Final Tainted Saints Interview

Springing forth from a quiet town in Oklahoma, Tainted Saints have managed to channel their sexy heavy metal style into a frenzy of masochism and a much needed new generation of rock and roll for their special fans know as ‘Sex Sinners’ or ‘Sinners’. The two members who make up Tainted Saints might look like sweet innocent girls but once they get going they turn into sickly twisted heavy metal rave machines that never sleep. From the twisted guitar interplay to the odd samplings from the turntable – Tainted Saints has laid their claim as one of the most erotic and hypnotic bands to see live. But is this gruesome two-sum really all they’re cracked up to be in the heavy metal industry? Are they as ‘tainted’ and twisted as they’re name says they are?Krank's Lucy Farrell caught up with Tainted Saints to see what torment might be lurking in the recesses of their brains.

Krank: Your video for your latest song, ‘Torment Me’ was filmed in a reputed haunted mansion once owned by Houdini. Were you scared?
Sax: Not at all - it was good for the album and the vibe of the place was great! It was really reflective on the way the album came out - it was more of like a commune thing, you know with me and Jinx living together especially after our time off and everything. But, as far as the scary thing goes - no. We just fed off the vibe and the weirdness of the place - it really helped set the atmosphere for the record, it was so cool.Krank: Describe the look of the house.Sax: F**k man. It's old. (Laughs) It's like from 1918 when the place was built…Very desolate, quite, but very beautiful at the same time, it was basically you’re stereotypical haunted house but in real life. Erm…I don’t know how else to describe it. Jinx: Unless you were there - it's really hard to put into words how wired it actually is. You don't want to shortchange it y’know. It's very open ended and it's like a f**king maze! (Laughs)

Krank: Has ace producer Rick Rubin help steer your music in a different direction?
Jinx: Well, it was good because y’know - we wanted someone with a different opinion and a different perspective on our style of music. We wanted Rick's take and taste on what we do. He really helped us open up as far as our talent and really build upon everything we're known for and just take it to the next level.
Sax: Yeah, he was really awesome, we owe him one dude.

Krank: Describe your music in one or two words.Sax: Erotic Pain dude.
Jinx: (Laughs) This shit hurts. Krank: That's more than two words girls.
Sax: Are you sure? (laughs)

Krank: In what order would you rate all the Tainted Saints albums?
Jinx: (serious) Wow dude. That's an original question. I've never heard that one before! Well y’know as we’ve just made our newest album, a lot of bands will tell you it's their best ever.
Sax: Me and Jinx have already discussed this with our producer and here's how we’re guna rate it and I'm not guna give you numbers.

Krank: Fair enough.
Sax: Let's hope this will be good for you… (Clears her throat) A lot of bands will tell you that their new album is something really f**king special and it’s the best they've ever done.

Krank: That's what I'm expecting you to say.
Sax: Well let’s face it dude, when a band tells you that usually - it's 100% bullshit! Most of the time they're just trying to feed you shit to sell more records.
Jinx: We aint guna tell you any f**king bullshit, dude. This record is really the best f**king one we've ever done. Seriously it is! Me and Sax are all the way full force back into this band more than ever, its crazy. We're not doing this because of a f**king record contract or money. This is the one dude! I have no f**king idea how we are guna top this album with our next!
Krank: What bands' helped to inspire you to get into music?
Sax: Well, we both are into the same shit, even when we were little. We loved all the legends like, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Kiss, and Metallica. We look up to those dude’s, they shaped the way heavy metal is today.

Krank: You said when you were little. You’re still young know though for a heavy metal band. Both of you are 23 right?
Jinx: Yeah dude (Laughs) we still in our teens. It sucks at times, and it doesn’t help that we are both girls either.

Krank: Why?
Jinx: Well, the heavy metal industry is dominated by male artists because they look more powerful and scarier than girls, and usually if there is a band with a female in it, there’s only one girl, like Paramore for example.
Sax: People try to screw us over because they think we don’t understand how the industry works, which is so f**king annoying. They also patronize us at times because of our age but that doesn’t last for long, me and Jinx soon tell ‘em what’s what.

Krank: Tainted Saints are to appear on MTX: Mototrax video game. Is this your first appearance on a game and do you feel that this overly commercializes the bands' image?
Sax: Yes, it is our first time. No it doesn’t commercialize our image. Y’know like there's three songs out and it's just a progression of leading you into the new album. A lot of our fans are fucking video game fanatics anyway so we thought it would just be another way of connecting with our fans. It's that simple. We've never done it before, but it was cool and it worked out fine.

Krank: One for the politics now, if Tainted Saints were President of the United States - what would you do differently in Iraq?
Jinx: WO! F**k dude, that's a weird one.
Sax: Umm, sighs, f**k dude you got me. Where’d you pull that one from?
Jinx: Umm, I would get us the fuck out of there. We've overstayed our f**king presence over there. I'm really not a political person and I don't really agree with what's going on over there. I'm not the President of the United States, but I think we made our f**king mark - now it's time to get out of there. Too many lives have been lost already.

Krank: Should the US have gone in there in the first place?
Sax: (long pause) I don't think so, dude.

Krank: What do you feel about bands such as Counteract and Lucifer that have seemed to copy your style?
Jinx: Umm, we have no problem with both bands. I actually like both of those bands. Y’know, there's a lot of room in the music industry and the style for bands to wear a lot of make up, be all female or whatever. It doesn't matter - there could be a million bands with only female band members with our kinda style and Tainted Saints would still hold its own place with the way we look at the world and the way we hold ourselves together and the way we communicate with each other but most importantly, the way we communicate with the fans.
Sax: So, you'll never get another Tainted Saints. We're a one-of-a-kind band.

Krank: What would you girls ever go out in public without your hair done in the iconic Tainted Saints do and with no make up on?
Jinx: Jesus dude, I don’t think anyone would know who the f**k we were. (Laughs)
Sax: I’ve been in public without any make up on and my hair just normal before. Like what Jinx said, nobody noticed me. I thought it was really nice actually to feel kinda normal for awhile y’know.
Jinx: I think there’s a lot of pressure on girl’s these days to look perfect even if they are walking down the street. I don’t blame boys, I blame the media as they are the ones who portray these perfect women in magazines, billboards, posters whatever and then boys expect normal girls to look like them which is bullshit because the actual women who they photograph doesn’t even look like that, because its all computer graphics!

Krank: How long does it take for you both to get ready for a show? Who takes the longest?
Sax: Well…I can give you two answers to that. The first one is that you're never ready for what we have to do, I mean, there's just no way to prepare yourself for going through what we f**king go through live on stage. There’s no way to descried it because it just doesn't exist. Uh, but as far as actually getting dressed, it takes about 4-5 hours, which takes the f**king piss I know. We have to go through each stage individually, like, socks, shoes, trousers etc and then there’s make up. I’d probably say that I took the longest to get ready as my hair doesn’t always do as its told (Laughs)
Jinx: Yeah (Laughs) on our last tour it took 3 hairdressers to style Sax’s hair.

Krank: Tell me something REALLY crazy that's happened to you while on tour?
Jinx: Um, In Oklahoma, in our hometown Arcadia, we had just played "The Masochist”, I looked round the crowd and there was a group of kids that came with no tops on, and on their backs each one of them had engraved a letter, like one guy had a “T” carved in his back the next had a “H” and the next an “E” and it carried on down the line. It spelled out “The Masochist” just dripping in f**king blood. They were outside the bus after the show showing us their loyalty to the band. It was pretty f**king crazy, dude.

Krank: Is it all groupies and drugs after the show?
Sax: We've both done drugs, but I don't condone it. It's definitely not healthy when you’re on the road, dude. Tainted Saints is more of a focused band these days. We don't do the groupie thing either, we pick our own men, they don’t choose us.

Krank: How does such a creepy band emerge from a quite town called Arcadia in Oklahoma where everyone else is "middle-of-the-road-average-Joe?"
Jinx: I think you just answered your own question. Where we come from it's desolate and there's no music scene. And the result is pretty much what you hear on disc. We rebelled because we were rejected and told that we couldn't do it for f**king years, but here we are!

Krank: When did you know you hit it big?
Sax: Have we hit it big yet? (Laughs) Krank: Your first two albums went platinum and your current tour is completely sold-out. You tell me.
Sax: We don't worry about that stuff as long as you're true to yourself. It's such a beautiful thing that we have such adoration from our fans, and the fact that we were gone for a little bit and they still stuck with us. We have great fans but I've known that since we had only two people in the audience.

Krank: Do you both consider yourselves sex symbol’s for the damned?
Both: I don't think so. (Both laugh)
Jinx: Not at all.

Krank: What's your tombstone going to say Jinx?
Jinx: Dude, you do have some weird questions. Umm, it will probably say born in '1986 and f**king died in the time we're living in right now with my name on it, it will be very basic. Just put me in the f**king ground and have done.

Krank: And yours Sax?
Sax: Umm, I’d like mine to say “I didn’t see it f**king coming dude!” (Giggles)

Krank: Are you predicting an early demise for yourselves?
Sax: I don't know dude. The band’s killing us.

Krank: Who's your muse right now?
Jinx: You know I'm actually enjoying the new Norah Jones - believe it or not. Her records, like Fionna Apple's are really, really colorful. It's pretty f**king cool. Other than that I'm into Nordic/Scandinavian black metal.
Sax: For me, I’m loving MC Domer, he’s an English MC who sounds slightly like he should be in a heavy metal band, I love the blend of his voice along side a good raver mix. It’s so different to our style; I think that’s why it appeals to me so much.

Krank: What are your favorite horror movies?
Sax: I love "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" the original. It’s just so f**ked up y’know.
Jinx: I like the “Saw” movies best, I mean who the f**k would think up that kinda shit dude. It’s crazy.

Krank: You're on death row. What would be your last meal?
Jinx: If I knew I was going to die I would have no appetite.
Sax: No, I don’t think I would either. I’d be like f**k-it I don't need any food. I'm outta here anyway!

Krank: Does Tainted Saints worship Satan or the money that the association brings?
Sax: No we don't worship Satan! It's not a gimmick either. I think it is the relation towards the band. When we say like "555" or "666" it's like a higher number and it's more on the dark side than the full blown hell scene.
Jinx: We want people to think as we shock and entertain.

Krank: If Tainted Saints fans are, as you call them, "Sinners", then what do you call people that hate your music?
Jinx: Good question dude your on fire today. All I can say is they don't understand, you need to listen to the lyrics, they have meaning to them, that's all I could tell them.
Sax: We're here to piss off just as many people as we are to please. As long as we have f**king people hate us, I'm a happy girl!

Krank: Well thanks a lot girls for talking to Krank, is there anything else you want to say?
Sax: No, thank you for talking to us.
Both: We f**king love KRANK!