How do you choose songs to cover?
That’s really hard to pinpoint. Sometimes it just comes out of nowhere. All of a sudden it’s in front of you, and in your awareness, and you’re like, “Wow, I forgot about this song. That would be fun to do.” Early on, Kenny turned me on to a lot of different things, like “Crimson and Clover.” I was hesitant to try it, and he said, “No, do it man!” On this new album, the Replacements’ “Androgynous” . . . I was a big Replacements fan for years and that song speaks to me in a lot of ways. I love being a woman, I embrace that. But what I don’t embrace are the roles and the rigid constructs. I’m comfortable, as a lot of us are, being more androgynous . . . or what I define as androgynous . . . sort of blurring the lines.
Do you think that blurring of the lines has affected the way people have reacted to Sinner?
The press has been treating us great. The radio is always a struggle: it always has been. It’s just tough. I’m sure I run into prejudices, the same as I did years ago, but I don’t keep track because it’s not really my thing.
You ended up releasing Sinner on Blackheart because there were problems with other labels. Were you getting flack for some of the sexier stuff on the album?
I do think it could’ve gotten out on a major. It wasn’t about content. I don’t see what’s necessarily so racy about it. To me it’s straight-up what people would expect from me as far as music goes.
How was the Warped Tour?
It was so much fun. I knew that I was going to have a good time. I figured it was sort of a roaming block party — a punk-rock circus — and that’s what it was. The bands were all so friendly, there were no head trips, everybody was supportive of each other, and everybody’s watching each other’s shows. It was a great experience all around.
Compared to a club tour, that must take a whole other level of stamina . . .
Definitely. It’s all day, every day. And there were tremendous drives. It was like nothing I’ve ever done in my life. But I was having fun . . . it was exciting, so I was able to go with less sleep than normal. I didn’t want to miss anything.
Were you scouting for bands for Blackheart or just enjoying it all?
Scouting wasn’t really the main goal. I figured something would come to us if it was meant to be. I loved Anti-Flag, a political band from Pittsburgh. It was great to see so many kids singing every word. NOFX were very political too, and I loved that they’re so involved. Fat Mike is like a comedian, it was very fun to watch. Helmet was great. I haven’t seen them for a while, but, God, that’s the way to be heavy . . . short and fat and rhythmic, so intense.
How about the women? Any good girl punk bands on the tour?
There was a place called the ShiraGirl Stage. But there weren’t many girls on the tour.
