Along with photographing the Little Rock stop of the Half God/Half Devil Tour, I was allowed the time to talk to Little Miss Nasty before the show. Scroll down to read my conversation with Gina, Nichole, Tarin, and Luiza, and learn more about the rock n’ roll burlesque group!
Little Miss Nasty is branded as a rock n’ roll dance group. Can you give me more of an insight as to how you would describe yourselves, and what you are all about?
Gina: Little Miss Nasty is a group of powerful, sexy, beautiful women who stand for empowering women. Basically, we all have professional dance backgrounds, and we come together to put on our own show and represent what we think the ultimate badass female is.
What kind of training do you go through to stay in shape and maintain your health?
Gina: Well, some of us work out daily and we all try to eat very healthy because our body is our instrument. We don’t play anything besides ourselves, so it’s important for us to stretch, use the sauna, run on treadmill’s, lift weights, (and) whatever we can. Yoga, pilates, you name it.
How does clean eating work for you while touring?
Nichole: It’s a little rough. Sometimes you have to get what you can get, like what’s around.
Tarin: It’s difficult while on tour for sure. Lots of raw veggies, and well, we have had our fair share of deli meat.
Gina: Turkey sandwiches on the daily.
Nichole: When in doubt; sandwiches.
Your group is both in the realm of dance and rock music. Have you ever had trouble finding your place, or where you fit in?
Tarin: I think people appreciate us because it’s nothing they’ve ever seen before. They’re like “oh, dancers!,” and then they hear burlesque and they expect it to be classy, and shimmying, and boas and they’re like “at a rock concert?” Then, they see see us at a rock concert being ultimate badasses like headbanging, hair whips, getting in people’s faces, and it’s just – people usually appreciate it most because they’ve never witnessed it before.
Gina, you also have a band called Gina And The Eastern Block, and have had “Sippin’ On A Forty” out for a while. Do you plan to do any more with them soon?
Gina: Of course! We actually have some shows (soon). One in Vegas, and we are opening for Steel Panther August 18th at House Of Blues, which is a crazy, fun rock band that has just blown up over the past few years. Also, taking it back to LA, we have a show August 26th at The Viper Room opening for Micky Avalon, who’s also a wild character. He’s pretty popular around town, so it should be sold out and tons of fun! As far as making new music, always.
Do you plan to release an album?
Gina: I think we’re planning on single after single. We’ll be dabbling and releasing things here and there, so just keep tabs.
Is Little Miss Nasty a visual for the band, or is it a separate project?
Gina: It’s a separate project, however a giant show-stopping moment in our Little Miss Nasty show on the regular is a song by my band. It’s mostly cross-promo, and why the hell not, and it’s a good song. It matches the vibe and what we stand for as Little Miss Nasty. It’s like a perfect cross-collab. opportunity.
Do you (Little Miss Nasty) tour full time, or is In This Moment your first full experience?
Collective: It’s our first tour.
Do you plan to tour more, or stay local to LA?
Collective: All of it.
So, did you grow up taking dance classes? How did you get into dance?
Luiza: I think we all, or most of us, have ballet backgrounds for like 10 years, or even more than that. We all grew up taking dance classes, and learning as much as we can about different kinds of styles. Me and Tarin, we definitely like ballet and Nichole as well.
Nichole: I started dance at (the age of) three, so we just kind of worked our way up.
Where do you draw your inspiration for choreographing?
Gina: Anything rock n’ roll is inspiring, but actually Tarin is my partner in choreography. She comes up with all of the best ideas, so you should ask her.
Tarin: I’d say it’s all in the music. You hear a good song, a nice classic freaking metal banger, and you just visualize everything and it comes out.
Do you have any funny stories from tour?
Gina: Nichole is keeping a tour notes list of our funny stuff.
Nichole: Just like random stuff that just kind of happens that we will reminisce on later. You know those little things you sometimes forget? We’re writing those down.
*After a few moments of debate about what to tell (haha)*
Gina: So, I had to leave tour for two show dates to go to my sisters wedding, and I came back and I was all flustered in the brain trying to get back in the swing of things. So, after our first show, I always mention to come meet us at merch because we do a meet and greet after both of our shows, and I’m on the mic in front of 2,000 people on the stage alone, and I’m like “Hey, guys! Thank you. We’re Little Miss Nasty. Come meet us at church!” And then I was like stuttering to get out merch. Just blushing and walking off in shame, so that was pretty cool.
What’s next for Little Miss Nasty?
Gina: Oh, geez. We’re just riding the wave. Opportunities appear before us it seems like on a regular basis now, but we have our ongoing residencies in Los Angeles and Long Beach that will continue for as long as we keep packing it. So, we’re definitely going back to shows in LA.
Are you going back out with In This Moment in the Fall?
Gina: Possibly! We’re still working out the little kinks, but you never know. We’re balancing our options right now.
Meet Little Miss Nasty
From left to right: Gina Katon, Tarin Pratt, Nichole Weber, Luiza Comsa
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Need to see more Little Miss Nasty? Check out our gallery from the Little Rock date of the Half God/Half Devil tour!
Little Miss Nasty are on social media:
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Photos and interview by Dominique Benedict.
Surreal Music Magazine 