Part 2

In terms of energy, what changes when you're performing live on stage, with an audience present, compared to the recording stage?

Char: When you are in the studio, the spotlight is brighter. You are under a microscope. Live is more of an energy exchange and you can use that to play and it will often make you play a little different

Emma: It’s like the difference between acting for the stage and acting for the camera. There’s different things you get to lean into.

On stage, you’re becoming larger than life, to reach out to everyone in the room and invite them into what’s happening. In the recording studio, you get to be present just with the music itself, you hear things differently and play differently because of that. But both states inform each other.

How does the presence of the audience and your interaction with it change the energy of the music and how would you describe the creative interaction with listeners during a gig?

Emma: It’s one of the biggest elements of performing. It can really uplift what we’re doing. Or it can be something we’re actively working against. And it can also be easy to misinterpret the energy of an audience.

We will often have crowds that are quite still and it’s easy to assume that they are not engaged. But then people will come up to us saying that they were deeply moved or enamored of what we were doing. And so their stillness was more of a reverence than a disengagement.

What kind of feedback have you received from listeners or concert audiences in terms of the experience that your music and/or performances have had on them?

Alli: When people mention being touched by the music in a deep way. It is very gratifying knowing people are tapping in with us in that way and understanding where I am coming from.

Char: People do talk a lot about the size of our sound and how tight we are as a group. For me, those two things go hand in hand. The perceived size has a lot to do with us being well rehearsed.

Our song “Dizzy” has a lot of turns and changes that are fun for us



Emma: I think people really appreciate the dedication and sincerity they feel from us and our music. That there is a lot of melody and pathos, not just rocking and rolling.

That there are moments where they want to dance and head bang but others where they just want to stand still and take it in, maybe even shed a tear

Would you say that you prefer to stay in control to be able to shape the energy or do you surrender to it and allow the music to take over? Who, ultimately has control during a live performance?

Alli: I stay away from being in control during a live performance. It’s never a good feeling when you’re chasing the control but some things can take you out of the flow state. The practice allows you to better drop in.

Your performance is surrender and when you can get there and get the audience there, that's when things feel magical.

Char: Ideally you get to a place where you can surrender and the energy just flows through you. One thing isn’t in control of the other. You’re feeding off the energy and the energy is feeding off of you.

There’s no feeling like it and a lot of things have to line up for me to get there. Chasing it always.

Emma: The shows I struggle the most are definitely when I’m trying to be in control. When I feel really present with myself and my bandmates and the space and the audience, I don’t feel a control, but a command of the moment and of my instrument that feels really amazing.

I think everyone onstage and off has an equal contribution to the experience being had together.

The energy that music is able to generate can be extremely powerful. How, do you think, can artists make use of this energy to bring about change in the world?

Alli: I hope the power in our music can allow someone to break free of this everyday doom flow of human existence and truly be able to have their individual experience. Hopefully music and art can help break someone into a new frame of mind. Everyone needs to think for themselves.

Char: Well I have no interest in being a politician or a puppet. I hate politicians. They are all liars and pedophiles. I believe real change can come from people looking inward and luckily music does a really good job at helping people do that.

It’s not the answer but some music can really help you contextualize everything like your place in this universe and what this existence really is. Maybe it can help give you a glimpse at the big picture. This can lead to a change in state of mind.

Emma: I think change in the world starts with change on an individual and community level and music is a great vessel for people to be raw and authentic (both performers and listeners) with themselves and others.

And that energy gives people a lot of permission to know themselves and learn to know each other.