What do you call three rambunctious southern souls with a tendency to blur the line between rock and country, and who’ll kindly ask you to check any preconceived notions of a “chick band” at the door?

Jessie,Nikki, and Kelley Darlin.

Those Darlins live together, travel together and make sweet punk-esque, boot-stompin’ country ditties together. But if you’re expecting the Dixie Chicks, you may be a little surprised when they start playing “Wild One”.  These girls take it up a notch, and want you to, too.

Kelley plays bass, Jessi plays guitar and Nikki will be found on either bass or her beloved baritone ukulele.

Athens Blur Magazine caught up with Nikki last week and talked Patsy Cline, life on the road and their roughhousin’ live shows (pants optional).

Those Darlin’s have been described as “Patsy Cline for the punk era.”

Do you listen to Patsy? Country?

 I did grow up listening to Patsy Cline, but not a lot of country music. (Cline’s) home town was about thirty minutes away from my hometown. So everybody loved Patsy Cline. It was all about her. There were big festivals and stuff for her out there. But I didn’t really grow up listening to country music. A little bit of Appalachian Woody Guthrie stuff. But I really got into about five years ago. I was living out west and became totally obsessed with it. When I met the girls they were both like in the same phase, listening to Carter Family recordings and stuff like that. We all kind of bonded over that. That’s what we started playing—just covers, just having fun. We didn’t have any preconceived notions of being a band.

So, how did the three of you decide on becoming a band?

It just kind of happened. We were asked to play some shows by some people who’d heard about us. We hadn’t really planned on doing that. We had just been playing covers, but we started writing our own stuff and took a little turn and became a little bit sillier. We toured a little bit, just the three of us girls.(The shows) were kind of hilarious and we didn’t know what we were doing.  We’d never done it before. It was cool, it just kind of evolved—pretty natural and not forced at all.

You seem like you have a lot of fun together on stage…

 It’s all a big show, we actually hate each other. I’m just kidding we love each other. We all live together on top of all that so…

What’s your vision for your music stylistically? Do you set out to create folk music, country music…pop?

We all grew up listening to different genres, but a lot of rock’n’roll and punk rock, so when we started playing county music, we were a little bit out of our league…but we’re all country girls and from the south and grew up in the country. So this was the kind of music that comes out of people like us. But because we’re so influenced by other things it all came through. We were like, “We’re not really good at doing this Carter Family acoustic headband stuff.” We were all being total idiots and giggling and fucking up the lyrics and saying terrible things and getting drunk.

How does the song writing process work with you guys?

Totally collaborative. Even when one of us brings the song to the table, everyone else works the parts and writes it together.

You do a good job of maintaining control and edge while still being sexy. Not to sound like a PSA, but what’s your advice to women musicians who aspire to be in a band?

It’s pretty much just confidence. Whether you’re male or female, it’s just about being a confident musician and performer—being proud of what you’re putting out there. What drives me crazy is seeing people play and look like they’re not having any fun. It makes you less attractive, in all aspects.

     Since being on tour I’m sure you’ve been some places you probably never thought you would go. Do any particular stops stand out in your memory?

Tons. I don’t even know where to begin. We’ve done so much crazy stuff together and been stranded places and met crazy people — there’s so many. It all becomes sort of a blur. Like, of course, I never really expected to be playing the “Chicken Song” to a bunch of people in L.A. When I wrote the song I was like, “This is a total joke, I’m never playing this for anyone.” I never thought that this is where I’d be in my life. It’s a constant surprise and you get yourself into all sorts of crazy situations and meet all sorts of cool people—or not- so- cool people. But it’s a total ride, it’s awesome.

I’m sure you’ve picked up on each other’s annoying habits. Care to share any?

Yeah, I can make you a really long list but they’ll end up hearing about it and getting pissed off.

Your live shows are all about having a good time. Are there certain things you try in incorporate into each show?

I really want people to just let all of their inhibitions go and just make total jackasses of themselves, and dance and laugh and walk away feeling like that just had the funnest time at a show. And it just puts out this great energy. We’re entertainers but we want to be entertained at our shows as well, you know? We spend all day with each other, the audience is time to “show me what your town’s about, show us what you’ve got, be wild, and take your pants off.”

If you could pick anyone to collaborate with, who would it be?

We’ve been asked that and I never know how to answer because there’s so many people I’d like to collaborate with. They’d all probably be dead. Or I feel like I’m confident enough to feel like if I really want to collaborate with someone, I would— no matter where they are right now or what they’re doing I’d someone make it happen in the future.

Those Darlins will be performing at Tasty World this Saturday with Jonny Corndawg, The Futurebirds and Gaye Blades.

Ashley Thompson

Currently listening to “Wild One” by Those Darlins