Xiu Xiu
New American Idols


There's nothing more trite than complaining about the American Idol phenomenon. Its crapulence is self-evident—nobody needs to point it out, unless of course you are trying to convince the editors at Rolling Stone to pull their heads out of their bums and stop letting Ruben Studdard on the cover, in which case I should tell you right now, it's a hopeless situation. But in general, putting down American Idol like I'm doing right now is pointless and pompous, because it's only making a jab at a bunch of suburban moms and their 13-year-old daughters anyway. So there's no bother lecturing fans on what a bunch of talentless hacks they're idolizing, because just as Velveeta will never pose a threat to aged Gouda, Aiken will never be a threat to good music.

And yet. It's mind boggling when 6,500 people in Grand Rapids pay 50 bucks to listen to covers of Prince and Alicia Keys.  I saw the crowd, the night before Xiu Xiu came to town, pouring out of the Van Andel Arena. "Fools!" I thought, a little pitifully.

In contrast, the attendance at the Xiu Xiu show three blocks away was modest. Twenty or so of us milled around outside. Jamie Stewart, the lead singer and songwriter, leaned against the wall near the door and chatted with the handful of fans that recognized him. I couldn't help thinking how different the scene would be if Stewart were one of the bobble-headed Idol singers. He'd have like, a Fox network executive hissing in his ear and he'd be posed in front of a giant poster of himself, with Pop Tarts exploding out of the background or something.

But who needs Kellogg's sponsorships, groupies and caterers? Not Xiu Xiu. Stewart drives himself to each show in a trusty tour van, which, if caricatured, would emit wavy smell lines. He sets up all his own equipment, gargles his own coffee, and wipes his own ass.

The only help he's missing is, um, from most of his band. Half the original members quit in the last year or so, leaving Stewart to complete the latest (and best) album, Fabulous Muscles, pretty much on his own. At a nearby coffee shop before the show, I asked Stewart what happened, and if there were any permanent members left. He sighed.

"Well I, I think so. I think Caralee [McElroy] now is. Cory [McCulloch] is still definitely, permanently involved, but just with recording. He doesn't play shows anymore because he just really couldn't stand touring. Hopefully I'm trying to get him to do the next tour next year. He talks about it but—we'll see. I hope he does. It seems like there's a pretty regular group of people involved now."

He rattled off the names of a half-dozen who are at least casually associated with Xiu Xiu.

"So, it's kind of somewhere between being and a band and being like a collective I guess," he conceded.

The next album, tentatively marked for release in fall 2005, should be less of a solo effort for Stewart. Though still in the early stages of gestation, he described it as a mix of folk music, experimental electronic, and modern classical.

"I think [the new record] will be leaning more towards our experimental influence of stuff. It will still definitely have pop elements, but less so than Fabulous Muscles, less pop-oriented than that record is for sure.

"At the time we were working on Fabulous Muscles we were very, very into dance music and very into like '80s goth pop, which we're still super, super totally in love with, but—I don't know. We'll see."

This may be disappointing news to anyone who was reborn by "I Luv the Valley OH!", a seemingly traditional pop song that with Stewart's strangled scream and loud/soft vocals becomes a disturbing story about unrequited love and razors. 

Not shy of the overdramatic, Stewart said he frankly isn't concerned about people being turned off by his lyrics. He's going to keep writing about deformed penises and incest, whether you like it or not.

"The point of the band is to write about the things that are going on in the lives of the people in the band and in our families and the people that are close to us. The point is not to turn people off or be concerned about it one way or another."

Unfortunately, nationally airing a relative's problems can make for a lot of enemies at the family reunion. Stewart said he got into a bit of trouble over "Nieces Pieces," during which he sings, "I can't wait till you realize the family you've been born into… I can't wait to tell your grandpa made your mommy/ play stripper while your uncle watched."

"For this record, yeah, my mom and my sister got pretty upset about some stuff but I, yeah, they had never listened to any of the previous records so I didn't really expect them to listen to this one. I mean I'm certainly not trying to write stuff that will bother anybody, so we'll see. I'm still very committed to writing really openly and honestly about things that are happening. But I don't want to write things that will hurt anyone's feelings, so. That's not the point of doing it."

Stewart has also gotten a lot of criticism for "Support Our Troops Oh! (Black Angels Oh!)". If you've heard the spoken-word track then you already know Stewart doesn't really want anyone supporting our troops. He's using sarcasm.

"Support Our Troops Oh! (Black Angels Oh!)" speaks directly to one unfortunate soldier, who, if Stewart's information is correct, shot off the head of a 4-year-old girl during the invasion of Baghdad. He said he read about it in the paper. In the song, Stewart asks the soldier if he could have predicted this, and then Stewart answers his own rhetorical question: "Oh wait, you totally did know... that that would happen/ Cuz you're a jock who was too stupid and too greedy/ … why should I care if/ you get killed?"

Often labeled as juvenile and callous, the song's message is akin to that of the late 60s protestors who spit on soldiers returning from Vietnam and called them "baby killers." I asked Stewart if anyone pressured him not to publish such unpatriotic (read: unmarketable) sentiments.

"The sort of people that we deal with are independent record labels and independent promoters and you know, 99 percent of the time independent media—so we're not dealing with any sort of corporate bullshit that would have a stake in, you know, maintaining right-wing oppressive ideals. So—nah it hasn't been a problem."

Though lyrics like these have probably sealed the nail in his never-going-to-go-mainstream coffin, Stewart wears his leftist ideas on his sleeve; in PR photos he is often wearing a "Fuck Bush" t-shirt. And though getting 20-somethings to vote is like pushing mud, Xiu Xiu is collaborating with an organization that is registering as many of them as possible in the hope of ousting Bush.

"We're working with this organization right now—we're kind of half-way touring with them—called Music for America that's doing things about raising awareness about right-wing media consolidation and a lot of other humanistic-oriented political ideals, and just trying to register people to vote and stuff like that. They have volunteers come to all of our shows, and shows that they can't get volunteers to come to we have materials and we'll do it. There's somebody there tonight at tonight's show. So, um, hopefully next November we won't need to do that anymore. But we'll see. We'll see.

"We're going to be in Europe during the election and if it turns out bad then we might stay." (laughs)