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Meg and Dia Frampton, known simply as Meg & Dia of the alt-rock group of the same name, enjoy one thing above all else while on (and off) tour: trying new foods.
"(My friend) calls me 'fat kid'," writes vocalist Dia, 22, on her MySpace blog, "Pretty much 'cause I always talk about food, or am watching the cooking channel, or reading gourmet magazines or talking about new chefs from different parts of the world."
While the petite Korean-American sisters — raised in the small town of Draper, Utah — enjoy trying new restaurants on tour, they also simply enjoy exploring different cities. Meg & Dia, which also includes drummer Nick Price, lead guitarist Carlo Gimenez and bassist Jonathan Snyder, will have a chance to explore Rochester when they bring their guitar-driven sound to Water Street Music Hall on Tuesday, Oct. 27.
Recently, we talked with 24-year-old rhythm guitarist Meg Frampton about co-writing songs and the inspiration for its latest release, Here, Here and Here.
What's it like to be in a band with your sister?
It's fun; we're really comfortable with each other, so that makes a lot of the processes easy. Songwriting's easy because I understand her style.
What inspired your writing on the new album?
Lately I really appreciate lyricists that can speak clearly and not be so vague and mysterious and artistic. I think it's more artistic to be able to try to represent what you're saying, not make people (figure it out). I think that's so pretentious, and so we're writing songs about real experiences to try to make them as clear as possible.
I wrote a song about waking up with a man and then kind of running off and wishing that I had said goodbye ... and I think a lot of women can relate to that. Dia wrote a song about an ex; she made him a vampire. She's a little more vague than me; she's the artistic one that draws really elaborate pictures.
Why did you decide to stream Here, Here and Here for free on MySpace?
This album is the greatest thing we've created so far ... we wanted people to hear it, regardless of whether they had money or not.
Meg & Dia collaborated with Tom Higgenson of Plain White T's on "Bored of Love." What was that experience like?
This was the first time our label recommended us to start working with people, and Dia was very strongly against it because she really believes in the power of Meg & Dia. But I've realized that Tom is really great to work with because we knew him and knew his writing style ... But I've found I don't really like getting set up with an artist.
If somebody pushes you in a room with some random stranger and tells you to try to connect on an emotional level, that's just ridiculous. I'd love to collaborate with people in the future — there's always something to learn from how other people write songs and what they have to say ... but you've got to really know the person and get inspired and want to work with them in order to create something good.
What's coming up for you ladies?
We're going on tour with Dashboard Confessional in November, then we have December off, and next year I have no idea what's happening. My manager usually tells me about two months in advance. I can't even join a gym where I live because I don't know what's going to happen ... and I need to get back in shape!
