Who are Two Crones and what do they play?
Two Crones is composed of Marie, who mostly sings live, and Yanka, who mostly will play an instrument live but also sings sometimes. Marie can play an instrument live sometimes too. Same for our recorded music.

We have a very free-form approach to performing—pretty much a jamming improv session—at least for now. We’ll have a backing track that we keep different for every show and then we’ll come up with whatever we feel like on top of it at the spur of the moment. We don’t really play any of our recorded songs live yet as we don’t necessarily have a strong demand or urge for it; you can say right now we’re closer to a performance art musical act than a classical band. We love having the audience’s participation too.

The “Two” in Two Crones can be more interpreted as us and the audience therefore, rather than referring to us two.

When did you first get together?
We met on New Year Eve 2022 at a house party. We started making music together pretty quickly after that and released some random recordings of weird stuff we made shortly after, in May of that year. It took us awhile after that to figure out how to get shows though (neither of us is from L.A., we didn’t know anyone) and we’ve only been playing consistently since pretty recently, like a month and a half ago.

What’s the origin of the name?
We both feel old and tired, jaded and chronically ill. One of us came up with “The Crones” and another just said “What about Two Crones?” And just like that, that was it. It stuck. We like it a lot. Two Crones.

How would you describe your sound to people who haven’t heard you before?
We’re very chaotic and all over the place at times and we want it that way.

We want to explore a new concept or “genre” with each of our new releases and live, too. Or at least we try. Although people keep calling us “noise” which isn’t necessarily accurate either. We’re definitely musicians and we want to be. We just like to reject boundaries and expectations maybe.

We were joking the other day that we should start calling ourselves psychedelic, because we’re definitely influenced by drugs (whatever those are). I think we’re pure raw self-expression, which means we can sound kinda like shit but at least always very in your face and uninhibited.

What are your biggest musical and artistic inspirations?
We both love 100 gecs. We’re trying to be more like them. We love punk and electronic, but I mean, really, we love everything. We have inspirations old and new. Our latest release includes a Crass cover and now we’re trying to make some Hyperpop; we’re always changing and switching it up a tad. We love Memphis rap, how weird and dark it gets.

Who are the best underground music makers in L.A. right now?
We both love Sprain! They’re amazing and we’re friends with them which is super cool. We love Diode too. They’re so good. Perhaps we could sound more like them if we were more structured.

I have a personal obsession with Breakdancing Ronald Reagan; he’s a noise guy who gets naked and fucks things on stage and I’m obsessed with the shamelessness and depravity of it. We have a show coming up too where we’ll be playing with him which is very exciting.

We also love Christian Lovers, intense amazing sound. And Nervous Gender; they’re huge inspirations of course. We’re playing a show with those two bands soon too which is so awesome.

Are you working on anything new? Please tell us about it.
Yes! We’re trying to make a Hyperpop record. We love the chaos and hyperness of Hyperpop. We’ll be sending each other files back and forth of :30 recordings we’ll then be speeding up. It should sound crazy. Nothing rawer than that.

Where online can we experience what you do? (Links to music or video go here)
This is our music!

We don’t have any music videos or singles yet but hopefully when we release that Hyperpop record we’ll end up having a hit with it.

What can folks expect from your show at Oracle Tavern this Friday?
We’re trying to become the new Sloppy Janes. But if we’re lucky enough even sloppier. We want as much audience participation as possible, but sadly that’s not something you can exactly predict. When we get to be an ensemble we feel free–er.

Ideally I want a Two Crones performance to be like a group therapy session. Performing is so empowering and infectious because for 20 minutes you just get to be heard and looked at and listened to. I’ve felt small and invisible for extended periods of my life and to finally have a way to be heard is very addictive, beyond cathartic. I hope everyone can have that in their own life. I hope going to a Two Crones show inspires you to be heard and be seen that night but also continually whenever and wherever you want to be. Take some space. Everybody needs to feel like they matter and they’re part of something. Be the main character of your own story.

Do you have any other shows coming up?
Yes! We’re playing way too many shows in June, and we’ve got The Smell coming up on May 19. We’re really grateful for the D.I.Y. scene and its welcomeness of us. It took some time and insistence but once we started playing shows it’s been happening more and more and we’re very grateful for every chance we get to express ourselves.

What’s your favorite place to hang out in Los Angeles and why?
I’d say that respectively, we love Non Plus Ultra and Coaxial the most. They’re both D.I.Y. spaces that are run by community members who are themselves musicians and artists. We’re thankful for the community and belonging it gives us, that’s one the best parts of being a musician.

Thank you so much for letting us ramble on!