Rebecca Schiffman
I was born in New York City on April 9, 1982. I went to Spence (private all girls school) up through 8th grade and Dalton (co-ed private school featured in the movie Manhattan) for highschool. Dalton is a very Jappy school. For anyone that isn't from New York, JAP does not mean Japanese person—it means Jewish American Princess—the Jewish counterpart to Wasps.
My parents got married and had kids late. They met at IBM doing computer consulting but my dad is also a Rabbi. Our family belongs to a branch of Judaism called Reconstructionism. The daughter of the founder of Reconstructionism was the first girl ever to be Bat Mitzvahd. Until then only boys could go through the ceremony.
I studied cello for 9 years since I was 6, piano for 2 years, and upright bass for 2 years. I taught myself guitar since I was 10 or 11 but it definitely doesn't sound like I've been playing for 11 years. My first band was the Meaningful and Wise in which I played guitar and cello. We played my schoolmate Colin Kindley's songs and I guess our biggest influences were the Buzzcocks and The Soft Boys. Then I was in Pearl Harbor which was a kind of punky band fronted by a Japanese guy. We played around the city for a year.
I signed to Some Records and recorded Upside Down Lacrimosa in 2000 as I was starting at Cooper Union School of Art. For many reasons it did not come out until 2003.
I used to be very afraid of playing live but after forcing out a couple of performances I think I got over the hump. One milestone event was when I got invited to play at this "festival" called AugustArt. The only people that showed up to see all three acts were my close friends and family. I had lost my voice earlier that day and could literally only squeak and whisper. I had everyone come up close and sit on the stage so they could hear. I thought, no show will ever be worse than this, and since then I have been less afraid. Also, the promoter, who was very apologetic, said he was moved by my struggle or drive to perform despite the lost voice.
I recently graduated from The Cooper Union School of Art which I loved.
