My friend Justine and I were at the Webster Underground early on the night of the Five Knives/New Politics/Twenty One Pilots show. We were waiting in the lobby preparing to interview a member or members of Five Knives. Anna Worstell walked in, and we shook hands and jumped in.
Magpie: How did you guys get your band name?
Anna: Well, there’s a bunch of… a lot of people ask, “who’s the fifth knife” and that sort of thing. Honestly, I like to say our fans are the fifth knife, or if you want to be the fifth knife you are, but we just felt the name fits with the music. It’s dark, it’s edgy- it just kind of fits it..when you see the live show, you’ll get it.
M: You’ve essentially created your own genre…how?
A: It’s really a collaboration of all our backgrounds. We’re all super different…I have a very punk rock background; I love Iggy Pop, I was a huge Beastie Boys fan. Nathan’s super into Depeche Mode and he’s a Ramones fan. And we’ve got Shane who’s into Metallica, and we’ve got Zach who’s into Timbaland and Two Chains. So we basically took all of that and made it into one and it’s all over the place, but it works.
M: How was it opening for the Smashing Pumpkins?
A: I grew up loving the Smashing Pumpkins so that was pretty surreal for me. At first I was like, “…can we do this?” but the crowd was super responsive and it did open the door for us where we could realize that we can pretty much play with anyone.
M: What’re your goals with your new-found popularity?
A: We feel super blessed..we haven’t been a band that long so just to get the response that we’ve had so far has been amazing. Our goal is to go out and kill Warped Tour this summer- I think that’s going to be a challenge for us but we hope to make a lot of fans doing that. Then we’re looking at possible dates for Europe…Just take over the world, y’know.
M: Who’s your inspiration for being a frontwoman.
A: So many people..Gwen Stefani was huge for me as far as fashion sense and she just knew how to own a stage and Tragic Kingdom changed my life and I was like, “I’m gonna do what she’s gonna do”. I look up to a lot of strong frontpeople like Iggy Pop, and Freddy Mercury, Joan Jett.
Justine: What was your musical background?
A: Well I was in a couple different rock bands before this band. I’ve always been a musical person. I grew up singing in church..I grew up in Montreal doing operettas and so music was always a part of my life but there was something that I loved about the intensity of rock music..so I guess it was always instilled in me so I knew that was all I wanted to do. I feel like it’s all I’m good at so I have to do it.
M: How did your band’s image come about?
A: Well when the guys decided they wanted to wear masks and we have the whole leather jacket, black hoodie.. we wanted to keep it very dark and simple and a little bit of mystery to it- that’s kind of how the whole mask thing started. People are sometimes like “what is going on? Who are they?” but we still like to keep that hoodie dark image of backstreet kids from London that are just looking to get into trouble. Then I’m a girl so I took it up a notch and I wanted to incorporate my own, like, style and fashion. I wear leggings a lot because I move around a lot and they’re easy to move it..but yeah, that’s kind of how it started.
M: How’s that gonna work out for Warped?
A: We’re all actually talking about that right now, what we’re gonna do or change and basically we’re gonna have to change the jackets and everything…we have no idea but we’re talking about it.
M: Can you describe yourself personally in three words?
A: These are such hard questions..I’m sweating all the sudden. I would say energetic, fun, go-getter.
J: How do you think your classical background has influenced your musical style now?
A: Basically doing that gave me the balls to do something in front of a crowd, honestly. As far as the church music and all of that, starting and singing in front of people. And as far as the operettas when I grew up in Montreal, and Montreal is such an artistic city that having my childhood spent there just kind of taught me about art and theatre and performance and so I guess I’ve just taken all that to use now but I feel like I’ve been trained since I was little in different ways and it got me to where I am now and I’m thankful.
M: What’s an embarrassing song on your iTunes?
A: Probably Britney Spears…I am obsessed with Britney Spears and I’m not ashamed of that. But people wouldn’t expect that from me but I geek out to her sometimes.
This badass Britney Spears-loving frontwoman was so kind and softspoken that I walked away eager to see her transform into the singer of Five Knives I’ve seen in the videos, all hardcore and powerful. To be honest, it’s a total inspiration to see someone like that- really cool but really genuine- be so successful. Anna Worstell is just as awesome in person as she is onstage.