The minute Genevieve Schatz, lead singer of Company of Thieves pranced on stage, she blew me away!  Don’t let her adorable pint-sized stature fool you- her voice is unbelievably strong!  She had the now-rocking House of Blues is Chi-town at complete capacity with her alluring songs and effortlessly seductive sound.  She invited bestnewbands.com up to the green room for a little post-show chat about pre-lolla fun to come!

BNB:  So I have to ask- Is your sparkly tunic Free People?  I have the same one, so cute!

Genevieve:  Yes it is!  I like to go over the top on stage, express myself.

BNB:  What female artist totally inspires you the most?

G:  I’d say the most inspiring, if I could you a short list would be- Aretha Franklin,

Judy Garland because she was kind of what brought me out of my shell, Bjork, Fiona Apple- anybody who’s just really willing to dive into the unknown!

 

BNB:  Oscar Wilde seems to be a huge inspiration to you all.  He once said “The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.”  What does that mean to you?

G:  well we have this sense of right and wrong and things that are considered taboo and sometimes when something is off limits it’s more enticing and instead of beating yourself up over it and having it eat away at you, it’s good to just do everything in moderation and just figure out, you know, what’s good for you.

 

BNB:  the quarter life crisis theme seems to be a main factor in your music, how does that affect you?

G:  I think that it’s less of a crisis and more of an adventure I think it’s more of an awareness of what’s going on around me and I want to be able to participate in the now.  I have a very troubled past, like with family, and it’s hard to be here now sometimes when we have these brains that are built to remember things- so a lot of it is really sorting through memories and confronting things.

 

BNB:  So would you consider your band your family right now?

G:  ABSOLUTELY

 

BNB:  “Pressure” & “The Fire Song” are your two “singles”- what do you think about them, are they your faves as well?

G:  I think I love each song for different reasons!

 

BNB:  Do you write most of the lyrics?

G:  I write all the lyrics.  Sometimes it’s that feeling where I need to express myself or I’m gonna burst.  So instead of being violent, or anything sort of extreme, I’ve just really stuck to singing.

 

BNB:  So writing is your vice!

G:  Oh yes, absolutely, BIG vice!

 

BNB:  If you could open for one show, what would it be?

G:  So difficult!

(Jesse Elliott, lead singer of These United States in Green Room dives headfirst into convo)

Jesse:  Guilty pleasure would have to be These United States I’d say!

G:  Haha, nah I mean I’d love to open for a different medium- like a circus, or dance type of thing!

 

BNB:  Well onto the important crucial can’t live without question- what would you do for a Klondike bar?

(Face lights up)

G:  Almost ANYTHING!  I used to eat those with my Grandfather before he passed.  He had diabetes, so sugar-free Klondike bars are what we’d have- while we watched Star Trek.

BNB:  Kind of awesome!

G:  I mean I guess when I was seven what I’d do for a Klondike bar would be climb onto a chair, and then onto a table, and reach into the freezer!

 

BNB:  Who do you most want to see at Lollapalooza besides yourselves?

G:  I would LOVE to Arcade Fire!

 

BNB:  Great and inquiring minds want to know- what time are you playing Lolla??

G:  Sunday, 1 pm!

You can catch Genevieve Schatz, Marc Walloch, Mike Ortiz, Mike Maimone, and Chris Feller this Sunday on the Sony Bloggie Stage at Lollapalooza, and check out www.myspace.com/companyofthieves for more info!