Ryan Lynch
By Emily Easley
Photos by Ilirjana Alushaj, Ben Chappell, Alan Del Rio Ortiz, and Hayden Shiebler (see below for detailed credits).
Ryan is one half of Dominant Legs (Hannah Hunt is the lovely other half, and Ryan also plays guitar for Girls). The first time I heard the new EP, Young at Love and Life, I texted Ryan that it was like getting to discover the Vaselines and Spacemen 3 all over again – but that doesn't begin to do justice to DL's uniquely gorgeous sound or Ryan's R&B roots.
As a person, Ryan is both unbelievably funny and so warm and kind that everyone who meets him wants to put him in their kangaroo pouch and take him home. Here Ryan reminisces about his youth as a Suburban Underground Conspiracy Kid and talks about Green Day, Michael Jackson, Christianity and the pitfalls of getting mistaken for a Native American woman.
EE: Where are you from?
RL: I’m originally from Redwood City, California, which is a suburb just thirty minutes south of San Francisco.
What was it like growing up there?
I’d say fairly normal. Suburban – a lot of that boredom. That’s how I got into music. I was originally an avid sports fan, which I still am, as a spectator. But I would play sports all the time, and I got sick when I was twelve and had to have my spleen removed. I couldn’t play sports for a year or two, and then after that I just felt really delicate and didn’t play anymore.
What was it like when you became sick?
I was bruising really easily. I liked playing roller hockey, and if I tied the Rollerblades too tight I’d bruise on my feet. And that’s your blood not clotting. So it was very dangerous for me to get cut, you know?
Like hemophilia?
It’s like that, but they call it ITP. The “I” is for idiopathic – they don’t know what causes it. I had to go on this medication, and for the first time in my life was overweight. I looked completely different for a while – like, had really chubby cheeks.
Was it painful?
It was extremely painful. My dad was trying to cheer me up – he always knows how to make me laugh. I would laugh, and then it would turn into crying because it would hurt so bad to laugh. The remake of Dennis the Menace had just come out, and I remember that being really hard to watch too, because I couldn’t laugh.
It wasn’t so bad when I was actually in the hospital because I had this little trigger to kick me pain medication. But it only gives you so many doses. They told my mom I hit it like, nine hundred times one night. I must not have a very good threshold for pain.
Do you feel like it changed you? You said you looked different…
Yeah. That made me very uncomfortable. For about a year I was like, “the untouchable kid.” My mom called my friends’ moms and told them I can’t be roughhousing and to keep an eye on me, and let the other children know that I was like, fragile. I think that definitely was a shock to my confidence, especially at that age. I was very nervous anyhow, growing up. I think that made me even more self-conscious.
How had you been nervous before? Like with girls?
I wasn’t really with girls. I had a girlfriend in elementary school but I didn’t hang out with her: it was just like, you pick somebody and you pretend to have some sort of relationship. Then I had a complete dry spell for a long time after that.
I became fairly shy at that point cos I felt like something was wrong with me. Nobody at that age wants to be different. One thing that affected me then is the scar: I didn’t want anybody to see it. That was one reason I was very uncomfortable around girls – I would have never wanted to take my shirt off.
One thing that’s strange to this day is I can’t close my eyes and imagine another person’s body without the scar that I have. I can’t like, picture an unmarked stomach.
Tell me about getting into music.
Well, after all that, I started steering away from sports. When you’re not playing it, as a kid, you lose interest. I was originally really into like, Boyz II Men and Jackson 5 – a mixture of that and like, West Coast hip-hop. And pretty much anything Michael Jackson did from like, age five. Dangerous was probably the most recent thing out at that point.
Was Michael Jackson the first person you were really into?
I was obsessed with Guns N Roses in third grade. It was what caused me to get a mullet. I wanted long hair like Axl Rose, but my mom said I could only grow out the back.
What was her rationale there?
I think she thought it was too feminine for me to grow out all my hair long. My mom isn’t by any means conservative, but you know – this was like, 1988, and people think certain things.
Does she like it now?
She loves it. She’s always loved men with long hair. She’s always telling me to comb it though.
What were you like in high school?
I was really extremely shy for the first part of it. But I’m a typical Gemini where I have two different personalities. I don’t know if it’s that – I feel like everyone has two different personalities. But I’m very aware of my settings and how I want to act in each of them. There would be some classes where I didn’t speak to anybody, because I was very nervous about who was in the class.
What made you nervous?
I didn’t want to be judged. But I think what did help me get out of that was music. Cos those years are where you try to find an identity, and when I first started playing music I just realized that’s what I want to do, and that happened sophomore year.
How did that happen?
Um. I would probably like, truthfully have to credit to Green Day’s Dookie.
I love it when people are honest like that.
Yeah. I always hate it when people try to pull out some obscure album and say that was the first album – it’s not true at all. I fell in love with Green Day’s Dookie and like wore out the cassette tape.
How did you get it? Did someone give it to you?
I saw the video for “When I Come Around.” At first I saw “Longview,” and hated them. I was just like, “Who is this guy?”
When I first heard them I thought they sounded like the Dickies. But the only reason I knew about the Dickies was I saw a movie called Killer Clowns from Outer Space, which they did the soundtrack to – they have similar whiney voices.
There had been a lot of successful punk bands that I’d heard but I didn’t really know that it was “punk-rock music.” I didn’t know how to separate it: it was just like, a hit. I just considered them another band, you know, but something about that record was so totally different from anything I’d ever heard.
Can you say what it was?
I think what was different was just the energy about it. It was melodic. I had no idea what pop punk was. It sounds like any good pop song but on 45 when it’s supposed to be on 33.
You said you weren’t pursuing music at that point. So what happened then?
The change was extreme. I just got obsessed with music completely after that. Obviously I was happy that Green Day were from Berkeley, near where I was from – so I wanted to be them basically, and immerse myself in any local punk scene. It wasn’t really strong in where I was from. I could probably count how many punk rockers there were at my high school.
So who did you hang out with?
Well I hung out with my best friend, Phil, who I’ve been in bands with ever since, who’s in Magic Bullets still. And like three other people that were more into crust-punk stuff.
But I mostly got really close with kids from Palo Alto High, through KZSU Stanford, cos I listened to this girl Deborah Rolfe’s show, and she was really proactive. She was fifteen or sixteen and had her own show that had a lot of energy.
She would invite her friends to come and hang out and read PSAs and stuff. And she did this thing that she called SUCK, which is kind of a silly name, but it stands for Suburban Underground Conspiracy Kids. It was just like, her wanting the kids in the area to get together and make things happen.
So did you do that?
Yeah. And the first meeting had maybe thirty people, and I met Dean Bein that day.
Ohhh. That’s how you met Dean?!
Yeah. She would advertise it on the air, and flyer. It was really kind of exaggerated – like, “We don’t have a voice!” type of thing. Like, “Suburban punk kids, let’s get together and SAY something!” But um, it was really cool, I made a lot of close friends, and it was sort of like a family, for lack of a better word.
And Dean was there too?
Yeah, Dean was there. I was probably a senior or a junior and he was maybe a freshman. We would go out and hang out and lose him a lot. We lost him once in Santa Cruz cos he’s just like – very talkative, and ADD. You could just lose him in like, a store.
Did you play guitar?
Yeah.
How did you know you wanted to play guitar?
Cos Billy Joe played guitar.
Okay, sorry. Duh. Haha.
I put a bunch of stickers on it like he did, and got a Strat like his. Well, it was actually a really crappy guitar called a Peavey Predator. It’s probably one of the worst guitars I’ve ever played. It looks like a Strat.
Did you continue to love Green Day?
Well, I probably after a while tried to pretend like I was past that. But I really liked their second album. I loved it. Well, not the proper second album – I loved that one too – but the second major label release. But I haven’t paid much attention in the last few years, and I don’t really this new like, grandiose –
American Idiot? Rock opera/Broadway show.
Yeah. I don’t really like anything like that.
So your take on them now?
I still think that Billy Joe can write a really good pop song but I’m just not that into it.
What about “The Time of Your Life?”
I don’t like that song.
Okay. So that’s where it ends.
Yeah.
What are your parents like?
They’re sort of like my best friends. We have a really good relationship and I usually feel guilty talking about that because I feel like most people have poor relationships with their parents or – most of my friends’ parents are divorced.
What do your parents do?
My dad’s kind of like a journeyman at a hotel. I might be using the term incorrectly, but like, a jack-of-all-trades. He fixes any problems in the rooms.
My mother is a receptionist at a veterinarian. My mom’s from Erie, Pennsylvania, and all her siblings stayed out on the East Coast, and she’s the only one that came all the way across the country. She’s never been to New York, even though she grew up in Pennsylvania, which is not really that far away.
What do they think of you touring the world with Girls?
They’re really happy. My dad’s extremely happy about it because I’d been just doing jobs that I don’t have any interest in, just to pay the bills.
What kind of jobs?
I was mostly doing office services. I was a mail-boy. Basically like Michael J. Fox in The Secret to My Success.
That sounds pretty racy.
I didn’t pretend to be a lawyer.
And have an affair with your boss. Or did you do that?
No. But there were very attractive women.
Did you go to college?
I went to community colleges. But I couldn’t really concentrate. I moved up to Vacaville with my parents – sort of near Napa – because I didn’t have a job after high school, and really hated it up there.
You’ve told me that you had a Christian, religious period in your life. Can you tell me about that, and how it fit in with your punk rock identity?
A lot of it had to do with just trying to find an identity when I was young. I also came to the realization that I was kind of a mean and selfish person, and I was seeking help.
I didn't think that it went against any of my punk rock ideals. In fact, I thought that it went right a long with them. I was doing what I wanted to do and punk rock is all about personal freedom.
Religion served a purpose in my life for a few years and I sort of walked away from it. It was gradual – I didn't just decide one day that it wasn't for me, I just got involved with other things because I wasn't entirely with it.
Also, what is this you told me about not going to a bar until you were twenty-three?
It's pretty much because the bars where I grew up were not worth sneaking into. And for some reason I refused to go to San Francisco. All of my friends were moving there and I thought it was way too hip or just a trend. I found out when I finally moved up there that they were having a lot of fun without me.
I guess I was also very proud of and loyal to Redwood City. So, I was mostly alone there. I had a girlfriend that I would only see during the day who I met through church functions and if I drank, I drank alone in my room and wrote songs. I just didn't have any interest. I've probably caught up on lost time by now, haha.
Did you have bands that you were in before Girls?
I was in Magic Bullets for about five years. They’re an indie-pop band from San Francisco who was put together by really close friends. They’re actually doing really well – but before Girls that was the most successful band.
I still love their music and the songwriting has had a major influence on Dominant Legs as well, specifically because Cory and I are really into Nile Rodgers from Chic’s guitar playing. You know, “We Are Family,” Sister Sledge – he wrote this song for them. He also produced and wrote Diana Ross’s Diana album, with “I’m Coming Out,” that P. Diddy sampled.
“What are your influences?” is probably one of the most annoying questions that’s gonna come in interviews, but the only one that I could really say was his guitar playing. That choppy, like, jangly, funky – both of us sort of play a similar guitar style based off what Nile does. It involves a lot of muting, only not with the palm of your picking hand. You loosen the grip on whatever chord you are playing almost immediately after you hit the strings. Nile actually has a video on YouTube explaining his guitar style. My favorite quote is, "It's not the shit you play. It's the shit you don't play."
Did Dominant Legs start from you just recording on your own?
Yeah. That’s basically what it still is. There’s only two of us. We don’t have a practice space. I’d been writing songs the whole time I was in Magic Bullets, but not doing anything with them, and I began to get frustrated that I was spending so much time in another band and wanted to do something with the songs I had been working on.
Did you sing in Magic Bullets?
No, I just played guitar. So I quit to do Dominant Legs and in the midst of working on that, Girls approached me to play with them.
How did you know them?
I knew Christopher before I knew JR, through a mutual friend. And then became pretty close with both of them.
You have the Michael Jackson thing in common with Christopher.
Yeah. It’s funny because Christopher and I both really like even the later albums. Like I love HIStory. And he says he likes Dangerous even more than Thriller, which I don’t really think most people would pick Dangerous over Thriller. But um – I had Invincible. I was kind of disappointed in Invincible.
What do you like about the later stuff?
I just think he didn’t lose his knack with songwriting. It got a little cheesier like, with electronic sounds near the end. But always a good majority of the albums were well written pop songs. And they also got angrier. Some of them, it was kind of redundant – like he was just talking about his life and there were specific songs about being accused of sexual molestation and stuff – there’s even a song about the district attorney, Don Sheldon, being a bad man.
So what was it like for you to start singing?
Well, I had been writing songs with lyrics since 2000 or so, so it wasn’t anything new. The big difference was playing shows. Cos I started out just playing under my real name, and being on stage by myself.
What was that like?
Extremely nerve-wracking. Like, you’re excited about playing the show, but half the time you’re just like, “I can’t wait til this is over.” And knowing that you’re the only thing on stage that people, if they wanna watch, are gonna be looking at.
But I love singing. I just love doing it. It’s nice to have a band where I sing. It’s not like I’m unhappy playing guitar for Girls, but I don’t consider myself a guitar player, which is a funny thing to say because that’s what I do. It’s not lack of confidence. But when I think of the way that I’m creative, it’s just songwriting. Like, I’m not doing anything new with guitar, you know? But I guess you don’t really have to.
How did you come up with the name Dominant Legs?
It’s how I described a friend’s legs one night while skinny-dipping in the ocean. The words just stuck with me.
Your songs have a nostalgic quality. Do you feel like you’re a nostalgic person?
I’m a very, very nostalgic person. I don’t let go of things very easily. Basically that’s what “About My Girls” is. Like, when I have a very affectionate relationship – I’m very loyal, and prefer to keep in contact with anybody I’ve ever been close to.
I don’t deal with breakups well, haha. I’m not bad, that’s a poor choice of words, but I hold on to affectionate feelings. I guess I still in a certain way will always love whoever I’ve loved.
I’m curious about how writing the song is kind of a way to deal with it.
Um – I don’t necessarily feel like it’s a way to deal with it.
Sorry, that’s very Oprah: How did you deal with your pain by making it into your art?!
Yeah. I’m not a tortured artist by any means, haha. I like to walk the line between sincere lyrical content but also have it be a pop song, you know? Because I used to play a lot of really moody music, but now my intentions are to write pop songs. I don’t wanna make it be too dark, you know?
"Nostalgic" is a good way to describe it, because even if I’m completely over a relationship I have a very good memory for small instances and I daydream about them a lot. I don’t know what it is about my facial expressions, but people whenever I’m daydreaming think I’m sad. I just space out, and I look very serious or something.
You have a very unique face. What’s your parents’ ethnic background?
My mother is Swedish and German. My father’s Phillipino and Irish. People ask me a lot; they think I’m part Native American or something.
Is that irritating?
I think it would be if I wasn’t comfortable with how I looked, but I am now – comfortable. Because, you know, you can’t change what you look like. Well, you CAN, but I’m not gonna do that!
Most of the time it’s just funny. When we were in Europe, these girls were like, “You look like a warrior person!” I was just like, “What do you mean?!” And I think they meant like, Native American. It’s also the hair. I get mistaken for a woman a lot. Like pretty much every day, at least twice. And I don’t know what that is, haha.
I confuse a lot of people walking into a men’s restroom. Like, I get double takes, or people have actually grabbed me and been like, “Hey you’re in the wrong bathroom.” And I’m like, “No, I’m in the right one.”
As a straight guy does it make you uncomfortable..?
It just makes me uncomfortable in that when you’re going to the bathroom, you wanna just get in and go out. And like, not have any sort of real social…
Gender identity crisis?
Yeah. It’s not that big of a deal. I’ve actually been hit on by men thinking I was a woman at bars. The funniest one was – we were in Stockholm, and we were at this bar, sitting on these couches, with these tables across us with all these empty bottles. And this guy came up to me and asked me my name.
I didn’t hear what he said at first and I said, “What was that?” And he heard I was a man, physically jumped back from me, knocked over a table, and fell on the ground. I don’t know what his point was, he could have just been like, “Oh, I thought you were – “ something.
It freaked him out that he was turned on by you.
Yeah.
Do you think of it as bothersome or amusing?
It’s amusing. Christopher just cut his hair, but he’s had long hair for about as long as I have, and he doesn’t have the same problem. And everywhere we go, I have like – it is somewhat annoying.
Did it happen when you were younger too?
It did when I had a mullet. I played soccer, and I was fairly fast, and they would be like, “Get that girl! Get that girl!” And my teammates would be like, “He’s not a girl!”
Haha. That’s a good quote.
Since I am now, a “Girl.” Or member of Girls. I feel like – my friend Matt wore this hat, one of those Pet Shop Boys “Boy” hats. But I feel like I need to wear it, just to let people know.
Do you ever want to just cut all your hair off?
Not really. I like having long hair. I don’t like confusing people, but I like the feeling of having long hair. Even on men it’s very sexy, I think. It’s how I choose to look, and I guess the androgyny is just – it’s not something I purposely aspire to. I just wear what I like, and somehow it looks feminine, haha.
So what about you and Amy Adams?
I don’t remember where I saw her first. But um, she’s just so charming. Everything that she does.
Did it start with Enchanted?
Enchanted I saw later. For some weird reason, my parents bought me Charlie Wilson’s War. Which is a good movie. But she plays his secretary, and she’s amazing in that too. It’s not a very big role, but there are certain people that you just like to watch. I mean, even friends, up to like, celebrities, where what they do is perfect, and spontaneous.
I just feel like she’s a special personality. Most infatuations with actresses have to do with their beauty. And she is beautiful but also like, every day American girl-looking, kind of. And seeing Enchanted after I had this huge obsession with her, and I don’t even know why it took me so long to see it – but that was just one of the best performances ever.
It’s really amazing.
All my friends know that I’m obsessed with her – well, not obsessed – I haven’t seen all of her movies, and I think you have to watch all of someone’s movies to really be in that category.
There can’t be that many.
Yeah. But her first film is Cruel Intentions 2. I haven’t seen that, and I’m sure it’s pretty bad, but you’ve gotta start somewhere.
But um – I don’t really like to watch videos on the Internet, because I don’t have a good connection, and cos it’s so small. But the only thing I’ve ever searched on Hulu or any of those things is Amy Adams. She did karaoke on the Jimmy Fallon show, while she was eight months pregnant, and I thought it was amazing. Cos she can sing.
What songs did she sing?
She sang a Bon Jovi song, and they did a duet – she was Barbra Streisand and Jimmy was – I can’t remember who he was – but she did a very good Barbra Streisand impression.
Prince/Jukebox photos by Ben Chappell
Baskeball/Piano photos by Alan Del Rio Ortiz
Diner/Piñata photos by Ilirjana Alushaj
All other photos by Hayden Shiebler
Except for Dean & Ryan, which I pirated from Facebook with Dean's permission; photographer unknown.