Take equal parts vaudeville, folk and fancy underwear, add a dash of clown and shake vigorously. This recipe will make one heaping portion of Vermillion Lies, appetizing to the masses.
Vermillion Lies will perform its whimsical cabaret act in Agate Hall on Saturday to celebrate the release of its new album, “What’s in the Box?”
One half of the duo, Zoe Boekbinder, said the sisters like to refer to their music as thrift store cabaret because it’s inconsistent and pretty wacky.
“We’ve been told that we’re the most real vaudeville that’s going on nowadays, but I don’t really think that’s true because we’re too weird to be exactly like anything that’s ever happened before,” she said.
The sisters have been performing for three years as Vermillion Lies.
Boekbinder said they are at an advantage in the entertainment world.
“We can sort of read each other’s minds, and we are connected in a way that good friends aren’t,” she said.

“A lot of bands break up because of fighting. It’s way easier to forgive your sister than your friends because you can’t really get rid of your sister.”
Vermillion Lies is known for wearing silly costumes and playing unconventional instruments.
Boekbinder said people who come to the show can expect to see tiny hats, a costume box, random instruments like a typewriter and their attractive violin player.
Kim Boekbinder added that the audience should also expect to see underwear.
The duo encourages audience members to dress up, even bringing along a costume box specifically for that purpose.
“People often dress up, especially our Eugene audience, Zoe Boekbinder said. “There is a whole group of people that show up in stripy stockings and crazy hats. They’re awesome.”
She said they also advocate coming to the show only wearing underwear.
“Be ready to take your pants off. You don’t want to be caught wearing ugly underwear,” she added.
Kim Boekbinder said another form of audience participation is when they open their box, the audience should ask “What’s in the box?”
That’s where the new album got its name.
Zoe Boekbinder said this album is quite different than their last record, “Separated by Birth.”
“(‘Separated by Birth’) was a collection of music throughout our evolution, so it’s not consistent at all. Not to say that ‘What’s in the Box?’ is consistent, but it’s consistently silly,” she said.
“We’ve definitely got more of a style down.”
Kim Boekbinder added, “We’re better now, and we have better underwear.”
One of the most notable songs on the album is a song that raises awareness of its namesake, “Global Warming.”
“No one would listen to that song if it wasn’t funny,” Zoe Boekbinder said.
“We decided the most efficient way of tackling a problem is to make silly jokes about it,” she said.
The duo uses biodiesel when available, prints its T-shirts on organic fabrics and uses recycled CD packaging with vegetable ink.
Vermillion Lies is an independent group, without a manager or record label, so aside from publicity, the sisters do all the work themselves.
This weekend’s performance will be the ladies’ fourth trip to the area; they hope to perform at the Oregon Country Fair. They have applied before but to no avail. A petition will be available to sign at Saturday’s performance.
“Yeah, oh man, we love Eugene,” Zoe Boekbinder said. “It’s one of our favorite spots.”
“Eugene is this weird little town with lots of really awesome things in it.”
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