Question Time with Menya

Menya may be some of the jolliest people in pop, but they also make some of the dirrrtiest pop music! I’ve been a fan of theirs for a few months now, and I’m really pleased to inform you that the mixtape they’ve been working on is finally ready for release. Best of all, you’ll be able to download it totally free! I caught up with the band to find out more about the new mixtape and what they have planned for the future…

First of all, can you introduce each member of Menya and what their role is within the group?
Good Goose: Hi! I’m Good Goose. I do the instrumentals and I sing occasionally.
Coco Dame: Howdy from Coco Dame! My role is rapper/emcee and singer.
Angie Ripe: I’m Angie Ripe and I sing in Menya and dabble in rapping.

What’s the best thing about being in Menya?
Good Goose: Free shirley temples at shows.
Angie Ripe: Groupies. Or being in a band with my best friends. That’s awesome, too.
Coco Dame: My favorite thing to do in the world is my job. Oh, and the ladies aren’t bad either.

Do you think your sound would be different if you weren’t based in New York?
Good Goose: I can only speak for myself but I’m sure I’m a product of my environment. Being around blaring club music all the time makes every attempt at music I make at least a little dance oriented even if I’m trying to make a punk song.
Angie Ripe: Of course, New York is my heart and soul.
Coco Dame: With so much access to a plethora of underground music via the internet, I don’t think our sound would be much different. Perhaps if we lived in the suburbs, Menya would sound more angry, like a pent-up teenager filled with raging hormones.

Why did you choose White Houses, Don’t Trust Me and I Do Not Hook Up as your cover songs for the mixtape?
Good Goose: I chose “White Houses” because I love that song and have wanted to cover it for years before Menya even formed. I finally got the guts to do it.
Angie Ripe: I Do Not Hook Up was someone else in the band’s suggestion, but I love me a girl-power song. Don’t Trust Me came out of the band’s global distaste for 3oh3! in general. We’re feminists all the way, so you can put two and two together.
Coco Dame: At first I wasn’t so open to the idea of covering a song I wasn’t in someway in love with. Then after I let the songs sink in, I decided that the greater challenge of covering such songs could lead to something unexpected. So, “Don’t Trust Me” became a retaliation to 30h3’s original message: Glamour, Sluts, and “Being Lame & Not Knowing How Lame I Am.”

Who would you most like to collaborate with on your debut album?
Angie Ripe: I just recently got into Amanda Blank, and I’d absolutely love to collaborate with her. She’s so fierce.
Good Goose: I think it’d be a lot of fun to work with someone in the newer electro-pop scene like Lights. Both Coco Dame and I are from the Washington DC-area originally, so it’d be cool to work with rappers like Wale or Tabi Bonney and do some DC-repping.
Coco Dame: I’ll always have a spot reserved for Spank Rock, but nowadays I’d love to work with Crookers, or Fake Blood.

If you could have one of your songs on the soundtrack to any TV show, which would you choose?
Coco Dame: Oh wow I like this question. I’m gonna go with Bored to Death and/or Nip/Tuck!
Good Goose: I’m tempted to say Degrassi, but I’m not sure how I feel about the post-Drake Degrassi episodes. So I’ll say Gossip Girl, because then my New York friends will think I’m cool.
Angie Ripe: Right now, Hung on HBO. I think it’d be appropriate. If you know the show, I’m sure you’d agree.

Do you think America’s newfound acceptance of electronic music will last?
Angie Ripe: I think so. What I do know is that we’re going to keep making good music, so as long as America likes that then Menya’s safe!
Good Goose: It’s gotten much easier to get shows than it was when we formed, but it seems like a lot of electronic acts still get discriminated against in the live music scene for being “not real” and such. However, I was sitting in a fast food place the other day and it sounded like a rave. So I’ll say yes. But we still have some ways to go.
Coco Dame: Hasn’t it already been lasting?

Are there any plans to release your music internationally?
Good Goose: The two EPs are available internationally on digital stores like itunes now. The new album, which comes out October 23rd, is going to be available for free on our myspace and will be available internationally as well. In terms of physical copies, we’re setting up an online store soon so we’ll be able to shoot out CDs to anywhere in the world.
Coco Dame: Yes, that’s is part of the plan Stan! Global domination.
Angie Ripe: We want to go all over the world and make endless new friends and fans, so we’re working harder than ever to make it a reality!

The Menya mixtape is out on October the 23rd, and you can find out more about the band and hear some of their ace pop songs on their MySpace.