Interview with Kristen Grove, pt. 2

Kristen Grove

If you’ve ever spent any time in Milan, you’ve likely heard of Radio 105 dj’s, Kris & Kris. At first glance, they might appear one part Howard Stern show, one part Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. However, behind the delectable duo’s entertaining banter lies thinly veiled messages of positivity that are calculatedly meant to reassure and empower Italy’s youth. In this week’s interview, Geoff Cook interviews Kristen Grove, the American half of Kris and Kris, about her recent relocation to Hawaii, its impact on the radio show, her budding music career, and the power of nature.

Base: How do Italians view women? American women? Americans in general? 
Kristen Grove: Italian women have huge roles to fill. Sometimes I think they have to fill EVERY role. They must be sexually attractive and virginal at the same time. Now they are expected to be career-oriented and ambitious while remaining family-oriented and maternal. Of course they must NEVER age. The media in Italy is terrible toward women but I sometimes wonder if it isn’t worse for men. Men don’t have so many roles to fill but they definitely are coaxed into always being sexually active and always “good to go,” so to speak. They are constantly bombarded by sex and sexual nudity. Platonic friendships between women and men are almost non-existent. Men are constantly tricked into thinking only about their value as sexual predators. It is frustrating for them. Few have the opportunity to explore who they really are and what they really like. Television kind of continues to group them into men who like boobs, men who like butts, men who like blondes or men who like brunettes. There’s not a big opportunity for them to grow up. Add that to the fact that their mothers never teach them how to make their bed or buy their own underwear. It’s crazy. It’s like a country of little boys running around expecting women to be subservient—make my meal, iron my shirt—as they banter about their favorite soccer team. Berlusconi being exhibit A. Of course these generalizations don’t fit every Italian…my boyfriend and many others have escaped the media’s guidelines.

B: How do Italian women view American women? 
KG: They don’t. They don’t have time. They have to spend all of their energy making sure they are the target of desire, making sure they are young and beautiful. There was a big epidemic a few years ago of mothers becoming anorexic and borrowing their daughters’ clothes. These are the reasons I stay there. Our radio show, which is national and targets kids between 14- 40, offers new ways of looking at things: a new approach to friendship, sexuality, and self-realization. It’s working, slowly, but it is working.

B: You’re also working now for MTV. What’s that about?
KG: As I mentioned, I worked for MTV for a number of years when I first started out, both in Italy and in Miami for MTV Latin America. Now I’m the voice for Crispy News, a gossip news plug that MTV broadcasts eight times a day for three minutes. I can’t say my current way of looking at life is very in sync with the gossip news but I do really love working with my voice; it’s great practice for my Italian and, most importantly , it’s portable! I also do that here from my place in Maui.  If the Crispy News goes international in January I’ll also be doing the English versions.

B: In Italy, like others of “a certain renown,” you were invited to go on the TV show Survivor. Can you talk about that experience?
KG: I can talk about it but it may bore you. I got myself into something I didn’t know enough about. Kris and I signed on together. We had this grandiose notion that we would be spending my time on a deserted island with “survivors” but it turned out that we were there with morons who would do anything to get on tape, like inventing fights and yelling way too much. We ended up basically hiding from the cameras, doing yoga and dreaming about food. Before we quit and left the show on day 15, we were subsisting on two small pieces of coconut a day (as in barely bite sized) and maybe, if we were lucky, a bite of fish. That was actually the best part of the experience, really fasting and giving my body a good cleanse. It is a weird and high feeling to not eat for 15 days. It’s strange but I got to a point that I was feeling so good that I was thinking I never wanted to start eating again. I think it was a point of insanity but at the time it felt good. I haven’t, however, considered fasting since. I came away from that experience feeling much more in control of my body and hunger in general. Hunger is not cool but it does feel good to come away from that experience and know that your body is capable of waiting.

B: How do you leverage your notoriety going forward?
KG: I wish I knew how to do that. So far my “leverage” consists of me having a great relationship with my boss at the radio and convincing him I can do my show from the other side of the world.

Kristen Grove looking musical

B: You also have made two albums of your own music. How would you describe it?
KG: Ahhh, my music, my dreams! Yes, it all starts in the bedroom. Why? When I began playing guitar I was still in a roommate situation and that was the only room I had. At the time, I was crazy about Rod Stewart, wishing I could write a song like Maggie May.

Grove in her Rod Stewart days

Luckily I branched out pretty quickly and eclectically. I got my first record deal in 2005 and had a small tour and sold some albums. A few of my songs got good airplay on local stations and Rai Radio 1. I even got Diesel to sponsor my first video.

I started working on my second album a year later and went to St. Augustine, Florida to record with Donavon Frankenreiter’s band in analog… note the mysterious crystal pyramid on the machine… extra good vibes. I got pregnant as soon as I got back, and Sofia is currently acting as my pause button. I still have to mix and master before I can get this one off the ground. These are my best set of songs yet. Upbeat, not too introspective… much more simple than my first album.

Grove’s analog recording equipment

I can give BaseNow readers a sneak listen if they don’t mind it not mixed or mastered:

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B: Will you continue to pursue music professionally?
KG: So far, I don’t do anything “professionally” but I’ll keep pursuing music for sure. There are a few good producers living here on Maui and am looking forward to meeting them and having some feedback on my latest album. I need a set of American ears to mix these songs.

B: You took up surfing several years back. What do you enjoy about it?
KG: Surfing is such a panacea. You get to float out on the ocean, if you are lucky with some good friends. With not too much talking but not too much silence, it’s a great mix of unity and individuality. Although I still don’t catch as many waves as I’d like, the high from catching just one is enough to get you out there for the entire next month. People make a big deal out of “respecting nature” but after surfing I feel like the ticket is more about uniting with nature. Understanding that we are also a large part of nature, surfing allows you to create that union in a physical way. THAT I believe is paradise on Earth. For me it takes away time and really allows me to to breathe in life and have a real experience with out thinking or planning or organizing anything. Also, surfing is hard. Surfing allows you to let go of your adult ego and be like a child. It gives you the mindset to allow yourself to try things without fear, to learn slowly and to enjoy and be in the moment.

Kris & Kris doing yoga

B: You’re also a hardcore yoga practitioner.

KG: My experience with yoga is similar. So far, where I’ve practiced hasn’t been about competition. Everyone just kind of finds their groove and goes at their own pace. I love that. I love being with a group of people, in general silence, while everyone goes for their own personal perfection. A perfection that has only to do with them, not in comparison to others. I really love the theme of each individual finding their own personal paradise and at the same time loving the differences in those that surround them.

Read part I of this interview here.