew I’d miss it, but on my way home I missed the bus and started walking along the main avenue, until passed the venue, which is a record store with a bar in the back and suddenly remembered what was going on. I walked up to the door, thinking there was no way I’d get in and that surely I’d missed it, but shock-and-awe it was only 2/3 full and Alex and his buddy Miles Kane were only in their 2^nd song, so I got to hear 8 more. It was pretty awesome, even though I wasn’t familiar with the material.

Even though they’re one of the biggest bands in the world, I must admit, I really like the Arctic Monkeys. Both of their records are fantastic. I am one of the few who prefers the second record to the first. You can’t top "Teddy Picker," "This House is a Circus" and "505." As a songwriter Turner really is the real deal and I’d never caught him live until now. One of the most impressive things was Alex’s stage presence. I mean obviously he’s had a lot of practice, but he’s funny, cracking jokes, filling up the awkward, in-between-song gaps.

Another unexpected feat was passing my driving test on my first try! SCORE! I’ve been practicing for a year and a half, but I’m still pretty new to it. In all honesty, I think I passed because I sang my driving directions to my instructor for the duration of the ten-minute test. He seemed pretty amused when I sang about the shifts in gear in completing a broken u-turn, and he tried to keep a straight face during my ballad about how "you must always stop behind a school bus or else children will die." The moral of the story, kids, is that you can pass anything as long as you’re creative with it. Look at my victory mug! Now who wants to get in a car with me?

Another unforeseen event happened when Jamie Ellis, my good friend and member of the PMD inner circle, came to NYC for the week and spent a lot of time jamming with the live band. He showed me his new Ableton Live program and how he used it to mix up "Cryptic" and then he started playing with our guitarist Keith and I got on bass (very unlike me – I was pretending to be Jared Followill, playing an awesome Gibson firebird). Jamie did some cool double delay things, while Keith got crazy with a drumstick. I was taking the pictures, so I’m not in them.

And finally I’ll leave you with this insane picture of St. Marks Place on Purim, the Jewish holiday before Passover, where people are supposed to act goofy. Jamie and I walked into a whole lot of fun.

We’ll post again soon with our official info. What has happened to you unexpectedly or by accident lately?

See you soon,

milena xo

This always happens to me! Time flies by and then I have so much to write about that this blog post will be a novella or something… geeze. Well, we've been enjoying some nice press as a result of the Kitsune comp. Look at this article that just came out in the new March issue of Dazed.

 PMD Dazed and Confused scans

The remixes are starting to come in for our upcoming Cryptic Kitsune single, which make me want to load them on to my ipod and turn Sixth avenue or wherever I may be walking into my own, personal dance party. Now, that's what you'd call a block party (yuk, yuk). That Mepris should venture into comedy. As of right now, the single has a May release date for 12" vinyl, followed by a digital release a week or two later.

Speaking of remixes Russell, Jamie (our buddy from Battle) and I collaborated on a PMD/Team Tiger remix of our own for a certain single by a dancetastic combo. The thing is that we really like it, so we might just turn it into a PMD song, with an intergalactic theme.

Ok. I guess I'll start with the more recent stuff and work my way backward. Who were your idols when you were 15? One of my first inspirations was Sonic Youth. When I was 12 or 13 my parents finally caved in, and, after much pleading, let me go to one of their gigs. It was a Sunday matinee gig (because my folks deemed me too young to go to a night show) at the now-defunct, velvet-clad venue The Academy in midtown, part of a 3-gig stand. Sonic Youth was touring their Washing Machine record and you better believe I still have my blue Washing Machine T-shirt, that was featured on the record's cover. At that time, I'd discovered Experimental Jet Set, but had yet to get into the real meaty SY albums like Goo, Daydream Nation, Sister, EVOL, and Dirty. The show was a revelation, so loud, so fun, full of energy and sexual tension, of course I probably failed to pick up on that due to my prepubescent state.

Thurston Moore was rocking his classic bowl 'cut and Kim was just Kim, the first female musician that played an instrument that I consciously wanted to "be." It was Kim Gordon before Courtney and Kim Deal. I saw Sonic Youth again, later that year at a bigger venue, and that time I had my debut crowd surf and got dropped, producing many pride-filled black and blues– I still don't think my mother knows about that.

Anyway, a week ago, I had the opportunity to meet and talk to Thurston Moore. He just did the music for this X-Rated DVD that his friend Richard Kern made as part of a photography book project, so I got to go and talk to him about it. He showed me a picture of his daughter Coco, who ironically is the same age that I was when I first saw Sonic Youth. Thurston was super nice and really funny, full of insane stories. He's an all-around stellar guy. It's so crazy when you think this down to earth beanpole of a man is responsible for so many great songs, and so many hours of teenage riot bliss.

Besides meeting my idols, I've been working like a crazy woman. I think I wrote more than 5 songs last week including this crazy tribal jam. Sometimes I feel like my head is going to explode. I'm happy to report that my new room in Greenpoint is something of a creative haven for me. It's probably due to my little feline friends outside, who bring me never ending smiles and break my heart at the same time.

My previous room was way more stifling. In my down time, my friends and I found time to drink red wine out of a bag (looks like blood) and dress up like pirates, bunnies and elves.

The week before, we bro-ed out watching the Super Bowl at my friend's house. My dad's pretty Avant Guard and I don't have any brothers so I've never been an American football fan but my interest in the sport has flourished recently. Hilary will tell you it all started when we were both hung over and lying on the couch and some program came on the television about football stars and we couldn't move so we had to watch it. I like the game, the little I know, because there's something mathematical or geometrical about it and I was always really good at math – like, here's the linear problem – how are we going to solve it? This probably sounds like nonsense to anyone who isn't me, but I don't care ;) It's my blog. So come superbowl Sunday, I was probably the only native New Yorker in a room full of NY Giants fans, rooting for the Patriots. The guys had to explain to me what was going on, and in the end, New York persevered, so it was sort of a win-win situation for me, which ever way you look at it.

A few nights later Hilary, Ashley, and I got silly and made up "The Myth of the Golden Moustache" and took photos to accompany the story. I've sworn myself to secrecy, since it is an inside joke, but I can say is that it does have something to do with the Superbowl, Tom Petty, and something I can't talk about.

Other than that I've just been busy, busy, busy working on Pin Me Down stuff that's in the works for you. What's up in your next of the woods.

Milena xo

Hi Guys,

We've been busy in Pin Me Down land gearing up for the release of the Kitsune Maison 5 Gold compilation, which has our song "Cryptic" on it, along with songs by Fischerspooner, M.I.A., Late of the Pier and The Teenagers.

Kitsune is also releasing a 12" remix single of "Cryptic" this spring (we'll tell you more about that soon). We heard that one of our favorite Radio DJs John Kennedy has been playing "Cryptic" on his XFM show X-posure in the UK.

If you want to hear "Cryptic" again, we think it would be awesome if you write John to request that he play it through xfm.co.uk.

We're also hard at work rehearsing. I just bought a microkorg keyboard, which I've wanted for a long time, and it has been amusing me with weird sounds. Also Russell and I are writing some new UK garage-tinged jams. I kid you not. Check out these cool items and thanks to everyone who has written us lately and a big grizzly hello to all our new friends and listeners:

-first Noa sends in this Manga-esque PMD drawing from Japan - how cool is that!?

Benjamin also called PMD "The sound of 2008's biggest transatlantic success story" in his picks for the year in High Voltage magazine out of Manchester

There's also an item about the Kitsune Comp on Pitchfork

And pick up the upcoming Feb. issue of Dazed and Confused for some more surprises.

So business aside, I thought it would be fun to talk about New Years and gulp! - my 2008 resolutions. On New Years Eve, I went to see my buddies in Young Love play at the Hiro Ballroom. They  played the perfect party set and then we all watched the ball drop on large projector screens and danced. It was fun except for the high prices on everything – like 24$ for two drinks plus tip – what? After that Hilary and I went to our friends party in Bushwick at an old converted church. The party was fairly uneventful, other than the array of beautiful tribal-style masks that one of the housemates makes. I couldn't help myself and put one of the large ones on that had long hair draping out of it and ran out into the main room and started dancing around on the stage with it on until Bruce saw and wrestled it off of me. I wish I had a picture, as it looked insane with my purple dress! I was possessed, for a second.

But I was treating the mask with respect though, because I try to be careful with art and I believe in the supernatural at times. I swear the mask didn't get damaged. Then we went to our favorite bar near there, where we got into more trouble playing Buck Hunter and taking photos in the booth. It wasn't the greatest new years of all time, but a blast nonetheless. 

Russell's New Years was a bit more glamorous as he DJ-ed at the party at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood. Our manager Larry was there and took this picture.

How was your New Years? I thought I'd get up the courage to post my 2008 New Years Resolutions, effective immediately even though it's errr… mid January.

- Meet real heroes; make new friends; find people that inspire; learn new things. Jeffrey Eugenides, Cormick McCarthy, Hillary Clinton, The Coen Brothers, Kathleen Hannah, The Boss, Viggo Mortensen, Jack White, the boys from Mew, Stuart Price, Keith Richards, Omar from Mars Volta. I could go on forever....

- Meet more ax-slinging rock and roll gals. I think we should form some sort of club. I'll make the badges. I read what Laura-Mary from the Blood Red Shoes said about being a gal in a guitar store in NME's guitar issue and I instantly felt pangs of solidarity with her, since I've experienced the same thing countless times. Her band is rad, a duo (like Pin Me Down!), and she gets extra points for playing a Tele (they're often so heavy on the shoulders).

I can't wait for the day when this sort of sexism doesn't exist and it's not a big deal to see a woman behind the counter in a guitar store, in a small town (ho ho ho - couldn't resist, Eddie) or a lady testing the merchandise. Down with music store wanking.

- Go bowling more. I just discovered The Gutter, an old school bowling alley in my neighborhood and it's seriously the best thing ever. It's half southern style dive bar – half 70s bowling lanes. Apparently the owners bought the 8 bowling lanes off of eBay and they were dismantled from their previous location and trucked to NYC. The wood is really old and the lanes are covered with all these cool stickers from the Midwest, for companies and products we can't buy – that's what I like to see. It's super fun.

The shoes they rent you are way too big, so you have to pretend you're 2 sizes smaller (you know what they say about people with small feet?). I've probably bowled 3 times in my life, prior to The Gutter, so Hilary had to show me the ropes, but now I'm doing quite well, although Hilary still beats me every time. But she's secretly really good a sports, whereas I have always been pretty weak, uncoordinated (softball – what? Where? Doh) and unenthusiastic when it came to gym and sports in school, although I do like to swim and I love to watch tennis, figure skating (the outfits –duh), gymnastics, and the world cup.

- resist all unnecessary tequila shots at, like, 3 am

- learn how to avoid going to gig after parties, so that I don't blow my voice out for the next day

-do my part to get off the internet and stop the over-saturation of mediocrity. Without naming names, it's just kind of depressing how we're being taught that making average, unchallenging art / living unchallenging lives and falling prey to the daily tabloid fodder of faltering pop/movie stars or aristocrats is acceptable and desirable.

- travel, travel, travel – especially to Japan, Prague, Brazil, Australia, and the UK, of course

-  write as much music as possible – although quality over quantity. Learn new protools tricks.

-     find some really kick ass costumes. Lately I've been sporting 50s sock hop gear, so if you see any pink lady jackets, send them my way.

-Finally get my drivers license and put it to good use

-Trace my ancestry and maybe discover through a fluke family tree that Ryan Gosling is really my cousin.

- Try to encourage all my friends over 18 to vote. In the last congressional election, I was the only one of all my friends who actually voted!

-         Learn to sleep deeper

-         Brush up on my Spanish. I wish I spoke more languages

-         Rock the fuck out

I hope that wasn't too confusing. What are your New Years resolutions?

milena xo