Young Guns

Photo by Bill Anthony

Just when we thought we’d found the youngest band in the world with Be Your Own Pet, we were sent an amazing album by two girls who look and sound way younger than those guys. So, we looked into it and it turns out they have BYOP beat by a mile. Asya and Chloe are a lifetime away from being able to drink or drive legally, which means that they rely almost entirely on their parents. They are thirteen and eleven respectively, they are sisters and they are making some seriously mature, sweet, clever music from downtown Seattle. Like the love children of Kate Bush and Cat Power, Asya writes the songs, sings and plays some mean keyboard while Chloe kicks out the jams on the drums. The tracks on their first album, She Like Electric, range from quirky pop and rock songs to adorable raps—all with the kind of perfectly simple lyrics that can only come from young, un-cynical minds. They have never had proper music lessons and their parents never particularly encouraged them to start performing so we are going with the theory that they are purely crazy-talented child prodigies. They are currently working on a new album under the guidance of Death Cab For Cutie’s Jason McGerr and we are very scared about how cool they are going to be when they grow up. VICE: Do your parents like your music? Asya: Yeah. We’re their kids. Of course. Do they go on tour with you guys? One of them does but we have a two year old baby sister so one of them always has to stay at home with her. What music do your parents listen to? Stuff like Louis Armstrong and the singer Cesaria Evora. We listened to a lot of that growing up. What’s the biggest show you ever played? It was at the Sasquatch Festival in May. Some of the other bands playing were the Pixies and Modest Mouse and there were like 16,000 people there. You guys must still be at school. Have you ever played at an assembly or anything? Yeah, I’m in 8th Grade and Chloe is in 6th. They have asked us to play at school but we always say no. It would be way too weird. SARAH ROGERS
Smoosh’s new album, She Like Electric, comes out on Oct 24th through Popfrenzy.