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Electric Mime Symphony


Band: Electric Mime Symphony

Members: Hayley Jane (synthesizer, toy piano, mini pipe organ, vocals), Zac Unger (drums, guitar, vocals)

Who we talked to: Jane

Where'd the band name come from? We wrote this one song, and I was like "This sounds like a symphony of mimes," and all of a sudden I said, "Electric Mime Symphony," and we were like, "If we ever have a band together, that should be the name."

How did you and Zac get together? This is so dorky. Zac and I met in 2001 on a Harry Potter role-playing chatroom. In 2005, he came to a coffeehouse I was playing at, and a month later we started going out. We're like those kind of weird diehard Harry Potter fans who sit in the back of the bookstore at Harry Potter parties going, "Those costumes are so incorrect!"

Describe your sound/style? I'm trying so hard not to make Dresden Doll references because I already shaved off my eyebrows and sound a little bit like Amanda Palmer, and we're a drum-and-piano duo. We're kind of like the electric-punk version of The Dresden Dolls. Amanda Palmer is a big influence of mine. Trying to be original is so hard since everything's been done.

Worst song on the radio right now? The worst song is "Lips of an Angel" (by Hinder). It's so ridiculous, it's like a parody of itself. I'm sorry it exists. And "Runaway Love," the Ludacris and Mary J. Blige song. The first time I heard it, I couldn't believe it was real.

Who is your biggest musical guilty pleasure? I love Fergie. She's so ridiculous. You listen to her songs, and it's just quintessential pop music. You have to dance to it, and you hate the lyrics, and you make parodies of it, and people make fun of it for years. We've done "London Bridge" at, like, three of our shows.

Plug one other local band: The Mayor's Wife. They are kind of grunge punk and do covers of Nirvana sometimes.

What do you guys need to work on as a band? Zac needs to get more credit. I'm up in the front (on stage) and not hidden behind a drum kit, and people assume I'm the mastermind behind the operation. I write songs and sing, and the lyrics are me, but . . . it's entirely a dynamic.

JASON COX, FLIPSIDE STAFF