Pixikill lead singers, Jewel and Blaire Restaneo | Teen Ink

Pixikill lead singers, Jewel and Blaire Restaneo

October 18, 2011
By TheJust ELITE, Ellenton, Florida
TheJust ELITE, Ellenton, Florida
254 articles 202 photos 945 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I feel that a hero is somebody who will stand up for their values and what they believe in and that can take any form. People that have values and have thought them through rather than those who just do what they’re told."-Skandar Keynes

"When it’


When I was first asked to interview the lead singers of the new band, Pixikill, I have to admit, I was hesitant. I am always wary of interviewing someone I'm not familiar with, for fear of endorsing someone I myself wouldn't support. But now I am glad that I agreed.

Jewel and Blaire Restaneo are very polite young ladies, with great careers ahead of them. Careers that I have no trouble supporting. I enjoyed interviewing them and hope you enjoy reading it just as much.

* * *

Rachel- Tell us a little about yourselves.

Jewel Restaneo- Okay, well, we're sisters, and we are in a band called Pixikill. I'm Jewel, and I have blue hair.

Blaire Restaneo- I'm Blaire. I have blond hair. {laughs} And we sing electro-pop/grunge music, and we're in a band with three other guys who are awesome.

JR- We just released our debut EP, "The Luring."

RH- How did you two first become interested in music?

BR- We first became interested in music when we were on Broadway. We were on Broadway as kids. I was six and Jewel was eight. I think from then on we just, like, had a passion for music. When I was nine, I started playing guitar, and Jewel was eleven when she started playing drums. We just branched off into different kinds of musical instruments-

JR- And writing.

BR- And writing our own songs. So, it just progressed from there.

RH- Where did you get the name, "Pixikill?"

JR- Pixikill is sort of like an inner superhero name. We were actually doing some research on folklore one day, and we found it kind of interesting that pixies are not like fairies. People think pixies are cute little creatures, but they're actually evil and they do some pretty rotten things. So, that's how we sort of got the name "Pixikill," 'cause it's like fighting evil.

RH- So, I hear that you two used to live in a haunted inn; tell us a little about that.

BR- Yeah, well, when we were younger... (I was born in that house; Jewel wasn't born in that house.) It was just an old house that was haunted!

JR- It was built in the 1700s, I believe, and, yeah, it was used as, like, an old hotel back in the day. So, we would always hear stories from family members and friends, you know, that they've seen ghosts or they've found hidden staircases, and stuff like that.

RH- How did you guys meet your band members?

JR- We met Chris, our guitarist...We actually auditioned band members. (This was probably three years ago.) And we fell in love with him, 'cause he's really awesome and cool and chill. About a year into that, Chris brought in Mike, 'cause we needed a drummer, and, so, we fell in love with Mike! And about, [to Blaire] what do you say, like, a year after that?

BR- Maybe like six months...

JR- Six months after that Victor, our bass player, did a sub[stitute] for a show. His stage presence was insane, and we knew we had to have him! So, yeah.

RH- Who do you guys count as your inspiration?

BR- I think I'm, like, inspired by the music I listen to, and I listen to a lot of Passion Pit, Bloc Party, anything Mark Ronson produces.

JR- We listen to Miike Snow, and just a lot of, I guess, electronic remixes of songs. I think two of the biggest influences are Bloc Party and Miike Snow just because we love the driving guitar element of Bloc Party; and we love the production and the electronic elements of Miike Snow.

RH- What was your inspiration behind the song, "Chameleon?"

JR- "Chameleon" is sort of a sarcastic kiss-off to giving to conformity. It's sort of like, if you watch the music video, you sort of see this lead boy, and progressively throughout the video his face is becoming whiter and whiter. The white face paint just sort of represents blending in with everybody else; blending in, you know, with your surroundings. So, basically, you know, it's just talking about [how] you don't really need to fit in; when you fit in it's to the point of having no personality.

RH- And you guys directed and edited your first music video; how did that work out?

JR- It was a lot of fun! We actually got together a pretty big group of friends and we locked ourselves in a warehouse for a week. Yeah! I don't know! Something magical turned out with that thing.

BR- Yeah.

JR- We had a lot of fun because we were very hands-on with everything. It's cool to have creative control. And editing it was a blast!

RH- What can fans expect on your debut album?

BR- I think they can expect, you know, more of what they heard on the EP. More songs about, you know, different situations. We're definitely growing in our writing as we go along. We're seeing a lot of new things that are happening. Just more of the electro-pop/grunge. Hopefully it will be more spastic!

RH- What advice do you have for aspiring musicians?

BR- If people really want to be musicians and they're really passionate about it, I think they should keep doing it. Just go for it! Keep practicing, keep getting better and keep challenging [yourselves].

JR- Yeah. Progression is gonna happen. The best thing you can do is just keep at it and not take anybody else's opinion; don't listen to any negativity. Just keep trying and trying.

RH- Do you two have a special message you would like to share with your fans?

JR- I guess a special message would go hand-in-hand with what we said about music. I mean, I guess that applies to all things in life, you know. We're out there to sort of give a message and to write songs that hopefully people can relate to. We just want to contribute all [our] music to the world. Hopefully some inspiring words can come from our lyrics and our writing.

RH- Alright, well, thank you! I wish you all the best of luck with your music. I love your EP, so hopefully I will be buying your album when it comes out.

{Both}- Thank you so much!



Similar Articles

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 0 comments.