Interview with Dog Party
Photo by Cecilia Rogue
Rezine: Who does what in the band?
Lucy: Gwendolyn Giles plays guitar and sings & Lucy Giles (me!) plays drums and sings
Rezine: What's the story of Dog Party?
Lucy: Gwennie picked up a guitar when she was 9 after unsuccessfully trying to play flute in the school band. Following her rock'n'roll influence, I decided I wanted to play the drums. We were playing our instruments separately, and when a family friend who was a musician caught wind, he promptly came over to our house and had us play together. By the end of the night we were ripping Surfin' USA by the Beach Boys. We chose the name Dog Party because I really love dogs and wanted the word "dog" to be in the band. Gwennie thought of Dog Party.
Rezine: What's the name of the dog?
Lucy: We have 2 dogs! A pug named Terrance and a Chesapeake Bay Retriever named Bucky!
Rezine: What are your influences?
Lucy: When we first started, the White Stripes were a huge influence for us. Now we love the Ramones, X, Ty Segall, The Kills, The Babies, all kinds of rock'n'roll, and late 70s punk!
Rezine: What inspires your lirycs?
Lucy: Whatever is going on in our lives. Emotion drives our lyrics most of the time. We have some fun songs like Jet Pack and Flamingo Go! But we also have a more serious side.
Rezine: You have a new album 'Til Your Mine did you have a mindset for the creation of the songs?
Lucy: We didn't really have a mindset or vision for the topics of the songs. Just whatever we were thinking and feeling at the moments we wrote the song. There are songs about love, heartbreak, and songs with a more angry side. One of the songs, O Brave New World was written about Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.
Rezine: How does it compare to the previous album?
Lucy: When recording Vol.4, we wanted to take all the aspects that we loved from Lost Control and make a bigger, more mature sounding, louder, fuzzier record. We feel that 'Til You're Mine is a continuation of Vol.4. The mood and the tone differs slightly from where we are in our lives and we are constantly growing up and what not. It is interesting to look at all of our records and see the progression of maturity. Since we started so young, our records basically document our journey through adolescence.
Rezine: Why choose to do a cover of Bikini Kill? How much Katleen Hannah does inspire you?
Lucy: I saw Punk Singer and was absolutely blown away by Kathleen. People had always compared my voice to her's, but I hadn't really ever listened to her. After seeing the documentary, I fell in love with Bikini Kill, Le Tigre, and the Julie Ruin. She is one of the most badass, inspiring ladies on the face of the planet!
Rezine: What’s coming up for Dog Party?
Lucy: We are currently on a full US tour and pumping our new record 'Til You're Mine! After the summer ends, Gwennie will be going back to college at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo and I will begin studying at CSU Long Beach! We are constantly working and writing 😈😈😈 we always have something up our sleeves 😍