dan monick

Vocalist Inara George (also a Living Sister) and producer/mult-instrumentalist Greg Kurstin (who recently worked on tracks with Lily Allen among others) built the Bird and the Bee out of a mutual arsenal of jazz standards. Their song ‘F*cking Boyfriend’ pushed Madonna off the top of the Billboard Club Chart. They will have a new EP ready in September. They speak while Inara cooks artichokes.

So you met around a piano at a Christmas party?
Inara George (vocalist/etc.): That is totally untrue! It was after a rehearsal. Mike Andrews who produced my solo record brought in Greg to play on my record. I knew Greg was a really amazing jazz pianist and I knew some standards, so we just kind of huddled around the piano. We did a lot! We dug deep, too!
How many songs do you know between you?
Greg Kurstin (multi-instrumentalist/producer): There might be a lot in there, but they’re like three-quarters or halves of songs.
I: I don’t retain lyrics that well, so the rest become das or bas or humming.
G: When I was studying jazz piano, I’d purposely try to memorize one or two a day. You had to know standards that they were gonna call when you sat in as a pianist, and if you didn’t, they’d say, ‘Off the stage!’ You’d get really bad vibes if you didn’t know a song—you’d totally ruin the flow of the night and they’d be really mad! I had to learn every standard that was covered—that was a vehicle for you to show your stuff. So I went through all that. But my hard drive was getting full, so some things deleted automatically. But I do remember a lot.
Which song did you hope never came up?
G: As a piano player, I’d be requested all the time—though I don’t know it and I don’t wanna learn it—‘Piano Man’ by Billy Joel.
Does that song haunt every piano player?
G: I think it does. People assume you grew up with Billy Joel. But I didn’t really. I kind of wanted to rebel. All the piano players went through that and I was just trying to be different. I’d change the channel every time something by Billy Joel came on.
I: What about Elton John?
G: Kind of the same thing. I totally avoided those. I definitely like him and respect him. But it’s not deep in my subconscious. He’s great—I definitely respect him, though. I really grew up on pop radio—anything on pop radio I was absorbing. Then I became a jazz nerd.
How do you know when you’ve become a jazz nerd?
G: When you start collecting a lot of music fakebooks. I got into jazz around when hair metal came out, so I completely missed all that. Like Nelson or anything—I don’t know what that is. That’s when I totally checked out of pop culture—when I saw people with big hair on Sunset.
Inara, how did you come to know all these songs?
I: I had this choir in high school and for some reason it got really jazz-centric—we all had really ugly silk shirts that matched. And I did grow up watching old movies—Singing In The Rain, all that stuff—and I knew all these songs, and as I got older, I’d listen to Ella Fitzgerald and those singers singing songs from these musicals.
What would the Bird and the Bee have been doing if this was 1967?
I: I wouldn’t even be in a band—I’d be in musicals.
G: I’d probably be smoking a pipe—not a crack pipe!—a nice ‘60s pipe. And wearing a smoking jacket. And I’d still be playing keyboard—back then, it would have been a huge wall of synthesizers.
I: I would have wanted to be just a singer—like a songstress, like Dusty Springfield or Dionne Warwick. That’d be my bag! And you’d write songs for me, and I’d perform them on a bare stage with strange ‘70s props—remember that Dusty thing I sent you where she’s surrounded by all those clocks?
G: I wouldn’t have minded recording with the Wrecking Crew.
I: And you’d have your crack pipe.
You could have brought crack to the ‘60s and changed history forever.
I: That’s true!
Who was the best songwriter-and-singer pair of the ‘60s?
G: Definitely Burt Bacharach and Dionne Warwick.
I: She knew how to sing those songs really well. They’re complicated! The thing is—so much of that music, if you listen to it now, is so much more complex than anyone gave it credit. They’re really difficult songs to play and sing—easier songs were considered more hip. When I name those songs, my mom is like, ‘What are you talking about?’ Because it’s so cheesy to her. When you listen, Greg and I always say—it’s so influenced by jazz.
What’s the most underrated record of that era?
I: France Gall. We listen to that a lot.
G: It’s kind of similar to the Carpenters or something. She probably wasn’t taken seriously back in her day, but Serge Gainsbourg was an amazing songwriter, and the stuff he did with her… she was almost like Britney Spears, but she did really complicated songs.
Will someone make this argument for Britney in 2047?
G: It could happen. Like who is the France Gall of today? I don’t know—she was a really pretty blonde pop singer who everyone wrote songs for.
I: And a really good singer.
Who is on the radio now that will have that longevity?
G: Maybe some Outkast song will last—“Hey Ya”?—though I can’t imagine anything lasting right now. It’s really challenging these days to come up with something new, since so much has already been done. A lot of things are a combination of interesting things that were already done.
Like ska and death metal.
G: It’s really hard to do something new. But I feel like something new will happen eventually. It’s like the music business has almost no middle class—it’s extremely pop-oriented artists and then other things that bubble up, and they’ll be new and organic. There are some amazing songs today, but a lot of it is like, ‘Oh, that’s a combination of a retro thing with something else.’
I: There are non-popular songs that probably will have a little more staying power.
G: I think Timbaland is pretty amazing. He’s coming up with crazy ideas that seem pretty unique and new—as a pop producer, he’s pretty amazing. He comes up with weird ideas that seem to really work. You can tell him to call me. ‘Let’s collaborate!’
Has anyone Greg works with tried to get Bird and the Bee tracks for themselves?
G: ‘Why did you give that track to Britney, Greg?’
I: I think Greg and I would like to write songs for people. Like Fantasia Barrino. I love her voice—I’d love to write a really good song for her voice.
Do you find American Idol more heartwarming, inspiring or depressing?
I: All of those wrapped into one. It’s funny—you have to find a hero on it or it becomes awful. I just thought Fantasia was fantastic.
How common is it to find pure and natural musical talent?
G: It’s such a combination of talent—
I: —and taste.
G: I went on a trip to Memphis and went to Stax—they were closed, so I only got to go to the gift shop—but the whole thing is that all the different people who recorded were local. Isaac Hayes lived like two blocks away—they were kids in the neighborhood who hung around there and were like, ‘I wanna make a record.’ Opportunity is a huge part of bringing that out of someone. And the same thing for Sun Records. All these musicians happened to be kids who hung out. Who knows how many amazing and talented people have no opportunity to record or make music? It’s kind of crazy.
I: I get why American Idol has a sort of evil element because of the people who put it on. But there’s also something really sweet where someone like Fantasia—if she didn’t have that opportunity, she maybe wouldn’t have been able to make music at all. I do think there are a lot of really talented people—it’s just difficult to get heard.
Why did you stay with music? Why aren’t you Alaskan deep-sea fishermen?
G: I failed at deep-sea fishing. I get seasick. I don’t know—you get something in your head, like, ‘I feel like this is something I can do.’ At a certain point, no one can change your mind.
What did it feel like to knock Madonna off the club charts?
I: It was a high point in my career.
G: It felt good, naturally. I hope she doesn’t beat me up. She probably does a lot of pilates. It was a weird thing—we didn’t really know it was happening. We don’t go out to clubs.
And now you’re obligated?
G: Now that Inara is a club diva. That’d be great if people start dressing like you at cabaret shows.
I: That’s when you know you made it—that’s actually my goal.
What’s the best way to sell a pair of hot pants?
G: Have the girls wear them on stage.
I: During the show, we model them—to be honest, that’s what really sells them. It’s a little degrading, but anything for a buck!

THE BIRD AND THE BEE PLAY FRI., JULY 20, WITH MIKE ANDREWS AND WILLOUGHBY AT THE EL REY, 5515 WILSHIRE BLVD., LOS ANGELES. 8 PM / $14 / ALL AGES. WWW.GOLDENVOICE.COM.