Your first album ‘Precious’ is out very soon! Some of the songs are already out in the world; how have you found the reaction so far?

Laila: It's been really cool! When we play the songs live, we actually see people singing along already, which is really cool. We've been working on this album for four years now, so it's been something we've been focussing on intensely for a very long time. So it's going to be a huge sigh of relief when it's finally out. Like ok… We did it… Finally! 

Kenzie:  Everyone [who has heard the album so far] is saying that everything feels cohesive, but all the songs are different enough that they stand alone. That is very flattering to us, and we're just thankful that people are picking up what we're putting down. 

Was there any live trial and error while writing the songs on the album?

Kenzie: I can't think of anything specific where we changed a song for the recording. I do think sometimes when we are playing live we will change things when we notice this song's not hitting as hard as it can. We think, what can we change to make it more interesting live? A live performance is its own beast. Sometimes you play it exactly like the recording, and it just doesn't translate. And so you have to figure out, how can I make this song that sounds awesome on a recording interesting live? So I think that's an interesting tidbit about that.

You've been non-stop touring for the last few years alongside some really cool bands; how has it been interacting with such a range of audiences?  

Kenzie: I think when you play with a rock band, the fans seem to be a bit more accepting of us and understanding of where we're coming from. So that's always nice when the audience is already in that rock space, and they're like, “okay, this is legit”. Gen Z and younger tend to be really shy at shows, so sometimes it's hard to read them. There are a couple of things that Leila and I try to do consistently, every single show, when we can tell they just are uncomfortable, or maybe just socially anxious. First of all, I yell at them a lot to get moving. But also just telling them, ‘It is okay to be comfortable; you are in a comfortable situation. You can have fun.’ The last couple of tours we've been going on, I have noticed that the younger generations are finally starting to come out of their shell a little bit more. I think after COVID, it was really hard; everybody obviously missed out on two years of socialising. So it's starting to catch up a little bit, but there has been a huge change in the crowd from before COVID versus after. I'm excited that people are excited to live in the world again. 

Laila: People have been opening up more. It's been encouraging to see. 

Being such a fierce live presence, do you write music with performance in mind?

Laila: I think we always write with the live energy in mind. There's definitely some stuff where we're like ‘this is a closer’ or ‘this is an opener’. We can definitely feel like what brings the most energy. It’s not the only thing, but it is something that you observe when you're writing or making something; you can feel that the energy is gonna translate really well. But I don't think it's always done on purpose. I think it's just something that naturally comes.

Despite being a two-piece, your sound and your presence fill any room you play in. How important do you believe a strong stage presence is as an artist? 

Laila: It's incredibly important. I mean, if you go to see a band that you really love and they have no energy live, it's really quite boring. Bands that we’re influenced by, they have such a strong live presence that it's inescapable, and if you don't have the live energy, then you need to have the big, demanding sound. You can't have neither. We've worked really hard to hone our energy; Kenzie's stage presence is crazy. She's running around like a maniac, and it gets people hyped up. That's something that, as we toured, definitely has developed more and more, because you need to learn what works for the audience and what brings them alive. 

Kenzie: FACTS!

Is there anyone you have used as an inspiration in finding your own stage presence? 

Kenzie: Of course, Jack White, specifically watching videos of him during The White Stripes era. Matt Schultz of Cage the Elephant is a madman on stage. Cage has, in my opinion, one of the best stage presences ever. So we try to take everything we can from them. Especially Brad [Schultz], just jumping in the audience or throwing his guitar at people or, you know, whatever else. It's all about the vibes.

Are there any concerts or performances you go back and watch all the time? 

Laila: Easy number one is [Talking Head’s] ‘Stop Making Sense’. Oh, what are we even talking about? That's like one of the best, not one of the best. That is the best concert film of all time. It makes me cry every time I see it. 

Kenzie: I just know you could put on any Michael Jackson and I'm gonna be entertained. You know what I mean?

Laila: He is insanely impressive too. When he did the ‘Bad’ tour, his band was all on a platform behind him, and he had the entire front stage, just him and a microphone. That's all you need: no backup dancers, no anything. Obviously, the band is giving it their all, but they're significantly behind him; you cannot match that energy. He doesn't need anything! It's just him and going freaking nuts and it's amazing! It's like in the Michael Jackson movie, there's that one scene where he does this move where his neck goes around or whatever, and it goes to the audience, and there's this guy just sobbing. I would too, if I were there. I would also be crying because what the hell is he doing, and why is it so good?

Would you ever want to make a concert film?

Kenzie: Maybe if our budget goes up a little bit, some lights on stage... We got a little ways to go before that.

Your vintage style is super playful; does the way you present yourself on stage change the way you play music? 

Kenzie: I think it allows us to separate our personal selves and personal lives; it creates a type of character for us. I think our identity, as far as the primary colours, was probably the smartest thing we have done in this project, because it has given us these rules that we can follow. It gives us cohesiveness and personality. I'm not dressed like that every single day. I love sweatpants. I love big t-shirts. It gives us that separation to kind of free ourselves even more and to be more immersed in a live setting. 

Have you noticed people dressing to theme for shows? 

Kenzie: People who work with us will dress on theme, which is fun. I love that when they're working the merch booth, they're also in primary colours; it's cute. We're about to do our first headline tour, so who knows, maybe people will show up. Maybe we should say something. 

Laila: Yeah, dress up! That's always fun. We could give them a free sticker or something for dressing up. That is a good idea!

When you went about creating your signature look, were there any major inspirations? Did you seek out a uniform or did things fall into place naturally?

Laila: Having a colour scheme was our first step when we were deciding on how to brand ourselves and make it so we're matching, but not wearing the exact same thing all the time. [Our inspiration] was definitely The White Stripes. I would say a lot of visual inspiration comes from Devo and bands like that where they're just so overtly stylised, you know it's them. Oliver Tree is that way too. It's like every single detail makes sense, and that's just something that's always appealed to us. So once we came up with that colour scheme, everything else just fell into place. I think it was a really important step, and it made it a lot more fun and less overwhelming. We want our outfits to make sense together, but they don't have to be identical. So it's made it so much easier because we create a colour palette.

Kenzie: And the cool thing about that is, we're not gonna stick with primary forever. Our plan at the moment is, with the second album, it would be secondary colours and just build that way and experiment around. So it's like a fun challenge for us to try and figure out how this is going to work… Keep it fresh. 

How has creating the visual identity of the album been? Do you have an image in mind as you write or do the ideas come later?

Kenzie: Usually it's later. I think most musicians do this when you finish a song and you listen to it in the car. And so when you're driving around listening to it in the car, that for me is when I start getting these visual ideas. But we also work with this guy named Casey Pierce, who did our ‘Burnout’, ‘Fade Away’, and ‘Blame’ music videos. He came up with those ideas by himself, and they just feel perfectly cohesive in our world. Visual artists definitely help us. We had another claymation music video for ‘Got It’ by this artist named Chloe Tyler. And again, it was something where we just laid out the perimeters, “stick to the primary colours and just go at it”, and she made a super cool video. It’s a very collaborative process. 

Eylem Boz

@itwslv

Image: Kaio Cesar & Lindsay Wong