THE INSIDER: SARAH "ULTRAGRRRL" LEWITINN
She says she'll know within 30 seconds of hearing a song if the band's amazing...
And she’ll be right. Though just 26, Sarah Lewitinn, a.k.a. Ultragrrrl, has already championed bands including My Chemical Romance, Interpol, Franz Ferdinand, and the Killers on her eponymous music blog. She D.J.s a weekly party and even penned a book on the subject, The Pocket D.J., and still finds time to run her own record label, Island Records subsidiary Stolen Transmission—home to the Oohlas, the Horrors, and Permanent Me. Samantha Gilewicz caught Lewitinn in a rare free moment, and found out where this music-maven gets all her moxie.
What prompted you to start your own label?
Rob Stevenson! [Stolen Transmission co-founder] He’s my mentor. He saw me finding a lot of really great bands that weren’t ready for the big time yet, but weren’t ready to be ignored. He helped set up my singles label through my blog, and then we developed the actual label.
Do you have a method to music scouting or do you go by instinct?
I have a really great network of friends with incredible taste that act as musical filters for me. But when it comes to finding a band I love, I know right on the spot. I can tell you within 30 seconds of hearing a song if the band is amazing or not.
What caught your ear about the bands you championed early on such as My Chemical Romance and the Killers?
I don’t know what it was about MCR—their music wasn’t like ANYTHING I had listened to before. I was obsessed with Britpop and Radiohead when my friend Mikey Way (the bassist of MCR) sent me the demo of the song “Cubicles.” I knew immediately that it was something special. When I first heard the Killers I was having a really bad day and listening to "Come on Eileen" over and over again. Rob Stevenson asked me to check out this band he was thinking of signing called the Killers to see what I thought. I just remember thinking, “This band better sound like Dexys Midnight Runners or else I’m gonna be really upset.” 30 seconds into “Jenny Was a Friend of Mine” I told Rob that they’d be the biggest band he’d ever sign.
Who do you predict is on the cusp of becoming the next big band?
I really think that the Horrors are going to be a lot bigger than anyone could have expected.
Do you love the music of all the bands you find or know what will be (eew) ‘popular’?
Hahaha. If you sign a band because they’ll be popular, you’re fucked. You have to listen to their album over and over again, go to their shows, and live and breathe their music. You’re only screwing yourself over if you’re not feeling it.
stolentransmission.com
myspace.com/stolentransmission
ultragrrrl.com
myspace.com/ultragrrrl
This story was published on May 7, 2007.
