{"id":5643,"date":"2025-10-02T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/folk-bitch-trio-talk-beginning-a-new-little-chapter\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T14:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T14:00:00","slug":"folk-bitch-trio-talk-beginning-a-new-little-chapter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/folk-bitch-trio-talk-beginning-a-new-little-chapter\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00a0Folk Bitch Trio Talk \u2018Beginning a New Little Chapter\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/07\/leadFolk-Bitch-Trio-3.jpg\" width=\"\" height=\"\" alt=\"\"><\/figure>\n<p>It\u2019s a bright weekday morning in Los Angeles as the singer-songwriters of Folk Bitch Trio roll up to the Laurel Canyon Country Store. This isn\u2019t exactly a pilgrimage for them, but these young Australian folkies fully understand where they\u2019re at, and have a sense of the profound musical history that has unfolded on these winding canyon streets over the decades.<\/p>\n<p>As they settle onto an outdoor bench over coffee and matcha drinks, Gracie Sinclair, with dark hair and a denim jacket, happily summarizes that legacy this way: \u201cIt means \u201960s paradise, rock \u2018n roll, sex, drugs, freedom, intellectual stimulation, the Doors, Joni Mitchell, Joan Didion, Frank Zappa, Neil Young \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>More from Spin:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/2025\/10\/record-store-day-black-firday\/\">Dylan, \u2018Wicked\u2019 Among 170 RSD Black Friday Titles<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/2025\/10\/smashing-pumpkins-mellon-collie-30th\/\">Smashing Pumpkins Plump \u2018Mellon Collie\u2019 For 30th Birthday<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/2025\/10\/momma-expand-new-album\/\">Momma Expand \u2018Sky\u2019 With Outtakes, Heatmiser Cover<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Her partners in this singing trio\u2014Heide Peverelle and Jeanie Pilkington\u2014nod in agreement. On the surface, the singers of Folk Bitch Trio would seem like direct descendants of the folk-rock tradition and creative community that emerged from the canyon in the 1960s. It can be heard in the timeless harmonies and wistful acoustic guitar chords on their debut album, <em>Now Would Be A Good Time<\/em>, released this summer by Jagjaguwar, the label known for Sharon Van Etten and Bon Iver.<\/p>\n<p>The lyrics, however, are strictly modern takes on life as experienced by these singer-songwriters from Melbourne, all of them 23 and born within a month of one another. \u201cI think it feels right that we kind of tell our own story,\u201d says Pilkington, who is the daughter of working musicians and recording studio owners. \u201cWe\u2019re very autobiographical songwriters.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This is their third-ever trip to America, and their third in just over a year. They will be back for a fourth visit during a two-week North American tour beginning November 7 in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n<p>At this little deli-bodega and outdoor coffee shop, a lasting landmark of the neighborhood for generations, the trio are just steps away from Jim Morrison\u2019s former apartment. The Doors singer immortalized the neighborhood and little brick grocery in the song \u201cLove Street,\u201d singing: \u201cI see you live on Love Street \/ There\u2019s the store where the creatures meet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As usual, Laurel Canyon Boulevard is busy with commuter traffic. On the coffee patio, it\u2019s a mix of young couples and aging hippies sipping their drinks and chatting in the sunshine. Across the road is a yellow multilevel home with signs advertising expert guidance to the transcendent and metaphysical: \u201cPsychic of Los Angeles,\u201d \u201cMaster Psychic &amp; Medium,\u201d and \u201c60 Years Experience.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1796\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/07\/Folk-Bitch-Trio-8.jpg\" alt=\"Singer-songwriter Grace Sinclair of Folk Bitch Trio. (Credit: Steve Appleford)\" class=\"wp-image-473954\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/07\/Folk-Bitch-Trio-8.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/07\/Folk-Bitch-Trio-8-340x509.jpg 340w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/07\/Folk-Bitch-Trio-8-768x1149.jpg 768w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/07\/Folk-Bitch-Trio-8-1026x1536.jpg 1026w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/07\/Folk-Bitch-Trio-8-498x745.jpg 498w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Grace Sinclair of Folk Bitch Trio. (Credit: Steve Appleford)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s great to be here in real life,\u201d says Pilkington, blonde in a green sweater. \u201cIt\u2019s very beautiful.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The members of Folk Bitch Trio met at age 12 on the first day of school at Princes Hill Secondary, and became best friends. They shared a growing obsession with music, and were teens just graduated from high school when Pilkington turned to her friends and said: \u201cDo you wanna start a folk bitch trio?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That wasn\u2019t an official band name until Pilkington\u2019s mom, Barb, who booked their first gig as a band in a tiny Melbourne bar, championed what they loosely called themselves. \u201cShe was the only person in the beginning that was like, \u2018Yeah, that rocks,\u2019\u201d Pilkington says of the name. \u201cEveryone was pretty skeptical and said we\u2019d probably regret it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>They haven\u2019t regretted the name yet. \u201cIt\u2019s a descriptor of what we\u2019re doing or who we are,\u201d says Peverelle, red-haired in a crisp black T-shirt. \u201cWe were like, \u2018Fuck it, let\u2019s have a sing in the garage.\u2019 We were hanging out every day and this was just a name for the hangout session.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>They were an utterly unknown group when Folk Bitch Trio made their first trip to the U.S., stopping first at the South By Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas, followed by Los Angeles, before returning home. It was an expensive and eye-opening journey.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was kind of a leap of faith at the beginning,\u201d says Peverelle. \u201cAs Australians, you\u2019re fed American media for your whole life. So it\u2019s very familiar, but it\u2019s also like a completely different atmosphere to where we\u2019re from. It was a bit of culture shock for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Among the shocks was seeing the plight of some marginalized Americans, on display right on the street in ways unknown to them back in Australia. It was a dismaying revelation that stayed with them as the trio left Austin.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe flew to L.A. and that flight is not very long, and I cried the whole time because I was so upset,\u201d Sinclair says somberly. \u201cI was so affronted by seeing people in wheelchairs with no legs rolling around on the street, like, being left to die. That doesn\u2019t happen in Australia.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s like America is crumbling and there\u2019s so much wealth that people in positions of power are [able] to not look [at the poverty] \u2026 The first time we came, that\u2019s what we were seeing on the street.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Folk Bitch Trio is less surprised by what they see these days. And the 14-hour flight from Melbourne to Los Angeles is no problem.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re always sitting together, so we just kind of snuggle up, watch some movies, and eat some snacks,\u201d Peverelle explains with a smile. \u201cThat\u2019s the vibe. It\u2019s just like being on the couch, but on a really uncomfortable plane.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1716\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/07\/Folk-Bitch-Trio-6.jpg\" alt=\"Singer-songwriter Heide Peverelle of Folk Bitch Trio during. (Credit: Steve Appleford)\" class=\"wp-image-473956\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/07\/Folk-Bitch-Trio-6.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/07\/Folk-Bitch-Trio-6-340x486.jpg 340w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/07\/Folk-Bitch-Trio-6-768x1098.jpg 768w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/07\/Folk-Bitch-Trio-6-1074x1536.jpg 1074w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/07\/Folk-Bitch-Trio-6-498x712.jpg 498w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Heide Peverelle of Folk Bitch Trio. (Credit: Steve Appleford)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>It also happens to be the only time when Sinclair, who rarely watches movies or TV, dives into something onscreen. Pilkington turns to Sinclair and says, \u201cIt\u2019s the one time I see you indulging. You\u2019ll lock in and you\u2019ll watch <em>Eat Pray Love<\/em>. You\u2019ll watch that shit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sinclair nods. \u201cI watched <em>Casablanca<\/em> on the way home from Europe a couple of months ago, just sobbing and sobbing and sobbing and sobbing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On the album, Sinclair wrote a song about her impatience with television called \u201cCathode Ray,\u201d a gently swirling song with purring harmonies singing, \u201cNo cathode ray \/ With a sweet release \/ I need a real view \/ From a real cheap seat \/ Better late than dead on.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI hate my time being wasted, and I feel that often when I\u2019m watching TV or a bad movie,\u201d she explains. The singer says she simply prefers listening to music.<\/p>\n<p>Aside from heading to the U.S. on their own, Folk Bitch Trio\u2019s early efforts included releasing a few indie singles. There are other recordings that were never released, but were essential in their growth as artists. The self-funded recordings and travel were early signs of a determined and self-sufficient band. Even before signing to Jagjaguwar on one of those visits to Los Angeles, Folk Bitch Trio recorded the album in New Zealand without any label support or input.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s what we went into the studio to do. If we wanted to make a better record, then we should have,\u201d Pilkington says with a laugh.<\/p>\n<p>The first song written for the album was \u201cGod\u2019s A Different Sword,\u201d written mostly by Peverelle in the aftermath of a breakup. With lyrics written, as usual, somewhere between 10:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m., the song begins with the strumming of dreamy acoustic guitars: \u201cAm I lucky? Or am I just sane? \/ Have I been walking \u2019round in circles, always fumbling your name?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI came home after having a couple of glasses of wine and it just sort of fell out of me,\u201d says Peverelle. \u201cFor me, I find that most of the time the songs just come out in one go. I write most of my songs at night.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1758\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/09\/Folk-Bitch-Trio-7.jpg\" alt=\"Jeanie Pilkington of Folk Bitch Trio. (Credit: Steve Appleford)\" class=\"wp-image-473962\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/09\/Folk-Bitch-Trio-7.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/09\/Folk-Bitch-Trio-7-340x498.jpg 340w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/09\/Folk-Bitch-Trio-7-768x1125.jpg 768w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/09\/Folk-Bitch-Trio-7-1048x1536.jpg 1048w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/09\/Folk-Bitch-Trio-7-498x730.jpg 498w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Jeanie Pilkington of Folk Bitch Trio. (Credit: Steve Appleford)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Once it was sketched out, Peverelle sent the new song to Pilkington and Sinclair. They approved, hearing something meaningful for the trio even beyond its personal story. \u201cGod\u2019s A Different Sword\u201d opens the album.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt felt like the beginning of a new little chapter,\u201d recalls Pilkington. \u201cIt was the song that turned the corner of us\u2014thinking that maybe we should back ourselves and just make a full-length record. So opening the album makes a lot of sense.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the grainy, Super 8 music video for the song, Peverelle is seen playing a Flying V electric guitar, an instrument well-known to hard rock musicians. Its appearance with the Folk Bitch Trio indicated something much louder.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m a poser,\u201d admits Peverelle, who once worked in a guitar shop, as did Sinclair. \u201cIt was just a bit of a gag because our music is not Flying V vibes, but I think I could definitely make a Flying V work. Maybe that\u2019s the next record.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn late high school, I started jamming with a friend of ours and we were playing lo-fi jangle indie rock. And I thought, \u2018Yeah, yeah, this is what I\u2019ll do.\u2019 We recorded four songs, and they sounded so shit. And then a few months later, Jeanie hit us up about starting the Folk Bitch Trio.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On the song \u201cThat\u2019s All She Wrote,\u201d the group\u2019s lush three-part harmonies are as warm and alluring as the folk sirens depicted in the 2000 Coen Brothers film <em>O Brother, Where Art Thou?<\/em>, a film steeped in American folk and bluegrass, and in one scene had enchanting female harmonies drawing in George Clooney and his fellow escaped convicts.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"825\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/07\/Folk-Bitch-Trio-4.jpg\" alt=\"(Credit: Steve Appleford)\" class=\"wp-image-473958\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/07\/Folk-Bitch-Trio-4.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/07\/Folk-Bitch-Trio-4-340x234.jpg 340w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/07\/Folk-Bitch-Trio-4-768x528.jpg 768w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/07\/Folk-Bitch-Trio-4-498x342.jpg 498w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">(Credit: Steve Appleford)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>But the trio\u2019s comparison to sirens has not been limited to that film, as some listeners reach for mystical explanations for their sound. \u201cWe\u2019re not supernatural people,\u201d Pilkington insists. \u201cWe don\u2019t really resonate with the idea of the witchiness that some people seem to see in us. I respect anything that people see in this project\u2014they\u2019re allowed to take their own interpretation\u2014but I don\u2019t know if I get that one. But we do feel the magic for sure when we sing together and it\u2019s good.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>More meaningful for Folk Bitch Trio is watching their following grow over time at different tour stops around the U.S. and Australia, and in seeing a new crop of excited folk bitches in the audience. \u201cI\u2019d say that those are my favorite audience members, like the divas who come up to us that are between 17 and 21, and they\u2019re <em>us<\/em>,\u201d says Pilkington. \u201cThey look like what we looked like when we started the band, and they tell us that we\u2019re their favorite band. It just makes me so nostalgic for the women and fem-fronted projects that I looked up to when I was that age, and that formed the beginning idea of this. That\u2019s a crazy full-circle moment.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/2021\/07\/the-greatest-rock-stars-of-all-time\/?utm_source=yahoo&amp;utm_medium=bottomlink&amp;utm_campaign=yahoolink\">click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s a bright weekday morning in Los Angeles as the singer-songwriters of Folk Bitch Trio roll up to the Laurel Canyon Country Store. This isn\u2019t exactly a pilgrimage for them,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,3986,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","category-folk-bitch-trio","category-pushly"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5643\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}