Supercute!
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Supercute!

New York City, New York, United States | SELF

New York City, New York, United States | SELF
Band Alternative Pop

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"Sweet Talk: Kate Nash’s Favorite New Band, Supercute!, Plots Their Twee Takeover"

On the eve of Hurricane Irene’s touchdown in New York City, best friends Rachel Trachtenburg, 17, and Julia Cumming, 15, are sitting cross-legged on a patchwork quilt in Trachtenburg’s tiny bedroom in her family’s railroad apartment in Brooklyn, playing ukuleles as a Chihuahua named Munchkin and a corgi named Crunchkin yap along. The walls are covered in photos of Pete Townshend, Marc Bolan, and Gary Glitter, and a necklace tribute to Willy Wonka made with home- cooked, clay everlasting Gobstoppers, hangs near a framed picture of JfK and Jackie O. This is the HQ for Supercute!, the girls’ vaudeville indie-pop band: “We want to change the world,” says Trachtenburg. Big words for a teenager, but Supercute! are on a mission—and Kate Nash is helping.

This fall, the trio—which also features 12-year-old keyboardist Olivia Ferrer—will fly to London (“by ourselves, which is a big deal,” says Trachtenburg), to record their debut full-length album with the star British singer- songwriter, a longtime fan and friend. “It’s the smartest pop you’ve heard in years,” says Nash, who will produce the LP. “It’s candy-colored, girly and fierce, political and intelligent, innocent yet wise. And they have indie-credible style.”

Music is a family affair for all three: Ferrer’s father, Frank, is the drummer for Guns n’ Roses, and Trachtenburg and Cumming’s dads have played in bands together in new York; their two daughters met five years ago and decided to swap their summer lemonade stands for busking. Trachtenburg, though, is a veteran: She’s been playing drums since she was six in the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players, alongside her mom and dad. When she was only nine years old, she toured relentlessly, appeared on Late Night With Conan O’Brien, and met then-fledging London singer Nash. A friendship blossomed, and after catching Supercute! at an open mic in new York’s east village, Nash invited them on her 2010 U.S. and European tours.

Supercute! also have principles and drive: Trachtenburg and Cumming, the connected-at-the-hip creative core of the band (“I’m John Lennon; she’s Paul McCartney,” jokes Trachtenburg) joined SlutWalk NYC, to fight sexual violence, and regularly participate in protests against police brutality and inequality, including a recent rally decrying Dominique Strauss-Kahn (“We were up at 6 A.M. and brought bagels,” says Cumming). They host their own weekly Internet radio show on the Progressive Radio network, called Pure Imagination, on which they highlight issues affecting teens, and, as committed vegetarians and animal activists, play benefits for shelters, like Waggytail Rescue, and fight the horse-drawn carriages in Central Park: “Mayor Bloomberg thinks it’s part of the city’s fairy tale,” says Trachtenburg, between bites of popcorn dusted in nutritional yeast prepared by her mom Tina. “But it’s abuse.” DIY fashionistas who design and sew their own glittery onstage outfits, they’re also collaborating with the just-launched fashion blog Rookie, spearheaded by 15-year-old wünderkind Tavi Gevinson.

The girls already have a handful of songs ready for their debut (tentative album titles include Please Don’t Pop My Bubble and Nuisance in the Flower Patch), including “Dreamsicle,” “Daisy
My Dear,” and “Love, Love, Leave, Love,” an ode to rock stars of the ’60s and ’70s, like Iggy Pop and Pink Floyd’s Syd Barrett. “They’re ukulele rock operas,” explains Cumming. “Dumb Dumbs,”
which features slide ukulele played with a tube of Maybelline mascara, compares drugs to candy: “I’d prefer to eat Junior
Mints than stab myself with heroin,” they harmonize.

“Look, Supercute! may be exactly that: super cute,” says Nash. “But
they’re also smart women—and you don’t fuck with smart women.” - Nylon Magazine


"Skateboarding for Beginners: What could be funner (or cuter or superer) than learning to skate with Supercute!?"

You don’t need lessons or an older sibling to teach you how to skate. You can totally do it yourself, with help from some online videos and, optionally, a hand from your best friend.

Here’s a video we made to get you started, starring Jennifer Loughran, an instructor with the Uptown Skate School in New York, and Rachel and Julia from Supercute! - Rookie Magazine


"Skateboarding for Beginners: What could be funner (or cuter or superer) than learning to skate with Supercute!?"

You don’t need lessons or an older sibling to teach you how to skate. You can totally do it yourself, with help from some online videos and, optionally, a hand from your best friend.

Here’s a video we made to get you started, starring Jennifer Loughran, an instructor with the Uptown Skate School in New York, and Rachel and Julia from Supercute! - Rookie Magazine


"Rookie's Theme Song September 2011: “Superrookie” by Supercute!"

Every month we’re gonna feature a Rookie theme song by a different band that we love. For our first one, we couldn’t have done better than Supercute! Hailing from Brooklyn, New York, Supercute! is Rachel Trachtenburg, age 17, on vocals and ukelele; Julia Cumming, 15, on ukelele, guitar and vocals; and Olivia Ferrer, 12, on keyboards and vocals. For more about them, please visit their Facebook or their MySpace. We are refraining ourselves from making so many puns with “super” and “cute” right now.

We are proud to present, as our inaugural theme song, “Superrookie,” by Supercute! (!!) - Rookie Magazine


"Recap: Bro'in Out with Leo & Tony at 92YTribeca"

Finally, the band Supercute!—comprising 15-year-old Rachel Trachtenburg, and her friends Julia and June—played a few songs, including a cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Misty Mountain Hop” and a Shaggs-esque tune called “Candy City.” And as attractive and funny as Paul Rudd was, he’s still not as cool as a bunch of teenage girls covering Led Zeppelin and singing songs about how boys suck and friends rule. (Sistas before mistas!) - Time Out New York


"Q&A: Rachel Trachtenburg's SUPERCUTE! on Boys, Beer (Or a Lack Thereof), and Opening for Kate Nash"

Don't let the glittery star stickers she wears on her temples fool you: 16-year-old Rachel Trachtenburg is a music industry veteran, and would like it if you treated her as one. At the ripe old age of six she was recruited to back her parents in The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players, the East Village's premiere vaudeville-folk-performance art trio, and spent much of her adolescence drumming along as father Jason sang about the random photos he found at garage sales. (Her mother Tina handled the photo projector, and "Mountain Trip To Japan, 1959" holds up better than you might suspect.) Along the way, Rachel blossomed into biz-savvy performer, an outspoken political activist (she protested Mayor Bloomberg's third term alongside Anthony Weiner), and a Web-savvy entertainment entrepreneur. Her charmingly ram-shackle web-series Rachel Trachtenburg's Homemade World should sate your cravings for young adult post-modernism until The Adventures Of Pete And Pete's third season finally arrives on DVD.

And now, armed with her trusty ukulele and new best friends, she has her own hook-rich folk pop band to front. And a lot of work to do. When Sound Of The City met with SUPERCUTE! (which includes 13-year-old June Lei on vocals, keyboards and ukulele and 14-year-old Julia Cumming on vocals, guitar and Uke) at a family friend's East Village apartment, they were busy signing stacks of pink-and-yellow envelopes, which now encase the hand-painted and self-recorded demo EPs they're selling on their upcoming tour with Kate Nash. (The Trachtenburgs used to live in the building too until rising rents pushed them out to Bushwick.) Since forming last summer, SUPERCUTE! have already played the Cake Shop, the CMJ Music Marathon and 92Y, won Deli Magazine's band of the month competition (earning them a bit of free studio time), and backed blogger Emily Gould on a family-friendly rendition of one of the most sexually explicit songs ever written (Liz Phair's "Flower," and it took a bit of back and forth to get a version they could do in front of June's mom). Dressed in thrift store-chic flowery dresses with candy wrapper bows (Julia) and Syd Barrett buttons (Rachel) in their hair, SUPERCUTE! balanced their signing duties to discuss brushing off haters, music education and activism. They also talked about boys. - The Village Voice


"The Kids Are All Right (and Flaunting Their Hooks, Taste and Cred)"

At 16, Rachel Trachtenburg of Supercute!, who opened the showcase with a set of tidy, clever bubblegum pop, is already a veteran thanks to her years with the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players. One song played by Supercute!, “Not to Write About Boys,” was incisive and cynical about inter-band relations: two group members fall for the same guy, then realize it’s tearing the group apart, and sacrifice the guy for the sake of friendship. For kids, it’s dark stuff. And polished too: Supercute! has pop instincts as finely honed as Mr. [Nick] Jonas’s. - The New York Times


"‘The human spirit is still alive!’"

I took in more than 10 different musical acts on the second night of the CMJ Music Marathon, and it was the music of a teenage trio called Supercute that stuck the strongest.... They could have also been called Supercharming, Superfunny or Superpromisingfuture. - New York Metro


"Kate Nash challenges her audience with a pounding performance at First Ave."

At any rate, a case could be made that the night really belonged not to Nash but to openers Supercute! The teen trio's leader Rachel Trachtenburg told me that touring with Kate Nash is their "dream opening slot," and they're definitely making the most of it… I have a feeling that one day we'll live in a world where Trachtenburg is president and her bandmates are vice-president and secretary of state; we'll have world peace, we'll pay off the national debt, and every man, woman, and child in the country will have a job, a house, a sequined jumpsuit, and a kitten. Super cute. - Twin Cities Daily Planet


"Supercute! and the sound of freedom"

Supercute! conquered us from the first few chords. The bottom line is that these girls have some really good songs - particularly reminiscent of our favorite rock'n'roll genius: Syd Barret, a man who - quite fittingly - never grew up. This allowed him to be free and - most importantly - to sound free. Isn't this sense of freedom - a "sound of freedom" - one of the things we look for when we listen to indie music? - The Deli NYC (music blog)


Discography

Supertcute! (The EP), 2010

Photos

Bio

Meet New York City’s fast-rising and appropriately-named all-teen-girl-indie-bubblegum group — SUPERCUTE!

This powerhouse trio consists of three young musicians: Rachel Trachtenburg (of the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players, 17), Julia Cumming (16), and Olivia Ferrer (12). SUPERCUTE! has been on an astonishing roll of creativity and success since their start in late 2009. They were the opening act for Kate Nash’s spring 2010 North American *and* Fall 2010 European tours - wowing audiences around the world with their homemade costumes, ukulele-playing and hula-hooping skills, plus – to quote the New York Times – their “incisive, tidy, clever bubblegum pop”. And now: they have just wrapped up recording their first album - an extraordinary, bright yet dark psychedelic opus that's currently being shopped to labels, due out early 2012 - produced by none other than Kate herself. "Look, Supercute! may be exactly that: super cute,” Nash told Nylon Magazine, “but they’re also smart women—and you don’t fuck with smart women."

Rachel is the SUPERCUTE! member with the most stage experience under her belt: she’s been the drummer for her Mom and Dad’s legendary indie rock band The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players now for over a decade. It was when her family moved to New York City in 2001 when she first met Julia - their Dads played music together - and it wasn’t long before the pair, along with mutual friend June Lei, decided to start their own band, initially named the Oh My God Girls. (The name was quickly changed when it was discovered that Lil’ Wayne’s daughter already had a band called “The OMG Girlz”.) After June parted ways with the band to concentrate on her studies, she was replaced early this year by Olivia Ferrer. Olivia's dad, Frank Ferrer, is currently the drummer for Guns 'n Roses - so she's no stranger to the rock 'n roll lifestyle herself!

SUPECUTE! writes and performs amazingly witty and deceptively simple/catchy songs on such subjects as animal rights (“The Pigeon Song”), teen-girl solidarity (“Not To Write About Boys”) and the superiority of candy to drugs as addictive substances (“Dumb-Dumbs” - which will be coming out shortly in video form). You can hear quite definite echoes of the girls' musical heroes (Syd Barrett, Brian Wilson, Ray Davies, Elliot Smith) in unique, brilliant, to-the-point songs Julia calls "ukulele rock operas".

Since SUPERCUTE!'s inception, the band has created quite the stir, garnering an impressive array of raves from respected media outlets like The New York Times, The New York Post, Time Out New York and The New Yorker. They’ve been been featured in full 2-page features in Nylon and Bust Magazines, blogged about by Seventeen and Teen Vogue, and were the first-ever band to create a theme song for the new and vastly influential teen fashion online magazine Rookie. They’ve performed at the CMJ conference thrice, at the 92nd Street Y (alongside an impressed Paul Rudd), and at such big venues as New York’s Bowery Ballroom, Minneapolis’s First Avenue and the Los Angeles’s El Rey Theater - and that's not even to mention last year's triumphant European gigs.

For more information about the unstoppable SUPERCUTE!, call Rachel Trachtenburg at 347-536-9368, or e-mail supercuterocks@gmail.com.