Interview: Barry Cliffe
San Francisco-based Grass Widow have been busy making waves across Europe showcasing their second album, 2010′s Past Time, on their second tour of the continent playing 20 cities and creating a buzz in their wake. In June the band stopped by Berlin to bring their inventive, introspective and superbly melodic sound to Marie Antoinette; we caught up with the band to discuss the themes behind their latest offering, their involvement in the thriving San Francisco music scene, future recording plans, dayjobs and the Bay Area Girl Bandcamp.
Grass Widow is Hannah Lew (bass, vocals), Raven Mahon (guitar, vocals) and Lillian Maring (drums, vocals).
How did you all meet and how long have you been Grass Widow?
Hannah: Raven and I played in another band called Shitstorm in SF, which consisted of us, Frankie Rose and Wu Li Leung. That band started in 2003 and Raven and I have been playing ever since. I met Lily while on tour with another band I was in in the Northwest. When Frankie moved to NY and we needed a replacement drummer-Lily filled in-and then when Wu moved away too-we decided to continue playing. We became Grass Widow in 2007.
Raven: The musical community here is pretty small, especially within the punk scene, I think we would have crossed paths eventually, but I was just thinking recently about the serendipitous way it all happened and wondering if we could still have ended up in this place if any one element had been different. That’s really gushy and cheesy, I know.The band name is an unusual yet beautiful one, I’ve read several things about the meaning of the term. I’d like to hear you own reasons for choosing this name.
Hannah: A friend had told us about the term when we were trying to think of a
