On Five Four's website, by way of introduction, each member of the band is given a cartoon alter-ego. It's a great rock 'n' roll tradition, the taking on of alternate identities within the band, from the identical surnames of the Ramones to the revolutionary identities assigned the locals in Nation of Ulysses. OK, so they're not exactly the Gorillaz, and the cartoon identities don't really extend past the little one off joke on the webpage, but it's still an entertaining move, and more than that, reflects a band that isn't content to just be another in a long line of similar bands, with a standard-issue MySpace page indiscernible from those of their peers.

The band's sound is just as refreshing amid a large collection of often similar indie rock boys' bands in town these days. Five Four's sound, which can range from dreamy and ethereal to jagged pop to shoegazer wash, may not be without precedent, but there's no one in the current local lineup that sounds remotely like them. Which may be why they often get lazily lumped in with other "girl bands" when they're booked for shows. We were happy to find out that the band is headed into Silver Sonia studios next month with Chad Clark and T.J. Lipple behind the boards to record the follow-up to their excellent self-produced debut EP. But if you don't want to take our word for it, you can always head out to DC9 tomorrow, if only to find out if the band really does, as they claim, have the cutest shoes around.

Photos by Eddie Diego

Visit Five Four online (and download all the tracks from their first CD, Space Age Love at: fivefourmusic.com or on Myspace at myspace.com/fivefour.

See them next at: DC9 tomorrow, December 27, with The Thrushes and The Bloody French.

Questions for Five Four:

Tell us how you all got together.

Kiki: I was bored with my life working in a basement in a parking garage and bossing around blue collar men so I wanted to start an all girl band. I put an ad on Craigslist and Jamie, Karen and the original keyboardist [Sera] answered! It was a sign from god!

Karen: I was just going insane at the time cause I was playing music with a bunch of different people, but nothing was really happening. Joining Five Four was a life saver.

Katie: I played bass in a band with Karen called Drums vs. Jules that broke up after recording. When their keyboardist quit they asked me to join and I jumped at the chance to play with Five Four. It's rare to be in a band with good friends and Five Four is always fun. It's the first band where I've played keys!

If the original intention was to put together an all female band, was there any hesitation initially about going with a male drummer?

Jamie: No not after we heard Sera play the drums…

Karen: Ha, yeah, she had just started playing drums like a month before we met. Luckily, we met Aaron and Sera turned out to be an amazing keyboardist.

Kiki: Not really, it was kind of cool to have one guy, it balanced things out a bit. Plus he's sitting down so you can't tell he doesn't have high heels on.

Katie: Unfortunately, our drummer, Aaron, moved to Pittsburgh so he's playing our last show with us on the 27th and David Smith will be playing with us from now on. I think the general rule is if more than 50% of your band is female, you're officially a chick band. Sorry Dave.

Do you get tired of press constantly asking about what your experience is like as a (mostly) female band? Or do you accept that that's par for the course since that's not the "norm"?

Kiki: I don't get tired of the press asking it but I get tired of only being booked with other females. Once we were booked with this butch band and it was like, "Hello, that's not what we're about!" But since we're female we naturally want to be in a band with other girls because we have more in common! so the question is legit.

Jamie: I don’t really care about being asked about it; what bothers me is when our genre of music is female. It’s crazy: we will be grouped with folk singers just because they are a female and we are female.

Katie: No, I'm not tired of the question. Guys have offered to "teach me scales," and in case you were wondering, that's the sort of question gets you the icy Katie glare of death, or Karen will spit water at you. Still, please come talk to us after shows, we really are friendly!
Karen: Oh, that is not why I spit water at people. Offering to teach me scales is more of an eye roll.

Are you still using the Logan Circle townhouse top floor from the video on DC Compass as your practice space? Do you have to control the volume pretty rigidly there, not being in a basement? If so, how do you find that impacts playing live at full volume?

Kiki: Yes we are, I live there! Although in the winter it's cold in that glassed in porch! Our neighbors actually don't care at all, we get compliments all the time. Although we had the cops called on us once but we were practicing past 10pm that time. My other band before Five Four sucked and my neighbor was like, "Wow you guys are so much better now, your other band sucked!" We don't hold back in the house, so it's not a problem. We are not insanely loud either so it works out.

Katie: We also do things like make fondue at practice. Karen and Jamie live in NYC now so it's a lot more quiet in the space these days. There's more room to dance. You should at the least see our improved dance moves on the 27th.

Karen: Oh man, when did you guys start having fondue at practices? Bum, I moved away too soon.

How long have you been operating with Karen and Jamie living in another city? Has that made getting together for shows and writing songs together more difficult?

Kiki: Oh, Karen moved to NYC a year and a half ago for grad school, Jamie moved to NYC in July for a job. At least they're in the same place! It's made us play a little less but now we can play NYC more!

Your first EP was self-recorded and released. What do you enjoy about the DIY process?

Jamie: Whispering in the hallway while we each recorded our parts and hearing Kiki cuss secretly on songs!

Kiki: Taking our time! When we go into the studio in January it's going to be a huge time crunch!

Karen: Yeah, it’s definitely more laid back, which is nice.

Katie: At the same time, Silver Sonya does such a fantastic job. I've recorded with Chad and T.J. in the past and I was extremely impressed by their dedication and the quality of their work. I think they'll be able to catch our live sound a lot better than what we did ourselves.

On the other side of the coin, what's a pain in the ass about that process?

Jamie: Oh, no one critiques you or makes suggestions — we are all so agreeable it would be nice to have an outside party make suggestions.

Kiki: The quality of the recording is not that great; we are very excited about a high quality recording. Our DIY doesn't capture our full sound.
Katie: Agreed. We're also excited about recording near Weenie Beenie. We have our priorities after all....

Karen: Hmm, no Weenie Beenie for me. But the Thai place is really yummy.

What does it mean to you to be a "D.C. band"? How is that incorporated into your identity/how you think of yourselves, if at all?

Kiki: Well, Karen and I are from the area, so we grew up listening to Dischord bands and going to shows here. Sometimes I think it's nice to be a D.C. band and sometimes not; sometimes I think a lot of undeserving bands in D.C. get too much attention. But all in all it's nice to be a D.C. band because we kind of have that "do it yourself" thing going on. And we're not a bunch of big egos like bands in other major cities.

Katie: I enjoy listening to a lot of bands in the area. But not to offend anyone, I think our shoes are much cuter.

Karen: And our dresses aren’t that shabby either.

Jamie: Well, I definitely think it makes us more patriotic then bands from other cities.

What else do you like/dislike about the music community here?

Kiki: I like how D.C. is getting more and more venues these days and that you can walk almost to every one from our practice house. I don't like how it seems to be controlled by a select few and to get any press you almost have to know someone even if you suck. But we don't suck so it's been harder to us :)

Katie: It's very small for sure, but I think there is a lot of growth potential. Also, I think it's safe to say that everyone is friends in the scene: if you don't know a band directly, you know someone who does. That can have its drawbacks, but it makes for a much friendlier atmosphere when putting together bills and promoting.

Karen: Aw, now that I don’t live in D.C. anymore, I miss the D.C. music scene and all the drunks I was proud to call my friends.

Describe Five Four's songwriting process.

Kiki: Usually Jamie will come up with the lyrics and chords then all of us will write our individual arrangements, it comes together very nicely. Sometimes Karen or myself will write a song but not as much as Jamie, she's very prolific. Basically everyone does their part and it turns out nicely with a lot of different talents coming together.

Karen: Yeah, we’ve been playing together long enough that we all intuitively know how to write our parts around each other. It’s been a bit of a learning process though, cause when we first started, both Sera and I would write crazy leads all over the place, and it would be a big mess. Haha.

Katie: I take credit for the robot sounds for "Robot Love Song".

Do you find it more difficult to come to a consensus with five members than you might with a smaller group?

Kiki: Yes, but Five Four has been a democracy from the start, that was my original intention. I was in too many bands before where there was one tyrant so if we don't all agree we won't do it, usually. Five is a good number; it allows us to get together even when people are out of town so we can practice pretty much in any combination.

Katie: To reference Bring it On, it's a cheerocracy. You get the idea.

What's your favorite place to play in D.C.?

Jamie: Fort Reno — its fun to have kids in the audience!

Kiki: I don't know if I have a favorite but Fort Reno and Rock & Roll Hotel are pretty cool. DC9 is good because we can play longer and don't get cut off with a time-constraint though.

Karen: Aw, yeah I love Fort Reno, cause it’s always great to play outside.

Katie: 9:30 Club...oh wait, we haven't played there yet. This is no hint. There were all these dancing high school kids at Fort Reno this year. I've never seen anything like it and it was absolutely fantastic. I hope they know how much we appreciate that.

What was on your Christmas list this year?

Kiki: A tuning pedal and my two front teeth.

Jamie: A Les Paul Jr.

Karen: Oh, Christmas came a little early for me and I just got Little Big Muff (thanks Nik!!). To ask for anything else would be greedy, but I am greedy; Santa, please bring me puppies and new chorus pedal.

Katie: To play with The Thrushes because they're fantastic.

Does the band plan on making any New Year's resolutions?

Kiki: To record a good EP in January and promote it and have a big CD release party! Yeah!
Katie: Plan a CD release party, write more songs about boys and/or ninjas. Uh-oh, do you think we need one?

Give DCist readers three reasons they should come to your Dec. 27 show.

Kiki: Non-stop action, fun, excitement, cute girls and fashion advice!

Katie: I'm baking cookies. Also, I love The Thrushes, their CD is fantastic and I can't wait to play with them. It will honestly be a show well worth leaving your house for.

Jamie: You are sick of your family, dance away Christmas dinner, and because we haven’t seen you in a long time. Or ever.