credit Kelly Walsh
Here’s a treat for you folks. Get to know Devon Thompson a little in a DeClunk Q & A. Out there for you to enjoy right now is the new EP from Devon, it’s called ‘Skin’. As Devon says, the theme of her second EP – Skin – is the balance of beautiful violence: “I see skin as just that. It’s delicate, yet so tough. Parts of us, you can prick with a needle and not feel much. But others, you’ll bleed instantly.”
Now read the Q & A then give the videos below a watch and listen. You’re going to love the songwriting and vocal talent of Devon. She’s a little dark, a little light, a bit nightmarish, a bit fairy tale. What more could you want?
Hello Devon……welcome to the DeClunk universe. Please describe your surroundings so we can all cozy in.
I’m in my bedroom in my home in Los Angeles and it’s 11:30 pm… I decided now was a good time to answer these questions. I have a snowfall ambience video playing on my tv and my hamster is running on her wheel in my gothic room.
At what age did you realize that you wanted a career in music?
I really knew when I was 16, but I had been doing music since I was 9 or 10. But it didn’t really click until I started a band and my sound started to really form.
Can you remember the first song that you wrote? What was it called and what was it about?
I actually have it on my phone still, it was in 2013 and I was 12 years old. I titled it “U”. It was about my life being boring and doing the same thing. I really hated school so I think I felt very trapped. It was about searching to try something new and feeling like nothing would ever change in my week.
The EP Skin is due for release at the end of March. Why is it called Skin and can you tell us about those songs?
Skin is tough yet so delicate, it’s the largest organ on our body, yet it damages so easily. I feel that describes me and my personality. I have a big, outgoing, tough personality but in reality I bruise with just a word. So these songs are a sonic representation of some of the things that I see in my head. They’re my complex emotions told in a fairytale sort of form.
What do you have planned for 2024? A tour, any chance of coming to the UK? An album? A holiday in the sun?
I have lots of local shows, but so far I don’t have a tour planned (yet). I really hope to hop on a really cool tour. But my plan for this year mostly is to make and release a ton of music, let this world know what i’m all about. And play tons of shows.
Please tell us the last book that you read, the last music that you listened to and the last film that you watched. Were they good?
The last book I read was called Haunting Adeline by H.D Carlton and no, it was not good. It was a dark romance novel and didn’t make any sense. The last song I listened to was “Your Pain is Mine Now” by Title Fight and that song is very very good. The last full film I watched was Immaculate with Sidney Sweeny and I liked it, I thought it was going to be a bit scarier but ended up being more campy/ gorey and it was a nice surprise.
If we were to come to your neck of the woods for a weekend, where would you take us? You are the entertainments committee!
Well I would take you for breakfast to my local favorite coffee shop Priscillas, Lou French On The Block, or Unincorporated Coffee Roasters in Toluca Lake. For lunch, we would go to Sweetsalt or Sweetbutter for great sandwiches and other lunch stuff like that. In between I would show you the Silver Lake Flea Market, my favorite vintage and thrift stores, and my favorite oddity and goth shops in Burbank. For dinner, we’d go to Teru Sushi or Sugarfish, the best sushi ever. Afterwards we would go to Formans Whiskey Tavern for a drink.
A couple of times in a summer my friend and I go fishing. It also involves staying out for a night and plenty of beer. A bankside disco tends to break out around 11pm. What would your playlist be for a drunken late night bankside disco?
Ring my Bell by Anita Ward, Grooveline by Heatwave, Get Down Tonight by KC and The Sunshine Band, and Give me The Night by George Benson.
Do you have any bands/ artists that you recommend we give a listen to?
Check out Title Fight if you haven’t, Fleshwater, Willow Avalon, ThxSoMch, Crystal Castles, Courntey Barnett, and Momma.
Many thanks, Devon, for taking the time with DeClunk. We look forward to hearing Skin and catching you perform some time soon.
Thank you! This was awesome, I hope to meet you guys one day!
DeClunk 