Julie Christmas, on performing: “Once it starts, I’m off, you know?”

By Andrew Parks

When Made Out of Babies‘ new label, The End, first sent a press release about the band’s third LP (The Ruiner, out today) singer Julie Christmas was positioned as a steel-throated bastard child of PJ Harvey, Karen O and David … Fucking … Yow. Each reference point was fair, but to simply draw a comparison between the Brooklyn native and, say, a former NYU student who became a rock star by showering herself in beer and howling “I’ve been screwing on the tracks of abandoned train stations” is to sell the singer a tad short.

You see, Christmas is the kind of split-personality force that makes you stop and stare as if a train wreck were happening onstage. As she recently explained to Decibel, “I don’t know if I get nervous before a show so much as find it hard to go out because I realize things are about to get rough. Once it starts, I’m off, you know? There’s never been a show where I didn’t feel fully in it, no matter how sick I feel.” (MOoB plays Union Pool tonight and a Myopenbar.com party tomorrow.)

The rest of the band is usually off to the races as well, from a bass-slinging Cooper—a recovering hardcore kid who once hit Christmas in the face by accident—to the pedal-stomping guitarobatics of Brendan Tobin (also an honorary member of Red Sparowes). It helps that Christmas can truly carry a tune, from the soaring melodic passages of “Invisible Ink” to the throat-shredding climax of “Cooker.” In fact, self-titled considers her one of the most versatile, underappreciated vocalists in today’s underground scene, whether we’re talking metal or straight-up indie rock.

“I’ve listened to the staples over and over until I could hear their every breath,” explains Christmas. “Some of the best singers don’t know anything about technique, though. They’re good because they’re doing it wrong.” Singers like Tom Waits, one of five key influences that Christmas shares after the jump in an exclusive self-titled essay.