Shy Girls. Some guy singing about his feelings. Makes a dude as rugged, mysterious, and effortlessly swole as me, shed. a. wistful. tear. It’s fucked up and I hate it. Like, I can bench 280. No such thing as shy girls when I wear a tank top.Anyway, I interviewed Dan Vidmar, the lead singer, and he was surprisingly chill for a beta. I could kick his ass though. Shy Girls are on tour with Haim. I smashed this hot indie chick in my Psych class. Dan is from Portland. My arms look like tires.Noisey: So, super random, but a friend of mine met this girl who knew you from a while back, and she was like, "Oh yeah, in college Dan was in a Grateful Dead cover band.”
Dan Vidmar: Yeah, it’s true.What do you have to say for yourself?
I want to find out who that is so I can silence her. No, I was though, it was Paul Simon, and The Grateful Dead, and all this stuff. We played at a dive bar, at Penn State, for a couple years. It was fun and also terrible at the same time. But at the same time I got 200 shows under my belt in those couple of years.What’s your favorite Grateful Dead song?
"Terrapin Station."Nice, my dad’s a huge Grateful Dead fan.
Really?One time he let me borrow his old fringed leather vest for dress up day in middleschool and there were original Grateful Dead ticket stubs in the pocket.
Wow.So, you’ve been playing music your whole life?
My uncle bought me an electric guitar, when I was probably like 13 or 14? They always knew I was into music, my parents and my family, I’m not even sure how they pinpointed that, but they always knew. I just started teaching myself guitar and getting familiar with melody. I guess that’s how it started, eventually I was playing guitar and starting to play around with singing as well. It all started from there.What was your high school experience like, on the whole?
Hmm, pretty much so-so. I wasn’t the most liked kid most of my childhood, I got picked on. But towards the end of high school I had a band and I was starting to do my own thing and find my own way.A band’s a good look.
Yeah people started to respect me, things got easier. Which is shitty, that things get easier when people are like "so you’re in a band?"I feel you, like, that's all it takes?
Yeah.Was making R&B always a big thing for you, or was it something you grew into later?
It was a big thing for me when I was young, like growing up and listening to whatever was on the radio that was more R&B leaning. As I went into high school and stuff I was probably listening to less of that because of what was available on the radio, and then sort of just got back to my roots.What was the first song you associated with a romantic situation in your life?
That’s actually a really good question, my first slow dance was in 5th grade. I was super nervous, and god, I don’t remember the song. If I hear the song, if I’m out and I hear it I’m like oh my god. I can’t remember, it was definitely an N Sync song. But I don’t remember which one.So you had a crush in 5th grade at the dance? How’d things go with that?
Oh I mean, we had a slow dance and that was the end of it. And my next dance was like 8 years later.That's sick though, I didn't dance with a girl until 7th grade. Did you have hands on her hips or all the way behind her back?
Just hips, this was still 5th grade. But I remember feeling how fragile it was to hold a woman.What was on the first mixtape you made for somebody?
Oh, that’s a good question. I’m sure it was a crush, in high school probably, I don’t think you could burn CD’s until high school so, yeah. I don’t remember specifically.Well, if you had to guess.
Actually, I remember I made a Christmas mixtape for my mom, and that was like 6th grade or 7th grade, and that was like R Kelly, Usher, and Boyz II Men.What was your first kiss?
We’ll just say the girl next door.When was your first performance onstage?
I put together a show when I was like 15. My mom is a teacher at a business school in Pennsylvania, me and my friends put together our own show at their little pavilion out in the back. Like thirty people came, we advertised it, that was my first show.What is your favorite sound?
Ooh, I like zippers, I don’t know why.Like a quick zipper or a long zipper?
Long zipper.Like a sleeping bag?
Exactly.Nice. Whats your least favorite?
A screaming, cackling, loud person. Somebody that’s just yelling, like drunken screaming.You must have a lot of experience with that from Penn State.
Yeah, it's a huge party school.Is your lyric "I’m not an athlete/I sit at home and make beats" a reaction to the frat scene?
Pretty much, yeah.What’d those beats sound like?
In college they were pretty weird. I don’t even know what I was doing, I didn’t have an actual drum machine, so I was just trying to figure out how to do it. I wasn’t around other people who were doing it, so I had no idea what I was doing.Tell me about your Brandy cover, it's lowkey my favorte thing you've done.
I was a big fan of the song when I was younger and actually, Portia, the guy who produced the track, he had already sort of produced that instrumental and when I heard it I was like dude, we gotta work on this right now.
It’s really intense. I think a lot of people were like, what the hell?What's your favorite rap album of the last ten years?
Ah man, I love the Kendrick album so much. I know that’s so cliché .Do you think Kendrick was robbed?
[laughs] Duh.We have it on record.
Twitter battle ensues.Macklemore calls you out then apologizes.
Yeah dude, I don’t want any texts from Macklemore.If you were in Macklemore’s situation, would you have texted Kendrick or would you have let it ride?
Well I probably would’ve just let it ride, but I definitely wouldn’t have posted the picture of it.Have you ever instagrammed an apolgy?
[Laughs] Not once.If you could play a show at any time or place on earth more than 250 years ago, here would it be?
I don’t even know if this is 250 years ago, but being at the Boston Tea Party and just playing on the boat.As you're "Under Attack" from the British.
Exactly.Speaking of "Under Attack," that was the first song of yours I heard, and I listened to it every day for a summer. What's the story behind it?
Actually that song was written very quickly, I had a show, and I didn’t have enough songs for the show and I just had this drum loop, which is the drum loop in the song, and I came up with the chorus. I was just like ‘I need to do something to this to add this song to the set’ and it just came together quickly. My headspace was just…I dunno, I was in a super romantic headspace.How would you describe your aesthetic model for romance? In terms of influences.
I would say, part romantically classical music and part Disney.What’s your favorite Disney movie?
Aladdin.If you had a word of romantic advice for your 15-year-old self, what would it be?
Don’t try too hard.Ezra Marcus is constantly "Under Attack" on twitter—@ezra_marcMORE SHY GIRLS ON NOISEY:Listen To Shy Girls "Under Attack"Watch Shy Girls' Video for "Still Not Falling"
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Dan Vidmar: Yeah, it’s true.What do you have to say for yourself?
I want to find out who that is so I can silence her. No, I was though, it was Paul Simon, and The Grateful Dead, and all this stuff. We played at a dive bar, at Penn State, for a couple years. It was fun and also terrible at the same time. But at the same time I got 200 shows under my belt in those couple of years.What’s your favorite Grateful Dead song?
"Terrapin Station."Nice, my dad’s a huge Grateful Dead fan.
Really?One time he let me borrow his old fringed leather vest for dress up day in middleschool and there were original Grateful Dead ticket stubs in the pocket.
Wow.So, you’ve been playing music your whole life?
My uncle bought me an electric guitar, when I was probably like 13 or 14? They always knew I was into music, my parents and my family, I’m not even sure how they pinpointed that, but they always knew. I just started teaching myself guitar and getting familiar with melody. I guess that’s how it started, eventually I was playing guitar and starting to play around with singing as well. It all started from there.What was your high school experience like, on the whole?
Hmm, pretty much so-so. I wasn’t the most liked kid most of my childhood, I got picked on. But towards the end of high school I had a band and I was starting to do my own thing and find my own way.
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Yeah people started to respect me, things got easier. Which is shitty, that things get easier when people are like "so you’re in a band?"I feel you, like, that's all it takes?
Yeah.Was making R&B always a big thing for you, or was it something you grew into later?
It was a big thing for me when I was young, like growing up and listening to whatever was on the radio that was more R&B leaning. As I went into high school and stuff I was probably listening to less of that because of what was available on the radio, and then sort of just got back to my roots.What was the first song you associated with a romantic situation in your life?
That’s actually a really good question, my first slow dance was in 5th grade. I was super nervous, and god, I don’t remember the song. If I hear the song, if I’m out and I hear it I’m like oh my god. I can’t remember, it was definitely an N Sync song. But I don’t remember which one.So you had a crush in 5th grade at the dance? How’d things go with that?
Oh I mean, we had a slow dance and that was the end of it. And my next dance was like 8 years later.That's sick though, I didn't dance with a girl until 7th grade. Did you have hands on her hips or all the way behind her back?
Just hips, this was still 5th grade. But I remember feeling how fragile it was to hold a woman.What was on the first mixtape you made for somebody?
Oh, that’s a good question. I’m sure it was a crush, in high school probably, I don’t think you could burn CD’s until high school so, yeah. I don’t remember specifically.
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Actually, I remember I made a Christmas mixtape for my mom, and that was like 6th grade or 7th grade, and that was like R Kelly, Usher, and Boyz II Men.What was your first kiss?
We’ll just say the girl next door.When was your first performance onstage?
I put together a show when I was like 15. My mom is a teacher at a business school in Pennsylvania, me and my friends put together our own show at their little pavilion out in the back. Like thirty people came, we advertised it, that was my first show.What is your favorite sound?
Ooh, I like zippers, I don’t know why.Like a quick zipper or a long zipper?
Long zipper.Like a sleeping bag?
Exactly.Nice. Whats your least favorite?
A screaming, cackling, loud person. Somebody that’s just yelling, like drunken screaming.You must have a lot of experience with that from Penn State.
Yeah, it's a huge party school.Is your lyric "I’m not an athlete/I sit at home and make beats" a reaction to the frat scene?
Pretty much, yeah.What’d those beats sound like?
In college they were pretty weird. I don’t even know what I was doing, I didn’t have an actual drum machine, so I was just trying to figure out how to do it. I wasn’t around other people who were doing it, so I had no idea what I was doing.Tell me about your Brandy cover, it's lowkey my favorte thing you've done.
I was a big fan of the song when I was younger and actually, Portia, the guy who produced the track, he had already sort of produced that instrumental and when I heard it I was like dude, we gotta work on this right now.
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I love the gunshots. Intense.
It’s really intense. I think a lot of people were like, what the hell?What's your favorite rap album of the last ten years?
Ah man, I love the Kendrick album so much. I know that’s so cliché .Do you think Kendrick was robbed?
[laughs] Duh.We have it on record.
Twitter battle ensues.Macklemore calls you out then apologizes.
Yeah dude, I don’t want any texts from Macklemore.If you were in Macklemore’s situation, would you have texted Kendrick or would you have let it ride?
Well I probably would’ve just let it ride, but I definitely wouldn’t have posted the picture of it.Have you ever instagrammed an apolgy?
[Laughs] Not once.If you could play a show at any time or place on earth more than 250 years ago, here would it be?
I don’t even know if this is 250 years ago, but being at the Boston Tea Party and just playing on the boat.As you're "Under Attack" from the British.
Exactly.Speaking of "Under Attack," that was the first song of yours I heard, and I listened to it every day for a summer. What's the story behind it?
Actually that song was written very quickly, I had a show, and I didn’t have enough songs for the show and I just had this drum loop, which is the drum loop in the song, and I came up with the chorus. I was just like ‘I need to do something to this to add this song to the set’ and it just came together quickly. My headspace was just…I dunno, I was in a super romantic headspace.
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I would say, part romantically classical music and part Disney.What’s your favorite Disney movie?
Aladdin.If you had a word of romantic advice for your 15-year-old self, what would it be?
Don’t try too hard.Ezra Marcus is constantly "Under Attack" on twitter—@ezra_marcMORE SHY GIRLS ON NOISEY:Listen To Shy Girls "Under Attack"Watch Shy Girls' Video for "Still Not Falling"