Sometimes things are meant to be. Imagine you've ordered a custom cape. It's the key ingredient to your costume and with that complete, you'll be able fulfill your heroic destiny and crusade against all things that are no good in your neck of the woods. Now imagine, someone across town ordered the exact same cape, with the exact same intention and you both turn up at the cape shop at the exact same time. What would you do? Have a laugh and then join forces to battle against evil?
According to the Pack A.D. drummer Maya Miller, that's exactly how she and guitarist Becky Black met. Well, actually she admits they met through friends, but if she were to dream up an origin story, that's the one she'd go with. Even without the comic-book-come-to-life backstory, their partnership has been a solid one. As a duo, the two create a big sound of heavy riffs and indomitable beats. They released their latest album Positive Thinking at the tail-end of last year and are already at work on a follow up.
We spoke with Miller about the story behind their name, the power of live shows and the story and what it's like to be a rock band in Vancouver. Hop to the next page to read the full interview.
Hometown/Homebase: Vancouver B.C.
What's the story behind your name?
We were called The Pack but interestingly enough, there was another The Pack and they kept getting us booted off Myspace. No joke. That's the truth. So, at the time we just decided to add A.D. so that they would leave us alone. Now, we're still a band and touring and making albums and they haven't done anything in years...sigh.
If you were to creatively describe your sound, how would you?
I would say it's a garage rock psych pop punk vibe. Yep. All those things at the same time. Also, we sometimes just sound like a loud spazzy party.
How did you initially meet? How soon after did you start playing music together?
We met through mutual friends, which is an incredibly boring origin story. So, how about we met while battling evil in Vancouver, B.C. There's literally only one cape shop in town and we ordered the same cape. Hilarity ensued, also a battle, and then we decided to be a band pretty much immediately after the battle.
What's your song-writing process like? Where do you find inspiration and how does a song come together?
We each bring our different parts to practice and play them off each other. Becky will show up with a super riff and I'll come up with a drum beat and some lyrics or I'll show up and play a beat I'm into and that will inspire a riff for her. One of the songs that was drum beat first was "Los Angeles" actually, off our album Positive Thinking. I also wrote the lyrics for that one. Becky came up with the riffage.
You just played a trio of shows - what's the best thing about playing live? Do you feel you're able to communicate at a different level than on record?
Playing in front of an audience is the best part of music, hands down. The energy people provide, it changes the music in a way that is hard to explain. Literally without an audience, you're just practicing and there's a different level of energy that comes with that. I love playing shows. It's definitely my happy place. As for recording, that's just such an incredibly different beast. The goal is perfection and, well, that's just not the case when playing live.
What's it like being a musician in Vancouver?
I think we spend a lot of time on tour and when we're not on tour and at home in Vancouver, I know for myself, I tend to get a little reclusive. I don't go to a lot of shows when I'm in town because I'm usually cutting myself an audio break. We practice and work on new music, but it's obviously a pretty insular experience as there's only the two of us.
How do you spend your time outside of the band?
I'm a writer as well and currently working on a How to Be a Band book that will have a much better title at some point, ha. I also play tennis when the weather permits, and at the moment I'm learning bass guitar because why not.
What are your goals for the group? You released your album Positive Thinking at the end of last year as well as a single, what's next in 2017?
Yeah, well, we like to keep things going forward so we're actually working on a follow-up album already and will be aiming for a fall release. Then, of course, we will tour it because that's what we do.
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