"You would see her on the streets on the Lower East Side and she’d be wearing nothing but a bra and panties."
- Justin Tranter, on Lady Gaga's style.
“We heard about this girl called Lady Gaga... Obviously she had no budget then, so it was her, a keyboard, Lady Starlight (co-performer) and like, a disco ball. From there, we became friends and here we are now playing stadiums and arenas."
-Justin Tranter, on the early Gaga.
Gaga’s wild and outrageous glam rock opening band the Semi Precious Weapons say before Gaga became the pop monster everyone knows today, she was just as quirky, crazy and brilliant.
Frontman Justin Tranter says when the Semi Precious Weapons were looking for an opening act for their New York City gigs several years ago, they stumbled across Gaga who had a very obvious sparkle that no artist could match.
“We did a couple of shows where we had some boring hipster bands open and they would just stare at their feet and make everybody hate themselves,” Tranter says, laughing.
“We heard about this girl called Lady Gaga. We’d heard she was a big fan of ours and that her show was really crazy. Obviously she had no budget then, so it was her, a keyboard, Lady Starlight (co-performer) and like, a disco ball.
“There was hairspray and fire – it was wild. You would see her on the streets on the Lower East Side and she’d be wearing nothing but a bra and panties.
“So she opened for us and our fans were so much happier having this girl open than some boring band. From there, we became friends and here we are now playing stadiums and arenas. It’s crazy.”
Tranter says for as long as he’s known Gaga, she’s always been a dynamic, forward-thinking artist with an enormous amount of creative flair.
“The only difference now is that she has a lot more designer clothing, and that she was a brunette back then," he says.
“It was really great in New York City having someone open for us who was singing pop songs. In its own way it was really rock n roll because no one did that. It was awesome.”
- Jordana Borensztajn
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