The legacy of California's duo Dog Party is not to be messed with. They are a band in bloom of intoxicatingly sticky fast paced punk. Five albums in, both Gwennie and Lucy Giles are packing up to go on tour tomorrow supporting Green Day on their 'Revolution Radio' U.S tour. I was lucky enough to be able to catch up with them this summer just as the storm was breaking.
Question 1
with Dog Party.
Who are you in Dog Party, where are
you from and how would you describe your sound as an animal?
I’m Gwennie, I play the guitar and sing,
I’m going to school in Sacramento.
I’m Lucy and I play drums and I sing and
we’re both from Sacramento ( because we’re sisters) and we’re gonna be from
Long Beach soon. We were thinking about this sound as an animal question
previously and we were kinda thinking like a an arctic fox going SCHWARRR
through the tundra but now we’re almost thinking like a bear in a dumpster
possibly.
A bear in a dumpster, I like the
sound of that. Gross but with swag. So you’ve had an incredibly hectic summer;
releasing 13 ferocious tracks on your new album ‘Till You’re Mine’ (Asian Man
Records) So how does it feel now that finally the record is at full exposure to
the world?
Gwennie: It feels pretty great, I mean these
songs are old to us cos we recorded them it feels like so long ago and we’ve
been out on the road, on tour, throwing in some of the new songs. So even like
a handful of them are really tour tight so the fact that not a lot of people
have heard these songs yet while they’re so like engrained into our brains!
It’s kind of cool, like we don’t have to withhold them from our sense anymore.
It must be empowering unleashing this
new material live having had them locked up. Did you lock up the songs and wait
or did you play them out gradually?
LUCY: Yeah, before we recorded, because
we recorded last Christmas time so we started playing some of the new songs
just to play them live, work them out. ‘Settle them!’ and then ever since we
recorded we’ve been playing one or two songs of the record.
GWENNIE: and then now tonight we’re playing
out big local Sacramento release party and we’re gonna play the whole album all
the way through.
Fantastic, where are you playing?
GWENNIE: It’s Harlows, which is a
bar/nightclub deal. It’s an all ages show. Doors are at 7.00! and we play last…
LUCY: Out of three bands. We’re probably
on at eight.
Do you have to prepare for something
like this? Or is it a more natural feeling?
LUCY: Well we had to practice a few of the
songs because some of them we’ve never played live in front of people before,
so we were like ARGH!! So that was
funny, definitely interesting trying to get songs to sound right ( laughs) but
other than that I mean we’ve been playing all summer so pretty ready.
Yeah pretty trained up! When you’ve
been writing this album, what progressively felt different this time to the
past four albums in your dynasty? Did you feel you were moving onto something
fresh for sure?
GWENNIE: Our evolution of recording has
changed a lot if you consider the really early beginning, because ‘Til You’re
Mine’ is our fifth release so the first one it’s pretty simple but it was
recorded digitally so you have like a little extra time to do those edits and
mess around with it. The second one was still digital and it was definitely
more creative as far as exploring and
adding all sorts of crazy things and making a lesser amount of tracks. But our
last three have been recorded on analogue tapes so ‘Lost Control’ and ‘Body’
sounds live, rawer. Then we took everything from ‘Lost Control’ and just made
it better for ‘Volume Four’ and the difference between ‘Volume Four’ and ‘Til
You’re Mine’ is probably like, we’ve recorded demos of ourselves in between
recording so we listen to them a lot more. Recording them in the studio isn’t
the first time we’ve actually thought about
recording them.
LUCY: We can play them back and listen to
them and be like “Oh we should add this harmony here” or “we should add this
chorus again here” or “We should add a bridge here/ take this part away.”
GWENNIE: Listening to it over and over again,
it really really helps.
LUCY: Yeah it really does, I mean I
definitely feel like, it upped our song writing and made it more legit.
It’s all been pretty experimental! I
guess that’s what the fun is of creating your fifth album now! Do you feel
freer without as many limitations as you’ve evolved?
GWENNIE: We do have actually a handful of
songs that haven’t been released so once we released ‘Lost Control’ we were
going for a certain sound but we can’t like change it up too soon.
LUCY: Yeah we have some acoustic songs,
that sound really nice and peaceful
GWENNIE: But
we didn’t want to release them to confuse people of what our actual sound is. A
little later later album we could do this acoustic thing for fun.
LUCY: Yeah so keep your eyes peeled for an
acoustic album in the future.
-It’s gonna
happen!!
GWENNIE: But it won’t be our next one either!
Which is funny. Maybe like Album seven. But Album 6 is definitely for the
rockers...
LUCY: Album six is one to be excited for!
We’re over half way done with it and let me tell you… it’s exciting!
So working on the next album
simultaneously as the current one, it that the way you prefer to do things?
GWENNIE: Yeah I feel like in this age where
social media is so instant. Peoples patience and attention spans are really
short so if you not constantly having something out every year now I think it’s
too much time. In the past we’ve done every other year, but recently we’re releasing every year.
It’s hard but we try!
Keeps the motivation for sure! So if
you were to sit an average punk in a room listening to your album ‘Til You’re
Mine’ , what sonically and in terms of inspiration should they expect in your
record?
LUCY: Normally we get compared to The
Ramones, just because they influenced us a lot with the same simple song
structure and whatnot. We also get compared to Bikini Kill and L7, Riot Grlll
bands. Those are the main ones recently.
Interesting point that you raise
about your comparison to Riot Grll bands, do you feel that movement is still
relevant to be aligned with? A lot of Journalists and DJ’s seem to label female
bands with the 90’s genre, yet some of these artists think it should be left in
that evolutionary time frame. What would you say to someone who listened to
your sound and immediately labels you as Riot Grlll?
GWENNIE: I think politically, the issues are
still very, very relevant.
LUCY: So it’s pretty cool to be compared
to Riot Grll because you can still think of it as continuing, I know it’s not
as concentrated as it was in the 90’s, it’s still continuing on. Problems
haven’t been solved.
GWENNIE: In social media too, there’s been
more awareness of all the issues. The college campus rape scandals have been on
the news more frequently. I mean they’ve always been happening, but due to the
internet people are hearing about it a lot more, it’s not just being hidden
away. And because everything is rising up in the music too..
LUCY: Like it means something to be
associated with Riot Grllll. Something powerful.
GWENNIE: It resonates within you!
I think it all resonates within us
secretly, even bands are afraid to admit it sometimes. It’s wicked that you openly find it a motivational
cause. So you’ve both just graduated from High School?
GWENNIE: High school, yeah!
LUCY: I’ve just graduated from High School.
Congratulations.
BOTH: Thank
you, Univeristy… going to college!
So in that classroom situation, when
you were in High School, what kind of a reaction did you get from your
classmates and your teachers of your music? Was it a positive one, or did they
react differently to how you might expect?
GWENNIE: I feel like for the kids in our classes there
wasn’t too much of a reaction. Some of the teachers they’d understand it more
because like Rock’n’Roll was more prevalent in their era growing up. But in
college I feel like they’re definitely more aware and more stoked about it.
LUCY: Yeah, that’s funny!
GWENNIE: Both teachers and students.
LUCY: They really honestly just don’t KNOW
what’s going on. It’s not really all their fault. But it’s funny cos the
teachers’ are like “ Woah that’s cool”. Like when did we go on tour with The Aquabats?
GWENNIE: That was last year right?
LUCY: Yeah, This past August we had to
miss school and I had to miss a week of school to go on tour with The Aquabats
on the east coast and I was like telling my teachers and then one of them was
like “Woahh! Where are you playing?” and I said “ At the Gramercy Theatre in
New York and she replied “ Are you serious?”
They wanted to come!
LUCY: Yah! She was like “Oh My God”. It
was pretty cool, like she was stoked. It’s funny we get written up in the
newspaper sometimes, you know the Sacremento Newspaper and obviously kids don’t
read the newspaper but adults do! (laughs) so a teacher will come in at school
in the morning and be like “ Lucy I saw you in the newspaper! Like wow!”
It wasn’t one of those embarrassing
things where you get read out in assembly was it?
LUCY: No, but we did actually play kind of…
a school dance but it was like a *elaborates* suaree and there was like no one
there; they were trying to get kids to go, but all the kids were like “I’m not
going to this.”
GWENNIE: There were definitely a handful of
kids, it wasn’t like your average dance attendance crowd but I though there
were a lot of people in the room.
LUCY: Yeah it was funny, other than that….
yeah we really haven’t played anything for school.
So, coming back home from a U.S Tour,
you came back a few weeks ago, where did you play?
LUCY: Yeah we did get back recently. A
band called Sneeze Attack is the band we went with.
That was fun
Gwennie and I, we played in Sneeze Attack so we played two sets a night. I just
got really buff from drumming all the time.
GWENNIE: Chronologically we went out for two
weeks in Nevada with Jakob Danger and then following that we had a few days off
and then we went out with Sneeze Attack; we started in California and went all
the way to the East Coast, played in New York and made our way to California
again!
LUCY: It was about three weeks. So we were
out for a while, but it’s nice to come back you know relax for a second!
GWENNIE: Yeah we’ve hardly been back and now
we’re going!
LUCY: And now we’re having a celebration
for our record tonight, that’s exciting!
Is there any comedown from tour? You’ve
had the release of your album and everything is jam packed…
GWENNIE: It’s been pretty hectic coming back,
cos it’s only been a few days; we’ve gotta see all our friends, we have to pack
for the move, we have to do band practice a bunch. I have a college class I’m
doing online so I’ve been studying online and I have a paper I still need to
do!
What’s the paper for?
GWENNIE: It’s an Operations Management Course
and I’m writing it for Zappos.com.
Sounds academic…
GWENNIE: Yeah I’m going to be analysing their
warehousing and distribution, pretty exciting. Packaging yay!
For sending out your band merch in
the future, hell yeah, that’s handy.
Typing in Dog Party on the internet
and you guys are all over Youtube- live, on record, everywhere. What would you
say to a dorky teenager who turns up to your show about your presence on stage?
LUCY: We’re just going so fast; lightening
and thunder and blah, fuzz loud, drums! We’re just like up in your face (
grawaahhh!)
GWENNIE: For any random person and what they
should expect it changes every time; we’ve seen people get totally smashed in
the mosh and what not. Other ones are appreciative but in a way that they’re
not so violent!
Which one do you prefer?
GWENNIE: I mean I like to see the energy and
them singing our songs with us, it’s definitely really cool it’s the coolest
thing ever but I feel bad when I see girls in the front getting slammed into
the stage.
LUCY: Yeah it makes me feel bad.
GWENNIE: Definitely the show coming up with
The Garden, that one’s gonna be crazy.
Talking of siblings, let's talk about
this gig coming up in October. What do we need to know?
LUCY: That there’s A LOT of siblings
playing this show, so it should be like trippy for everyone like ( gasps!) Jakob Danger (
fangirls) which is Joey from SMWRS’s younger brother ANDDD in the band there’s
two brothers, Chris and Enzo…
GWENNIE: And then in SWRMS there is, of
course, Joey but Max and Cole are siblings and then The Garden. So that’s
siblings, siblings!
The Garden show will kick off, having
seen them it’s amazing what they do on stage, it must be fantastic to be able
to share that platform with them ! Have you met The Garden Twins before?
GWENNIE: No Never. So it should be cool.
Wyatt Shears ( The Garden) broke my
phone with his long angelic arms dancing-he’s beautiful.
As sisters in a duo, is your onstage or your
recording relationship different to how other music projects with other people
fare? In your heads is it a stronger bond between than other arrangements?
LUCY: I do believe that.
GWENNIE: Yeah we definitely have that
telepathy going on!
LUCY: Playing music may be like we communicate
with each other and then when it comes together it unites and becomes this
coolness. It’s cool cos we’re playing together and writing and stuff and I feel
like we can have more fun and mess around more and say what we feel much easier
about things…
GWENNIE: Like we’re always going to be
sisters regardless of any other band combination of people where if like, you
say something, it could be the end *hysterical laughter*.
Have you ever wrote lyrics that slag
each other off?
GWENNIE: Yeah ‘Cry’!
Oh yeah ‘Cry’.
She wrote cry about me it was when we were playing soccer in the backyard and I
was being the biggest baby about losing.
GWENNIE: Yeah she can’t really loose so..
LUCY: That was
when I was younger!
GWENNIE: I was dominant in *English accent* ‘football
and she did not like that
LUCY: *Abruptly* Yeah. So ‘Cry’ is about
me if you were wondering!
I think it’s really unique to have
that honesty in a band in terms of writing and lyrical power it opens up every
boundary that may be shut to other bands who are provincial or uptight. Last
question but least; in your lives right now Dog Party seems like a pretty
empowering path to take, do you see yourselves ever in life, doing anything
else other than musically kicking ass?
GWENNIE: I don’t really know from me. Because
when I was younger and I’d think about the future I wouldn’t think up till
about high school of what I’d be doing past then for some reason. And then I thought
maybe once I get past high school it’ll jump but I can’t really think much
about the future. It’s weird.
LUCY: I mean music is my number one and
like for sure I want to be doing music, but if that doesn’t really pan out
definitely something in art for sure. Like I’m, really into makeup, so I dunno
maybe something like that! But music is where it’s at.
GWENNIE: Like we’re at school now we’re
getting our education on but like if anything big happens to bands schools are
really understanding and they’ll probably allow us to take a rest bite, come
back later.
LUCY But definitely music is where it’s
at.
Are you hoping to come back to Europe? When
was the last time you visited?
GWENNIE: We came two years ago and then two
years before that. We hoped that this summer would be Europe again, but
possibly next summer maybe we can ‘jump the pond’ or whatever it’s called!
Buy Dog Party's NEW ALBUM- 'TIL YOU'RE MINE' http://asianmanrecords.storenvy.com/collections/234988-new-releases/products/1238860-dog-party-til-youre-mine-lp
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