Pleased To Meet Me: Poolgirl
Photo by Prince Palu
Introduce yourself… (Where are you from, what band do you play in etc..)
Rachel: My name is Rachel. I am from Newfoundland, Canada and I play drums in the band Poolgirl.
Manya: My name is Manya, I’m from New Hampshire, USA, and I am the rhythm
guitarist and backing vocalist in Poolgirl.
Randy: My name’s Miranda but my friends call me Randy. I sing in poolgirl
Laura: My name’s Laura Clark. I come from a small-ish town called Campbell River BC, located on Vancouver Island, but have been living in Montreal since 2019. I am the lead guitarist in our band Poolgirl!
Gwenna: Hi! My name is Gwenna and I am the bassist in poolgirl. I am from Los Angeles, California and I
am a classical flute Masters student at McGill.
Why do you play music?
Rachel: I started playing music before I can even remember, but the first thing that truly sparked my love
for music was when I got the game Guitar Hero III in 2007. Since then, music has been the most significant part of my life and I’ve studied numerous instruments and completed a Bachelor of
Music. I currently play music because it is both a passion and a job for me (gigs, recording
projects and teaching private lessons).
Manya: Since I was super young, it was always a space that I was allowed to be kind of
left alone to figure myself out and reflect on how I perceived the world and what was
going on around me. It’s a really powerful form of communication without always
having to so heavily focus on the wordy-ness of it all.
Randy: I play music because it’s fun!
Laura: Since a young age, music has always had a hold on me. It’s a combination of emotional release, fulfillment, and pure passion for the craft.
Gwenna: I don’t know if I can really answer why I play music, I guess my bigger question is why DON’T people play music? I love playing and listening to all (most) genres of music, from classical to metal, and I love being involved in so many aspects of music, from playing, to practicing, to teaching.
What was a major influence on you as an Artist/Band?’
Rachel: My drumming has a wide range of influences from funk to midwest emo and math rock.
Manya: One of my biggest influences as a musician was the self proclaimed 2000s emo online scene; I was a huge MCR fan (had the fan account to prove it). They shaped my music taste alot in middle school, and also led me to meeting my best friend/one of my biggest musical inspirations today. Forever aspiring to channel the crazy raw energy of Frank Iero.
Randy: I love Liz Phair, Jockstrap, The Breeders, PJ Harvey, Cherry Glazerr, Mannequin Pussy, Momma…. lots of others as well but regarding poolgirl I’d say these are all songwriting inspo for me.
Laura: Since beginning to play gigs as Poolgirl in January of this year, the other incredible bands we’ve been able to share a bill with have widened my horizon of the alternative Montreal music scene, which has greatly helped shape and guide the writing I’ve contributed to our band.
Gwenna: The riot grrrl movement was a really big influence on me as a young bassist, I started listening
to Bikini Kill when I was younger and I guess I realized that there were other people who wanted to make music about real things we experience in a way that is fun and screamy and really lets my feelings out.
What’s a favourite book or film?
Rachel: Probably the book Royal by Jean Philippe Baril Guérard. It deals beautifully with a lot of subjects I personally relate to, like perfectionism.
Manya: Favorite film is probably Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind.
Randy: I love the book The Second Place by Rachel Cusk.
Laura: “The Stand” by Stephen King goes down as my favourite book of all time. I even have a tattoo related to it!
Gwenna: My favorite film of all time is Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980), but it’s so hard to pick just
one favorite! I love weird, creepy, and horror movies so Coraline (2009), House (1977) and The
Silence of the Lambs (1991) are also up there. Honorable mention goes to Nerve (2016) just
because I like it and it’s a little silly. Also Dave Franco is in it so...
Do you prefer the recording process or performing live?
Rachel: Performing live 100%. One of my favourite feelings.
Manya: Performing live always.
Randy: Performing live! 100%
Laura:Performing live. The energy I share between me, my bandmates, and our audience while offering our art is unmatched.
Gwenna: I prefer performing live to recording! The energy of a crowd and the excitement of being on stage is just so unbeatable. In recording sessions it always feels like there’s a pressure to be perfect since you can rerecord anything, but on stage you’re just there to have fun and whatever happens happens!
What would be a dream collaboration?
Rachel: I always really looked up to Montreal band Gulfer, and hoped one day to propose a show where Poolgirl opened for them, but they actually recently just played their very last show!
Manya: A dream collaboration would probably be opening for Mannequin Pussy or
Slutever.
Randy: I’d love to collaborate on a song with one of the bands we’ve played with, maybe like Lucys Delirium, Birds of Prrrey or Soft Skin.
Laura: I can’t name a specific artist or group, but for me, anything that pushes the musical boundaries of our band.
Gwenna: My dream collaboration would be with Bikini Kill or Destroy Boys. They’re both bands we look up to a lot and our sound is inspired by them. They’re such influential bands and huge
influences to non-men in the scene.
Describe a favourite album.
Rachel: Death Grips’ “Exmilitary”. It’s pretty much indescribable. It was the first record that opened my
mind up to music that’s more experimental and ‘out there’.
Manya: Always changing, but most reliably, no skips, best of all time: Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge by My Chemical Romance. Close second is Pink Moon by Nick Drake, beautifully devastating. Theatrical, raw, vulnerable. Crazy highs and super emotional lows.
Randy: A recent favourite album of mine is Skinned by ML Buch, it’s kind of a breakup album but the lyrics are kind of ambiguous and serene, she makes these really unique kind of ambient soundscapes with synths and guitar that are very beautiful.
Laura: Eureka by Mother Mother - I hold this native-to-Vancouver-Island band/album near and dear to my heart. The vocal harmonies, strong guitar/keyboard/synthesizer lines, and quirky lyrics were a huge influence to me in 2011 when the album was released, and still help influence myplaying today.
Gwenna: My favorite album of all time is The Velvet Underground and Nico. It is a really experimental
album, it was really influential to rock music history, and to be honest I just really like it. My
favorite tracks are “Femme Fatale” and “There She Goes Again”. I think their lyricism was really
taboo at the time and they have really created an album of art that changed the underground
music scene.
What's your favourite local haunt?
Rachel: Turbo Haus
Manya: La Sotterenea...if thats a haunt.
Randy: Quilles G near beaubien station because i love getting sauced and going bowling, they play good music too.
Laura: Bossa restaurant in Verdun. Their sandwiches are excellent.
Gwenna: My favorite local haunt is definitely Else’s! I always get their Juicy Box XXX and their
Mac’n’Cheese.
What's your strangest experience while performing live?
Rachel: I played a gig with another band, the singer’s dad was a famous Tunisian singer. About halfway
through, the crowd just kept yelling out requests for the dad’s songs, which I had never heard (nor had I heard any Tunisian music whatsoever). I had to fake it and drum along but I had no idea what was going on.
Manya: My low e string broke...
Randy: Idk about strange because i feel like anything goes in that atmosphere, but i find it memorable when people in the crowd start yelling stuff out, i get really caught off guard sometimes by what people yell and i can’t not laugh. our friends are silly and we like that energy.
Laura: I once broke a string after the first song of our set, and was graciously lent a guitar by Knitting, the band who had organized/headlined the show. Playing on an unfamiliar guitar shook me up a bit for sure, but the immediate support from Knitting completely turned the trajectory of the evening around. I love the music community!
Gwenna: Luckily I haven’t had any super strange experiences while performing live, but one time we brought a beach volleyball for the crowd at the Van Horne Underpass and it got super muddy and hit my face while I was playing, and that was not really fun.
What are some of your favourite aspects of being a
musician in Montréal?
Rachel: I think in Montreal we just have a really great and tight-knit music scene. Everyone is constantly
reaching out to each other to collaborate and we support each other as audience members too.
Manya: It feels like everyone knows everyone, and that everyone can play atleast 1
instrument. But then you meet some people and their instrument variety is crazy and
they’re in so many bands and you’re just like...woah.
Randy: There are so many great bands in montreal it’s truly crazy, but at the same time I feel like there’s a decent amount of venues so that lots of things can happen at the same time, which is great. @Sewerspewer and @ce_qui_ce_passe do such a good job of recording it all, there’s just always something to do.
Laura: Like mentioned before, the community is one of the best aspects to me. it’s such a diverse group of people that are all passionate about the same thing, whether they also perform or not.
Gwenna: I love the music scenes in Montreal. From the diy punk shows to the underground indie shows to the orchestral performances at Place des Arts, there is always something musically happening and I feel very lucky.
Has the current COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine
influenced your creative process?
Rachel: Yeah, I got injured from practicing percussion so hard for so many long hours! I was forced to
find ways to use visualization techniques to learn music I had to learn for school and I think it
developed my ability to create and hear music in my head away from an instrument. I’m always
making voice memos throughout my day now with random ideas for various musical projects.
Manya: Not as much my process, but the uncertainty of the time solidified my decision
to pursue music professionally.
Randy: Not really to be honest, although definitely being able to see live music again felt even more important after restrictions had lifted, so maybe that was inspiring too.
Laura:The quarantine period was difficult, as it prevented any live, in-person music making from happening. I struggle to write music by myself, so the pandemic temporarily hindered my ability to produce anything I was proud of.
If you weren’t playing music in Montréal where
would you be ?
Rachel: Anywhere that inspires me really. I’ve never really thought about it since I really love Montreal.
Manya: Probably NYC. Or Michigan, that midwest emo scene is pretty insane.
Randy: Probably in Toronto, which is where i grew up, also the city where I started writing songs last summer.
Laura: Most likely back in my hometown, teaching music. I’m entering my last year of my undergrad this fall, and am very eager to begin my music education career!
Gwenna: If I wasn’t in Montreal right now, I think I would be in Chicago or Melbourne, Australia. I can’t really explain it but trust that’s where I would be. Except I’m suuuuper afraid of spiders so I don’t know.
Any sage advice for young musicians?
Rachel: Find the instrument that speaks to you, that you’re excited to practice and learn more about, be
eager to learn as much as you can, and start playing music with other people. That’s when the
real magic happens.
Manya: Just do it! It is never gonna feel like the right time, the music will never feel perfected enough, you just gotta unapologetically own ur work and present your art with all your confidence. Also pull your cable through your guitar strap, change your strings every two weeks, and take a picture of your amp settings before you finish your soundcheck (learn from my errors).
Randy: Not much, Be nice? Don’t be close minded, listen to everything.
Laura: Don’t leave yourself out of the running for opportunities because of the hundreds of reasons not to take them. If you are willing to and able, the best thing you can do for yourself is to try.
Gwenna: My advice to young musicians would be keep at it! I know that’s a very cliché thing to say that people always told me when I was younger and I was like “duh?” but seriously so many people stop too young! Or switch because their parents told them to or they quit band at school or whatever the reason is, keep playing.