story and photos by Ingrid Holmquist
Charlie was the first to greet me in Dundee. He wore a reddish-pink bandana and whined and slobbered either for my affection or the lunch in front of Laura Burhenn, frontwoman of the Omaha-based band, The Mynabirds.
“Charlie, what kind of dog are you?” Burhenn asks.
He barks in response.
Burhenn smiles up at me, pats him and translates, “He’s a mutt.”
Charlie is 3 years old and has made quite the journey with Burhenn, following her through her musical career with The Mynabirds. Nibbling on a quinoa, homemade seitan and vegetable wrap, Burhenn offers me a plate before we have what she refers to as “chit-chat and dress-up fun.”
While The Mynabirds have made many strides nationally and locally, Burhenn says she feels the majority of their success comes from helping others through music. The Mynabirds were a part of the coalition in Omaha to pass the Equal Employment Ordinance, played for Girl Scouts at the Women Who Rock exhibit and has played a role in starting Omaha Girls Rock.
“It’s so satisfying to help empower young girls to grow up strong, proud, and ready to kick some ass,” Burhenn said. “There’s nothing that feels better than getting an email from a fan who said that one of my songs helped them feel less alone, helped them change their perspective and see their life in a whole new way. To me, those things are the true measures of success.”
Burhenn originally made connections in Nebraska when she and her co-songwriter John Davis in Georgie James were enticed by Saddle Creek Records to join the label. Saddle Creek Records later released Georgie James’ one and only album. The DC native found a home in “The Good Life” after Georgie James disbanded in 2008. Burhenn then sought to start a project featuring her own songs. After perusing through a list of names from James Joyce novels, Laura stumbled upon the name “Mina.” Burhenn thought “Mina? Myna. What about The Mynabirds?”
From the start of her project, Burhenn wanted the Mynabirds to resemble Neil Young doing Motown.
“I wanted it to be a vintage-sounding record, and I really liked the honesty in Neil Young’s records,” Burhenn says. “His vocals sound so honest and raw.”
Burhenn then consulted the internet to see if the name already existed. As fate would have it, there was a band in the ‘60s called The Mynah Birds.
“It was a Neil Young and Rick James album,” Burhenn says. “They were in Motown, so it seemed pretty fated to be.”
Just like that, The Mynabirds, sans the “h,” were born.
“I figured, if I get sued, oh well.”
The Mynabirds – Body of Work from Saddle Creek on Vimeo.
The Mynabirds’ style has changed from album to album. Because the original intent of the project was to have a throwback flare, her debut album accomplished just that. The most recent Mynabirds album leans closer to accessible pop and is rooted in punk traditions.
“I’ve always been inspired by how artists reinvent themselves in each record,” Burhenn says. “(In my second album,) there’s definitely some more riot girl inspiration and stuff that’s grittier and more honest. I like this idea that it doesn’t have to be one thing, it can change from each album to the next and still be fluid.”
Much like her musical inspiration and evolving sounds of each individual album, her costuming also changes from album to album.
“Fashion is art,” Burhenn says. “I think it gets co-opted a lot. There are certain magazines that say, ‘Are you buying the cool brand,’ or, ‘Are you skinny enough?’ That to me is surface bullshit.”
However, Burhenn says she has been outed by fellow feminists stating that fashion and feminism can’t go hand in hand.
“Someone on Twitter told me, ‘You call yourself a feminist, but I’ve seen you in fashion magazines.’” Burhenn says. “It was interesting because it really made me think, ‘What are my relationships to fashion and style?’”
While she agrees that fashion can make people (women in particular) feel weak, she also thinks that it has the ability to empower. Even as a teen, Burhenn had an interest in fashion as art and a means of empowerment as she now does.
“Shit, I think what I wore in high school was basically a costume,” Burhenn giggles. “I mean, why not have pink hair and wear silver eye shadow with silver go-go boots?”
She loves to experiment with clothing and finds the way that people interact with style intriguing.
“The idea of playing with who you are based on what you put on to feel empowered or to make people look, not only as you as a performer, but at themselves in a different way, is totally fascinating to me,” Burhenn says.
While the idea of feminism and its correlation or contradiction within fashion is a monster of a subject, Burhenn thinks we all, especially women, eventually engage in internal dialogue about the issue.
“The conversation says that, ‘Yes, my physical appearance doesn’t matter, but I care about it. I am a soul inside my body, but I want to feel good about my body because this is my body,’” Burhenn says.
She says there’s a tangled, messed-up relationship between fashion and feminists because of the ability fashion has to either empower or break down someone.
The Mynabirds – Disarm from Saddle Creek on Vimeo.
The Mynabirds have been on and off the road continuously. Burhenn juxtaposes home and on tour as if it’s living two lives.
“I’ve got that sort of dual nature,” Burhenn says. “I’m happy to be a free spirit and be out on the road enjoying crazy adventures. But at the same time, I really like to come home. I love both lives.”
The last Mynabirds tour took Burhenn all over the United States and to parts of Canada from March until November last year.
“We opened for A.C. Newman,” Burhenn says. “It was fun. I’m a huge fan of The New Pornographers and A.C. Newman’s new stuff. It was a great time.”
Since her November return, she has been utilizing her home time to experiment with her music. Home serves as her laboratory for ideas to be put into practice on tour.
“I’m a Taurus, and I think the homebody nature is in me,” Burhenn says. “While I’m here, I’m creating new music, demoing new songs and getting excited for The Postal Service tour.”
The newly reconvened Postal Service by Ben Gibbard and Jimmy Tamborello, that is. A band that released its first song in 10 years in February.
Burhenn had received the nonchalant invitation email from Gibbard in early December saying, “Hey, you wanna join a band?” “Yes, tell me more,” read her email response.
She said that keeping it a secret was “one of the hardest secrets to keep in her whole life.”
“It’s kind of like joining a new family for a while and that’s something I love,” Burhenn says.
She originally met Gibbard when touring with Bright Eyes and again while opening a couple times for Death Cab for Cutie.
Burhenn says she’s excited to be a part of a tour that so many people are looking forward to, partially because Postal Service hasn’t released an album since 2003. Gibbard and Tamborella along with Burhenn and Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley have announced over 30 headlining shows in the U.S. and the U.K.
“It will feel good coming off of the heels of being in charge of a tour and all of the creative decisions and to just watch other people do that. I really love to learn other peoples music and to rethink the way that I write songs,” Burhenn says.
Along with handing over the reins, Burhenn also looks forward to discovering how The Postal Service will approach stage design, stage lighting and stage wear. Burhenn says she has always been fascinated and inspired by how artists use style to give a visual representation of their art. She points out PJ Harvey, David Bowie and Bjork as prime examples of aesthetic art combined with musical talent.
In her last tour, Burhenn experimented with fashion and had a lot of fun with her personal sense of style.
“I went to Emma Erickson, who is a local designer,” Burhenn says. “She’s amazing and she designed some rompers for me to wear. And there’s a Boston designer named Erin Shaw who designed a fox headdress.”
The fox headdress, her favorite concert garment, is one of Burhenn’s most notable articles of clothing.
“In my mind, I was thinking a lot about Native American ceremonies and the idea of spirit guides and spirit animals and also medicine women,” Burhenn says. “The idea of a sort of powerful person (was appealing to me), so Erin made me this awesome fox headdress.”
Burhenn holds up the faux fox made of wool, glass and beads. She assures me that no foxes were harmed in the making of this headdress. In fact, it has been 15 years since Burhenn decided she didn’t need to eat meat anymore because she ate her pet cow by accident when she was a kid. It puts her at ease to not wear an actual fox on her head.
She said that of all of her songs, the idea of this powerful person portrayed aesthetically through the fox headdress is most prevalent in her song “Wolf Mother.”
“(Wolf Mother) is this sort of mother figure who’s coming in to kick some serious ass because she sees what these wolves in sheep’s clothing are doing to these children and to the people she cares about,” Burhenn says. “She’s standing up and saying, ‘Fuck you. Can’t do that. You’re done.’”
At first, she doubted whether or not she could accurately represent this woman. Was she strong enough?
“I was getting ready to go on that tour and it hit me: I’m going to put a fox on my head and wear this romper that is white and has these crazy cape arms. Who do I think I am?” Burhenn asks herself.
“Then I thought, ‘This is the exciting part of being a performer,’” she says. “I put on this persona and it’s part of my personality.
No, she didn’t show up to our interview sporting a faux-animal carcass on her head, and her concert wear isn’t her everyday apparel. Nevertheless, Burhenn is able to represent a small part of her bad-ass-strong-woman-power personality through her personal style.
Still, she believes that stage fashion has the ability to add another dimension to a performance.
“However you walk on stage, whether you’re wearing what you’ve worn all week or whether you’ve had someone make something for you, whether you’re wearing sequins or nothing at all, it is still something that people examine as a part of who you are.”
The Mynabirds – What We Gained In The Fire from Saddle Creek on Vimeo.
While Burhenn must keep some secrets about her approaching tour with The Postal Service, she slyly gestured toward a pair of black heels in the corner of her closet, commenting that she looks forward to being girly and fashionable with Jenny Lewis while on The Postal Service tour.
And while some of her tour wardrobe remains under wraps, Burhenn has revealed that she will return from working with The Postal Service and record another album as The Mynabirds soon. Welcome news for a growing fanbase that surely includes her dog, Charlie, whose journey with Burhenn continues.
Ingrid Holmquist is a Hear Nebraska intern. She’s currently catching up on her Postal Service to get ready for this summer. Reach Ingrid at ingridh@hearnebraska.org.