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Pre Madonna has put out four awesome tracks (“Future Flashbacks” being a personal favorite) that are available on the band's MySpace page. You should do yourself a favor and get them while they're free. With an upcoming show January 20th at Avalon Bar (in Costa Mesa), Pre Madonna will demonstrate why they're on their way to shaking up the local music scene in 2011.
OC Weekly (Ali Lerman): How did you guys come up with the name Pre Madonna for your band?
Shane Cox: We had been talking about doing a cover of “Burning Up” together long before we even started the band. Once we started the band, Ryan suggested we call it “Pre Madonna” and it stuck pretty instantly.
Ryan Nichols: Yeah, we stole it from an old collection of rare recordings Madonna has. Sometimes it's better to underthink band names.
So then if Pre Madonna could cover any song other than “Burning Up,” what would it be?
Nichols: “Primary” by the Cure and “80 Times” by T.S.O.L. We actually cover both of these songs.
What kind of fans do you think you'll attract with your music?
Nichols: Deaf criminals and skateboarders.
Cox: Telemarketers
Ha, thinking big I see. How would you guys describe the sound of Pre Madonna?
Nichols: It's just the two of us playing over artificial drums. We want the songs all to be short and have a similar feel and sound–it's punk.
Cox: Agreed. Short and to the point. We wanna make sure people aren't going to get bored when they come to one of our shows.
Do you both write the songs? What's been the inspiration with the writing?
Nichols: We write all the music together. Shane programs the drums and I write the words. There's no deep message or anything. I just try to write stuff that complements the music. I'm inspired by the poor choices I make.
Cox: The writing process has been totally collaborative. We generally start with one simple idea and build from there. Sometimes, we don't even have that. We'll just fuck around in Ryan's garage until we stumble upon something that sounds cool. We have really similar musical tastes and interests.
Since the sky's the limit at this point, what direction would you like to see Pre Madonna take?
Nichols: Eventually we plan on getting a drummer. The artificial drum thing is only temporary so, down the line, it'll be a three piece. Also, I only want to put out 7-inches and, of course, we wanna start playing a lot more and touring.
Cox: I like the direction it's going in now, so more of that.
What do you think about the direction music is taking in general?
Nichols: It's definitely in a bizarre state. There are tons of amazing bands out right now, but it seems like it's getting hard to find people that care about it. There's a void instead of a scene. People no longer go to stores and shows–it's kind of sad because that's where all your experiences come from.
Cox: I think music itself is probably about where it's always been. There's a ton of great stuff out there, but there's even more shit. Like Ryan said, the music scene is a different story. It's sad that there's hardly anywhere for kids to go browse through albums or buy band stickers and patches anymore. That was one of my favorite things to do in high school!
Ahhh, the good old days! So where can people get your music?
Nichols: At the shows. Also to help get our name out there, I've been dropping off demos at the local record stores. Or they can just shoot us an email at we*************@ho*****.com and we'll send you the digital version.
Make sure you check out Pre Madonna at the Avalon Bar on January 20th and check out their MySpace so you can hear what their sound is all about!
Ali Lerman knows much about comedy, basketball, and celebrating Wu-Tang Wednesday. She’s been writing for sixteen years and still calls her mom with grammatical questions.