Jenny Woolworth’s Women in Punk Blog

Here concludes my interview with Marlene Marder, Astrid Spirig and Klaudia Schifferle, aka LiLiPUT.

Check out the the mital-u website for more info and a discography of the band. A good introduction to the band is the 2001 Kill Rock Stars reissue of a CD compilation of their studio recordings. Diehard fans will enjoy the double CD/DVD of live recordings and video clips that KRS released in 2010, while vinyl aficionados will appreciate that Mississippi Records has just released a 4x LP vinyl version of the 2001 studio recordings compilation.

Jenny Woolworth: So where you all still working day jobs while in the band?

Klaudia: I was working in Booster, the clothing store,  but not much longer after the band started. Early on Marlene always had some kind of job and usually had a little something for me too. Lislot worked for Polaroid for a bit but really hated it and said she knew someone who could take over so I worked three months there. Then in the end I worked with Marlene, she was my boss at a big corporate company.

Astrid (to Klaudia): How was that?

Klaudia: It was cool! It was fine! Then I started to take my art work more seriously and I got a studio at the Rote Fabrik. I met another artist there who encouraged me to stop with these office  jobs and, because he had come into a bit of money, he offered me a 1000.- CHF to stop working and focus on my art.  Which I did!

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Jenny Woolworth: Can you tell me about your songwriting process?

Astrid: Often we just jammed and recorded everything, then if an interesting riff came out of that we’d develop a song around it.

Marlene: At the very beginning it started with my harmonies or my riffs and a song developed from there.

Klaudia (to Marlene): Yeah, I just followed your instructions… you told me wait until the fifth fret then go crazy! But the process developed over time, I remember when Astrid and I lived together,  we’d sit together in the evening and write lyrics… lying there on the bed, reading the dictionary picking out words. For example with Split, I picked out all these weird words and then came to you (to Astrid) and said “hey I have some lyrics!”

Astrid: That’s right we did that together. We’d even pick out whole phrases like with Like or Lump It. I remember that well.

Klaudia: We were always looking for that oracle text!

Astrid: But normally we had the music first and then the text came after. Except that one song on the LP, when you (to Klaudia) brought the lyrics and we jammed to them - that was our free jazz phase. Then we had the other one about mourning, In a Rush, we had the lyrics for that one first.

Klaudia: No I think that was Might is Right, when Revo died…

Astrid: I mean the actual recording process…

Marlene: I remember on time, we were jamming well into the night and at sometime around four in the morning we got to the best part of the jam and wanted to record it. But the studio technican was sleeping somewhere and by the time we could wake him and get him to the mixing desk the best part of the song was already gone!

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Jenny Woolworth: When you look back can you sense how this time influenced the rest of your life or what it meant to you then and now?

Marlene: For me it certainly had a big influence on my life. It’s hard to sum it up in one or two sentences but yes my life would have been very different otherwise.

Klaudia: For me it means something different now after going through all this archival material recently. We were together a lot lately and I realized how much that means to me. That was such an important time back then and now, when I’m with these two, I feel totally at home. That’s a special feeling and although we all had different experiences after the band it’s still really important to all of us.

Astrid: For me it was like I was always searching for this intensity and during that time I could fully live that out. I took that feeling with me and it has never stopped inspiring me - that authentic intensive stick to it and do it attitude.

Klaudia: It was great to share that within a group. At that age you already know a lot but you can learn even more together about how to set up boundaries, deal with issues and then carry that with you later when you’re on your own. My experience with the band was a base and a grounding for me.

We didn’t do any of this out of professional reasons - it was all based on a deep friendship. So it was difficult for me when someone left the band because it wasn’t just about the group, it was an emotional experience.  It only got better over the years and the high point of the three of us together in the final formation of LiLiPUT is something you can’t fabricate.

Astrid: Yeah, that was a really unique time.

Marlene: That’s exactly it. People ask why I don’t keep making music but I can’t just put out an ad looking for musicians to perform with because it just won’t be the same as what I had already experienced.

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Jenny Woolworth: It’s about more than the music.

Marlene: Yes, it was about more than the music It was about the people. People ask me if I define myself as a musician and I sometimes wonder if I can honestly answer yes to question. Musicians play all over, everywhere at any opportunity and that is definitely not the case with me.

Astrid (to Marlene): You’re a true Herzblut musician, always! It wasn’t about the music it was about the feeling and the creative act.

Klaudia: It was a deeper connection and like any big relationship you can’t revisit it again in the same way. During that time period we opened ourselves up so much, even though I’m actually a really shy person!

Astrid: That’s an important point. I could never stand in front of another band and sing the way I did with you two! The music was a transport vehicle for something else actually.

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Jenny Woolworth: What are the feelings that come up when you look back?

Astrid: I feel so grateful that I lived this experience. I know I can still call on it for inspiration if I need it.

Marlene: Me too. It’s incredibly inspiring when I see that Kill Rock Stars wants to re-release our recordings, thirty years later and that a whole new generation is interested in our music and who we were. I get correspondence from around the world from people saying that they wish they could have seen us live and I realize just how important we are for them. I’m honored that we are still listened to and respected.

Astrid: What pleases me most of out all of this is another aspect. I hope this doesn’t come across arrogant but I think we really authentically put our energy into this and the people that are listening to our music are picking up on that feeling. As a mother I can make the comparison that it’s like when you kid leaves home and you realize all that you’ve given them to take along the way. It’s such a great gift to get back this gratitude and appreciation from fans.

Marlene: In the process of putting out these re-issues we had to listen to every song again and decide how to divide it all up on the four LPs. We couldn’t just transfer the CDs to the LPs because they are very different formats. So we had to rearrange everything and the process was great fun.

Astrid: It must have been like a totally new project for you two. With the LP we never planned it or said here goes a long song, here goes a short one - it was all by feeling.

Marlene: They are good songs, I have to say. Now to listen to it all with thirty years of distance and hear the progression from the early days of Kleenex through to LiLiPUT, I really enjoyed hearing the development.

Klaudia: The coolest thing for me during this whole process was when I told my mom about it. She’s in her 80s, and she said to me “Hey I want one of those cds!” So I sent her one and about a week later she calls me and says “Well let me tell you, I just love it! It makes me feel so good to listen to this!” Of course at the time she kept telling me to do something more sensible with my life, now she says it gives her great energy!

Jenny Woolworth: Well I think that’s a good note to end on. Thank you!

All: Thank you!