Photo courtesy of Andrew Piccone
Alex Luciano called me from her bed in Brooklyn, treasuring a rare moment at home between returning from the UK and heading out on her band’s fifth tour in under two years.
By Rachel Rascoe
The 20-year-old musician makes up half of the self-described “slop pop” band Diet Cig. Before the summer of 2014, Luciano had never played electric guitar or performed onstage. While attending the State University of New York in New Paltz, New York, Luciano met drummer Noah Bowman. The duo messed around with some acoustic songs Luciano had written in her bedroom for no one in particular to hear. Two weeks after playing their first show, they recorded their five-song EP “Over Easy.”
A year and a half later, thousands of fans are listening to these same songs worldwide, with their newest “Sleep Talk/Dinner Date” single catching attention from the likes of Stereogum and Vanity Fair. Luciano’s lyrics move seamlessly from the blunt (fuck your Ivy League sweater, you know I was better) to the biting (if I told you I loved you, I don’t who it would scare away faster), turning songs about heartbreak into personal power anthems. Diet Cig’s choruses are simple, sometimes silly and ready-made for yelling along with, led by Luciano’s energetic live performances.
Diet Cig is currently on tour, performing in Austin this Thursday at The Parish on 6th Street. Luciano and Bowman will return to Austin in March for the band’s first South by Southwest.
In the song “Scene Sick,” (I’m sick of hearing about your band, I don’t want to hear about who you think I am) were you writing from the perspective of someone who’s not in a band and just goes to shows?
Yeah, I totally wrote that song as an audience member. It’s kind of funny — people have come up to me and asked, ‘Do you still feel the same way now that you are in a band?’ And yeah, I still feel the same way. But, I definitely think I had more frustrations as an audience member. It’s more validating when you’re in a band in the scene and you can get a certain level of, I guess, like people respect you? I feel like I have to worry less about being cool because I already have a thing that’s bringing me into the scene.
You’ve said before that some of the songs on “Over Easy” were written before Diet Cig existed. Is writing any different now, knowing that you’re writing for a fanbase?
Noah and I were both like, now that people are going to be listening to this thing, our sound is definitely going to get more mature, but how is it going to do that? I think we’re both slowly easing into what our new sound is going to be like and how we can progress as songwriters and still keep the same vibe.
Because that first EP we just wrote in a couple of days, we didn’t put too much thought into how complex or simple the songs needed to be, which is why we were so surprised that anyone listened to it at all. Now we’re putting a little more thought into the details while keeping the same simplicity and honesty.
