One of the first memories that Donald Cumming and Nick Zarin Ackerman have of hanging out together is watching an Italian porno together at Don's apartment.Here is my interview with The Virgins courtesy of Platform, with a super cool euphomism for sex and not much else.
Don: It was by Mario Salieri. He makes films about nuns, this one was called Monica Roccaforte - she has sex with all the priests in her convent. Its really good.
Nick: I found my old mobile phone the other day, the one i used when I first me Don. 'Monica Roccaforte', is the first item in my notes section.
The Virgins met through friends in New York City, and formed when lead singer Donald Cumming produced a demo and decided he wanted to make a band.
'That was before the war', Nick explains. 'We were all, 'lets make a band', then the war went and happened, so, y'know, everything shifted gears.'
Wade: Iraq's freedom? Whatever.
Nick: All the guitar factories started making guns... there was a period where we mostly played with copper instruments. We lived through that. Then the war ended, so that was, what, sixty years ago? Joking. I'm actually thirty-two though.
Surprisingly, the band have never been questioned about their 'first time', so revelled in recounting the uncomfortable details.
Don: I was listening to The War Report by Capone-N-Noreaga. She made the first move, 'cause I was too shy. I basically went home with this girl who was A LOT older than me, and we sort of just sat around in her living room not doing anything till I fell asleep. I woke up, and it was getting light. She just said to me, 'Dude, do you want this to happen or not?' She knew I was a virgin, so she pretty much took the driving seat.
Nick: I had a girlfriend who was in the grade below me at school, who didn't want to lose her virginity too early. She was fifteen when we started dating, and I had to wait a year before having sex with her.
Bit of an anti climax?
Nick: Yeah, mainly because I had never taken the initiative to fuck around with a condom before to see what its like. I had to put on more than one, for just one sex time.
Wade: Well... I was watching the Michael Jackson exposé. You know that thing where that guy asked him all those questions and they find out all this crazy shit? Bit of a mood killer. We were also in her basement that was her younger brothers playroom, filled with loads of kids' toys. It kind of fucked with my life, the fact I was looking at Michael Jackson when I lost my virginity.
One of Nick's main motivations for becoming a musician was what sounds like an NYC equivalent of All Age Concerts... only held at high schools.
Nick: They were held in the gyms. It was bands from a few different schools all on the same bill, then the pupils from all of them would come and smoke cigarettes and drink beer. It really made me want to be in a band. I went to see that when I was turning thirteen, and you know, becoming angry. Seeing older guys and girls walking around with their boobs hangin' out was crazy exciting.
Donald, however, spent more of his teenagehood making novelty horror videos to David Bowie songs.
Don: When I was fourteen my mom made us move to Florida and I was hugely upset by it. But when I got there, I found some of the weirdest and best people I've ever met in my life. I had two best friends at my school; one was a guy who grew up in Compton but was transported to Florida, and the other came from a family of body builders. The three of us would hang out all the time, cutting up the murder scenes from horror movies then putting them to funny songs. We smoked a lot of pot...
The Virgins are currently touring Europe, before a five week run in America in May.
THE VIRGINS TOP 5 WEBSITES
1. www.fmylife.com
2. www.garfieldminusgarfield.net
3. www.5ives.com
4. www.tvwade.com
5. www.scanwich.com
