Vulgar display of rock

Alex, MT-TV guitarist

MT-TV responds to criticism about its allegedly indecent Rally by the River performance

by Ryan A. Bunch

published June 27th 2007

This past Friday, June 15, nine fun-loving, sexually confident women known collectively as MT-TV took the stage at Citifest's Rally by the River. By the end of the performance, the women, who'd thought they played a solid rock 'n' roll show, found themselves at the heart of some strong media criticism, citing the performance as vulgar and raunchy. An un-named cop accused the singer of the band of not wearing any underpants under her mini skirt, and parents were frightened for the safety of their children.

Well, the whole thing seemed a little ridiculous to the folks here at the City Paper — we still support free speech and artistic expression — so we contacted MT-TV guitarist Alex and gave her an opportunity to dispel the vicious rumors being circulated about the performance. There are two sides to every story, and here's the one from the view of the stage.

Toledo City Paper: Let's get this straight, was singer Krow, or any member of the band, not wearing panties, parading her hoo-hoo in front of innocent children from the stage?

Alex: The 'Pantie Count' at Citifest was as follows: nine women, five pairs of trousers, four mini skirts and three pairs of slacks ... yes, I know, that doesn't add up. I'm including some costume changes by 'The Stereotypes' - our backing vocal/performance artists.

Our lead singer Krow wore trousers ALL evening apart from three songs where she wore an ankle length costume OVER them. Underwear under skirts was worn at all times and all hoo-hoo's were safely tucked away.

TCP: If so, what's wrong with a little natural A/C?

Alex: As our British upper class would say 'Do as you please, but don't scare the horses'. However, putting equestrian worries aside, we wholly support individual choice and self expression in all spheres by mutual consent of all parties involved. As children are shorter than adults they don't have a choice therefore — panties on for family events.

TCP: Here's a direct quote from the Channel 24 web site: "Members of the all-girl band MT-TV, have quite a history of performing nude and having sex with each other, and fans, on stage." First - is this true? Have any members of the band played "nude" or had sex with anyone during a performance? Second - If so, when was this and why wasn't I there?! And, third - Who's the best lay in the band?

Alex: MT-TV have a vividly addictive and imaginative stage performance which involves illustrating the song lyrics and other issues we feel strongly about with theatre, costume and choreography. We are easy on the eye and comfortable within ourselves as women and musicians. MT-TV have no history of nudity or sex with each other or fans on stage. What individual members may have got up to in the past before MT-TV is not relevant to the Citifest gig. And the best lay? - me, of course ...

TCP: Just for kicks - If you could "do" anyone from all of history on stage - who would it be?

Alex: You mean apart from those people who have already done such things onstage? Iggy Pop with his totally see-thru pants, The Chili Peppers with socks on c-cks and occasional complete nudity, Blackie Lawless with his 'nun rape', Wendy O'Williams with punk and piercing, the list really does go on. Apart from that, if I had the choice from anyone in history it would have to be someone decadent, depraved and with a fantastic imagination ... I'll go with Caligula or Yeshe Tsogyal.

TCP: Let's be honest, this band is made up of nine sexy females who aren't afraid to embrace their looks, sexuality or confidence. How important is this aspect to the band's overall "mission"? Will America ever be comfortable with sexually confident women without referring to them as "slutty"?

Alex: Modern feminism is way past the point where denying physical attractiveness or a healthy sex drive is a necessary statement for individual validity. However, our culture has gone to the other extreme and sex together with the female form is used to sell everything all the time. So much so that we don't even notice. MT-TV are not going to put bags on heads or wear a full body sack in order to prove that we are serious musicians. In fact, women are still not taken as seriously as men or judged by the same standards regardless of looks or behavior. Much needs to change all over the world, not just America.

TCP: Some right-winger referred to the performance as "a Nazi performance for a Nazi rally." What the $%@& does that even mean?

Alex: I believe this 'criticism' referred to the song where one of our backing vocalists is beaten up by the other two. She is dressed as a tramp and carries a sign that reads ' will sing for food'. That song and performance is a statement about homelessness and racism. It was partly inspired by jazz singer Bessie Smith, who died on the steps of a hospital which refused treatment to her because she was black.

It's true that we probably should not have performed this number as the violence might have disturbed younger members of the crowd, and we would take it on the chin as far as admitting we made an error of judgement there, but the cry of 'Nazi performance for a Nazi rally' does come as quite a surprise. The woman playing the tramp was black, but then again, of the two women attacking her, one is white, the other Indian, so that doesn't really make much sense as a response. As an addendum — what a moron.

TCP: MT-TV might not look like Nazis, but the band does sort of look like a bunch of vampire/witch ladies - admittedly a little scary. How does the look fit into the group's theatrical idea of what the band is?

Alex: MT-TV's image isn't a planned construct. We're not entirely goth, rock, metal or pop in our music and so everyone wears what they feel like wearing rather than the genre uniform for any of those styles. It's true many of us have a terrible weakness for the color black, but it does kind of go with the turf of playing in any band!

TCP: MT-TV is predominantly from England (with one member from Amsterdam), is it possible that all this hubbub is just a misunderstanding resulting from America's increasingly delusional grasp on foreign policy? It seems logical that this is just all the result of cultural confusion, you know, the way Italian dudes kiss each other on the cheek and redneck people beat each other up for doing stuff like that?

Alex: Absolutely. We never expected the States to be quite so conservative as some of these responses from Toledo have been. However, we've played extensively in the South and never had any problems to this degree. As Europeans, it is true that we have a blind spot as far as Stateside levels of distress relate to skirt length and bare midriffs. Clothing that is never looked at twice in England appears to be very shocking here, which is very strange when you watch the music video's of American artists — even country music artists who are the bastion of conservatism act and dress very sexy indeed. Also its hard to assimilate a slightly more repressive culture to make people happy without feeling frustrated and depressed: the double standard is really very strong over here. I'm not criticizing American culture, but you did push the point.

TCP: OK, all that nonsense aside, this band has been working very hard, playing an endless string of shows, usually to rave reviews. First - How did you end up in the Toledo/Detroit area?! And Second - the band has a new DVD out now, (and is working on a new CD?), tell me about the group's projects. What can people expect from them? Has the group received any recent interest from labels, etc? Been offered any opportunities?

Alex: MT-TV love playing live and will continue to do so, but our big priority is to finish our album. We do have a DVD - 'SHEVOLUTION' - which includes music video's and an ongoing mini-documentary of our American experience. Sadly, the Toledo event won't appear until a few episodes later! We will continue with our onstage expression because we feel strongly that simply standing and playing is no longer enough, either for an audience who are used to the high speed bombardment of multi-media images, or for ourselves, with all the things we want to say and do. It's odd that you should ask about record company interest: we are signed to a small indie label at the moment, but only today we were approached by a larger label from LA. Our manager is reviewing the situation.

TCP: What do you have to say to Toledoans who were offended by the Citifest show?

Alex: We regret the levels of onstage performance violence in our Toledo show and wouldn't include them at a family event again. However, is worth noting that this was not the major issue of contention — rather, it was our innate sexual confidence and attractiveness that was the problem. If nude genitalia were exposed in front of children, or even adults, then the band would have been arrested. I believe the individual who is convinced of what he saw is simply mistaken and blinded with rage. Rage towards a Nazi performance would be an entirely appropriate response, but to a rock band in short skirts WITH underwear ... a little misguided. We thank everyone who emailed us in support and disbelief, including the mother attending with her 8 year old daughter who saw nothing but confident female role models playing great music and said so. To everyone else, just grow up. Your outrage at a simple rock show shows a level of emotional intelligence more appropriate to the children you claim to be protecting.

More at: mttvband">www.myspace.com/mttvband or mt-tv.com">www.mt-tv.com.