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Let's Talk About Sex
 Grace Potter and the Nocturnals by Krolick |
One senses the Nocturnals enjoy life as it comes, particularly when it's a little wild. This is especially palpable in the forthright sexuality of Potter's delivery and lyrics. Where most female singers in 2007 capitalize on the power of titillation, Potter is the real, sticky truth of human coupling, sometimes, happily, delivered in a curve-clinging denim jumpsuit. One would be hard pressed to find a naughtier line than "She waters the garden but maybe she just likes the hoses" from new single "Ah Mary."
When my appreciation of her earthiness is pointed out, Potter eagerly responds, "Good [laughs]. I'm so glad you picked up on that lyric! That illustration of sexuality isn't me pushing it. I'm not Hilary Duff going from sweet Christian girl to a fake, processed rock star that's sexually free. I've always been that way. I've always been blunt and I liked the opportunity to put that into a song. Sometimes you just have to get right to it - big, long hoses [laughs]!"
Strange as it seems, Americans are still largely pretty freaked out and embarrassed about sexual matters, at least in their public exclamations.
 Grace Potter and the Nocturnals |
"It's so true. I don't know why after all this time and the retardedly crazy things that have happened that're way beyond the Janet Jackson thing, which is just nothing compared to what we as a society have witnessed. People are lying if they say that Janet Jackson thing is the most obscene thing they've ever seen. You know they're on the Internet at home fucking flapping it off. They're just faking it when they say that's obscene," observes Potter. "It's important to be honest about that stuff. It might have something to do with me traveling around with six guys in a van. I'm realizing I have to watch myself when I get home. You get into a dinner party atmosphere and it's totally not conducive to the way we've been living the last four years [laughs]. It's too bad because that's real life, that's what's going on beneath the surface. It's nice to be elegant and serene and have days off from being the nasty hog that we are but I just prefer the real thing, and maybe even a little bit over the top. I guess I value shock value.
There's a danger Potter's natural sexuality could be used to market and define the band to the exclusion of their music.
"I'm not going to be sexy forever but I want to play music forever," says Potter. "It's important for me to not take it so far that I can't ever come back from it. When I'm 45 and still vamping around in a three-inch skirt, well, that just isn't gonna work. I'm trying to be realistic and I'm also trying to embrace now for what it is. I'm gonna get some spider veins on my legs at some point so I gotta work it while I got it."
Free as she is, I sternly admonish Potter against appearing topless in a thong in a Maxim pictorial.
 Grace Potter and the Nocturnals :: 09.12 by Krolick |
"I just can't do that. I'm not an ass-girl. I'll shake it with jeans covering it up good n' plenty but I'm just not an ass-girl [laughs]. Hmmm, maybe boy shorts in Maxim," muses Potter. "I love doing photo shoots. I'm a total glamour puss underneath. There's photos of me from when I was two-years old and I have all my mom's skimpiest underwear and high heels on and my hair's all whacked-up in Madonna mode. I'm a total glutton for the glam thing. It's a part of me I've hidden pretty well. Now, doing photo shoots and having your hair done, as long as it doesn't permeate your soul it is fucking fun [laughs]. The guys still hate it so it balances it out. We are a band and I'm always going to take that into consideration before I take my shirt off. They keep me on an even keel. I'd love to feather boa it up and go all out but I want it to be a group thing."
Faced with disbelief at the idea of Tournet in a boa, Potter replies, "Oh he'd look hot! He's been on a macrobiotic diet so he can work it out."
Earning It
 Grace Potter and the Nocturnals |
Potter and the Nocturnals is one of those rare real rock bands that slips through the cracks into the mainstream infrastructure without seeming to lose their minds or basic character. They cite Janis Joplin's Pearl, Led Zeppelin III and Neil Young's Harvest and On The Beach as their models, which gives one hope they'll never end up covering Blink 182 songs on a label tribute album. As for the endless comparisons of Potter's voice to Bonnie Raitt, Potter says, "I think we just have a similar register. I met her a few years ago at a benefit and I handed her my CD and she said, 'Are you that girl that sings like me?' And I just thought, 'Shit, no, I'm not trying to anyways!' I'd rather be compared to male singers like Gregg Allman, Lowell George [Little Feat] and Chris Robinson."
The whole band seems wary of pitfalls. They understand that it's show-by-show, night-by-night, record-by-record, that a group truly builds an audience and earns their respect for a lifetime.
"You gotta keep earning it, and you gotta keep earning it when you get to the top. That's why we change our setlist every night and why we don't have the same t-shirt available the next time you come to a show," Potter says. "We're mixing it up, fucking shit up, doing it completely different than the way we're told it's supposed to be done. And trust me, our record label knows it and our fans know it, too. There's a genuineness to what we do that I hope never becomes a product or a machine or too well oiled. I like our rust."
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