Catching Up with The Beaches

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When The Beaches describe themselves as "good girls gone great," they haven't told you the half of it. 
This four-girl indie rock band hailing from the beaches (get it?) of Toronto took 2014 by storm, releasing their first EP and playing SXSW. What's truly amazing? Not a single one of them is 21 yet. 

I caught up with this fierce group of females about their EP, performing, and what it's like to be young women in the music industry.

Before you were The Beaches, Jordan and Kylie, you guys were in Done with Dolls. What’s the biggest difference between DWD and The Beaches? 

Kylie: There are so many differences between DWD and The Beaches. When Jordan, Eliza and I were writing songs for Done With Dolls, we were 12 & 13 years old, and we've matured a lot since then. The quality and sound of the songs has improved as we evolved into The Beaches. Another big difference is that we didn't have Leandra in the band when we were DWD. She brings so much to the table during the writing process because she comes from a classical piano background. Her level of musical skill makes the songs more complex and interesting than they were in DWD.

How would you describe your sound?

Kylie: To me, our sound is hard to explain. In my opinion, our music is a collision of two worlds, the synth and the guitar. Our sound is based off trying to find a balance between these two colliding worlds. You could also refer to it as "synth based rock". 

You guys opened for Mother Mother; tell me about that experience.

Kylie: We've opened for MM a couple of times now and we always have such great times with them. They are a fucking amazing band and they have really great fans. Their audiences tend to be really responsive to our music and are very supportive. A lot of the time when you play opening gigs the crowd just wants to see the headliner. We really look up to MM so opening for them was surreal. Hope to do it again soon! 

You also played SXSW! That’s huge! What was that like? 

Kylie: SXSW was so crazy, we had such a blast. Going to that festival had been a dream of mine ever since I was a little girl. The whole thing was just a really crazy experience. We didn't sleep at all, we played a bunch of shows, but didn't get to see any because we were underage. Can't wait to go again once we're 21 so we can actually see the great shows the festival has to offer.

And of course, being from Chicago, I have to ask about your experience at Riot Fest. 

Leandra: I mean, Toronto didn't have amusement rides like the Chicago festival did, but we still had a really great time. We flew in on the red eye from LA, went home to shower, then played the show. I remember being so incredibly tired, but feeling so pumped to play the show since we had been looking forward to it for months. We had an awesome crowd for our set, and got to see some of our favourite bands perform. Unforgettable moment for us. 

If you could tour with any band or artist, who would it be?

Eliza: I would love to tour with St.Vincent. She's such a strong, unique artist and she's so sure of herself. I think we would learn a lot from a tour with her, she's such a bad-ass. 

Let’s talk about your EP, Heights. What was the writing process like?

Leandra: We wrote a bunch of songs by individually bringing in different parts and jamming on them together as a band. We found that that method worked best for us (and still does), as we were able to become inspired by each other's little ideas, whether it be a guitar riff, or a synth line. In the end we had all these songs, but only room for 5 on the EP, so we perfected them and chose the best ones.

Also, I love the album artwork for Heights. Where’d that come from?

Kylie: We are all a fan of our mutual friend Olivia Jarvis's work. Once we had the tracks, and a name for the EP we contacted her and asked if she was interested in doing our album artwork. She was and had already painted the image and when we saw it, we all thought it was perfect for the Heights EP artwork. She's an amazing artist, everyone should check out more of her work. 

What’s your favorite song of yours to perform live? 

Eliza: I love performing Four Words - it's a song we only play live, but I get to show off a bit on the drums so that's always fun. 

“The Dance” is my personal favorite song on the EP. What was the inspiration for that song? 

Jordan: I guess "The Dance" was one of those songs that wasn't really inspired by anything. The other girls just wrote music for it and I just sang what I was feeling at the time.

What about the “Little Pieces” video? You filmed and directed that yourself, which is awesome. It’s super crazy and grunge. How did you come up with the concept for that? 

Jordan: We wanted to create a feeling with our Little Pieces video that would be consistent to the song - something uncomfortable. So we worked together to create some characters that could freak people out. Mostly we just had fun with it.

I know it’s not on the EP, but I absolutely love “Absolutely Nothing,” especially the music video, clearly a jab at “Blurred Lines.” The line “All I want is absolutely nothing from you” absolutely slays me. Did you write that song as a response to “Blurred Lines,” or had you already written it? 

Jordan: We had already written the song, it's actually on our first EP. The director of the video, Rankin, came up with the idea to play with the Blurred Lines thing. 

And how was filming that music video? It looked like you guys were having a blast. Eliza: That was the best experience I've had filming a video, for obvious reasons. We had the chance to work with the extremely talented UK photographer, Rankin, who was so awesome. I'd love to do another video like that. 

One of the Youtube comments on that music video is that it’s “feminism: the song.” Would you guys say that you’re feminists? 

Jordan: Absolutely. 

This is totally not music related, but I saw on Facebook that Jordan just got a tattoo. What is the meaning behind those eyes on your wrists? 

Jordan: I guess I've always liked eyes, I don't even know why, maybe because I find them very revealing and beautiful. 

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Having started in the music scene so young, I’m sure growing up has been a lot different for you guys than it is for most girls. How have your careers as musicians affected your lives as teenagers? 

Eliza: We've been working really hard at this for a long time, since before we were teenagers, so it has always just been the norm for us. We went to school, did homework, hung out with friends, and did everything most teenagers get to do - we just get to play music and travel sometimes which is really cool. 


There has been an emergence of all-female bands (such as HAIM) as of late, and younger bands like Echosmith have reached insane amounts of fame. What’s it like in the industry fitting into both of these categories? 

Leandra: Sometimes, being a young girl band has it's disadvantages. Some people we've met at shows are surprised we can actually play our instruments because we are young girls. We're not always taken seriously, and we've even been mistaken for fangirls at our own shows...when we're actually the band. We kind of make the best of it though and actually use it to our advantage. We like to surprise people who don't know what to expect from us and show them that we do work as hard as any "older", "guy band" out there.

You guys are incredible role models for girls who want to break into the music industry. What would you like to say to girls your age or younger who want to be in your shoes someday?

Leandra: Follow your dreams and don't let anyone tell you that you can't achieve them. I know it's cheesy, but it's true. Ever since I was a little girl, my dream was to be in a band with a group of friends - two years ago these crazy people I now call my best friends asked me to be in their band, and here I am. I practiced the piano every day and never let go of my dream. When you find something that you really enjoy in life, you have to hold on to it - it makes for a better time. 

Will we be seeing you back in the states again any time soon?

Leandra: We'll be back in LA to write/record, but we're also hoping to play a couple festivals this year. If everything goes according to plan, we'll be seeing y'all real soon!

So what’s next for you guys? 

Leandra: We'll be spending this year writing and recording, and working towards our first full-length album. We love performing, so we'll also be squeezing in some shows/festivals here and there. Stay tuned! 


For more information on The Beaches, follow them on Twitter @TheBeaches and check out their EP, Heights, on Soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/thebeachesband/sets/heights