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I first came across Femmes Eat Fruit via their guitarist and vocalist Akira in a stereotypical indie-Seattle meet-cute, in the pit of a Le Tigre show at the Paramount last summer. After exchanging zines and Instagrams, I kept up, virtually, with the up-and-coming, self-proclaimed ‘Frunk Rock’ band, and their shows at iconic Seattle venues like The Vera Project, and even a clown pageant at Gasworks Park. I was incredibly lucky to meet up with guitarist and vocalist Akira, drummer Vivi, and guitarist and vocalist Gwynne for pizza in Whitecenter, where we talked about everything from diversity in the Seattle music scene to Teen Beach Movie. 

How did you guys meet, and when did you start making music together? 

Vivi: We met at the Del swap meet, we were like talking about stickers, Akira and I, and then we just kind of became like, little best friends. And then, one day Akira texted me and was like, do you want to be in a band together? And I was like, Yeah, that sounds good. 

Gwynne: How did we meet? 

Vivi: We literally met in the most unsafe way, online. We were like Juniors in High School and we were like “Let’s meet up”, so she bussed like three hours over here, We didn’t get anything done. 

Gwynne: I don’t have a lot to do in Orting

Vivi:  I was like, “Come to Seattle, there’s a ton of stuff.” And then we ended up playing music becoming super good friends. And then Akira was like, “Do you know any drummers?” And I was like, “Of course, we know drummers like I know so many drummers like what are you talking about?” So I texted Gwynne and I was like, “Do you want to be in a band with me and my friend 

Akira?” And then it all worked out.

What was your first show like? Do you have a highlight of your first show?

Vivi: Our first show was Vera 

Gwynne: That was such a good show

Akira: It was a really fun show. Because, like, we also go to dress up like it was a fashion show… And like so we did a fashion show thing. And it was really fun. It just felt good.. Like we played a good set. We played good, which made me happy. 

How did you guys all get into your individual instruments, and start playing?

Gwynne: I did band in middle school, but everybody would tell me, that band kids are kind of nerds, so by the time I entered high school I had kind of stopped, after COVID is when I got a drum set.

Vivi: I don’t think I’ve ever told anybody this, but I started out with a ukulele because I really liked, Mxmtoon and I was like, “Oh, I gotta get a uke. If I have a Uke, the women will flock to me,” so I picked up uke. But my dad and my grandpa have just always played guitar growing up and I’ve always been immersed in like, *guitar noises*. So sophomore year of high school. My grandpa gave me his old Telecaster when he was young and then he took it to the shop and he painted it pink for me, which was so sweet. I started out playing Mac DeMarco, which is, whatever.

Akira: I’ve recently come to terms with this and being honest. It was first picked up guitar in the seventh grade for a boy. No, but now the thing is, like, so I started out playing like Green Day and like Nirvana. Yeah, like that. I thought I liked this guy, but then he ended up being like horrible and like evil. And now like I’m better than him. So I’m happier and in a band right now. So, in the end, I came out on top.

I feel like, especially female indie bands from the Pacific Northwest have a reputation for fun/clever names. How did you guys come up with your name?

Vivi: We were sending really stupid images in our group chat of fruit with googly eyes

Gwynnene: I loved that

Akira: I was thinking that it would be our logo or something like that. I thought like, “Girls eat fruit, boys eat vegetables and meat”. I still think we need a funny fruit song, like “Femmes eat fruit, mascs grill vegetables,”. 

What’s everyone’s favorite fruit?

Gwynnene: Mango

Vivi: That’s so hard, it’s between mango and pomegranate. Pomegranates are so sapphic.

You guys haven’t done any covers, are you anti-cover?

Vivi: We’re not anti-cover. We’ve talked about doing a Teen Beach Movie cover

Akira: Just the whole entire show doing that. I watched it for the first time this year and it changed my life. 

Who’s everyone’s favorite character?

Vivi: Chi Chi

Akira: Is that a person? That’s not a person?

Vivi: Yeah it is! She’s the one I’ve been in love with since I was eight!

Akira. I like that guy…what’s his name? Tanner! I Like Tanner.

Gwynne: That guy’s funny. I like all of them.

You did a fundraiser show for Gaza, how did that compare to the current Seattle scene?

Akira: I feel like the scene is kind of, some white, indie dudes. It feels like “Yay, let’s go to the white indie show to see other white indie people,”. It just felt like something that was broader than just the Seattle punk scene. It really brought everyone together, and I really value that community. 

Vivi: It depends on what band you see because the crowd alternates all the time. But I kind of, I don’t know. Personally, I kind of stopped going to shows because there are so many like, “This person is actually a bad person,” like, I feel like that’s happening too much for me to feel safe to go out and enjoy myself right now. But it’s good when you’re like going to your friend’s shows and going and seeing them play.

Akira: for me, I don’t know I just kind of feel a little out of place because like I don’t know there’s just no like really intersectionality. feel like, I’m hoping that our crowd is drawing in, because like, there’s like the Hardcore scene where there’s people of color, but it’s like, mostly like men. There’s not, a lot of like femme people. And then in like the punk scene, there’s more queer people and femme people, but very white. And so I don’t know just because of that. I feel like it’s kind of hard for me to find a place.

Gwynne: Not living in Seattle, I’ve heard a lot of horror stories.

Is there much of a scene in Orting?

Gwynne: There’s, like, a Taylor Swift scene. 

Do you feel like your cultivating a new scene? Do you see that there’s other young femmes, and femmes of color that are specifically looking for that?

Akira: I do think so. I mean, I would hope so. But like, I don’t know part of the reason why I wanted a non-white band is, before, I was just kind of in the scene and we’d like there’s no like there’s no diversity, there’s no representation. And then now like, it just feels kind of different because like now I’m like “Wait, we are the representation now,” so it’s like that makes me happy but I don’t know I hope that we’re like, making people be like “I should start a band,”.

I really like seeing people especially people my age doing things because it’s scary, especially in a lot of punk spaces. I feel like Seattle as a whole has such a huge culture around alternative music and rock and hardcore and all that. But I feel like a lot of like, a lot of it is like very white which can be frustrating.

Vivi: Remembering the past is always centered around these big white artists, when there’s so many more people of color. 

How do you guys combat that? How do you not let the past overpower what’s happening now?

Gwynnene: I think we’re just doing our own thing. Really just putting our creativity first. Above like wanting to create like a grunge image or like, just doing what we want. And like the things that make us happy.

Akira: I feel like, for me, not to name names, but there was this one band, and they were so annoying because they kept saying like,” Grunge is back! Grunge revival,” and then they litterall\y booked and sounded exactly like Nirvana. 

Vivi: I know so many Kurt Cobain wannabe white dudes with long hair that act the same way, and they’re all complete jerks that are like “I’m cool ’cause I wear flannel,”. 

What do you guys gave coming up for 2024?

Akira: I think we’re probably going to record.

Vivi: Yeah, get in the studio, maybe an EP?

Vivi: For any young femmes of color scared about getting into the scene, just do it. Just be loud. Use your voice, because people are gonna silence you all the time. People are gonna try to patronize you especially if you’re femme presenting. Just use your voice, it’s a good tool and it’ll empower other people.

Akira: I think the scene right now thinks “We have the most leftist, most inclusive space ever,” and like, I think, enough of that. We should just make our own think. Make our own different thing. And I feel like we’re doing that by presenting the way we are. I remember at our first show I had someone that was like “Yeah, I’m Chinese and I think it’s awesome that you played a Chinese New Year song,” and that’s awesome and great. That would never happen in this other scene. Enough of the whole lack of perspective. 

Gwynnene: I would say, especially if you’re a POC, just do it. The scene needs to be way more diverse than it is. And with all

music genres, there’s too much of a white male presence. We need to diversify.