In the video for "Zero," you have one bad-ass leather jacket! Who made it?
Christian [Joy, who designs Karen's costumes]. It was something that I'd always wanted and I had been looking at a lot of film stills from that film Scorpio Rising. And I'd wanted a leather jacket like Michael Jackson's red leather jacket with the zippers since I was a kid, and something recently made me feel like I was finally ready to have it.

Like you'd finally earned it.
Yeah, totally. And so I told her, like, "It's got to be a work of art, man."

Why did you shoot this video in Japan?
It was in San Francisco.

Oh.
You know, a big influence on that video was a film called Fallen Angels by Wong Kar Wai in Hong Kong, so there was a lot of Chinatown in there.

There's no guitar on your new album.
Yeah, the style of production is much more electronic, like synthesized landscapes and stuff. And it's also probably the least angst-y of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' records, with still being kind of really full on emotive and uplifting high-energy.

Why no more angst?
We're all kind of out of our '20s now, and there's more than enough angst to go around in your teens and '20s, but it kind of starts fading away and becoming something else.

So you live in LA now, but Yeah Yeah Yeahs is still really considered a New York band. Do people still think you live there?
Yeah, but I spend half my time there, so it's not that far of a stretch of it.

You've worn some pretty far-out stuff. Do you have any favorite costumes?
I love the skeleton costume, that was definitely a favorite. There's so many! I really liked the dress that was on the cover of the last Spin. All of Christian's stuff is usually towing the line between really quirky and really sexy, and I think that's why it fits with my sensibility.

If you were going to make an outfit for Christian, what would you make?
Probably something that her boobs would fall out of, and something that showed everyone her butt crack.

To get her back?
Oh yeah, you better believe it.

Have you ever seen a ghost?
Yes, I have. In Oberlin, where I went to school. It was in the summer, when everyone is gone, and all the ghosts come back to all those run-down houses. It was a classic story, where this man passes by the doorway into another room. And I was like, "That's weird, I didn't think anyone was here." So I walked into the other room, and no one was there.

Did you ever get grounded as kid?
Nope, never got grounded.

How did you celebrate your 21st birthday?
I had a party in my apartment on Tompkins Square Park in the East Village. I had just moved in, and had somehow convinced the owner of the building that I was a really reserved and responsible young lady. But all my friends came and everyone was super wasted and hanging off the fire escape. And the landlord came up and was just like, "Oh my god, I just made the biggest mistake of my life letting this girl live here."

What was your favorite memory of growing up in New Jersey?
Probably walking down to the center of town with my best friend and getting push-pops from this candy stand, then going to the local theatre and seeing a movie then hitting Friendly's on the way back and eating like a really big ice cream sundae.

You must really like ice cream.
Yeah.

Do you love Bruce Springsteen?
I don't know that I love him, but I definitely really like Bruce Springsteen.

So what's the most ridiculous thing you've ever ordered from room service?
I probably ordered it when I was drunk, so I have no recollection of it.

Are you a good babysitter?
I am a pretty good babysitter, except I'm a little bit soft.

Can you cook?
I can cook a little bit. I can cook this Japanese dish called Tonkatsu, it's like a breaded chicken or pork dish. I can cook pasta and pasta sauce, and I can cook a couple of Korean dishes, like kalbi and jap che. And I can do a pretty decent meatloaf as well.

Wow! That's impressive. Have you ever shoplifted anything?
Oh my god! I was just talking about this. Yes, I have shoplifted something.

What did you take?
An eyeliner and two lipsticks. I was 12. And I got caught!

What did you have to do?
I was mortified! As much as I'm sort of anti-authority on stage, I'm really

afraid of authority in situations like a drugstore, like the security guard who stands by the door freaks me out. So they had been watching us steal, me and my friend, through the cameras in the mirrors, and they came up to us and were like "We caught you stealing, we're not going to call your parents, but if we ever seen you in here again, we're going to throw you out." And that was like the local drugstore, so it was at least 12 years before I went back to it!

Have you ever cut anyone's hair?
I've cut my boyfriend's hair. I've cut Christian's hair, and she's cut mine too. I've cut my best friend's brother's hair.

Are you superstitious?
A little bit, yes.

About what?
I wear a certain pair of socks before I go on planes. I have two or three pairs of designated socks that I wear on planes. I feel like they're good luck.

Do they have anything on them?
Oh yeah, they do.

What do they have on them?
Alright, I'm just telling the gods of superstitions right now that me revealing what's on the flying socks doesn't mean they'll stop working.

No, not at all.
Ok... so one pair has Snoopy on them. They are Snoopy socks. And one pair has RUN-DMC on them, they're hip-hop socks. And the last pair, they have ladybugs.

Thanks, Karen!
That was fun.