{"id":390,"date":"2010-02-04T09:59:33","date_gmt":"2010-02-04T15:59:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stylusmagazine.ca\/?p=390"},"modified":"2010-02-04T09:59:33","modified_gmt":"2010-02-04T15:59:33","slug":"the-pack-a-d-the-pack-is-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2010\/02\/04\/the-pack-a-d-the-pack-is-back\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pack A.D. – The Pack is Back"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Kent Davies<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"packad\"<\/p>\n

Maya Miller + Becky Black = the Pack A.D. Much has been said about this bad-ass East Van duo. Their brand of gritty, bluesy garage punk has captivated most critics and scored them legions of fans throughout the world. Beyond a doubt, Becky Black has one of the best voices in Canadian indie rock; her teetering, earth-shattering cries coupled with Maya Miller\u2019s thunderous drumming contains all the emotional punch of a hellfire sermon given by King Kong. Those who were fortunate enough to catch their live show at the Albert on their last tour can attest to the spiritually jarring effect you get when witnessing these women in action. Stylus caught up with the pair as they finished up their latest album in Vancouver.<\/p>\n

Stylus: You\u2019re currently in the studio working on a new album. How is that going?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Maya Miller: <\/strong>Actually we just finished that. We\u2019re just doing the layout. We had a long break before this one, so it wasn\u2019t as rapid-fire as the last two.<\/p>\n

Stylus: What\u2019s the process like when you\u2019re in the studio? Are the songs pretty good to go or is there a reevaluation period?<\/strong><\/p>\n

MM:<\/strong> For the first two albums we definitely came and had a set agenda of what we were going to do. This time around we specifically threw that out the window. We went into the studio essentially twice this year and allowed enough time so we could figure out stuff while we were there and feel more inspired.<\/p>\n

Stylus: What\u2019s the new album sounding like?<\/strong><\/p>\n

MM:<\/strong> It still sounds like us but it\u2019s a different version of us. It really is going in a different direction. There are only two songs that sound bluesy. The rest we\u2019ve progressed into this kind of rock-verging-on-pop thing. It\u2019s a heavier album, as well. It kind of felt natural for us to change a bit. Also it\u2019s just more fun to rock out.<\/p>\n

Stylus: I\u2019m guessing it\u2019s probably going to be on vinyl.<\/strong><\/p>\n

MM:<\/strong> Yep. The album was recorded to tape, so it\u2019s going to sound really nice on record.<\/p>\n

Stylus: Is it important to you to release your albums on vinyl?<\/strong><\/p>\n

MM:<\/strong> Yeah, I think so. I myself don\u2019t have a record player. It would be nice to have one. Becky\u2019s got one. We sell a lot of LPs. I think it\u2019s important to a lot of people that we have them. A lot of people buy records as opposed to CDs on tour. It sounds better. It\u2019s really expensive to make them. There is an iffy profit margin on that, but it\u2019s just the best way to present your music.<\/p>\n

Stylus: How long was your previous tour?<\/strong><\/p>\n

MM:<\/strong> Well, if you take away the really brief breaks we had it was basically an eight-month tour. I think we played 155 shows this year which beat last year by twenty.<\/p>\n

Stylus: You Say Party! We Say Die! recently had a stress-related incident while on tour. Do you ever lose your mind on tour?<\/strong><\/p>\n

MM:<\/strong> No, we\u2019re fine\u2026 [Chuckles.] No, I\u2019m kidding. Of course we do. It\u2019s a complete alternate reality of being on tour most of the year. The nice parts are not having to be in touch with mundane realities. It\u2019s kind of up and down. Some days it\u2019s fine. Some days you just want to go home. It really has a lot to do with the fact that most of your work day is spent driving and then waiting. The actual fun part is just playing the show.<\/p>\n

Stylus: You and Becky are basically musically married to each other. Do you ever get sick of each other on the road?<\/strong><\/p>\n

MM:<\/strong> Let\u2019s put it this way. People shouldn\u2019t spend this amount of time together. No one spends this much time together. Obviously, there are points when we probably want to murder each other, but most of the time we are on a pretty even keel. We know when to leave each other alone. We can go a whole day without talking and it\u2019s not any kind of issue.<\/p>\n

Stylus: Becky, I\u2019ve heard in previous interviews of your eclectic tastes in music but I\u2019m interested in the blues musicians that have influenced you musically?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Becky Black:<\/strong> Blind Willie Johnson, Robert Johnston. I also like old bluesy jazz which was basically blues stuff like Billie Holiday, Memphis Minnie and Bessie Smith. You know, there were a lot of female blues artists at that time that didn\u2019t really their due and still really haven\u2019t even, though they were completely prolific and they recorded some amazing music.<\/p>\n

Stylus: I was surprised to learn that you, Becky, have no formal voice training. Since you\u2019re screaming all the time for eight-month stretches, do you ever lose your voice?<\/strong><\/p>\n

BB:<\/strong> I don\u2019t lose my voice, generally. I get a cold and then I lose it, but it does get a little rough after awhile. I\u2019m probably damaging it in the long run, but I haven\u2019t noticed anything yet. Warm Grand Marnier helps it.<\/p>\n

Stylus:You are known for your rock-out antics during live shows. Have you ever had a rock-out mishap at a gig?<\/strong><\/p>\n

BB:<\/strong> Yeah, I have fallen on my face a couple times. One time in particular that I can remember in Vancouver, I went to jump off this big side subwoofer. I tried to get up on it but I missed because of how high it was and bailed and landed on my stomach. Once I was down I knew I had to make up for it so I grabbed someone\u2019s beer and drank it and threw it in the audience. I think most people thought I just staged dove for the hell of it but I was very embarrassed internally.<\/p>\n

Stylus: Now for a personal question. Are we ever going to hear Bone Handle live?<\/strong><\/p>\n

MM:<\/strong> Argh! You too. We get that a lot. I\u2019m sorry but it\u2019s probably never going to happen.<\/p>\n

BB:<\/strong> Yeah right. [Laughs.]<\/p>\n

MM:<\/strong> It\u2019s one of those things. That was from our first album and we played literally one show and then a friend of ours recorded us. We came up with \u201cBone Handle\u201d the day before we played it. Once it was on the album we thought it was best song ever but when we came back to it we really didn\u2019t think that any more. I don\u2019t know if we know how to play it anymore.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

The Pack are planning their triumphant return to Winnipeg in late March. In preparation for their next epic tour, Maya and Becky have requested that eight months\u2019 worth of mixtapes be sent to them, since they need tunes to listen to and their rickety old tour van doesn\u2019t sustain any new technology. Send your tapes to:<\/p>\n

The Pack A.D.<\/p>\n

c\/o Mint Records<\/p>\n

P.O. Box 3613, M.P.O.<\/p>\n

Vancouver, BC V6B 3Y6<\/p>\n

If you want to track the pack check out: www.thepackafterdeath.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Kent Davies Maya Miller + Becky Black = the Pack A.D. Much has been said about this bad-ass East Van duo. Their brand of gritty, bluesy garage punk has captivated most critics and scored them legions of fans throughout the world. Beyond a doubt, Becky Black has one of the best voices in Canadian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[161,454,976,1060],"class_list":["post-390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","tag-canadian","tag-indie-rock","tag-the-pack-a-d","tag-vancouver"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}