The Need

Rachel Carns in the daughter of a preacher man. She began taking piano lessons at the age of 7. “Since the parsonage was next tot he Baptist church, I would go to the church and practice,” she says. “One time, one of the deacon’s wives came in, waved her finger angrily at me, and said ‘No!No!No! No boogie woogie in God’s house!”

Rado Sloan’s family includes a cousin who is a blues musician, an aunt who took her to breakdancing lessons when she was in elementary school, a Mom who bought her an electric guitar for Christmas was she was 12, and a grandfather whose fascination with taking things apart and rebuilding them-a fascination Radio shares-ultimately resulted in some odd bust-truck-motorhome hybrids. Together, Rachel and Radio make-take apart and rebuild-rock and roll. The name of their band is the Need.
I meet up with Rachel and Radio at King Solomon’s Reef, a diner in downtown Olympia. With her jet-black hair and eyeliner-enhanced brows and lashes, Rachel looks like an athletic version of Liza Minnelli circa-Cabaret. Radio’ s butch-femme dynamic is less extreme but just as attractive, she has a shy teen boy’s mix of masculinity and sensitivity.

Looks are important to the Need. Designed by Rachel, the artwork for their singles and self-titled album has a dynamic, pointy style-reminiscent of circus posters and Russian propoganda posters-that visually matches the music inside. “Being in a band is totally about fashion, and fashion can feel two-dimensional,” explains Rachel. “Also, two dimensional record covers look better to me. Graphically, I think about the world in big white and black blocks.”

On the front of the band’s recent 10” single Hi Fi, Rachel, Radio, and their collaborators (Joe Preston of the Thrones and DJ Zena) are attired in dapper black and white suits; on the back, Radio has a jack-o-lantern head, while Rachel sports a beard. “The 10” single is our bearded man record,” Rachel says. “We’ve started a collection of bearded men. Right now there’s two-Joe(Preston) and Mike (Lastra, who coproduced Hi Fi). More bearded men will come to us, I hope. I saw one downtown today. He was wearing aviators, so I couldn’t see his eyes. He was so ZZ top it was amazing.”