The Beaches
Interview + Photos by Kayla Smith
pictured: Kylie + Jordan
The Beaches are a Canadian rock band made up of sisters Jordan Miller on bass and vocals and Kylie Miller on lead guitar, Eliza Enman-McDaniel on drums, and Leandra Earl on guitar and keyboards. Following up on their 2017 debut LP, Late Show, the group just released a new EP, The Professional, through Universal Music Canada. Since April, they’ve been supporting Passion Pit, on their 10th Anniversary Manners tour. During their stop at NYC’s Pier 17, I sat down with Kylie to talk about touring, taco bell, and women in music.
Kayla:
Thank you so much for taking the time to talk! To start off, I think we have a lot in common. I was also in an all female band in for six years. I did some digging and were you guys also sponsored by Taco Bell?
Kylie:
Yes! Oh, my goodness, Feed the Beat?
Kayla:
Yes, Feed the Beat!
Kylie:
Those gift cards...they've saved our lives on this tour. We're just running out now. We also didn't appreciate and love Taco Bell as much at the time when we got them. It's not as big of a thing in Canada but when we started coming to the states, the locations are but way better and it's the only thing that's ever open super, super late. It's so good and I feel like it's the best thing to come home to. Get Taco Bell and then go to your hotel. It's so fun.
Kayla:
It feels like home.
Kylie:
It really does.
Kayla:
Feed the Beat is a great program! Also, I don't know if this is true, but did you guys open for Cherie Currie?
Kylie:
We did open for Cherie Currie.
Kayla:
We opened for Cherie Currie too!
Kylie:
That's crazy. But she played in Hamilton Ontario and we opened up for her and her son was in the band.
Kayla:
So we both opened up for Cherie Currie back in 2013.
Kylie:
That's crazy.
Kayla:
Who would have thought?
Kylie:
Feed the beat.
Kayla:
Truly. Your latest EP, The Professional, just dropped and it's full of absolute bops. How do you feel your sound has evolved since Late Show?
Kylie:
Thank you so much. I think being able to collaborate with our producer, Jacknife Lee, really elevated the sound. We definitely pulled from a lot of different influences when we were writing the songs on the EP. We actually listened to a lot of dance music, 1970s funk, and James Brown and I feel like that influenced us to make a more dance sounding rock record.
Kayla:
Yeah, that definitely comes through.
Kylie:
It comes through and the thing about Late Show is that the writing and recording- just everything that had to do with that record- really came from 100% us. It was totally self sufficient and our producers really didn't change our demos too much. That record sounds like what our demos sound like when we record them ourselves. By working with someone else and having more of a collaborator, it definitely brought a whole other thing to the table.
Kayla:
Do you have time to write on the road?
Kylie:
I mean it's so crazy because now you can record ideas on your phone. You can write little notes down. So we're constantly staying creative when we're traveling. But for finishing The Professional, we actually came down to Los Angeles and stayed there for a week recording before we went on tour. So the turnaround for the entire thing was super quick.
Kayla:
I'm really in love with “Snake Tongue”. It is so relatable and an anthem for any woman who has ever received unwanted attention or advances. Were there any specific moments that inspired the lyrical content?
Kylie:
Oh, thank you. Honestly, yeah. We've actually had the song for a really long time. But it was about something completely different and when we were working with Jacknife, he wasn't really vibing with the lyrics and neither was Jordan. She knew that she wanted to take a different stance and really change what the song was about. When we were going into the studio that day to rewrite, she had no idea what she was going to do. Then, someone cat called her on the street and she was super mad and frustrated. It really caught her off guard but she ended up writing the song about that experience.
Kayla:
I love taking something not so positive and turning into an anthem.
Kylie:
An anthem.
Kayla:
A true anthem. The music video is gorgeous and it goes so well with the song. Can you tell me about what the process behind creating it was like?
Kylie:
We worked with this really amazing Canadian director who lives in L.A. Her name is Allie Pankiw.
Kayla:
Women supporting women, I love it.
Kylie:
Yes. She's amazing and she came up with the concept, which we immediately fell in love with. Jordan is someone who really pays attention to visuals and whenever she writes a song, she thinks about what the music video is going to look like. Her vision for what she pictured the video to be and Ally's really were so cohesive.
Kayla:
That makes it so much easier when you have a director who understands your vision and what you want visually.
Kylie:
And it was amazing because the entire team, I kid you not, was all strong women.The director, the producers, the camera women. It just seemed like such a strong unit and I was so happy to be a part of it. It was the most comfortable that I've ever felt doing a video. We are so grateful for her and her team. They did such a good job of capturing everything.
Kayla:
How has touring with Passion Pit been?
Kylie:
It's been so fun. The guys in the band are so nice. They've been so helpful and welcoming to us. I don't know if it relates to you, but I was a massive Passion Pit fan when I was growing up.
Kayla:
Totally, in high school I had Manners on repeat.
Kylie:
Yes exactly! Every night I get to hear that and it brings me right back to such a nostalgic good place in my life. I feel like when you're at that age, music just means so much more. Not that it doesn't mean a lot now, but that's the most important music has ever been in my life.
But I'm loving it because I get to experience that every night. I also get to see a crowd having all those feelings that I have and being brought back, it's amazing.
Kayla:
What's been your favorite tour memory thus far?
Kylie:
There's been a lot of really fun moments. I think definitely playing places where we played such a small room the first time and then having some of those people who came to those shows, come back to see us again with Passion Pit. It has been cool to see that there's been growth here in the states even though we're Canadian.
Kayla:
Americans love Canadians! Any snake tongue moments dealing with creeps?
Kylie:
There's been a couple of people who come to the shows and they go up to Jordan and Leandra, because they go to the merch table to hang out after our set. There's been a couple of people who kind of come up and say the classic, “I thought you guys were going to suck because you were a girl band”.
Kayla:
Yes we got quite a few times as well. Always “ You’re so good for a bunch of girls!”, the classic backhanded compliment.
Kylie:
It's such a weird thing and that used to happen a lot more when we were just starting. It hasn't been happening as much, but we're playing for different audiences here. For the most part , everyone's been great!
Kayla:
It's interesting that these men think that those backhanded compliments are okay to say.
Kylie:
I don't know why anyone would think that's a normal thing to say. It's just very strange. But at the end of the day, if you make an impact on that person, they're not going to see another all female band or woman working in music, and just assume that they aren’t talented. You just have to slowly continue to change people's perception of women in the music industry.
Kayla:
100%. What's your favorite song to play live?
Kylie:
Right now, I'd say “Fascination” is probably my favorite song to play live because no matter where we are, it gets the crowd up and dancing and moving. I can see that people connect immediately with that song just because it's got a pretty infectious hook. I like playing that a lot, especially when people don't really know our music. That one always grabs them.
Kayla:
You are really fun to keep up with on social media. Can you tell me about this infamous pregnant squirrel?
Kylie:
Oh, my God.
Kayla:
What's the deal with that?
Kylie:
That's Leandra's thing. Her parents feed this squirrel and it comes to their door. I've never seen an animal act this way, it's honestly nuts! There are no words. I'm glad that you like the pregnant squirrel. Leandra is going to be so thrilled.
Kayla:
I'm so curious.
Kylie:
I don't know it keeps coming back. It's been there for awhile...two years maybe. I don't know. It's a weird animal.
Kayla:
I know, I have so many follow up questions, but we won't go there. What's next for The Beaches in 2019?
Kylie:
The plan is to continue to tour. We're playing some really cool shows in the UK next month that we're excited about. Throughout the summer we have some more festivals lined up and we hope to come back to the states sometime early fall. We just want to continue to build worldwide and honestly we love touring. We love playing shows, that's our favorite part of this entire experience, other than obviously all being best friends.