Semi Precious Weapons appear in the new promo for Lady Gaga's 2011 VMA performance on 8.28.11 along with other members of the Precious Empire and the Rivington Rebels. The promo also features some Justin face art, whiskey, blood, and lots of blonde weave.
In the full promo, scenes of Gaga hanging out with her crew — drinking, dancing and being merry — are mixed with Gaga chilling out with a jazz band performing a slowed-down version of the latest Born This Way single.
Sitting at the piano during the shoot, Gaga tells the room, "I'm so happy my friends are here." MTV News was on hand when the promo was shot, and Gaga said it's meant to give fans an inside look at what it's like to hang with the Mother Monster. "I really wanted it to be real, and I knew that MTV wanted it to be a true documentation of my life, and as someone that lives halfway between reality and fantasy, so do all my friends," she told us on set. "So I felt [it would be] an injustice to not sort of honor them in this short film that we did."
It seems that living "halfway between reality and fantasy" means just having a really, really great time listening to tunes and living it up. "I brought my friends here, and we did a jazz rendition of 'Yoü and I,' and we sort of just hung out together," she said. "And played around and did what we usually do, which is be creative with one another and talk about music and art and fashion and f--- around."
Sasha Charnin Morrison, the fashion director for Us magazine talks fashion and gaga with lady starlight in her new book Secrets of Stylists: An Insider's Guide to Styling The Stars
Highlights from the interview:
Are you more interested in specific looks or specific designers?
"Most definitely specific looks! Designers don't interest me at all. I approach fashion from a socio-cultural perspective. I'm interested in what individuals have to say with their fashion choices. Fashion is the ultimate form of non-verbal communication. This is pretty obvious with sub-cultural fashion (which is my major are of interest), but everyone says something with his or her closes, even no statement is a statement."
My phone was stolen thus leaving me internet/social network-less. But thanks to Jesus and Insurance, I have my Droid back and now can update the site! Here are some things we missed while we were gone.
Breaks:
Two songs into their opening set for the Monster Ball in Oslo, Norway – Justin broke his wrist. But like the glam fucking trooper he is, he managed to finish the final five songs of the set without a problem.
Covers:
SPW changed up their usual sound check and mashed up their fabulous song ‘Statues of Ourselves’ with Lady Gaga’s equally fabulous song ‘Dance in the Dark’ to make a truly great acoustic fuck of a song. Ch-ch-check it out!
Interviews:
Semi Precious Weapons took the time to sit down with Karmaloop TV, run by one of our favorite online clothing stores: Karmaloop.com
Being the opening act on Lady Gaga's never-ending Monster Ball Tour has afforded the gentlemen in Semi Precious Weapons some rather, uh, unique opportunities, the overwhelming majority of which we can't print here.
But there are perks besides the debauchery too — like getting to hear Gaga's ultra-anticipated new album Born This Way, which isn't due until next year. And after some prodding, we got SPW frontman Justin Tranter to give us a few details about the album, which, from the sound of things, is shaping up to be quite an experience.
"It's bold and it's beautiful," Tranter said. "Obviously, none of it's done, so I can't really speak on it, but the stuff she has played me is really, really beautiful and really, really bold."
That echoes what Gaga herself said about the album earlier this year, when she promised that Born This Way would feature "a lot of hit records that will piss people off." And she didn't stop there either.
"This album is my absolute greatest work I've ever done, and I'm so excited about it," she told RWD magazine. "The message, the melodies, the direction, the meaning, what it will mean to my fans and what it will mean in my own life — it's utter liberation."
And that sense of liberation stuck with Tranter too. Because based on what he's heard, Born This Way is definitely going to set some people free.
"Gaga was so excited when she found out the title of our album, You Love You. She couldn't believe it, because it fit so well into the idea of the Monster Ball and the ideas she's exploring on this album," he said. "Everything she says is that she really wants her new album to feel like freedom — that's what she keeps saying over and over."
Justin and Lady Starlight Looked Glam-Fabulous at Last Night's 2010 VMA's. There in support of fellow Empire member- Lady Gaga and her 8 awards (Yes, 8!) for Best Collaboration, Best Dance Video, Best Female Video, Best Pop Video, Best Choreography, Best Editing, Best Direction and Video Of The Year. Congratulations to Gaga for the win! Check out some pics!
Semi Precious Weapons played Lollapalooza in Chicago today. After the set, SPW tweeted "@ladygaga just watched our whole show, then made out w/ Justin and then stage dove!! RockNRoll is BACK!" Justin told MTV that Gaga watched their set from the side of the stage and after playing drums and singing back-up, decided to join Mr. Tranter in a hot-ass-lollapalooza-make-out sesh followed by a dive into a crowd of monster weapons. Our boys play an 11pm set at RockIt, a 1AM dj set at the Beauty Bar and a 3AM dj set at the Underground!
It's A.J. and I am posting to let you know our take on the St. Louis Monster Ball.
First off, the show was everything. My mind can't comprehend all the many adjectives you could use to describe how great the show was. But before the show was our actual trip down (or up, technically) we had a horrible experience with our hotel and travel arrangements, etc... and we were running extremely late (Go Fig.) but we finally got ready and ran down the street to the arena for the Semi Precious Street Corner Giveaway. We got there about 10 Minutes late and saw our favorite boys there, signing stuff and taking pictures and needless to say... we both got extremely giddy and starstruck.
I mean, for us, it was seriously a dream come true. Jawsh and I have been listening to SPW for a reallly reallllllly long time and had never gotten the chance to meet them (since we've lived in podunk Kansas all our lives) and now that we were here - and they were right in front of us.. We had NO idea what to say. But of course, they were extremely nice and we gave them a bottle of Veuve that we bought. And met some fam and it was awesome to hear all the things they liked about the site. It made me see that we are clearly the luckiest people on Earth to have contact with the most amazing group of musicians EVER! After they went in for sound check, Jawsh and I just stood on the corner next to a man in a black studded mini with stilettos and an army helmet and we just had NOTHING to say. I feel like it went by so fast.
But it was time for the show! Starlight took the stage first and spun some great records - she really got the crowd warmed up - and she danced/drank/laughed the whole time. (Jawsh fell in love.) And she started playing 'I Could Die' and we freaked! She is a seriously talented artist.
Then it was time for our boys to take the stage - CREAM! - They played a sick-ass set. Jawsh and I decided not to record the whole set, cause we wanted to sing and dance the whole time. But we did get the intro! But first, check out this haute photo by Todd Owyoung of Justin getting myself and Jawsh 'Sticky'. We're in the lower corner of the pic takin that pagne!
We screamed, dance, sang, cried (all pretty terribly) but it was well worth it. They're seriously some of the most energetic, fun-filled performers around. Jawsh caught Justin's sweaty towel (we missed the fetty necklace :( ) but at least we got the towel.
Then Lady Gaga took the stage and absolutely mind-fucked everyone. :)
In the end, we had a life-changing time.
Thank's SPW for making us feel comfortable in St. Louis. We Love You. You Love You.
Semi Precious Weapons are once again opening Lady Gaga's Monster Ball tour and to celebrate they are giving away a pair of tickets for each U.S. stop of the trek. SPW's album debut with rock world producer-kingpin Jack Joseph Puig (The Rolling Stones, Beck , Black Eyed Peas) and Executive Producer Lady Gaga, YOU LOVE YOU, will be released on June 29th on Geffen/Perezcious/Streamline/Cherrytree Records just a day after they kick-off the North American leg of the Monster Ball tour.
The album will be available pre-release, June 26th through 28th, streaming on MySpace. For more information on the ticket give away follow the SPW twitter account: http://twitter.com/preciousweapons
The band will be hosting Monster Ball after parties in several cities on the tour.
Look for them at Woodward in Boston, Ghostbar in Atlanta, Voodoo Lounge in San Jose, Refuge in Portland, plus secret locations in cities like NYC, Los Angeles, Chicago and many more!
Check the band's twitter for up-to-the-minute details and see the full tour routing below. Of the band's recent success frontman Justin Tranter says, ""We spent three years driving ourselves around in a murder van to play bars EVERYWHERE, I mean we even played a sports bar in Waterloo Iowa. Now in the last seven months we have made an incredible record that we are proud of, and are on a tour bus playing arenas all over the world with Ms. Gaga! Hard work and magic." The band have just completed the latest leg of the Monster Ball where they brought their dirty showbiz to sold out audiences all across Europe and the UK.
Also, be sure to look out for Semi Precious Weapons' intimate performances on The Cherrytree House on out June 29th at cherrytreerecords.com, featuring performances of Patti Smith and Bruce Springsteen's legendary "Because The Night" as well as stripped-down versions of their own "Put A Diamond In It" and "Look At Me".
Feist, Sting , Lady Gaga and Robyn, among others, have all performed at The Cherrytree House. Who can forget Lady Gaga's riveting Cherrytree House rendition of Pokerface (reposted by PerezHilton.com and sampled even by Kanye West in Kid Kudi's "I Make Her Say"). Well, get ready for Semi Precious Weapons' intimate appearance on The Cherrytree House - out June 29 on www.cherrytreerecords.com.
Date City Venue After
Mon 06/28 Montreal, QC Bell Centre
Thu 07/1 Boston, MA TD Garden
Fri 07/2 Boston, MA TD Garden
Sun 07/4 Atlantic City, NJ Boardwalk Hall
Tue 07/6 New York, NY Madison Square Garden
Wed 07/7 New York, NY Madison Square Garden*
Fri 07/9 New York, NY Madison Square Garden
Sun 07/11 Toronto, ON Air Canada Centre*
Mon 07/12 Toronto, ON Air Canada Centre*
Wed 07/14 Cleveland, OH Quicken Loans Arena
Thu 07/15/ Indianapolis, IN Conseco Fieldhouse*
Sat 07/17 St. Louis, MO Scottrade Center
Tue 07/20 OKC, OK Ford Center
Thu 07/22 Dallas, TX American Airlines Center*
Fri 07/23 Dallas, TX American Airlines Center
Sun 07/25 Houston, TX Toyota Center
Mon 07/26 Houston, TX Toyota Center
Wed 07/28 Denver, CO Pepsi Center
Sat 07/31 Phoenix, AZ US Airways Center
Tue 08/3 Kansas City, MO Sprint Center
Wed 08/11 Los Angeles, CA Staples Center
Thu 08/12 Los Angeles, CA Staples Center
Fri 08/13 Las Vegas, NV MGM Grand Garden Arena
Mon 08/16 San Jose, CA HP Pavilion *
Tue 08/17 San Jose, CA HP Pavilion *
Thu 08/19 Portland, OR Rose Garden Arena*
Sat 08/21 Tacoma, WA Tacoma Dome
Mon 08/23 Vancouver, BC General Motors Place
Tue 08/24 Vancouver, BC General Motors Place *
Thu 08/26 Edmonton, AB Rexall Place *
Fri 08/27 Edmonton, AB Rexall Place *
Mon 08/30 Saint Paul, MN Xcel Energy Center
Tue 08/31 Saint Paul, MN Xcel Energy Center
Thu 09/02 Milwaukee, WI Bradley Center
Sat 09/04 Auburn Hills, MI The Palace
Sun 09/05 Pittsburgh, PA Consol Energy Center
Tue 09/07 Washington, DC Verizon Center
Wed 09/08 Charlottesville, VA John Paul Jones Arena
Tue 09/14 Philadelphia, PA The Wachovia Center
Wed 09/15 Philadelphia, PA The Wachovia Center
Thu 09/16 Hartford, CT XL Center
Sat 09/18 Charlotte, NC Time Warner Cable Arena
Sun 09/19 Raleigh, NC RBC Center
*Indicates tour date with a special Semi Precious Weapons after-party. Check http://twitter.com/preciousweapons for more details. More after-parties to be announced.
"Before Semi Precious Weapons moved to New York or even met, we all dreamed that the city would be like it was in the Warhol documentaries. And it just wasn’t. It was more like girls wishing they were in Sex and the City and dudes swearing that they hate The Strokes when they look and sound just like them. We moved there and hooked up, but the whole place was just boring us to tears, so we said, “Fuck it, instead of complaining about the New York party scene, let’s just start a fucking trophy party band and create our own one.”
Around this time we met Lady Gaga, through Lady Starlight, who was an acquaintance of mine. She told us about Gaga and got her to open for us, and she came and was just amazing. She and Starlight lit their hair on fire, they stripped, they broke everything and they were wasted. It was beyond fucking fabulous, so I came up with the name Filthy Glamour for us all. There are two parts to it – our sound is harder and filthier than glam rock, so firstly I thought, “I’ll just go for Filthy Glamour”, and then when people say, “Well, what is Filthy Glamour? I’ll say, “It sounds like Dirty Fucking Showbiz.”
But at that point it was still very difficult – we were still on our own and it was hard for us to get booked in normal music venues. Our music was fun and we look… well, I’ve been dressing like this since I was 15… but we all look weird. I think people just didn’t know who to put us on a bill with, and as a result we started playing these dance parties in places like Coco 66 in Brooklyn, and downstairs at Webster Hall. Our music is nothing like dance, but it was just easier for us to play a 30-minute set in the middle of a DJ party than to play a show with four hipster bands.
That was a beautiful mistake, because all the dance parties were fucking packed with people there just to drink and get laid – but then they accidentally see a band! So we ended up building this scene out of nothing and creating a world of our own. We became superstars of this world that probably only 1,000 people knew about.
There were all these different people who we started playing with, who have become a part of Filthy Glamour. A girl named Tokyo Diva – she’s hip-hop, but it’s really fucking filthy and glamorous. There’s another character called Breedlove. His fashion and music motto is ‘dress to depress’, and he wears the most ill-fitting sweatpants anyone could ever wear and these dirty T-shirts with his own face painted on them. The band he’s got is sick – if you heard them and didn’t know who they were you’d be positive it was 1977.
Nico Vega fit into the Dirty Fucking Showbiz world too. They’re a three-piece with a girl singer. She’s a much different type of glamour than I am though – she performs barefoot, but as a band they look unbelievable and she sings her fucking ass off. And then there’s another band outside of LA called The Ringers, who we’ve brought to New York a couple times. They’re Iggy Pop meets kids’ cartoons! They’re fucking ridiculous. Darian Darling is a blogger and personality who’s a central part of the whole scene too – look her up. And as far as the fashion is concerned there’s a store in Brooklyn called Alter that’s kind of a home-base for Filthy Glamour. It’s cheap, it’s exciting, and it’s ridiculous. Much like the music.
Saying all that, I don’t think the New York Press is really ready for Filthy Glamour yet. I do think the kids are though. In fact, I know that for sure. When we went back and played Radio City with Gaga recently, we filmed a video at The Trash Party and it was amazing. It was the filthiest thing ever… there are actually people fucking in the video, I mean, you can’t see penetration, but it was full on. I guess what I’m saying is that it’s really fucking weird and really amazing that even though we’re away on tour, this filthy world we started back in New York – full of important characters just going for it – is still thriving. "
According to members of Semi Precious Weapons, the band will be making a cameo in Lady GaGa & Beyonce’s new video, “Telephone”. It’s being shot in the desert! All I know is Beyonce, Lady GaGa ANNNNNND Semi Precious Weapons in the desert is going to make for the PEACHIEST fucking video we’ve ever seen. Stay Tuned for Updates.
jconline.com posted this morning that Semi Precious Weapons will be back tonight as the sole opener for the sold out Lady Gaga concert in Purdue
“The band led by bleach blond vocalist Justin Tranter will start at 7:30 p.m. and play for 30 minutes. Gaga will hit the stage at 8:30 p.m., according to Student Concert Committee officials.
R&B singer Jason DeRulo, who was the second act before Gaga’s Jan. 14 cancellation, will not play tonight.”
Spinner.com’s Jessica Robertson wrote an absolutley glaMOURous article about SPW’s Radio City Performance. Read the brilliance below:
“We are Semi Precious Weapons from New York motherf—ing City,” campy frontman Justin Tranter began during the band’s opening slot Saturday night on Lady Gaga’s Monster Ball tour at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. “Our job, which we are f—ing honored to do, is to get you bitches wet and excited for Lady Gaga.”
Mission: accomplished.
It had been 6 months since SPW were home, and, as Tranter recalled, four years since the band first shared a bill with Lady Gaga. “It was 50 blocks south of here and there were 12 people,” he said. “We’re just really f—ing happy you aren’t 12 people.”
Tranter, a 6-foot-tall Ziggy Stardust meets Rocky Horror caricature, strutted onstage dressed in only fishnets, stripper boots and a mesh tank, screaming his now infamous cheeky line: “I can’t pay my rent but I’m f—ing gorgeous.” His oversure lyrics and banter were bolstered by a short but no less impactful and raunchy set of riff-heavy glam rock, including songs ‘Magnetic Baby,’ ‘Put a Diamond In It’ and ‘Sticky With Champagne.’ The latter found Tranter popping a bottle onstage, replete with his own picture on the packaging (“because why the f— not,” he asserted). He then called for all those in want of the bubbly to approach the stage.
“We got in trouble a couple of nights ago because I fed champagne to minors,” Tranter said. When an audience member was hesitant to take a swig, Tranter made one demand: “New York, I know there’s a lot of rules here but have some fun. It’s rock ‘n’ roll so get your tits out!” With that, Tranter had at least 10 eager mouths at his feet.
A couple of nipple flashes, crotch grabs and curtsies later, Tranter stripped to his skivvies for an onstage costume change (opting for Marilyn Monroe tights, silver glitter boots and a grey tank, natch) which would carry the band — who just released their self-titled EP — through the set. But not without one parting wish: “We are Semi Precious Weapons and tonight, we hope that you get laid.”
Unabashedly inappropriate but wholly rock ‘n’ roll. Just as it should be.”
We just opened a day or so ago so our fan site is still pretty virginal. Unfortunately we weren’t up in time to catch all the reviews from when SPW joined the Monster Ball Tour so for the next couple of days we’ll update with an article called concert riff raff! An article full of miscellaneous reviews, vids, and pictures.
Our first update is about the Monster Ball in Chicago taken from autostraddle.com–an article titled:
“How Lady Gaga (and the Monster Ball) Changed My Life: The Concert Review”
By Elizabeth, here’s what she had to say about our weapons:
“Semi Precious Weapons, much to my surprise, were the opening act, there to get us wet and excited for Lady Gaga. I love rockin glam boys, especially the kind who aggressively make uncomfortable straight boys even more uncomfortable like when Justin Tranter yelled, You think you’re horrified now, just wait until Im f*cking your girlfriends later! Or you know, just wait till a few minutes later when unprepared front-row kids got an eyeful of his boyjunk as he changed from a dress into leggings onstage. He taunted security, telling, this is rock n roll. You dance, have sex in public, and bleed. All at the same time! It was delightful chaos, even in suburban Chicago.”
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We also have video of SPW performing Put a Diamond in It and Sticky with Champagne at Radio City Music Hall, Courtesy of the fabulous Beth R. from facebook!
In the full promo, scenes of Gaga hanging out with her crew — drinking, dancing and being merry — are mixed with Gaga chilling out with a jazz band performing a slowed-down version of the latest Born This Way single.
