In conversation with cumgirl8

Backstage at Paradiso, in a room bursting with the kind of chaotic charm only a post-punk band-slash-multi-media collective could conjure—we met with cumgirl8.  The air was thick with the scent of possibility (and a lot of hairspray), as the band members hurried to get ready for their show, pieces of neon clothing flung around the room in a vibrant whirlwind. 

Altogether, cumgirl8 are Lida Fox (bass), Veronika Vilim (guitar), Avishag “Avi” Cohen Rodrigues (guitar), and Chase Lombardo (drums). More than a band; they’re a self described “sex-positive alien amoeba entity”. Their universe is stitched together with threads of nostalgia and absurdist wisdom, which are grounded by a defiant opposition to patriarchy and capitalism. Their latest project, The 8th Cumming (yes, that’s not typo), dropped on October 4, 2024, and is as much a manifesto as it is an album, featuring grippingly sincere lyrics. cumgirl8 has a knack for collapsing the distance between irony and sincerity—keep reading as we traverse all the planes of existence in the cumgirl8 universe (more to cum).

GC: I want to start by asking, the obvious question, how did you form the band? What was the invisible string that tied you together? 
Chase: It was definitely invisible.
Veronika: It was fate.
Chase: We met 8,000 years ago.

GC: How come? In a past life? 
Chase: This is all one continuous life.
Veronika: And it was in a different universe.

GC: You also do a lot of interdisciplinary work and it seems like fashion plays a big role in your expression. How did that come about?
Veronika: It just felt appropriate because it’s part of the world that we’re creating.
Chase: It’s just another way to communicate what we believe in.

GC: What’s that creative process like?
Chase: We kind of share one fluid brain.
Lida: It’s more chaotic than that.
Chase: We’re lacking a system.

GC: I saw you guys have this one underboob shirt in your merch and I thought that was fantastic. 
Lida: Yeahhh

GC: The name cumgirl8, almost speaks for itself, but I still want to know, does it hold any special significance for you?
Lida: It was just the name of the sex chat that we met on.
Veronika: The one through seven were taken before, so we landed on the eight. We were typing in one, two, three…
Chase: Username taken!
Veronika: We appeared in that universe because all the other ones were full.

GC: Right, so in this timeline, we are now on cumgirl 8…
Veronika: This is our eighth coming, we happened to be at that time 8,000 years ago.

GC: I want you guys to get so big that someone like Jimmy Fallon has say “Welcome cumgirl 8!” 
Chase: That’s what I’m saying all the time! And he’s going to do his little giggle.
Veronika: I wonder if he would ever feel comfortable with saying it.
Lida: It would probably get censored every time.
Veronika: I don’t think David Letterman would have ever done it. He’s too old and white.
Chase: I don’t know, it was actually a lot freakier in the 70s.

GC: Your song lyrics are all so real and sound like conversations I’ve had with my girlfriends, what’s the writing process like? 
Chase: It depends on the song.
Veronika: We just write about our experience.

GC: Do you have a favourite lyric that you’ve written?
Chase: “I got UTIs, I cry between my thighs” or “pirouette, my pussy’s wet”.
Avi: I heard we need to do merch with that one

GC: You’ve been described as a post-punk band, I want to hear your take on it, what would you call the genre of music you make?
Chase: Post-genre.
Lida: Yeah, we don’t stick to one. We like to explore lots of different types of music.
Veronika: I’m obsessed with how now genres have two names to it. Like, hyper-pop or post-punk. I feel like we need to make one that goes Electro… Po… Bra… One giant thing with a bunch of hyphens.

GC: Yeah, it could be post-post-post-post-post-post-post-post-post-punk
Chase: Psychedelic rock.
Lida: Indie sleaze.
Chase: NOOOOOOO!

GC: Do you not like that one? 
Chase: We just don’t like skinny jeans, they are the worst trend in fashion.
Veronika: I mean, it’s so pesky.
Chase: First it was all the Y2K stuff, and the nostalgia that came along with that, but I don’t know if I feel super nostalgic of that era.
Lida: I kind of want to forget about that one. It’s too recent, it was like 14 years ago.

GC: The curation of memes on your Instagram is fantastic, where do you find them? 
Veronika: The internet is the best place on the planet.
Chase: Friends send me shit. I have a huge saved folder.

GC: Do you ever make your own as well?
Chase: Yes, I think the best one we made was during Covid. Some people found it really pleasurable to get the Q-tips up their noses so we made a collage with the vibrator wand instead of the Q-tip.
Lida: It was major. Shortly after that, we got our Instagram deleted tho.

GC: Were you able to recover it? 
Chase: No, that’s how we got the title for our second EP, RIPcumgirl8. We were almost at 10K back then and most people didn’t even think we were a band. It was still abstract. 

GC: How has the tour been so far, any favourite moment to share? 
Lida: I honestly feel like this is maybe the smoothest tour we’ve ever had.
Veronika: The organisation is great, shout out.
Chase: Also the craziest thing happened when we were on the West Coast, the record had only been out for two weeks, and there were kids in the front singing the lyrics back to us!

GC: How nice, so what would you say makes someone stand out for you in the crowd? 
Chase: Just energy.
Veronika: Yesterday there was this beautiful person standing all the way in the back that was holding up a heart the entire show.
Chase: The whole show. She also brought a lesbian flag for us to sign afterwards.

GC: I love that! I think those were are all the questions that I had for you guys. Thank you for your answers.
All: Thank you!