By Kaitlyn Emslie Farrell
Dilly Dally is a name you might want to familiarize yourself with if you’re into that whole grunge, badass thing, and I hope you are. There are four of them in total. Katie Monks and Liz Ball have known each other awhile but Dilly Dally all began about six years ago. Some bassists and drummers came and went but they’re lucky now to have Jimmy Tony and Benjamin Reinhartz solidified within the group for the last year and a half.
So what’s the story behind their name? Well, not much other than they just came up with it. “We would have band meetings before we’d written any songs,” laughs Monks. “We would have these meetings where we would just go to bars and get very drunk and come up with these shit names.”
The group’s future identification came out of a journal entry by Monks when she was about twenty years old. “We thought it would be a cheeky name to go to the top with cause whenever you say you’re in a band people think you’re just screwing around and we were very, very serious.”
Monks says their writing process isn’t overly scientific, but rather very honest. “The process would just be very instinctual and natural,” says Monks. “Generally it’s just cause something intense happened in my life. Something emotional or I just feel inspired by something real.” Monks will take four chords playing them over and over and work off of that. “It almost becomes meditative. And then lyrics and melody come from that.” Once Ball’s part and the vocals are set, the bass and drums come very quickly.
Getting up one stage can be quite intense. “We have these things called power moves,” says Monks. After some noticeable nerves before a show, a sort of exercise routine was implemented. “It’s kind of like yoga but for people who are way more badass.” It’s only too bad these moves are backstage.
Nerves appear on stage maybe, but it’s tough enough just riding around. Touring can get a little cozy when you’ve got four people shoved in a vehicle. “It does get a little irritable. I don’t drive so I’m on my best behaviour when we’re touring. I try to be very charming and very funny. I have different creative car games that we do, a big hit is mad libs,” says Monks. “We’ve got our own mad libs as well. We’ve got a book of homemade mad libs that we’ve started, it’s great. We should start posting them online to be honest.” Dilly Dally fans would likely be interested in these other forms of art that the bandmates are creating whilst travelling but it’s not all fun and games on tour having to deal with the lack of privacy and financial issues. “[It’s] just a lot of ups and downs. Some of the funnest moments ever and sometimes the darkest moments ever,” says Monks. “And lots of sexual tension as well” Monks quickly adds, laughing.
Struggles aside, the band just wants to share their real life experiences. “All I really want is to connect with people on a very real human level. That’s what we all want in this band. And going back to the process of how we write the songs, it’s very natural and very intuitive and the more we reach deep inside ourselves and discover things about ourselves that we didn’t even know, through music, the more we’re able to connect with other people in this very deep, profound way, that’s completely impossible to do otherwise. I mean that’s what art is all about. And for me, to put that into words, is completely impossible,” says Monks.
The new album is great, I’ll be the first to admit it. Monks describes it as having a “cohesive sound.” The songs all come from a different place but Monks lumps them all together on the topic of honesty. “It’s just all instinctual, it’s hard to say there’s a calculated intention behind it, there just isn’t,” says Monks.
There have been a lot of changes over the life of the band. “So much has changed in six years. What has not changed is Liz and my own commitment to this project. We have always, always, always been 100% on this,” says Monks. “What has changed, is the biggest thing, Tony and Ben who are in the band now. Once they started playing with us there was a whole new energy.” Monks says they bring their own artistry to the table and now everything “feels complete.”
You can catch Dilly Dally at The Goodwill Social Club on October 23rd with locals SC Mira and Mullirgub. Don’t forget your “marry me” Backstreet Boys style fan sign. They’re kind of expecting it.