JESS BECK | Go Venue Magazine
I’ll say this before we get into the interview – this one was a LOT of fun for me. It’s not every day that you get to interview the best burlesque dance team – and now recording artist! – from Las Vegas. Well, at least not a group who can do both things at the same time.
Having sampled some of their material before the interview (you know, because being prepared is important sometimes) I was absolutely amazed at how down to earth and incredible these women were. The conversation was awesome, their personalities were great, and I couldn’t have asked for a better team to do a Zoom meeting with (even if there were a few technical glitches in the beginning – curse you technology!). It was literally like sitting down with the popular girls from high school and finding out that they have so much depth and passion that you never knew about because all you do is pay attention to stereotypes – and the two that were there were fucking awesome.
So a huge shout out to Becky Black from Cosa Nostra PR for setting this up!
I can’t wait to get out to Vegas and cover a live show here in the next few months!
Anyway, here’s the interview!
Hi ladies, welcome to the Zoom Room!
“Hey! What’s up!” – Gina
“Hi! Thanks for having us!” – Talitha
So when did you start dancing?
“I started dancing at age 3 doing ballet and jazz dance. I actually had my first pair of tap shoes taken away from me because I would wear them everywhere! I just kept with it my whole life, going to competitions, and investing more and more into it. After high school I did a scholarship program and Edge and it was almost 40 hours a week just dancing – no time for a job or anything. But when I moved to Los Angeles I started dancing full time and it’s just gone from there!” – Talitha
“I had a very similar upbringing to her. I started young as a kid in gymnastics and ballet. I idolized people on MTV, and when I was younger I moved to Los Angeles and did the same scholarship program that Talitha did. I wanted my own music videos, and wanted to be a back up dancer for Britney Spears but also do things that were dark and trippy.” – Gina
Who came up with the name ‘Little Miss Nasty’?
“That was me. When I was younger I joined another all-female group called ‘Darling Stilettos’ with Matt Sorum from Velvet Revolver and Guns N’ Roses and his wife as the leader. I started to call everything I liked ‘nasty.’ I would run around saying, ‘Oh that shirt is nasty!’ or something like that, so they nicknamed me ‘Nasty Stiletto.’ Well, the name just stuck with me so I carried it into Little Miss Nasty. I figured ‘Little’ could mean sweet, cute, ‘girl next door’ vibe. ‘Miss’ because we’re women, and ‘Nasty’ could mean whatever anyone wanted it to be. For me the ‘Nasty’ is the rock n’ roll side, but it can mean different things to different people.” – Gina
Well things are opening back up – where would you want to tour this year if you get the opportunity?
“GET US EVERYWHERE! We’ve been ready and we’ve got a bigger and more badass show for the world to see! We can’t announce everything right now, but we’ve got some BIG things coming up – so stay glued to our social accounts to be the first to find out! But between our Vegas residency, along with Los Angeles, Long Beach, and San Francisco – I can tell you the comeback is going to be incredible, and we can’t wait to get back out there dripping sweat all over the stage!” – Gina
“I’d love to go overseas for sure! Europe would be a lot of fun, and we have such a growing fanbase in Europe that I think a tour there would be really fun!” – Talitha
Who would you like to tour with that you haven’t already?
“I would LOVE to tour with Korn. They’re wild, put on a dark show, and I think they would be the perfect fit for what we do. I also think a tour with Rob Zombie would be badass. He’s theatrical and over the top like we are. But I would also be down to tour with a pop band – I just want to tour with everyone. Ashnikko would be fun too!” – Gina
“I think Slipknot and Korn would be super fun to tour with for sure. But it would also be cool to tour with a new female vocalist who’s just hitting the charts like Rei Ami since her music is dark but also melodic at the same time – I think she’s really cool.” – Talitha
What was your big break?
“From the day we had our first 20 minute performance as a group I said, ‘Get ready to go on tour.’ And that was back in 2012. So after years or residency, our ‘big break’ came when we went on tour with In This Moment because the audiences were huge. We were supposed to be the opening act on the tour, but Maria wanted us to do two sets for the show, so we actually ended up getting to be direct support while all the fans were waiting for them to come on stage. That gave us our national presence and it wasn’t just a ‘West Coast’ thing anymore and [our act] grew internationally after that.” – Gina
Were you concerned about how a dance show might be perceived at a concert before you had the single?
“I wasn’t concerned at all. We brought something the bands couldn’t bring so it was unique in that way. And there might have been some haters in the crowd, but fuck em – we’re there to entertain! Not only did we get to do production for the bands on the tour, but we got to do it in front of a HUGE crowd. We did incorporate one song from a band I had – Gina and the Eastern Block – called ‘Sippin’ on a Forty’ and people thought that was our song, but really that was just me saying, ‘Fuck it, let’s do this song on tour!’ so we did! And ever since then we’ve weaved this whole thing together and it’s been fucking incredible.” – Gina
What is the empowerment message you hope your fans take away from your shows?
“We stand for empowerment across the board – we want to empower and support all races, sexual orientations, genders, body types, etc. If you come to our shows, you see people’s eyes light up across the whole spectrum, and we have such a wide range of supporters and followers and we want to show them that if you want to show yourself to the world – GO FOR IT. If you want to look super nasty – DO IT. Sure, 80% of our viewers on YouTube are women, but we want everyone to feel alive. We do it all the time and aren’t afraid of doing what makes us happy!” – Gina
What was it like filming the video for your single ‘Hungry’?
“I’ve done music videos before, so it was pretty standard for me and it followed the same structure as what I had experienced previously. We had meetings with Gina and the team beforehand to get a feel for what we wanted so I felt like I was pretty prepared – but the worst part was the traffic from Los Angeles to Las Vegas! I wasn’t ready for how bad that was going to be!” – Talitha
“We shot 8 scenes in 6 hours, and we were so busy I don’t even think I ate that day – it just all happened so fast. But I’ve been in music videos before as a dancer, but this was different because we weren’t backing someone up – this was us! So it was interesting and inspiring to see the girls get into the characters and be like, ‘Hey bitch, I’m the artist now!’ especially since every girl has their own style and it was awesome for me to see them as recording artists now.” – Gina
Watch/Listen to ‘Hungry’ below:
You’ve performed all over with a number of different acts by now – do you still get stage nerves before a show?
“10 minutes before the show is chaos. Controlled chaos, but still chaos! We have to place our costumes in certain places for quick changes, warm up our bodies so we don’t pull any muscles – especially in our necks – and we give each other pep talks. We talk to the techs and see if we can put our clothes in certain places, but sometimes you can’t and you just have to wing it sometimes! It’s super chaotic but it’s a lot of fun.” – Talitha
“I always ask people, ‘Are you nervous?’ because I feel like I’m going to jump out of my skin before a performance, so I like everyone to be nervous with me. But hey, if you aren’t nervous, you aren’t doing it right! And I always tell the girls ‘Do it the best you’ve ever fucking done it,” before we all smack each other on the ass.” – Gina
Who decides on the outfits that get worn during the performances?
“Gina is the designer for most of it and gives us all of these pieces as dancers to work with. We have the ability to select what we want to wear that night and have a staple black lingerie look that’s strappy and sexy, but there’s all kinds of pieces that you can mix and match with it to switch it up. So we have looks that fit our personalities which is really cool.” – Talitha
“I have to keep in mind the cast and the body type for each girl on stage, what looks good on them as individuals and what will look good collectively to have an original look on the stage. I design and sell a lot of what the girls wear – and even make clothes for men (which, I was surprised to hear, but I’m checking that out right now) so our fans can wear replicas of what we wear on the stage. But I want to make sure my girls look their best on stage, and you can find our designs on our website!” – Gina
Now that you’ve released ‘Hungry’ are you planning any other singles?
“Oh yes! We already have another song ready to go, and we have been firing off writing and recording and making all that happen. The new song should drop either this Spring or Summer, and we are exploring crossing genres, mixing genres, and basically exploring whatever the fuck we want, so it’s been really exciting!” – Gina
What is your favorite dinosaur?
“T-Rex for sure, because they were the kings!” – Gina
“Raptor for me – I like their little hands!” – Talitha
Last question – what would be the odds that I’d get to come out and photograph a show?
“Hell yeah! Anytime you’re out in Vegas we can make that happen! But we’ve got a LOT more coming up, so stay glued to your phones to find out more! Follow our social handles to be the first to know what’s happening!
Links to social:
- @littlemissnasty
- @leathaltnt
- @ginaandtheeasternblock
- @jessbeckphoto (shameless plug)
- @govenue
