“Riot grrrls, new england, and the hidden poetry of songwriting: an exclusive interview with talkbox”
Interview with The Noor Team
interview ⋅ issue 2
talkbox is a 3 piece nyc esoteric kitten core pop group.
They’ve played at venues like Heaven Can Wait,
the Brooklyn Museum, and
Stone Circle Theater.
talkbox uses their music
to express their beliefs
through a blend of
motifs from riot
grrrl and emo
music
MAYA: drums and guitar
TOBY: drums and guitar
LOLA: vocals and songwriting
photograph by Ana Derby
Q: What inspired you to form your band, and how did you all come together?
L: Originally, talkbox was like a conceptual group piece and thing between me and Maya, but I couldn't play guitar and do vocals" "I was like, best friend, Toby, get in on this, and I love you a lot. You're very talented.” Our original formation was March 2023, but then talkbox formed in May.
L: I wouldn't have been exposed to Screamo like I was here because it originates from Riot Grilling punk which is still what I consider the music I make and write. But I think living here especially in the neighborhoods I've played in, the people I've interacted with have really impacted the way I write about things, but also the music I make in the genres that I was able to explore.
Q: How has New York City shaped your sound?
Q: What’s the most poetic aspect of songwriting?
M: I think it’s just watching all the ideas come together because I think a lot of the time when you're songwriting, maybe not everything is compatible at first, and you really have to work together to figure out how to make it sound good. Because a lot of the time, at first, you hear that and you're just like, this isn't right. So I think that that makes it even more gratifying when you finish the beginning stages of a song and you're like, ‘Wow. This actually sounds fire’.
Q: What does your creative process look like?
M: Honestly, some of my favorite songs we've done have been formations of songs that we've tried to make that failed that we just built off of. Because sometimes we'll be like, we wanna make a song about this, or we wanna make a song so and so, and then we do not do that at all. But we get some really good material out of it. I know sometimes I've come in I typically come in with a topic I wanna write about and a vibe. And then sometimes, I'll do that, and then we execute it completely differently. And it's awesome.
photograph by Ana Derby
Q: What inspires you?
M: Most of the time when I find inspiration, it's mostly about something I'm really passionate about. And most of the time, it's an experience that makes me reflect on something as a whole.
T: We do find inspiration from other bands oftentimes. Yeah. I think at least in the beginning, especially to me and Maya when we were starting out, local bands were definitely very, very, very much inspiration.
L: I'm super influenced by a lot of anything that goes under the category of performance art. As the vocalist, there's a lot of pressure to find inspiration somewhere for how you perform. And I was really inspired by weird performance art and nineties feminist spoken word.
Q: What's the lyric you've written that still hits you in the gut every time you perform it?
L: “When are you coming home? And do you still remember Plymouth?” once again with the New England, from “Plymouth 2014." The chorus outro is about my dead dad and that lyric I still cry over. I know it's a it's a bit of a heartbreaker for me and other people.
Q: What do you envision for yourselves in the future?
M: We [hope to become] one of those bands where people look at, and were like, ‘damn, that was lowkey fire.’
L: I just I hope that we are kept forever in the weird Tumblr archives of New York City punk rock.