Emerging victorious from Battle of the Bands, the student band Girl#$wag has won the honor to be the opener for Spring Fling, and the members are way pumped for the show. To get all of you stoked as well and to introduce you to this new band, The Argus sat down with the friendly and goofy group of musicians for an interview. The band is composed of lead singer Emma Daniels ’13, guitarist Jordan Lewis ’13, bassist Dan Wissinger ’13, drummer Zak Malik ’14, and keyboardist Henry Molofsky ’13.

“We’re like the multi-headed Greek monster that Hercules had to slay, but we’re never going to die!” Daniels said. Get psyched to jam with Girl#$wag (as well as Anamanaguchi, Ryan Hemsworth, Ab-Soul, and Kendrick Lamar) on May 9.

The Argus: How was Girl#$wag formed?
Zak Malik: Henry and I lived in Colorado over the summer, and we had a job. We realized we don’t really want a real job, so we were like “What can we do? We love playing concerts.” We’re like “Who do we know that’s amazing?” We’re like “Pretty girl Emma D.”
Emma Daniels: And then they tried to convince me all fall that I had swag, but I’m a huge nerd and don’t have any swag.
ZM: I kept telling her she has the best voice in the world.
ED: Sophistry. The three of us [Zak, Henry, and herself] play in Top 40 together, and I really wanted the opportunity to write some music and play in a band that I felt I was contributing to more than just singing.
Henry Molofsky: Also we wanted a band that was Beyoncé style, girl swag. So then we thought if we want a band that has girl swag we should just call it girl swag. Then, I just wanted a T-shirt that just said #$, and then I realized that could fit into our name.
Dan Wissinger: This whole band was a concept in Zak and Henry’s head before one song had ever even been written.
ZM: And then I met Big Daddy Dan in “Little Shop Of Horrors.” We played in the pit, and I thought he’d be the perfect bass player for this because he is someone who is not afraid to give Emma D. shit.
ED: Then Jordan is like the speechwriter for the president. Jordan’s really good at taking my funeral-like songs and making them dance-y and good.
ZM: And then Dan just glued it all together.
ED: We also thought that there are a lot of bands on campus that are really popular but still kind of alternative. There are a lot of bands in the same kind of genre on campus, and the only band that really addressed pop music, as Wesleying haters say, “in a derivative way,” was Top 40. So we said, “What if we wrote songs that sound like they should be on the Top 40?” And thus the baby was born.

A: What is the backstory of the band name?
ED: It’s funny because, like, they’re all boys.
ZM: Well, if anyone saw what we wore for Battle of the Bands, we all dressed for the background and the same, and Emma is the front woman.
DW: The themes of our songs are centrally focused on girl swag.
Jordan Lewis: On Emma’s sex life.
ED: It’s not my sex life; it’s my romantic life! If this were to become a project after school, I’m not sure this name would last.
DW: I’m not sure our front woman would last.
ZM: The name and the attitude preceded everything else.
ED: Why can’t boys have girl swag?
HM: Boys can have girl swag. We have girl swag.

A: So, how would you define girl swag?
HM: A diva is a female version of a hustler.
ED: ’Cause my body’s too bootylicious for you, babe.
HM: A girl with confidence.
ED: It’s being really confident and not afraid to have fun. It’s being able to own a room when you walk into it.

A: How would you describe your music style?
ZM: Ask Wesleying.
ED: Ask the ACB.
HM: Derivative.
ED: It’s pop and hip-hop.
ZM: We write catchy pop songs with quarter notes on the bass drum.
JL: Lots of buildups.
ED: These guys are really good musicians. That’s what makes it different from a normal pop band.
DW: People are used to hearing this type of songwriting, with drops before the choruses and the big buildups, but we do it with live instrumentation.
ED: It’s making the familiar unfamiliar.

A: How did you feel when you won Battle of the Bands?
ED: We all looked at each other, like, what?!
ZM: Happy, relieved.
ED: I think we all just looked at each other and then started yelling.
DW: We were really respectful to everyone else, all of whom are our friends.
ED: Every time another band went on we were like, “Oh, they’re better.”
ZM: It was very nerve-wracking going first.
ED: Then we started emailing right away like, “Okay, we need to write new songs.”
HM: That was one of the best nights of music ever.
DW: Definitely the best battle I’ve been to.
HM: It was also the best feeling ever.
ED: I think when I get a job I won’t be as excited.
ZM: If we played last and then we found out we won, it would have been equally as amazing, but waiting two and a half hours and not knowing…
ED: And watching everyone else.

A: What plans do you have for your performance for Spring Fling?
ZM: Swag.
ED: Michael Roth will be making an appearance. We’re probably all going to have coordinated outfits again.
HM: A lot of secrets.
ED: We’re like a secret society. No, we’re not at all.
ZM: Have you ever heard the song “Levels” by dubstep?
DW: I think we should go to fratradio.com and cover the first three songs.
ZM: I think we should play “Sweet Caroline” over and over again for the whole set.
ED: I think we should make the fight song into a dance-pop song.
JL: No.
ED: So we have no idea.
ZM: What we did at Battle of the Bands was our entire set. That week we played Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and that was the first time we played in over a month. We got our entire set together, and all we have to do is double that for Spring Fling.
ED: My dad’s coming.

A: Do you feel any additional pressure playing for Spring Fling compared to another show?
ED: We wouldn’t know because we’ve never played another show!
DW: I’ve also never been to the first act of Spring Fling and for all I know, nobody is ever there.
ZM: Yeah, I feel like it’s going to be all of our friends, and we’re going to be having a great time.
ED:  I feel less pressure because it’s outside so the space is bigger.
ZM: I feel like it’s less pressure than Battle of the Bands because that was our first show.
JL:  I feel like once we get up there, we’ll all be shitting our pants.
ED: I feel better in front of people. I would feel much easier with my soul if I were on stage in front of 1,000 people than at a party on Fountain.

A: Do you get to meet Kendrick?
ED: We don’t know.
DW: I’m taking a selfie with him.
ZM: I just really want to meet Anamanaguchi and tell him to play music while I play Pokémon.
ED: I would like to meet Kendrick.

A: If you do meet him, what are you going to say to him?
ZM: You’re Kendrick Lamar!
ED: I’m not going to rehearse it because out of all of us Kendrick is going to like me the best. A week ago, I said that Kendrick is going to watch us and he’s going to be like, “Wow I really like that band, but who I like most of all is that crazy drummer” because everyone likes Zak Malik the most when they first meet him, and then he’s going to make Zak Malik famous, and then two months into it he’s going to be like, “I made a mistake.”
DW: If it makes you feel better, Malik, I hated you at first and then warmed up to you.

A: How do you feel about being the only act that includes a girl?
HM: Swag.
ED: Swag.
ZM: Wait, girl swag.
ED: I read through the Wesleying discourse. I thought it was interesting. I see merit to both sides of the argument: one side that there should be an effort to include girls and the other side that we’ve had other Spring Flings where there really haven’t been girls.
HM: They tried to get girls.
ZM: It’s hard because we have a certain budget, and we don’t have our cherry pick of whatever we want. I know they did try to get girls.
ED: I’m pumped because I think a lot of girls who do care about it are excited.

A: Which female performer do you think has the most girl swag?
ED: Beyoncé.
ZM: I mean, Beyoncé is the obvious answer.
HM: Ke$ha.
ED: Ke$ha has so much swag!
ZM: Alicia Keys has soulful girl swag.
DW: Lil’ Kim.
JL: Missy Elliot.
ZM: Missy Elliot is probably the founder of girl swag.
ED: Avril Lavigne.
ZM: She has emo girl swag.
ED: There are all these brands of girl swag. You can branch out.
DW: The more expansive and broad you try to get, the more it loses its meaning.
ED: I disagree.

A: Is there anything else you would like to tell the readers of The Argus?
ED: Come sing with us and dance with us!
ZM: All the lyrics are amazing, and I’d like to thank Emma’s COL professors. You can quote me on that.
DW: We’ll give you drugs.
ZM: We owe our friends so much for coming out with us at Battle of the Bands. We went on so early and to everyone that came out at 9:30 to see us, we know it was super early and we appreciated it so much.
ED: And my dream came true that night—well, one of my dreams, but it’s a big one.