When I asked breakout punk group Girl Tones if they come from somewhere beyond mere Planet Earth, they laughed, yet I’m not sure what they found more amusing: the question, or the idea that the concept of them being earthlings could be true.
It is hard to define the duo, who is composed of sisters Kenzie (guitars/vocals) and Laila (drums). Both classically trained on the cello and piano, respectfully, the sisters soon grew tired of classical music’s monotony before slamming headfirst into loud, buzzy and in-your-face punk rock.
Girl Tones have made great headway in the last few months, already crossing off major bucket list items so early on in their career. Over the last couple of months, Girl Tones have been opening for Cage the Elephant on their Neon Pill tour, and recently announced they will continue to support them on the road early next year. The sisters made their musical debut back in August with their inaugural single “Fade Away,” and have released their second single, “Again,” today along with a cinematic new music video. Both singles have been released via Parallel Vision, the record label owned by Cage the Elephant guitarist Brad Shultz.
“Again,” an explosive and raging sophomore single, is inspired by the concept of people repeatedly showing their true colors and facing constant disappointment in their actions. The cacophonous composition found within “Again” coincides flawlessly with the track’s overall theme of feeling anger when people repeatedly reveal their real personality. When combined with a theatrically artsy music video, listeners are left with wonder and fury. However, Girl Tones admit that there may be more to this single that meets the eye — a common theme to be found within their artistry.
Although Girl Tones’ hard-hitting introduction onto the music scene has cemented them as punk’s latest defining stars, a debut album is in the works that the sisters say will show listeners just how much they’re capable of. While undeniably a mysterious force of nature, Girl Tones are a definitive rock ‘n’ roll group in this modern era as they fuse together playfulness with brutality.
Thank you so much for taking the time today! You guys have been touring with Cage the Elephant these last few months and you’re going to tour with them early next year as well. What has touring with them been like so far?
Kenzie: It’s been a blast. It’s been a great learning experience for us to be thrust into these bigger shows. We’ve definitely learned a lot. It is a lot of fun, but it is a lot of work too.
Laila: It’s been very surreal. Playing venues like Red Rocks is just an out of body experience. Because it’s so many people and when you’re in the moment it really hits you. It’s just building up to this thing happening and then you actually get to it and you’re like, ‘What is happening? This is so incredible.’
Kenzie: Also I would say that we are just so grateful for all these opportunities that we have been given. It truly is an honor and it’s something we never would have dreamed of to happen. I mean, these are life goals we are meeting. So it means the world that we get to do this.
You guys are so early on in your career. How does it feel to have this much success already?
Kenzie: It’s definitely overwhelming, and the nerves get to you like I said. We take everything pretty much one day at a time. It’s just good practice and we slowly have been getting used to it more, playing for these bigger groups and everything. It’s a really amazing experience that we get to have, so we cherish it deeply.
You’ve toured with Cage the Elephant and you guys have collaborated a lot with Brad Shultz, releasing your singles through his label Parallel Vision. How has that collaboration with Cage the Elephant been for you in terms of your music?
Laila: As far as working with Brad as our producer, it’s been very eye-opening because we haven’t really recorded in the studio a whole lot before he started working with us. We had never worked with a producer until he started working with us, so just having that outside perspective to help us see our songs through a different light was definitely very helpful. Because when you are so close to something, it’s hard to know what to change or how to change a song to make it what it could be. So that has definitely changed our songwriting a lot and elevated our songs. An outside perspective was definitely needed.
It’s cool that you’ve had so much success, and it’s great that you guys are learning a lot of these fundamental things early on. Going off of that, I did of course want to talk about the new single “Again.” It’s written about people who are constantly showing their true colors and being continuously disappointed in them. What inspired you guys to write a song about that topic?
Kenzie: Well, it’s really cool actually. I’ve really learned to love the song in a different way. When I first wrote it, it was definitely about a relationship that was very much like that. But as I’ve grown older and I’m able to look back on the song, I feel that I might have subconsciously written it about a different subject which is OCD, which I have. When I listen back to it, I relate it so much to the repetitiveness and obsessiveness of OCD. So I just think it’s really interesting that that song is not only about relationships, but it could also be interpreted as relationships with yourself and maybe your mental health and what that looks like to you and how you talk to yourself. Even the guitar melody is interesting because it hits the same note three times in a row. Even something small like that, to me now looking back is like, ‘Why did I do it three times in a row?’ Things like that.
How does it feel when you write a song and you have your own idea of what it’s about, and then everyone who listens to it interprets it all in different ways?
Laila: I feel like the goal for us is for the music to resonate with people, and that is up to the interpreter to take it how they want. Obviously the songs have meaning to us and the lyrics and everything are personal, but everyone’s going to see everything differently. I think that’s really cool that someone can see it and read it as a totally different concept or feeling than someone else. That’s what it’s all about, as long as it’s evoking an emotion and you feel like it resonates with you then I’m fine with that. I think it’s fascinating that people can interpret things and so vastly different of ways.
Kenzie: I agree, because when I wrote “Again,” I didn’t even think about that. But looking back, you never know what you’re subconsciously doing or what you’re going through at the time and how it plays out.
Obviously only the two singles have been released, but have you ever written other songs and looked back on them later on and viewed them in a whole new way?
Kenzie: Oh for sure. There’s one song that we wrote that had a lot to do with being bullied. I wrote that when I was like 18, and then we came to the studio when I was in my early twenties. You look back and you see the bitterness of your old self, you see how much pain you were actually in. But then, for me, I’ve learned to let things go as I’m older, so looking back at those lyrics I was like, we need to change these lyrics because it just does not relate to how I feel. So I guess in that regard, yeah. I mean who knows, releasing these songs now we can look back in 10 years and think they mean something else. That’s the beauty of it.
You say you’ll look back on songs and rewrite them or readjust, is that something you usually do with songs? Do you ever look at songs and you don’t want to change anything?
Kenzie: I think for me personally, once the song is recorded, I don’t want to go back and change it.
Laila: Yeah I would agree with that. Before the song is recorded, you try not to get too attached. I do ceramics, and that’s a big thing. At every stage in the ceramic process it’s like, at any point this entire thing could fall apart, and I just have to be okay with that, no matter how emotionally attached or how much I like it. It’s definitely similar until the final step of the recording. Until this piece has been fired in the kiln, I don’t know what it’s going to end up looking like. You got to learn to go with the flow.
Kenzie you mentioned earlier how “Again” is written with these repetitive guitar riffs which I thought just went really well with the song’s message. Was that intentional? How did that all come together?
Kenzie: Honestly, I don’t know if it was on purpose or not. I think at the time I wanted to write a super catchy melody on guitar and that’s just what came out. And then obviously I had the ideas. I honestly don’t remember too much about writing this. We did write the chorus in the studio, so I do remember that, but I think the riff came first and then the lyrics. So in that regards probably it was just two separate things that just went together.
When it comes to any of your songs in general, what usually comes first in the songwriting process?
Kenzie: It definitely depends. I will say the sweet spot is to have a good guitar or something or other and then take that and roll with it and see if lyrics go over. That’s usually how I like to do it, but it can just depend on the song.
Going off of that, I think it’s cool that you guys also both come from classical music backgrounds. I just love the “classical music to punk” pipeline, but how do those teachings from classical music translate into the music that you do now?
Kenzie: You saying that just makes me think the pipeline is you’re just bored with classical music and you want to do the extreme opposite of it. But it has definitely helped me, because I did classical and then I did some jazz stuff as well on cello. Learning scales and learning how to improvise helps tremendously with coming up with guitar riffs. Once you go from a fretless cello to a guitar with frets, it becomes so much easier, and it was just the next step in creating.
Laila: Definitely a similar thing for me where I had a good foundation in music and melodic instruments, specifically because that’s what I started on – piano, violin and the mandolin. I just kind of picked up drums on my own. It was the only thing that I didn’t take lessons for, so it made it more liberating. I still love to play piano and I still mess around on piano a lot. But when I played piano it was because I had to practice for my lesson. With drums it was just ‘I’m bored and I’m going to go do something fun.’ I definitely think with piano specifically, that’s such a good baseline instrument to get acquainted with music, because your hands have to work so independently of each other that then when it comes to drums where all your limbs are working independently, four limbs working independently is so much easier than 10 fingers working independently of each other. So that definitely was locked in when I started picking up drums because I’d been playing piano for however many years at that point. If you know how to play an instrument, it’s going to help you to learn another one. There’s so much overlap in all forms of music.
Would you ever consider experimenting with your music and incorporating classical elements like piano or cello?
Kenzie: Well, we have a piano song that’s recorded and ready to go, so yes. The really cool thing that I cannot wait for people to see is the diversity of this album. We have 8 songs. There’s “Again” and then there’s one other one that is super heavy. We have an acoustic song, we have a piano ballad with string instruments. It’s kind of all over the place, which is what we are like. We love all types of different music and we play all different types of music. So I just love that the album — which I cannot wait for you all to hear eventually — really reflects who we are as musicians. I understand why people say we’re punk, because we have a lot of punk songs, but I’m so curious when this other stuff comes out. I just feel like it’s a little bit genre-less.
You say you’re genre-less, and I also get the impression that you’re somewhat extraterrestrial. In the band’s bio, there seems to be this general theme of not being of Earth. Where does this come from and what does it symbolize for you two?
Kenzie: We want to be very mysterious. That’s all I can say [laughter]. We want to leave a little trail for people to follow, to learn the story as it goes along.
Well I’m definitely excited to see more of the story soon. Going off of that, what other messages or themes do you ultimately want to convey in your music?
Kenzie: I think it’s up for the earthlings to decide what it is.
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