Warpaint on Miley Cyrus: 'I don't see the value'

In the new issue of Hot Press, Warpaint singer and guitarist Theresa Wayman discusses 'Twerk-gate'.
"When I listen to Rihanna I can hear the quality in the performance," Wayman tells Ed Power. "With Miley, I don't see the value. I didn't think her VMA performance sounded good. I don't think she danced well. Actually, I don't think she can dance.
"She is so out there, so controversial, she’s almost garnering respect. When I first saw Miley's VMA turn I thought, ‘This is going to be a joke'. I didn't see the worth in it at all. You have to look a little deeper and try to understand what this means to her. It’s all about her trying to establish something different, to distance herself from her Disney Girl image. She paid for a lot of that show – the dancing bears for example – out of her own pocket. This is her vision."
Elsewhere in the interview, Wayman, whose LA four-piece have just released their second, eponymous and quite excellent new record, talks about her experiences in a male-dominated industry and expresses her frustration at how people like to play up the band's Hollywood connections – their original drummer was A Knight's Tale's Shannyn Sossamon and Heath Ledger and Billy Zane were early vocal fans.
She also talks about that new LP and surviving 18 months on the road in cramped conditions.

It's all in the new issue of Hot Press (James Vincent McMorrow cover), out Thursday January 22.