It's all about Caroline! And Jillian takes a ukulele solo! Check out this neato video from our CD release party! More to come, and thanks to Sky for shooting it!

Check out this video: The Figs

Can't make the release party tonight? Well, no worries!

The uber-cool folks at synclive.com are doing some really cool things with live music and the interweb, and our performance and CD Release party is viewable online! Check it out!

Figs for everyone!

We're so very excited about our CD Release Party coming up this Saturday at the Blue Moon Saloon (the BEST place) with rock n' roll darlings Direwood! J Burton from Direwood even co-produced and recorded our album, so you KNOW it's going to rock!

The new record will be available for sale, plus we'll be having lots of fun times with fun Figs trivia, fun music, fun games, fun outfits, and just general funness!

Won't you join us!?

The show starts at 8 so don't be late!

(and we love you)

The Figs

The Figs have been slaving away in the studio for more than a week now. So it's official, WE'RE MAKING A NEW ALBUM! The recording has been going swimmingly out at J Burton's studio in St. Martinville, and J is doing a bang up job of making us sound as strange and kooky as we look onstage!

We're going for broke with this one (seriously, it costs a lot to make a record album!) and we're recording fifteen fantastic ditties (including 12 tunes written by us gals!), sure to make you tap your toes just as much as ever! The official CD release party will be at the Blue Moon Saloon on August 2nd, right here in our hometown of Lafayette, LA with local hottie rockers Dire Wood, so mark your calendars and tell two friends, and tell them to tell two friends and so on and so on... So if the good Lord is willing and the bayous don't flood (again), we'll be seeing you all very soon!

hello all! a real nice fella took the time and effort to shoot this lovely video of the figs performing at festival international for one of his school projects. we hope you got an A+ on this one, and thanks for making us look so old timey. we love that stuff...

We are humbled and honored to be a part of this wonderful 3-Disc compilation benefitting the victims of the Minneapolis Bridge Disaster in 2007. Our versions of Little Birdie/East Virginia Blues are included, along with many amazing tracks from many amazing artists. This compilation was created by the good folks at ElectroVoice, a Minneapolis-based microphone company. Click here to learn more about the project, and to pick yourself up a copy.

OFFBEAT MAGAZINE - New Orleans, LA
September 2007
By: Nick Pittman


A Fig By Any Other Name:

When the Figs perform, the female group takes the stage in vintage-themed dresses in the style of the 1920s through the early 1960s—each a page from a catalog from days gone by. For the look, they scour thrift stores and three members sew their own dresses. "The fashion aspect of the band is something that also reflects our musical tastes," says Jillian Johnson.

Like their seam work, the Lafayette band patches together scraps of styles and influences to form new music that could pass as old standards and hem classics in fresh and interesting ways. Using threads from brother harmony bands and needles not bound by tradition, it is a darling of a sound just as fetching and hip as their wardrobes. Each Fig takes a stab at lead vocals, and though heavily influenced by traditional music and vintage vinyl, the Figs aren't married to the material's original versions.

"Paige (Pemberton, drums, harmonica, percussion) and I were listening to Built to Spill the other day," begins guitarist Sarah Gray. "They have this song that quotes a traditional song in its chorus—'Fly Around my Pretty Little Miss'—so Paige and I began thinking we could integrate the old time song with the Built to Spill version. We played around with some chord changes and figured it out. If you had asked me a year and a half ago what sort of music my band would play, there's no way I would have ever guessed melding Built to Spill and old time music."

In only their first year together, they have built an impressive résumé: releasing their self-titled CD, taking a national tour and playing Festival International – a rarity for a young, non-Francophone band.

"We are continually amazed at how fast this whole thing has happened," says Johnson, tenor ukulele. Wardrobe aside, the answer lies in their song selection. On "Cross that Bridge," they recorded one of the most haunting songs of the year. Composed by Josh Caffery—the husband of banjo player Claire Caffery—the Katrina-inspired tune stays with a listener whether they were on dry or wet ground during the storm. Aside from "Cross that Bridge," their originals are odes to love, always performed sweetly, even if the Figs are looking for a new darling, weighing love against money or sneaking away when a beau gets too close.

"We're not hot pickers, and we're not diva singers, so we really try to be creative with our songwriting, song selection, arrangements and vocal parts," says Johnson of the band, which also includes bassist Melissa Stevenson and guitarist Caroline Helm. "It's important that, above all, what we do has heart."

TIMES OF ACADIANA - Lafayette, LA
August 22, 2007
By: Tim Landry

PRESERVED: The music, the attitude, the album. The Figs are officially packaged and ready for market.

In May of 2006, back when the members of The Figs were jamming together but still reluctant to embrace the "musician" label, the would-be band's mission statement was in its purest form. We can. We enjoy it. Why not?

It was an affirmation of the members' collective curiosity. Plus, it was a deviation from each of their day jobs. At the time, each of the members' social networks was comprised almost exclusively of musicians. They already had an in, so why not nurture it?

That was then and it's still the case now, even with a recent, satisfying tour in the books and a comfortable foundation of local support. The newest venture for The Figs will play out over the next couple of weeks as the Lafayette roots band promotes the release of its new full-length, self-titled album.

"(The Figs) is kind of like a hobby for all of us," says Jillian Johnson, the band's tenor ukulele player. "But we put a lot of effort into it. With six people, it's hard. Schedules, a baby, three teachers -- it's just a lot."

The six members have stations ranging from teacher to social worker to full-time Web designer. Some are wives, but they're all "girls." It's a word the four 20-somethings and two fresh 30-somethings still lovingly embrace and somehow manage to make seem empowering. Even as they giggle, grab fistfuls of popcorn and spout endless in-jokes 15 months into it all.

It's a Thursday night practice session and only one Fig, acoustic guitarist Caroline Helm, is late. Last year, Helm acted as the central hub for the pre-Fig network. She wanted a grouping of girls who didn't play any specific instrument particularly well-- an all-girl jam session. Each of the members was somewhat pre-acquainted through husbands, mutual friends and book clubs.

"I wasn't raised playing music," Johnson says. "I had very limited knowledge. I knew, like, 10 chords on the guitar when I went to this jam session. Everybody was playing guitar, so I found something else to play. That's kind of how we all fell into our different instruments."

Claire Oliver was probably one of the most experienced members at the time, having clocked in a few months of banjo playing prior to the jam session. It took some discussion to decide who ultimately would play bass (Melissa Stevenson) and drums (Paige Pemberton), but all the pieces ended up falling into place nicely.

Johnson speaks for the group and cites the Red Stick Ramblers as one of The Figs' biggest influences-- both musically and in terms of presentation.

"They dress nice," she says with a laugh.

With the girls decked out in modest dresses, each of The Figs' live shows acts as a throwback to equally modest times. It's all girls. It's dresses. It's roots music laced with sugar-sweet harmonies. But, they say, it's not all about female empowerment. The Figs perform something that's not Cajun music in a decidedly masculine musical culture deep in the heart of Acadiana. Yet, saying the deck is stacked against them wouldn't seem proper. There's really no deck at all.

"There's nothing else like it," Johnson says. "An all-girl band is unique. There's no mistake that our show posters that we send out have our pictures on them. In a way we take advantage of that, so we can't really complain about people objectifying it. But then they hear us. Then they're sold the right way."

Just as the girls start to get restless, Helm finally walks in holding a large upright bass. She smiles, sits and, when asked, reminds the rest of the band that her original intentions remain unchanged.

"For me, the purpose of the band is the same as the day it began, which was to learn how to play music," she says. "To be able to do it with people rather than alone-- that just gets old."


+ RECORD REVIEW-ISH THING

DELICIOUS:
The Figs' tracks range from upbeat, honky-tonk tunes like Rollin' Down South and Pretending is a Game to mind-haunting ditties like Little Birdie. The intro song, Cross That Bridge, is sung with such an effective indifference that it only magnifies the already vivid, sometimes disturbing, New Orleans imagery. "I love women with really haunting voices," says Sarah Gray, who wrote many of the songs on the album. "Jolie Holland and Neko Case and Cat Power. When I wrote (the song) 3/4, that's what I was listening to." The album was recorded in January and was produced by Steve Riley, Joel Savoy and Valcour Records. The Figs officially will release their CD locally Sunday, Aug. 26, at the Blue Moon Saloon.

Hi Everybody!

Won't you join us this weekend as we celebrate the release of our brand spankin' new album on Valcour Records?

It'll be so much fun!

Totally!

We'll be appearing at the following wonderful places with the following wonderful people! So, start calling your friends & neighbors, designating drivers, and practicing your smokin' dance moves!

THURSDAY, AUG. 23 - LAFAYETTE, LA
KRVS 88.7FM - Live Interview
Medicine Ball Caravan w/ Cecile Doyle | 11am
Listen online at krvs.org

THURSDAY, AUG. 23 - EUNICE, LA
KBON 101.1FM - Live Interview
Swamp & Roll Show w/ Todd Ortego | 7pm

FRIDAY, AUG. 24 - LAKE CHARLES, LA
PonyFest (also appearing - feufollet)
Feufollet | 6:00-7:15pm
The Figs | 7:30-9:00pm
For details, visit poorpony.com

SATURDAY, AUG. 25 - BATON ROUGE, LA
Chelsea's Cafe - CD RELEASE PARTY
w/ Feufollet | 10pm | $7
chelseascafe.com | feufollet.net

SUNDAY, AUG. 26 - LAFAYETTE, LA
Blue Moon Saloon - CD RELEASE PARTY
w/ Pine Hill Haints | 6:30pm | $7
bluemoonpresents.com | myspace.com/pinehillhaints
Can't make the show? Watch us online at bluemoonpresents.com!



Can't make a show? Order your copy of the CD, along with all of your other favorite Figs treats, at thefigsband.com. It's SUPER easy, and we'll send everything right to your door!

And naturally, for all of the latest Figs happenings, visit us at thefigsband.com, or right here on that wonderful thing called MySpace.

With Love and Wonderful Figs,
The Figs

Hello Cajun Friends! (and even friends that are not Cajun!)

At last our brand new record is available for sale on our website, along with lots of other goodies like shirts, stickers and pins...everything was carefully designed and created to color coordinate, so you just can't go wrong!

Stop on by...order some cool stuff, check out our tour blog, e-mail us your thoughts and feelings. We love that stuff...we're girls after all! Ain't that cute?

We'll also be playing a whole bunch of shows all across south Louisiana in the coming months. From the loveable lakes of Charles, to the rowdy crowds of Baton Rouge, and all points between! Won't you join us?

Just click below and let the party begin!

Love, Love, Love,
The Figs