In 1996, Gilmore Tamny of The Yips conducted an interview with Chickfactor zine to discuss the band, her zine Widget and more. Here is some of that:
chickfactor: when did you first publish wiglet and why?
gilmore tamny: started it in november of ’90 after I’d moved to cleveland. I’d been writing stories in college and giving the whole trying-to-get-published thing a whirl, which, ugh, was seeming pretty miserable. my boyfriend showed me some zines — they were a complete revelation — and I knew that’s what I wanted to do.
cf: what sort of things were in wiglet?
gilmore: interviews, comics, a confessional or two, essays, short stories.
cf: what thing in wiglet were you most proud of?
gilmore: ah, I think it had a really specific feel to it.
cf: why did you stop wiglet?
gilmore: I’m glad you asked me that. I’ve felt bad I’ve never written back to the people who’ve asked for issues of why I stopped putting it out. it was a convergence of miseries, really. I was having problems which I didn’t feel comfortable writing about, it didn’t fit into the wiglet idea, but couldn’t really talk about anything else, either. so I just sort of shut down and played guitar all the time. also, the person who had been the inspiration for wiglet had gone crazy a few years before and was going in and out of jail and institutions, which was just depressing as hell and I kinda needed to put an end to that era of my life. that’s all kind of grim, but I don’t know, it worked out for the best, I think I was getting ready to do something else anyway.
cf: what is so great about columbus [ohio]? do you find it funny that people are moving there cause of the scene?
gilmore: there’s a good chance at having a reasonable sort of life here — it’s cheap, there’s lots of interesting people, good stuff going on, good places to hang out, no distracting panorama either (that last bit of snideness is affectionate really — it is awful flat though. actually I’ve found myself wondering how people stay focused in stimulating landscapes — mountains, oceans, large urban decay, so on. columbus isn’t ugly by an means but it’s mor e reassuring than inspiring). I hope more bands move here! it’s exciting, that new blood.
