Jennifer Herrema is an iconoclast. She’s one of those exceedingly rare individuals where terms like”cool” or “badass” or “punk” or “legend” are too flimsy to describe her impact on American alternative music and style. Herrema is the 90s’ sinister double to the 80s’ art-star aesthetic of Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon: every bit as iconic and glamourous, but possessing a rawer and more dangerous vibe. Herrema is the type of person who would fuck you up wearing a vintage Starter jacket, Js, and a beaver pelt, without so much as losing the ash off her American Spirit.
From her trailblazing days as one half of the innovative and shambolic Royal Trux, lecturing at Princeton on Southern rock, modeling for Calvin Klein, styling Playboy centerfold shoots, and dropping hard rock records with her current band, Black Bananas, Herrema remains one of the coolest people on the planet, even if she’s too cool for the label.
In addition to Herrema’s interview, we’re excited to share the world premiere video for “Whopper Dave” from her band Royal Trux’s 2019 album, White Stuff. Check it out after the interview below.
The following interview has been lightly edited.
What influences you?
Independent thinking has always influenced me. Also, the mysteries of the future, progress, and shit that pisses me off.
What’s the most overrated?
Lots of things are overrated. Sponsored content, native content, half-assed documentaries, the news, being #1 on the call sheet, suicide, leaving the house, podcasts, acting, Twitter… it’s all overrated.
What’s the most underrated?
Good shit is really underrated, you know? Not just good shit, but also tiny dogs, parks, and watching TV. All of that is underrated.
What are you most excited about right now?
Right now? I’m all about BitCoin, weed delivery, and blockchain.
What’s next for you?
I’m working on finishing the new Black Bananas album. I’m also painting, writing, continuing to collaborate with Hysteric Glamour as well as possible other design collabs, and a few musical collaborations. I’m hoping to be able to tour parts of Southeast Asia, pandemic permitting.
The song “Stop” on Veterans of Disorder is arguably the greatest song ever written about quitting drugs. What’s the second greatest?
Man, there are so many good ones but the one I listened to the most during my addiction was “That Smell” by Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Many “indie” musicians from the 90s seemed to be actively disinterested in fashion, but you always embraced it. Looking back, why do you think that is? What or who were the defining fashion influences when you were coming up?
Having grown up in Southeast Washington, D.C. in the late 1970s and 1980s, I was always attracted to the local street styles which incorporated over the top Funkadelic, Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five, Kool Mo Dee style—think leather, studs, furs, and feathers. Sports gear was also really popular, including Starter jackets, adidas, etc. I’ve been wearing satin Starter jackets since I was 13 and collecting fur tails and pelts since I was 16. I always loved street style and growing up in an all-Black neighborhood I was inevitably influenced by what I saw.
The late Dave Berman famously wrote, “I wish I had a thousand bucks, I wish I was the Royal Trux.” Who do you wish you were?
Yeah, David wrote numerous songs about us. He was a good friend and will be missed greatly by all those who knew him personally or knew him through his work. I can’t say there is actually anybody I would like to be but there are times when I am curious as to what goes on in people’s heads and what their thought processes are, but not enough to jump Freaky Friday-style into their literal shoes
