Photo by Allison Barr | Outfit by Kelly Madden
It’s nice to meet you! Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
My name is Jill. I live in Portland, Oregon. I play in a band called Chipped Nail Polish. I have an EP coming out at the end of the month and a single coming out Friday the 13th. It’s been a while since I’ve put out new music or done any sort of interviews about myself, so I’m really excited.
Let’s start with the name “Chipped Nail Polish.” Can you tell us the story behind it?
It’s so funny. It was one of those things that in my high school brain, I just was looking down at my nails one day and was like, “Oh my gosh, that’d be a really funny band name.” I was also like really big into bands like Car Seat Headrest and Fidlar. Nonsensical silly names have always been something that stuck with me. I think it was this one-off idea I had like years ago, but that was before I even started making music. So, as on as I got felt inspired to write, that idea came back to me, and I was like, “This would be really funny.” But I think it makes sense now, especially with like my lyrical content. My music is a lot about like my imperfections, and I think Chipped Nail Polish kind of represents that in a way that’s really fitting. It makes more sense now, after the fact, but it was a random thought, to begin with.
How did Chipped Nail Polish come to be?
When I was younger, I played piano and always have sung, but it really wasn’t until like the end of my college career that I felt inspired to write and perform my own music. I’ve always loved music and going to shows. I was heavily involved in like my music scene at U of O. I think, once I had my heart broken and had some lyrical content to sing about, that’s kind of how it all started taking shape and form. Because I was like already so heavily involved in my music scene, I had so many friends who were musicians and producers that it was a very natural community built into my friendships that allowed me to start a band and start recording music. I owe it all to my friends, essentially. It’s crazy looking back at my life in college and just how much time I spent with like these people, and now the time that I spend with them making music and doing Chipped Nail Polish is really cool.
“Rut” is your single coming out on Friday. What was the process of writing it?
“Rut” was one of those 15-minute songs. I was actually living at home after I graduated. I graduated in March 2020, right when the pandemic started. I, like so many other people, found myself at home, never thinking in a million years, I’d be back at my parents’ house. I just felt really stuck, like that idea of no end in sight of that weird in-between period. I think it was just one of those ones that kind of came out all at once and just stuck. It was stuck in my head for like years, and then I finally got around to getting to record it. But yeah, that’s where it was written. That’s like the headspace I was in. I think, especially like in college for me and in high school too, I had the same thing, but you’re involved. When you’re like a part of something and have all these like grand ideas of what your future is going to be, I was just like, “Oh, I did all of this, and like for what?” It’s cool now to like have it all done and release it and see how that period was so necessary to where I am now.
Why did you choose “Rut” for the single?
I was going back and forth. I think “Rut” is just my favorite song on the EP. I think that’s really what it came down to. It’s the one that kind of stuck out to me the most. I think that also just encapsulated what the rest of the EP was about.
Can you speak on why pre-saving a single is so important?
There’s probably some debate on how important it is. As I’ve been kind of researching and trying to figure out how to best promote myself as an independent artist, pre-saving is one of those tools that has come up. And you know, some people are like, “Don’t do it because it’s kind of annoying, and you’re asking your fans to do too much.” But then the flip side of that is it’s one of the only free options we have to reach out to our community and be like “Hey, if you’re really interested, you can pre-save.” It automatically puts our song in your “Release Radar” playlist. It’ll automatically have it added to your liked songs. So when you open up Spotify and if you are clicking on those playlists, then it’ll just kind of already be added in there for you versus like having to remember to go back and add it later. It’s just kind of in there, ready to go, and hopefully, that translates just to more streams. And the more streams, the more potential we might have to get picked up by one of the other Spotify algorithms that might put us on a bigger playlist. So I think just any sort of activity that you can have on a song is better than nothing. That’s why I’ve been trying to push it more for this release because I didn’t do any sort of promotion for my last release. And yeah, it’s definitely an experiment. So I’m not an expert, but don’t know, maybe we can report back later and I can let you know how it went.
Your EP, Bottom Feeder, comes out on January 27th. How did it come together?
All these songs were kind of written; a few of them were written post-grad. A couple of them were written actually when I was still in college. So, the timeline’s a little bit more spread out for when all these songs were written. I think they all just kind of have this feeling of not quite sad, but also not quite happy, that kind of just like weird in-between space. I just wasn’t feeling like I was reaching my fullest potential. I think the concept of bottom-feeder in a more nerdy science way is just the idea of a bottom-feeding little fish in the ecosystem. That’s also a term people call other people who are not cool. I think it’s just kind of this idea of we need every element to exist like we need to feel true sadness in order to feel true happiness. I think a lot of these songs were written at a time when I felt like I was at the bottom. I needed to experience that in order to also experience the joy that music would later bring me. And now, getting to this point where it’s like off my chest, I can just enjoy the release. It was a full-circle moment.
Did you record all the songs yourself?
I did not. I have a wonderful, talented friend, Justin Kiatvongcharoen, who produced, mixed, and engineered everything. We did it all from his home studio. Yeah, he’s insane. He did basically anything that was not vocals or ukulele. He saw the vision. We did a lot of like idea-smithing, and there were a lot of mixes in between the final product. He was a very integral collaborator on this EP, as well as my last record. He’s wonderful.
So you said “Rut” was your favorite on the EP. Was it always your favorite?
I think “Rut” was just a song that I wrote so quickly that it just stuck in my head for years in a way that a lot of my other songs haven’t been. The way it finally came together was closest to the way that I originally envisioned it and heard it in my head. A lot of the other songs have kind of taken a new shape or form which I like better than my original ideas. But I think “Rut” has a special place in my heart. Sometimes I feel like you can’t really like explain why. It’s just like a gut feeling. There’s kind of a darkness to it that I really liked. I’m just a sucker for sad lyrics with a happy-sounding song.
What was the hardest song to put together?
Probably “Say Something.” That song took so many different forms and turned out twice as long as I originally had written it. That was really like a lot of Justin’s ideas and ability to make it more of this longer, anthemic, almost far-out situation. That one took us a long time to get through and just listened to a lot of mixes and made a lot of edits. I went back and forth a lot on what I thought I wanted that one to sound like. But I think it’s maybe my second favorite on the EP. I really love the way that one came out too. I always write really short songs, and I really want everything to be super to the point. I don’t allow for a lot of space in my songs, but I’m really glad that I feel like that one just breathes a lot more. It was a labor of love, but we got through it.
You have a really unique sound with the ukulele indie base but tons of punk elements, as well. Where did that come from?
I think the ukulele is just an interesting instrument. I mean, I’m not the first girl to sing with the ukelele. Growing up, I listened to a lot of surf punk. I grew up in Southern California. I went to a lot of punk shows. I’ve been in a lot of mosh pits. I think that definitely has influenced just the music that I like to experience live especially. In college too, it was like house shows, big mosh pits in people’s living rooms, and I think there’s kind of that element that I’ve always really enjoyed. I feel like the ukulele just kind of has that built-in surfy, beachy tone. I decided to learn the ukulele because it was the easiest instrument to learn, but I think it just fits in nicely with the stuff that I already liked to listen to. In my early adulthood, I feel like I really connect and resonate with a lot of other female artists like Phoebe Bridgers, Snail Mail, and Soccer Mommy, like really vulnerable lyricism and just that kind of like darker quality. I feel like those are kind of my two main influences for Chipped Nail Polish.
What does being a woman in music mean to you?
I mean, to a degree, I’m just a person who had these songs kind of spilled out of me. It wasn’t necessarily a conscious choice. It really did start out as a coping mechanism and a way for me to process my emotions. I feel like like the scene that I’m in, there are a lot of women. There are a lot of queer, non-binary, genderqueer folks here in Portland. I feel like the more I play and grow as an artist, the more I’ve been trying to be intentional. I feel like I also don’t have like a huge platform right now. It’s something I’m working on. I think I’m just trying to be a lot more intentional about playing with other women and supporting other women and musicians in my world. I have a little girl gang and some other women who play in my band, which has been great. It’s just really cool to have that. It’s important because I’ve had a lot of iterations of Chipped Nail Polish, some of which have been all-male beside me. And that’s also been really great. I love all of my musician friends, but having some feminine energy at band practice and being able to talk about things like Gilmore Girls is so important to me. And yeah, I think I’m just trying to encourage more people who feel they don’t belong. It would just be my hope that I could encourage other folks to just do it and say, “Screw it.” That’s where it starts, right? Just figuring out where we can all be a little bit better and just more aware of our surroundings. It definitely does feel pretty male-dominated at times. I feel really lucky in the sense that a lot of my male musician friends have been so open, supportive, and wonderful toward me. I wouldn’t be here without a lot of male musicians who have been great. I think it’s all about just creating space for everyone. I’m gonna do my best to try and make room for everybody here.
You are throwing an EP release festival. How is that coming together?
Another labor of love. In Portland, we have a lot of 21-and-up venues, and I think I really wanted to do something that was all-ages. All my friends and I have played at so many bars, but I just wanted to do something a little bit different for this release. The bill is comprised of everyone who plays in my band and also plays in another project. So they’re all like performing with their other project, as well as with me. It’s just a big friendship show. I finally found a space. It’s at Alberta Abbey in this basement with a huge stage. I’m also bringing in a lot of vendors: friends of mine who either make stuff, sell art, or sell vintage clothes. I wanted there to be something just besides music too. I wanted to incorporate other artists and other people in my community. I’m very excited. I still have a lot of planning to do, but it’s gonna happen and it’s gonna be really fun.
What else does Chipped Nail Polish have in store for us?
I have some shows coming up in Portland and am planning some shows outside of Portland. I don’t have anything set in stone, but I’m trying to make a little mini West Coast tour happen at some point in the near future. For now, it’s just the EP and this festival, and then we will take a deep breath and go from there.
You can listen to “Rut” here:
