I've always been interested in fashion, and Urban Outfitters presented me with a huge opportunity to pursue that interest.
Bethany CosentinoI'm really proud to be a woman making music. Nothing makes me happier than when other women approach me at shows and say, "You've inspired me to start writing music," or, "I feel like we could be best friends." Music is a male-dominated business, so it's nice to see bands with girls in them, and not just a bunch of dudes with beards in flannel shirts.
Bethany CosentinoI have to remember the good people in the world outnumber the bad people. I think when you start to feel frustrated or you have no hope left in humanity or whatever, you've got to just remember that there are people out there who are working incredibly hard to get a positive message across.
Bethany CosentinoIt's very strange that people would consider me a fashion muse but it's also flattering. I try to just be myself, and wear what's comfortable and makes me feel good.
Bethany CosentinoI don't really pay too much attention to designers, I know what I like and I just try to find it, and I always try to find a cheaper deal because I have a tendency to be a cheapskate sometimes.
Bethany CosentinoI don't really listen to a lot of 90s alternative indie female stuff anymore, but I loved Liz Phair and Kim Deal when I was younger.
Bethany CosentinoMy favorite record of all time is Fleetwood Mac's Tusk. It's made up of a bunch of songs that don't really sound the same, but they all go really well together.
Bethany CosentinoI am a true believer that a record should not be a bunch of songs that sound exactly the same.
Bethany CosentinoI love clothes so much, I always have. It's awesome to have designers invite me to their shows and openings and send me samples of their work.
Bethany CosentinoIt's really cool to see how many awesome, badass ladies are out there now just doing their thing and putting their foot down, saying, "Nope. You're not going to tell me I'm doing something women shouldn't be doing." It's a scary time but also I think a really important time. I'm happy to see how much girls are responding to a lot of the other powerful big boys swimming out there right now.
Bethany CosentinoThere are a shitload of songs about being in love with someone who doesn't love you back and I talk about weed and my cat and being lazy a lot.
Bethany CosentinoI always get pissed that I can't make my voice sound like someone from the 50s who had a very girly, innocent voice, like Leslie Gore.
Bethany CosentinoI was never really that great at sewing, but I had a good idea of what I wanted things to look like.
Bethany CosentinoI feel like talking to people who don't tour, when you talk about touring - obviously we're super blessed and very lucky to be doing what we do - but there are so many weird things that could never happen anywhere else. When I talk to people who don't tour they look at me like I'm being bratty and complaining about this job that I have. It's not that! It's the fact that when I'm home I can exercise every day, I can cook myself good meals, then when I'm on the road for a long time it's like, "There's a Subway. I guess I'm eating a bowl full of lettuce because I don't eat McDonalds."
Bethany CosentinoOne of my favorite things as a teenage girl was getting dressed up to go to shows.
Bethany CosentinoI think it will be fun to not only play new music, but to get to play different instruments on-stage.
Bethany CosentinoAdvice I would give to anyone trying to find their own personal style: don't copy anybody, just be yourself, and make your own trends.
Bethany CosentinoI like the 50s, party-movie aesthetic of the beach. I'm not really into modern-day beach.
Bethany CosentinoI'm working all the time. When I'm home I try to split my time evenly between resting and preparing for another tour, and writing stuff.
Bethany CosentinoThat, to me, is what I feel like is the future. If I have a daughter, if you have a daughter, becoming that ideal where it's not about your gender; it's about us being human, being in this together.
Bethany CosentinoI have personally been affected by women's reproductive health issues, and I will continue to support that cause and spread awareness about it.
Bethany CosentinoI went to school for a short period of time to study fashion. I wanted to become a stylist or a designer. I made clothes when I was a teenager that I used to sell online. My label name was "Baby Jesus" - so incredibly stupid, but whatever, I was 17!
Bethany CosentinoI found all these stupid pictures of cats at the beach, and I was like, "They get it, man. They totally get it."
Bethany CosentinoI think what we do is really, at times, a complicated thing. But at the end of the day it's so important that we make art for people that need to escape reality for a second. That's what music has always been for me. It's been a way to tap out of what's going on in my personal life.
Bethany CosentinoI really like New York a lot, but I like it more as a place to visit. It was really difficult for me to live there. As a person from California, I'm still very neurotic and anxious, but in a more laid-back way.
Bethany CosentinoI think people assume that whatever kind of music you make is the music you listen to. Don't get me wrong, I listen to tons of pop music and all the music that really inspires Best Coast is very straightforward '50s and '60s pop music, but I've been listening to R&B and rap since I was a kid. I grew up in L.A. It's part of the culture. I listen to anything.
Bethany CosentinoI buy most of my clothes online, I just sit around and look at websites and say 'oh that looks cute' - and then I just buy it and hopefully it fits because buying stuff online is always sort of risky.
Bethany CosentinoI'd love to have a shoe line, or a sunglasses line, or a purse line. Who am I kidding, I'd like to have an everything line!
Bethany CosentinoThere are days where I turn on the TV or I look at the news and I'm like, "I want to go to Mars. This is insane." But I can't go to Mars! I need to face reality and just to have some hope.
Bethany CosentinoI don't think lyrics need to be deep - just write whatever comes out of you. You don't need to find intense meaning in everything.
Bethany CosentinoI've become this voice for a millennial generation of feminism, which is awesome, but at the same time it's complicated. We all know I'm a girl, I'm a woman, but it's difficult to figure out how to talk about it and express how important it is without beating it with a hammer and having it be, "So you're a girl in music! So you're a girl in music!" Yes, I'm a girl in music - can we just talk about something else?
Bethany CosentinoAs artists and creative people it's such an important time to be expressive and be empowering and supportive of people. It is a time where I feel like everyone has to be together and say, "Hey, we're all going to be okay. We just need to work together."
Bethany CosentinoMaking music can sometimes make me a bit restless, so it's fun when I get to be expressive in another way.
Bethany CosentinoI was looking at pictures of cats laying out on the beach and I thought, "Cats hate water, so why would they like the beach?" But then I realized that cats like to just lay around and lounge and be lazy, and what better place to do that than on the beach?
Bethany CosentinoIt's scary when you get to a point where you write these songs that people like, and then you think, "Am I ever going to be able to write something better than that?"
Bethany CosentinoTouring is definitely work. You're spending a lot of time in the car and around the same people and it's not the easiest thing in the world, but it's better than working a 9-to-5 job or something.
Bethany Cosentino