Selci: They’re all super conscious individuals.
Ashley: What is your favorite song to perform with the Band?
Selci: I don’t think I have one.
Gaby: I like playing the song called Bebop; because it’s about how much I hate school.
Selci: I was going to say that is my least favorite one because it’s really hard. It challenges me but I have to say these words so fast and I have to make it sound good somehow.
Gaby: That’s fine; we don’t have to have the same one. I didn’t think we would.
Ashley: Do you have any advice for people who want to start a big band?
Selci: Just keep asking people to play with you and then don’t get discouraged when people don’t keep playing with you or you don’t want to keep playing with someone. Keep on going.
Gaby: Yeah, don’t get discouraged. We went through so many people.
Selci: People have their own agenda and it’s hard to find people who mesh with you. Ask as many people as you can. And keep asking after that.
Gaby: If you see a band and you think their guitar player is really great, as them to jam! It can feel really discouraging and I think some people are reading this interview are thinking “they just got lucky and find the perfect band?” But man, we went through tons of people and it was really frustrating.
Selci: We had a drummer for a long time that Gabi didn’t jive with that I was really attached to him and we didn’t know what to do. We almost broke up at one point but then felt we had to just keep going.
Gaby: It seems like the biggest deal, but it’s not.
Selci: People will see us in our band and ask how we have such a great band.
Gaby: Well, we went through so many people. Don’t worry, we went through it too.
Selci: It’s all what you manifest too. If you’re like “ooh no one wants to play with me! The world’s going to end!” Well, no one is going to want to play with you. But it you’re like “okay! I’ve got to keep trying because this is what I want to do!” Manifest that energy and people are going to want to play with you because you’re not being a bum hole. I know it can be hard to find people to jam with but you just have to keep on looking.
Ashley: Where would you recommend to look?
Selci: At shows!
Gaby: Go to shows! Check out the music scene!
Selci: Check out some bands. There are so many awesome people playing. The scene in Winnipeg is thriving. There’s really good venues. If you don’t know where shows are happening, just go to the handsome daughter on any random night. Go to the Goodwill on any random night. Go to the Park theatre any random night. If you don’t like the bands, check another night! They have all genres.
Gaby: Just ask. I’m pretty sure if anyone asked anyone in the band to jam, we would say yes. I mean if someone asked me to jam I’d probably say yeah.
Selci: People ask me to jam all the time and sometimes I have to say “sorry I don’t have time right now “ or sometimes I do. You’ll definitely have to put yourself out there. If you’re not willing to do that it’s going to be pretty damn hard to find someone to jam with.
Ashley: What kind of stressful situations or challenges have you’ve had with being in a band?
Selci: Well now that we are a solidified band and we aren’t dealing with a lot of turnover of people. So I guess just making sure everyone is happy.
Gaby: and everyone’s needs are being met.
Selci: and everyone is feeling okay and comfortable. Gaby and I have moved through a lot as a result of being in a band together. We went into this band barely knew each other and then ended up seeing each other constantly. We come from really different backgrounds.
Like Gaby is a first generation Mexican chick and she has crazy pride. She has experienced many things in her life that I’ll never experience with regards to oppression and race. With me, I’m the epitome of the type of person that she, like, want to be when she was a kid because that was what seen as the ideal or something. So she has a lot of really intense issues that I encompass. A lot of my beliefs for a long time were non-intentionally ignorant but a little ignorant because of my upbringing. I’m not aware of what it’s like to be a racial minority. I’m not aware of what it’s like to be a first generation immigrant. So there’s tons of stigma that I had and that she had from the opposite side of the spectrum that we’ve had to move through together. And now we’re both way better people and we ‘ve learned so much from each other. I even think that’s on a large scale but even with relationships with other members of the band and we had to navigate how they work as a person. We want to make sure everyone is comfortable because when you are sharing such a bond with someone like making music you have to be on the same page as him or her. You can’t make music with someone when you don’t feel like you are one the same conscious level as him or her. It doesn’t feel satisfying or something substantial.
Gaby: Yeah, I think at this point we are just trying to navigate relationships. Because being in a band for us is like being in a big family. We have the music thing happening, we’re pretty organized, and we have goals that we want to accomplish in terms of careers and financial success or whatever. But we are focusing on being feasibly a working long-term functioning band. So we have all these plans, which is the easy part because the hardest part is the relationships.
Selci: Just making sure everyone is good.
