Jennifer Hall: from singing dirty a cappella in a hotel room to fronting music's next literary lounge act

Interview, Feb, 2005 by Milena Selkirk

Some actors go to great lengths to live out their dreams of singing in a rock band; others, like Thistle L.L.C. singer Jennifer Hall, do it by accident. Shortly after moving to Manhattan, the 26-year-old Alabama native and drama-school grad landed a small part in the George Cloone--directed movie Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002). One night while singing an off-color punk song in her hotel room ("I peed in the shower/Flung a boogie on the floor/When I found out/That you didn't love me anymore"), she was overheard by an assistant to one of the film's stars, Drew Barrymore. After learning of the performance, Barrymore recommended Hall to her friend, author and Thistle L.L.C. lyricist J.T. LeRoy, who was looking for a singer to front the San Francisco-based trio. Hall and LeRoy clicked instantly. "We just knew it was going to be bigger than life," she says.

Thistle L.L.C. recently self-released its eponymous debut EP, which marries melodic noise rock with LeRoy's dark lyrics. "It's at once pretty and mean," says Hall, who sings under the name Speedie. She also recently reteamed with Clooney for Unscripted, the new HBO series he is producing with director Steven Soderbergh about struggling actors in Hollywood. But with Thistle L.L.C. up and running, the movies will just have to wait. "I promised I'd devote myself to music right now," she says. "I'm just really excited about this band."

Milena Selkirk is a New York City-based writer.