Girl Friday are an L.A-based quartet, founded by bassist Libby Hsieh and guitarist Vera Ellen after they met at a UCLA house party a couple of years back. Girl Friday operates collectively, each member taking turns at the microphone and equal parts in songwriting; they’re all big personalities and big presences, but they find balance—and complement—in one another.
Girl Friday are a band out of time—sensitive, perceptive, careful songwriters who feel displaced in this moment, but find comfort and resilience in their friendships with one another and the music they make together.
We recently had had the chance to talk with Girl Friday about their latest release and their upcoming tour.
How did you get started with music?
We've all been playing music for most of our lives - whether it was playing classical piano and learning theory to starting off in bands as teens.
You recently released a video for Decoration/Currency, tell us a little about the creative process behind it.
The whole idea behind "Decoration/Currency" centers around performativity, authenticity, and artificiality. Kind of asking questions like: Can we ever be completely known? Are the ways in which I represent myself authentic? And if so what does that even mean?
With all of that, even the masks and varying personas that we wear in everyday life and onstage, are still an extension of ourselves. I'm probably butchering it. We wanted to create a video that reconciled two of the many sides of ourselves along with a visual representation of how things are not always as they appear. It was directed by Al Kalyk and shot by Charlie Cole!
What inspired the name Girl Friday?
Girl Friday is a nickname that was commonly used in the 50s to refer to the woman in the office that did most of the managerial/administrative in the office - often without any credit given.
What have been some of the biggest challenges you’ve overcome as musicians?
Not a huge thing, but we've definitely become tough when it's come to condescending men treating us like we don't know how to hold a damn instrument. At the beginning, I once had this guy who was auditioning to be our drummer tell me that he was going to teach me how to "tune my instrument". He referred to us as "ladies" the whole time and said that the way we practiced was "wrong". He wasn't even a good drummer. Stuff like that happens all the time and we've definitely just learned not to give energy to it.
And finally, what can we expect for the future from Girl Friday?
We're coming out with an album sometime next year and are headed out on tour with Marika Hackman in October :-)
You can find the dates for Girl Friday’s tour with Marika Hackman here:
And you can follow Girl Friday on instagram @girlfridaytm and find their music here: