Interview with Kill My Coquette: ‘I love that the lyrics that someone writes can have a million different interpretations’

LA-based pop punk band Kill My Coquette gave us their single ‘L.A.’s Gonna Tear You Apart’ last month, a track that highlights how difficult it is to get a break in the US’ most competitive city and is now working on a new song about a dirty cop.

Kill My Coquette is an LA band led by actress, model, and singer Natalie Denise Sperl, also featuring Adam Smith on lead guitar.

Coming up with a name was a laborious process, according to Sperl: ‘I had a whole thread of band names, Swedish Jesus was a contender for a while and something like Kill My Ex! I wanted a 60’s aesthetic, sort of Brigitte Bardot – it got me thinking French and ‘coquette’. People don’t know how to pronounce it here, some people say ‘Kill My Coke Head’, haha! I read a lot of pulp fiction and writers like Hunter S. Thompson and they use the word ‘coquette’ often. I just like it.’ 

Sperl started acting when she was 15 and moved into modelling, doing runway shows in Paris and London for a couple of years before deciding to move to LA to focus on acting and music: ‘I slugged it out here for years, doing bad movies, bad dialogue, bad lighting,’ she said. ‘I also got to be on great hit shows like ‘How I Met Your Mother’ and ‘C.S.I. Miami’, ‘2 and a Half Men’ and ‘NCIS’. I’ve done a few vampire movies like The Graveyard and Succubus Hell Bent. Musically, I’ve been a super dork, all my life. My brother’s a musician, so was my grandfather. I’d always wanted to do it, I had tons of notebooks full of lyrics, so I finally dusted them off and thought I could do something with them.’

Typically, she’ll start with a tempo in GarageBand: ‘Sometimes, I’ll start on the acoustic or I’ll start with a drum track.’ ‘L.A.’s Gonna Tear You Apart’ is a pop punk belter, complete with marching band intro, huge riffs and a big hooky chorus and was the idea of her bandmate, Smith. When she sings the line ‘Stop, you won’t get far’, they’ve used a very intriguing guitar effect whereby you mute your palm while playing: ‘Then we play it through each speaker separately to give it a full surround sound effect. We changed some of the chord progressions and reworked the lyrics,’ she said. ‘It morphed into this semi-autobiographical song, we wanted to do a sports song – you know, the kind of song the LA Clippers (a local basketball team) might play. We could hear it at the Dodgers stadium, too! Sort of “LA proud, we’re better than you” kinda thing. That’s why we added the cheerleader claps in the bridge and the marching band intro. It’s about my experiences in showbiz. I hit up every pro DJ I know! The Dodgers’ DJ said he’d try to work it in. Come through, Severe!’

The track also references an LA legend, Angelyne, an American singer, actress, personality and model who came to prominence in 1984 after the appearance of a series of iconic billboards in and around LA. ‘She’s a local pin up queen, she really exists, she’s always made up to the nines. She’s her own self-promoter! She’s courageous, she doesn’t give up, it’s a great reminder to see someone not give up ‘cos Hollywood will knock you into submission. She must be 70 now. I couldn’t get her so I play her in our video that’s out now!’

‘We did a half-chorus in this song, I’d never done that before’

At the same time as ‘L.A.’s Gonna Tear You Apart’, they released ‘Cage’, one of their most defiant tracks to date: ‘I thought of the chorus when I was in the steam room in the gym,’ Sperl laughed. ‘The lyrics “Before the curtain comes down, I will take my final bow” is just saying don’t be afraid to go for it, don’t go down without a fight. Dream big. I came from a very small town. I didn’t know anyone when I came to Hollywood, I had to hit the pavement. Hard. We did a half-chorus in the first part of the song, I’d never done that before. It’s like an anti-climax. You think it’s building but then it’s gone. Taylor Swift does that a lot, your ear expects it to build but it doesn’t.’ 

All of Sperl’s songs are based on her own experiences, one of the most endearing ones is ‘Coffeebean Song’, named after the coffee chain of the same name and which came out earlier this year. ‘The first version was different, the lyrics were “I met him on Craigslist, horny and wasted”,’ she laughed. ‘I put an ad on Craiglist (an American classified ads site) for a guitarist. We did actually meet in Coffeebean.” 

Another track, ‘Put Me In Your Movie, Quentin Tarantino’ (2019), has a great backstory: ‘A friend of mine, Kansas, who directed my video (‘Post Teenage Angst’), she played one of the Manson girls in the Tarantino film ‘Once Upon A Time in Hollywood’. Sure I was a bit envious. I literally went to bed that night and came up with that line. I was like “Damn, put ME in your movie, Quentin Tarantino!”’ 

I ask her whether she knows if he’s heard it: ‘Apparently, he doesn’t have a cellphone and only uses email but I don’t have his email address. He owns a vintage cinema (the New Beverly Cinema in LA). He bought it and saved it a few years ago, he kept its retro flair, it’s beautiful. When ‘Once Upon A Time in Hollywood’ came out, they showed it there for a whole month. I had the idea of going there, so I took a bunch of CDs and buttons but he wasn’t there that day. I asked a guy working there if I could leave a CD for him and he opens what I thought was a cupboard but it was a room, 6ft high with stuff that people leave him, so he’s never gonna see it (laughs). Outside, I gave the rest of the CDs to some of his fans and some of them follow us now, which is cool.’

‘I’m the dirty cop! It’s a sexy, sludgy song’

Next up is a new song about a dirty cop: ‘I’m the dirty cop! It’s a sexy, sludgy song,’ she said. ‘We’re still working on it and we’ll probably do another single as well before the year is over.’

Locally, she’s a big fan of punk rock band, L.A. Witch, pop punk band Honeychain and rock band Dorothy. She’s also a huge fan of Jesika von Rabbit, the former frontwoman of Joshua Tree’s hi-desert trailblazers, Gram Rabbit: ‘It’s pyschy, trippy rock, it’s cool,’ she said. She grew up listening to her grandad playing the concertina and punk rock such as The Descendants, courtesy of her brother. ‘My dad listened to Americana, Neil Young etc. but I was into the Top 40, people like Madonna. Bob Dylan was my first concert, he’s the pride of Minnesota, where I’m from. Minneapolis has a huge music scene.’

If she could collaborate with anyone dead or alive, she picks Lou Reed: ‘I just love him, I met him once after a concert. I cried for three days after he died. I love that the lyrics that someone writes can have a million different interpretations. Music is everything, it’s fun, it’s really cool.’

Sperl recommends that new visitors to LA get off the beaten track to take in its best sights: ‘I’d send people to Malibu to go on some of the hikes that Jim Morrison went on and interesting old movie sets, where you can see decrepid, weird stuff, behind the scenes. That’s where the fun stuff is. Santa Monica is really fun, too. At night, there’s so much to do, so many local clubs and shows. You can rent a convertible, drive up the PCH and go to a CrabShack.’

As befitting someone who has worked in LA’s entertainment industry for several years, Sperl has some funny stories about celebrities: ‘The first time I met Courtney Love was at the Vanity Fair Party.’ She starts laughing: ‘What I did, I dressed up as a server before the Vanity Fair party, with my gown in a backpack and acted as if I was catering ‘cos it’s next to impossible to get in, cute or not. So I hid in the bathroom, changed, ditched the catering clothes and just came out into the party.  I go to the bar, I see Courtney, she was having a martini by herself. I say her dress is beautiful and she turns to me and says “Cavalli, darling” and goes back to her martini. It was epic. She is my biggest influence. I haven’t tried to get in for a couple of years but another time, me and a girlfriend turn up to the back entrance in our gowns, smoking. When the security guard came back, he thought we’d just gone outside to smoke, so he let us right back in! It’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission, remember that!’