Doubtful Sounds recently interviewed Cassie Ramone form New York’s Vivian Girls for FasterLouder.

The rapid ascent of the band has singer/guitarist Cassie Ramone a tad confused. She attempts to explain their popularity down the phone line from Brooklyn, NY. “I’ve been trying to figure that for a few months and I still have no idea how it even happened for us. I really have no idea.” She does agree that creating demand and riding the wave of internet buzz helped raise their profile. “If I had to make a wild guess, I think it would be the controversy of putting out our album on vinyl in a run of only 500 copies. [It] sold out immediately.”

Signing with cult imprint In The Red has made them labelmates with the likes of Black Lips, King Khan and Jay Reatard. Their affinity with those musicians – and even more so the musically disparate acts that comprise the current ‘Brooklyn scene’ – means that there is a real sense of community around the band. “I think it is a wonderful, inspiring and supportive community right now,” agrees Cassie. “You’re right, it isn’t like just one sound; everybody’s doing their own thing. It’s the way we approach and go about booking shows and putting out records and stuff that is more similar than the actual sound of the music.”

The third factor, touring, has been a constant part of the evolution of the band. A count of the dates on their website confirms that they played 154 shows in 2008. Already this year they have toured Europe and are heading to SXSW in Austin, Texas next month. Cassie enthusiastically explains, “The main reason we are going to SXSW is to have a good time. We went last year on a shoestring budget when nobody knew who we were yet and we had so much fun. We played seven shows and like all our friend’s bands were down there and we had a blast.”

She feels that their exposure through touring across America has meant the band has had a pretty good response pretty much everywhere there, whereas Europe was a good opportunity to introduce themselves to their fans there. “It was a really interesting and fun experience and we met a lot of really nice people. We actually just played a lot of shows just by ourselves with no support or headlining bands. Then we played some when we were the headliner, so it was a mix of all sorts of stuff. The best show was when we opened for the Black Lips – that was, like, so good.”

Prior to their SXSW shows, Vivian Girls are recording their next record at The Distillery Studio, where Black Lips recently also recorded their new album. When discussing what they hope to achieve in the studio, Cassie is quick to point out that they intend to expand their palette of sound. “I think we are definitely going to experiment a little bit more on this album but it is still going to be lo-fi. I think we definitely learnt a lot since recording our last album. We recorded our last album a year ago. We’ve learnt a lot in a year so we’re coming to record in the studio with the knowledge we’ve acquired.”

The songwriting process behind the new songs is a varied one – largely dictated by their touring schedule. “We try to write songs as often as possible,” Cassie explains. “Sometimes we write songs on tour; we’ve done that a few times like during soundcheck when we get a half hour and we do a few new songs during that time. Sometimes on tour we go to music stores and sit around in one of their little rooms and practice stuff. Then they get really annoyed and we buy $10 of guitar picks.”

The musical influences on Vivian Girls sound are immediate – yet though obvious, they are still a compelling combination. A heady mix of ‘60s girl groups like The Shangri-Las, indie bands from the ‘80s such as Jesus And The Mary Chain and influential US underground acts like Velvet Underground and The Wipers all gel together to form their sound.

When questioned about contemporary bands she listened to while growing up, Cassie freely admits, “My favourite bands when I was in middle school were Blink 182, Hole, Nirvana and Garbage. It was because of Courtney Love that I began to play the guitar so that’s where we kinda came from musically.”

Cassie is keen to bring Vivian Girls down to Australia. As with everything else at the moment, it is all a matter of finding the time. “We don’t have any concrete plans yet, but we definitely want to do that. We will do that, we just don’t know when.”