So we caught up with Libby Picken from Lazerbitch and got a chance to interview her, finding out all kinds of information about  the group and some of the East Coast music scene in the process. Even though the Lazerbitch fan base keeps growing, Picken was still friendly and down to Earth, not letting her ego get the best of her.

We’re really excited to see the forthcoming music video for the “Coquette” track and look forward to hearing more from Lazerbitch in the future. We were impressed by the duo’s musical history before forming Lazerbitch both before and after speaking to Picken. It’s always nice to get a chance to converse with artists you follow.

You’ve worked with a lot of successful producers before Lazerbitch was formed. What’s some of the story behind the sound that Lazerbitch has created?

I’ve been singing since I was a little kid, I would sing Broadway tunes at talent shows and such. I started going to raves back in 1994 in the Baltimore/DC metro area. A couple of the big parties back then were Fever and Buzz. I started throwing events in Baltimore in 1998. Going out and promoting for my parties allowed me to meet many different DJs and producers. While promoting my monthly party,“Go,” I met DJ Sinestro(Chis Baggett), who introduced me to and suggested I work with his friend Holmes Ives. At the time, Holmes was producing tracks under the moniker Memnon and Aurora. Holmes was also just starting to garner attention from people like Paul Oakenfold for his trance music production. Holmes then introduced me to his friend Michael Meacham; they were doing music on the Caffeine label out of New York. Holmes then used my voice in small portions on a couple of his records. Among those tunes, I was tossed in the background of a BT remix, and my resulting Caffeine release was a record called “Exit 9″. I was only 19 at the time. Since I was always going out, it was only a matter of time before I became friends and involved with the people backing Buzz. One of these people was John Tab. Whenever I knew of a DJ/producer coming through to play Buzz, I would hit John Tab up and ask him if I could pick up that person from the airport. This would enable me to get some face time with the producer I was seeking to chat with. Unfortunately, it more often than not ended up with the DJ hitting on me and not taking me seriously as a vocalist.

In August of 2000, I picked up John B as a trade off for guest-list to Buzz’s then monthly weekday Wednesday night party, Mango. I had actually met John the night before at Bar Nun in DC, and I chatted him up about getting me on one of his tracks. I mailed John a CD of mine shortly thereafter, and John emailed back that he loved my music, and very much wanted to work with me. This resulted in our 2002 release on his Beta Recordings label entitled “Electrofreek”. Somehow, Paul Oakenfold heard “Electrofreek”, and asked John B to do a trance remix for his “Great Wall” CD, which was released in 2003.

I feel you need to move forward to stay current, and I think John understood that. A lot of people either loved or hated “Electrofreek” because it was so different from what John had been doing at the time. I will acknowledge that drum and bass is still relevant, although I don’t think it’s anywhere nearly as huge as it was years ago. People are surprised to learn that I will still work on the odd drum and bass track, but it is a very rare occurrence. My only drum and bass projects are with Mark Subsonik of Subsonik Sound Recordings. I find Subsonik’s sound incredibly advanced; that was the main reason why I agreed to work with him. He also came with the John B stamp of approval, which totally worked in his favor. Subsonik’s and my track entitled, “Let You Go”, will be released on Beta Recordings as the B side to Subsonik’s “Mercury Skies”(original by John B) remix.

I’ve known Max for a long time. We met and dated briefly back in 2000. After having no contact since our breakup, I randomly ran into him in 2006 in a park party in Arlington, VA. Max told me he was back in DC, engaged, and doing really well. He had put out a few two-step garage songs on some UK labels and e-mailed me some of the songs he had done. I was really impressed by his new stuff. In the beginning of 2007 Max e-mailed me some Lazerbitch tunes and I loved them! It was everything that I had ever wanted to do with a local unsigned producer. I shot Max a response telling him how much I was into Lazerbitch, and included my phone number in the event he ever wanted to work on any side-projects. In February 2007, I got a call from Max who told me that things with their vocalist didn’t work out, and the rest, as they say, is history!

Max moved to Oakland, CA in March of 2008 and we took a break with Lazerbitch, which meant turning down a couple of major bookings, even though we had discussed having me play the gigs by myself. I turned down the first few opportunities to do this because I just didn’t feel like playing a gig as Lazerbitch would be the same without Max. When I finally realized that I could, in fact play a successful gig by myself with a DJ, I started getting booked pretty frequently. DLake of Claire Hux often does gigs with me, as well as performing our tune “Pussylips”, too. Luckily I have a varied rotation of DJs that are able to do gigs with me, cos Daren is moving to NYC in the Fall. I’m gonna miss him!

As far as the production process, Max and I get on iChat, AIM or just work over the phone. Max makes a beat and will send it over to me. I’ll then write lyrics and a melody, sing to him over the phone or via iChat, e-mail him my lyrics, and we’ll go over them together.

Musically, we don’t really have one genre – so many of our songs sound quite different from one another. For example, “High School Shoot-Out” is electro-punk, “Spacebase” is disco house, “Do Me Wrong” is club, “Pussylips” is Baltimore club, “Ravest0r” is old skool breakbeats, and “Coquette” is electro. Taste the rainbow? ; )

There are a lot of factors that affect how a show will be for us. How long I’m given to perform, who’s able to perform with me, what songs we’re playing (some tunes only get played when Max performs, because it makes more sense live). Max plays guitar, bass, and the keytar live. Unfortunately, we are temporarily without a keytar, as Max smashed it on stage during the filming of the club scene for our “Coquette” music video. Even more unfortunate is that the camera man wasn’t even filming Max when he did it, so the epic smashathon will not even be featured in our video. Booooo! New keytar soon, Max is saving for a Roland.

It definitely changes frequently based on what I’m exposed to and the more I’m exposed to. One of my personal influences is Deee-Lite, but I also listened to a lot of punk music growing up, so Fugazi, Smashing Pumpkins and anything from the early 90’s definitely. I love pop, so Britney Spears, but referencing her newer creations, and not her old teeny-bopper stuff. And Lady Gaga, she’s really great. I also credit some lesser known groups such as Morphine and The The.

As far as Max’s, I couldn’t say. He’ll cringe when sees this because he doesn’t really care for pop music [laughs]. He definitely likes some off the wall shit though. It helps round out our sound from my mostly pop-influenced background.

Not that I’ve really noticed. The music I listen to is an “I like what I like,” kind of thing. But, I’ve also been told that I have trouble seeing past my likes and dislikes. I have been approached with some tunes that are said to be “good tunes”, but I will have dismissed them as garbage simply because I don’t like them.

True Blood – see that’s kind of biased too – because I don’t watch television at all and Daren(DLake of Claire Hux)told me about True Blood, and he put it on my Mac one day while fixing it for me. I finally had some free time a few weeks ago and just zoned-out and watched half of the True Blood first season. I couldn’t believe I spent over five hours sitting and watching my laptop. I’m all caught up now to Season Two! Yuh!

When I sang “Spacebase” live at The Paradox for Ultra Nate’s Deep Sugar Presents: Next Aid Benefit.

I really liked the sound system and the fact that I didn’t have that many friends in the crowd, so it was a very different experience for me. “Spacebase” just sounded so amazing on that system.

It’s not finished yet; it’s turned into quite the production. We’ve got one day left of shooting. I just saw the rough cut for the first time, and was pretty happy with it. Brian Morrison is the director, he’s so talented.

I’m vegetarian. Grapefruit, I eat grapefruit pretty frequently. Yeah, I love grapefruit. And you know what? Spinach is my hands-down all-time favorite food. I eat spinach every single day. Like Popeye, bitches!

I think that Baltimore is booming right now, and apparently I am not the only person that feels that way. I read a blurb in Rolling Stone about local artist Rye Rye(recently signed to Interscope Records), and there was a quote from M.I.A. in that interview. She said that she feels Baltimore has the counterculture that NYC once had, but doesn’t have any more.

We also have some really amazing promoters here that bring crazy talent through as well.

Funny story: I hang out with Naeem(Spank Rock)’s sister Maya, so it’s funny that I haven’t met him yet. My homegirl Holly was actually playing my song “Coquette” in the car with Naeem and Maya on their way to Island Jam this past April, and Holly told me he asked her, “Who is this, Gaga?” Hah!

Upcoming releases include “Burning Bridges” on Strictly Rhythm/Deep Sugar Music for the end of July ’09 with a Mr. V remix on the B side, and “Coquette” on Play Me Records for August ’09. Both will be available on Beatport.